Small Council: Let’s talk about the Season 7 SPOILERS for the week of 11/13/16

Let’s talk about the latest round of SPOILERS for Game of Thrones Season 7, which include a snowy set going up near Belfast, a new throne for a queen, revelations about two much-discussed-but-never-seen locales, and lots of photos and video from filming at el Castillo de Almodóvar del Río, Trujillo Castle, and el Barrueco de Arriba.

Oh, and obviously: SPOILER alert!

DAN: I love the design of Daenerys’ new throne. I love how it looks built into the rock near the wall. I love how it’s both unpretentious and kind of terrifying. I love how it keeps with Daenerys’ penchant for simplicity (remember she preferred a plain bench when ruling in Meereen), and I can picture her sitting on it. It’s not just a throne for any conqueror. It’s a throne for her.

I do have some questions, though. For example, we know that this throne is on Dragonstone. Was it always there? And if so, why didn’t Stannis ever use it during his stay? Or maybe he did and we didn’t see it? Unlike Daenerys, I can’t really picture him on that throne. Hell, I can’t really picture him on any thrones. I don’t think he would have been comfortable. (Not that that would have stopped him.)

Or did she make it somehow? Hewing a throne out of rock is no small task, but dragons could have all kinds of practical applications we don’t know about.

I look forward to see her receive visitors in it. Factoring in all the Season 7 set photos of her with a certain gloomy bastard, I’m looking forward to seeing her receive one visitor in particular.

COREY: I also liked the pictures of Dany’s new/old throne. I’m going to assume that chair was there from before. All kinds of Targaryen monarchs have resided on Dragonstone, especially during the Dance of the Dragons, so I would assume it is some former monarch’s throne. For me though, the spoilers regarding the island in the middle of a frozen lake are the ones that stood out the most.

As we discussed on this week’s edition of Take the Black, seeing the photos of the island set near Belfast all but confirmed part of the massive Season 7 story leak that came out early this off-season. Specifically, it seems to bear out the idea that Jon and company will go north of the Wall to capture a wight, the better to prove to Daenerys and Cersei that the White Walker threat is real. According to the leak, there’ll be a dust-up on an island on a frozen lake.

That’s vexing for me, as large portions of that leak sound downright stupid. Viserion turning into an undead dragon that breathes ice somehow bringing down the Wall? Ice doesn’t melt ice! And yet, even I cannot deny that the leak now seems legit. So hopefully, parts of the leak were at least misunderstood by the leaker, and we shall get a slightly different, slightly better version of the events described. In the mean time, I’ll keep telling myself, in a corner all alone, that ice cannot melt ice.

KATIE: I was initially excited to hear that a potential new northern set was going up. We haven’t heard too much about the goings-on at Winterfell in the upcoming season and, true to form, I’m itching for more Stark intel. My hopes were, however, dashed at the suggestion that the set is farther north. An expedition beyond the Wall would be as thrilling as ever, but if it has anything to do with bringing a wight to King’s Landing, I’m just not feeling it.

One thing I’m looking forward to is the plot unfolding at the Castillo de Almodóvar del Río. Whatever’s going down there, the architecture gets two thumbs way up. With any luck, the narrative will be just as breathtaking. After all, let us not forget that while the Water Gardens were stunning in Season 5, the Dornish plot was more than mundane. But if el Castillo de Almodóvar del Río does indeed stand in for Highgarden and Casterly Rock alike, I think we’re in for an interesting ride. So far, both locations have been all talk, so I’d be excited to see them in action.

(Image credit: Rabe! License: Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

SARAH: I’m with Katie regarding the White Walker spoilers. They seem bizarre. Jon has an entire wildling army ready and willing to corroborate his claim that the White Walkers are real and on the move. The prospect of Jon taking his best men beyond the Wall just to capture one and prove their existence sounds foolish at best and monumentally stupid at worst. Not only is it a blatant suicide mission, but not knowing the full scope of a wight’s (or a White Walker’s) abilities means that holding one in custody is a terrible idea, no matter how many soldiers you have to guard it. Daenerys has three dragons. If she needs proof that badly, she could fly over the assembled host and Jon could point them out to her.

That being said, a White Walker was captured on camera in Girona last year, where Maisie Williams was filming outdoor scenes for Braavos. That, obviously, was a hoax. I’m hoping that this recent spoiler is of a similar vein, and the showrunners are simply trolling us. Spoilers that sound silly on paper are often pulled off well by this show, and as much as I’d like to give everything I hear the benefit of the doubt, I’m finding it difficult in this case. Benioff and Weiss can do better than that.

RAZOR: Let’s all take a moment to understand one thing. These @#!$%*^%@$@ leaks are true, and they are happening, so get used to it, and get over it. They are all very exciting to me, but since the three above me chose Jon and the ranging north to find a wight, I’m going with Dany flying Drogon over the Lannister army and smashing it to bits in an ambush. The bits about Jaime allowing Lady Olenna to die by poisoning herself are intriguing to me, too.