By Manayer AlSaket

Season 6 is a few weeks away, and I can’t help but feel insanely excited about it, it sometimes feels like my husband travels and comes back on April, and then leaves again by mid June. I also can’t help but worry about the threats beyond the wall, the truth behind Jon’s death and every other thing that happened so far, but I’ll leave these to my season 5 analysis. Now let’s talk about season two. And season two was a series of Whats and Hows and GOD WHYs. 

If you continued to watch the show after season 3, I will personally welcome you to the bureau of awesome people, who are incredibly awesome and thereby granted a seat at the small council of my heart.

I have started to lower my expectations of the possibilities of happy endings, season 2 is where we started with our positions clear and our biases determined, and where we end unsure about our views of the characters and events. We met many new characters, Stannis, Melisandre, Davos, Craster and of course, Tywin Lannister.

Tywin Lannister was the character that shook my faith in the honor of the Starks. Does being honorable necessarily mean that you will survive and that the odds will be at your favor? Is it always the right glasses to use for every situation? Tywin Lannister, the man who helped end the reign of the Targaryans, and who wiped the Reins off the maps, is a man of duty, of legacy and certainly of strategy. It is clear to point that he failed to tame his children in a way where they can carry on his legacy, and that is very much contributed by the fact that his wife died when she gave birth to the imp. I think Tywin was cursed by the group of children he had, three children who didn’t fit his plan at all. You have a daughter who became queen but only fathered bastards, a Kingsguard who will never rule in Casterly Rock (and is disabled now), and an imp who will always be looked at as an imp. Not that I dislike his children for their characters, but I understand his sorrow and his struggle, every thing he built will be dependent on those three children who may and may not be worthy of the legacy.

I very much appreciated the relationship he had with Arya when she was a cupbearer at his service, I loved the alteration the producers made to the book (she was a cupbearer to Roose Bolton), I think the alteration swayed us from the importance of Roose Bolton in the future (season 3) and that contributed to the surprise element that happened in the Red Wedding. We were introduced to his deep concerns as a Lannister man, to his side of the story, to his perspective, and I find it very much relatable, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the GCC.

Another storyline that was very relatable was that of Petyr Bealish. The conversation he had with Cersei Lannister, discussing the definition of power, whether it was knowledge or it’s mere power, I find very intriguing. Little Finger, as he describes himself is a self-built man, born with no luck of a prominent family name, reminds me a lot of many of the young people who weren’t so blessed with wealthy fathers who will support their dreams or hand them the key to the CEO office. His character is so far (starting of season two) is my ultimately favourite character, and I can not wait to see the big picture of his involvement in creating the Game of Thrones. Genius..just genius.

The white walkers are very much present in season two. They are even being fed an army of Craster’s children and dead men of the Night’s Watch, but do we really care? Not really. Sam Tarly is not dying, and Jon Snow has fallen in love with red headed wildling (whom I don’t approve of at all), and we are introduced to the famous You Know Nothing, Jon Snowphenomena. I honestly loved the wall during season two, whereas many fans found it rather boring and unclear, the struggle of those who are entitled to be men of the watch is rather amusing, none of them chose to give up wives or lands, but some of them were falsely forced to be in this place where everyone struggled to find meaning.

Tyrion Lannister as Hand of The King is probably the most entertaining and observation-worthypart of season two. I begun to increasingly enjoy his wits and sarcasm and his viciously enjoyable conversations with his sister, Cersei Lannister. They both hate each other dreadfully, but very much have the same goal of keeping the Lannisters alive and Jofferey as King on the Iron Throne. Yet each one of them looks for the slightest opportunity to bring one another down.

The ruthlessness of Jofferey matures in season two, and his rather abuse of power is very much exposed. In this season, I tend to catch my breath whenever Jofferey is in the scene because I know that something awful is going to happen. I love to hate Jofferey, and he is absolutely the only character I would ultimately call an awfully bad person. I tended to have the same feeling toward Melisandre in season two, but I started to call her a favourite character later in the show when her character started developing, but I am still not sure if I believe in her or to blame Stannis for believing in her.