Game of Thrones: Valar Morghulis

I only had one problem with last night’s season finales of Game of Thrones:  I have to wait so damn long for season three to start.  That is the only main problem with a 10 episode series.  Anyways, let us get to the things that happened in each story.

Beyond the Wall
-Jon Snow finally understands what Qhorin Half-Hand is trying to get him to do.  They get into a fight, and Jon kills him.  The scene was pretty good, but the book gave us more insight into everything.  Qhorin explained everything to Jon before they were captured and Jon struggled with the idea for much of the march.
-Jon gets his first glimpse of Mance’s army.  It looks pretty massive down there in the valley.
-Samwell meets with a White Walker and his hoard of zombies (actually they are wights).  We only saw the one back during the opening scene of season one.

House of the Undying
-There seem to be plenty of complaints about Daenerys’ visions during the HOTU.  In the book, she saw a bunch of stuff and once you read on you understand that she saw the future.  Unfortunately, since she did not know the characters, it did not spoil anything for the readers.  This would be next to impossible to do those scenes in television.  I liked what they did instead.  She sees the Iron Throne and it is covered in snow.  What happened to the palace?  Was there an attack from above?  Why was the roof damaged?

Next she walks out of a gate that is the Wall.  How does all of this tie to her?  Will she return to Westeros and find it destroyed by the White Walkers?  Are her dragons the only hope?

-I still want a pet dragon.  I loved seeing all three dragons blasting the warlock with fire.  Yes, they are some badasses.

Jaime and Brienne
-This is one of my favorite things from the books.  Their journey is actually pretty cool and if done right, we will get a bit more Jaime time.  I predicted early on that Jaime would become a fan-favorite (much like Eric from True Blood).
-I loved the look on his face as she killed those guys.  I think she earned a little bit of his respect.  Not much though.
-Also, did she stick her sword up through the guys crotch?  Jesus, that must have hurt…

King’s Landing
-Joffrey is still an asshole.  Everyone wants him to marry Margaery Tyrell, yet he just wants to torture Sansa.  Finally he relents.

-There was a great moment of Sansa smiling at the thought of being free of King Joffrey, until Littlefinger ruins that for her.  He informs her that Joffrey will never give up his toy.  He does say that he will help her get home because of her mother.  Was anyone else a little creeped out by the way he was looking at her?
-Speaking of Littlefinger, he is now the lord of Haranhall.  Good for him.  I wonder if Gregor Clegane comes with the place.  Will Littlefinger be able to get him to leave?
-Did anyone else love the visual metaphor of Tywin Lannister shitting all over King Joffrey.  Yep, his horse pooped on the floor before going up to receive his honor and accept his duty as Hand of the King.
-I felt bad for Tyrion, but at least he is alive.  For anyone who does not understand:  Tywin and Cersei both hate Tyrion.  I feel like some non-book readers were confused about why it seems like Tyrion is being punished.

-I want to address two characters who are much better on the show than in the books:  Tywin and Margaery.  In the book, there is never anything likeable about Tywin Lannister.  The show portrays him as an asshole, but the back and forth between Arya and himself were some of the best moments of the season.  They also gave us a different glimpse of the man.  Hell, it seemed like Arya even began to like him after a bit.  Then she wanted to kill him, but you will have that.

Margaery was not that interesting of a character in the book.  In fact, she has her grandmother around early on in the books, who is much cooler.  On the show, Margaery is pretty much like Cersei.  She will do whatever it takes to be THE queen.   I just like where this idea is going.  Or maybe I forgot some stuff from the books, could someone remind me.

The Stark Stuff
-Robb got married to Tylisa.  I really am curious to see where this is going.  I mean, I know what happens in the book, but why change the girl and her backstory?

-Theon gives a great speech about how they will go down in history being remembered as the 20 guys who took on 500 Northmen.  Then his men knock him out and pretty much drag him outside.  My guess is they take Robb up on the offer to give him over and head home.
-Oh wait, then Bran and Rickon come outside and Winterfell is burnt to the ground.  Did those 20 burn the place before leaving?  No way that Bolton’s bastard would attack Winterfell, right?
I do like the change of eliminating a few characters (Meera and Jojen) and just keeping Bran and Rickon together (although somewhat of a foolish plan).
-Arya, Gendrey, and Hot Pie escape and finally run into everyone’s favorite character:  Jaqen H’ghar.  He meets with Arya and reveals that he knows about the list of names she wants dead.  He says that she can offer them all to the Red God if she comes with him.  She says no, she must find her family and he gives her a coin and tells her that if she ever needs him to just give the coin to any Braavosi man and say “Valar Morghulis.”  When he turns back to her, he has a different face.  Did they ever mention during the show the assassins guild known as the Faceless Men?  I do know that people will be upset not to have him around anymore.  I just want to move to Braavos, if everyone talks like Jaqen and Syrio. 

Random Thoughts and Predictions
-The whole Ros story was not in the book at all.  I like it though, there were some other prostitutes in the book, but I do not remember any of them receiving a visit from Varys.
-Stannis is alive!  Any thoughts on what he saw in the fire? I am guessing himself sitting on a throne.
-Season Three will adapt the next book, which is probably the best of the series.  After that, the next two seem to take the characters further away from where we think they are going at the moment.  My question is whether or not the show will just diverge from the book at some point.  I know the creators have said they have an ending to the show (just in case Martin never finished the series).
-My original prediction after reading the second book was this:

Dany will raise a very large army in the East. Not sure how she will do it, but she will. The Greyjoy army will be destroyed when the Others come across the Wall and start marching and killing everyone. This will cause Robb to focus on them. The rest of the kings will the greater enemy coming and will join together, but there will be multiple allegiances and deals made.

It will seem the Others are winning when an army will arrive with a Queen who has some dragons to back her up. They will defeat the Others and Dany will take her rightful place on the Iron Throne as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

I still think this is a route the show could go.  Oh, and the Others are the White Walkers. 
-For those that have read the books, what do you think of the show?  Better or worse?
-For those who have not read the books, what are your predictions for next season?

Author: Ngewo

2 thoughts on “Game of Thrones: Valar Morghulis

  1. Nice synopsis. I read the books and I think Meera and Jojen come in to play later in their journey, so they might still make an appearance.(although it has been a while, so I may be wrong) Overall I think both are great (Books & Show). It will be interesting to see how they combine the later books to reflect an accurate timeline, instead of breaking the characters up over two books along the same time frame.

    1. I thought they were introduced right before they had to flee Winterfell, but I could be wrong.

      And yes, books four and five will be much harder to adapt with the timeline shift.

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