Ah, I had missed the connection there with Jorah/Snow, cool stuff.

Nor do we know why Benjen Stark took the black either.

Re: Father Mormont, from my understanding he took the black sometime after his son was exiled out of Westeros. Just recalling from scene in season1 where the Lord Commander was talking about Jorah leaving the sword, it seems unlikely that Jorah just left it at their house and then someone shipped it to the Wall for the father to get it back...

Who knows, maybe Ned wanted Jorah's head but the father took the black to commute his sentence?

Was I the only one expecting to see the smoke baby change into this??

Alright, children. Now pay attention.

Thats fuggin awesome

Spoiler alert: they find a time machine tonight

I guess this episode caused a loss of all support from the gay posters on this thread.

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I guess this episode caused a loss of all support from the gay posters on this thread.

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Ha...true dat.

But half of that duo is still alive....so there might still be SOME love.

And I am officially a fan of Jaqen H'ghar!!!!!!!!!!

arya's scene with tywin was sooooo omgwtfbadass. that last exchange between them...

"they say he can't be killed."
"and do you believe that?"
"no...anyone can be killed."

and then the staredown between them...ahhh it's so fun to watch two incredible actors, one an accomplished steely man and the other an unbelievably strong young girl, go at it in a scene like that. one of my top scenes of the season i think so far

You need a warm towel there hoss? That was a great scene though. Thought Brienne and Cat was solid too. Been a while since I read that book but I felt like it rang true to the exchange from the book.

good call on the brienne/cat scene. there are so many solid scenes every week i always forget the decent ones cause of the wow-worthy ones, but that definitely kept the same feel as the book

Dany is smokin hot but am I the only one who wishes her scenes would get tfo the way for now? I was going to be furious if we ended the episode in Qarth and didn't get back to Harrenhall. But alas

normally i'd agree, she's been boring this season, but i actually like how Qarth is portrayed. i was surprised they kept in some of what they did from the book, but it worked. just like season 1, her supporting cast makes her story interesting - first it was drogo, viserys, and jorah, and now it's jorah, the spice merchant, pyatt pree, and xaro xhoan daxos. plus doreah is hot so i'm okay just watching her play with dragons all day.

Seriously, Doreah is ****ing smoking.

Thoughts:

Jaqen is a badass
Arya/Tywin conversation was $$$
Tyrion, as always, $$$
Brienne kicking ass is always nice

Can't wait for next week.

I would give up the three dragons for three minutes with Doreah. 2 and a half of those minutes would be me weeping in her arms and 15-20 seconds would be me tearing my pants and belt off.

Dude, let's be real here: 2 pumps. Maybe the most glorious 2 pumps of my life though.

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Nor do we know why Benjen Stark took the black either.

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this is NOT a spoiler, but typically the reason a younger/est child born into a noble house MIGHT take the black is because once their older siblings take over the house and have an heir of their own, in this case Ned (since his older brother Brandon was killed and he became the Lord of Winterfell)the younger sibling (Benjen) loses any claim to titles or land because Ned's trueborn son Robb is now the next in the line of succession.

That's why when Stannis and Renly were parleying Stannis offered to make Renly his heir UNTIL he had a son of his own if he joined Stannis' cause and denounced his claim to the throne.

as to Benjen's personal reasons I do not know why he joined the black other than it is an honorable service to the Kingdom for a noble lad with no hope for land or title

And hers, amirite?

I think I must have missed something but I am a bit confused about Dany's host at Qarth. When he showed her the vault and was telling her that nothing could open it, I thought he was insinuating that he needed her dragons to melt it so he could get the riches inside, but then he said he had a key. I guess I didn't understand the entire exchange and why he was proposing to marry her. Could someone clairfy? Thanks!

I think he was just point out what a big swinging D he was in the city since he had such a badass vault, letting he use her imagination as to what riches were inside.

He was bragging about how strong the vault was that he had built, and using that to show how rich he was, and how much wealth he could put at Dany's disposal if they were to marry.

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this is NOT a spoiler, but typically the reason a younger/est child born into a noble house MIGHT take the black is because once their older siblings take over the house and have an heir of their own, in this case Ned (since his older brother Brandon was killed and he became the Lord of Winterfell)the younger sibling (Benjen) loses any claim to titles or land because Ned's trueborn son Robb is now the next in the line of succession.

That's why when Stannis and Renly were parleying Stannis offered to make Renly his heir UNTIL he had a son of his own if he joined Stannis' cause and denounced his claim to the throne.

as to Benjen's personal reasons I do not know why he joined the black other than it is an honorable service to the Kingdom for a noble lad with no hope for land or title

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I'm not so sure I agree with this theory. I remember in Season 1, they made mention of Bran and Rickon becoming Robb's bannermen. So why couldn't Ben be Ned's bannerman? Martin/the show does not make it clear why Ben Stark took the Black in Season 1 or thus far into Season 2.

Didn't Ned tell Jon that every generation, one member of the Stark family has been called on to join the watch, and that Jon was a Stark, regardless of what his last name was?

Ben probably drew the short straw.

well Ben also wouldn't be married off to another family since he had no chance at being a lord, so he had-1) no titles, 2) no land, and 3) no marriage prospects and yes given the Starks history of having people on the wall it makes sense that he would choose that route because it's honorable and gives him a chance to make something of himself

I don't think any of this is spoilers but it is a bit of backstory.

It is true that "spare heirs" often join the NW, the Kingsguard, or become Maesters (like Maester Aemon at the Wall who was a "spare heir" Targareyan as revealed in Season 1). All of which involve giving up all claims and taking no wives. The Starks typically have joined the NW because of their closeness to the Wall (far more than any other House) but Benjen likely was not required to do so and chose it but we simply don't know even in the books Any further speculation would require a spoiler fest and it doesn't really add to the story.

The primary reason that "spare heirs" or *******s join the NW or other organizations is because it allows the chance to be something. It is rare that heirs join these organizations without a compelling reason (the 2 most interesting in the show are Jaime who would be Tywin's heir and Jorah Mormount who was Lord of House Mormount).

"Spare heirs" still have value though to a House. Always happy to marry off sons to bannermen's families in order to A)show those Houses respect and B)insure their loyalty, though daughters are obviously the more common way. The Karstarks are also one of the Stark bannermen that were started by Starks. Some other prominent "spare heirs" are Kevan Lannister (who we see with Tywin virtually every time and is Lancel's father), Loras Tyrell, and Stannis and Renly Baratheon. Of those only Loras joined Renly's KG (not hard to know why).

Ned also only said, "Starks have been manning the Wall for thousands of years" but did not specify any generational requirement.

I didn't notice on the first viewing, but WTH "The Tickler" had his head turned a full 180°.

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I didn't notice on the first viewing, but WTH "The Tickler" had his head turned a full 180°.

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Didn't notice that the first time through but just glanced back at it on HBOgo. NICE!!!



Can someone explain something to me? The names that Arya is repeating at night...Joffrey, Ilyn Payne, the Hound, the Mountain, and the Tickler. Joffrey is obvious...Payne killed her father...again obvious. Why the Hound? Is it because he killed the butcher's boy? Or is there something I'm forgetting? And the Mountain and the Tickler got on her "list" very quickly as well. They didn't kill any of her friends (or at least they didn't show it)...so why are they on it so fast? Just because they were mean and cruel to others?

And also, can someone post the three names she gave the guy to kill for her? For some odd reason, I was daydreaming during that part and woke up at the end when the tickler fell from the sky.

Well the mountain did just kill Lommy, and the tickler was torturing a lot of captors. The Hound's killing of the butcher boy was the only thing we really got in the show (i think?), but we're missing a lot of details around him and the mountain.

She's only named the Tickler so far.

And yeah, she's after the hound because he killed the butcher's kid.

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And also, can someone post the three names she gave the guy to kill for her? For some odd reason, I was daydreaming during that part and woke up at the end when the tickler fell from the sky.

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The tickler is all that she gave him

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Well the mountain did just kill Lommy, and the tickler was torturing a lot of captors. The Hound's killing of the butcher boy was the only thing we really got in the show (i think?), but we're missing a lot of details around him and the mountain.

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Wasn't the Mountain also choosing who would be tortured? Don't remember if he was doing the torturing as well.