Pinks Mag 003
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Shae has been canoodling with Tyrion?s father Tywin. Tyrion shoots his<br />
dad on the latrine and, aided by Master of Whispers Varys, flees<br />
Westeros.<br />
Also quitting the Western continent is Arya. She witnesses an apparent<br />
fight to the death between Sandor and Brienne (who, having failed<br />
Catelyn, has sworn to protect any Stark crossing her path). Exhibiting<br />
uncharacteristic cruelty, Arya leaves Sandor to his fate and crosses the<br />
Narrow Sea to study with Jaqan H'ghar's Faceless Men.<br />
SEASON FIVE: THE NIGHT'S KING SHOWS HIS HAND<br />
by Cersei's champion, they fear Myrcella is in imminent danger from the<br />
Martell family. She is safely retrieved ? but poisoned as they set off for<br />
home.<br />
Up north, the terrifying extent of the threat posed by the Walkers is<br />
revealed as the Night's King attacks Jon Snow and his men at a Wildling<br />
encampment. Alas, his warnings are not heeded back at the Wall where<br />
senior members of the Watch kill Snow as revenge for his traitorous<br />
alliance with the Free Folk.<br />
In Essos Daenerys's hold on the city of Meereen slips when the Sons of<br />
the Harpy stage an ambush at a grand gladiatorial bout. She is rescued<br />
by her dragon Drogon and swept away to destination unknown. Her new<br />
adviser Tyrion ? smuggled across the narrow sea to Essos by Varys ? will<br />
rule in her stead as Ser Jorah and her lover Daario set off on her trail ( Ser<br />
Jorah is utterly smitten with Daenerys, of course).<br />
SEASON SIX: THE BASTARD'S BATTLE<br />
With Joffrey dead, Margaery marries his younger brother Tommen - to<br />
the disgust of Cersei , who has developed an enthusiastic loathing for her<br />
daughter-in-law.<br />
Never one to tread softly, Stannis burns the King Beyond the Wall at the<br />
stake ? punishment for refusing to swear fealty. Meanwhile Jon Snow is<br />
elected leader of the Night's Watch ? to the visible disapproval of the<br />
senior members of the order. Sansa and Littlefinger leave The Vale ? but<br />
where are they bound? That would be a surprise, intimates Littlefinger.<br />
Actually it is a surprise. He intends marrying Sansa off to horrible Ramsay<br />
Bolton ( Iwan Rheon), thus restoring a Stark to Winterfell (albeit by the<br />
back door). In her former family home, Sansa is horrified to find Theon ?<br />
now the broken and half insane plaything of Ramsay (his mystery<br />
torturer). She is brutally abused on her wedding night by the sadistic<br />
younger Bolton ? with Theon (re-named Reek by Ramsay) forced to<br />
watch.<br />
Stannis marches south towards Winterfell. With Winter coming, heavy<br />
snow threatens his war against Ramsay. He is urged by Melisandre to<br />
sacrifice daughter Shireen to the Lord of Light. Stannis reluctantly<br />
complies and the weather indeed turns. Alas his troops, not wishing to<br />
fight for a religious maniac, desert and he is easily defeated by the<br />
Boltons. In the aftermath of the battle he is discovered by Brienne ? who<br />
fulfils her vow to avenge Renly's death by cutting down the man<br />
instrumental in his killing.<br />
In Essos, Arya is accepted into the mysterious House of Black and White?<br />
though proves slow to subsume her identity into the collective of the<br />
Faceless Men. That she has much to learn before becoming ?no one? is<br />
confirmed as she catches sight of Ser Meryn Trant, the sadistic knight of<br />
the Kingsguard and, assuming the likeness of a child prostitute, strikes<br />
him down. As punishment for betraying her vows she is struck blind.<br />
At King's Landing, Cersei neutralises Margaery ? who has her wily claws in<br />
the naive Tommen ? by striking an alliance with the leader of the<br />
Sparrows, an evangelical cult growing in popularity. Everything appears to<br />
be going as planned as Margaery's beloved brother Loras is thrown into a<br />
deep dark room for sleeping with men and his sister is imprisoned for<br />
lying on his behalf.<br />
Alas, Cersei's clever scheme is revealed to be rather dimwitted as<br />
whisperings of her relationship with Jaime reach the High Sparrow<br />
(Jonathan Pryce). She too is dragged away by the religious police and<br />
later required to undertake a naked Walk of Shame.<br />
In the desert kingdom of Dorne, Jaime and his sidekick Bronn are on a<br />
mission to save his daughter, Princess Myrcella. With Oberon Martyll slain<br />
Jon Snow is dead! But only until Melisandre, calling on the Lord of Light,<br />
brings him back (to the surprise of all, Melisandre included). Thus begins<br />
the war of the Bastards, with Jon intent on wresting Winterfell back from<br />
Ramsay and Roose Bolton. Actually make that just Ramsay ? who<br />
eliminates his dad, his stepmother, and newborn half-brother (a true<br />
blood heir who jeopardises Ramsay's position).<br />
As a final conflict between the two approaches, Sansa and Theon<br />
continue to flee Ramsay's forces. Sansa travels to the Wall where she is<br />
reunited with her brother ("half brother," Lord Baelish might say, with a<br />
significant pause between "half" and "brother"). Theon, meanwhile,<br />
journeys to the Iron Islands, just in time for his hateful father to be<br />
deposed by Theon's even more unpleasant uncle Euron. I<br />
n King's Landing ,a post-Shame Walk Cersei isn't quite off the hook. She's<br />
been humiliated - but must nonetheless stand trial for her crimes. The<br />
fundamentalist High Sparrow is not for turning and guileless King<br />
Tommen has agreed a formal alliance between church and state.<br />
Bearing further bad news is Jamie, who reveals that Myrcella is dead. Now<br />
all but one of Cersei's children is gone, bringing closer a witch's prediction<br />
that her offspring would wear funeral shrouds (good luck surviving the<br />
prophecy Tommen).<br />
Daenerys is having a testing time, too, as prisoner of the Dothraki. As the<br />
surviving wife of a slain Khal it is her fate to live in cloistered servitude<br />
with the other widows. This doesn't chime with her plans to rule the<br />
entire known world. So she scorches her opponents alive and, walking<br />
unharmed through the flames, and becomes leader of the Dothraki (her<br />
pledge to burn first, ask question later finding favour with the barbarian<br />
masses).<br />
She returns with Drogon to Meereen, where wise and wily Tyrion has<br />
brought an uneasy peace. Meanwhile Theon and Yara Greyjoy (Gemma<br />
Whelan) have stolen the Iron Islands, battlefleet from beneath the<br />
exceedingly wicked nose of usurper Euron Greyjoy. Fleeing to Essos.<br />
There, they strike an alliance with Daenerys. Boats, dragons, Dothraki ?<br />
look out Westeros, the Targaryens are coming!<br />
In the North, the Battle of the Bastards is joined as Ramsay clashes with<br />
Jon (but not before Ramsay shoots dead the youngest Stark sibling,<br />
Rickon, strictly for the chuckles).