My Top 20 Favorite Game of Thrones Moments

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Game of Thrones Season 6- Character Catchup

      It's April 1st! That means that the new season of Game of Thrones is only 24 days away! Seven blessings upon us and all hail the Lord of Light! It feels like it's been a long, long time since poor Jon Snow was fatally (??) stabbed in the chest by the Night's Watch (including that little twerp Olly), and not a day has gone by since the Season 5 finale aired that I haven't seen some sort of fan theory about Snow. Will he return from the dead? Will it be because of Melisandre and the Lord of Light's magic? Or, will the Lord of Light come in the form of Beric Dondarrion and the Brothers without Banners? If he does come back, will it be as a human? And if he does come back as a human, will he be "lesser" than he used to be, as Beric Dondarrion claims? Or even better, WILL HE COME BACK AS GHOST, HIS DIREWOLF? And if so, will Bran warg into him?! THERE ARE SO MANY QUESTIONS.
     While Jon may indeed be coming back, there are several other casualties of last season whose fates are more certain: Shireen Baratheon is certainly not coming back from the fiery grave her father sent her to, and it's unlikely that Stannis Baratheon survived the sword to the face that Brienne served him last season. House Baratheon is effectively ended as of this season, making the giant wheel that Daenerys intends to break one spoke weaker. Myrcella Baratheon (Lannister) died in her Uncle/Dad's arms on their boat ride from Dorne, so Cersei is certainly down one more child/neice. And Mance Rayder, the regal and intimidating leader of the Wildlings, likely will not be returning from his simultaneous roasting/arrow through the heart. So we're down some noble characters, but I'm sure more will rise from the ashes. For now, let's catch up with the characters we are expecting to see this season, and make some guesses for what fates await them.

       If you were to ask me which characters I most fear for this season, I would say Margaery and Loras Tyrell. When we last saw Margaery, she was rotting in a cell awaiting trial by the High Sparrow for perjury, after lying under oath when asked if she knew of her brother Loras' "unnatural inclinations." Loras, whose homosexuality has long been an ill-kept secret of King's Landing, is also in prison, but hasn't been seen by the viewers since he was hauled away. I greatly like Margaery and Loras, and want both to walk away from this season unscathed, but Thrones isn't that type of show. As Tyrion quipped several seasons ago, "If you think this is going to end happily, you haven't been paying attention." If Margaery and Loras have to go (and I fear they do,) King's Landing and the Queen Regent will have to face the fiery wrath of wealthy, prickly Grandma Tyrell, whose money is more or less keeping the people of King's Landing from starving. I feel that if Margaery and Loras are murdered on the alter of their "sins," with full sanctioning from Cersei, Lady Olenna's might will show in its full course, and the Seven Hells help anyway who gets in her way.

      When we last saw Sansa Stark and Theon "Reek" Greyjoy, they were both battered survivors of Ramsay Bolton's cruelty and abuse. Poor Theon is a shell of the man he formerly was, brainwashed and beaten half out of his mind, and though he was definitely due some sort of comeuppance for his role in betraying the Starks, to my mind he has more than paid for those crimes, and some redemption on his part would be a welcome relief. Sansa, for her part, has been slowly progressing from a timid, fearful little girl to a strong woman, and despite enduring one of the most unbearable scenes of sexual assault ever seen on the show (which says a lot) found the courage to jump over the castle wall with Theon while Ramsay was away attacking Stannis' army. The final shot of them in the Season 5 finale featured the two hand in hand, in a Romeo and Juliet sort of embrace, leaping from the castle wall. We don't know the outcome of that fall (it seems inconceivable that they would walk away entirely uninjured) but my guess is that they will head toward the Wall, under the belief that Jon Snow is there. (Remember, Ramsay mentioned to Sansa last season that Jon had become Lord Commander.) If they make it to the Wall, it will be yet another infuriating scene of the Stark children barely missing each other, with Jon's death so recent. Does this mean that Sansa and Theon will encounter White Walkers? That would be quite a twist. Or, perhaps Theon and Sansa will begin journeying toward the Iron Islands, to be reunited with Balon and Yara Greyjoy? Will this end with the Greyjoys in open rebellion against the Boltons? We'll see!

     Way back in Season 1, Cersei and Jaime Lannister were the closest thing we had to a "traditional" love story (and it speaks to how unique Thrones is that our "love story" was between incestuous twins.) Since then, war and separation and the death of a son/nephew have pulled them apart and left a cold rift between them. Jaime's long absence due to being captured by Catelyn Stark left Cersei feeling abandoned, however irrationally, which she never recovered from, and the loss of his strength and ability- his sword hand- makes him more useless to her than before. And of course, there was the ltitle matter of Joffrey. Dying at his own wedding, in full view of his King's Guard/Uncle/Dad, destroyed what remained of Cersei's affection for Jaime. When she sent him to Dorne last season, I believe it was for two reasons: to get him out of her way so she could run King's Landing as she liked, and also to give him a task to prove himself. Bring Myrcella back to her, prove his worth and strength again, and do it without your sword hand.
     Well. Needless to say, Jaime's mission to Dorne was less than successful. He did in fact bring the Princess back, but, well...she's dead, so I doubt that's what Cersei had in mind. Another of her three children gone, buried in the golden shroud promised to her by Maggy the Frog so long ago. I'm most looking forward to the scene in Season 6 when Jaime has to explain himself, but also has to hear and see what Cersei has been through. As of now, he has no clue that by arming the Faith Militant, Cersei brought along her own downfall, ending in that horrible but amazing to watch march through King's Landing, naked and humiliated. These two have a lot to catch up on, to say the least. How will they react? Will they immediately murder all them members of the Faith Militant? (I would.) Also, Jaime has brought with him Prince Trystane of Dorne, who until now was coming as a goodwill ambassador, but now can be used as vengeance. Does this mean Dorne will be in all out war, as Ellaria Sand hoped? 

   Season 5 was quite a big one for Arya Stark, the scrappiest of the Stark girls. She began last season hoping to become an assassin among the Faceless Men, but found that "becoming no one" was harder and less fulfilling than it seemed at first. Much has been made of the importance of your name as part of your identity. Sansa spent last season rising to the nobility of her birth as a Stark (such as her great telling-off of Myranda in the bathtub: "I'm Sansa Stark of Winterfell, and you can't frighten me.") Arya has similarly had trouble shedding her name and history, and when she abandoned a mission set forth by the Many Faced God in order to graphically murder Meryn Trant, who has been on her Kill List since Season 2, she faced a serious consequence: blindness. It's hard to tell where the Faceless Men plot will go from here- it was frankly hard to follow it last season too- but now Arya's blind. Does that mean that she'll finally adapt to being "no one?" Or will it make her cling to her name and history harder than ever? Also, will she come across another person on her list? Who else could be going to Braavos sometime soon? Ah, what might be. 

       King Tommen's brief reign has been full of serious ups and downs. He got to lose his virginity to his queen, Margaery, which I'm sure was amazing (as he stated, "This is all I want to do, all day, every day, for the rest of my life.) But, he's also been a small, naive pawn between two powerful women who have their claws dug into him: Queen Margaery, eager to be rid of her overbearing mother in law, and Queen Regent Cersei, who is quite eager to be rid of her smug daughter in law and not at all eager to be sent back to Casterly Rock. It's quite a lot for a 13 year old King who just wants to play with his cat and get laid to deal with. And THEN, to make matters worse, both of these women get put in jail and he has no authority to do anything about it. You can't help but feel sorry for Tommen, but frankly, I'm also eager for him to be a casualty of this season. With all the Baratheon/Lannister children dead, and no other heirs to the Throne, King's Landing would be plunged into a serious tumult, leaving a space wide open for, say, Daenerys Targaryen to ride in on a dragon and take over. Will Tommen make it to Season 7? I seriously doubt it, but we'll see.

   Speaking of Daenerys, her subplot took a seriously unexpected turn at the end of last season. Having narrowly escaped murder by the Sons of the Harpy, after a tumultuous year of learning that ruling is significantly harder than conquering, Daenerys now finds herself in a faraway field with a sleepy dragon and a hoard of Dothraki horseriders. I have literally no prediction for how this will go. Surely the Mother of Dragons will want to return to Meereen, if only because her other two dragons and her army of Unsullied are there. This will be one subplot that will keep me guessing all the way to the end, I'm sure (and hopefully, unlike the silly Dorne subplot of last season, will actually be fully thought out and entertaining.)