Game of Thrones, Part 3: Spoileriffic Edition

For this (hopefully final) edition of "Things I love about Game of Thrones," I'm not going to bother with spoiler warnings or keeping things super vague.  This post is about characters I'm most excited to see in the next season, which is inherently spoilery anyway.  So if you don't want to get spoiled for books 3-5 (and accompanying seasons), I suggest not reading this one at all.

Here we go!

Jaime and Brienne: Bro-ing Across Westeros.  Alternate Title: Jaime and Brienne's Excellent Adventure*

Holy shit.

I'm mostly excited for Jaime's arc in the upcoming season (ugh, so far away), because his shift from cocky villain to obscenely charming but wounded knight is absolutely amazing.  He's basically Tyrion, if Tyrion were ridiculously handsome and the best knight in Westeros but also sort of dumb and in love with his sister.  (Related: one of my *favorite* changes from the books was when Tywin causally mentioned that Jaime had a hard time learning to read because he flipped letters around-- it makes a lot of sense that Jaime would be dyslexic.  Nicely played, show).  Jaime starts the series as sort of a cardboard villain, but George R. R. Martin has a tendency to take people you hate, put them through hell, and make you sympathize with them.  (See also: Theon.)  Jaime's trip through the Riverlands with Brienne is a prime example of this, as he loses his hand but starts regaining his sense of honor.  Jaime and Brienne have a lovely sort of bromance going in the third (and fourth) book, where Brienne reminds Jaime of what it means to be a knight and truly live up to your vows, and Jaime slowly chips away at Brienne's black-and-white sense of morality.  Also, Jaime's freaking hilarious, and his growing soft spot for wooden, honorable, ugly Brienne is a wonderful evolution of his character.  My prediction: Jaime loses his hand in episode 2 or 3, and episode 9 or 10** is when he returns to Harrenhal to save Brienne with my all-time favorite Jaime-ism:  "Are you still a maiden?  Because I only rescue maidens."  BOOYAH.

*Someone else on the internet came up with this title, so I can't take credit for it.

**They're splitting Storm of Swords into two seasons.  I'd bet $50 this also means the Red Wedding is toward the end of Season 3, and OH MY GOD that's going to be so hard to watch.  I thought I was prepared after losing Ned, but I wasn't.  Not. At. All.

Ygritte: 

Downton Abbey and now Game of Thrones?
Rose Leslie, I WANT YOUR LIFE.

So Ygritte got a bit more of an introduction in season 2 than she actually got in the second book, but I'm still super, super excited to see her teach Jon Snow how to navigate the wildling culture and then seduce him.  She's already hilarious (or as hilarious as a character sharing an arc with Mr. Mopey-Face can get) but I'm still psyched for what's next.  Until she dies, because that's sad.

The Reeds:

They're basically hobbits, only there's two of
them and one's a girl.

I'm not exactly super pumped about the Meera Reed and her brother Jojen, as it means a whole lot of "Bran trudging through the North," but I *am* interested to see what stories the Reeds tell him.  In the books, the Reeds are essentially providers of flashbacks, and flesh out a lot more of Lyanna and Rhaegar's story.  Since the show hasn't spent much time on Robert's Rebellion, I'm wondering what, exactly, the Reeds will tell us.  (Also, the Reeds haven't been cast yet, so I'm not being unecessarily mean with the hobbit picture.  But they pretty much are hobbits anyway).

Honorable Mention:  Samwell Tarly

"She's a person, not a goat."
Samwell Tarly: feminist.

Oh, Sam.

Well folks, that's *finally* it for my thoughts on Game of Thrones.  Unless I come up with more, because I can talk about this show/book series FOREVER.  But for now: thanks.