10. A Game of the Living Dead![]()
Zombies have been around since near the dawn of cinema and the myth itself was created way earlier in Haiti. These days it seems Zombies have become a sort of x-factor, a crutch through which a tired concept can gain some extra mileage – i.e. Nazis? Nazi Zombies!
But not in Game of Thrones.
You’ll remember in the final throes of season 2 that an undead horde, dressed in the garb of fallen Nights Watchmen and Wildlings, marched out of the icy wind toward the men of The Night’s Watch and toward the Wall in general.
Not quite Zombies in the Romero sense of the word, these reanimated corpses (known in the GoT canon as ‘Wights’) are in fact led by the heavily forshadowed race, the White Walkers, who were finally properly revealed in season 2’s closing scene.
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There’s much more of this to come, believe me. And it’s every bit as exciting, terrifying and world altering as you might imagine.
9. The Fist of the First Men![]()
When the men of the Night’s Watch led by the Old Bear left the safety of Castle Black for the frozen lands beyond the wall they had one objective: defeat Mance Rayder and his forces. But a sudden invasion of an undead army would force anyone to change their plans pretty sharpish.
With the tiny force of Night’s Watchmen acting as pretty much the last line of defence against this army of Wights, the civil war suddenly seems a distant nagging worry. Here is the real threat, with the Crows at the Fist of the North Men.
Season 3 will undoubtedly explore this ‘last bastion’ motif further and if it’s anything like the books it promises be pretty spectacular indeed.
8. Man Up![]()
You’ve surely developed a bit of a soft spot for the loveable, if craven, Samwell Tarly. Lacking in grace, speed, skill, courage and just about every other valuable attribute outside of intelligence, he’s still managed to jostle himself into the ‘potential favourite character’ zone for many because he’s just…so ruddy likeable.
And let me just be honest for a second; if I were suddenly inserted into the story, if I suddenly woke up one morning in Westeros, I’d be him. I’m sure if you really thought about it, you would be too.
Season 2 leaves us at a very important junction for Samwell Tarly; surrounded by the horde of undead warriors led by White Walkers, just what will he do next?
In story and in life the true gauge of a person’s character is in the decisions they make in a crisis. Well, I’d label an apocalypse of the undead a crisis and true to form, Samwell is about to make a decision.
7. Dragons!![]()
Present in GoT since the finale of season 1, these three cute little fellers, Viserion, Rhaegal and Drogon, have done almost little else but eat and fight amongst each other. Almost little else.
They did pay for themselves in the House of the Undying in season 2 however, when they roasted the malevolent warlock Pyat Pree alive, saving Daenerys from a life of bondage in a scene that serves to illustrate their awesome destructive potential.
I don’t think it’s a spoiler to say that having Dragons at your command is a major game-changer.
Even though season 2 started to deviate a little from the books (understandable, as the story in the books becomes more and more complex and spread, making it harder and harder to adapt), in series 3 you can definitely expect to see more of these bad wee beasties, who pretty soon aren’t going to be so wee anymore.
6. The Lord’s Kiss![]()
It’s brown trousers time for young Lord Snow, who’s been separated from the Night’s Watch, forced to kill his companion Qhorin Halfhand and is about to be taken to meet Mance Rayder, the King Beyond the Wall – the very man the Night’s Watch are hunting.
Game of Thrones doesn’t like to let us settle on a status quo. It likes to change its characters, shape their opinions, their thoughts and feelings, right before our eyes. Not at the traditional ‘end’ but sometimes right in the middle.
Jon Snow’s status quo is certainly about to change and in a way that will invariably affect the rest of the story. Who knows exactly how it’s going to pan out now the series has taken a parallel road to the books, but suffice it to say it’s going to be seriously juicy drama.
5. Charles Dance the Night Away![]()
Depending on the point of view (of which there are many), Daenerys is the main antagonist, or Joffrey, or Cersei, or Jaime, or the Wildlings, or the White Walkers. But of course you can also find something to like about most of these characters too, with the exception of maybe the White Walkers. Even the royal dick Joffrey is a victim in certain lights – of pressure, of circumstance, of upbringing.
Theoretically Lord Tywin Lannister could also be considered the main antagonist. But only theoretically. With the Game of Thrones, the true enemy is as a mystery to us as it is to the players. That said season 2 took a surprise turn when it suddenly made us think again about how we viewed the Lord of Lannisters.
Thanks in no small part to a superb performance by Charles Dance, who oozed charm and charisma seemingly without effort, season 2 managed to provide some much needed perspective on Westeros’ raging civil war through our sudden empathy toward the Lannister side.
And with the war still in full swing where season 3 is due to kick off and Tywin now accepted as Hand of the King in Tyrion’s stead you can bet we haven’t seen the last of this Lion yet.
4. Arya’s Odyssey![]()
Arya probably has the most shifting storyline out of the massive set of primary characters. From Winterfell she travelled to King’s Landing. After Ned Stark’s death, she travelled the Kingsroad heading for the Wall with Night’s Watchman Yoren until they were attacked by Lannisters. Captured and taken to Harrenhal she eventually found herself in the direct employ of Lord Tywin Lannister himself.
And now, with the end of season 2, she’s off again. With a little help from one Jaquen H’ghar she managed to escape Harrenhal and season 3 will undoubtedly pick up at the renewed beginning of her odyssey to find her family.
Of course her journey isn’t exactly as the crow flies; there are places to see and events to come that are so far from what you’d expect you’ll be tearing your hair out from the excitement when they occur.
3. Brienne of Tarth![]()
You know Brienne, she’s that huge, Amazonian looking woman who’s found herself in the care of the Kingslayer himself, Jaime Lannister. After being accused of Renly’s death in season 2 and fleeing the scene with Catelyn she’s found herself in the direct employ of the Lady Stark, whose plan it was to free Jaime and exchange him for her daughters.
We caught a glimpse of just how ruthlessly tough as nails Brienne is at the end of season 2, when she and Jaime were accosted by wayward allies of the Starks. She made short work of the three grubby attackers before boarding a small boat with Jaime and continuing down river.
Women in Game of Thrones aren’t just bosomed damsels to be rescued; half of the time, they do the rescuing and Brienne definitely falls under the latter category. She and Jaime have one hell of an adventure in the books, which in typical GoT fashion forces us to re-examine our current feelings toward the previously established characters. But all of that is yet to come.
2. The Little Lord![]()
If you hadn’t read the book at the time, Theon Greyjoy’s defection to his father’s cause and subsequent invasion of Winterfell no doubt came as a complete shock. In the space of four or five episodes, Theon went from a brother to the Starks to the unwanted captor of their home.
While this event had far reaching implications in the GoT world, it was the little Lord, Bran Stark, who suffered the greatest consequences. Under siege in his own home, season 2 saw little Bran lose nearly everything he held dear and flee a sacked Winterfell with his little brother Rickon, Osha and the loveable half-giant Hodor.
We lost a great character at the culmination of this storyline in season 2; when the Greyjoy force flees from Winterfell, Maester Luwin is stabbed and left for dead. But before he asks Osha to finish him quick he instructs the rag-tag bunch to head north for the Wall, to find Jon.
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Obviously we know that Jon isn’t there and that even if they do arrive safely they might be met by someone or something else entirely. This is much later, but in season 3 we can look forward to their long and eventful journey which is just as exciting and unpredictable as Arya’s.
And there’s something that you don’t know about Bran and Jon Snow too for that matter; some racial trait in them that is yet to be revealed in the TV show. I won’t give anything away but be prepared for some thoroughly awesome revelations.
1. Small Men Can Cast Big Shadows![]()
And so we finally arrive at the half-man himself, the Imp, Tyrion Lannister. Usually Dwarf actors are relegated thanks to their short stature to lesser roles – although that’s not always the case – or are cast as some form of race unto themselves; little people who occupy magical lands and the like.
As with everything about Game of Thrones though nothing is typical and that goes doubly for Tyrion Lannister. He’s a living embodiment of the fact that true stature is within, true size and strength comes from character and not just from the physical. So much so that I’d say there was a definite case in saying that Tyrion is actually Game of Thrones’ main character.
When we left Tyrion, he’d just kicked serious mailed ass at the Battle for Kings Landing after orchestrating a massive employment of alchemical wildfire over Blackwater Bay, decimating the approaching Baratheon fleet. Shortly after, he even joined the fray outside the walls, proving that little guys wielding massive weapons can kill as easily as anyone else.
Tyrion was attacked at the culmination of this battle and it happened so fast that you might have missed this; his attacker was actually Ser Mandon Moore, the knight left behind by Cersei to assist as she and Joffrey fled to the Red Keep.
With his face all but sheared in half, his position as Hand of the King now taken by his father Tywin and with Pycelle reinstated as the Maester of Kings Landing it’s clear that Cersei is gaining the upper hand.
Going in to series 3, the game between Tyrion and Cersei just got serious. Expect much more of Tyrion’s moral ambiguity, more of the dry cool wit and quite possibly a few shocking, completely unexpected developments that see Tyrion landed in more trouble than he’s ever been before.
SOURCEThis list is missing a few things...![]()
As vampire king Bill Compton on HBO’s True Blood, which is currently in its fifth season, Stephen Moyer still has boys begging to be bitten. Married to bisexual costar Anna Paquin, the 42-year-old Brit just wishes he had a bigger gay following than some of his costars.
You later established a theatre company called The Reject Society. Did that name stem from your feeling like a reject or outcast?
