Winter is Coming: Game of Thrones Season 3 Premiere

                                                             *Spoiler Alert* 

            

             The “Game of Thrones” season 3 premiere was this Sunday. The episode picked up with the aftermath the battle of Blackwater Bay. The episode starts off with Samwell being chased by white walkers. He reunited with the Night’s Watch and informs them that he did not send out the ravens for help. They have to walk back to the wall so that they can warn everyone else in the Seven Kingdoms. We then see John Snow being led by wildings to meet the King up North. The Commander of the Night’s Watch had asked John to gain the trust of the wildings to track their movement. John does so successfully. While in the wildings camp, the audience and John Snow encounter Giants. This is the first time giants have been seen in the show.

            In the battle between King Joffrey and Stannis Baratheon’s army, Baratheon’s army was devastated with a loss. In the battle Tyrion Lannister was injured with his face sliced open. He survives but is placed in a small cell. He is paranoid since the man who attacked him was a soldier for his sister, Queen Cercei. His father, Tywin did not visit him while he was injured. Tyrion goes to visit his father later on in the episode to ask for his inheritance, but his father refuses it saying he does not want his successor to be an imp and a liar.

            We also get word of Ser Davos and Stannis Baratheon. Davos survives the Greek fire and manages to find his way to Dragonstone, where Stannis has fled. Davos gets word that the Red Woman and Stannis have been burning people who disagree with them. He tries to talk some sense into Stannis, but both Stannis and the Red Woman blame Davos for the loss. The Red Woman, who controls fire, claims that had she been at the battle she would have stopped the Greek fire. However, Davos had convinced Stannis to leave her behind. Davos tries to kill the Red Woman and he is sent to a prison cell by Stannis’s orders.

            Back with the other rebellion, we see Robb Stark and his army. They come upon the bodies of their dead soldiers, many of whom were sons of Robb commanders. Robb blames his mother for their deaths, since she betrayed them by releasing their prisoner Jaime Lannister in order to save her daughters. However, she does not get her daughter’s back. Instead we see Sansa, still captive at King’s Landing. Lord Baelish promises both Sansa and Lady Catherine Stark to reunite them. However he is a dishonest person and he lies about knowing where Arya Stark is. In actuality Arya has already escaped and is making her way back to her mother and brothers up north. Sansa is in a particularly bad situation since King Joffrey has decided to marry Lady Margaery Tyrell instead. Lady Margaery seems like a good woman. She visits an orphanage in Fleabottom and gives them money for food, clothing and shelter. She also wishes to do more charity work in King’s Landing. Joffrey is impressed by her, but Queen Cercei seems annoyed.

            Daenerys has managed to find a ship and is sailing for Astapor where she will purchase the Unsullied. They are slave soldiers who fear no death. Her dragons are growing but she still needs time and resources to plan her attack on King’s Landing. In Astapor she wonders if she should purchase the Unsullied or not since she sees them as barbaric and brutal. She is attacked by a warlock but is saved by Barristan Selmy. He has traveled to find her and swears his allegiance to her. He wishes to help her become Queen. 

                                                       *Spoiler Alert Ends*

            We do not see Arya Stark or Bran Stark in this episode. In the preview for the next episode, we see Margaery questioning Sansa about Joffrey. Bran and Osha are seen in a forest and they are approached by a man whose face we do not see. John and the wildlings get word that the Crows have been killed and have not made it to the Wall. We also see Arya by attacked by outlaws. Although the premiere was much anticipated, it was a little dull. I was not as action packed as fans are used to. Instead it was like the calm after the storm. However I did enjoy the episode and many people did as well considering 6.7 million viewers tuned in to break records for the show, considering it aired on Easter Sunday against “the Walking Dead” season finale. “Game of Thrones” has not been renewed yet for a fourth season, but viewers should expect to hear more news on that in the coming weeks.  

             

              The show has been one of the most anticipated and successful series for HBO. Many people are fans of the books, the television show or both. Although the show does not follow the books exactly, the characters and most of the storyline are the same. The books are written by George R.R. Martin, and they are set in a fictional world about seven kingdoms and the games people play to rule the iron throne. In the books and the show there is war, sex, and magic. There are dragons, white walkers, warlocks, witches and Faceless Men. Martin is currently working on the last two novels of the series. He is not sure when he is going to be finishing the novels, but hopes to do so before the television show catches up to the books. Martin has released a preview of the second to last book, The Winds of Winter, from the perspective of Arianne Martell and another sample from the perspective of Theon Greyjoy. As of October 2012, Martin had already written 400 pages of the book. He expects that both The Winds of Winter and the final installment A Dream of Spring will be over 1500 pages each. Martin has also confirmed some of the characters that will return to give their Point of View for The Winds of Winter. Of those characters, we will be seeing the return of Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Tyrion Lannister, Barrister Selmy, Theon Greyjoy, Aeron Greyjoy and Victorian Greyjoy. 

~Sarina T

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