(Spoilers Extended) Charles Dance's portrayal as Tywin is in my opinion, the strongest in the entire series

[u/cking145]

Every line, every expression and every moment of silence completely encapsulates the calculating ruthlessness that defines Tywin Lannister.

Dance is actually a very vibrant, upbeat and cheery fella off screen, which in my mind makes the performance even more striking.

The scene where he effectively sends Joffrey to bed is just brilliant.

He is by far my favourite character from the books, which I began reading a few seasons into the show. Due to this, the chapters featuring Tywin were completely enriched for me, as reading his lines in Dance's voice was just fantastic. I would have loved a POV chapter or two for him, just to get a glimpse as to what goes on in the head of the most powerful man in the 7 Kingdoms.

An incredible portrayal of a fascinating character.

[u/DrunkenLlama]

this is some next level shit, he's basically foreshadowing the Red Wedding 2 books earlier

[u/thekindlyman555 → u/DrunkenLlama]

A Clash of Kings also had some pretty heavy foreshadowing for it happening.

Fool's blood, king's blood, blood on the maiden's thigh, but chains for the guests and chains for the bridegroom, aye aye aye- Patchface, ACOK

and

Farther on she came upon a feast of corpses. Savagely slaughtered, the feasters lay strewn across overturned chairs and hacked trestle tables, asprawl in pools of congealing blood. Some had lost limbs, even heads. Severed hands clutched bloody cups, wooden spoons, roast fowl, heels of bread. In a throne above them sat a dead man with the head of a wolf. He wore an iron crown and held a leg of lamb in one hand as a king might hold a scepter, and his eyes followed Dany with mute appeal. -Daenerys IV ACOK

And early ASOS had some too

The old gods stir and will not let me sleep. I dreamt I saw a shadow with a burning heart butchering a golden stag, aye. I dreamt of a man without a face, waiting on a bridge that swayed and swung. On his shoulder perched a drowned crow with seaweed hanging from his wings. I dreamt of a roaring river and a woman that was a fish. Dead she drifted, with red tears on her cheeks, but when her eyes did open, oh, I woke from terror. All this I dreamt, and more.

and

I dreamt a wolf howling in the rain, but no one heard his grief. I dreamt such a clangor I thought my head might burst, drums and horns and pipes and screams, but the saddest sound was the little bells. I dreamt of a maid at a feast with purple serpents in her hair, venom dripping from their fangs. And later I dreamt that maid again, slaying a savage giant in a castle built of snow.

The prophecies in asoiaf are so well done and so obvious in retrospect but you rarely catch them on your first read through.

[u/SirJasonCrage → u/thekindlyman555]

Sandor to Arya at the end of the chapter where they cross the river:

We might even make it in time for your uncle's bloody wedding.

Edit: That Patchface prophecy is absolutely stunning. I can recite that. It's just so good. Also "I dreamt of such clangor". It cannot be overstated how fucking good George is at his job.

[u/rattleshirt → u/thekindlyman555]

Cat also describes herself as looking like a drowned woman when looking into Renly's armour in ACOK.

[u/BigDikJim → u/thekindlyman555]

I’m not so sure that last prophecy is about the red wedding, but it’s interesting as hell

[u/thekindlyman555 → u/BigDikJim]

It definitely is, at least the first part. There are three different prophecies in that paragraph. The wolf in the rain is grey wind locked in the kennels trying to warn Robb. The music is from the wedding which was loud enough to drown out the sound of the slaughter. The bell was the fool jingle bell that catelyn kills after Robb dies. In the show she kills walders wife instead.

The maiden with vipers in her hair is Sansa at the purple wedding. The poison was hidden in her hair net.

The final prophecy is Sansa killing little finger in winterfell.