Brace yourselves, “Game of Thrones” spoilers are coming.
Not in this article mind you, but all across your social media sites like Facebook, Tumblr and Twitter. With the start of the third season of “Game of Thrones,” Sunday nights and Monday mornings are no longer safe to casually browse online without the slight possibility of having a friend ruin it for you.
Keeping with tradition of the first two seasons, showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are basing this third season on the third book of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series “A Song of Ice and Fire.”
However the third book, “A Storm of Swords,” is so long (1,216 pages) that Benioff and Weiss planned to split the book into seasons three and four so they could cover the majority of the action that happens. With every season being only ten episodes, that’s still a lot to try and cram in.
With the season premiere this past Sunday, it immediately relieved the stressful 10 month wait returning to Westeros. Season two concluded with Samwell Tarly witnessing the amassing army of White Walkers and season three began with him running away from them.
Although we’ve been away for so long, just the opening few minutes causes the memories of what happened those many months ago to come flooding back.
I found myself having dejà vu with some of the sequences, but quickly realized it was because I read the third book not too long ago and the showrunners did such a great job adapting the book to the screen that everything was playing out exactly how I had imagined it.
This causes me great anxiety for the season finale, because if they are splitting the book into two seasons and continue on this current course, I grow queasy of the one major death that happens halfway through “A Storm of Swords” that will definitely surprise those who don’t read the books.
While some characters live and others die, this new season brings even more colorful characters to the table. Fans have been anticipating the introduction of Olenna Tyrell aka the “Queen of Thornes” since last year, for her venomous wit putting people in their places always made for a fun read.
Also the introduction of Mance Rayder aka the “King Beyond the Wall” will make for some interesting scenes between him and Jon Snow this season, for Rayder was once a member of the Night’s Watch before breaking his oath and joining the wildlings.
The duo that I’m most excited for this season is Jojen and Meera Reed, for they were supposed to have arrived last season to aide Bran Stark before Theon Greyjoy’s takeover.
I was originally very upset that the characters seemed to be cut from the story due to budget restraints, but as long as the writers use the Reed children to help Bran discover some special things about himself this season I’ll be happy.
Of course while it’s exciting to gain new characters, it’s also worth celebrating the return of the fan favorites. Tyrion isn’t thrilled about his current role at King’s Landing, Daenerys is looking to raise an army for her eventual march back to the Iron Throne and Ser Davos is trying to help his beloved king realize that Melisandre shouldn’t be trusted.
With almost 7 million people watching the season premiere according to Entertainment Weekly, we can expect a few million more to tune in every week as the season progresses.