Yeah, that didn't bother me. Who cares which is older or younger. The meat of the issue is that she's a woman and commands more respect than he ever will. I thought it was very interesting to see that this calculated and ambitious girl actually did care for him. Didn't bother me at all about age. He certainly acts younger.
Spoiler The books actually do make a good point of having Ja'quen point that out to Arya. She was very selfish and short minded in her "naming of names" and in the end Ja'quen points out she could have named ANYONE.
So what is the Greyjoy's game plan if they're not going to hold onto the major cities in the North? Just hit and run to get revenge?
I think at this point they are trying to take places they can hold, which is why they took Moat Cailin which was mentioned, but not shown in the show. It is basicly a choke point between the north and the south, and with the Starks engaged by the Lanisters they could either raid north and fall back against the limited northern garrisons, or slowly conquer while keeping the Stark armies trapped out of the north. Moat Caitlin is also much closer to the sea for resupplying, where as Winterfell is isolated from all supply lands and surrounded by people loyal to the Starks. Here is a map of Westeros so you can see where Moat Cailin is relative to Pyke where the Greyjoys live, and how far away Winterfell is making it very hard to supply: Spoiler That is why Asha wants Theon to raze the castle and retreat.
it's not really clear if balon wants the iron throne or not, certainly by disrupting the north he weakens one of his rivals reclaims his crown and inspires his men, but as it was mentioned he did attack a major city in the north
I don't think he wants to be King of Westeros. He just wants to be King of the Iron Islands, an independent kingdom, free from the rule of the iron throne. He had tried to break free from the realm before but failed and that resulted in Ned Stark taking Theon as his ward. The Greyjoy's know their limitations. They're place is at sea, not on land. That's why they'll take lands accessible by water (like Torrhen's Square and Moat Cailin) and not attempt to hold landlocked territories. This is why Yara chastises Theon. A Greyjoy should have no desire to hold a place like Winterfell.
I'm really starting to like Jaime Lannister, dude is a trip. I have always rooted for the bad guys, so I guess thats why.
Stannis mentioned that he held Storms End for Robert during his rebellion under extremely grim conditions, but after the war it was given to Renly. Why did Robert do this? Did he simply dislike Stannis in general?
They have both said that they never loved the other, but I don't know that they have shown that Robert cared for Renly more, aside from that detail.
Part of it was because Dragonstone was an ancient Targaryen stronghold that traditionally was bestowed upon the heir to the Iron Throne. Also, all of its bannermen were Targ loyalists, so it needed a strong liege lord that commanded respect, not a 7-year-old Renly. That said, in the books Cersei and Tyrion have an exchange that basically goes like this (too lazy to look up the exact dialogue): So basically, Robert was being a dick and Stannis had legitimate reason to be pissed. In the books he also b****ed about how Robert thanked Ned for lifting the siege, but never thanked Stannis for actually holding onto the castle. After the siege was lifted, Robert sent Stannis to take Dragonstone, the last remaining Targ stronghold, and blamed Stannis for Dany and Viserys escaping, even though they had gone before he had even had a chance to set sail.
On the subject of Stannis, I want to mention that I really like Stephen Dillane's portrayal, and I think the one thing that's disappointed me the most about Season 2 has been the fact that we've barely seen him. He's arguably the second-most important figure in Clash of Kings, and given that he was a new character this season, he really hasn't gotten enough screen time.
Well, aside from his introduction told through Maester Cressen and his brief meeting with Renly and Cat, Stannis' story is told through the POV of Davos. Davos only has 3 chapters and only 2 of those have been shown to this point. So there's really not a lot of material for them to draw from and I guess they decided not to add scenes to fill in the gaps.
