Stannis Baratheon
The defeated King Baratheon is still following the One Lord - the Lord of Light - and visits his wife in her tower. This is quite a creepy place indeed; his wife, who has suffered three still-births of sons, has kept the three baby bodies in fancy jars in her bedroom, and she talks to them as though they are alive and listening. No wonder he keeps her in the tower. We also learn that his wife did give birth to one child, but it was a girl. He is there to visit her too, and at first viewers might be confused as to why he keeps his daughter locked away. We soon discover that his daughter Shireen has an awful scar across her face from when she had greyscale (a disease) as a babe. The girl is incredibly sweet though. Later in the episode, she visits 'the Onion Knight' in the dungeon, where he has been sent for challenging the Lord of Light and the Red Lady. The young girl brings him a book and offers to teach him how to read. One can't help but be touched by the sad but sweet girl's story.
Lions in King's Landing
Tywin Lannister must hate his children. Tyrion and Cersei are put in their place this week, when the issue of the Tyrell's planning to marry-off Sansa becomes learned by Cersei through Littlefinger. Knowing that Sansa is the key to the North (remember everyone seems to think Bran, Arya and Rickon are dead) Tywin puts forward his remedy; Tyrion will marry Sansa. Cersei of course finds this hilarious, but she is soon silenced when Tywin orders Cersei to marry Willas Tyrell - the man the Tyrells are planning to have Sansa marry. This puts quite the cog in the Tyrell plans, and means Sansa might have to go with Littlefinger after all. The mighty Lions don't seem so mighty all of a sudden, as Tywin pulls two of his three children into line. Tyrion and Cersei are left devastated by the news.
SPOILER! Will the Marriages go ahead as planned?
We can reveal that only one of the two proposed Lannister marriages will go ahead, but we won't yet reveal which one. Either way, the Tyrell plan will be ruined, so we will keep you on your toes guessing which Lion will have to marry for the second time.
The King who Lost the North
Robb is having some trouble, poor bloke. A mutiny in his ranks sees the two Lannister boys he was holding killed while they slept. Lord Karstark was the mind behind the treason, and so Robb himself executes him, despite being urgently advised against it. As a result the Karstark men leave the army, and so Robb's forces are halfed. He is left in quite the predicament, charged with being the King who Lost the North. Desperate, he plans to move on Casterly Rock, which is undefended while the Lannister's focus their forces elsewhere. This means relying on Walder Frey, the man whose daughter he was supposed to marry. This might pose a bit of a problem for Robb, since we can't imagine Frey will take kindly to hearing Robb married someone else. It seems this might be Robb's last chance.
The Brotherhood without Banners
The Hound is ready to stand trial by duel, and just as he is laughing confidently with sword and shield in hand, his opponent prays to the One Lord and of course, his sword lights up with fire. This would be a problem for any regular joe-blow, but lets remember that the Hound is deadly afraid of fire. That being said, the Hound is victorious, striking his enemy down to surely die. But a prayer to the One Lord brings him back to life! It seems the Lord of Light isn't as crazy as the Lady in Red makes him out to be. Arya is 'kind of' held hostage now, with the Brotherhood planning to take her to her brother in exchange for coin. But its hard to view these friendly drinking chaps that seem to radiate a Robin Hood vibe as villains. Gendry, unfortunately, has decided to stay at the Brotherhood as a blacksmith - much to Arya's and no doubt fan's disappointment. The scene is incredibly heart-breaking.
The Kingslayer?
Jaime and Breanne have finally found some kind of salvation. Their captors take them to Lord Bolton, who orders the removal of their chains and the mending of their wounds. Jaime's decapitated stump is treated to many a cry of agony, but it is a later scene that draws enough sympathy for the old Knight of the Kingsguard to perhaps forgive him even of his attempt on Bran's life. He intrudes on a bath Sir Breanne is enjoying, and shares the story of when he slayed the mad King. Turns out things are not all as bad as they seem for Jaime; the mad King had ordered Jaime to kill his own father, and his Pyromancer to burn thousands of innocent people while they slept in order to fend off the encroaching rebellion. He refused to surrender, and so, to save the lives of many, Jaime killed the king and his Pyromancer, thus ending the Targaryen rule. When Breanne asks why he never shared his story, Jaime declares that the honorable Ned Stark who found him standing over the King's corpse would not hear his side. Even after all he has done, we can't help but feel for the crippled Jaime.
Beyond the Wall
Bow chikka wow wow! It was inevitable that Jon Snow would eventually make love to the wild girl Ygritte, and at the half-way mark of the season they finally do. The love scene occurs in a cave with hot springs, and it seems old Snow is quite a talented young pup! At least from what Ygritte can tell us. How many men of Westeros are good at sex now? Although the scene feels rushed, the couple share a cute embrace afterwards, and Ygritte expresses her desire to stay with Snow, and hide away from the war. The Wildmen plan to attack the wall, and in the next episode we hope to see their attempts at last. Check out the preview for next week to see just what we mean!
Make sure you don't miss next week's episode as we start the second half of the season. The drama is well and truly building now, and we expect the next five episodes will be very action packed!
~ Written by Jessica Sheridan
Information Source: A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Image Sources: Strathmore Standard, Geekbinge, WallStreetJournal, Rickey, Facebook, Forbes
