After a crazy second week of vacation, I decided to relax on my third one. I was hoping to visit the farm animals at Hotel Medena. I was also hoping to ride a horse (I am very crazy about horseback riding even though I am not an expert). One of my boys has started to like horses. I heard that he liked to ride a pony often while he was on vacation. Lucky him! I totally forgot about the farm animals and horseback riding during the last days of my vacation. I realized that when I was on the plane travelling back home.
Keeping myself updated about fashion trends while being away has always been an issue since I do not have access to my computer. However, I was able to scan some items online and here are two of them that I really like.
These earrings are not as big as the ones that I usually wear. However, I like them and their small size is perfect when wearing statement necklaces.
I did mention last time that this post will be about Game of Thrones. This post will have a minor spoiler at the end – a spoiler that has not occurred yet in the books but it is heavily foreshadowed. For those that have started reading the series, details such as history repeating itself again, the Cyvasse game (a game that resembles chess and uses dragons and elephants as pieces), songs, mythological references, and certain expressions in the narrative,are strong elements of foreshadowing.
Overall, I have not been very impressed with Season 3. This season consists of the first half of a Storm of Swords, the third novel from A Song of Ice and Fire, and the best book of the series. My disappointment lies on the adaptation of the storyline of beyond the Wall and some Wildling characters. The King Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, is a very charismatic character in the books. He is smart, very pleasant when he is introduced, and a bard. I like him and I believe most readers do. The TV show only portrayed only one aspect of him – a smart and fierce leader. I do not hold anything against the actor – I believe he is suitable for the role and HBO has made great choices when it comes to casting. I believe the problem lies on the budget and on the writers. The same applies to another character that I like, Tormund Giantsbane, a pleasant and funny wildling. The TV show has changed him a lot (by making him less friendly). However, I did like some lines the actor who plays him said to Jon Snow. I am very confident that Mance and Tormund will shine in the next season, especially since some characters have exited the show. My favourite Wildling character on the TV show is Ygritte, and Rose Leslie is great portraying her. What I did not like is the final scene between Jon and Ygritte. In the books, Ygritte is able to shoot Jon on the leg once while he is escaping from the skirmish. In the show, Jon escapes the Wildlings after fighting them without being hurt. Later on, Ygritte catches up with him and shoots Jon with the bow like three times, a total exaggeration. Furthermore, as in the books Jon escapes by riding a horse. Ygritte never has access to any horse in both the book and the show. As a result, I do not understand how she was able to catch him up in the show.
The plot line involving Daenerys was great. I loved watching the scene with Kraznys,the slaver, in the first few episodes. The show so far is doing a great job in portraying her evolution as a strong female character. However, I did not like the ending of the Season Finale. I simply did not like Daenerys crowd surfing and the soundtrack song. Everything was overdone. I would have liked something similar to what happened in the books. She entered the Slaver city of Yunkai riding a horse (her Silver) and people started to cheer for her.
Concerning the Red Wedding, the adaptation was good even though it was less dramatic and emotional than in the books. I think Michelle Fairley (Catelyn Stark) was great, especially when imploring for his son’s life. Now everybody seems to be upset because the Lannisters are despicable and heartless and the Starks are the epitome of honour and loved. First, the Lannisters together with the Boltons and Freys are going to fall, and I believe their respective Houses would be extinguished by the end of the series. One clue given by the books and the TV show is the scene of Melisandre with the leeches – the names that were mentioned belong to those ones that will die soon. In fact, two major Lannister characters will be exiting the show next season. Another clue is given in the Season Finale when Bran tells Meera and Jojen the story of the Rat Cook at the Nightfort, an abandoned castle at the Wall. The Rat Cook was a cook at the Nightfort who killed a guest, the son of an Andal King for a wrong done to him by this king. Because the sacred laws of hospitality (the Guest right) were broken, the gods cursed the cook by transforming him into a big Rat that could only eat his own descendants. Basically this applies to House Frey mainly and to an extent to the other two houses involved in the Red Wedding, Bolton and Lannister. Walder Frey has his king, a guest under his own roof, killed because he did not marry one of his daughters. The implication of the Rat Cook story is that these Houses might not have any descendants left at the end.
If Norse mythology can be applied to A Song of Ice and Fire, there is a god by the name of Freyr who gets killed by the leader of the fire giants, Surtr, who wields a flaming sword. In a Song of Ice and Fire, there is a prophesied hero that will wield a sword of fire in order to defeat the Others (White Walkers) and their army of wights, Azor Ahai. According to Melisandre it is Stannis but she is wrong. The most likely candidate is Jon Snow followed by Daenerys Targaryen according to the nerds that have deciphered Martin’s masterpiece. If the history of Westeros is taken into consideration, Aegon the Conqueror, the first Targaryen king, roasted Harren Hoare at Harrenhall. Harren Hoare, also known as Harren the Black or Black Harren, was a tyrant who ruled the Riverlands and the Iron Islands at the time of Aegon’s landing (he landed at King’s Landing). The people he ruled joined Aegon in order to oust Black Harren. The interesting thing is that there is a feared Frey called Black Walder. If extrapolations are applied then it is likely that House Frey will be extinguished by dragon fire. Another theory is that many of them will perish in what some fans call Red Wedding 2.0. The resurrected Catelyn (Tully) Stark will take control of the Brotherhood without Banners. They will simply infiltrate Riverrun, the seat of House Tully, for the wedding celebration between a Lannister and a Frey. It is speculated that Lady Stoneheart (Catelyn Stark) and the Brotherhood without Banners will burn everybody at the wedding. In fact, I believe I read in the first book that Catelyn Stark felt that she should roast Lord Frey when talking to him at certain point. I could be wrong though.
I guess we should find out soon once the sixth book is released, “The Winds of Winter”. Just to end on a high note, the white raven of the citadel at the end of the fifth book carries a little message to the realm, “Winter is here”. This signifies that the Starks will have their revenge.
I would like to acknowledge the smart readers at www.Westeros.org for interpreting the text and the foreshadowing of future events. Here is the reference for the Norse mythology:
Norse Mythology and the Fate of House Frey
Here is one of the many reference for Red Wedding 2.0:
I will update some jewelry stuff and fashion stuff soon. I will also discuss the Stark girls, Sansa and Arya.