If you don’t know that Game of Thrones is coming back on Sunday for its fourth season, shame on you. You are not a friend to the realm and you should probably go get your head chopped off. Or fall out of a Moon Door. Or get your soul ruined by a witch. Or get burned up by a dragon. I mean, THERE ARE MANY SEVEN KINGDOMS-RELATED DEATHS THAT AWAIT YOU FOR THIS GREAT TREASON AGAINST GEORGE R.R. MARTIN’S CREATION.
But if you just need a refresher course, then you’ve come to the right place, and I promise I won’t “dracarys” you. To be fair, season three was an entire year ago, and there have been so many trailers for season four since then, and if you can’t remember everything, then I won’t judge you too harshly. I mean, I will, but at least you’re reading this, so your head is in the right place.
So what are the five most important things that happened in season three that will have repercussions in season four? Read on to find out, and then check back on Monday mornings for Game of Thrones recaps, written by yours truly; I'll be picking up where I left off with season three recaps. It’ll be more fun than getting killed by an Other, I swear.
HOW SEASON THREE WILL SHAPE SEASON FOUR
+ I mean, the Red Wedding. Let’s start off with the Red Wedding, which went down in penultimate season three episode “The Rains of Castamere.” King in the North Robb Stark, his mother Catelyn Stark, and his pregnant wife Talisa, as well as his unborn heir, are all dead, murdered by Roose Bolton and Walder Frey in a scheme hatched with Tywin Lannister. Catelyn, although a book fan favorite, was somewhat changed for the TV show—in ways that didn’t particularly resonate with Jon Snow fans, who still resented Catelyn for her mistrust and coldness toward her husband Ned’s bastard—but let’s not forget this woman basically went insane while seeing Robb die. Think about it: husband Ned died at the behest of King Joffrey, she thinks her two younger sons Bran and Rickon were killed by foster son/hostage Theon Greyjoy, younger daughter Arya is missing, older daughter Sansa has been married off to the Imp Tyrion Lannister, and now Robb and his child are murdered before her eyes. I mean, that shit will fuck you up.
So consider how the Red Wedding will reverberate through season four, not only in how Sansa, already cold toward Tyrion, will continue to turn against the Lannisters, but also in how Arya will react, now that she’s still with the Hound. Also expect reactions from Jon Snow, still a man of the Night’s Watch; Theon Greyjoy (who in the books thinks to himself, “I should have died with him,” when he learns of Robb’s murder); and Bran, who will grow more powerful and, um, in tune with nature as the season and series progress. Oh, and there’s also this thing … but I won’t mention it. Book readers will know what I’m talking about, though, AND LET’S HOPE THAT HAPPENS.
+ The Purple Wedding. Remember how Sansa was cast aside by Joffrey for Margaery Tyrell, Renly Baratheon’s widow and the daughter of Highgarden? Well, the wedding is coming, and it will pick up on a few things alluded to in the episode “Second Sons”: Tyrion remains on bad standing with his family, especially Cersei and Tywin, who forced him into the political marriage with Sansa and expect him to produce an heir that will cement their claim to Winterfell. Grandma Tyrell is seriously amused by Margaery’s upcoming wedding to Joffrey and the wedding planned for Loras and Cersei, in that don’t-give-a-fuck way of hers, but will that second wedding really go forward, now that Jaime is back in town? Ultimately, the wedding between Joffrey and Margaery will be a big deal. Don’t forget, though, that roses have thorns.
+ Jon Snow is back at the Wall, and not everyone is happy about it. Let me rephrase, actually: Most people aren’t happy about it. Certainly not wildling Ygritte, who thought Jon Snow had actually turned his back on the Night’s Watch and was going to start a new life with her, a dream that was shattered in season three finale “Mhysa,” when Jon revealed his true colors and got a few arrows from Ygritte for it. Certainly not some of the upper-level men in charge at the Wall, who always resented Jon (don’t forget nickname “Lord Snow”) and will blame him for killing Qhorin Halfhand and being with the wildlings all this time. And not even necessarily Jon himself, who is haunted by his relationship with Ygritte and wonders if what he did was noble or just or ethical, any of those things he likes to strive toward. As the wildlings, led by Mance Rayder, prepare to attack the Wall, Jon has to retaliate. And how he does will be an essential part of season four.
+ Brienne of Tarth, and her relationship with Jaime Lannister. OK, so with this one I’m showing my fangirl colors a bit, because Jaime Lannister is the person I find most attractive in all of Game of Thrones (yes, that has changed since my obsession last year with Robert Baratheon’s bastard and Arya Stark’s friend, “The Bull” Gendry Waters), and I adore his eventual friendship with Brienne (started with antagonism in the episode “Dark Winds, Dark Words”), and I love them together and maybe I want them to BE together, if you know what I mean, and maybe I’m insane. BUT WHATEVER, OK, because how Brienne changes Jaime and alters his perception of himself is incredibly important given what will happen to the Lannisters moving forward, and how others—including the Red Viper, Oberyn Martell—will treat them.
The thing about Jaime is that up until he loses his hand, he’s essentially hot shit: “There are no men like me. Only me.” He has a troubled relationship with his father because of joining the Kingsguard, therefore not allowing him to be heir to Casterly Rock, but he’s close with younger brother Tyrion and he doesn't just have a sexual, incestuous relationship with twin sister Cersei; he really loves her—she’s the only woman he’s ever been with. So to have his hand taken from him (“I was that hand,” he tells Brienne in the episode “And Now His Watch Has Ended”) alters practically everything he knows about his personality, showing us a side of the Kingslayer that we haven’t seen before: “Jaime. My name is Jaime.”
That humanism is what the Martells, specifically Red Viper Oberyn, are counting on, since he comes to King’s Landing to avenge the murder of his sister, Elia, married to Rhaegar Targaryan, during Robert’s Rebellion by the Mountain, Gregor Clegane. That’s a lot of backstory, but keep Oberyn’s words from the first season four trailer in mind: “The Lannisters aren’t the only ones who pay their debts.” The debt Jaime needs to pay to Brienne for keeping him alive is essential for his character moving forward, as is the debt the Red Viper intends to pay against Tywin Lannister for ordering his sister’s and her children’s deaths. And look, Brienne and Jaime are the best, so whatever, deal with my shipping.
+ And finally, of course, those damn dragons. If there is anything Game of Thrones is known for at this point, it’s that “all men must die”—no character is safe, no matter how seemingly essential to the storyline—and those fucking dragons, Dany Targaryan’s three children: Drogon, Rhaegal, and Viserion, named after her dead husband Khal Drogo, dead brother Rhaegar, and dead brother Viserys, respectively. Remember how Dany told the slavers in the episode “And Now His Watch Is Ended” that “a dragon is not a slave”? She’ll move that forward in season four, as she decides to stay and rule in the freed slave cities instead of marching on immediately toward King’s Landing. Dany has a new paramour now—the sellsword Daario Naharis, recast from Ed Skrein to Michiel Huisman (still without the dyed-blue hair and beard from the original books, sadly)—and the dragons are getting bigger and bigger.
But as she deals with a terrorist threat from the slave cities, and tries to control her feelings for Daario, her relationship with her dragons and with lead advisor Jorah Mormont will change. Never forget how crushed Jorah looked in the episode “The Rains of Castamere” when Dany specifically asked about Daario’s safety. To say the men—and her dragons—will push and pull her in different directions this season would be an understatement.
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