All men must die. And sometimes women. David Benioff has used season five of Game of Thrones in general, and especially its season finale which aired last night, to show the fans of the books by George R.R. Martin that they cannot expect the show to stick with the source material anymore.
Spoilers ahead!
Until now the changes from the books have been minor, a few characters were left out. A few insignificant ones were killed off. And some major events were enacted on film with only slight variations from Martin’s a Song of Ice and Fire series.
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Until now all of the fan theories have been based on the idea that John Snow was not really Ed Stark’s bastard son, but a Targaryen. It was hoped that he would be the show’s ultimate hero and save all of Westeros. But it is not to be.
John Snow, who had risen to Lord Commander of the Knight’s Watch earlier in the season, was assassinated by his own men who Branded him a traitor. They each took a turn stabbing him to death, This was because John had tried to save Wildlings and got men of the Knights Watch killed while doing so.
His death scene was reminiscent of Julius Caesar’s. Even his personal steward the boy Olly, whom John had saved, took a turn stabbing John. John’s last word was “Olly” said in confusion. He almost seemed to say “you too Olly.”
But the most shocking was the death of the princess born of the incenstuos adultury committed by her parents, Myrcella Baratheon. Jamie and Cersei Lannister, brother and sister, had an affair while Cersei was married to King Robert. So Myrcella’s parents were also her aunt and uncle.
Ellaria of Dorne finally got her revenge on the Lannisters by poisoning the girl with a kiss. She must have held the poison in her mouth. We last see her on the beach, her nose bleeding. Ellaria then takes the antidote.
But no such luck for Myrcella who we last see aboard a ship with her father headed for home. Her nose starts to bleed and Jamie holds her as she dies.
But wait! Did we actually see her die?
And as for John, the witch/priestess whose religion is known to be able to bring the dead back to life was there at Castle Black when John was killed. So maybe she will bring him back?
Stannis Baratheon also died. The last of the Baratheon line, after he sacrificed his own daughter the previous week, was killed when his entire army was destroyed by the Boltons.
But it was not a Bolton who killed Stannis. Brienne of Tarth, who had been a sworn servant of Stannis’ younger brother Renly, whom Stannis had killed, takes revenge for her fallen lord and does the deed herself.
Meanwhile, Tyrion is reunited with Varys. Their entire story line this season was not based on the books.
Remember the Mountain? Well he came back to life as some sort of Frankenstein’s monster. He is now a member of the King’s Guard.
Oh yah, and Queen Cersei had her hair cut and was forced to walk naked through the capital.
