Sand Snakes and pink(ish) letters: Speculative spoilers about “Mother’s Mercy”
As we near this season’s final episode, the hype has reached a fever pitch. For most viewers, the biggest concern is how showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss will be able to wrap up all those unfinished story-lines. If you’re like me, you probably thought that we saw the last of Dorne and the Sand Snakes last week. However, thanks to an interview with Jessica Henwick (Nymeria) on Yahoo News, we know that we’ll be seeing more of the much maligned sisters in the finale.
What happens with the Sand Snakes is…extreme. Very extreme. So I’m really curious to see how people take it. I don’t know what else I can say! Episode 10 sets the rest of the show on a very certain path. It’s a big move in Game of Thrones, and the Sand Snakes are a part of it.
Warning: Here’s where the spoilery speculation begins. Beware.
It sounds as if Henwick is hinting that Dorne and the Sand Snakes will open the episode. This makes me think that the peace the Sand Snakes made with Doran in Episode 9 was less than ironclad.
Here’s how I see it (possibly) going down: Jaime, Bronn, Myrcella, and Trystane are traveling down the road when they are waylaid by Ellaria and the Sand Snakes. Of course, a fight ensues, and in the process Mycella takes an injury to the face. In the confusion, Doran’s bodyguard (Areo Hotah), shows up and he and Bronn face off. Bronn mistakenly believes Areo is involved in the plot to kill Myrcella and attacks the man, only to have his head removed in the process.
This would adapt a major scene from A Feast for Crows where Kingsgaurd knight Aerys Oakheart ignorantly charges Hotah and finds himself sans head. It would also mean that the horrible scarring Myrcella receives in the books could come to pass.
As for other Episode 10 spoilers, check out this official photo HBO released as part of the blitz for “The Dance of Dragons.
Now, Arya didn’t actually retrieve Needle from its hiding place in “The Dance of Dragons,” so I’m guessing the inclusion of this photo was a mistake. Odds are this will actually go down in the finale. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that, as far as Arya is concerned, Meryn Trant has a date with the pointy end.
As you can see, Arya is looking around as if making sure she isn’t being followed. Maybe Arya is afraid that the Waif or Sexy Jesus is observing her actions from afar, and will judge her harshly for not throwing away her old identity.
Also, there’s this photo of Jon looking at a curiously colored letter. Now, I’m not saying that particular shade is pink, and maybe the color is enhanced by the lighting, but this would be the perfect time for Jon to receive the Pink Letter from a person claiming to be Ramsay Bolton, as he does in A Dance with Dragons.
More likely, Lord Commander Snow is looking at a note from Stannis, delivered by Davos, demanding more men, horses, and supplies.
“Mother’s Mercy,” is going to have to cram a lot of content into an hour and three minutes, which is the scheduled run time, in order to bring all these stories to their tipping points. It definitely leaves me wondering if Game of Thrones Season 5 will end with a major cliffhanger, much like A Dance with Dragons did…we shall see!
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