This week's episode of Game of Thrones was yet another great one, the main theme's throughout Book of the Stranger seemed to be one of reunions and strong women standing up for what they believe in. For those who haven't seen this episode, go watch it and come back when you're done because SPOILERS ARE COMING!
Castle Black
The episode starts with a nice shot of Longclaw (Jon's sword) as it is being picked up by Dolorous Edd (Ben Crompton). Edd is helping a Stark armoured Jon Snow (Kit Harington) with his packing, they talk about where Jon will go, sounds like he wants to chase the sunshine, and can we blame him? Edd is concerned about the events of Hardhome, remember The Night's King and his entire undead army?
Edd can't understand why Jon would leave them when he saw for himself what was coming, but Jon tells him he can't stay at the Wall with his brothers who wanted him dead. A horn sounds signaling a new arrival at the gate, and it turns out to be Sansa (Sophie Turner) with her protectors, Podrick (Daniel Portman), and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie).
I'm so happy that two Stark(ish) children have finally been brought together, I was petrified that Jon had just left last week without packing, and we where going to have yet another mistimed reunion. Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) seemed very interested in the new arrivals, especially Brienne, his jaw almost hits the floor, and I can just imagine a slow motion running towards each other beach shot going on inside his head.
The siblings have caught up with each other off screen, so we just see the end of their conversation, Sansa wants to go back to the day they all left, and she apologises to Jon for being so horrible to him. Jon won't take the apology but she makes him take it all the same, and then he comments about how it must have not been a lot of fun for her as he mopped about in the corner. Can I just comment on how nice it is to see Jon smile again, I really don't think I've seen him smile that wide since he gave Arya needle.
There is a stronger sibling bond between them than their was in season one, probably because Sansa has come to understand how horrible the outside world could be, and she has gotten over the possibility of her Father engaging in a one night stand with some other women. Jon tells Sansa that he will watch over her, otherwise her Father might come back and haunt him.
Sansa is also out for blood and wants to take Winterfell back from the Boltons. Remember they killed her Brother, Mother, and her future Niece/Nephew. Jon however is really tired of fighting, he's fought for five whole seasons and he just can't seem to take it anymore. Sansa however is not backing down, and she states that she will take the North back alone if she has too.
Davos (Liam Cunningham) is talking to Melisandre (Carice van Houten), he wants to know what she is going to do now that she no longer has Stannis (Stephen Dillane) to follow. Melisandre states that she will now follow Jon Snow, as he is the Prince that was Promised, but Davos reminds her that she also said that about King Stannis.
Davos wants to know what happened to Stannis (Stephen Dillane) and Princess Shireen (Kerry Ingram) on the day that the Boltons attacked his army. Before Melisandre can think of a nice way to say, well I kinda burned Shireen alive and sort of abandoned Stannis before the attack, Brienne joins the conversation with her recollection of the events that happened during the Bolton attack.
Brienne introduces herself to them both, and kindly interrupts Davos' introductions by telling him that she has in fact met him before. The day Stannis came to give terms to his brother Renly, she then states that she was also their that night when a shadow with the face of Stannis Baratheon killed Renly (Gethin Anthony).
Brienne then confirms that she killed Stannis, by stating that he admitted to killing Renly before she executed him. I'm still not 100% convinced that this is the case, but it's probably because I am so paranoid at the fact that I didn't actually see the beheading. Felt a bit weird on a show which shows death on a weekly basis for them to cut away, but I will just go along with it if it is indeed the case.
Tormund is making those smoldering looks at Brienne again as he, Jon and Edd sit down to dinner with the new arrivals. I absolutely loved this match up, yes a part of me is still hoping for Jaime to get his act on with Brienne already, but this woman definitely deserves a bit of fun. Sansa doesn't look too impressed with her meal, which begs the question, why could this food possibly be worse than what she's been able to eat on the road? Is the Night's Watch cooking that bad?
A letter arrives from the Bolton's, could this be a pink letter by chance? Well it is indeed pretty pinkish but I still enjoyed it as much as I did in the books. Ramsay (Iwan Rheon) has written Jon a letter asking for the return of his wife, he also states that he is going to kill all the Wildlings that Jon let through the Wall who are now currently settled in the Gift.
As you can tell this letter has been sent to spark a reaction, maybe for Jon to be the one to strike first so Ramsay has an excuse to attack the Night's Watch, it also details that Ramsay has Rickon in his dungeon, and keeps adding an invitation for Jon to come and see for himself. Jon stops reading when Ramsay graphically states what he and a number of bannermen are going to do with Sansa when he gets a hold of her. He signs the letter with his Warden of the North title, so now Sansa knows the horrors Ramsay will inflict on them, and that he has killed his own Father.
Sansa is again standing strong telling Jon that they have to fight this monster and save their brother from a fate which is possibly worse than death (I mean look at what happened to Theon). They talk about the number of potential men that Ramsay has in his army, Sansa states that she heard him mention the number five thousand one, but the wildlings could only manage around two thousand.
Jon still seems unconvinced about marching towards Winterfell, but Sansa then reminds him that other houses are loyal to the Starks and these houses will fight alongside them to reclaim their home back. Sansa pushes him to stand up and fight for what is rightfully theirs and finally Jon accepts the fact that he will need to continue to fight even if his heart isn't truly in it.
The Vale
Lord Robert Arryn (Lino Facioli) is just where we last saw him, he is still training at Runestone alongside Lord Yohn Royce (Rupert Vansittart). Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen) appears with a gift for Robert as he missed his latest name day, and it is revealed to be a pretty cool looking Falcon. Robert like any young kid looks overjoyed with this gift, and can we blame him? If I got my own Falcon at his age I would have been so excited to learn how to do some Falconry, but I just can't help but wonder if Littlefinger might have trained it to peck the eyes out of his victims.
Littlefinger tells Robert a drastically different series of events about what happened to Sansa, apparently they were stopped on the road to the Fingers by some Bolton men. Littlefinger shifts the blame to Lord Royce, as he was the only other person who knew the route Littlefinger and Sansa were taking. Robert's first instinct is throw him out The Moon Door, which can I just say is just lunacy as the only proof he has is Littlefinger's say so, he has never really bothered me but at times he just reminds me of Joffrey (Jack Gleeson).
Littlefinger however points out how much they will need Lord Royce in the battle to come, and points out that he has been very loyal to House Arryn. They decide to round up all of their soldiers in order to save Sansa from those pesky Boltons. Look's like we may actually get a fair fight in the upcoming Battle of the Bastards (or possibly the odds may tip in the Starks favour if that very solid Ultimate Umber Conspiracy turns out to be true).
Meereen
The Masters of the great cities of Slaver's Bay have come to treat with Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) but she has been sent off to Vaes Dothrak to potentially live out the rest of her life with the Crones. While there ship sails into the harbour we are treated to a scene between Tyrion, Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel).
They are both reluctant to make peace with the Masters, but Tyrion quite rightly points out that we don't need to make peace with our friends. Tyrion tries to reassure them by stating that he understands what it is like as he was sold into slavery, but Missandei bluntly reminds him that his time as a slave was actually pretty short, so he has no real idea what it's like to be born into slavery.
The Masters are now in their meeting, they show their distaste at not being greeted by the Queen, and how they exactly feel about instead meeting with two former slaves, a eunuch, and a Dwarf. Varys (Conleth Hill) looks a bit shocked, how did he know without looking that Varys was a eunuch? They talk about slavery, the Masters don't look to be backing down.
This practice has gone on for thousands of years and they want it to continue they offer Dany a bunch of gold to fly west with her dragons. The Masters seem to perk up though when Tyrion mentions the fact that Slavery is outlawed in Westeros but he still grew up richer than all of them combined, maybe because they might get a good price for him by putting him up as ransom.
Tyrion makes them an offer, he sees that maybe outlawing slavery right away may not be such a good move, instead he offers the Masters seven years to outlaw it in their own cities, but Meereen however shall remain a free city. The Masters all seem a bit too quick to change their thinking, but Tyrion does offer them a parting gift, some of Meereen's free ladies and he asks them to give freedom a chance.
Tyrion then meets with the head representatives of the Freedmen, they are not happy with the prospect of making peace with their former enslavers. They do not trust Tyrion as he is a foreigner and instead ask Grey Worm and Missandei if they actually can make peace with the slavers. They reluctantly agree, Missandei even quotes Tyrion's point from before about how we don't need to make peace with our friends.
In private however Missandei and Grey Worms feelings couldn't be more different, they think that the Masters will use Tyrion as a pawn in their sick little game. Tyrion tried to reassure them but lets face it no one could know the horrors that these Masters will inflict in order to keep their traditions alive. There is a lot of similarities in this storyline to the American Civil War.
I'm not trying to start a war, but didn't Lincoln offer the slavers in certain states a timeline to outlawing slavery, and it kinda fell apart? I'm Scottish so I don't know much about the history of the USA, so if I am wrong then I apologise. Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire use a lot of historic events (The Black Dinner) in their plots, so could this be another example and Slaver's Bay will be heading toward war?
Pyke
Yes, we got another sibling reunion, but this one was much colder than our last, I even think Tyrion's reunion with his old Master was actually more heartwarming. Theon (Alfie Allen) has made his way back to his home on Pyke (not Winterfell as I thought). Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) is sitting by the fire as Theon enters the room.
Yara asks him if Ramsay had let him go, Theon speaks in a low tone which she can't quite hear so she shouts telling him to speak up. He tells her that he escaped but she can't quite believe it, she is angry with him for what happened when she tried to rescue him from Ramsay. She lost a lot of good men trying to save him but he wouldn't leave, and in doing so he became dead to her.
Theon tells her that Ramsay had broken him into a thousand pieces to which Yara states that Ramsay sending them one of Theon's pieces was the reason that she went to rescue him in the first place. She also has questions as to why Theon would just happen to show up just days before the Kingsmoot, she doesn't believe that he knew nothing about his father's death until he made it to the Pyke port.
Theon starts crying but Yara keeps telling him to stop, Theon has no desire to rule the Iron Islands, instead he believes that his sister would be the best person to take over from his father. Theon wants her to lead, and he wants to help her gather support for the Kingsmoot.
I will not go into any speculation here as this is an area that the books have covered and I feel that my speculation may be tainted by the events that take place during the Kingsmoot. I understand that these events may not go in the direction that they do in the books but I don't want to spoil anything for TV fans. I will say this though, I think it's going to be a good one. This is the only time I can really use my smug I read the books and know what is going to happen face, so enjoy.
Kings Landing
They speak about the Book of the Stranger, The High Sparrow mentions his youth, he talks about growing up with his father as a cobbler, learning the trade, and basically becoming the best maker of shoes in his area. He then spoke about his vanity, he spent a lot of time on each shoe, and would make a lot of money making them from the High Born.
The High Sparrow would then use this money for a taste of the High Born Life, and it ended in what sounds pretty much like a huge orgy. The next morning he awoke before anyone else, he stared at those around him, no longer dolled up in their fancy outfits, and no longer smelling like there sweet perfumed selves from the night before. He had seen the light of the Seven, deciding right their to dedicate his life to helping others, he even walked out without his shoes.
I have to say I did not really believe him when he was telling the tale of his life, but Jonathan Pryce sure does deliver it. Also during this exchange the Graveyard is mentioned which could be a reference to a potential Gravedigger Theory, which we could see being played out over the next few episodes.
The High Sparrow lets Margaery visit her brother Loras (Finn Jones), he is having a very hard time, and is curled up facing the wall crying. Margaery is being strong for her brother, and tries to reassure him that it will all eventually get better. She knows that they are using her as a pawn, they want them to confess to their sins but she is definitely not having it. She can't let them win, but Loras is falling to pieces and he just wants it all to stop.
I have always thought Margaery knew how to play the game but I haven't given her enough credit. She said to Loras that he was the future of their house but lets be honest, but if truth be told the future of the Tyrell house is really her. I don't think Loras will survive much longer, and if he confesses he won't only put his own life at jeopardy, but could possibly hurt his sister.
King Tommen (Dean-Charles Chapman) is receiving advice about the Sparrows from Grand Maester Pycelle (Julian Glover), Cersei (Lena Headey) interrupts them and Pycelle shares a look of disrespect at Cersei (I'm still convinced that she will have him killed at some point) as he leaves Tommen's chambers, I think he's fed up of Cersei interrupting his meetings.
Cersei speaks with Tommen about the High Sparrow problem and he just regurgitates what we just heard Pycelle telling him about how it would be unwise to be seen going to war against the Faith. Tommen then tells Cersei about his meetings with the High Sparrow, she is not impressed that her son has been in talks with her enemy.
Tommen tells her something that he learned during these talks with the High Sparrow but the camera breaks away at this point. I've heard a lot of speculation about this secret, with many thinking that The High Sparrow knows about the Tyrell involvement in Joffreys death. I'm not convinced that he would know, but it wouldn't surprise me if this information found itself to Cersei somehow.
Cersei then takes Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) along with her to meet with her Uncle Kevan (Ian Gelder) and the Queen of Thorns herself, Lady Olenna (Diana Rigg). She tells them both that The High Sparrow wants them to bicker among themselves, instead of working together to resolve the matter. Cersei also tells them about Margaery's upcoming Walk of Shame.
Lady Olenna looks in disbelief, she cannot possibly let this happen, Cersei and Jaime have devised a plan which can absolve Tommen of responsibility and get Margaery and Loras back with their family. They want the Tyrell army to march on King's Landings against the Faith Militant before Margaery is paraded naked around the streets.
I don't know how to feel about this, is Cersei leading the Tyrells to their doom? Does she want vengeance that much? If the Tyrells are the only ones marching into battle wouldn't this make the public turn against them? She knows how powerful the High Sparrow is, but she must realize that by doing this she might start a civil war, I like how this story is somewhat similar to that of her brother Tyrion's, even if they are on different sides of the World.
Winterfell
Ramsay is in his chambers quite happily peeling the skin from an apple as he is visited by Osha (Natalia Tena), he really does seem to be intrigued by the answers she gives to his questions. She holds back enough that the viewer may even be fooled by her act. She stretches the truth about why she ended up in the service of the Starks, yes she was in chains but they didn't really disrespect her.
When Ramsay asks her about why she saved the Stark boys and kept serving Rickon (Art Parkinson). She lies telling him that she believes that they owe her and she was holding onto him in order to sell him off to the highest bidder. Osha then tries to seduce Ramsay and his thoughts wander to Theon Greyjoy.
You see when he tortured Theon he learned many secrets, he used to talk and talk and talk about a number of subjects. Particularly how Osha managed to escape with the Stark boys in the first place. He knows that she is playing him, Osha scrambles trying to reach the knife that Ramsay was recently using to peel his apple but it is worthless.
Ramsay stabs Osha in the throat and my personal Ramsay hate meteor may have just gone up at a point where I thought I couldn't hate im anymore that I already do. I swear if he doesn't die soon I may actually revolt, but then who could really replace him? Then again he did replace Joffrey so it may be possible, dark Arya maybe?
Vaes Dothrak
Ser Friendzone himself, Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) is climbing a very steep hill with Dany's favorite second son Daario Naharis (Michiel Huisman). Jorah is having a hard time with the climb and Daario comments that in this state he would never be able to ride the dragon. Jorah, like us, looks confused at that reference, until Daario explains that the dragon is Daenerys (Emilia Clarke), and she is almost too much exercise for his young self.
When he gets to the hilltop Jorah show Daario the layout of Vaes Dothrak, and tells him the route they would need to take to get to Dany who is being held in the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen. Jorah then explains that weapons are banned in the city, they will have to leave them all behind, Daario does not like this plan but does give up his swords.
Jorah knows he is holding out on him and holds his hand out. Daario then pulls a knife from his back, the handle is actually a carving of a naked woman, so he gives it a kiss before saying goodbye. When Daario hands the knife over to Jorah however he notices that Jorah has Greyscale on his arm.
Jorah asks Daario if he knows what it means, and reassures him that he has not come into contact with it. Daario however chooses to toss the knife into the pile of weapons himself just incase. Under the cover of darkness they both sneak into the city, they are then caught by two dothraki soldiers who don't believe their story about them being two merchants who took a wrong turn.
Daario chases after the soldier who has ran to alert the rest of the city, and Jorah is left to fight off the bigger of the two. He puts up a good fight with his fists but is being outfought by the soldier. Daario catches up to the soldier he is currently chasing and snaps his neck before he can alert anyone. Jorah is left being choked by the Dothraki who is then stabbed from being by Daario and his favorite knife. To cover this up he then smashes the dead soldiers head in with a very large rock.
Daenerys is inside the Temple of the Dosh Khaleen with all the other Crones. They are all introducing themselves to her, she meets a young Crone who had to marry a horrible Khal, but thankfully he died while she was still very young. They all talk about Dany's fate, but I think she is pretty sick of hearing it at this point so she decides to make the excuse that she has to go to the toilet in order to get some fresh air.
The young Crone goes with her, they talk more about her husband, and she asks if the rumours about Danys dragons are true. They turn a corner and run right into Ser Jorah and Daario. Daario takes his knife to the young Crones throat, they both want to escape with Dany right away, but she knows that it just won't be possible. She asks the young Crone if she trusts her, and gives them a better plan instead.
Dany goes to seek her judgement in front of all the Khal's, they speak about giving her over to the Yunkai, keeping her as a Dosh Khaleen, or just basically raping her because they want to try Khalessi. Dany then speaks about the first time she was in this place, the prophecy that her child would be the Stallion Who Mounts the World, and the ambitions that Khal Drogo had.
Khal Drogo was not content to pillage small towns, he wanted to cross the salt, and take on Westeros. The Khals remind her that she killed her husband and baby by putting her faith in a Witch. Dany tells them that they are small minded men, unfit to lead the Dothraki, they ask her who would be strong enough to lead, and she suggests herself.
All the Khal's laugh at her, to them a woman couldn't possibly lead a Khalasar nevermind unite all the Dothraki behind them, oh how close minded these men are. She is threatened with a lot of rape, as well as a lot of horse rape, but Dany is not backing down. Khal Moro (Joe Naufahu) calls her crazy and the rest of the Khal's tell her that they will not follow her. Dany tells them instead they will all die, and she places her hand on the brazier.
Daenerys then throws the brazier to the ground engulfing the area around it, she slowly watches as the Khal's either scramble from the flame or be engulfed by it. She then tips the next brazier watching and smirking as they run for the door. She lets the next one go as the Khals try desperately to open a barricaded door, when they finally realise that they are trapped she lets the last brazier fall, killing every single Khal.
Everyone in the city is outside gasping and probably wondering who now could possibly lead them. As they stare into the flame a figure appears, the crowd gasps as no one could have actually survived a blaze like this. It's Daenerys, her clothes have been burnt off, and she emerges from the temple naked. The stunned crowd then kneel in front of her, Jorah looks on stunned for a second time, he kneels alongside a very stunned Daario who actually looks like he is praying. The Dothraki have a new leader.
The Unburnt!
Thoughts and Predictions
I really liked the themes this episode, obviously it's always great to see a reunion, but it was also great to see the woman in this episode standing up and readying themselves for a big fight. Sansa wants the Boltons to pay, Margaery won't give into The Faith's twisted games, Cersei wants to kill the High Sparrow, Yara was fighting for her right to rule, and Dany just completely decimating the Dothraki chain of command in one fell swoop. It really didn't bother me that they made Daenerys immune to fire even though in the books the whole emerging from a funeral pyre was a one time thing.
I am looking forward to the next episode, very much hoping for some more hints about the Gravedigger Theory, I would like to see if Cersei is actually using the Tyrells as a pawn in her sick twisted game, seeing Dany uniting the entire Dothraki behind her and I am looking forward to seeing the Kingsmoot on screen. It looks like Sansa and Littlefinger will be reconnecting in the next episode, I really hope she doesn't instantly forgive him, I mean he has been behind everything and Sansa really needs to stop being a pawn in his little game for total domination.
What are you all looking forward to seeing this upcoming season? I can't believe we are almost halfway through, this is my very favorite time of the year because my head gets filled with a million theories and I should have more in the coming weeks including, who is in tower and who wrote the pink letter. If you would like to check out any of my other insane theories then please feel free to read my posts below.
Game of Thrones, Oathbreaker - http://mcqsviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/game-of-thrones-oathbreaker.html
Game of Thrones, The Red Woman - http://mcqsviews.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/game-of-thrones-red-woman.html
Pictures Courtesy of HBO
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