Game Of Thrones Cheat Sheet Season 3

‘Game of Thrones' Cheat Sheet: What You Need to Know for Season Three Get up to speed on the series before the battle for the Iron Throne begins again.

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The third season of 'Game of Thrones' features a massive turning point in the series. We break down along with everything else you need to know. Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Robb and Catelyn arrive at Riverrun for Lord Hoster Tully's funeral. Tywin names Tyrion the new Master of Coin. Arya says goodbye to Hot Pie. The Night's Watch returns to Craster's.

Picture for a moment the following hypothetical. It's June. The sun is finally starting to come out, you're spending your time off at the beach, and all of your friends won't shut the hell up aboutGame of Thrones. You've never watched it before. But goddammit they have. By the time the season finale rolls around each year, you're left standing on the sidelines while your friends babble on about characters and plot twists that you have no understanding of. Thankfully, we're here to help.

Catching up on a show six years after its debut can be a daunting task. So instead, we're going to run you through Game of Thrones,beat-by-beat and season-by-season. For this installment, we dive into the bloodiest run of episodes the series has to offer in Season 3.

1. Understanding the Red Wedding

Character deaths have almost become commonplace in the Game of Thrones universe. Both the books and TV series have instilled a 'nobody is safe' sort of fear into fans, a threat that was never more real than in Season 3. In it, we were treated to a massive turning point in the series, brought on by the death of just about everyone we loved in one fell swoop. It was a moment that book readers were gleefully waiting to watch their non-reader friends experience for the first time. And in the penultimate episode of Season 3, it arrived in the form of the infamous Red Wedding.

The Red Wedding killed off a handful of primary Stark characters, including Robb, his wife Talisa (and her unborn baby), and his mother Lady Catelyn. The real kicker is that it happened at the hands of their own allies and at the wedding of Robb's cousin, Edmure. It wasn't a complete surprise though. The Red Wedding was set off by a series of poor decisions from Robb and company, leading us straight into the 'why' of it all.

• First, Robb Stark reneged on his promise to marry one of Walder Frey's daughters, instead following his heart to marry Talisa Maegyr.
• Catelyn Stark released Jaime Lannister, despite Jaime having murdered one of the Karstark sons in cold blood. The Karstarks were previously one of the Stark family's biggest and most loyal allies.
• When the Karstarks threaten to march home in protest, Robb beheaded their leader, Rickard.
• Without the support of the Karstarks, Robb needs the Freys (who he spurned earlier). He agrees to marry his cousin Edmure to one of Walder Frey's daughters in exchange for military support.
• Roose Bolton, seeing that Robb no longer has control of the North and wanting more power himself, made a deal with Tywin Lannister to assist the still-spurned Walder Frey in executing the Starks at Edmure's wedding reception.

Things didn't go particularly well for any of the other Starks in Season 3 either. Sansa found herself married against her will to Tyrion, while Arya arrived to meet her family at the Red Wedding just in time to watch everyone she loved get murdered. But hey, Jon Snow got to have sex in a hot spring with a wildling north of The Wall, so at least someone in the family was having a good time (even if that same wildling shot a bunch of arrows into him for betraying her at the end of the season).

2. Jaime Lannister becomes sympathetic in one fell swoop (literally)

Jaime Lannister had a rough time in Season 3 | Source: HBO

Through the beginning of the series, Jaime Lannister was made out to be eminently hatable. He was generally portrayed as the golden child in a privileged family with a sense of entitlement and ego to match. Season 3 saw him suitably humbled, bringing him down a level that made him not just sympathetic, but actually likable in a larger context. After getting captured in battle by the Starks, Catelyn released him from captivity to secure the release of her daughters, sending him off with Brienne of Tarth as a bodyguard. It's not long before things start to go horribly wrong.

After a lengthy duel with Brienne, the duo happens upon a group of Bolton men who are far from friendly. For context, the Boltons, while loyal to the North, are known for their propensity for skinning people alive. After convincing them not to rape Brienne (hooray!), Jaime gets his sword hand lopped off in horrific turn of events. The real tragedy of it all lies in the fact that Jaime is widely regarded as one of the greatest swordsmen in all of Westeros. The loss of limb essentially renders him a defenseless cripple.

Soon after this, we get a touching scene where Jaime explains his 'Kingslayer' namesake, and the impossible scenario he was thrust into when he plunged a sword into the Mad King's back. What we get as a result is a broken, albeit sympathetic Jaime Lannister, who's forged a friendship with the likable Brienne. More than that, it's a skillfully executed 180 degree turn on a character who was a villain for the better part of the previous seasons.

3. Tyrion spends the whole season having a terrible time at King's Landing

As triumphant as Season 2 was for Tyrion, Season 3 ran in the exact opposite direction for everyone's favorite character. The youngest Lannister found himself stripped of all power in King's Landing and firmly under the thumb of his father, Tywin. His role for a better part of the season is getting beaten down verbally by Tywin before being paired off with Sansa for an arranged marriage.

Initially, the match seems like a good one for all involved. Sansa doesn't have to marry the insane psychopath Joffrey, and Tyrion becomes the warden of Winterfell. Unfortunately, things unravel quickly from there. Sansa is far from thrilled and spends a better part of their brief marriage being cold and distant (despite Tyrion vowing to not consummate the marriage without her approval). As a reward for Tyrion's kindness, Tywin berates his son for failing to impregnate his teenage wife. It's not exactly a high point for anyone, but really this is just the beginning; things get way worse for Tyrion Lannister in Season 4.

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SEASON FOUR OF Game Of Thrones is almost upon us. The first episode will go out simultaneously on HBO and Sky Atlantic tonight at 2am Irish time.

Maybe you've been following like a hawk, drinking in each twist and turn and making sense of the dozens of main characters.

Or maybe you've been less invested, aware of the show, perhaps watching the odd episode, but ultimately a bit lost, like this lot.

Who is fighting who? How did your one manage to lose her dragons? What's the Iron Throne? And why is Boromir from Lord of the Rings always telling you to brace yourself?

We've put together a cheat sheet of essentials which answers these questions, and might just set you up in time for season four. And remember this is not a resource for purists, it's a last minute cramming session.

NOTE:There are unavoidable spoilers here. Nothing too in depth, but there are some notifications about key deaths and plot points.

If you want to know nothing at all (just like Jon Snow) then don't scroll past this Lannister height/evil graph.

Source: Imgur

Ready? Let's go.

So, who are these Lannisters and Starks?

Simply put, the Lannisters and the Starks are two families who hate each other's guts.

The Starks hail from The North (more on that later) and have their castle at Winterfell. Their motto is ‘winter is coming'.

The Lannisters meanwhile hail from the south and have their castle at Casterly Rock. Their motto is ‘hear me roar', although they're also a big fan of ‘a Lannister always pays his debts'.

Over the three seasons of Game of Thrones so far, both families have been through a lot.

As we enter season four three main Stark characters have been killed, Ned, Catelyn and Robb:

Source: HBO

Meanwhile The Lannisters have desperately clung onto power after Cersei Lannister's husband king Robert died (again, we'll have more on this later):

Source: HBO

Of course, there are more families, houses and groups than just the Lannisters and Starks involved; the Baratheons, the Targaryens, the Greyjoys, the Night's Watch and the Wildlings (or Free Folk).

Give or take a few, they're all fighting for power, with the Lannisters and the Starks more or less at the centre of it all.

Why are they all fighting?

The majority of the action in Game of Thrones so far is focused on two continents, Westeros and Essos.

Everyone wants to be in control of Westeros, and that's why they're all fighting.

Westeros is loosely divided into The North, the bit Beyond The Wall, and the other bits to the south. Different families and houses have strongholds in different parts.

Beyond the Wall is separated from the rest of the continent by – surprise surprise – a wall, which is guarded by the Night's Watch. There are terrible awful things Beyond the Wall.

Source: HBO

So there are three kingdoms then? Four?

Wrong, there are seven.

Of course there are seven. Go on.

Well actually, there are seven or nine, depending on which way you choose to look at it.

All of Westeros that lies to the south of the wall is divided into seven kingdoms/nine territories. For our purposes you don't need to worry about them all.

Source: Imgur

The capital of the seven kingdoms is Kings Landing. Whoever sits on the Iron Throne which is situated at Kings Landing is in command of the seven kingdoms of Westeros.

The North (not to be confused with Beyond the Wall) is the largest of the seven kingdoms and is ruled by the Starks. The head of the Stark family is known as The King in the North. Robb Stark was the most recent King in the North… until the Red Wedding that is.

So who's on the Iron Throne now?

As we enter season 4 Joffrey Baratheon sits on the Iron Throne.

You know him, this creep:

Source: HBO

His ‘father' Robert Baratheon sat on the throne before him. However, Robert wasn't Joffrey's real father. Good old Joff is actually the product of incest between his mother Cersei (Robert's widow) and her twin brother Jaime Lannister.

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You better bet that there are loads of people who want Joffrey off the throne, not least Stannis Baratheon (Robert's brother and rightful heir to the throne) and Daenerys Targaryen.

Daenerys TarWHATTIGAN?

Daenerys is the daughter of the guy who was king before Robert. Her father, Aerys, was killed by JaimeLannister, and she wants her throne back.

She owns a trio of dragons, given to her as a wedding present (her husband, the Dothraki horselord Khal Drogo is now dead). As the dragons grow in power she is able to use them to her advantage.

As we enter season 4 she's trotting around Essos freeing slaves and amassing a huge army.

Source: Showrenity

Hang on, so she's the one who's always looking for her dragons?

Yes, in season 2 Daenerys was tricked and her dragons were nearly taken away from her. She was fairly vocal about it, inspiring several memes and jokes.

Source: Awesomegifs

And why is she sometimes called Khaleesi?

That's what her late husband used to call her. It means ‘my queen' in Dothraki.

‘Winter is coming'. What does that even mean?

In between the struggles for power there's this threat of winter hanging over everyone.

This stems back to The Long Night a couple of thousand years ago, which was the longest, darkest and coldest winter Westeros had ever seen.

The Long Night allowed creatures called The White Walkers to move down from most northerly part of the continent to kill most of the people of Westeros. It was only when winter abated that they were defeated,

Already in seasons two and three we've seen evidence of White Walkers, and trust us, you'd be worried about winter coming too.

Wha… what's so scary about them?

They're essentially zombies. And they look like this.

Source: deviantART

Jon Snow. Where does he come into it?

Jon Snow is the bastard son of Ned Stark. We're not entirely sure yet who his mother is, but it is said that Snow is The Song of Fire and Ice that the series of books is named for.

Source: HBO

In season one Snow had taken on the noble task of becoming a member of the Nights Watch, which defends The Wall.

Since then he has been taken prisoner by a group of Wildlings/Free Folk who live Beyond The Wall. He manages to escape, but not before falling for Ygritte, one of the Wildlings and violating his Night's Watch vow of chastity.

Why does Jon Snow 'know nothing'

Ygritte told him so.

And an internet meme was born:

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Source: Tumblr

What was blazes is the Red Wedding?

In the second last episode of season three, something awful happened.

Ned Stark's widow Catelyn, her son Robb and Robb's wife had travelled to Twins, the castle of Lord Walder Frey for a wedding.

Catelyn's brother Edmure had agreed to marry Frey's daughter to make up for Robb reneging on his promise to marry her. They wanted the Freys on their side you see.

It all goes belly up though and Robb, his wife, and Catelyn are all murdered. Brutal.

So, who am I supposed to be rooting for?

There are so many characters that we haven't even mentioned yet, and a lot of them are actually the ones you want to be on board with.

There's Arya, the youngest daughter of the Starks. She's plucky and has already gotten herself out of some tricky situations.

Source: HBO

Then there's a real favourite, Tyrion Lannister. He's the brother of Cersei and the uncle of that cretin Joffrey. He's been married off to Arya's sister Sansa, and is probably the cleverest of the bunch. Put it this way.. if anything happens to Tyrion we're not watching any more.

Source: HBO

Jaime Lannister is Tyrion's brother and the one who had it off with his sister Cersei. You don't start out in season one with any fondness for him, especially when he pushes little Bran Stark out the window, paralysing him. However, throughout the series you gain inexplicable respect for him.

Source: HBO

Bran Stark escaped his family home of Winterfell in season 2 and has more or less been on the move ever since. He witnessed Cersei and Jaime going at it and so his life was in danger from that point. Bran has some supernatural gifts which come in very handy at times of peril.

So that's it. Hopefully things are a bit clearer now. At the end of the day, all you really need to know is that Joffrey is the worst, Tyrion is the best, and you can trust nobody.

If you want a more in depth catch up, visit HBO's extensive Game of Thrones site, or you can take a look at the Game of Thrones Wikia.

Updated 10pm

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