Season Four is officially over, and once again it was more exciting than the previous season.  Every single character  went through so much trauma, that by season’s end they were a different person.  Some were affected more than others and, as expected, a lot of people died.

I feel like I keep saying this, but so far I have always enjoyed the newest season of Game of Thrones more than the one it followed.  Lot’s of people died, but Tyrion didn’t and that made it all worth it.  It’s pretty incredible that despite everything that happened, we still haven’t gotten through all of book three in the series.  That means that while season one was book one, and season two was book two, book three is going to end up being season’s three, four and five.  I can’t help but think that HBO might be spreading these seasons out intentionally to buy Martin more time to complete his final two books.  That being said, there is a ton of stuff that happens in book three, and the way that books ends is incredible.

I love when they have the beginning of the episode picking up right where the previous episode left off.  I know this happens all the time, but it just never gets old to me.  Jon Snow seemed to have committed suicide when he walked into Mance Rayders tent.  Had Stannis not shown up, would Jon have attempted to kill Mance or was he willing to accept the peace offering?  None of that matters now anyway, since Mance has become Stannis’ prisoner.  Melisandre also appears to be very interested in Jon Snow, and we already know Jon has a thing for redheads.

Despite everything, Tywin and Tyrion were more similar than any of us realized.  Out of everything that took place in the series finale, Shae being in Tywin’s bed is what shocked me the most.  I can’t even begin to imagine the rush of emotion Tyrion was feeling by the time he confronted his father.  It’s kind of funny in a way.  He was about to be sentenced for a murder he didn’t commit, then, the night before his execution, he murders two people.  One of which was his father, and most important man in King’s Landing.  I wish we knew where Tyrion and Vary’s are headed, but Tyrion abroad is sure to be interesting.

Of all the story arcs that I’m looking forward to next season, the ones that ended with travel by sea are at the top of the list.  Tyrion and Vary’s obviously, but I am looking forward to what awaits Arya even more.  I can’t believe we had to wait two entire season to see her use the coin Jaqen H’ghar gave her back in season two, but it will definitely be worth it.  Not only am I looking forward to Arya in Bravos, but I am even more excited to see Bravos itself.  We have seen slight glimpses here and there, but Arya is going to be fully submerged in the city by next season and I can’t wait to see how it looks.  I’m not really sure how I feel about Arya just leaving the hound like that though.  I feel like she owed it to him to finish him off, but he was on her list after all so maybe she didn’t want him to have an easy death.  I can’t help but feel bad for the hound, but at the same time I didn’t want to see him kill Brienne either.

Bran has finally made it to the three eyed raven, and what do you know, it wasn’t a three eyed raven after all.  It turns out it was some sort of old tree man or something.  I wish they would’ve gone into detail about what exactly that old man was, but instead we will have to wait until next season before they reveal his powers.  It was amazing Jojen lasted as long as he did when the skeletons began attacking them, but I was still shocked by the way he died.  What exactly were those skeleton things anyway?  They were way different than the white walkers we had seen previously, or maybe that’s just what the white walkers become after a long enough time.

Watching Daenerys put those chains around the necks of her dragons was heartbreaking.  I feel like there has to be a better way to deal with the situation.  Obviously a child being burned alive is probably the worst thing that could ever happen, ever, but the two dragons who were chained weren’t even the suspects.  It was her black dragon, Drogon, which apparently hasn’t been seen in three days.  Besides the depressing part, it was really interesting to hear about the other side of slavery.  Some of her newly freed citizens were better off in their previous lives as slaves.  Not all of them were treated poorly, and now that they are free, they are living the lives of homeless people.  Daenerys seems to be faced with constant adversity as she tries to rule the city of Mereen and now she has been forced to lock away her dragons.  I would imagine that she has to be close to a tipping point, but we will have to wait until next season to see it.

So I know it’s not completely fair that I know what hasn’t happened yet from book three but I do, so I know season five is guaranteed to be amazing.  There are so many things that they pushed back, and I can’t be really blame them because then this season would be too good.  Once again it’s going to be a really long wait between seasons, but season five is going to be oh so worth it.