Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 9 - "The Rains of Castamere" Spoilers

This post will contain spoilers of the latest episode. I will also deliberate on how this episode affects the future BOOKS.

Game of Thrones Season 3 Episode 9 - "The Rains of Castamere" (aka. "The Red Wedding", or "So close...")

And who are you, the proud lord said,

that I must bow so low?

Only a cat of a different coat,

that's all the truth I know.

In a coat of gold or a coat of red,

a lion still has claws,

And mine are long and sharp, my lord,

as long and sharp as yours.

And so he spoke, and so he spoke,

that lord of Castamere,

But now the rains weep o'er his hall,

with no one there to hear.

Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,

and not a soul to hear

Few episodes ago Cersei briefly explains the song's meaning to cute and power hungry Margery. The song tells a story of House Reyne of Castamere which rebelled against Tytos Lannister. The rebellion was swiftly crushed by his son and heir Tywin. House Reyne was totally wiped out and every trace of it was destroyed.


The Red Wedding
The story likes to repeat itself apparently, as yet another house is slowly being destroyed by Lannisters.
I will start with the Red Wedding as it is the most controversial and surprising to some, part of this episode.
Robb Stark, his wife Talisa, mother Catelyn accompany his uncle to his wedding at The Twins, house to Freys. Robb wishes to personally apologize to them for breaking the vow he made before; he swore to marry one of Frey girls (and in return the fastest passage to the south, would be open for his army). After he married Talisa, as a peace offering it was decided that his uncle Edmure will marry Frey girl to make up for this broken promise.
This marriage is a huge deal for Freys, who were always looked down upon by other houses, who refused to tie the knots between themselves and Freys (like Tullys, Lannisters or Arryn). Strategic localization of The Twins made the house very rich and somewhat powerful, but Walder Frey's attitude makes his family very unlikable.
As soon as Starks and Tullys arrive at The Twins they eat bread and salt, (this part is hugely emphasized in the show) which means that they can feel safe under other lord's roof. This is not a sign of courtesy, this is a law. Walder Frey has a brief monologue about Talisa and finds out she is pregnant, he also insults her a bit, but let's not nitpick. Lord Frey invites the guest to the wedding feast, while Robb's soldiers stay outside of the castle in tents to celebrate with ale and wine.
After the presentation of the girls who were robbed of Robb's affection (oh my, nice pun), Edmure was terrified his bride will be fat and ugly. He is however pleasantly surprised upon unveiling. Roslin is beautiful and young (first glance made me think of Sansa), she also seems very polite and nice. Edmure is absolutely stunned.

Nice catch.

"In sight of the Seven, I hereby seal these two souls, binding them as one, for eternity. Look upon each other and say the words."

"Father, Smith, Warrior, Mother, Maiden, Crone, Stranger. I am hers and she is mine, from this day, until the end of my days."

Walder Frey makes eyes at Robb, letting him know he could have landed that girl, but oh well as we say in Poland "The heart is not your servant". During the feast everyone seems to be very relaxed and happy. Brynden Tully leaves the room, leaving his niece Catelyn with Roose Bolton. Robb and Talisa tease each other playfully as they are interrupted by Lord Frey who proposes The Bedding ceremony: "The sword need a sheath and the wedding needs a bedding."

Let's bed them!

So the bride and groom are escorted from the room with wedding guests, undressing them on the way to the bedroom. The doors are closed which rises some suspicions in Catelyn, suddenly the Rain of Castamere begins to play.

Suspicions.

Lord Frey makes speech about hospitality that has not been yet shown to the guests, while Catelyn notices that Roose Bolton is wearing a chain mail under his clothes. She quickly rises and hits him, screaming her sons name to warn him. It is too late, Talisa is stabbed repeatedly in the belly and Robb is pierced with bolts. The remaining unarmed guests and soldiers outside of the castle are slaughtered in seconds. Catelyn gets hit with a bolt but manages to hide. Robb, still alive, manages to embrace his dying wife and unborn child for the last time.

Catelyn grabs Walder's wife threatening to cut her throat and begs for her son's life. This is a plea of a desperate woman who lost all her children, the last act of hope and despair. Lord Frey remains imperturbable. I can not even express how much respect I have for Michelle Fairley, she always gives very good performance, but this time she has outdone herself. I think it is years of playing Shakespearean characters paying off. 

Roose Bolton appears again, traitor bastard, stabs Robb and gives him regards from Lannisters. Catelyn, seeing her last son's death, slits Walder's wife's throat. This is a pointless act of revenge and despair, it gets her killed few seconds later. This horrifying scene was followed by ending credits in total silence, which only adds to the horror. I was very curious what effect this scene will have on me, since I already knew what is coming. The Red Wedding, in the book, is extremely surprising and horrible. At this point you are certain that nobody is safe. So I was very shocked with killing of Talisa, it was very brutal and the lack of emotion on the killers face was just too much for me. It really could not go worse from there. But I think this is a very personal point of view. It just makes me wonder, now that I put this scene at the back of my head, and I try not to think about this repeated stabs, why did they kill her off. In the books she is not present during the wedding and therefore very much alive and pregnant. I don't know what to think about it. I was always under the impression she is still an important character and knowing that the writers of the show know the ending, I am starting to doubt many of my theories. 

Now, I do not agree with naming this episode the best of this season based on this scene only. I would say that so far, this is one of the most powerful and very well performed scenes. But the episode itself is keeping the level of previous episodes as a whole. So let's see what else is there.

Daenerys

Daario Naharis leads ser Jorah and  Grey Worm to the poorly guarded gates of Yunkai and promises to open the gate for the army. They find themselves surrounded by "few guards". We are treated with a very short but spectacular battle scene. All three fight in a very different way which is worth watching closely. Ser Jorah - the knight, Daario - brutal and quick mercenary and Grey Worm - the leader of the Unsullied fight together and win for their queen Daenerys. Yunkai surrenders. When ser Jorah announces the news to Danny,  to his great disappointment, she is more concerned about Daario, than the victory. Poor guy. I felt really bad for him. Again, awesome performance. 

Love...

Daario comes back in style, all bloody and sexy, offers the flag of Yunkai to Daenerys. She is very pleased with him. There is undeniable attraction between the two, which is killing Jorah. I admit that Daario is very smug and confident in the show. I am not very happy with his physical appearance tho. It feels like a discrimination toward blue beards. As the viewer would not get, why Daenerys is attracted to a guy with so much swag.

Why no love?

Nailed it.

Sam and Gilly

Sam and Gilly escaped The Other and are now traveling to Nightfort, to cross The Wall. Sam is showing off again and he is rewarded by Gilly calling him a wizard. Something he always wanted to be. I like when Sam is content. 

At least someone is happy.

Arya and The Hound

Arya is a true Stark, she stands unarmed before The Hound defending a helpless merchant, just to hit him on the head seconds after. For his own good tho, so it's ok. Sandor tries to mock her about being scared, but Arya faces him again, pointing out his own fear of fire. The Hound is stunned again. They continue their way to The Twins on a stolen wagon. And Arya's fears become true, they arrive too late. She is a witness to the massacre on Robbs army and his direwolf - Grey Wind. She is so close to be reunited with her mother and brother...

Someday, I am gonna put sword through your eye and out the back of your skull.

Sandor yet again kidnaps/saves her life. He just has a thing for Stark girls...

Check out this awesome SoIaF gallery.

Bran & co.

Well Rickon finally opens his mouth... and it is not good, but he is a child so why judge.
Bran, comes out of his shell and starts to warg, he enters Hodor's mind to make him pass out. Moments later he enters the mind of Summer, to save his half brother's life. Jon is right outside of the mill, where Bran is hiding,  fighting with the wildlings. And yet again Stark children come so close to reunion...
Later that night Bran decides that Rickon and Osha will head to the Last Heart and the rest will continue the journey in search for Three - Eyed Crow.

Jon Snow and the wildlings

During the wildlings raid on elderly horse breeder's house, Jon tries to convince the wildlings not to kill the man. The old guy runs away and Ygritte mysteriously misses him with her arrow... I think the Stark power begins to spread. The old dude is not very fortunate tho, they catch him soon after, close to the mill where Bran is hiding. Again Jon is challenged to prove himself, he is ordered to kill the old horse trader. 

You know Jon... he is not able to kill innocent man. He is exposed as a traitor and a Crow. He admits it while he kills Orell. Ygritte is still trying to defend him and tries to fight along but is unable to do so held by Tormund. As I mentioned before, Bran enters the mind of his direwolf Summer and helps Jon, by killing one ot the wildlings. However upon his death Orell manages to warg as well, sending his consciousness into the mind of an eagle and attacking Jon. Lots of action! Jon steals a horse and runs away leaving Ygritte behind...

The one that got away...

Inspite of the horrifying, scarring and brutal murder scene this episode has few funny highlights:

- Walder Frey forgets his granddaughter's name.

- Hitting the poor pork vendor... 

- No more Hodoring... 

- "I can't believe how lucky I am" face of Edmure Tully when he sees his bride

- Blackfish and his pretty maidens

Nope...

- "I don't know, you tell me how long does it take to sack a city..." - Daenerys to Ser Barristan

- Fat bride of Roose Bolton, what a lovely story :D

- "Once you set that monster free, there is no caging him again." - Real gentleman Edmure Tully during The Bedding ceremony.

- And This Guy:

He is funny.

If you know who this guy is, leave a comment and I will get you something cool. 

I can not finish without pasting my all time favourite picture, that will sum up this episode:

  

and new one:

Thanks for reading!

Please make sure you view the awesome galleries:

Denkata and Polish artist Bubug

I didn't proofread this text, it took me too long to write it and I was exhausted. Sorry for any errors.