Game of Thrones (Season 3) follows the climatic battle at Kings Landing and the war of the five kings; after the death of Renly Baratheon (Gethin Anthony), all four kings in Westeros believes themselves to have a claim to the Iron Throne, besides Robb Stark (Richard Madden), who seeks vengeance for the death of his father, Lord Eddard “Ned” Stark (Sean Bean).

Season 3 picks up with Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) who, unbeknownst to him most of his Night’s Watch patrol were killed in the Battle of the Fist of the First Men, is now being led to meet the King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder, who is played by Ciaran Hinds who does a fantastic job.  Jon meets Mance as well as the awesome Tormund Giantsbane  (Kristofer Hivju) who is the most intense looking person in the entire series.  Jon manages to talk Mance into accepting him into their ranks, pledging his loyalty to the Wildlings.

If Ned’s death hadn’t done it for you, then this season is definitely going to be quite the shocker as we see more of the Stark family being murdered off in a grizzly fashion. Robb and Caitlyn are both casualties of both this war and of their own decisions. Robb’s wedding of Talisa and execution of Lord Karstark proved to rub a lot of people the wrong way and for it, Robb, Talisa, Caitlyn, and most of the Stark bannermen were slain. Episode nine “The Rains of Castamere” reminded us that Game of Thrones isn’t about good versus evil, and good guys is most cases, do not win. There’s also Arya (everyone’s favorite) and I could go into pages of how sad her story is but how awesome a character she is.

Tywin Lannister is in Kings Landing and he means business.  What makes Tywin introduction into the series as a major player is that he’s being portrayed by Charles Dance, who just gives the character a strong, commanding presence. Even the obnoxious Joffrey, who really only listens to Tyrion, can’t help but fall to his grandfather’s gaze.

Another Lannister, Jaime, is experiencing the most significant developing arc of the season. He, along with Brienne of Tarth, are crossing the lands of Westeros making their way back to King’s Landing. Jaime up until this point was quite the douchebag, but their adventures and Brienne’s badassery have had an effect on the warrior. We see a side to Jaime that we haven’t really seen before. Him actually connecting with someone outside of his Circe, Tywin, and Tyrion. We really see this when he saves Brienne from a bear and when he attempts to save her from the Boltons, which sadly ends with him losing his sword hand and being humiliated.

In the end, Game of Thrones (Season 3) is just great and continues to deepen the rich world and the well-developed characters. The writing continues to be complex, yet it weaves it brilliantly enough to establish the many characters and many storylines. Game of Thrones (Season 3) gets 4 out of 5.