He was never a Stark.

Quick takes: I may or may not have yelled FUCK YEAH DANAERYS loud enough to wake the neighbor’s dog. This is Dany’s crowning moment of awesome, this right here. She sees the way things are, and she flips the board. There’s going along and getting along and living in the real world, and then there’s I have me some dragons, and y’all best recognize. I think the best part of that whole thing was watching Barristan and Jorah look at each other like two parents whose kid just belted out a perfect note, like oh boy, this one’s going to be trouble.

And she is.

The Hound was innocent of everything they accused him of. The story Varys told made me wonder: If there really is power in a King’s blood, is Varys a Targaryen? Is EVERYBODY a secret Targaryen, like this is some human-Cylon thing where everybody’s who they say they are? Did I just creep myself right out?

The OLD BEAR. I knew it was coming and it still hurt like a rug burn. Beric Dondarrion, the post I wrote about him will have to wait until next week because you only get the first half of how awesome he is this week. He’s one of my favorites, and I have a lot of those but REALLY.

I like following Arya through this story, because everybody she meets teaches her something important, Jaqen H’gar and Septa Mordane and the Hound and Mycah the butcher’s boy and Yoren and any of a hundred others. They chip away at this girl, forcing a shape out of stone. Valar morghulis, she heard at the end of the last season. All men must die.

But what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger. Theon of House Greyjoy, servant of the drowned God, heir to the poison waters and the broken rocks of Pyke, is learning that now to his sorrow. How do you break somebody? You make them love you first.

Cersei and Jaime and Tyrion, their father is a contemptible asshole, okay, but I was on his side during the argument with Tyrion, and I was on his side during the argument with Cersei. You cannot demand what you want, not in this world and not in Westeros. You can’t tell somebody you deserve it, or why. You can’t argue your way into something by saying it’s yours anyway.

You have to take it. If Cersei wanted to demonstrate that she could rule, she could have stopped Joffrey from cutting off Ned Stark’s head. The whole thing could have been turned back then. If Tyrion wanted Casterly Rock, he could have raised an army and crushed his own father in battle, and Tywin Lannister likely would have loved him then. If Jaime wanted to be more than a sword arm, he could have done that anytime. The only way you get the approval of a man like that is to not give a flying fuck about the approval of a man like that.

You pay the iron price for it.

A.