3. The Targaryens Still Have Westerosi Allies
If you're gunning for Daenerys to ride dragons-blazing into Westeros and char Joffrey to a crisp, you're going to be waiting a while. Where the books are now, Dany is still putzing around in Essos learning how to be a queen without upsetting local customs. But underneath the back-stabbing exists a subterranean layer of Targaryen loyalty, a guarded minority that hasn't lost faith in its former silver-haired rulers. It's hard to tell the free agents from the servants, though. Littlefinger has his own aspirations that happen to include creeping on Sansa like it's nobody's business. But what about Varys, Master of Secrets? Or perhaps Grand Maester Pycelle, the doddering old fool, isn't quite as doddering as we think? This is pure speculation, but the Martells, to be properly introduced in Season 4, are confirmed schemers. The first we heard of the residents of Sunspear was the tragic story of Elia, wife to Dany's brother Rhaegar. Elia was brutally murdered by Ser Gregor Clegane, along with her two infant children, during the Sack of King's Landing seventeen years prior to the show's events. Elia's suave brother Oberyn, the Red Viper, is chomping at the bit to take down the Lannisters' most fearsome warrior and settle the score. The cool thing about the Martells, rulers of the southern kingdom of Dorne, is that they keep a few tricks up their sleeves while pretending to comply with the Iron Throne. Dorne is the most ambitious region in Westeros; it resisted when Aegon the Conqueror wanted to unite the Seven Kingdoms and didn't bend the knee until the Martells and Targaryens formed a marriage pact. When Tyrion shipped Myrcella Baratheon to Dorne in Season 2, he gave the Martells a pawn for enacting revenge. But the real piece they want sits atop a throne half a world away.