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With themes of "nobles vs. the oppressed citizenry," and the true nature of leadership, Game of Thrones' Season 3 shocked us, wowed us and gave us some extra jagged and unforeseeable turns. It also, unfortunately, left us a little high and dry with the finale, which didn't properly cap off the excellent Jaime/Brienne storyline and offered us no final moments with any of the Tyrells, who had been so prominent, almost to a fault, during the first half of the season.Structure is going to probably be one of the most important aspects of the show going forward, with Seasons 1 and 2 pairing up nicely, more or less, with books one and two of George R. R. Martin's Ice and Fire saga. Those two books were epic, but also clear and concise. A Storm of Swords, the third book, is Martin's best and most satisfying read, but it's also the biggest and most sprawling - hence its division over the course of Seasons 3 and (next year's) 4. New characters will be introduced in seasons to come, but not like this. Over twenty new faces showed up this year, incorporated into what was already a gigantic cast.But it's hard not to start off any discussion of Season 3 without almost immediately bringing up the Red Wedding scene from the great, ninth episode, "The Rains of Castamere." An episode that showed viewers, even more so than Season 1's "Baelor" when Ned lost his head, that this show isn't about teams. Or figuring out who the hero's supposed to be. Now more than ever this show is about each individual character's journey, with the War of the Five Kings being most folks' jumping off point. Bran's fall and Ned's investigation into the poisoning of Jon Arryn (still not solved, by the by) set up the war, and in Season 2 the battle raged, with Stannis making a huge play for King's Landing in "Blackwater."But now, with no more war, and hardly any Starks left on the game board, the series has effectively become all about the characters. So for those merely waiting for one of the "good guys" to stick a sword through Joffrey's chest, it's possible that the show has misrepresented itself to you. This is a show where not only are the innocent punished in foul ways, but those characters who do make mistakes, and would be offered a road to redemption on any other TV series, get taught unbalanced and violent karmic lessons. Robb made one mistake of passion (Talisa) and one of honor (executing Lord Karstark) and was served up brutal retribution at the hands of some extraordinarily dishonorable people.People who had initially deemed him "The King in the North." People who got swept up in the fervor and fury of vengeance only to come down from that high and decide that they didn't really feel like serving some "stupid boy." People who'd started saying that Robb himself fancied calling himself the "Young Wolf." Actually, it mirrors our own "elevate then decimate" starf***er society. The Red Wedding scene was ghastly - even more so on TV than in the books . But it was also beautiful and thrillingly contemptuous, with no regards to any viewers' feelings. We were not let off the hook. Nor were we "paid back" for having endured such a traumatic, drawn out scene with any form of good news in the finale. Years of bad decision making by both Robb and Catelyn finally caught up with them, and in the end it almost felt like a relief when they were given horrible releases from their woeful lives.Strangely enough, the people who do seem to get redemption arcs on this show are the villains. Jaime, aside from the atrocity exhibit at the end of episode nine, had the best storyline of the season. Which is why it felt so disappointing when we didn't any meaningful follow-up scene following Jaime saving Brienne from the bear pit in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair." Because that conversation, or any sort of aftermath exchange they could have had on their journey to King's Landing, is something I would have loved to have seen. That being said, his story was filled to the brim with wonderful, hand-hacking moments - after a moment of kindness from Jaime, in an attempt to save Brienne from Roose Bolton's hunters, lead to him getting mutilated and humiliated. And an amazing scene in a bath, in the great episode "Kissed by Fire," where Jaime tearfully explained his entire role, and motivation, in King Aerys Targaryen's death. And, of course, the whole "My name is Jaime" breakdown was fantastic.The other character I wanted to single out here - a personal favorite of mine - is Arya. While her moments never once ended an episode, or were the main focus of any particular Season 3 chapter, her journey continues to captivate - even though it also continues to take us further away from any hopes and dreams we initially held for her as being the one true warrior of the Stark bunch. In fact, I think this season of TV did a better job of conveying her hate-spiral than the books. Arya's someone we always thought of as a character who, down the line, could avenge her entire family. But after seeing her dad executed, her life's just been one long parade of misery, mud and death. As soon as she left the walls of King's Landing and entered the war-ravaged Riverlands, Arya got to experience the cold, cruel and harsh reality of the realm; a place where only scoundrels and monsters win.Not only did Arya systematically lose Hot Pie and then Gendry (in a nice little twist from the books), she learned that even the "heroes of the people" - i.e. The Brotherhood - played the numbers game. Granted, Gendry left Arya to join the Brotherhood before he was then handed off to Melisandre, and it was during that moment that Arya opened up, perhaps for the last time, and told Gendry that he could be her family. In both an innocent and not-so-innocent manner. He misunderstood of course, and then fell back on his mistrust of nobles. So by the time Arya even got to The Twins, with her mother and brother so close, she was a dark, shadow of her former self. Of course, it didn't help that The Hound mocked her fear of failing to reach home just moments before she failed to reach home. So here's a show that gives us people to hate, and then later on gives them complicated layers and understandable motivations (save for Joffrey, naturally), but could Arya's journey be that of a future villain? That of someone not unlike The Hound?There were several running themes this year (our favorite, of course, being penis mutilation), including arranged marriages. And while not all of them ended as bloodily as Edmure Tully's, they all came from a place of power-play desperation. Cersei insists that she, somehow, won't be marrying Loras, but Tyrion didn't get the opportunity to figure a way out of marring Sansa. Poor Sansa. Another character still being punished for her one mistake, back in Season 1, of crushing on Joffrey. Not that marrying Tyrion is all that terrible (I mean, we know he's awesome), but the news of her nuptials came right after her refusal of Littlefinger's offer to escape with him when he left for The Eyrie. You can blame the Tyrells for that one, and Margaery for getting Sansa's hopes up. While the Tyrells are a powerful, cunning family, they simply got beaten to the punch by Tywin.Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg) was a such a stand-out character this season that she managed to get a juicy, quip-filled scene with just about every character in King's Landing. And Margaery, while getting totally owned by Cersei during Tyrion's wedding in "Second Sons," displayed her powers of manipulation by slowly seducing Joffrey into becoming something/someone more than a psychotic bastard. Or, at least, getting him to act civil while she's around. Still, the fact that she sees his cruel ways as little more than an annoying trait she needs to put up with in order to become Queen shows you just how strong and resolute she is. And, because it's King's Landing, there're always great conversations to be had. Whether it's Varys talking to Tyrion about the Sorcerer who "cut" him as a boy (and then revealing the man in a box), Tywin telling Tyrion that he wanted to drown him as a baby, Littlefinger's freakin' incredible "Chaos is a ladder" speech, or Tyrion and Bronn marveling at Podrick's mysterious sexual prowess, there was always a ton of meat on the bones.Jon Snow had a much better storyline than Season 2 with, in fact, the entire Night's Watch arc splitting into two and following Sam as well. The mutiny at Craster's Keep was a good shocking moment to have early in the season, and us knowing that Jon had very little to return to made his story even more engrossing. Up until this season, Jon and Daenerys' stories felt very separate from the rest of warring Westeros, but this year Jon's story finally wrapped around on itself, taking him back over The Wall and right into a very cool moment with Bran (nearby). And so for the first time, Jon's entire situation felt incorporated into the larger picture. Bran's too, since Jon's focus has been on the Wildlings and Bran's now seems to be tied more directly to the sinister magical elements beyond The Wall - including the White Walkers.Plus, in the finale, Stannis' vision of a snow battle (which he explained this year is what he saw in the fire in Season 2) is taking him up to The Wall as well. So the pieces of Jon's journey are finally beginning to fit into the puzzle - and his "You know nothing (except cunnilingus, and that a windmill's not a castle)" oath-breaking romance with Ygritte added a lot of heat to the story. It also gave him something to possibly care about more than choosing sides. Which is exactly why the Night's Watch has the celibacy rule in the first place, right?Which leaves Daenerys, still out in Essos, burning people to a crisp with her "babies." Dany had some amazing moments during the first half of the season; meeting up with Ser Barristan and then "negotiating" for 8,000 of the world's most dangerous killer eunuchs. Traveling through the slave cities, from Astapor to Yunkai, gave Dany a new sense of purpose and the ability to rationalize not playing fair with slave traders. Her "art of the deal" seemed to be "I'll make a deal with you, but my dragons are free to renege at any moment and turn you into smoldering screams." Jorah continued to be a loyal aid, but I feel as though many viewers' opinions of Dany, more so than ever before, will be made now based on how she treats Jorah.At first, it was Jorah and Barristan butting heads, playing a passive-agressive game to see who'd be Dany's confidant, and then it was Jorah becoming jealous, in a different way, over Dany's affection toward the jarringly handsome Daario. And it's become clear, even though Dany's more badass than ever, and has an affection for the people that no other leader on the series has shown, that she simply doesn't appreciate Jorah perhaps the way she should. Also, I wouldn't have ended the season finale with her, since the shot of her at the end of episode four, "And Now His Watch is Ended," was far more impressive.Speaking of the finale, I've already mentioned how it didn't quite give me the seasonal closure on Jaime that I craved, but it also left out the Tyrells - who at least deserved some final moments. I don't object to spending time with Stannis and Davos, but, up until the finale, we'd only merely "checked in" with them during the year. Small scenes here and there. So while their scenes weren't bad at all, it was unexpected to drop the folks we were shown to be important in favor of those we'd only seen as peripheral players. What else didn't quite work this year? Theon's long stretch of torture sessions. Only a show like Game of Thrones can take a character who you hate and punish him to the point where you're like "You know what? We got it. Enough now."It was a bold choice to make and a risky road to take, and it ultimately didn't work. Maybe even more for those who'd read the books and knew the identity of the torturer. Keeping Ramsay Snow's identity a secret was a strange move (especially since we all heard Roose, back in Season 2, say that he was sending his bastard to deal with Theon), but I suppose the idea here was to keep Ramsay separate from Roose until after the Red Wedding so not to have Roose be associated, in any notable way, with a torture-mad lunatic. The show might have tipped its hat too much toward Roose being morally shaky. But that just left tons of scenes featuring Theon getting screws through his feet, the skin peeled off his finger, and his "favorite toy" getting lopped off. All so that the character wouldn't vanish for more than one episode at a time. Blech. It was overkill.Despite some of the choices made in the finale, and Theon's never-ending pain train, Season 3 was still quite marvelous - giving characters like Jon and Dany better material than in Season 2 while still keeping Arya and Sansa's (very different) struggles feeling vital. Plus, the Red Wedding was such a lightning bolt that it's hard to not let it dominate the proceedings. Only an event that powerful could keep series-favorite Tyrion out of an episode for the first time.

You can also visit our Game of Thrones wiki . While you’re there, feel free to contribute key differences you see between the TV and book version of the lore. If you comment on this article, please be mindful of others who haven’t read ahead and stick to discussion of what’s been aired. Thanks!Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter at @TheMattFowler and on IGN at mattfowler