Game of Thrones: Sons of the Harpy

I was right about last week. It was just going to be a set-up for something crazy to happen. I know that is not really that impressive of a prediction, but whatever. Stop judging me. Anyways, there are three things I am going to focus on the episode. Again, as per usual, there will be spoilers, so you should not read this if you have not watched.

 

R+L=J

If you have no clue what that means, then you have not  been obsessing about something from the books for a few years. Hell, back when I first read Game of Thrones, I wrote the following:

Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard (Ned) Stark, will turn out to be someone very important. I wonder if he is actually the son of Lyanna (Ned’s sister) and Rhaegar Targaryen. Ned keeps remembering Lyanna as she died and how she kept saying “Promise me.” At first we are led to believe that she means that he must promise to take her back to Winterfell when she dies. Later when Ned is delirious he remembers when Rhaegar wins a tournament and gives the crown of beauty to Lyanna instead of his own wife. I believe that instead of kidnapping and raping Lyanna, they ran off together, had a kid, but she died during childbirth or shortly after. Ned came and found the child and promised to raise him.

That was before I started going to some of the forums and reading about theories. I soon discovered that this was probably the most popular theory out there. The show has sort of hinted at it, but never really made it part of the major discussion…until this episode.

RLJAll of those little conversations seemed to show that Rhaegar was a very good, honorable guy. That he would not kidnap a woman and rape her. They also point to the fact that Jon Snow may be more than he seems. I remember the scene where Jon is about to go off to the Night’s Watch and Ned says something like “you are my blood” instead of “you are my son.” Hmmmmmmmm.

Harpy vs. Unsullied

The Sons of the Harpy stage an attack on the Unsullied. You know, these guys are supposed to be the premiere fighting force in the east and yet they lose pretty easily to these barely trained fighters, who just try to swarm their opponents. I thought the Unsullied were worth ten men each? I guess there were eleven Sons of the Harpy for each one. I think Daario made a comment about the Unsullied not being very good for patrolling a city and keeping the peace. I remember in the book it was definitely much more clear that this was not their strength and they were being attacked when they were in groups of two or three.

I suppose that would not have allowed for such a dramatic looking battle in the streets. I was pretty pumped when Barristan Selmy showed up to save Grey Worm. I just kept thinking about Jaime Lannister talking about him “He was a painter. A painter who only used red.I couldn’t imagine being able to fight like that. Not back then. And to help him do it, to be a part of something that perfect. I don’t need to explain how that felt, not to you.”

The old man did not disappoint either. He was cutting down Harpies like they were nothing, but then they swarmed him and the next thing you know he and Grey Worm are both dead. I really did not see that coming. I assumed he was going to be around for a bit, especially since he is still alive in the books. Although, I suppose he could still be alive, but I kind of doubt it, especially after what the actor had to say:

Ian McElhinney: It proves you should probably not read the books. I’ve read the books. So I thought this season I was going to have more to do, and I was really looking forward to that. And then I got my dates from my agent and I thought, ‘That doesn’t tally.’ Because there was no way if they were sticking to the books that I should be in for that number of weeks. It seemed to me they must be writing me out. So I had a word with the line producer and said, “Can you corroborate that they’re writing me out?” Then the [showrunners] rang me and told me, ‘Your time is up in this series.’ So perhaps I took them by surprise that I knew.

massacreSparrows

highsparrow-630x420The opening parts of the episode with the Sparrows attacking people in the streets was pretty crazy and insanely violent. Cersei is such a blundering idiot. She never thinks more than one move ahead.

She gives the High Sparrow the power to bring back the Faith Militant since she wants them to go after Loras in order to hurt Margaery.

She does not realize the chair reaction of these sorts of moves. She will soon learn that these guys are not to be messed with. I mean just look at Lancel, he looks pretty scary now. Remember back when he was just Cersei’s sex toy? He has changed.

Okay, I said I wanted to talk about three things, but I would be a complete loser if I did not mention the scene of Jaime and Bronn fighting the Dornishmen. Also, their little bonding moment around the fire was great too.

Let me know what you thought of the episode!

 

Author: Ngewo