In addition to David’s Five Thoughts on Game of Thrones today, David and I both agree that it might be nice to also have some commentary for people who read the books. The best of both worlds and so on and so forth. Consider David’s thoughts Westeros and my thoughts Essos!
But you must know: these additional thoughts in the Game of Thrones Five Thought series contains massive spoilers. This half of the Game of Thrones reviews mainly for clarification on certain things and general speculation about what this season is going to contain, designed with readers of the books in mind over folks who just watch the show. We will be covering material not seen on the show but seen by the end of “A Storm of Swords,” though, so please keep that in mind if you’re not fully caught up with this series or that particular book.
For the most part this just offers half of the show’s audience who read this site and have read all the books a place to say “OH, so THAT probably means THIS! AWESOME!” without spoiling anything for the other half. Everyone wins!
So, without further ado,
1. The Title
“Dark Wings, Dark Words” is a reference to the news the ravens bring, and is a saying in Westeros introduced in the show back in season one/book one. More specifically, I’d imagine that the literal reference of the title is to Bran and his dreams of the three-eyed crow. Now that Jojen is here, the journey to meet the crow and find out what’s going on with Bran’s dreams seems like it’s about to be underway. Unfortunately, this season is mostly walking for Bran (or… uh… well…), but the light teases towards his greater destiny are certainly exciting.
Bran, however, goes through the most drastic change in age between season two and three here, as you can definitely tell that kid is growing up. Granted, time is supposed to pass between seasons, but even Arya still looks fairly young! Still, it’s nice to see that the show threw it’s weight behind a kid who could act and gave him a great cast to work with, because from what little we’ve seen Thomas Brodie-Sangster and Ellie Kendrick are huge welcomes to the cast.
2. Who’s that Boy?
You may have noticed a familiar face in the latest episode, that of Iwan Rheon – famous for BBC’s Misfits. Iwan was cast in the role of Boy, an unnamed character who was filming all of scenes with Alfie Allen (Theon), confirming that Theon’s absence from the book after “A Clash of Kings” (since he’s not in “A Storm of Swords” at all) was not going to happen in the show.
So it’s probably fair to say that the speculation about who Boy is is definitely true, and that the dark-haired little broom-handler is actually the nefarious Ramsay Snow, bastard of Roose Bolton who “befriended” Theon as a prisoner of Winterfell in “A Clash of Kings” under the alias of Reek before Theon allows him to escape to find help, only to return and subsequently sack Winterfell, with Theon’s future unknown. It’s also important to note that Roose Bolton, who was just named as keeper of Harrenhal, has been mentioning his bastard son for a while now (as early as season two, where he tells Robb he can send him after Theon), and in this episode we see Roose receiving letters from his son reporting from Winterfell. Add that to Theon in the same position as House Bolton’s flayed man and it’s easy to assume what’s going on here.
After all, they wouldn’t just cast Iwan Rheon as a nobody. Come on.
With the addition of the Reeds, hat makes two things from “A Clash of Kings” that made it’s way into season three! Reek didn’t appear in season 2 of Game of Thrones at all, so it’ll be very interesting to see how they play up their relationship and the eventual twist. That particular reveal, where Reek removes his helmet and identifies himself to Theon, is perhaps one of my favorite scenes in the entire book series.
Either way, the way the scene unfolded with Iwan in the background for everything was fantastic, and even though it’s different from the show this seems like it’ll be a change that works for the best.
Continued below3. A Brave Companion
At the end of the episode, Noah Taylor shows up as a new character named Locke. You may remember Roose Bolton mentioning that he sent his best hunter after Jamie, and this would be him. What you may not realize at first glance, though, is that Locke is actually Vargo Hoat, the leader of the Brave Companions (aka the Bloody Mummers), as well as his general entourage mixed up into one person for a smorgasbord of personality. Why the show chose to have a new character when Vargo is pretty awesome is beyond me. Perhaps they just didn’t want Noah Taylor to speak with a lisp?
Noah Taylor is great, though, and while his scene is minimal here I have high hopes that Not-Vargo will be every bit as entertaining/sinister/demented as Vargo.
4. A More Jovial Thoros
Thoros of Myr in the book was a priest, and a relatively solemn one at that, who gave life to Beric Dondarrion (who has been recast) through the power of the flame. The show’s version seems to be a mix of Thoros’ name/abilities (I’m assuming) and Tom o’ Sevens, the bard who traveled with the Brotherhood without Banners. It’s an interesting mix, but it will certainly make Thoros a more likable character. Tom was always the more fun to read about. It is nice, though, to see the Brotherhood finally appear after hearing so much about them last season. Plus, Paul Kaye just kills at the role in general, creating a very affable character that you instantly want to know more of. It’s too bad they didn’t play up Anguy (Philip McGinley) more beyond “guy who shoots arrows really well”, but it’s early yet.
And of course he’s singing “The Rains of Castomere” when he shows up. There should be a drinking game for how often that melody shows up in the series.
You may also have noticed that the tavern they drink in, which was supposed to be a tavern that Jamie and Brienne stopped by, is now the same place where Catelyn arrests Tyrion in season one. It’s all coming back around!
5. Foreshadowing Galore!
If you pay close attention, you’ll notice a LOT teased here of events to come. The banner of House Bolton, for example, is everywhere, as is the character’s bigger importance (having been a side character for the first two seasons). Catelyn’s speech about Jon seems to foreshadow where her story takes her, and Ygritte’s line to Jon (“Haven’t you ever seen a warg before?”) as well. Heck, most lines in this show seem to foreshadow greater things – Tyrion and Shae, Orell’s line about dead crows,
My point being: when you know what’s coming, the show does a great job of being subtle enough that people who only watch the show won’t pick up on it (Iwan Rheon’s appearance seemingly being the most obvious example of this), but those in-the-know like you or I have a lot of things to get excited about.
So, what comes next? The battle at Craster’s and Coldhands saving Sam? Jamie’s loss of hand and torture at the hands of the Bloody Mummer? Dany taking Astapor and the Unsullied? Either way, I’m excited to see many of these scenes filmed.
If I missed anything, let me know in the comments and we can talk about that! Everything goes, nothing is sacred!
