So lets see how can D&D piss off book purists more this season:

Confirm R+L=J at the Tower of Joy
Confirm Benjen is Coldhands
Turn Jon into Azor Ahai
Confirm Tyrion is a secret Targ

Confirm that gravedigger is Sandor..and thus...

CLEGANEBOWL!

Am I missing something? hehehe

By the end of the episode, jentario, she may have her sight restored, but in the trailer for next week where she's shown fighting the Waif with the Bo staff, she's still blind. I wasn't sure, so I slowed the video down to 1/4 speed, and she's definitely still blind in that scene. Of course, I'd like her to stay blind a bit longer, as I have some hope (another one that might be in vain, mind you) she'll tune in to her warging powers, and once she has her sight restored, that hope of mine will go.

Yeah, that's 100% going to be Manderly. They used a lot of fake names this year it seems.

I wonder if he'll get his own separate scenes. I'm fairly sure they won't have a lengthy storyline as they did in the book, with Davos going over to White Harbour and so on, given that he apparently had 1 days filming, though I suppose they could have expanded it somewhat later on. I suspect we're just going to get a lengthy scene with a bunch of Northern Lords in a room together discussing what to do instead, and that's when Manderly will make his big speech. Should be cool.

jentario wrote:

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I'm hoping the Northern Lords turn on Ramsay mid-battle

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 As soon as I heard the rumor (during the off-season) of the Umbers siding with the Boltons, or I guess, now, just Ramsay, I thought there's no way the Umbers would do that, unless it was with the intention of turning on Ramsay mid-battle.  Of course, the preview we got of Umber in the next episode makes me wonder, but if the show has the Umbers genuinely siding with Ramsay, as easy-going as I am about the adaptation, that's one thing where I feel like they will have a lot of explaining to do for me to not have a big problem with it.

I've seen some folks in various places saying they think, based on what he said in the last episode, Ramsay already has the Karstarks, Umbers, and Maderley's on his side.  Yes, he certainly has the Karstarks, and the preview does make it look like he has the Umbers, too, but I went back and watched the scene where Ramsay was discussing it, and his line was the Umbers, Karstarks, and Manderleys "command more soldiers than all the other houses combined  with their support, none could challenge us."  If he already had all 3 houses, wouldn't he have said "can," or "will," instead of "could?"  Maybe I'm just reading too much into it.

Rygar wrote:

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Damn I was hoping they cast someone else for Osha. Now we're blessed with more of her disturbed schizophrenic take on the character.

-- Edited by Rygar on Wednesday 4th of May 2016 05:11:12 PM

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 I love show Osha!

An aspect of the books that bothers me, is that all the Houses in the North turn out to be exactly what they seem. The Boltons look evil, and they turn out to be evil. The Karstarks seem like assholes, and they turn out to be assholes. Not only that, but Robb's decision to cut off Karstark's head is further justified because all the other Karstarks in the North turn out to be traitors in Dance.

For a brief few moments it seems the Manderlys and Umbers may not be so great, after being super loyal and awesome for 3 books, but nope, they're all good guys too! Really fucks with the whole subversion of tropes thing. There's none of the "appearance and tradition vs reality" stuff that exists in the South. I mean seriously, all the good houses have been loyal for thousands of years? Seriously? That really jibes with how the series criticises the system of knighthood and the traditions of the south, there's no complexity to it. There's no sense that these people are varied and may have there own views on the Starks, if you're born in the right House you're loyal, if not you're evil and traitorous.

Rygar wrote:

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Thanks Don, I looked it up as well. Stupid name, Nerds. 'Ramsay's Letter' would suffice.

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yebbut isn't it called the *pink* letter cos it has the skin of Theon's cock attached to it rather than because of the content?

I don't believe for one minute that Umber is anything but bullshitting in this episode.  It's a trap for Ramsay and I can't wait to see it spring. Also, Rickon would not give up his direwolf.  Not that I think Shaggy was a great direwolf.  Or, it could be that D&D are just doing their own deal again.  Hard for me to say anymore what's going to be canon and what is not.  Loved the small counsel meeting or lack there of! Nicely done. Loved the Wall.  He who passes the sentence must swing the sword. I don't like the direction with Mel.  I hate to say it, but I liked her better when she was "in character" as opposed to feeling sorry for herself.  All in all, loved the episode though.

Christ, there are Shaggydog truthers now?

How on earth would you make a fake Direwolf's head in Westeros, hmmm?

Cosca wrote:

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 They're all saying it looked smaller than a direwolves, but I dunno, looked plenty big to me. I think this is just a case where people are  trying to squeeze book theories into the show where there's no reason to. And also that people don't want it to be true, I suppose.

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 I'll be honest, as soon as I realized what the proof of Rickon really being Rickon must be, I looked away, so I only saw a glimpse of the head.  I want to believe it is too small to be Shaggy.  Yeah, I fall into the "people don't want it to be true" category.  I'm in full denial.  I'm clinging onto those who emphasized  how Umber refused to pledge allegiance to Ramsay, and, in addition to what I thought as soon as I heard about Umbers siding with Ramsay several months ago, will not believe the Umbers are truly siding with Ramsay, and will not believe that was really Shaggy (knowing I'm likely wrong), until I see otherwise.  No, it doesn't make sense, if it's all a ruse, the Umbers would take a chance with Rickon in Ramsay's hands, but... lalalalalalalala...I'm still going to believe what I want.  hahaha

It's amazing how, even with the show trimming so much of the damn -near interminable Meereen stuff from the books, it still seems to be dragging.  I did love seeing Varys do his thing with the "help the SotH" woman.  I'm also somewhat intrigued by what's happening with the Dothraki, but some of that is with the thought it will finally get Dany where she needs to go to get the fuck out of Meereen.

YvyB wrote:

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Right , booksies . . I'm sure someone , somewhere says Ned would of died if not for Howland Reed? So I wasn't surprised in the least at the back stabbing .
Have I dreamt that ?

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 Not unless we had the same dream! :)

You must have a really big dog Yvy...When you look at the Smalljon's hand next to the Wolf head, it's completely dwarfed. And he's a massive guy himself. Now, it's probably not quite as big as it should be I suppose. But still pretty damn big.

As for all the minor characters being stabbed, I think that was inevitable. They can only drag certain portions of the story out so long. Spending time with characters like Roose, Doran, Rickon (It's coming guys) is just dragging out the inevitable. I think it's rather telling the mess GRRM has gotten into, that even a full 10 hours is seen as too rushed by many to start tying things together, but I think it's being done as well as it could be. The alternative would be another season of the Meereen stuff, or Arya doing nothing, and the Ironborn gradually becoming relevant.