Decoding the game

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This article was published 15/07/2017 (3098 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Viewers of HBO’s Game of Thrones have been cooling their heels and settling for reruns for more than a year since they saw Daenerys Targaryen, her adviser Tyrion Lannister and the rest of her army set sail for Westeros to wrest the Seven Kingdoms away from newly crowned queen Cersei Lannister.

They also saw the Starks begin to resettle Winterfell in the north after the epic Battle of the Bastards that saw the demise of the evil Ramsay Bolton, who spent much of last season abusing Sansa Stark, marrying her and then abusing her some more.

The tale begins anew on Sunday night (HBO Canada, check TV listings) and the speculation about what will happen in the next seven episodes is rampant, due to the show’s popularity and because HBO and showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have refused to release any shows to TV critics to preview prior to Sunday’s broadcast. And the actors, be they Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Peter Dinklage, Kit Harington, Lena Headey, or any of the other cast members, have kept a cone of silence about what’s in store for the characters they play.

All viewers have to ruminate on are two trailers that HBO released in May. The first one has been viewed more than 33 million times on YouTube.

The first trailer appears to set up an upcoming power struggle between Targaryen (Clarke) and Cersei (Headey).

“Enemies to the east, enemies to the west, enemies to the south, enemies to the north,” a defiant Cersei says in the trailer.

“I was born to rule the Seven Kingdoms. And I will,” an equally confident Targaryen utters.

The second trailer involves more action scenes, set in both cold and warm climates, but excited followers of the series didn’t need brief snippets of armies marching and battling to know that there was going to be some serious swordplay in the episodes ahead.

Arts and life editor Alan Small and reporter Jill Wilson will discuss the upcoming season and add to the speculation.

Alan Small: Game of Thrones got rid of some serious evildoers and lowlifes in the sixth season when Ramsay Bolton and Stannis Baratheon were dispatched. Who do you think is going to fill in the baddie power vacuum?

Jill Wilson: I think it’s pretty clear that Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbaek) is poised to assume the mantle of murderous mayhem — or at least one of them. He’s already killed his brother Balon to become King of the Iron Islands. Plus, in interviews, Asbaek has hinted at an alliance between Euron and Cersei — the combination of those two personalities is like a perfect storm of evil.

Alan: Oh, those Greyjoys, they do seem to pop up at the most opportune times.

One of the things that strikes me about most of the characters is that despite all their political cunning, they can make some serious blunders that lead to demise or further suffering. The Starks, for example, are like the good guys of professional wrestling — handsome and honourable, yet too naive to understand that their enemies will break the rules whenever they want. Sansa and Arya have learned those lessons, I think, and are ready to fight back with whatever means necessary, but it’s duty-bound Jon Snow who is now “King of the North.”

Jill:We might see some real conflict between Sansa and Jon. First, I think she’s realized the power of vengeance and the satisfaction that could be found by killing those who have harmed her and her family; she’s not the meek girl she once was and she’s definitely lost her innocence. Second, she probably feels that she, not the bastard Jon, is the legitimate heir to Ned Stark’s crown. I don’t think she’ll sit quietly by and let Jon take over — they will probably clash frequently, whether it’s over battle strategy or just sibling rivalry. But there’s no place for sibling squabbles in wartime; that will probably be an issue.

Alan Small: The show depicts a society with little regard for morality, but the one character who seems to hold the moral compass is Ser Davos (Liam Cunningham). He provided solid wisdom to Stannis; it’s not his fault Stannis was too arrogant to listen. I wonder if Davos will face the same problem now that he’s cast his lot with the Starks. He is great at issuing dire warnings, but it all depends whether anybody will be listening when he says in the trailer, “If we don’t put aside our enmities, then together we will die. Then it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne.”

Jill: Poor old Davos. It must be exhausting to be right all the time and have the people you’ve sworn fealty to just turn a deaf ear to your advice and rush headlong into the very disaster you’ve predicted. The Starks are less power-mad and seem more likely to heed his warnings, however, or at least not ignore them entirely.

Alan: The show is not only HBO’s most successful series, it’s probably it’s one of the most raunchy shows in the history of television. HBO series have always found a way to up the violence ante by finding more clever or shocking ways to kill off characters or advance the plot. A problem I see is Game of Thrones has to do the same thing with sexual situations, leading to scenes that get more uncomfortable and less titillating as the series progresses. What do you think?

Jill Wilson: I think you’re bang-on with that assessment. We’re all used to gratuitous boobs on HBO shows, but we’re now dealing with rape on a regular basis, and nudity that feels shameful, not sexy. We’ve already seen push-back against the scene where Cersei’s brother Jamie Lannister (Coster-Waldau) forces himself on her (it should be noted here that the issue was the force, not the incest, since they are longtime lovers) and Ramsay’s assault of Sansa, which actually showed very little but was no less disturbing for that. How far does the line need to be pushed? It started to feel unpleasantly misogynist and unnecessarily brutal in the past couple of seasons.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca Twitter:@AlanDSmall

jill.wilson@freepress.mb.ca Twitter:@dedaumier