#and WW would always deliver things on time exactly as it was asked from him

[ohitslen]

College (uni??) AU catering to my own interests as it should always be hehe :)

[fortunatelylori]

You may have answered this already but what are your thoughts on a Targ baby? I'm 50/50 on a pregnancy with more certainty on it never being born if she is pregnant. Story wise there really is no reason for a baby. The only thing it does is give Dany a baby she didn't think she could have show Jon honoring his vow of not having a bastard by marrying her. So foreshadowing a Targ baby is either a legit foreshadowing or a misdirect.

This misdirect can be a complete mislead where nothing happens or it can be a misdirect where if it does happen there will be a twist. Because let’s be real this foreshadowing has also helped with the whole Dany is Fire and Jon is Ice and together they make miracles. (I want to add real quick that for me this Targ foreshadowing has nothing to do with Sansa writing Cat’s wrong and loving a bastard baby. She already loves that bastard baby. Cat not loving Jon had to do with Ned’s choices

and what she assumed about Jon’s mother. It was about their marriage.) This is why I’m 50/50 because I can see it as a misdirect which can be for 2 reasons. I do think it might happen but not exactly how people think it will. (Targ miracle baby). Jon saying he will never father a bastard. After learning what Ned did for him and the choice he made I can see Jon making a similar choice. Choosing to make the baby a bastard for whatever reasons. My guess is to go against Dany.

As far as Dany maybe she has something to do with the child not being born like she did with her Drogo baby?

Hey, nonnie!

I swear this Targ baby foreshadowing business will be the death of me. lol I actually haven’t answered any asks regarding this but this theoretical “b0atie” (isn’t that what the cool kids are calling it these days?) is just everywhere. 

I really don’t know what to say about it honestly …

My main gripe with this baby business is that I don’t like that it’s being brought into the story, particularly since Cersei is apparently pregnant as well. What is this? Days of Our lives?!? How is this supposed to be remotely interesting to me? We have a zombie apocalypse to get through, a Dance of Dragons, Jonsa to finally happen as well as a host of other well loved characters that I want to see through to their endgames. Why the hell bring the whole idea of “b0atie” into this?!? I really, really would hate for this theoretically baby to rob me of precious time with Arya, Brienne, Jaime, Tormund, Bran etc., etc. I genuinely do not care about D*ny and Cersei’s baby drama and in many ways it cheapens their characters. They have enough to do without having to check if they’ve gotten their periods. Just leave well enough alone. 

My second and biggest gripe with b0atie is not so much Sansa related, as is Jon Snow related. Fathering a bastard has been Jon’s greatest nightmare to date. This man stopped himself from having sex with a prostitute because, and I quote: “I didn’t want to father a Snow. It’s not a good life for a child”. This would be a catastrophic event for Jon and he’s been through enough of those, thank you very much.

But … since Cersei is actually going around telling people she’s pregnant and the writers essentially held a huge, neon sign above D*ny and her womb, the b0atie and the lion cub will come into play one way or another. I have no doubt about that. So I don’t think it’s a complete misdirect. 

Now … the real question is will these babies be born? I’m going to go with no on that one. The fact that both Cersei and D*ny’s fertility is brought up at about the same time feels to this simple brain to mean they are paralleling these two supposed pregnancies. Which would make sense since both Cersei and D*ny were given children related prophecies. Cersei’s been told that she will have 3 children and they will all die while D*ny has been told that Drogo will come back to her when her womb quickens and she’s able to give birth to a living child (meaning never). 

We know that Cersei’s baby, if she indeed is pregnant, won’t be born. Does that tell us anything about D*ny and b0atie? I would say yes. Now if you think D*ny’s story is one of triumph and heroism, this might seem like a juxtaposition instead of a parallel. So where Cersei fails to have the baby, D*ny delivers b0atie and she and Jon will be the happy parents of a lizard controlling second coming of Renesmee Cullen (Gods! That’s a stupid name!). Yay! Fun!

If you have been around my blog for long enough, you know that I don’t believe D*ny is the hero of this story but rather the ultimate antagonist, hidden under our noses since the beginning of this story. So going by that, the reason why Cersei and D*ny seem to be sharing this baby story line is in order to draw parallels between the two of them, instead of setting them up as foils. Which means, by extension, that D*ny will not give birth or at least not to a baby. A lot of things can come into play here, of course. D*ny could in fact become pregnant but lose the baby. D*ny might think she is pregnant when she isn’t, in a play on Bloody Mary with her phantom pregnancies which would keep in line with the historical references that GOT/ASOIAF are littered with. 

My favorite theory, though, and one I’ve seen only a few people mention (sorry I don’t have a link on this. I saw it a while back) is that D*ny will give birth … she’ll just give birth to a shadow baby. GOT/ASOIAF has always played with the idea of monstrous motherhood: Lysa Arryn comes to mind, D*ny and her dragons, Cersei and Jofferey and … Melisandre and her shadow king killing baby. 

We know Melisandre is coming back in season 8. Now … it’s pretty obvious that Jon isn’t going to welcome her back with open arms. He promised he would hang her for the murder of Shireen and Jon is a man of his word (or he tries to be … lol). D*ny on the other hand took a liking to Mel instantly, once she heard of the possibility of being even more special than she already thinks she is and adding a new title to her list of monikers: “The Princess that was Promised”  ( I agree with Tyrion. It just doesn’t have the same ring to it :))) ). 

Mel’s intentions are good in that she wants to stop the Long Night and the WW. However she is a religious fanatic with a penchant for burning people alive. She really did a number on Stannis and Stannis was much harder to sawy than D*ny would be. Stannis didn’t believe in the Azor Ahai prophecy, at least not for the most part. D*ny is already inclined to believe just about anything that confirms how awesome she is. So I could see Mel working on D*ny much in the same way she did on Stannis. And what better way of ensuring D*ny trusts her and keeps her around than to give her what Mirri Maz Duur took away from her? 

Of course, Mel’s plans are never truly successful in the long run and she bungles everything she touches (with the exception of bringing Jon back - incidentally the one thing Davos had to talk her into doing) so instead of a baby, D*ny gives birth to a shadow. It would also be a nice parallel to Rhaego and Mirri’s description of him as being monstrous and having been dead for years. And also in another parallel, since I also believe D*ny is Azor Ahai, she will end up burning Melisandre, fulfilling Mel’s dream of dying in the service of the true savior but flipping the whole story on its head because Azor Ahai would not be a savior, she would be an antagonist on the same level as the Night King and Mel would die basically for nothing. 

That’s essentially all I got on that, nonnie and I’m sticking with it until Renesmee- come-again rips it from my trembling fingers! :)))))

Thanks for the ask!

[sheikah]

In the books wasn’t there 3 treasons, and one of them was a treason of love or something? Maybe daario will be danys final treason? I guess it could happen but honestly daario and Cersei just sounds odd to me. Even if he’s bitter and wants revenge, he knows exactly what dany is capable of and knows he’d be on the losing end.

Hey, anon. I’m going to use this ask to make a post about all of these “leaks” in general. Hope you don’t mind. The supposed leaks can be read here. More of my answer under the cut. 

Yes–in Dany’s book visit to HOTU she is warned of three treasons and one is “for love.”

Because of that, I agree that the idea of Daario working against her to be possible. But if I’m really analyzing it, I think that Daario leading the Golden Company would be the betrayal for gold–because he would be getting paid by Cersei/Euron/The Iron Bank, and I don’t think he would fight Dany “for love” of Cersei. It doesn’t add up. And I also don’t believe Daario was genuinely in love with Dany, so I can’t see his alliance with Cersei as like a spurned lover’s revenge. 

So to answer your question, Daario could be the final treason. But I think he fits better into the treason for gold than for love. 

Anyway, I also agree that it seems odd for this Daario plotline to be legitimate at all. So I’m going to address first the reasons I think the “leaks” are suspect. 

1. Tyrion and Varys are not mentioned. To be fair to OP, OP claims to only know details of episode 1 via a conversation with a source, and a few scattered details about the rest of the season thereafter. So possibly episode 1 is not heavy on Tyrion or Varys activity. However, OP didn’t mention this (at least not at the time that I read the leaks. He/she could have edited. I haven’t checked) which tells me Tyrion and Varys slipped their mind, which tells me that they just made up this episode plot and left them out. Say what you will about D&D and their flaws this past season, but Tyrion would be part of an episode they wrote in which everyone gets to Winterfell. He’s a mediator and would certainly be involved in the Jon parentage conflict, as well as some sort of interaction with Sansa at the very least. Tyrion is one of the big 5. He’s going to be around. 

2. The way OP described certain parts of the plot sounds “fanficy.” For example, they are vague and not very detailed when it comes to several plotlines, but they described in great detail how Jon supposedly kisses the tears away from Dany’s face when she cries about the Night King taking over Viserion. 

It also sounds overly cheesy and oddly detailed that Jon tells Arya that seeing her again feels better than coming back from the dead. Not to mention that Jon didn’t seem to enjoy the feeling of coming back from the dead at all. 

3. Certain parts of this don’t make sense considering what we know of last season. My understanding of the final shots of 7.07 is that Bran used ravens to spy on the Night King again, and that he was able to see the Night King riding Viserion and blowing a hole in The Wall near Eastwatch. You can see the scene again here. 

Based on this, the leaker’s claim that the season opens with Bran seeing this seems a little odd. We should believe that Bran already saw it, and instead begin the season by dealing with the aftermath. With only 6 episodes left, I can’t see a re-hash of this scene, a scene which already delivered its emotional payload and would be a weak opening for the final season imo. 

Furthermore, the leaker claims this revelation disturbs Bran and that he is so bothered by it, he is distracted and doesn’t address Jon’s parentage with him right away when Jon returns to Winterfell. I can see why from a writing perspective they would hold off on this revelation for tension, but it shouldn’t be because of Bran’s supposed emotional turmoil. Season 7 did its best to convince us that Bran no longer experiences emotional turmoil. This would be very inconsistent. 

4. Why would Jaime swear his sword to Dany upon arriving at Winterfell? We already know that Dany has abandoned the mentality of demanding oaths of fealty considering all that is going on, so we must assume Jaime does this of his own volition. But it doesn’t make sense. Jaime is disillusioned about Cersei, yes. But disliking Cersei does not equal respect for Dany. Jaime tried to murder her in 7.04. I’m not sure he’s going to be kneeling to her any time soon. His oath is to help in the war against the WW. That doesn’t require an oath to Dany personally. 

5. Speaking of Jaime, I think his death is more likely than Brienne’s. I see Jaime finally redeeming himself as “Kingslayer” by possibly slaying the Night King himself and maybe dying in the process. I know this is a long shot but I would love for him to be the one to deliver the final blow to NK as the true Kingslayer and one the realm would remember fondly forever. I do think it’s likely the Jaime/Brienne romance will proceed and that one of them will die. I just think it’s more likely to be Jaime than Brienne. 

6. Daario leading the Golden Company seems odd to me. How would he become the leader of this group when last we heard, he was maintaining peace and freedom in the former slave cities? When Daario was a mercenary, he was a Second Sun, not a member of the Golden Company. This seems strange to me.  

7. OP claims to know nothing of the ending. I think this is awfully convenient. OP claims to know that Jon and Dany stay together despite Jon’s angst over parentage reveal. OP claims to know the ending of Jaime/Brienne storyline. OP claims to know that Jon and Dany are likely to survive because Melisandre dies to save them. But OP doesn’t know specifics of Night King’s death? Doesn’t know for sure who survives the series? What kind of scenario exists where OP is told all of these super specific details but doesn’t actually know the ending? It seems like OP just didn’t want to write that part because their “tidbits” remain easier to swallow without the finality of the series’ end there as part of them. The other “leaks” presented ludicrous endings and were immediately shut down for it. Without presenting an ending at all, OP seems more credible in some ways. But it also makes me doubt them. 

8. OP never mentions Dany’s pregnancy plot until prompted in the comments. Again, just like Tyrion and Varys, this strikes me as odd. If there is indeed a Targaryen baby, which OP says there is, this would be a huge plot point. So for OP to know this, as they claim to in the comments, but leave it out of their description of the plot in the post itself, makes no sense. This tells me again that OP is making all of this up, forgot about the Targ baby, and had to cover their ass when it was brought up in the comments. 

All that being said, of all the leaks so far, these were some I was most inclined to believe. Full disclosure: that might be because these leaks are the only ones so far that don’t give us a sadistically horrible ending for Jonerys. So maybe I was ready to accept these simply because of my Jonerys obsession. But I do think there are other reasons to give these a little more credit than other “leaks” we’ve seen thus far. 

1. The Greyjoy plot makes sense. I’ve seen other fake leaks that present Euron as the real threat and villain of season 8, as the last man standing after Night King and Cersei fall. In these theories, Euron is some sort of evil mastermind that manages to kill many principle characters. I just don’t see that. So this leak sounds closer to the mark. We can already see that Cersei’s agreement with Euron is fragile and that she is using him. When he discovers that, he might very well go back to the Iron Islands to protect what’s his or gather his forces to retaliate. 

We’ve also now seen the beginnings of Theon’s redemption arc that I personally believe will culminate in saving Yara. Theon saving Yara wouldn’t be that significant if Euron is still in King’s Landing with Cersei instead of at Pike posing a threat to Theon’s rescue mission. So all of what the leaker presents in this regard sounds right to me. 

I also think that Yara ultimately dying despite Theon’s efforts is in keeping with the tone of the series. We can’t have everything we want and I would be sad but not surprised if Yara is killed. It would also be the final straw to shake Theon out of his indecisiveness and inaction–his rage over this could believably compel him to kill Euron, providing a fitting and satisfying end to that subplot. 

2. I’ve always thought that Arya would admire Dany, and the leaker says as much. Arya is canonically aware of Visenya Targaryen and even the name of her sword. It’s not a stretch to think that Arya would look at Dany–a Targaryen woman who is brave enough to ride into battle alongside her men, a woman who tamed three dragons–and see her childhood hero, Visenya Targaryen, a warrior queen. It also fits with Arya’s character to trust someone based on Jon’s opinion, and according to OP, Jon still defends Dany to the Northerners, and Arya would see that. 

3. Even though I question it above, I don’t think the Daario plot is as crazy as others seem to think. Everyone is happy to constantly remind that there are only 6 episodes left. That being the case, I would be very surprised to see a host of new characters introduced as the captains of the Golden Company, because no matter who the writers choose, they will be a new character to show!canon. Having Daario lead the Company doesn’t make sense, especially to more invested fans like us. But the GA would probably enjoy the angst of him landing on Westeros to oppose Dany, and would also like a familiar face instead of a new character as the leader of the GC who only shows up briefly to likely be killed off a couple of episodes later. 

I also don’t think it’s that surprising that Daario could sleep with Cersei. One of the things that Dany always lamented about Daario in the books is that he clearly loved her for what she was, not who she was. Daario is arrogant and enjoys a challenge. He loved Dany because she was an impressive conquest–the Mother of Dragons, the Queen of Meereen. She was formidable in every way. He admired her power as much as her beauty. 

Dany on the other hand, was taken in by Daario’s persistence and charm. In other words, he’s good with women.

Now take Cersei. Despite her inability to truly oppose Dany’s and Jon’s forces, she is still Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. She is still a beautiful woman, the Light of the West. She is exactly Daario’s type. She is also no prude. Cersei has slept with inappropriate men besides Jaime before, and in the book she even subtly propositioned Ned Stark in an attempt to save herself when he revealed that he knew the truth about twincest and the illegitimacy of her children. So sleeping with a man casually, or with a seemingly unlikely man, is not OOC for Cersei. I don’t think that after suffering the loss of Jaime and the miscarriage of their last child, that Cersei would be in a position of confidence. She might crave the attention and comfort of a man like Daario who is 1. attractive 2. charming and 3. (assuming he really is the leader of the GC) a powerful ally. 

And of course, these two sleeping together would explain why Euron ditches Cersei, which I fully expect to happen.

4. The Melisandre story works. Sort of. I don’t really know what “army” she could pull together from Volantis but we know she’s leaving Westeros, we know there must be a reason. We know she knows about the WW and wants to prevent their destruction of humanity. We also know that according to what she told Varys in 7.03, she will return to Westeros and die there. 

Considering all of this, her dying in some way to save Jon and Dany after bringing aid doesn’t strike me as crazy. I think it’s fitting, actually. She’s another dynamic character who has changed a lot over the seasons and who has seen the error of her prophecies and her assumptions, but I think her belief in Jon and Dany and what they could do for the realm is genuine. She also said she had been ready to die for a long time. So her dying to save them makes sense. 

And of course, no one is kinder or a better judge of character than Dadvos. I am totally on board with him forgiving her in the end, after seeing that she gave her life to try and right her mistakes. 

5. As I said above, it does make sense to me to hold off on Jon’s parentage reveal immediately upon seeing Bran, so that part sounds in keeping with a good plot structure for the final season. 

OP’s descriptions of Jon’s reaction are also in line with what I’ve been saying–that Jon will handle this revelation the way he advised Theon to handle his own identity crisis. I think it sounds very in-character for Jon to accept his heritage from both families and to ultimately embrace Dany and their love despite the complications. Overall, I don’t believe this is a true leak. But parts of it sound okay, and we need to keep that in mind if we are interested in a potential real leak in the future. Because if one were to come about, it’s entirely possible that some of this information might overlap. After all, some fan theories have been correct in the past. 

So we can disregard this leak and we should. But I’m not going to dismiss the whole thing outright because to do so might be to dismiss or overlook a future, genuine leak the way many people did with Lads. After all, the wight hunt sounded ridiculous–and imo it kind of was. But it was real. Who knows what D&D are capable of lol?

[kitten1618x]

GoT Afterthoughts 7x03 The Queen's Justice (Jonsa Edition) SPOILERS

I’m sorry for the delay, but ffs this is LONG! Well ...now we know that this week's episode title was def. referring to Cersei, let's get to it. 

We begin this week with foreboding music -Jon and Davos riding the crashing waves onto the shores of Dragonstone -which I still highly prefer the exterior to the interior -though, I suppose it fits the "mood". Little bit of banter between the boys, and after a friendly introduction and a smiling face, Missandei asks for their weapons. A skeptical and non-to-pleased looking Jon obeys, then turns to watch warily while the Dothraki take their rowboat as well. Okay Gendry, you can row up at any time now ...we may need you as the getaway boat. 

So they proceed up the long winding staircase (which has more steps than Dany does titles) and not even a full 3 minutes into the episode, Sansa is already brought up in conversation. I'm dead serious - 02:30 minute mark on the dot. I actually only know this, because at this particular moment, I paused the DVR to grab a snack -but I like how in what is supposed to be such a J/D-centric episode (er-meh-gerd they're finally meeting!!!), Sansa takes precedence. Good call D&D ...I see what you did there. 

Now about that conversation -is it odd that Tyrion would bring up Sansa in passing conversation with Jon? No, not at all -she is a connection that they both share, but ....

T: Sansa, I hear she's alive and well? 

J: She is. 

T: Does she miss me terribly? (clearly he's attempting a bit of a joke here). 

J: *silence as he stares down at Tyrion like he damn well better explain himself*

T: *looks over his shoulder, to see that Jon is not amused, quickly explains* A sham marriage, never consummated. 

J: I didn't ask. 

T: Well it was, it wasn't. Anyway, she's much smarter than she lets on.

J: She's starting to let on. 

T: Good. 

So, what exactly was the point of this conversation? If Tyrion just wanted to know if Sansa was well, and the narrative wanted to establish how clever Sansa is, they could have done that without all that "missing me and marriage sham and unconsummated" banter in between. We as an audience already know all of these things, so how does that little nugget of information help in furthering the narrative? To put it quite simply -it doesn't. Again ..I see you D&D, I see exactly what you did there. 

A bit more banter between the boys -Tyrion's ironic statement about Starks not faring well in the South, as to which Jon replies that he's not a Stark (shut up baby, yes you fucking are!) and BOOM! Cue: Drogon swooping down over the crowd, and Jon and Davos hitting the deck like a bunch of dropped wet rocks. You will NEVER convince me that was coincidence. Dany is in full control of her Dragons now, and that was a total (cheap) intimidation tactic. 

PS: Jon is wearing leggings! Show me tha booty! 

Cut to Varys and Melisandre perched high above on a cliff and watching the welcoming committee march up the guests. Varys prods her on why she won't greet them considering she spoke so highly of Jon Snow. She replies with how she's "brought fire and ice together and she's done her part" -I believe this is a deliberate misdirection from the writers. We already know that Jon is fire and ice on his own -the characters do not, and you know the dark ship is going wild over this line right now, but don't any of you pay it any mind. It's like a magicians trick -slight of hand ..look over there, while we do this over here. 

Varys still has a healthy skepticism of this religion and these priestesses -and I'm still 1100000% with him. Melisandre is going back to Volantis (spelled right??) it seems -but will return to die -just like Varys. Ohhhh prophetic. And damn but these red witches get under his skin! Why???? I must know!

Poor Jonny-boy walking into the throne room looks nervous AS HELL, with the Mad Kings daughter perched on that wiggy-ass throne, and half of Dany's face is bathed in shadows, and she's once again cloaked in all black -shadows, darkness = symbolism at its finest folks. Hiding ones face half in shadow is a popular trope to emphasize that someone has a "sinister side" , and wearing all black is also a trope - "evil wears black." 

Now, for arguments sake (and because I like to play devils advocate -the Nights Watch also wear all black, and Jon did too -however, Dany's wardrobe went from bright white (innocence and purity) to black upon coming to Westeros.  

So as Missandei rambles off all 101 of Dany's titles (like I swear they do this purposely to annoy us at this point), Davos shoots back with "This is Jon Snow and he's King of the North". (See this juxtaposition they just shoved RIGHT IN OUR FACES???). LMAO -by the way, I just fucking adore Davos! He is a damn precious dewdrop, and I will fight you if you say otherwise! 

D: You are here to bend the knee?

J: I am not. 

Who else screeched with glee here? Huh? Huh? 

Bend the knee. Bend the knee. BEND THE KNEE. 

I'm not going to rehash this entire exchange, but a few important things that stuck out to me: 

Jon's primary focus is "us", "we" -he's concerned about saving people.   

Dany's primary focus is "Me, me, me!!"  

 It is interesting how she asked that the father's sins not be passed onto the daughter -reminiscent of Jon's own words regarding the Karstark and Umber children. I wonder if this is a sort of foreshadowing that by not being more wary of Dany's Targ temper, it just may bite him in the ass later.   

 Also Dany is a hypocrite. "Don't blame me for my ancestors -blah blah blah, but bend the knee because of my ancestors." Sigh.   

I'm insanely curious why Jon didn't want Davos to tell them he'd been resurrected -or why Melisandre left that little tidbit out too??? 

 Jon is now essentially Dany's prisoner.  

Dany's narcissism is growing by the day. I can't believe people don't understand what GRRM (D&D) are deliberately doing with her character! This is an actual quote: "Do you know what kept me standing all those years in exile? Faith. Not in any god, not in myths, and legends. In myself. Daenerys Targaryen. The world hadn’t seen a dragon in centuries, until my children were born. The Dothraki hadn’t crossed the sea, any sea. They did for me. I was born to rule the Seven Kingdoms. And I will."  

Varys delivers the news that Dany's  fleet is gone, and then Theon is fished from the sea by his people. And let me slip in here that if you're one of the people bashing Theon for jumping overboard because he so clearly suffers from PTSD -you're a shit, and you need to stop. That's not something that just suddenly disappears ...he will struggle with that for whatever is left of his life. He's gonna rescue Yara ...I just know it. 

Now we're in Kings Landing and Euron is parading Yara and the Sand Snakes through the city. Like, I'm so torn, because I hate this dude, but I also kinda love him? His teasing of Jamie is PRICELESS, if not highly inappropriate. It's also pretty clear to me that Cersei has no intent on marrying him. In typical Cersei fashion, she'll keep him at arms length while she uses him, and then dispose of him when he wears out his usefulness -clever girl that she is. 

And now we're in the dungeon where the Sand Snakes are chained -after a bit of tormenting them, she takes Tyene the same way they took her daughter -with a kiss of death. As a mother, I truly feel for Cersei here as she talks about Mrycella -for both of these mothers actually. Say what you will about Cersei, but Lena is a fucking GODDESS! She owns this role so well. Like, I can't stand Cersei, and yet, I literally cheer for her sometimes. One thing is for certain -people better stop underestimating her ruthlessness. And my God, the Sand Snakes -magnificent acting with no dialogue!

After a romantic romp with her dear brother (and damn, Jamie has a sweet ass), she boldly allows the servant to see them together -she's queen now, and apparently has no more fucks to give. It's time for the Lannister's to pay their debts, and she's off to meet with a rep. of the Iron Bank. Using the sharp negotiation skills she inherited from Tywin, and the same "foreign invader/mad Kings daughter" approach that she used to sway the Lords, it appears she gets what she wants and the Iron Bank will extend her the credit she needs - "gold wins wars." 

We jump back to Dragonstone, where our brooding prisoner/hero is staring forlornly at the sea. He's a Northern fool who didn't listen (to Sansa). Tyrion tries to appeal to Jon's good side, and talks up Dany a bit, while simultaneously trying to help him. He's looking to strike an alliance -"use each other to further your own needs approach", and after a somewhat comical conversation with Dany (thank God because we need a bit of levity surrounding her scenes) -he urges her to let Jon mine the dragon glass. I think Tyrion does truly believe Jon is telling the truth. The knife in the heart comment comes up again -and again, I wonder why Jon didn't want them to know about his resurrection -but clearly, it's important because it was brought up again. 

Now Jon approaches Dany who's gazing off towards the sea and watching her Dragons soaring in the distance. Sounds kinda romantic, right? Well not really, as during most of this conversation they stood facing opposite directions, barely making eye contact -save for a few moments. Shipping goggles are fully affixed here, but compare this to the way Jon and Sansa are always staring into each other's eyes (usually in softly lit rooms). Just sayin'. 

Jon comments on Dany's Dragons, and she tells them that she named them for her brothers -Viserys and Rhaegar. This made me smile. And what I find so amusing about this, is just a few nights ago, I had a Nonny send me an ask referring to the general audience possibly forgetting that Rhaegar (Jon's daddy dearest) was Dany's brother --well, there you have it, Nonny, the narrative just delivered your reminder. Heh heh heh. ;)   I don't think that Dany believes Jon about the WW/NK yet (and really, we can't fault her) but he is getting his dragon glass, and in the meantime, it keeps Jon hanging around -more time to woo him to their side. 

And we head North to Winterfell (finally) to see that the Sass QitN is pretty freaking good at this ruling stuff. Like really, did we ever have any doubts? She's preparing for the enemy coming from both sides, because she's clever as hell (and I'm so proud of her!!!). Can't-take-a-hint Lord Creepyfinger is at it again -whispering in her ear with his creepy-creep-ness, and our girl once again, deliciously puts him in his place. Look, this constant talk of Cersei with Sansa, and the fact that she's lived and learned from her -plus this emphasis on how well she's taken up the helm at "ruling" and caring for her people, all while Tyrion, Jon and LF are all saying how smart she is ...I'm really starting to get the feeling that Sansa is THAT queen. Ya know -the one from Cersei's prophecy ...  

"You'll be queen, for a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear." 

I usually try not to get tin foilish in my recaps, but this is the Jonsa edition after all, so bear with me. Sansa has literally learned from the master of ruthlessness, and I truly believe all this emphasis on that this season, is setting up the fact that Sansa will be the only one clever enough to see through Cersei's scheming, won't underestimate her, and in fact, be the one to bring her down. Sansa, if not indirectly, could be linked to all of Cersei's children's deaths (all she holds dear): 

She was betrothed to Joffrey, who after he cruelly tortured her for a time, discarded her for Margaery. Being the clever old bird that she was, Olenna got Sansa to open up about Joffrey's cruelty, which ultimately led to his death.  

Thrusting Sansa into a marriage with Tyrion who then were both accused by Cersei of murdering Joffrey. Sansa escapes due to LF's scheming, leading to Tyrion's trial by combat with Oberyn as his champion. When he is killed by the Mountain, Ellaria exacts revenge on the Lannisters by killing Mrycella.   

Due to Joffrey's death, Tommon becomes king, and takes his brothers widow for a wife -the same family responsible for Joffrey's death -who only murdered him because Sansa confirmed his cruelness. Tommon falls hopelessly in love with Margaery, and upon her death, commits suicide.   

It's also important to note, that Cersei is technically the one to blame for the deaths of all of her children, although she will never see it that way. While I was studying up on this prophecy, I also stumbled onto this from one of the book wiki sites:

When will I marry the prince?

Cersei is talking about Prince Rhaegar, whom Tywin Lannister intended to offer her to for marriage. Maggy tells Cersei that she will never marry the prince, but will marry the king. This foreshadows King Aerys refusing Tywin’s offer, Robert’s Rebellion, and Cersei eventually marrying Robert Baratheon after he is crowned king.

I just find highly coincidental that Cersei was almost wed to a Targaryen prince (and Jon Snow's father, to boot), and if we're all correct in our assumptions that Jonsa is in fact endgame (it is, by the way) then Sansa will take that from her, too. Which also strangely ties Sansa to -going from in the beginning of the story, wanting the prince who was actually a bastard, to getting the bastard who is actually a prince. Just sayin' ....

Okay, back to the show. 

Bran has arrived at Winterfell! I repeat BRAN HAS ARRIVED AT WINTERFELL!! And we are treated to yet another beautiful Stark reunion -minus "the nuzzle" -I repeat MINUS THE NUZZLE!! 

They are catching up in the Godswood, and the first thing out of Sansa's mouth (when she's in what she perceives is a safe space, and she's allowed to be vulnerable) is "I wish Jon were here". Ship them or not, there's a reason that they both mentioned each other in this episode -if only to remind us (the general audience) that they are, indeed, on each other's minds. 

Bran is quite emotionless, and I guess I get it. He needs to disconnect and emerge himself completely in this whole 3-eyed Raven deal, because the NK is coming, and he doesn't have much time to hone his powers. In light of their reunion, the writers chose to have him bring up the horrors Sansa suffered at the hands of Ramsey Bolton -to prove his power. I've seen some speculate that this was in fact Bran seeing a future Sansa wedding, and this very well may be, as he admitted himself that it all comes to him in bits. Part of me REALLY wants to believe that, but I think this had more to do with choosing something that would shake Sansa enough to know that what he says is true (cuz come on, he does seem a bit eccentric and cray, peeps). Or maybe it's both? Take it for what you will. 

Jorah has been successfully cured of his greyscale, and he is off to find his Dragon queen -and just ffs, I ship them so hard !!! They (Jorah/Sam) will meet again -although, I hope it's not on different sides of the battlefield. *cough* Targbowl. 

Sam doesn't get rewarded, but you can def. see that the Archmaester IS proud of him. Oh my heart! 

And we're back to Dany's war room. Two allies are down, her armada is gone. She wants to take her Dragons and go burn Euron's fleet -oh, I'm so shocked! But, her wise council talks her out of it, and Tyrion narrates the scene of Casterly rock being taken, while quoting his bro, Bron (like -I can't wait for these two to reunite). The siege is successful .....or is it? Well, NO -because Cersei is a BOSS! 

Euron has effectively taken out the rest of Dany's ships, and trapped GW and the remaining Unsullied at Casterly Rock (which by the way, is gorgeous, and it's about time we see it) -with limited supplies, and no one to come to their aid, they will likely die. 

So where is the rest of the Lannister army? Capturing High Garden, of course (and now Cersei will have their riches, as well). The battle scenes are skipped, and we see Jamie seek out Lady Olenna, who admits to being outsmarted. She warns Jamie that Cersei will be the death of him, and calls Joffrey a cunt (lmao, I love her), before swigging down the poison Jamie offers her. And right before the credits roll, she SAVAGELY admits to Jamie that she was behind Joffrey's murder, and she wants Cersei to know that. Daaaaaammmmmnnn!

And that concludes my Afterthoughts  ...see you next week. 

Oh, and Jonsa is endgame -spread the word.