Valar dohaeris, fellow Game of Thrones fans. Season 5 has finally arrived.
The highly anticipated adventure begins at 8 p.m. today on HBO and will run for 10 episodes. I've seen the new season's first four episodes and, yes, there will be dragons. Big, fierce, scary, scary dragons.
Even die-hard fans realize there are a lot of characters and relationships to juggle. And it's been since June 15 when last we saw our heroes, so a little refresher is in order. Here are 14 highlights from Season 4 to remember. No apologies if any of these are spoilers. You should be caught up by now.
Sadistic King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson), to the delight of fans everywhere, was poisoned at his own wedding and died a gruesome death.
Ruthless Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) was shot dead while sitting on the privy by his son Tyrion (Peter Dinklage). Let's call it a bolt out of the loo.
Queen Regent Cersei (Lena Headey) is now head of the House of Lannister. It'll prove to be a daunting task.
Ambitious Margaery Tyrell (Natalie Dormer) is now married to Cersei's young son King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman). There's a nasty power struggle brewing between Cersei and Margaery.
After Tyrion killed his father, he and Varys (Conleth Hill) fled across the Narrow Sea to the Free Cities. Tyrion is morose, but Varys has a plan.
Master manipulator Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (Aidar Gillen) now rules as regent of the Vale. He has with him Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) disguised as his niece "Alayne."
Dorne Prince Oberyn "The Red Viper" Martell (Pedro Pascal) was killed in a duel with Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane (Hafthor Bjornsson) at King's Landing. There's talk of vengeance.
As a threat, Oberyn's vicious illegitimate daughters, the Sand Snakes (see below), sent Cersei a dead viper with her daughter Myrcella's pendant in its mouth. See below about Myrcella.
King Stannis Baratheon's (Stephen Dillane) army arrived at the wall in time to save Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and the Night's Watch from the wildling army of Mance Rayder (Ciaran Hinds). That was good, but now we have a Stannis problem.
Roose Bolton (Michael McElhatton), who killed Robb Stark (Richard Madden) at the Red Wedding, has been appointed Warden of the North.
Roose's psycho son Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) is now Lord of Winterfell and has tortured Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) into his servile pet Reek.
Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), now queen of Meereen, has lost control of her dragons. Rhaegal and Viserion are chained in a cavern beneath the city, but Drogon, the largest, is flying free out there somewhere. Ruling is proving more difficult than being a conqueror and Daenerys' hold over Meereen has become tenuous.
Having witnessed the brutal duel between The Hound (Rory McCann) and Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie), Arya (Maisie Williams) goes it alone and is now aboard a ship bound for Braavos. And, we did not actually see The Hound die, did we?
Finally, the White Walkers and their ever-growing army of the dead are bearing down on the Wall. Don't forget, Samwell Tarly (John Bradley-West) is the only character to have ever killed a White Walker. He used a dagger made of dragonglass (obsidian).
What's next? Each season of Game of Thrones brings more fascinating characters. Here are a few this season.
Sand Snakes: Obara, Nymeria and Tyene Sand (Keisha Castle-Hughes, Jessica Henwick, Laurenti Sellers) are three extremely violent, illegitimate daughters of the late Prince Oberyn Martell. They will seek to avenge their father's death. Each carries a signature weapon: In the same order as above, a spear, bullwhip and dual daggers.
Myrcella Baratheon: The only daughter of Cersei and Jaime Lannister is played this season by 15-year-old English actress Nell Tiger Free. Myrcella, last seen in Season 2 portrayed by Aimee Richardson, has been politically betrothed to Dorne heir Trystane Martell (Toby Sebastian) and is currently the ward of Doran Martell (Alexander Siddig) the ruling Prince of Dorne. Jaime aims to fetch Myrcella back.
House of Black and White: The Braavos citadel is home to the Faceless Men, an order of assassins who can change their faces as necessary. Arya Stark is headed there for training.
The Sparrows: A cult of religious zealots who follow the Faith of the Seven. They are fomenting discontent against Cersei and are led by the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce).
Reminder: Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) and his companions Hodor and Meera Reed (Kristian Nairn, Ellie Kendrick) will not be in Season 5. Their story line caught up with the books last season, so Bran is stuck in a cave with the three-eyed raven, which is actually an old man whose body is fused to the roots of a weirwood tree.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 04/12/2015