Did Jaime Lannister lose his hand saving Lady Brienne?
Yes and no. Locke was going to rape Brienne of Tarth then have his men “finish her off” implying both more rape then murder because anyone associated with House Bolton is just the fucking worst. Jaime talks Locke out of it by lying about Tarth being known as the “Sapphire Isle” and that Selwyn Tarth would reward Locke if his daughter is returned “unbesmirched” (i.e. totally not-raped). Locke seemingly believes this then Jaime attempts to barter his own release by mentioning the wealth of the Lannisters. Locke is unmoved, threatens to stab Jaime in the eye before chopping off his hand.
It’s up to your interpretation. Would Jaime have lost his hand if he shut up about his father’s wealth? Was Locke just no longer in a rapey mood after dismembering Jaime?
If Auntie and Nephew were really in love... would they really need to fight over who claims the Iron Throne, when they would likely share it still anyway?
Yes and no. Jon didn’t even want to be King of the North, only reluctantly accepting the title as a sense of duty (i.e. to save the Northerners from zombies) so he definitely doesn’t care about any claim to the Iron Throne. Before Sam info-bombed his birthright, Jon’s sullen, sad-sack self seemed content with merely becoming figurehead king via marriage while deferring to Daenerys on all ruling matters because he’s all sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g etc. etc with her, and he doesn’t care about politics. Jon already bent the knee to Daenerys so that isn’t even the problem.
The implication of Jon’s conflict is that he now knows he fucked his aunt and even once he abdicates his claim to the throne, he doesn’t know if Daenerys can ever really accept it. She believed ruling the Seven Kingdoms was her destiny and spent six agonizing seasons boring everyone to prepare for it, and now she learns she has no rightful claim to the throne. After everything she’s been through (e.g. sold, raped, countless assassination attempts etc.) and what she still has to go through (e.g. kill zombies, Cersei and the Golden Company), she would only get the throne because her nephew and lover gave it to her. In a way, it almost trivializes her personal journey.
Ultimately, the way I see it, the question isn’t really who has claim to the throne. Rather, it’s whether they can still love each other due to both the internal and external conflict of incest as well as the more visceral, psychological complications of what they both have to sacrifice and accept about their very unique situation.
What happened to the Red Lady?
Melisandre was on Dragonstone last season when Jon arrived to ask Daenerys for help. She told Varys that her work is done because she brought Jon and Daenerys together (for war, not banging purposes). Varys seemed relieved that Melisandre was returning to Volantis and advised her not to return to Westeros, but she says it’s her fate to die in Westeros then kind of fucks off for the rest of the season. Expect her to show up in the last four episodes to tie up that hanging plot thread because this isn’t Lost and the writers have been resolving loose ends all over the final seasons.
Are all the wolves dead? all the Starks had a large wolf... did they all get killed?
Ghost (Jon’s direwolf) is alive and briefly shown in last night’s episode. Nymeria (Arya’s direwolf) is also alive and leading a pack of wolves. Arya sent Nymeria away in the first season after she bit Joffrey. Nymeria made a very special appearance last season to tie up that loose end for reasons.
Where are the dragons.....?
Both currently suffering from off-screen-for-budgetary-reasons.
Oh, and the show is beyond what was written in the books at this point right?
Yes.
So absolutely no one has any idea where the story goes from the last book which I think was finished mostly in the last season or the one before that.... right?
Depends on who you’re referring to. Fans? No. Showrunners? Yes and no? George R. R. Martin gave the showrunners, David Benioff and Dan Weiss, some plot points including his planned ending, or at least what it was back when he actually told them a few years ago. This allowed the showrunners to set the chessboard and put certain characters in a similar place. Martin could just as easily drastically change things for the last two books if he ever gets around to finishing them, and Benioff and Weiss could have done the same in the show. They aren’t beyond changing events from the books. For example, they never resurrected Catelyn Stark.