Idris Elba and Rinko Kikuchi are the only things I'm interested (maybe excited?) to see this. Hopefully I'll actually get to see them amongst the robot punching.

I'm not saying there's not more to him than skin color. But it's silly to say that skin color isn't an important aspect of his character. Look at the way people talk about Elia. Look at the way Dornish folk are viewed by the rest of Westeros. Skin color is an important dynamic to discuss when talking about Martells, in the same way gender is an important dynamic to discuss when talking about Catelyn. I'm not "reducing" Catelyn to a woman when I talk about how her gender is important when you look at how men perceive her political advice. Talking about how other's perceive her without talking about gender would be useless.

Eye color and hair color are not really the same as race. I have yet to see people being systematically disenfranchised and devalued because they are brunette instead of ginger, in the real world or Westeros/Essos.

I will shut up if you can come up with a list of, hm, 10-15 POC on Game of Thrones that a) have names and/or lines and b) have not been killed off unnecessarily, like Dany's handmaids. Currently, it's only think Missandei and Grey Worm. If you count people who died, you've got Drogo and Dany's khas. It's hardly a rainbow coalition.

Recently saw the Bling Ring. I was incredibly disappointed, though it might have been worth the $5 to hear Emma Watson's Valley accent for two hours.

It is analogous to Spain, but Oberyn is explicitly described as having olive skin and dark hair. Some Dornishmen don't, but he does.

Is Xaro from Qarth? I'd assumed her was a merchant prince who had settled there, not a native. In any case, his skin tone is not described in the book (he's just "the bald man") while Oberyn's is.

Ash, I don't think the show runners have messed up casting, but the race politics of the show are not great. Did anyone read Sean T Collins' post on the Mhysa scene?

For me, ideally Oberyn, Arianne, and some other Martells would all be dark skinned POC. Indian, Middle Eastern, Asian, I don't really care. But it's pretty clear that characters that Elia and Oberyn are racially coded by other Westerosi, and I worry we'll lose that dimension if they're all just tanned. Other Dornishmen, like Tyene Sand, can be lighter skinned but still not white, since she's stony instead of salty.

White and Latin aren't mutually exclusive. I mean, Alexis Bledel is also Latin@ but I wouldn't cast her as Arianne, you know?

Sean T Collins over at All Leather Must Be Boiled has done a wonderful combined reading order. There is one that is spoiler free, and one that is not. I'm definitely going to do it when I get to that part of my re read.

There were six years between Books 4 and 5, and that was before Germ was busy writing for the show and doing Dunk and Egg. I think he's also got a new television show in the works? I'm placing my money on 2017/2018 at the earliest.

I've heard a lot of people say Tyrion, but I dislike him so I reject that theory out of hand. 

I'm assuming it will actually be Aegon Targaryen, although I doubt the person we've been told is Aegon is actually him.

I see surviving as requiring strength, and Sansa has done a surprising amount of surviving. Yes, she hasn't started to influence people yet, but she has dealt with a lot of "knocking around" (systematic physical, sexual, and mental abuse) without letting it compromise her ability to empathize with people and love. She's getting stronger without changing who she is. I think that's a cool character to have around. 

And, let's be real, all your favorites will probably be dead soon so you may as well get used to liking Sansa Stark now.

-inserts photo of me hugging the sansa season three subway ad-

Picturing Coldhands with a casual plaid balaclava is a good way to start my day.

Saniss - while it would be more in line with the books to bring back Lady Stoneheart later (thought she does come back before Brienne), I think it would pack more punch for the viewers to bring her in at the finale. It keeps the momentum going when you see LS (or, as a few have suggested, see Nymeria dragging Cat from the river) right after the RW. We might not get her story, but a short scene of her ordering a hanging of some Freys would be a good cliffhanger.

I wrote my final paper for Feminist Film and Media on how Sansa is a wonderful female character, so...I disagree.

She is in love with a cute boy when she's 11. God forbid.

At the river she sees a glimpse of who he is, but she also knows that she's bound to him for life. Sansa doesn't know a lot (thanks for sheltering her so much, Ned!) but she does know that she's essentially owned by him and has been raised to defer to her lord. And we all have to acknowledge that her only models of male behavior are her family and their household, all of whom are wonderful. There is no reason for her to believe that an outburst from Joffrey made him a psychopath. Yes, the Hound killed Mycah, but that was probably explained to her as his choice.

In short: Sansa trusts her parents, who betrothed her to Joffrey, and, much like Ned, trusts that people are good. I'm not excusing that behavior, but you can't ignore that later on she knows he can't be trusted. You can say that she doesn't know a lot at the beginning of the book, but she never has to be told anything twice.

Sansa did not betray Ned, because she had no idea what was at stake. She had been sheltered from the actual politics so much that she thought it would be no different for her family to go home and for her to stay. She hasn't been told not to trust the queen or the prince. So she asks the King (she goes to Robert, her father's best friend, and is only then met by Cersei) to let her stay with her betrothed.  You could blame her if Ned had told her what the situation was, but you can't blame her for not being omnipotent.

Also, it is true that Sansa is being kept alive for her claim, but we can't discount the fact that Joffrey could have had her killed. He went off script at Baelor by executing Ned, and no one could stop him even thought it was a horrible strategic decision. But she is pretty good at understanding his moods, as demonstrated at the Tourney for his name day when she saves Ser Dontos, and in the added show scene before Blackwater.

I think that Sansa is going to be coached by Littlefinger, who will meet a horrible end, and then become a player in her own right. Queen in the North!