I seem to have a different favourite character every time I read the books (I currently lurch wildly between Sansa and Dany) but the first time it was Cat all the way. The Red Wedding both broke my heart and blew my socks off. You know, I got into the fandom just before the show started when it was all neckbeards all the time, and even if I didn't like the show on its own merits I'd be grateful that it opened the fandom up to the point where I can now chug along in my own lady-loving corner, encountering hardly any misogyny at all.

I don't see why they wouldn't do Lady Stoneheart, unless Michelle Fairley decides she really doesn't want to come back. One of my concerns with the Red Wedding was that they'd have Robb be the one revived by the brotherhood and seeking zombie vengeance, but I'm glad to see that seems to have been sheer paranoia on my part.

Totally agree with you about Robb/Talisa. And the thing is, love vs. honour is a boring question, it's been asked thousands of times before, and in the context of a war where your, your family, and thousands of others lives are at stake, love is always the wrong answer. This honour or that one, mine or hers, is a much more interesting question, as well as a more Stark one.

Maisie Williams and the kid who plays Rickon, sometimes in my head I think of this show as Game of Improbably Talented Child Actors.