Report Card on Betting Starks: The Door
I would have liked to get this out earlier in the week, but it took me this long to get back to something resembling “OK.” It was one of the roughest weeks for Game of Thrones yet. We lost some absolute gems, we went down some time traveling worm holes, and there were multiple MASSIVE reveals that were so casually unraveled that I was left spinning. You could argue that the half-season finale needed some moments of grandeur, but I would tell you that unloading a ton of secrets in lieu of general, widespread plot acceleration is just nonsense. I certainly didn’t think we’d lose these characters or be given two deeply unsettling explanations for different things (ie White Walkers as Weapon of Mass Destruction and Hodor in a reduced mental state because Bran mind raped him during a time travel), but let’s see how I did with the rest of it.Title considerations — I thought the title of the episode (“The Door”) was going to vaguely refer to people crossing thresholds and being unable to reverse course. But in terms of characters, the first character I thought of was Bran. That was the right direction, as the door in question was vital to giving him pressure moments to escape the cave. But I would never have thought of Hodor. I suspected that the show revealing him in his younger, pre-Hodor days was in order to reveal that one of the Starks bonked him on the head and he lost a bit of his mental facilities. But no. Bran mind-raped him. Bran decided that Hodor would be sacrificed, and he executed that decision such that Bran would live and Hodor would die. Bran made the rest of Hodor’s life ONLY about holding a damn door. So now we have to think about Bran as (a potentially evil?) rewriter of history, and this has led the internet to go pretty insane (for instance, theory going around that Bran haunts Mad King Aerys and makes him “Mad,” setting off the chain of events leading up to the show). Now I do not subscribe to the Bran as catalyst for all of shows events throughout time theories, but we certainly will have to see him as a much more central character from here on out. He has powers, he sees all, and he can interfere in past events. This is wild.
Littlefinger to conspire with a Northern Lord? 35. 70. This hasn’t happened yet, but I feel the door is wide open for it. Sansa went all “I don’t want your help,” but she probably needs it. Getting a major Northern Lord to rise against the Boltons (with Littlefinger’s armies of the Vale as well) would be a major step to regaining Sansa’s trust. And as hard as it has been to put a finger on what… er, to determine Littlefinger’s overarching goals, it seems clear that a love of Catelyn has been central to his being for a long time. And when Catelyn died, it more or less transferred entirely to Sansa. Look for him to offer help that is not wanted in order to get back on Sansa’s good side.
Does Wyman Manderly appear? 35. 90. Well, his House was finally mentioned as a relatively more powerful one in the North, so hopefully we get to see him and his mermaid themed digs. It should be noted, however, that Jon and Sansa on the march to go rally some troops is hardly “conspiratorial,” so the way the Bastard Bowl happens on the show may differ from the Great Northern Conspiracy stuff in the books.
Is Umber double-crossing Ramsay? 50. 10. We will have to wait and see, but I still highly doubt it. The Stark kids taking their show on the road makes it unlikely that we need conspiracy to lead other Northern houses to raise their banners.
Does Ramsay send part of Rickon to Jon/Sansa? 20. 40. Rickon got a week off from being tortured, but that still has to be happening off-screen somewhere, right? However, with the Stark touring the Northern countryside, it would be hard for Ramsay to deliver a detached limb or finger or toe or ear to Jon or Sansa.
Does Bastard Bowl occur by episode 6? 20. 50. As I was unable to imagine so much shit going down around Bran beyond the Wall, I thought Bastard Bowl would be something of a midseason finale. It no longer seems like that will be the case (see traveling Stark comments above), which means this looming battle may take until episode 9 to find its way onscreen. Dammit.
Euron wins Kingsmoot? 70. 99. The big talk around the internet (see Jason Concepcion aka “the Maester” over at the Ringer) has been about the merits of giving the second speech. The show had me going for a little while. Making it into a two-party town hall (in the books there are a few other men who would also claim the Salt Throne) and letting Theon give such an impassioned speech really made me think Yara could rule the Iron Islands. But sexism and greed took over before long, and she was unceremoniously cast aside. Thankfully, being cast aside allowed her to get away before Euron, after a brief drowning, decided that Yara and Theon should be killed. But the second set of traveling brother and sister were able to get away, and hopefully they end up in the far east to advance Daenerys’ plot line!
Get damms29’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Arya puts on a new face soon? 40. 70. Still bogged down in the canals, but we did get to see a big ole D! Two warts? Who cares, the guy was packing a monster and that’s enough for me. In all seriousness, introducing some circuitous Arya plot about her assassinating someone who isn’t in the books during episode 5 is really, really annoying. I hope it comes to a quick conclusion and somehow sets her on a course for Westeros, but I am not holding onto very much hope for that.
Faceless men reveal larger Westerosi aims? 25. 20. I didn’t specify an episode for this to occur by, but I clearly meant “in the next few weeks.” Now that we’ve been set on a new and frustrating course toward this actress lady, maybe we won’t find out about Jaqen’s brethren’s goals for a while. There’s a chance this new path leads us to some significant reveal, but I doubt it.
Sam makes first landfall in Braavos/Stormlands/Reach/Other? 10/10/70/10. 25/5/50/20. Looks like he will pass right by Old Town and head back to his parents’ house. This could be interesting as Randall Tarly 1) is a well-regarded soldier and leader and 2) possesses a blade of Valyrian steel, Heartsbane. Sam (I am pretty sure) knows how important dragonglass and dragonsteel are in the fight against the White Walkers, but what good can he do with a single sword?
Jaime leads assault on Sept of Baelor? 70. 90. So it didn’t happen this week, but it didn’t NOT happen either as we did not see King’s Landing at all. If it happens this week, I still win.
Daenerys to Meereen next? 90. 70. First she had to give Jorah an impossible task, but now she’s free to go wherever! I think it will wind up being Meereen, and just in time to deliver the city from some evil that besets it. But let’s see how quickly she can move. Do note, however, that if Meereen is attacked and is infected with a plague of sorts and the city can’t get food or clean water, it will be super hard to provide for her new 100,000 followers.
Hound and Cleganebowl? 30? 80. I will simply copy what I had last week: “Let’s go!!! I hope Hound is revealed to be alive around episode seven, and then shortly after we get Cleganebowl. I expect that duel to last for the entirety of episode eight. Please! Please please please!!!”
Brienne and Tormund? 85. 70. C’mon Brienne! As cute as I think they’d be together, we have not once seen Brienne relax on the show. Always serious, always tight. Even after she delivered Sansa to Jon, her first move was to tell Davos and Melisandre that she didn’t like them. Also, she has now been sent to the Riverlands (maybe her plot in the books becomes really important so she absolutely had to go to where she belongs!), so Tormund will never get this. Or at least he won’t for now.
Daenerys is bad? 5. 51. Giving her most loyal servant a completely impossible task? No, she’s totally a heroine. Yeah. Right. Cannot wait for her to be covered in the blood of innocents or for her to eat the heart of a small child. The one thing in her favor is that Bran ALSO broke a bit bad this week (effectively decided that Hodor’s entire life was worth ruining (and sacrificing) so that he could live at a later date). Not all the heroes will end up being bad. That being said, Dany is still the bad one.
That’ll do it. I couldn’t decide who to dedicate the above to among Summer and Hodor, so I chose Leaf, the Child of the Forest with blue fire grenades. At least you’re finally dead and you can no longer advance the plot of Prometheus within the Game of Thrones universe.
