The Walking Dead ends and Game of Thrones begins

So, like they say when one door closes another opens, this is so true when it comes to my shows. This Sunday was a bit epic. It was the third season finale of The Walking Dead, which I am obsessed with and the opening episode of the third season of Game of Thrones. Both show are beautiful and complex but also based on literature. The Walking Dead started as a graphic novel and I have the first two compendiums, which ends up being about 96 of the "books"- it is put out monthly as a graphic novel, which is a "new" comic book, imo. I have only read about the first 12 books in my first compendium and I had to stop bc I was reading as the show was on and that shit gets confusing. The story lines are very similar but they are not the same and you need to keep them separate in your mind or things arent going to go well. The WD is about zombies, but if you dont already know that you are living under a rock. Season finales of this show are always very difficult bc we ALWAYS lose people and there is ALWAYS a huge plot shift. This episode was no different, except rather than ending with a huge negative or even a large cliffhanger I felt it was a much more sober ending to the season. I still cried like a baby and plan to watch it again on Friday.
Game of Thrones is completely different in pretty much every way except you ALWAYS lose main characters, no one is safe. GoT are very long fantasy style novels. So far 5 have been released with an unknown amount yet to be released, we are hoping for 7-8 but the author is a little long in the tooth and this is a very complex world he has created, in other words they arent a quick write or read. This Sunday was the start of season three that corresponds to the same book. I have the first 4 books and plan on starting to read them soon, but like I mentioned before I cant read and watch at the same time or Im going to get something confused. At the start of this season, we see Jon Snow beyond the wall and Daenarys crossing the sea and buying her army as well as some badass dragons! We know Robb is at Harrenhal and Sansa is still stuck in Kings Landing alone, now one BIG thing for me is where the hell is Arya and Bran?! They didnt touch on them at all. Stannis is back at Dragonstone likcing his wounds with that crazy Melissandra. Joffery is being his normal doucher self, and Majorie Tyrrell is up to some serious shit. Tyrion is gonna cause some serious issues for the Lannisters after what his father said to him this episode, I thought I didnt like Tywin Lannister but now I really hate that man. I think I covered everyone, if not remind me and Ill weigh in. So, much excitement. Im sure Ill have a little GoT commentary as we go along...