Game of Thrones showrunners Dave Benioff and Dan Weiss have long avoided using flashbacks in their hit HBO show. All the characters set in the present – with their hidden allegiances and political schemes – are enough of a challenge for the average fan to follow. Add in characters and scenes from the past and the show risks becoming even more confusing.
Season Five will apparently change all that.
We've known for a while that this season would feature at least one flashback scene. Now, thanks to early reviews for the show's premiere, we know exactly what that scene will entail. In fact, the flashback provides the scene that will welcome viewers back to the world of Westeros.
Spoilers Ahead! Turn back now!
It's a scene taken straight from George R.R. Martin's books, specifically, A Feast for Crows. We encounter Cersei Lannister as a child, along with her friend Melara, as the two girls visit a clairvoyant named Maggy the Frog.
Maggy makes a series of prophecies that will haunt Cersei for the rest of her life. She claims Cersei will outlive all her children and that her little brother will end her life. Maggy also predicts that a younger and more beautiful queen will take everything from Cersei. Though we don't know for sure, it's implied that Cersei ends up murdering Melara in order to prevent her from ever speaking of the prophecy.
We later learn that many of the visions Maggy the Frog spoke of did come to pass. She accurately predicted Cersei's marriage to King Robert, leading Cersei to believe that everything the clairvoyant told her will come true.
Those prophecies play a large role in Cersei's increasingly paranoid behavior throughout A Feast for Crows. Cersei is convinced the "younger and more beautiful" queen out to destroy her is Margaery Tyrell, and that Tyrion will be the one to end Cersei's life.
How the show will go about depicting these prophecies is known only to those who have seen the episode. Will Maggy the Frog's predictions remain the same? Another aspect of the scene to pay close attention to his Cersei's friend Melara.
The show has a long habit of taking subtle or implied events from the books and spelling them out for viewers. If that is the case, expect to see Cersei's murder of Melara happen on screen.
Game of Thrones returns to HBO on April 12.
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