You know how Season 5 kind of parallels the LotR journey to Mordor, the last part? Well, I have some parallels for you.

I think I saw somewhere that Helen analogues to Gollum. (Also, this is kind of implied somewhere in a bonus episode.) She shows up and annoys them and, I guess, serves as an example of someone who has given into being monstrous.

In LotR, Sam wants Frodo to kill Gollum. (Yes, it sounds an awful lot like Martin wanting Jon to smite people.) Frodo doesn’t do it. This is a very big moment. It’s an act of mercy on his part.

In TMA, Jon smites Helen. This is also a very big moment. Jon chose to do it because she was dangerous. (This parallel implies that Helen would’ve showed up in the last episode and tried to mess things up and failed to. That would have been interesting.)

There are also two spider monsters. (Sorry, Annabelle. I only mean how you appeared to Jon.) Shelob analogues to Annabelle pretty clearly. I think Sam kills Shelob? Correct me if I’m wrong. And Jon doesn’t kill Annabelle. He lets her go.