The main rumor is that Daenerys will summon all the rulers of Westeros and ask them to bend the knee to her as the rightful heir to the throne. One shot from a fuzzy camera shows Jon Snow possibly witnessing a dragon flying overhead while he’s approaching Daenerys (perhaps at Storms End). Daenerys with her army might feel ready to conquer Westeros and uses intimidation tactics by summoning all the rulers to a Dragonpit (which is supposedly filming) in discussing a dialog. In one part, Jon Snow refuses her but says that he will bow only on the condition that she uses her power to help the Northern army fight the White Walkers.

In turn, Daenerys agrees which supposedly leads Jon to get a party of men (the Brotherhood without Banners, including Sandor Clegane) to take a dragon in order to gain evidence for Daenerys to get her approval. Jon Snow also requests from Queen Cersei to get aid but Cersei later denies him so that his forces and Daenerys’ end up battling each other.

Now, on paper, this whole portion has a few major plot holes and just weak writing. I suppose the weakest aspect of this portion of the story is the lead up to Jon Snow and Danny hooking up. The spoiler was that they “have sex on a boat going north.” The other horrible spoiler was that while having sex The Wall comes down with the Night King taking one of Daenerys’ dead dragons and bursting it down. Unless the dialogue in between all of this makes up for things, I’ve pretty much would give up on the rest of Game of Thrones just because the core story stops making sense.

Part of the problem to me is that Cersei seems like too much of a background character whose only purpose is to gain revenge against the Dornish and Tyrells for killing off Myrcella. While that portion is realistic at the heart, I ultimately fail to see how anything outside of “whelp, there’s less actors/actresses/characters to deal with” gets moved forward.

Next, why does Jon deny Daenerys? Is it just to not seem so obvious? And why would he accept Daenerys so quickly? At either rate, the slight amount of doubt proposed here is just wasting time. For me it’s just far too contrived. It’s kinda like how Daenerys and Tyrion had doubts about each other when they first met. Within only two shows, all the doubts, especially from Tyrion, gets dispelled. It’s even worse for Daenerys, who returns to a nearly ruined Mereen that was partly caused by Tyrion’s antics.

Now, why should Cersei and Jon Snow team up at all? Don’t they hate each other? Well, Cersei hates everyone but I do think she’s smart enough at times to know when to use someone. And Jon Snow is more than willing to forgive parties because he understands a greater cause at stake. The only person really in conflict between the Lannisters and Starks is Sansa. If/when Olenna admits to her crimes, Cersei may even forgive Sansa at the end of the day and then look at her own major problem: Daenerys.

To say that Cersei just sits in the background of all this and not try to convince Jon Snow that Daenerys is the real threat (because they all witness the dragons) seems dubious for Cersei’s character. It also shows how little the writers have spent trying to unfold her character into something more than just an angry mother. Yes, she schemes but perhaps she might recall her ex-husbands words when he talks about the greater number of 5 vs 1.

Wouldn’t the less contrived and far more intriguing way of character development be for Cersei to be the one to forgive the Starks and say that she wants to make amends for what her son had caused their families. After all, Cersei did attempt to stop Joffrey from beheading Ned and she would see Tyrion’s murder of her father along with aligning with Daenerys as treasonous against the Westeros kingdom. Then she could provide Jon Snow an army to help defeat the White Walkers and Daenerys. She could say that she would respect the North’s desire to remain separate just as Robb had wished in their succession while the south kept to their business. To me all this makes far more sense at this stage of the story.

I suppose part of my issue is that it makes no sense at this time for Jon Snow and Daenerys to fall in love for any reason. Daenerys is a conqueror while Jon Snow is a natural born leader. Daenerys might get respect from Jon Snow based on her power, but the way both obtain power differs greatly. One does so by brute force while the other slowly makes his way up the ladder. Daenerys is the type of person who ends up looking down on others who aren’t part of the world she wants to create. Not to mention that Ned helped in Robert’s Rebellion, giving her even more motives to not trust the Starks on the outset.

Cersei needs to be a key factor in creating conflict between both factions. She’s good at manipulation, especially stupid Northerner types (and let’s be honest; Jon isn’t the most scintillating light in the room). It would make far more sense from a story structure point of view of seeing Daenerys and the North fight against each other only to have the White Walkers show up once both their numbers are down. Cersei needs to be given more credit for her scheming rather than just assuming that she’s a “dumb blond ruler” type; hell, she outsmarted the Tyrells and the Sparrows in nuking them all at the end of season 6 while finally getting what she wanted in the Iron Throne.

No, I do not see Cersei using “her best weapons between her legs” to get Jon to side with her. That’s just plain silly. But she can outsmart him at least on the political playing field, much like how she outsmarted Ned. The only person capable of playing Cersei on Jon Snow’s team is Sansa. Littlefinger is capable too but his only side is his own. However, Sansa would see a move like this coming from Cersei and may even try to warn him. Because Jon is hard headed and doesn’t listen to his half-sister, this would induce more of the conflict between the half-siblings as hinted at the end of season 6.

At any rate, if everything is just a simple coaster leading to Jon Snow and Daenerys getting into bed together just to have the super battle being readied for Season 8 then the writing is totally shit. All the character development is lost just for the sake of running to the finish line. I hope that won’t be the case and that the character nuances (which to me has been one of the best parts of this show) along with plot aren’t sacrificed just because the showrunners are tired.

The post Game of Thrones: The Jon Snow – Cersei Lannister Alliance That Probably Won’t Happen in Season 7 appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.

Because Melisandre is tied to the Lord of Light and that we’ve seen a previous character resurrected by another follower of R’hllor, most knowing fans speculate that she has the power to resurrect Jon Snow. The most logical theory in combining evidence/hints from the books and the show is that Jon Snow prior to being gutted worged into his dire wolf Ghost to save his life. In A Dance with Dragons, the introduction has another character with worg abilities transfer himself into an animal before his physical body perishes. Most of the Starks have been shown to exhibit some level of worging ability and it wouldn’t be that much of a stretch to see Jon Snow with this ability either.

At the end of Season 5 Episode 10, there is an extremely subtle hint that Jon Snow worgs into Ghost where we briefly get a glimpse of his eyes changing to a blueish tint and the blood flow briefly turning into what looks to be an image of a wolf. Because the image appears so quickly, it’s more subliminal than something anyone can certainly say. But the showrunners have done an excellent job consistently dropping hints/foreshadowing for events in the future. So this brief glimpse is just another tiny indication that Jon Snow isn’t exactly dead, at least in spirit.

Still, there’s a lot of ground to cover in terms of dealing with the chaos that erupted from Jon Snow’s demise. First, we have to deal with the “rebellion” at Castle Black and the tenuous situation with the Wildlings. Next, we have to account for Davos Seaworth, who, despite not really having a true alliance in this situation, probably would’ve sided with Jon Snow considering that Jon has helped Stannis to a degree and vice versa. Also, we have to see how Melisandre’s character evolves here. Carice mentions that Melisandre has changed where her faith for once has not been validated. Lastly, we have to consider what will happen with Jon Snow’s physical form. Does Melisandre require the original body to enact a “resurrection?”

The way I see things go down is that immediately after killing Jon Snow, the Night’s Watch traitorous members might want to burn his body to prevent him becoming a White Walker zombie. Davos or other Jon Snow supporters might attempt to intervene and here’s where Davos might learn the truth of what happened, thus calling into him directly questioning the traitors. I’m certain Alliser Thorne will take issues with Davos since he shares some of Jon Snow’s good personality. However, Alliser Thorne, being one of the most senior people at Castle Black, probably will take control and become the new Watch Commander and order Davos banished.

Seeing that the situation has become utterly tragic, Davos might attempt to go to Melisandre and request help from her as she’s one of the few that might be able to do something about the situation. Melisandre now finds that everything she has done might’ve been futile and she resigns herself from her faith because she sees that her actions have been corrupt, including slaying an innocent child, killing a possible faithful friend (the Queen) and putting Stannis to a task leading to his death, all of which will result in the doom of the world once the White Walkers conquer Westeros.

Pretty much it’s a classic story arc of fucking up and finding some sort of redemption. Potentially, Melisandre’s journey in Season 6 will be one of piecing together Jon Snow’s past. Perhaps, with the aid of Sansa Stark, Theon/Reek and Davos, Melisandre will begin to understand the prophecies and her visions. She already had an unusual connection to Jon Snow where she detects there’s something deeper to him.

One thing you have to remember in fantasy is that a lot of writers do borrow from Dungeons and Dragons. David Benioff and DB Weiss refer to AD&D a lot and Game of Thrones is essentially one of the better fantasy pieces to utilizes a large number of AD&D concepts. One thing we have to think about is how the world is like having a large number of AD&D PCs (player characters) who are growing up in a bildungsroman type of character arc, especially when earlier drafts of proposals describe the end game survivors as the children of large families (i.e. Arya, Jon Snow, Bran Stark, Dany and Tyrion). It’s essentially the leveling up process.

With Melisandre, something to think about in the AD&D context is understanding what her corresponding AD&D level would be. The other character introduced in earlier episodes was a cleric type (Thoros of Myr) that had the ability to resurrect. It seemed as though at that point in time Melisandre did not have the same level of power as him. So perhaps she was level 5-7 or so. This season might be her way of leveling up to 9 where she gains the ability to Raise Dead. Or maybe she might be even higher level at 18 if Jon Snow’s body is left alone for too long. Either way, this character arc is just a way to show the leveling up process beyond killing monsters and finding treasure to gain experience points as per old school AD&D.

Also, we need to understand that the resurrection process described in the show is definitely taken from the AD&D version. Beric Dondarrion and Melisandre have a dialog exchange in Season 3 where Beric explains the effects of resurrection. The essence is that each time he gets resurrected, he “loses a bit of himself.” In AD&D terms, resurrection causes one to age 10 years (or 1 from a Raise Dead spell) and lose -1 to their constitution. If they fail a system shock roll, then they get obliterated. In Beric’s case, you can see that his body has been beaten up which indicates that his constitution is being slowly drained away. He also appears older than when we first received a glimpse of him in Season 1 after Ned Stark assigns him to take out The Mountain.

Now, going back to the idea of resurrecting Jon Snow, if we use what we know from Beric and AD&D, the implication is that Jon Snow will at the very least lose 1 point of constitution and age 1-10 years in the process. It might partly be like Frodo where the stab wounds from his Brothers never truly heal. But that aging of 1-10 years from the books perspective ought to put him at around age 24-27. So when he rises, he becomes a “man” just like Maester Aemon had foretold.

Those are just the physical changes. Beric never goes into detail about the psychological changes from a resurrection, which is something that the show might undertake. In Jon’s situation, if he worgs into Ghost, we don’t know what will mentally happen to him. Does he lose some sanity? Does he become more wolf-like in the process? Also, does dying mean Jon Snow goes into some spiritual realm?

Another thing to think about is how the Old Gods play a role in this situation. No one knows for certain if any gods truly exist in this realm outside of people blindly accepting certain faiths. But Jon Snow and the Starks follow the Old Gods (which will be ironic considering that Melisandre’s faith is a newer one). Because of their faith and the potential for the Old Gods to be the true gods, one must wonder if the dead Starks are able to reunite in the afterlife or if their spirits wander endlessly.

Perhaps, there’s a small moment where Jon Snow in between being resurrected is able to connect with his dead family. In the novel, we see Bran, as he’s being trained by the Three Eyed Raven, connect to his father via the Godswood in Winterfell. I have a feeling that Bran might use that power and attempt to connect Jon Snow back to his family’s spirits so that Ned Stark and Jon are able to have that promised talk about Jon Snow’s heritage.

Either way, Jon Snow will change via the resurrection. I think that there’s some hidden notes that will legitimize him via Robb Stark and perhaps Stannis as well (since Stannis did promise him in Season 5). His body will change too where he appears older and thereby being able to receive more respect. This will be important not only for Castle Black but the whole of the North where Sansa and Jon will attempt to rally the North to quell the Bolton rebellion. But I also think something psychologically will change within him. Perhaps, in speaking with Ned Stark, he will finally stop knowing nothing and discard honor as a fallacy in learning how to rule properly. Perhaps, Jon Snow will become darker and more blood thirsty due to his treatment after the betrayal. I feel that George RR Martin will retain some flaw in him to keep him interesting rather than making him out to be a pure badass with too much of a tweener/popular character archetype like Stone Cold Steve Austin or The Rock.

The post Game of Thrones: What A Potential Jon Snow Resurrection Implies appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.

First, the important thing to note is that Samwell Tarly along with Gilly and Little Sam are supposedly safely out of harms reach in being sent to Old Town to become a Maester at the Citadel. We do not have a clear indication of the time frame between his departure and Jon Snow’s stabbing to give him enough distance, but I’m going to assume that the Sam’s story will parallel the book’s viewpoint chapters where he travels to Old Town.

However, because Sam was one of the true loyal friends of Jon Snow, there’s no one possibly left to support Jon Snow’s cause at Castle Black outside of Eddison Tollet who saw the slaughter at Hardhome along with Jon Snow. With Melisandre retreating to the Wall and the tradition of burning bodies as a necessity to avoid future fates of people becoming part of the White Walker army, it’s likely that at the very least, Melisandre may attempt to provide a proper funeral pyre for Jon Snow.

Right now, Kit Harrington has admitted that he will not be in next season so that may allude to his physical body being missing. Although we see Jon Snow bleeding to death, there’s no guarantee that his physical form will be found either. Instead, there’s more speculation that Ghost’s presence will save him and that he’ll use the dire wolf to continue for the meantime.

Another major implication is that because he is dead, he no longer is bound to the Night’s Watch vows. I know that seems like an obvious thing but should he be resurrected somehow, the reality is that he does not have to obey the mutinous remaining brothers. Just as Stannis has hinted earlier this season, Jon Snow in practice is cleared from his duty as a sworn brother to become a true Stark and hence reclaim the North along with Winterfell.

Similarly, the Night’s Watch can now be considered damned because of what they’ve done. Although many brothers declared Jon Snow a traitor, they nonetheless killed a brother and more importantly the Lord Commander. That makes them all traitors to their sacred vows and to the Realm.

Of course, without Jon Snow to mediate between the Northerners and the Wildlings, whatever truce existed between both factions practically went out the window. However, the Wildlings are now safely on the other side of the Wall and outnumber the Night’s Watch. So even if the Night’s Watch detest them, they will be very hard pressed to be able to handle them at this stage. And with Stannis’ army gone, the Night’s Watch virtually has no allies anymore.

No doubt both Ser Davos, Melisandre and Tormund will heavily frown upon the Night’s Watch. Tormund will keep his respect for Jon Snow’s actions and will probably figure out a way to seek revenge, if not allying with the now patronless Ser Davos. It would be an odd combo to say the least but Ser Davos seems to have more sense than most people and would provide good counsel to the Wildlings if given the chance.

The reality is that without Jon Snow being there to keep everyone in check and remind people of the White Walkers, the Night’s Watch are practically goners the moment the Wall falls. No doubt at some point that will happen but because of their inherent prejudice against the Wildlings, they will not have any support for their cause.

Also, because the Wildlings are on the other side, there’s no doubt that they will seek refuge and possibly cause chaos for the other northerners. Perhaps, they might ally with Sansa Stark since she is kin to Jon Snow. We have yet to see Sansa’s true allies in the North and the only ones named in the show have been the Umbers, which Rickon was sent to with Osha.

With Jon Snow eliminated though, the Night’s Watch’s only potential allies are the Boltons. However, it’s likely that when the White Walkers hit, the Boltons (because they aren’t exactly the most worldly people around) will probably laugh off the threat until they succumb to it (unless my theory where Ramsay discovers the horn inside Winterfell’s crypts that can take down the Wall comes true).

From an IRL point of view, the sad thing sounds like we won’t be seeing Kit Harrington, possibly ever again in the series. He stated in a recent interview that he won’t be in the next season and that his death is the last time we would see him. Although Jon Snow’s character arc might be far from over, Kit’s role in the Game of Thrones seems finished for now.

I suppose that might mean that Dan and David have a certain figure to be cast in the future if, indeed, Jon Snow is resurrected as Azor Ahai. And it doesn’t look like that character will show up at all next season. Rumors/theories persist that Jon Snow’s true identity/parentage will be revealed towards the end of the series. How that comes about is anyone’s guess.

Next season though looks like we’ll mostly see chaos utterly erupt throughout the realm. There’s a lot of points of conflict where nothing but death and major battles leave hundreds of thousands of bodies ready for the incoming White Walker fleet. With Jon Snow silenced, there won’t be anyone with a strong enough voice to inform the rest of the realm from reacting in time.

What about Ghost though? I suppose we’ll see bits and pieces of him as we did this season. He’ll make cameo appearances and show hints that he DOES know something. However, I doubt Dan and David will give this version of Ghost a voice much like how Bran as Summer lacks a human voice while worging. Perhaps, without being cooped up in Castle Black, Jon Snow as Ghost will be free to roam around a bit, perhaps joining up with the rest of the pack like Arya’s dire wolf Nymeria. If not finding Nymeria, perhaps Ghost might try to locate the missing Rickon or Bran or even Uncle Benjen.

The post Game of Thrones: Speculations on Jon Snow’s Fate appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.

Following his mourning over Daenerys’ state, he mentions that there are no known other family members beyond himself to aid her. In his case, his situation proves fruitless as he is both old and too distant to be of use. Yet just as he talks about this, we see the camera cut to Jon Snow entering. With the previous episode randomly discussing histories of both Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, the question becomes whether we are slowly seeing the confirmation of the popular R + L = J theory.

Right now, all evidence points to yes. However, it’s possible the situation can be a giant red herring as well. I doubt it though. This scene was very intentional and shows simple storytelling and film making devices without making things too obvious. Those who can pick up on the clues will and other people who are unfamiliar with the core story or theories can still perceive the allusion.

The more important aspect to this scene and theory in the scheme of things is the implications. Of course, Jon Snow learning of his parentage is of paramount importance to himself. Even then at this moment, outside of self-satisfaction that knowledge provides little else. The other popular theory is that Jon Snow potentially is Azor Ahai or the Prince that was Promised and that Rhaegar was obsessed with prophecy in order to create an heir.

It’s hard to say though whether being this so-called Prince that was Promised really mean much. The only thing we can assume is that Jon Snow does have limited powers of worging as does most of his family. Thus far in the TV series, we do not see any allusion towards these powers whereas in the books the evidence pretty much is there. Heck even at an Oxford talk, Dan and David (the producers of GoT) pretty much gave away this scenario when Kit Harrington seemingly in an accidental manner blurted out that he desired to become a dire wolf and the show producers cautioned him (and the audience) to wait for season 6.

Nonetheless, if there are any more powers that Jon Snow is meant to have, we have yet to see anything meaningful. Can he wield a magical sword to slay the White Walkers? Does he have the ability to tame dragons? And what about Daenerys or even Tyrion in all of this?

The post Game of Thrones: Season 5 Episode 5 Most Important Subtle Scene appeared first on Kontroversial Keith.