HBO's Game of Thrones

[MarkGrace]

Ok, I always get annoyed at the book readers, but I'm curious enough on one thing to ask. Do you ever find out who Jon Snow's mother is? I've always been curious and I can't tell whether they're going to let us know or just leave us hanging. Please don't mention who it is if there's an answer.

[lambdacoug]

Ok, I always get annoyed at the book readers, but I'm curious enough on one thing to ask. Do you ever find out who Jon Snow's mother is? I've always been curious and I can't tell whether they're going to let us know or just leave us hanging. Please don't mention who it is if there's an answer.

There is plenty of speculation as to his parentage, but it is still an open question.

[SandYFan]

I just had a thought about Cate sending Jamie back to the Lannisters... it's clear she didn't notify them she was doing so, right? What if she had? If they knew she was giving up Jamie, do they still kill her and Robb?

[Flystripper]

Ok, I always get annoyed at the book readers, but I'm curious enough on one thing to ask. Do you ever find out who Jon Snow's mother is? I've always been curious and I can't tell whether they're going to let us know or just leave us hanging. Please don't mention who it is if there's an answer.

The book readers don't know yet but there are a couple of strong theories out there.

[SandYFan]

So many thoughts!

What is Mance Rayder doing? He knows the reality of the white walker army. Yet his immediate goal seems to be "destroy the Night's Watch, the group devoted to protecting humanity against white walkers." Snow says he wants to fight for him because he is on the side of the living, yet Mance is more interested in killing a guy who raises horses than defeating the walkers.

[lambdacoug]

So many thoughts!

What is Mance Rayder doing? He knows the reality of the white walker army. Yet his immediate goal seems to be "destroy the Night's Watch, the group devoted to protecting humanity against white walkers." Snow says he wants to fight for him because he is on the side of the living, yet Mance is more interested in killing a guy who raises horses than defeating the walkers.

I find this idea interesting. I'm not saying that based on what I know from the other books, it's just an interesting idea. Why is Mance turning on the Night's Watch?

It could just be a case of Martin evolving the story/making shit up as he goes. When asked in interviews if he has notes/outlines of the story and how it ends in the event he dies before the story is done, he said has an idea where this will go, but he doesn't keep outlines or notes. Basically, the GoT project fails the bus test. This thing was originally supposed to be three books, then it was five, and now he's targeting seven books. He's also on record saying that he will keep the final number at 7 books...until he decides he needs more.

[Paperback Writer]

So many thoughts!

What is Mance Rayder doing? He knows the reality of the white walker army. Yet his immediate goal seems to be "destroy the Night's Watch, the group devoted to protecting humanity against white walkers." Snow says he wants to fight for him because he is on the side of the living, yet Mance is more interested in killing a guy who raises horses than defeating the walkers.

You're confusing Mance Rayder with Tormond. Mance is still North of the Wall. His lieutenants Tormond and Orell scaled the Wall with Jon. IMO, Mance wants to get his people, the Wildings, South of the Wall and out of reach from the White Walkers. And once there, will need lands for them to live on. I predict some sort of agreement is reached with Mance and the Wildings to allow them to live South of the Wall in exchange for manning the Wall against the White Walkers and their zombies. This bargin could also extend to the Starks reclaiming Winterfell with the help of a Wilding army.

[SandYFan]

You're confusing Mance Rayder with Tormond. Mance is still North of the Wall. His lieutenants Tormond and Orell scaled the Wall with Jon. IMO, Mance wants to get his people, the Wildings, South of the Wall and out of reach from the White Walkers. And once there, will need lands for them to live on. I predict some sort of agreement is reached with Mance and the Wildings to allow them to live South of the Wall in exchange for manning the Wall against the White Walkers and their zombies. This bargin could also extend to the Starks reclaiming Winterfell with the help of a Wilding army.

Okay, I get the idea that Mance wants an agreement with the Southerners. But his way of going about it is murdering horse ranchers and stealing horses. Seems a bad way to start. Why not send a diplomatic envoy to the gate, instead of climbing the wall all sneaky-like? It's stupid.

[Paperback Writer]

I haven't read the books, but I imagine once those dragons are in proximity of Bran, he's going to be able to control one of them. It seems as if they had a dozen scenes devoted to these guys controlling animals and then Bran one-upped them and controlled Hodor. (HODOR! HODOR!).

They seem to have made it clear that Stannis Baratheon and Jon Snow are going to now be the two main guys to root for this upcoming season. Stannis and the Nights Watch are the only two forces around (aside from Dany who's a continent away) that can put up any fight against the Lannisters. But first I imagine they'll deal with the Freys and Boltons.

Also, Melisandre is going to be an important character next year and that's a good thing given the frequency of her nude scenes.

An interesting idea with Bran controlling a dragon. My theory is that the White Walkers control their zombies using something similar to warging. So since Bran can control Hodor, he may also be able to control some of the zombies and get them to fight each other...or start a big bonfire and warg them into walking into it. As I mentioned earlier, I think a Wilding army South of the Wall comes into play at some point. It would be cool if Arya Stark and Mance Rander lead a Wilding army against the Freys and then the Lannisters. Yeah, I'm still somehow cheering for the Starks even though most of them are dead.

[SoCalCoug]

I find this idea interesting. I'm not saying that based on what I know from the other books, it's just an interesting idea. Why is Mance turning on the Night's Watch?

It could just be a case of Martin evolving the story/making shit up as he goes. When asked in interviews if he has notes/outlines of the story and how it ends in the event he dies before the story is done, he said has an idea where this will go, but he doesn't keep outlines or notes. Basically, the GoT project fails the bus test. This thing was originally supposed to be three books, then it was five, and now he's targeting seven books. He's also on record saying that he will keep the final number at 7 books...until he decides he needs more.

Are you an engineer or something? Of course he's making it up. That's what fiction writing is. It's an art, not a science, so it doesn't follow a set formula. He does know the ending in broad terms, and he's said he's passed it along to the show runners.

I don't get your frustration with the writing process, though. Epic fantasy series don't spring from the author's mind fully formed. It's an artistic process.

[SoCalCoug]

An interesting idea with Bran controlling a dragon. My theory is that the White Walkers control their zombies using something similar to warging. So since Bran can control Hodor, he may also be able to control some of the zombies and get them to fight each other...or start a big bonfire and warg them into walking into it.

Not sure warging works on dead beings. Hodor and the direwolf are living.

[Paperback Writer]

Okay, I get the idea that Mance wants an agreement with the Southerners. But his way of going about it is murdering horse ranchers and stealing horses. Seems a bad way to start. Why not send a diplomatic envoy to the gate, instead of climbing the wall all sneaky-like? It's stupid.

My guess is that the Night's Watch and the Wildings are not on speaking terms. There's also the fact that the Wildings represent an uncivilized cutlure that is looked down upon by the rest of Westeros. Similar to how some of the mountain tribes are viewed by the rest of Westeros. Besides, the Wildings will need lands and why would a Lord give up their holdings without a fight? I think once they (not sure exactly who) sees the size of the wilding army and their desperate state and also fully realizes the threat of the White Walkers and the size of their zombie army; things change.

[SandYFan]

My guess is that the Night's Watch and the Wildings are not on speaking terms. There's also the fact that the Wildings represent an uncivilized cutlure that is looked down upon by the rest of Westeros. Similar to how some of the mountain tribes are viewed by the rest of Westeros. Besides, the Wildings will need lands and why would a Lord give up their holdings without a fight? I think once they (not sure exactly who) sees the size of the wilding army and their desperate state and also fully realizes the threat of the White Walkers and the size of their zombie army; things change.

So until the South see the size of the Wilding army, and realizes how desperate their state is and how big the zombie army is, the Wildings will continue to actively strain the relationship between themselves and the Southerners. Sounds like a fine plan.

[Paperback Writer]

Not sure warging works on dead beings. Hodor and the direwolf are living.

The White Walkers control the undead somehow. Besides are zombies really dead? More accurately, they are the living dead.

But I'm no expert on warging and I haven't read the books. Perhaps Martin just chalks it up to "magic" with the White Walker/zombie relationship. My theory is that the male babies are somehow turned into White Walkers (that's how the reproduce) and some type of warging is used by the white walkers to control the undead. There has got to be some kind of magic to bring them back to life though. Maybe Melisandre will figure something out to kill the zombies. Between fire breathing Dragons and fire swords, something has to doom the zombies. Interesting that both the White Walkers and followers/Priests of the Lord of Light have the ability to bring the dead back to life.

[Paperback Writer]

So until the South see the size of the Wilding army, and realizes how desperate their state is and how big the zombie army is, the Wildings will continue to actively strain the relationship between themselves and the Southerners. Sounds like a fine plan.

My guess is that the Wildings negotiation position will be strengthed if they are South of the Wall. Besides the Wildings have the White Walkers with a Zombie army to contend with while they are on the other side. The Black Watch is just now learning about what is North of the Wall: Sam knows about the White Walkers and their zombies and Jon knows about the Wilding army. IMO, it's only a matter of time before Westeros determines that they need the Wildings as allies. But not sure who will decide that. The Black Watch's role seems to protect Westeros from invaders of any kind from the North. Perhaps Stannis B. will make a treaty with the Wildings since he now seems headed towards to the Wall.