The Largest Structure Ever Built By The Hands Of Man, Benjen Stark Had Told Jon On The Kingsroad When

The largest structure ever built by the hands of man, Benjen Stark had told Jon on the kingsroad when they had first caught sight of the Wall in the distance. “And beyond a doubt the most useless,” Tyrion Lannister had added with a grin, but even the Imp grew silent as they rode closer. You could see it from miles off, a pale blue line across the northern horizon, stretching away to the east and west and vanishing in the far distance, immense and unbroken. This is the end of the world, it seemed to say.

When they finally spied Castle Black, its timbered keeps and stone towers looked like nothing more than a handful of toy blocks scattered on the snow, beneath the vast wall of ice. The ancient stronghold of the black brothers was no Winterfell, no true castle at all. Lacking walls, it could not be defended, not from the south, or east, or west; but it was only the north that concerned the Night’s Watch, and to the north loomed the Wall. Almost seven hundred feet high it stood, three times the height of the tallest tower in the stronghold it sheltered. His uncle said the top was wide enough for a dozen armored knights to ride abreast. The gaunt outlines of huge catapults and monstrous wooden cranes stood sentry up there, like the skeletons of great birds, and among them walked men in black as small as ants.

Hannibal S1E08 "Fromage" || S2E07 "Yakimono"

Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe as Jamie Fraser and Claire Beauchamp in Outlander (S1 E11 THE DEVIL'S MARK)

1x01 “Years”

These are my last first thoughts on the premier. There were many things where you’re like, wait is this a good thing or a bad thing? Can we trust this person or not? Is Rick in it or is he not? And I love it. You have to go back several times to see the way things stitch together. We’ll see what happens. As for what has happened, Scott Gimple pulled out the “end in the beginning” move from his back of tricks. In my notes I named each ‘scene’ this:

1. “There’s still one good man in the world”: Rick vs Thorne’s Glass

2. The stuff and things we hide. Rick plays the game.

3. “Monsters that kill the monsters—that’ll be over soon.” Okafor turns the walking dead theme on its head.

4. “She’s not gone. They’re not gone. But we are.” Turning a theme on its head again. Letting us know it’s all about…

5. Nationbuilding 101: Secrets. Secrets. Secrets. Rick plays the game to its end.

6. Rick vs Thorne’s Glass 2: Electric Boogaloo

7. (“He’s a good man and we’re from a good place.”) Rick chooses to die metaphorically.

8. A reunion. Writers’ lesson in teasing but avoiding the Romeo and Juliet scenario.

You walk into the Night’s Watch in 300 AC and THIS is the first thing you see, wyd?

And yet I love this quiet clouded day. I love this settled stillness, and this feeling that, at any moment, down may come the rain. Should you say wasted? No, not really. Something is gathered. This quiet time brings one nearer.

Katherine Mansfield, from The Journal of Katherine Mansfield (1914-1922)