@avclub-858b67085072a6f2403cf500871f4068:disqus 
Why would the series getting stretched into more books be something I shouldn't like?

Other fugitives from Craster's at just the right time, is my guess. I don't think we'll meet the gentleman who helps Sam in the books in this context, though, because I think they'll want to draw out Bran's trip north into Season 4.

SPOILERS

Yeah, this is the annoying thing. D and D made both Renly and Loras closer to a modern moron's idea of a gay person. Loras and Renly in the books are flamboyant, but all the big tourney knights are all flamboyant for the purposes of jousting. Renly the character in the books is the guy everyone should be looking at…

Yup. In the books, it's explicitly part of the deal between Lannister and Tyrell. Margaery marries Joff and Loras gets named to the Kingsguard.

You know what can get people not to notice things like that? Flaying, fear of.

Or SMALL SPOILING Melisandre thinks she just met Alys Karstark.

@avclub-0840875a9da6f24c4e0fc883b399d93a:disqus Jon might think differently of an offer from Robb than he does of one from Stannis. But presumably Howland Reed would say "Hey, Jon, this is kinda awkward…"

I expect it's a sign that Martin makes mistakes sometimes.

You can't possibly have detected any sexual tension between Grey Worm and Dany. All they did was speak dramatically at each other in a fake language in a scene pulled practically verbatim from the book.

Cat had solid reasoning for that.
1.) it was going to help Sansa become Queen, which is both fufilling the sort of dynasty building ambition that a Great Lady like Cat is supposed to have and it makes both the Starks and Tullys more secure in the feudal system if the next king is married to a Stark/Tully and the one…

Jaime at that point was also a teenager who'd just had all his youthful idealism about what it meant to be a knight destroyed by watching the Mad King burn innocent people to death for kicks, beat and rape his Queen and grow creepily long fingernails, all while his idols like Ser Gerold Hightower, Ser Arthur Dayne and…

SPOILERS FOR BOOKS 4 and 5
I don't know that there is any reason to believe redeeming Jaime wasn't part of Martin's idea for the character all along. His mission statement for the series was messing with fantasy conventions and Jaime's sneering, mocking evil badass fits into that. Rather than get killed in a duel by…

SPOILINGFORFUTUREBOOKS PRETTY BIG ONES< REALLY,
THISCOWBELONGSTODARRYLJONESSOHANDSOFF

@avclub-f5e9fe6d78bf73228dd1b263395189c4:disqus Rhaegar gave up the throne? Not sure what you mean by the that. He was always the heir to his father, Aerys. People speculate that Rhaegar intended to defeat Robert and then put his father out to pasture and rule in his stead, because of how crazy dad was getting.

@avclub-0ae7484a9f3bbd2a21df420050c032ae:disqus Well, previews have suggested that they're using someone else for the Edric Storm role.

Robb probably felt he was doing okay with Walder Frey, because he was giving Frey something the old bastard had always wanted, to advance his family by marrying one of his daughters to his feudal overlord, the haughty Tullys. That, plus the taboos and the fact that the Starks had their army close at hand, should have…

@avclub-e56ced79d1049a08025835434a572e01:disqus Yeah, no. The Lannisters knew what Ned was doing because he told Littlefinger exactly what he was planning and Littlefinger double-crossed him. Previous to that, Ned himself told Cersei he was going to move against her. If Sansa'd never spoken a word, it happens exactly…

Seems safe to figure Varys knows, or at least knows what the rumors are from the North. Littlefinger, too, and maybe others.

Varys wanted Ned on the wall. Whether that was because he just wanted to do right by Ned or whatever, you can actually see him look shocked in the background of the scene where Joffrey pronounces sentence on Ned.