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protagonist, from Bilbo Baggins to Dorothy Gale. Martin subverts this by having most of his characters be quite worldly—those who are not die or quickly learn. Sansa cannot be the happily-ever-after princess, but she might absorb how to scheme. “Is it all lies, forever and ever, everyone and everything,” a disillusioned Sansa finally asks (III:839). She’s slowly learning that it is.
    Nonetheless, it’s worth noting that all the other characters around her “win” or “lose” – many in the Battle of Blackwater. Since the death of her father, Sansa doesn’t noticeably do either. She pacifies, nods, smiles...and survives. “I am loyal to King Joffrey, my one true love,” Sansa says, fully of dignity after Joffrey has had her beaten in public. Though she delivers the words with trembling and cringing sincerity before Joffrey, her words here have more than a touch of cold sarcasm when repeated to Tyrion. “Lady Stark, you may survive us yet,” Tyrion observes (2.4). Like him, she knows when to keep silent and when to mouth off – when to lose her dignity and when to reclaim it. Like Tyrion, she’s learned to survive in a world without allies. If she’s killed, many fans would say she’s had it coming a while, as she puts her trust in corrupt Littlefinger and Joffrey. But it would be a far more interesting story if she grows from naive captive to someone who can truly play the game, or who at least finds happiness with someone other than a handsome prince.
     

    Why Is Brienne so Loyal to Renly?
    A flashback in the books reveals this: When Renly Baratheon came through Tarth on a lord’s progress, he was kind to an adolescent Brienne, dancing with her and treating her like a lady, rather than an ugly freak as most others did. At that time, she knew she wanted to spend her life in his service. He in turn, is struck by her desire to serve in contrast to his other knights’ greed and ambition.
 

    What Does Craster Do with the Sons?
    As Jon discovers through spying, he sacrifices them to the White Walkers, who presumably make them into fellow undead creatures. (Craster’s wives comment in book three that if Gilly and her baby don’t flee, “his brothers” will come for them.) Because of this sacrifice, the walkers don’t attack Craster, almost the only wildling who hasn’t joined Mance Rayder. Along with demonstrating Craster’s immorality, this subplot shows how desperate life is in the haunted North.
     

    Who or What is Jaqen H’ghar?
    The Faceless Men of Braavos are perfect assassins – for pay, they kill their target and usually make it look like an accident. They worship the Many-Faced God, whose watchwords are valar morghulis , “All men must die”; the formal response to this is valar dohaeris , or “All men must serve.” (Both are episode titles.)
    Jaqen is one of these men – when Arya frees him during a fire, he offers her three kills. He also offers her assassin training, though she must go to Braavos for it. Instead, Arya prefers to find her family. It’s unclear how long he was in the dungeons of King’s Landing, or whom precisely he murdered. He’s seen in the fourth book, as his description matches the alchemist that meets the prologue character Pate in Oldtown (prologue and epilogue characters have grisly fates, like the Night’s Watch deserter of the show’s first scene or the elderly priest of the Seven who tries poisoning Melisandre.) Jaqen may even adopt Pate’s face afterwards. It’s unclear, however, what his new mission is.
    Braavos is also the home of Arya’s “dancing master,” Syrio Forel, who most likely died defending her (his death is not certain, just likely). There’s a popular fan theory that Jaqen was Syrio in disguise (suggesting the Faceless Men are so interested in season one Arya they’ll send one of their own to train her at swordplay – a rather unlikely circumstance). This theory is complicated by the fact that