Ten months between season!!! That is the price a viewer pays for experiencing this current golden age of television. The shortened, higher quality seasons of today’s cable drama means longer periods of waiting for the next season of the show to begin. So within those ten months, show fanatics like myself jump all over every single bit of casting news, leaked photos, or plot information we can get. So even the releasing of episode titles causes us to go into “internet theory frenzy” and start piecing together the entire plot of those first four episodes that now have titles.
Now I will not be unveiling every bit of information I know about the start of the season from these titles. But I will provide an almost spoiler-free preview of what is coming in each of these four episodes.
Of Note: I did say almost spoiler-free as some of the information I provide may be info you want to figure out from watching the show (assuming the show actually takes the time to explain these things, which it doesn’t always do). So if you want ABSOLUTELY ZERO PERCENT of season five spoiled for you, then stop reading. But most of you should be find reading on.
Episode One: The Wars to Come
Well that really narrows it down, doesn’t it? Considering that everyone in Game of Thrones is in violent conflict with somebody else, this could imply anyone, or (as I would theorize) multiple characters. The recently released second trailer for season five spells it out a little clearer:
So based on the trailer, we have battles in the North and on the other side of the wall, rioting in the streets of King’s Landing and Merreen, and Daenary’s intentions to “break the wheel.” I suspect the first episode will also set the table for some or all of those battles. I also expect some individual battles to be included in these “Wars to Come” such as Cersei vs Jamie, Cersei vs Margaery, basically Cersei versus anyone.
Episode Two: The House of Black and White
The next three titles are more clear cut than the first one. For all you need to know about The House of Black and White, I submit this picture:
Obviously this doesn’t tell you everyone that goes on there. But it does tell you where the name
comes from and who is heading there. But the bad news about this title is I doubt we will see any of Arya in episode one. This house is where her story arc is taking her and I doubt (at least I hope) the producers will waste a lot of time with Arya sitting on a boat doing nothing.
Episode 3: High Sparrow
In order to understand who the High Sparrow is, I present this photo from season 2. This is when then King Joffrey (R.I.P. you cruel bastard) incited a riot in the streets of King’s Landing after someone threw poop at him:
That arm being held up is the arm of the High Septon, the man in charge of worshipping the seven in all of Westeros. This particular High Septon, if paid the right price, turned a blind eye to the sins committed by the crown. The High Sparrow is the man replacing that High Septon. I will save my profile of the High Sparrow for the full season primer in a couple of weeks. But for now, I will say the Sparrow will not be like the old High Septon.
Episode 4: Sons of the Harpy
I will not say too much here, since I feel like it would spoil too much of the first three episodes. I will simply say that the “Sons of the Harpy” will cause a lot of problems for one of our main characters this season. This is unlikely to be the first time we’ve seen them in season five, but I expect the realization of just how significant a threat they are will come at this point.
Next Week: Dragons-Their history and their potential impact for season five.
(This article was written by 4LN GoT expert, Jeff Merrick.)