Also, Jon was a naive kid who wanted to seek out his own version of glory, just as Sansa was a naive kid, seeking her own version of glory, which in her case consisted in marrying a handsome prince. Nobody warned and stopped her either. She was raised on pretty songs and fairy tales and nobody ever made sure she would…

Yeah I think that Ned's ideal plan for Jon would have been to have a little holdfast in the North - at some point in the books, Ned talks about resettling the Gift, lands given to the NIght's Watch close to the Wall, and I think, that's what he had in mind for Jon. Doubtlessly that would have suited Jon better - it's…

Sending Jon to the Wall was Ned's choice as well as Catelyn's. And apparently a thoroughly well considered one, since Jon had been prepared for it for quite a while. He talks about it Tyrion at the night of the feast, well before Ned makes the choice to go to King's Landing. It didn't happen on a whim, or to humour…

Eh, Catelyn's remorse about her treatment of Jon is mostly an invention of the show and has been criticized as an unnecessary softening of the character. As if a mostly unrepentant Cat couldn't be a compelling and still essentially sympathetic, if flawed character. I admit, I kinda resent that the show found it…

So Harry becomes her puppet rather than his? That's an idea I could go for….

There's no way they can pull of the multiple layers of forshadowing that so far have been one of the chief joys of the books.

Eternal spinsterhood is better than Ramsey. Quite possibly better than Harry too, honestly. He seems terminally bland and a bit of a cad. He's already got a child he seems rather fond of - if he keeps that up, that's a constant embarassement to Sansa (and risk to her own offspring) and if he doesn't, it reflects badly…

The Waifinator arc was certainly a stand-out in terms of shoddy story-telling, but I was also very underwhelmed by the resolution of the Dorian Martell vs Sandsnakes conflict (such a waste of an actor) and demise of Walder Frey (mostly because I don't buy the logistics of Arya pulling it of, regardless of supernatural…

Absolutely. I feel similarly about Brienne's and Jaime's exploits in the Riverlands. Bad for pacing, crucical for the themes. Sometimes a story has to slow you down to attain the weight it needs to stick in your mind.

I can't entirely dismiss your suspicion that, if it could be done better, G.R.R.M would have done it by now.

Yeah, it's a textbook illustration of the old adage that handing in subpar work is still better than handing in no work at all.

Eh, I think the Iron Bank is hardly in need of Littlefinger to find a way to benefit from this whole clusterfuck.

It's not entirely impossible, and it would indeed be a tidy way to wrap things up. Almost too tidy….

Clearly this is Coen Brothers' material.

Yeah, but the beauty of my idea is that Gendry's qualification for ruling wouldn't be crucial, since we'd be moving towards more of constitutional monarchy. The Hand would be the de-facto prime minister. I think that would actually be the most hopeful/utilitarian ending! Fuck feudalism!

Honestly, everything since the show has completely veered off from the books has felt perfunctory to me - a rushing through the plot points, ticking off only the most expected character beats.

Clearly Littlefinger is going to do his level best to turn Sansa against Jon, and she's probably spending a couple of episodes this season looking increasingly susceptible. But I also can't really see her making that exact same mistake she already made with Joffrey a second time. Surely, there's going be some…

What's Littlefinger's independent power base? Some piles of rock in the narrow sea with a couple of sheeps on it and a brothel in King's Landing.

I used to have strong feelings about this based on the books, but the show has long killed all my favourite theories, so whatever.

16 may have been considered "marriageable" in the past, but that doesn't mean this kind of relationships were terribly common or considered ideal. Political marriages for dynastic purposes - okay, and that could even happen at 13. But consummation was usually postponed. Commoners used to marry mostly in their twenties…