Things you probably missed in “The House of Black and White”

Two episodes down, eight to go. The second episode of Game of Thrones‘ fifth season, “The House of Black and White,” was an eventful one, and there may have been a few details that went unnoticed by most of the viewers. With special thanks to the observant folks over at /r/ASOIAF on Reddit, we’ve cataloged a few of those moments in this post.

The first thing on our list involves the necklace clasped in the jaws of the pop-up viper-in-a-box Cersei received from Dorne. Cersei tells Jaime that there are only two necklaces like that in the world: the one she is currently wearing, and the one she gave her daughter, Myrcella.

The scene was an endearing reminder that Cersei actually does love her children quite a lot–and here we all thought that she only loved herself. But are there really only two of those necklaces? Are you sure, Cersei? Redditor AdmiralKird caught what’s either a production mistake or a conspiracy. Let’s explore.

Here’s the necklace in the mouth of a red viper (excellent imagery by the way).

Now take a look at this one that Sansa wore during her dumb phase.

And here it is again, in Season 3.

Now, either Cersei is lying to Jaime in order to make him spring into action and go rescue their daughter, or there’s a costumer or script supervisor out there who’s very embarrassed right now. There is one other option here, to which I sort of subscribe. Perhaps Littlefinger sent that necklace to Cersei in hopes of inciting the Lannisters–and by proxy the kingdom–into war with Dorne. This would further his dastardly goals, and is definitely not outside the realm of possibility. Or, again, it could just be a simple costume blunder, in which case, this is apropos.

Next, we have the mysteries of Qyburn’s chambers. In the books, they are rarely talked about, which has always led me to believe that they were a shop of horrors where ungodly experiments gone wrong were just stacked on top of each other like kindling. However, they weren’t as bad as I imagined. Also, Redditor letsgetrockin741 spotted something in the corner that hints at things to come.

In the image below, Letsgetrockin’s poorly drawn square alerts us to a very large humanoid shape, covered from head to toe in a sheet. Is this the body of Gregor “The Mountain that Rides” Clegane? I think so! Look at the size of the shape’s chest and how long its legs are. For the sake of the Unsullied, I won’t go into any detailed theories here, but it sure seems like Qyburn is still working on Gregor, for now.

Oh hey, did you forget that Arya already has plenty of expertise in catching and killing pigeons? Redditor bobsaintclair hasn’t.

Finally, let’s talk about that scene where Jon Snow was elected to the position of Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Before the men cast their votes, Ser Alliser made a speech about Jon’s love for a wildling girl. Did you catch the look on young Olly’s face? Redditor cara123456789 did.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen Olly give Jon the stink eye. In the final moments of the Season 5 premiere, Jon brushes past Olly on his way to get a bow and arrow so he can end Mance Rayder’s live incineration, and Olly gives Jon a look of pure frustration…or maybe anger and disgust. I hold that Olly will be heavily involved in[spoiler]For the Watch[/spoiler] because he sure is getting loads of screen-time for some random kid who’s parents were slaughtered by the Thenns.

Did you catch these moments? Are there others that I may have missed? Let’s talk about it in the comments section below.

• Published on 04/24/2015 at 12:30 PM CDT
• Last updated on 10/21/2016 at 1:05 PM CDT