At this point, there are only a couple of people I would be devastated if they died. Probably Dany, Arya or Tyrion would absolutely destroy me if they died, and I'd be sniffly for a few days to lose either Jamie or Brienne. I would be completely happy if the story ended with Dany as Queen of Everything with Tyrion as the Hand of the Queen and Arya as fierce warrior princess and ruler of the North. Maybe the captain of the Queensguard winds up being Brienne and Jamie returns to service ('cause in this fantasy he learns to fight with his off hand). Of course, I don't expect any of that to happen because GRRM is like Tim levels of crafty with the ways he can hurt you and make you like it anyway.

io9 had 100 tweets about last night.

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I wonder - did spending so much time with Robb this season take away the impact of his death?

I really appreciated that scene with Cat and Robb deciding together to go take Casterly Rock, because I knew they would never get to and it was nice to have that promise dangled in front of me. At that point I thought to myself "They're doing the make us love them just before they get killed, just like Tim"

I'm still in shock that the Red Wedding was the penultimate episode of this season and not the season finale...there's nothing that can trump that in sheer emotional horror. Except, perhaps, the reactions of everyone else and the immediate fallout.

I wouldn't be at all surprised at losing viewers at this point...I know it's when I threw the book across the room, then put in the freezer and refused to open it again for weeks. (good thing I wasn't reading on my nook or that would have been costly!)

Le nubian, I'm a 911 calltaker but also got my BA in English Lit. I've been really enjoying analyzing these books, especially compared to actual War of the Roses-era English history, the political aspects are entirely historically pertinent but with DRAGONS and MAGIC added in kinda make you pull back just a little from the local politics. Which, at this point, the Lannisters are clearly winning. But British history shows us that even when a family thinks they have firm control of the throne and the crown...that can be tumbled quite easily. My current perceptions might be slightly flavoured by the fact that i'm re-reading Wolf Hall in preparation for Bring Up The Bodies so I'm seeing major political parallels btwn the Lannisters and the Howards/Boleyns right now.

I'm still in shock that the Red Wedding was the penultimate episode of this season and not the season finale...

Last season, the big battle was the penultimate episode, too.

Good point, there's gotta be denouement. Dang. Have I mentioned that I almost retched last night? I knew exactly what was coming, and it was still a gut punch. I can't imagine what that was like for folks who didn't know what was coming. The wolf was the worst. And seeing Arya so darned close to being able to free him...and failing. Plus the look on her face...Maisy Williams has a brilliant acting career in her future. *deep breath* I was watching with a friend who hasn't read the books and asked to not be spoiled...we tried to prepare her as much as possible without spoilers but afterwards she turned in fury and demanded "WHY DIDN'T YOU WARN ME!?!?!?!" and then threw us out of her home.

Speaking of reactions, here's a collection of fan reactions to the Red Wedding. Many of the reactions are NSFW, as I'm sure you can imagine.

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Last season, the big battle was the penultimate episode, too.

(nod) and Ned's beheading in season 1.

Yeah, I screamed and threw the book across the room. The book had to spend a couple of days sitting in the corner and thinking about what it had done.

I think by having this as the penultimate episode - the story gets to move forward a bit so that people want to come back.