Wednesday 25 May 2016

Game of Thrones- Series 6 (thus far) Spoiler-filled.

SO anyone who knows me is aware that I am a big fan of the world George RR Martin has created. Westeros is by far one of the most interesting fictional lands ever created. From The Wall to Dorne, I find myself investing a lot of time and emotion into this creation.

A number of people who watch the show are fans of the book and feel like it doesn't quite hold the candle to the original text. I am an admirer of both mediums as separate entities.

Whilst the TV show, Game of Thrones, uses the majority of the story plots and characters as the book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, I find each to have their own identity.

So what can be said for the most recent installment of the behemoth which is the TV series. Only being four episodes in it would usually be too hard to tell, but as this ship enters uncharted waters (now the TV show has surpassed and deviated from the book) we have started to get into the real beginning of the end.

So far series 6 has given fans some of the most stand-out moments of the whole run time to date, in my belief anyway.

Now before I continue I must say that there will be spoilers from here on out. Just remember, the internet is dark and full of terrors.


In the first episode in Series 6 we have already been shown Sansa and Reek  Theon being saved by Brienne of Tarth, about bloody time too! We are finally getting to see a Stark find themselves in a spot of good fortune (but more on that later). We are also shown the struggle for Mereen, something that was bound to happen once Daenerys was whisked away by the Khalesaar. But this gives us more time to enjoy the laddish banter between Varys and Tyrion (two of the best characters in my opinion).

Things pick up nicely from the shit-shock-horror which was the series 5 finale. And it really begins to unfold once the closing credits for episode 2 make their way across the screen.

We find Arya blind and begging in the streets of Bravos, playing the game of truth with the unbearable Waif (easily one of my least favourite characters along with Olly). After being hit by sticks and insisting that "A girl has no name" Arya is finally welcomed back through the doors of the House of Black and White by Jacquen Ha'agar, the Faceless Badman.

The main point behind this series is the resurrection of Jon Snow, something which wasn't saved and dragged out like a series of The Walking Dead. The return of the Lord Commander, Bastard of Winterfell, savior of the Freemen and all-round hero Jon Snow means a few things for the series. As soon as he was revived I, probably with hundreds of others, knew this would mean the end of his Watch, you know, as death frees a member of the Night's Watch from their vows. After waking from his long slumber Snow decides that this will in fact be the end, but not before taking all of the traitors with him. A shocking but powerful scene which sees Jon hang Ser Alliser, Olly and other members of the mutiny leaving an uneasy feeling deep inside, knowing this was the right thing to do but seeing Jon's reaction to this decision. After all, death can change a man.

The long wait for members of the Stark clan to be reunited was finally witnessed by audiences around the world with Sansa, escorted by Brienne and Pod to Castle Black, finally finds herself in the company of her long lost half-brother. This was a feel good moment which left a smile on my face...but not for long as another bastard in the North has seemingly gained a rather large piece of leverage.

Ramsay Bolton, remember? The torturer, sadistic, flay-master extraordinaire? Well he is cranking the crazy up to 22 with the killing of his kin, first his father then his newly born step brother and mother making him the 'Warden of the North and Lord of Winterfell'. As a welcoming present to the new role a member of the Umber family presents Ramsay with a shocking surprise in the form of the head of a Direwolf, a wildling and son of Eddard Stark himself Rikon. A truly astonishing move.

As is tradition with Game of Thrones all of the storylines seem to drive forwards either slowly or so quick you could blink and miss an important narrative twist. So far the slower paced scenes are set in Mereen with Tyrion and Varys as well as the painfully uneventful Kings Landing sequences, only until the Mountain starts crushing people like he did poor old Obi Martell will things truly kick off.

With the absence of Bran and our lovable giant Hodor from series 5, it felt only too right for the series to have a large focus on beyond the Wall. This is welcome in my opinion as we are starting to see Bran's true potential shine through with help from the Three Eyed Raven. Now....if you are a GoT fan you will know where this paragraph is leading....

So we come to "The Door"....truly one of the saddest, most heartbreaking and down-right depressing episodes that Game of Thrones has delivered.

We finally got to find out a bit more about the Children of the Forest. A race of magical beings that reside North of the Wall and who are as old as Westeros itself. During one of Bran's greenseeing visions we encounter Leaf, one of the Children who assisted Bran into the Weirwood tree at the end of series 4, pushing what seems to be either Dragonglass or bark from the Weirdwood into the chest of a man causing him to transform into the frosty bastard Night's King. What a revelation that was. Oh but the ride doesn't stop there.

Bran, bored from sleeplessness, goes into a vision without guidance from the Three Eyed Raven where he sees the army of the undead, lead by the four main Night's Soldiers. Within seconds the Night's King grabs Bran, still in the vision, leaving a mark on his arm once he wakes. This can only mean one thing, disaster. The Wight's attack the Weirwood, slaughtering all of the Children whilst Bran, Meera and Hodor make their escape, Summer on the other hand sacrifices herself to save her Stark master.

As Bran is currently having a vision whilst these events unfold he can only hear Meera shouting as if it was a whisper. After the Three Eyed Raven tells Bran to warg into Hodor to save himself, the warged Hodor pulls the Branmobile down a long hallway with Meera in tow being chased by hundreds of the undead. Cue Leaf sacrificing herself to save them, the death of the Three Eyed Raven and a struggle to open...the door...the real tragedy unfolds.


Everyone who is anyone who knows Hodor knows his vocabulary is limited to..well..Hodor. During the visions Bran has of Winterfell long before the events of Robert's Rebellion we meet Wyllis (Hodor) a simple stable boy who can definitely speak more than his own 'name'. As the warged Hodor opens the door from the Weirwood passage and the three escape Meera shouts at him to hold...the...door. These shouts can be heard by a young Wyllis in Bran's vision causing him to have a fit and repeatedly shout "Hold the door" as Bran looks on solemnly. As  poor Wyllis keeps shouting "Hold the door", whilst in the present Hodor is being scratched, stabbed and attacked whilst holding the door, young Wyllis' words slur to become just one word....and that is how our poor, simple, gentle giant Hodor began and ended..in one fell swoop one of the only innocent characters in the whole series is no longer. And that is the tragedy which is Game of Thrones, as quoted earlier in the episode "Do you think death comes just for the wicked?"

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