Some fans -- and actor John Bradley -- have suggested this gruesome development has a silver lining for Sam. "He's now technically head of House Tarly ... His book on the history of Star Wars ...

There's a reason Sam led with the news that Dany killed the Tarly Boys. He was watching Jon's face, Jon's reaction. He wanted to know if his old buddy was aware of what had happened. Sam changed ...

it would be a book in that library. The visual motif of that is you're about to be told a story - the sense of an idea of being told a story, and people gaining that knowledge, the way Sam is ...