SB on Episode 6.3 (for 5/10/16)

SB on Game of Thrones: Episode 6.3 (Blog 17 for 5/10/16)

Bran’s Vision

            My favorite scene from the third episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones was Bran Stark’s vision of his father, Eddard Stark.  Even though season six has seen the return of Kit Harrington to revive the role of Jon Snow, the sixth season has not yet, to my disappointment, brought back Sean Bean to revive the role of Ned Stark.

Bran’s warging vision was of a famous fight from Ned’s youth.  The fight scene was fascinating, took place in a really beautiful setting, and was, perhaps, the most intense scene of the episode.

Interestingly, this scene made Ned Stark appear to be much more human than the mythologized version of Ned that many are familiar with.  Contrary to Ned’s version of the story that Bran was familiar with and was told his whole life, it was discovered that Ned did not win this fight cleanly.  In fact, not only were Ned’s opponents outnumbered, but Ned’s last surviving opponent was killed by being stabbed in the back. 

Since there was not a great deal of coverage of Bran in the remainder of the third episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones after Bran’s vision of Ned’s unfair fight, it is difficult to determine if this vision will have a negative impact on Bran’s image of his father.  Even though Bran might think differently of his father after seeing this, I am sure that this will not be detrimental to Bran’s overall image of and level of respect for his father. 

If anything, I think this scene made Ned seem more human and less god-like, which is a good thing.  This scene made me wonder what would happen if I visited my grandpa’s childhood fights, which he still brags about to this day.

Sean Bean Theory

Even though I mentioned that I was disappointed about the lack of Sean Bean in the sixth season of Game of Thrones, it is possible that Sean Bean might return in later episodes of season six because Bran continues to have warging visions of the past.  To my fellow Sean Bean fanatics:  there is still hope. 

Also, it is worthy of mention that Ned’s backstabbing scene did bring back the idea of Sean Bean, in a way, because this scene reminded me of another Sean Bean-related character from fiction media:  Agent 006.  Ever since I saw Sean Bean (as Agent 006 or Alec Trevelyan) betray Pierce Brosnan (as Agent 007 or James Bond) in director Martin Campbell’s GoldenEye (1995) as a child, I have always expected Sean Bean’s characters to be traitors. 

Yes, I have had this suspicion of Sean Bean characters every time I have ever watched a Sean Bean film or show in my entire life (post-GoldenEye).  Yes, I know that this suspicion of Sean Bean characters is entirely ungrounded and completely illogical. However, a part of me has never been able to completely free myself of this strange childhood association between Agent 006 and betrayal.  

Even though the backstabbing in Game of Thrones was a literal backstabbing and not a metaphorical one (like the betrayal in GoldenEye) and even though it was not Sean Bean (or even Sean Bean’s character) who did the actual backstabbing in Game of Thrones, it is undeniable that this scene reminded me of my childhood suspicion of Sean Bean characters because this scene resulted with a dramatic change in perception of a Sean Bean-related character. 

Even though I declared above that Ned’s unfair fight and Ned’s lying about it should not be detrimental to Ned’s character or people’s perceptions of Ned’s character, I cannot deny that this scene made me second guess a Sean Bean character and that this reminded me of my strange suspicion of Sean Bean characters. I felt this connection was funny and worthy of sharing.

Next Week

          This is the final required blog post, but it is declared that I will most likely be viewing future episodes of Game of Thrones.  One particular character I am interested in is Theon.  With the exception of the preview for next week's episode, there was no coverage of Theon in this episode.  This character has gone through an incredible transformation and I believe that Theon has potential to do great things in the battle for the throne.

Works Cited

GoldenEye. Dir. Martin Campbell. Perf. Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, and Joe Don Baker. Eon Productions, 1995. Film.

SB on Episode 6.2 (for 5/3/16)

SB on Game of Thrones: Episode 6.2 (Blog 16 for 5/3/16)

 The Return of Jon Snow

Initial Reaction

            At the conclusion of the second episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones, we saw the resurrection of Jon Snow.  Even though there was a fair amount of discussion about the possibility of this major character returning to the series, I was not expecting to see Jon Snow come back this soon.  Further, I was also not expecting to see Jon Snow come back in the same form. 

I thought that if Jon Snow were to come back to Game of Thrones, it would be Jon Snow’s personal identity or soul in the body of another human or animal (and, therefore, with an actor other than Kit Harrington). Contrary to my expectations, Jon Snow (and Kit Harrington) returned to Game of Thrones at the end of episode 6.2.

Connections to Christianity

While watching the scene of the resurrection of Jon Snow, I made a few connections to other books and films.  The scene of Jon Snow’s resurrection reminded me of the classic story of the resurrection of Jesus Christ (as discussed in John Bowker’s World Religions). 

Similarities in Duration.  Bowker explained how the character Jesus Christ was brutally murdered and came back to life about two days later. Similarly, the character John Snow was brutally murdered (in the tenth episode of the fifth season) and came back to life (in the second episode of the sixth season) about two episodes later.

I know that, in the Game of Thrones universe and in our actual universe, the time between John Snow’s death and Jon Snow’s resurrection was more than two days.  However, I thought that this observation (i.e., the connection that Jesus came back about two days after he died and Jon Snow came back about two episodes after he died) was rather funny and worthy of sharing.

Visual Similarities.  Also, Jon Snow looked just like Jesus Christ at the end of the second episode of the sixth season.  No, I have never seen Jesus Christ in person.  Yes, I am aware that there are many depictions of Jesus Christ in art that do not align with the white Jesus with the long, dark hair and beard that most Americans and Westerners are familiar with.

  However, John Snow does look just like these latter mentioned depictions of Jesus Christ because John Snow has the Jesus hair and beard.  More importantly, Jon Snow had the wounds (on his chest and midsection) from being impaled and many depictions of Jesus Christ’s resurrection show Jesus with similar wounds (on his chest and midsection). 

As can be seen, Jon Snow, who already looked a lot like Jesus Christ, was also covered in wounds and, similarly, came back about two episodes later.  I am not claiming that Jon Snow is Jesus Christ and I am not in the process of creating a religion where Game of Thrones is an authoritative text and George R. R. Martin is the leader.  Again, I just thought that these connections were hilarious and worthy of sharing.  I hope that some readers will share my amusement in observing these connections.

Tyrion and Varys

            It was great to see Tyrion and Varys, again.  Not only did viewers get to see Tyrion unchain the two dragons, but we were also provided with some insight into Tyrion and Varys’s relationship. Even though Varys continues to tease Tyrion for being small and Tyrion continues to tease Varys for having no penis, I believe that these characters have a strong connection.

            Regardless of their disagreements, Tyrion and Varys respect each other’s intelligence and company.  I am looking forward to future episodes and hope to see more coverage of Tyrion and Varys’s relationship.

Works Cited

Bowker, John. World Religions. New York, NY: DK Publishing, Inc., 2006. Print.