"Oooooh, I thought you said cornucopia of characters!" — George R.R. Martin

I was interested at Ramsay's comment that Jon was now a celebrated swordsman. In the books, nobody except the Wildlings and the Watch have really seen him fight yet, so it hasn't come up… but he's certainly trained with and fought against some formidable foes. And he has Jeor's Valyrian steel sword. Should we conclude…

…Or is he?

Thing is, it's not really clear that being ruthless, cunning, and/or pragmatic is an effective way to win Westeros either. In the last 300 years, the only approach that has actually worked is to possess a bunch of flying, fire-breathing, reptilian death machines.

All of what you say is true. It's also true that all of the mentioned characters are unambiguous villains. Euron especially is said by those who have read the advance chapters from WoW to be shaping up as a possible big bad, as is Littlefinger.

"Stars? You thought I said stars?… Oh, no, I definitely said one of the STARKS."

Very much agreed. I think they are trying to keep the audience guessing and worrying about which way both Sansa and Dany will break.

And yet, given the way emotions work, they'll probably worship him even more. On top of coming back from the dead, he charged an entire army, then beat the opposing general almost to death with his fists. I suspect Joe Wildling or Northman respects that a lot more than actual strategic acumen.

You're supposed to like Jon because he's, in Martin's own words, a classic hero. You're supposed to be holding your breath for Sansa because years of hanging around with Cersei, Baelish, and Ramsay have her teetering on the knife edge between good and evil. It's totally legit if you don't like your heroes simple and…

I thought she was just giving Jon a "save some for me, dammit!" kind of look.

If you're going to be on Team Snow, I think you just have to kind of accept that he's not a realistic depiction of a successful leader. He's an archetypal Hero, the kind of guy who would charge an entire army trying to save his brother, even when it's literally the single worst strategic move possible. Stannis would…

Cersei is unambiguously evil, as is Qyburn. So was the Mountain when he was alive, so I guess his reanimated corpse probably is as well. Walder Frey. Euron.

They're slavering at the mouth!

GoT isn't a rewatch for me, so I'll take your word for it. That sounds right, but I did think there was maybe another candle on the wall near the door.

You're really splitting hairs with this question.

In the books, Arya is good at being blind because she can warg into a nearby cat or other critter, and cheat. That doesn't seem to be the case in the show. Also, wasn't there another candle on the stairs behind the Waif, so it wouldn't be pitch dark?

Almost certainly true.

Was his last name Baelish?

Stannis. *ducks* …but seriously, best parallel I can think of. Tries to work the religious fundamentalist angle, kind of but not really the establishment candidate, brings in a witch to bolster his sagging campaign, heartily disliked by his peers, would burn his own children alive to win.

In Westeros, it's a wardrobe malfunction if the nipples stay covered.