Not quite yet, but I'm guessing soon.

I still can't wrap my head around how the Sand Snakes were able to somehow beat Jamie's ship to King's Landing and then creep aboard undetected while it was anchored literally in the shadow of the Red Keep. . . but even stranger, to me, is why they would take such a terrible chance in the first place.

Well, yes. . . pretty much nobody left standing at this point can honestly claim to be pure (and the ones who would make that claim, like Melisandre, are some of the scariest characters in the story).

One afterthought: For me, the most interesting (and haunting) scene in the Lord of the Rings came near the beginning. . .when Frodo offered the Ring of Power to Galadriel.

Oldtown isn't on an island, but the Tower is. According to the Prologue of A Feast for Crows the Tower is located on Battle Island, at the point where the Honeywine widens into Whispering Sound.

From the books, it's more likely to be choice "B".

True - with the sheer number of hints that have been dropped, the story has to take us there as well, and we'll presumably learn why Bran the Builder (or his descendants) felt the need to construct a thousand-foot tower on an island containing a vast and mysterious ancient labyrinth carved by who-knows who.

- Arya has no choice but to fully adopt the ways of her tutors, if she wants to live at least.

Mellisandre has described the Wall as "one of the Hinges of the World." A hinge suggests a door of some sort, through which things from other worlds can potentially enter. and her use of the plural suggests that other such places exist.

Hopefully Book Six will be an unflinching exploration of the global financial crisis that unfolds when it turns out that the Iron Bank has only been acting as the originator of loans to the Westerosi Noble Houses, which were then bundled into tranches and securitized by the banks of Tyrosh, Pentos, and Lys.

Maybe they want to clear the way for a naval invasion for some other nearby city-state run by slavers. Or maybe they're afraid that Dany will use them to bring in reinforcements. Based in her heterogenous entourage (Dothraki bloodriders, Free City mercenaries, Westerosi knights, Unsullied, and I forget who else), the…

It's true, even if the worst should befall Westeros, I can picture Tycho Nestoris patiently explaining the concept of compound interest to a cyan-eyed Other whose crystal sword moans faintly with anguish whenever Nestoris says "securitized."

I don't have the book, but it took Bran the Builder to create the Wall. . .I can't imagine that the land is dotted with similar structures. Also, on the maps I've seen, what would be the North in Essos is instead just the expanse of the Shivering Sea.

I know. And meanwhile, Oberyn died in like 2 episodes, while the stiflingly boring "Sand Snakes" just live on and on and on. . . .

I think it's safer to say that the Old Gods of the Forest have outgrown their need for human sacrifice. Probably. One of Bran's visions, the one farthest back in time, was of a woman with a bronze sickle sacrificing the blood of a captive to a Heart Tree. Craster sacrificed his male children as well, although it's not…

Tommen is still regarded as a Baratheon . .for the moment; but the High Sparrow is planning to try Cersei Lannister for that very claim (and also for regicide, but who's counting).

On second thought. . . I'm not sure how well the Iron Bank is actually doing these days. The "Crown" owes them a ton of money, which they've defaulted on; and House Baratheon, being extinct, isn't about to pay them back either. . . and we've been given to understand that they have other loans outstanding to other…

I thought it was going to turn around and go back to Dorne, because. . . come on. What captain in his right mind is going to sail into King's Landing bearing the dead body of a Lannister princess who was murdered (sort of) on his watch?

I agree. That might actually add some depth to their performances, though- Ramsay Bolton's constant battle not to crack up (and it really does seem to be a constant battle) comes off as a kind of restrained glee that makes his lines even creepier.

Technically, that might count as the "oceans drying up", from Miri's prophecy. . .