I began the Game of Thrones Burning Questions series during season 6 on my other blog, MsLake (now re-branded).

I’ll continue Burning Questions for season 7,  posting a day or two after after every episode. This won’t be a GoT review, but  more of recap with theories and commentary. And questions. Lots of fun for Game of Thrones fans.

Feel free to agree, disagree or ask your own questions in the comments. I will also post Thrones-related content throughout the run of the show and probably for a while afterwards.

Millions of viewers all over the planet (and for all we know on other planets too) tuned in on last Sunday night for the long-awaited first episode of season 7 of Game of Thrones. It was the most watched episode of the series ever, thanks to a three-month delay. The fandom is going berserk because WINTER IS HERE BITCHES!

Dragonstone, Season 7, Episode 1

Season 7 began the same way season 6 ended; with a massacre. Call me crazy, but I sense a theme here. 😀 P

Bow down to Arya Stark, Goddess of Death and Justice!  She brings the pain and makes us cheer. Arya had the best lines of the episode, probably the season.

Leave one wolf alive, and the sheep are never safe (while the Freys start choking to death).

To the surviving Frey child bride she says, “When people ask you what happened here today tell them:

The North Remembers.

tell them

Winter came for House Frey

I had chills. Chills! This is also the first time I cheered a mass murder. That I recall.

Will Arya kill Mad Queen Cersei?

I dearly want this to happen, but I’m not sure it will.

Arya said “when you leave one wolf alive,” meaning that she believes that she’s the only surviving member of House Stark. Once she finds out that Jon, Bran and Sansa are alive and at Winterfell, she will almost certainly head north for a reunion.

So who is Arya’s next victim?

I thought the Lannister soldiers were all going to die, but she seemed annoyed that she had to be nice to them after they gave her food and invited her to stay with them. She may let them live and use them for another purpose. They could be a fountain of information for her. And don’t ask me why, but I think she will steal a Lannister uniform and sword, because A girl is no one and has plans. That said, if she goes to Winterfell her next victim will be Littlefinger. He betrayed Ned Stark, and that motherfucker has to die. He’s so reptilian I can almost see the forked tongue every time he opens his mouth.

How Will the Dead Breach the Wall?

 We know that they will, because otherwise there’s no war. But will they bring the wall down with some icy magic, or will it be through the mark on Bran? Or throught the Horn of Winter? The Horn hasn’t been spoken of in the show, but it did appear in the cache of dragonglass that Samwell found beyond the wall in season 2. It could be the Horn of Winter or, even scarier — Dragonbinder.

Will we see Lyanna Mormont Fight?

 Lady Lyanna Mormont is a the Queen of Bad-assery. Imagine her is the Iron Queen. If she had three dragons they would be eating out of her hands and be potty trained. The Seven Kingdoms would be running like a well -oiled machine with income equality and equal rights for all.

  “I don’t need your permission to defend the North,”

 she tells Lord Glover. She tells Jon that she and every man, woman and child on Bear Island (including herself) will be training with weapons for the war against the dead. Recall that Lady Lyanna delivered her 62 fighting men to House Stark personally, and wielded enough shade at the Stark/Bolton parlay before Battle of the Bastards, to almost break the Internet. So if Little Bear is training, she means to fight. I can’t wait. If she fights, in this universe that means that she will almost certainly die, because D&D must rip our hearts out after they’ve made us fall in love with a character. Pass the vodka.

Is Sansa Stark Turning into Cersei?

I liked the scene where Sansa confronted Jon about the way to punish houses who didn’t fight with the wolves against House Bolton. She finally showed a backbone and a knowledge of politics. Jon’s decision may come back to bite him in the form of betrayal, or perceived weakness. Sansa tried hard to warn Jon to become more hard-assed and less noble, but he really doesn’t take her seriously. He was incredulous at the idea that he should take advice from her, which is a huge mistake. 

He’s so focused on the frosty bastards beyond the wall that he really doesn’t care about anything else.

That Sansa should admire Cersei is frightening but not surprising. Cersei is the only Noblewoman with any kind of power that Sansa knows personally. Any distaste she may have had about Cersei’s methods and ruthlessness has probably changed to a grudging admiration. If you want to see the guidance Cersei gave to Sansa, take a look at all their scenes together in season two (easily available on youtube). There are some bits of advice there that may be very relevant this season.

I think she’ll unleash her inner Cersei if she has too. I loved how she dragged Littlfinger:

“No need to seize the last word, Lord Baelish. I’ll assume it was something clever.”

Ouch. So Cersei.

When Will Jaime Grow a Pair?

I’m so disgusted with Jaime right now.

For those of you familiar with the Valonqar Prophecy the shot of the Lannister twins standing on the map may seem like foreshadowing. Cersei stood on the part of Westeros known as The Neck, and Jaime stood on the islands known as The Fingers. As in the fingers around her neck. Could be, but when the hell will he become outraged to choke her to death? Flattening the Sept wasn’t terrible enough?

If the massacre of the sept and the death of Tommen haven’t pushed Jaime to confront and topple Cersei, it’s difficult to imagine what has to happen to move him to challenge her. She massacred a church full of innocent people. She traumatized Tommen into suicide. And she claims that Tommen betrayed her. Jaime is still talking to her like she’s sane. I don’t get it.  How much more evil does she have to get for him to do something?

Maybe he wants to stabilize the kingdom before he moves against Cersei. Locking down High Garden, the Riverlands and the North before getting rid of Cersei would be a smart move. Perhaps he wants to rally them against her. That would be epic, if he leaves with the Lannister army and comes back with two or three more armies to take King’s Landing from his sister.

Jaime should be very, very afraid. Queen Cersei never answered him when he asked if he should be afraid of her.

Where’s Qyburn?

He basically engineered her destruction of the Faith Militant and her ascension to the throne. You would think he’d be next to her, basking in the glow. He was nowhere, and he’s not in any of the trailers. Is it possible that she threw him into the black cells after she seized power? He’s the only one who can prove what she did, so it’s possible. But she still needs him, doesn’t she? Which brings me to the question…

Is There More Wildfire in King’s Landing?

Did they use all of it to bring down the sept? In the books it is said that there are caches all over the city (underground). The sept was destroyed with a cache that lay directly under it. Is there more? And if so, what is Cersei planning to do with it?

Euron & Cersei Sittin’ in a Tree…

Euron Greyjoy decided to swing by the Red Keep on his way to the club? What in hell was he wearing? It was cool, but not what you wear to your first date with the Queen. But he’s crazy and so is she so they could be a perfect storm if they team up. But Cersei has no intention of teaming up with anyone. She’s secretly plotting to kill him and take his fleet.

Her lack of concern about his disrespect to Jaime doesn’t bode well for little brother, but again, he seems unconcerned. Or not concerned enough to do anything. Euron wiped the floor with Jaime and Cersei smirked.

What’s Euron’s Gift?

Tyrion has already been a gift, so I doubt he’s it. But Euron will try. He will fail, and he will take Ellaria Sand to Cersei as a prisoner. The show needs Tyrion to advise Daenerys and if he’s handed over to Cersei now, he’ll be in the black cells for the rest of the season.

Why is the Hound Seeing Visions in the Flames?

I loved the entire sequence with Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarion. That topknot crack was hilarious.

But about the flames. The Hound obviously has a role in the war against the Dead, but what exactly? And why him? As he said to Beric, there are better men, with more virtuous pasts, why him? This whole part of the story is fascinating and I can’t wait to to see what happens. One good thing though: They will be at Eastwatch by the Sea to help the Free Folk, because they won’t stand a chance against the dead.

How Gorgeous are those Dragons?

Beautiful and deadly babies!