Game of Thrones Season 7 Episode 7: The Dragon and The Wolf
The last episode of the season! Let's GO!
We open with the Unsullied, standing in position outside King's Landing. Jaime Lannister watches from the walls, while Bronn patrols. They're preparing pitch to use in case of a siege. They have 500 barrels, but Bronn wants them to get 500 more.
Meanwhile, everyone on Team Dany (except Dany herself) is on a ship, sailing towards King's Landing. Jon's looking better. I guess Jon and Davos stopped off in Dragonstone on their way to the capital. For once, that actually makes geographical sense.
Jon asks how many people live in King's Landing. A million, Tyrion tells him, give or take. "That's more people than the entire north," Jon notes, "crammed into that. Why would anyone want to live that way?"
As an English Northerner, I can confirm -- this is exactly what we sound like when we visit London.
The Hound climbs below deck with a lantern. He peers at one of the crates, and then knocks on it, and whatever is inside it FREAKS OUT. I guess they finally put their wight in a cage.
Back in King's Landing proper, Cersei wonders why Daenerys isn't with the others. Qyburn doesn't know. No one has seen her. But the rest of them are on their way to the Dragon Pit now, including Tyrion.
Cersei turns to the Mountain. If anything goes wrong, she tells him, kill Dany first, then Tyrion, and then Jon. "The rest of them you can kill in any order you see fit."
As Team Dany approach, Missandei asks why the dragon pits were built, and Ser Jorah points out that dragons don't know the difference between wild animals, lifestock, and children.
The two groups approach one another -- Team Dany and Team Cersei -- with Tyrion leading one, and Bronn leading the other. "Welcome, m'lords," Bronn says, and since when was he willing to be a herald? The Dothraki glower at him. He says their friends arrived before they did, and gestures at Brienne. The Hound and Brienne lock eyes, and oh yeah, didn't she kill him, several seasons ago?
The Hound pulls level with Brienne as they follow their hosts towards the dragon pit. She says she thought he was dead. "Not yet," he says. "You came pretty close." Brienne says she was only trying to protect Arya. "You and me both," the Hound says.
Brienne tells him that Arya is alive in Winterfell. The only one who needs protecting now is anyone who gets in her way.
Tyrion reminds Bronn that he'll pay him double whatever the Lannisters are. After Bronn gives a speech about how he totally sold out Tyrion for money and would do it again, Tyrion is like, "It's good to see you again." "Yeah, you too," Bronn mumbles. Aww.
There's a whole lot of marching going on here. But finally, they stop. The Hound tells the Lannister men that if anyone touches that creepy mysterious box, he'll make sure they're the first to die.
Now you've done it, saying something like that. Someone HAS to open it early now.
Into the dragon pit! It's pretty cool looking. Google tells me this is a ruined amphitheatre in Spain, and it's an awesome setting. Doing the Game of Thrones tourist thing helped me find some amazing places to visit in Croatia, and apparently I'll have to apply that principle to more travel plans too. Bronn tells Pod to come and have a drink with him while the fancy folk talk. So Bronn definitely thinks some shit is gonna go down, and he wants Pod out of the way.
Everyone is on edge, looking around. Cersei is nowhere to be seen. But then, neither is Dany.
But then she appoaches, with Jaime... and Ser Gregor. CLEGANE BOWL! That's what the kids are calling it, right? The Hound vs the Mountain?
Brienne spots Jaime, and her face is like, 'ah, shit.' He looks at her, but he doesn't say anything.
I'd be more excited for this reunion if he wasn't so rubbish these days.
Meanwhile, Euron looks at Theon. It's a whole bunch of meaningful glances from different sides of the war, basically.
The Hound approaches Ser Gregor, who literally has red zombie eyes. I don't think the Lannisters will need much convincing about the existence of zombies with him among their ranks. "Remember me?" the Hound says. He asks what they did to him. Not that it matters. "You know who's coming for you," he says. "You've always know."
And Sandor out!
"Where is she?" Cersei asks. Dany's chair is still conspicuously empty. "She didn't travel with you?" She looks at Brienne. Brienne looks at Jaime. A bird tweets. It's all painfully awkward.
Then we hear Drogon roar, and everyone stands up to see the two dragons approach. Drogon lands right on the walls of the dragon pit and roars in a way that's totally not intimidating at all. Everyone looks at each other like, 'yup, Daenerys, showing off.' Drogon climbs down the ruined walls and lowers Dany to the ground. She steps down all sassily and walks forward as he flies off, leaving our dragon queen to face her enemies properly for the first time.
She sits down. Cersei glares at her. "We've been here for some time," she says. It is a good point. "My apologies," Dany says. Cersei just glares. There's a lot of glaring. A lot of people are looking at each other. Awkward silences for days.
Tyrion decides to break the tension. He stands. "We're all facing unique--" But Euron interrupts him. "Theon!" he shouts. "I have your sister. If you don't submit to me, here, now, I'll kill her." Tyrion looks at Jaime like wtf, and Jaime expression just says hell if I know.
Tyrion says they need to start with larger concerns. "Then why are we starting with you?" Euron asks. Because Tyrion is short, he adds, just in case he didn't get it. Tyrion sighs. "He explained it at the end," he notes. "Never explain it, it always ruins it."
Cersei and Jaime tell Euron to sit down. People continue to look at each other awkwardly.
"We are a group of people who do not like one another," Tyrion begins again. “We have suffered at each other’s hands. We have lost people we love at each other’s hands. If all we wanted was more of the same, there’d be no need for this gathering.” Cersei asks why they are here, then, and Jon stands up.
"This isn't about living in harmony," he says. "It's just about living." The same thing is coming for all of them. "Lord Tyrion tells me a million people live in this city. They're about to become a million more soldiers for the army of the dead."
Look, Jon. You've had plenty of time to practice this now. Don't open with the whole 'army of the dead' thing. Work up to it. Give them a bit of explanation. I'm not sure it's the attention-grabbing mike drop you think it is.
Also, seriously, Jon, why are you still wearing your Night's Watch furs? You're in KING'S LANDING. You won't feel the benefit when you go back North if you keep wearing them, you know.
Cersei says this is all a bad joke. All they want is a truce? "Pull back my armies and stand down while you go on your monster hunt, until you return and march on my capital with four times the men?" Dany promises that 'her capital' will be safe, and honestly, that sounds like some sort of trickery based on a technicality, since Dany does't think King's Landing is Cersei's, does she?
Tyrion interrupts them. There's no conversation that can erase the last 50 years. 50? Jaime and Cersei are like 40 years old, MAXIMUM. By the show's timeline, and how old they seem to want Jon and Dany and the other younglings to be, it seems like Robert's Rebellion ended maybe 22 years ago. Where did this 50 come from?
Either way, Tyrion has something to show them. The Hound carries the crate out, and that wight is going to be really cranky, because the crate isn't very big. The Hound is very business-like as he undoes all the chains and locks, takes off the lid, and then stands back.
Nothing happens.
I guess the wight is having a nap.
Everyone waits. Cersei looks bored. We zoom in on the crate, and the Hound kicks it. That sets it off. The zombie bursts out, shrieking, and now Cersei reacts, especially as it runs right for her. It almost reaches her, but the chain around its neck keeps it just out of reach.
The Hound yanks it back. He cuts it in half with his sword, but both halves keep moving and fighting. It crawls towards the Hound, and Cersei looks like she's going to be sick. The Hound cuts off its arm next, but it's still moving.
Qyburn approaches and picks up the still-moving hand. Don't let him run off with that, for god's sake.
Jon takes the hand off him and sets it on fire. "We can destroy them by burning them," he says, "and we can destroy them with dragonglass. If we don't win this fight, then this is the fate of every person in the world."
See, this is what I meant, Jon. This is convincing.
Jon stabs the wight with dragonglass, and it finally dies. He forgot to mention Valyrian steel, but still. It was a pretty good show. "There's only one war that matters," he says to Cersei. "The Great War. And it is here."
Cersei stares at him, looking genuinely freaked out.
"I didn't believe it until I saw them," Dany says. "I saw them all." Jaime asks her how many. "A hundred thousand at least," she says. Dany, there were not 100,000 zombies around that lake. Still, Jaime looks pretty horrified.
Now Euron steps forward and looks at the zombie. He touches its hair. "Can they swim?" he asks. "No," Jon says, and OK, I'll pull back some of my mockery of last week's debacle. We do have evidence that they cannot swim now, so, fine. I retract my criticism of that part. But only that part.
"Good," Euron says. "I'm taking the Iron Fleet back to the Iron Islands." He's been around the world, he's seen everything there is to see, but this is the only thing he's ever seen that terrifies him. And when the man who takes nothing seriously is freaking out, you know things are looking bad.
He approaches Dany. "I'm going back to my island," he says. "You should go back to yours. When winter's over, we'll be the only ones left." And then he swaggers away.
"He's right to be afraid," Cersei says, all diplomatic-sounding, which has got to be bad news. "And a coward to run. If those things come for us, there'll be no kingdoms to rule." She sounds genuinely concerned, which seems like another, even bigger red flag. Cersei has never been rational in seven whole seasons of knowing her. "The crown accepts your truce," she says. "Until the dead are defeated, they are the true enemy."
Jon sighs like oh thank god. Sweet summer child. Then Cersei continues. "In return, the King in the North will extend this truce. He will remain in the North, where he belongs. He will not take up arms against the Lannisters. He will not take sides." I thought she was going to ask for his head. This is definitely a trick. They must know it's a trick. No way would Cersei let him keep one of the seven kingdoms that easily.
"Just the King in the North?" Dany asks. "Not me?"
Cersei laughs. "I would never ask it of you," she says. "You would never agree to it, and if you did, I would trust you even less than I do now. I ask it only of Ned Stark's son." Oh, and hey, there's that really specific wording again. Cersei looks at Jon with the challenge, and he looks around awkwardly, like someone else will help him.
"I am true to my word," he says. "Or I try to be. That is why I cannot give you what you ask. I cannot serve two queens." Cersei glances between him and Dany. "And I've already pledged myself to Queen Daenerys of House Targaryen."
Jon, she literally didn't even ask you to serve her. She just asked you to be King in the North and stay out of it. What are you doing?
The music turns all serious, and Dany looks like, ohhhh, so THESE are those consequence things I've heard about.
"Then there is nothing left to discuss," Cersei says. She stands. "The dead will come North first. Enjoy dealing with them. We will deal with whatever is left of you."
Way to go, Jon.
Brienne hurries after Jaime as he follows his queen. "Ser Jaime!" she shouts, and OK. OK. I've spent seasons saying how I don't ship them in the show, how it's not the same as in the books, blah blah blah, but my heart just skipped a little bit in excitement when I heard that. OTP!
"It's good to see you, my lady," Jaime says. "I imagine the next time will be across a battlefield."
"We both saw what just happened," she says. "We both saw that thing." Jaime agrees, but he says he is loyal to the queen, while she is loyal to Sansa and her brother.
"Oh, fuck loyalty!" Brienne says, and YES! This is basically the journey Brienne is on with Jaime in the books, only... truncated, and less nuanced. And less good. My heart is like IT'S HAPPENNINNNGGGG.
Shut up, heart. Book Jaime and Brienne are two of my favourite characters. These are different people.
But my shippy heart isn't listening.
"Fuck loyalty?" Jaime repeats, incredulous. Brienne tells him this goes beyond houses and honor and oaths. He needs to talk to the queen.
"And tell her what?" he asks, and leaves.
Goddammit, Jaime. You had a chance. You had a moment. You could have redeemed yourself. I would have forgiven you like four seasons worth of nonsense if you'd played into my shippy hopes. Alas, it was not to be.
"I wish you hadn't done that," Davos says to Jon, and Jon sighs. But HONOR, guys! Dany stands up and walks over to him. "I'm grateful for your loyalty," she says, in a way that really means you are an idiot. "But my dragon died so we could be here. If it's all for nothing, he died for nothing."
Tyrion says he's pleased Jon bent the knee to Daenerys, but couldn't he have lied? Just a bit? He's furious, and Jon whirls around, like LIE??? "I'm not going to swear an oath I can't uphold," he says.
And this kind of takes any tension out of the possibility of Jon taking Dany's throne, right? He's sworn fealty to her, Dany knows he keeps his oaths even when it's idiotic, so... that's the end of that, before it even begins.
He says that lies won't help them in this fight, and Tyrion agrees. "The more immediate problem is that we're fucked." God, Tyrion is so sick of these younglings, messing up his careful plans. The only way to fix things, he says, is if he goes to talk to his sister.
That doesn't really seem like it would help.
Tyron walks through the Red Keep like a doomed man, with Ser Gregor behind him. He spots Jaime, standing outside Cersei's room. Jaime says Cersei kicked him out. "She thinks I was an idiot to trust you." I mean, it's not like Dany attacked her. They came in good faith; Jon is just a dumbass. "A lot of people seem to think that, actually," he adds. Sorry, Jaime. It's true. You couldn't even do shipping right.
Tyrion says that he's the idiot, and Jaime says they should say goodbye, one idiot to another. Then he steps back to let Tyrion pass. That's... not really a goodbye, Jaime. Once Tyrion is gone, Jaime looks sad, like he's suddenly realised that maybe he should have said something more, and maybe he is an idiot.
Cersei sits at her desk as Tyrion approaches. "I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose," she says. "She's your kind of woman. A foreign whore who doesn't know her place."
"A foreign whore you can't abduct, beat or intimidate," Tyrion respond. "That must be difficult for you."
Cersei calls Jon Dany's pet northerner, and says that the two of them are working towards the same goal Tyrion has pursued his whole life -- destroying their family.
Tyrion insists he didn't know about Jon's whole loyalty thing. Daenerys wanted to bring fire and blood to the capital, and he advised her otherwise. He's never wanted to destroy their family.
"You killed our father," Cersei says. Tyrion points out their father sentenced him to death for a crime he didn't commit, and that he still hates himself for it, in spite of all that.
But Cersei says he left the family open to the vultures. Tyrion is the reason that Myrcella and Tommen died. No one would have touched them if Tywin was there. The two of them start talking over one another, as Tyrion says he's sorry about the children, and she says she won't hear it, not from him.
"Alright," Tyrion says. "You love your family, and I have destroyed it. I will always be a threat. So put at end to me." Cersei looks at Ser Gregor. "If it weren't for me, you'd have a mother. If it weren't for me, you'd have a father. If it weren't for me, you'd have two beautiful children."
What is Tyrion doing?
He screams at Cersei to say it. Kill him. Ser Gregor pulls out his sword. But Cersei doesn't say anything. She looks away, and Tyrion goes for a drink. Wine is definitely needed after that confrontation. He downs a cup in one gulp, and then pours another and slowly offers it to her.
"I'm more sorry about the children than you could ever know," he says. Cersei starts to protest, but he won't let her. "I loved them," he says. "You know I did." He pours himself more wine. Cersei says it doesn't matter. His feelings don't matter. She doesn't care why he did what he did. She only cares what it cost them.
She asks Tyrion why he wants everyone to bend the knee to Dany, and he tells her he thinks she will make the world a better place.
The dragon fire, Tyrion. REMEMBER THE DRAGON FIRE.
He tells Cersei that Dany knows herself. "She chose an advisor who would check her worst impulses instead of feeding them. That's the difference between her and you." I mean... did she, Tyrion? Was that truly her intention?
Cersei says she doesn't care about making the world a better place. She clutches her stomach as she speaks, and come on, Tyrion. You're not stupid. Cersei does nothing accidentally. "That thing you dragged here," she says. "I know what it is. I know what it means. And when it came at me, I didn’t think about the world. Not at all. All I could think about was keeping those gnashing teeth away from the ones who matter most, away from my family.” Maybe Euron is right, she says. Get on a boat, take those who matter…
"You're pregnant," Tyrion says. Like that wasn't exactly what she wanted him to notice.
Back at the dragon pits, Jon is considering a tiny dragon skull in his hand. Dany comes over to join him.
"No one's less happy about this than I am," Jon says. I'm not sure that's true, Jon. Dany tells him she respects what he did. I guess she has been around betrayal for her whole life. She needs someone around who makes her feel like she can truly trust their word. "I wish you hadn't done it," she adds, "but I respect it."
She steps closer and takes the skull from his hand. "This place was the beginning of the end for my family," she says. A dragon is not a slave. “They were terrifying. Extraordinary. They filled people with wonder and awe, and we locked them in here. They wasted away.”
I mean, they did also eat babies, Dany. That part is important too.
"We weren't extraordinary without them," she adds. "We were just like everyone else."
"You're not like everyone else," Jon says. He steps closer. They're in a little nook with her back to the wall, and if this was a Korean drama, he would definitely be about to put his hand against the wall by her head in a dramatic shippy moment. But this isn't a K-drama, and Jon's not a jerk, so he doesn't. "Your family hasn't seen its end," he says. "You're still here."
"I can't have children," she says. He asks her who told her that, and when she says it was the witch who murdered her husband, he smiles. "Has it occurred to you she might not have been a reliable source of information?" Dany laughs a little, smiling.
"You were right from the beginning," she says. "If I trusted you, everything would be different."
Goddammit, show, don't make me ship it.
We zoom in on them, framed by the wall. I may have been watching a lot of Korean drama recently, but I swear, this is a total K-drama romantic moment. "So what now?" Jon asks. She smiles a little and shakes her head. She can't forget what she saw, but she can't pretend Cersei won't take back half the country as soon as she leaves.
"It appears Tyrion's assessment was correct," Jon says. "We're fucked."
I mean, you still have TWO dragons. The Lannisters are really not a problem.
In fact, I think that's a major problem with that Drogon vs the Lannisters sequence in episode 4. It was one of the best scenes in the show's history, for sure. But the Lannisters were so utterly overpowered that it makes this hesitation now feel a little pointless. The Lannisters can do whatever they like. Dany has two dragons, the Dothraki and the Unsullied, and she will crush Cersei again as soon as she tries. She could crush her with Drogon alone.
Dany and Jon smile sadly at each other, and then hear Tyrion returning. Cersei is with him, with her guards. She climbs the steps and comes to join them. "My armies will not stand down," she says. "I will not pull them back to the capital. I will march them north to fight alongside you in the Great War."
I still don't believe her.
"The darkness is coming for us all," she says. "We will face it together. And when the Great War is over, perhaps you'll remember I chose to help with no promises or assurances from any of you. I expect not."
I 100% don't trust this, and neither should they. Especially Tyrion. It's Cersei, for god's sake.
Finally, it's time to head north! We see a raven flying through the snow, and then Littlefinger, pestering Sansa, as he always is. "It's not easy for ravens to fly in these storms," he says. Perhaps Jon tried to send word to her earlier. But Sansa doesn't believe that. Jon has always been this way. She sounds really pissed at him. "He's never asked for my opinion. Why would he start now?"
"I can't believe he would surrender the North without consulting you," Littlefinger says. But Sansa says it's his writing on the letter. Jon has pledged to fight for Daenerys Targaryen.
Littlefinger says he's heard gossip. "The dragon queen is quite beautiful." Jon is young and unmarried. Daenerys is young and unmarried...
"You think he wants to MARRY her?" Sansa asks. Littlefinger says that an alliance makes sense. But if Sansa doesn't like it... well. Jon could always be unnamed King in the North. But Sansa disagrees. Even if she wanted to, which she doesn't, Arya wouldn't agree. "She always loved Jon far more than she loved me, and she would kill anyone who betrayed her family." Littlefinger points out that Sansa is her family too. Would Arya really murder her own sister?
"Do you know what she is now?" Sansa asks. "Do you know what the Faceless Men are?" She says Arya was one of them.
Littlefinger steps forward. "Sometimes, when I try to understand someone's motives, I play a little game."
And I FREAK OUT. Is this Arya?? Did she murder Littlefinger and steal his face??? Is this her reveal?
Nope. "I assume the worst," Littlefinger continues. "What’s the worst reason they could possibly have for saying what they say and doing what they do? Then I ask myself, how well does that reason explain what they say and what they do? So tell me. What’s the worst thing she could want?"
Sansa thinks. "She could want me dead, because she thinks I wronged her family." Littlefinger prompts her. Arya came to Winterfell to kill her. She found the letter as proof of Sansa's betrayal. And after Sansa is dead, Arya would become Lady of Winterfell.
Except that Arya would HATE being Lady of Winterfell. Hopefully, this is what tips Sansa off that something isn't quite right here.
Back at Dragonstone, Team Dany are having a strategy meeting. It's kind of funny to have them plotting the logistics of moving an army, after all the teleporting that's been going on this season.
Ser Jorah suggests that Dany should fly to Winterfell. Her silver hair is too much of a giveaway if she travels by land and sea. Jon says it's her decision, but if they're going to be allies, then it's important for the Northerners to see them that way. Sailing to White Harbor together sends a better message.
Dany says she's not come to conquer the North. She's come to save the North. And ugh, I hate when she makes speeches like this. "We sail together," she says.
Jorah looks at Jon and grits his teeth. He knows what's up.
After the meeting, Theon runs after Jon and asks to speak with him. Jon could have lied to Cersei, he says, but he didn't. He risked everything to tell the enemy the truth. Theon says Jon has always known what was right, even when they were young and stupid. "Every step you take, it's always the right step."
This is like when you meet a highschool or college friend after a few years, and decide that they did EVERYTHING right in their life, while you are a hot mess who did EVERYTHING wrong. But, you know, the Westeros version.
Jon disagrees. He's done plenty of things he regrets. "Not compared to me, you haven't," Theon says, and Jon agrees. Theon always wanted to do the right thing, but he never knew what that meant. It always seemed like there was an impossible choice -- Stark or Greyjoy.
Jon strides up to him. "Our father was more of a father to you than yours ever was, and you betrayed him." Theon agrees. "But you never lost him," Jon says. "He's a part of you, just like he's a part of me." Jon says it's not his place to forgive all the things Theon has done, but he forgives him for what he can. Theon doesn't need to choose, he says. He's a Greyjoy AND a Stark.
Somehow, I feel like this idea will become important to Jon pretty soon.
Theon says that Yara tried to save him from Ramsey. She was the only one who tried. "She needs me now," he says.
"So why are you still talking to me?" Jon asks.
On the beach, Theon's men are loading up their boats. Theon approaches them. Time for an inspiring speech! They all chose to follow Yara, he says, and she would never leave one of them behind. But they're not leaving her behind, they insist. She's dead. Theon's a coward, and he left her to die. They're going to sail east, and save their own skins.
When Theon protests, the leader of his men spits in his face. "Run away, little Theon," he says. "It's what you do best." Then he punches Theon right in the face. And Theon fights back. He gets beaten and bloodied, but he doesn't give up. "Stay down," the man says, "or I'll kill you." Theon stands up, and gets knocked down again. "I said stay down or I'll kill you," the man repeats. And Theon gets up again. He smashes the guy's face in with a rock.
Guess he proved his point. "For Yara!" he shouts. And the men cheer with him.
Back in Winterfell, it's snowing. Sansa is wearing a pretty hood and staring out into the snow. She closes her eyes, thinking, and then walks away. "Have my sister brought to the great hall," she says.
There, she and Bran wait behind the high table, while Arya is brought in. She looks around at the lords as the doors are closed behind her.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" Arya asks. Sansa says it's not what she wants. It's what honor demands. She has to defend her family from those that would harm them, and defend the North from those who would betray it.
"All right, then," Arya says. "Get on with it."
"You stand accused of murder," Sansa says. "You stand accused of treason. How do you answer these charges... Lord Baelish?"
Arya turns to Littlefinger, smiling. "My sister asked you a question," she says. She looks so pleased with herself right now.
"Lady Sansa, forgive me," he says, at twice the normal speed of speech. "I'm a bit confused."
"Which charges confuse you?" she asks. "Let’s start with the simplest one. You murdered our aunt, Lysa Arryn. You pushed her through the moon door and watched her fall. Do you deny it?"
He says he did it protect her, but Sansa disagrees. He did it to take power in the Vale. She then accuses him of conspiring with Lysa to murder Jon Arryn. Littlefinger says that her aunt was a troubled woman. She imagined enemies everything. But again, Sansa will not relent. "You had Aunt Lysa send a letter to our parents telling them it was the Lannisters who murdered Jon Arryn, when really it was you. The conflict between the Starks and the Lannisters... it was you who started it. Do you deny it?"
He says he knows of no such letter, but she's only just getting started. She says he conspired with Cersei and Joffrey to betray Ned Stark. "Do you deny it?" she says forcefully.
"I deny it!" he finally says. He walks to the centre of the room. No one else was there, he says. No one saw what happened.
So of course Bran pipes up. "You held a knife to his throat," he says. "You said, I did warn you not trust me." For a moment, Littlefinger's panic seems to vanish. He frowns at Bran, like he's a brand new puzzle he's trying to decode.
Now Arya chimes in. Littlefinger told Catelyn that the knife used to attack Bran was Tyrions, but that was a lie too. It was his.
I mean, it wasn't, Arya, but I guess the show never confirmed it was Joffrey's? And Joffrey's long dead. The moment is more dramatic this way.
Littlefinger goes up to Sansa and starts to beg. He's known her since she was a girl. He protected her. "Protected me?" she asks. "By selling me to the Boltons?" He asks to speak to her alone. He could explain everything.
"Sometimes," she says, "when I’m trying to understand a person’s motives, I play a little game. What’s the worst reason you have for turning me against my sister?” she wonders. “That’s what you do, isn’t it? Turn family against family, turn sister against sister.” He did it to their mother and aunt Lysa, and he tried to do it to them as well. "I'm a slow learner, it's true," she says. "But I learn."
YES, SANSA. I knew you were always my favorite for a reason.
Littlefinger says he deserves a chance to defend himself, and Sansa sits back without a word. Littlefinger marches over to his men. He's Lord Protector, he says, so they have to escort him back to the Vale. They disagree. Now Littlefinger drops to his knees, begging Sansa again. He loved Catelyn since he was a boy. And yet, she says, he betrayed her. "I loved you," he adds. "More than anyone."
That's not helping your case, Littlefinger.
"Thank you for your many lessons, Lord Baelish," she says. "I will never forget them." Arya strides forward. "Sansa--" Littlefinger says, just before Arya stabs him in the throat. He gurgles and collapses.
Sansa stares at his body on the stone. FINALLY!
Back in King's Landing, and again, suddenly, logistics have become a thing. Jaime says they'll march north in three days, but the men insist it'll take a fortnight to gather supplies. "If the North falls, we fall," he says. "Three days." Cersei approaches and interrupts them, but Jaime protests. He was busy preparing the expedition north.
"The expedition north?" she asks. "I always knew you were the stupidest Lannister. The Starks and the Targaryens have united against us, and you want to fight alongside them? Are you a traitor, or an idiot?" Unlike Jon, Cersei will say whatever she needs to say to ensure the survival of their family, including lying about helping them fight the White Walkers.
But this, this, finally, is what pushes Jaime too far. "You saw it with your own two eyes!" he says. "You saw a dead man trying to kill us!" But Cersei says she also saw it burn. If dragons can't stop them, their armies won't make a difference anyway.
And I hate to admit it, but that is a fair point.
Cersei says she intends to stay among the living. The Stark boy and his new queen can defend the North, and she'll stay here, where she's always been.
I mean, you haven't always been here, Cersei. You were much happier when you weren't there. But OK.
Jaime says he made a promise. Their child won't be born if the dead come south. But Cersei says they should let the monsters kill one another. They can battle in the North, while the Lannisters take back the lands that belong to them.
Jaime points out that SOMEONE is going to win in the North, and whoever it is, they'll come here next. But Cersei noticed that Dany only had two dragons at the pit. What happened to the third? They're vulnerable.
Even so, Jaime says they can't win. They can't even beat the Dothraki, let alone the dragons. They don't have the men or the support of the other houses. But Cersei says they have something better. They have the support of the Iron Bank. The money from Highgarden will buy them the Golden Company. 20,000 men, horses, elephants, all on their way across the Narrow Sea with Euron Greyjoy right now. "Do you really think Euron Greyjoy sailed back to the Iron Islands?" Cersei asks. "No one walks away from me."
See! I knew it was all a trick, even if Jon had agreed at that meeting.
Jaime lays it all out. Cersei plotted with Euron Greyjoy without telling him, the commander of her armies. "And you conspired with Tyrion, the man who murdered our father, without telling me, your queen." Jaime denies it, but Cersei insists. He met with him in secret. "You planned to promote my enemies' interests."
I feel the urge to snark that Cersei knows Jaime didn't do that -- he told Cersei about it as soon as he knew himself. But this is very, very book!Cersei. Her paranoia is spiralling, dragging her farther and father down.
Jaime insists that he's going to honor his pledge to ride North. Cersei says that's treason. When he tries to storm off, Ser Gregor blocks the door. "I told you," Cersei says. "No one walks away from me." Ahhhh shiiiit. It's like... three seasons too late, but finally, we're on this path.
Jaime asks if she's going to order Ser Gregor to kill him. "I'm the only one you have left," he says. "It's just me and you now." Cersei says there's one more left to come, even though I doubt Euron Greyjoy would let that kid live very long, if he had the chance.
"Give the order then," Jaime says. Cersei nods at Ser Gregor, and aw shit, that's not how I thought this would go down. Jaime shakes his head at her. "I don't believe you," he says, and he strides past Ser Gregor. Cersei runs after him for a few steps, and then stops.
We see Jaime riding off, with no red or white cloak, no Lannister armor. Finally. He looks down at his golden hand as he pulls a glove over it. A speck of snow falls onto the wool. Winter is finally here.
And he rides north.
Haunting music plays as we look at the empty dragon pits and the streets of King's Landing, the snow falling. It falls on Cersei's map of Westeros. #symbolic.
Back in Winterfell, and Sam has finally arrived. Do you think he listened to Gilly at all on the journey? He asks to see Bran.
"I wasn't sure you'd remember me," Sam says. "I remember everything," Bran says, and Sam just smiles like, 'ok, creepy, don't give away how creepy that is, yay.'
Sam asks what happened to Bran beyond the Wall. "I became the three-eyed raven," Bran tells him. "Ohhh," Sam says, wide-eyed, like he's humoring a small child who just told him he's Superman. Then: "I don't know what that means."
"I can see things that happened in the past," Bran says. "I can see things happening now, all over the world." He asks Sam why he came to Winterfell, and Sam tells him he wanted to help Jon fight the dead. Bran says Jon is on his way back to Winterfell now, with Daenerys Targaryen.
"You saw this?" Sam asks. "In a vision?" Bran holds up a letter. Ha! "Oh," Sam says.
"He needs to know the truth," Bran says. "About himself. No one knows. No one but me." I mean, you could have told anyone else over the course of this season, Bran. Like Sansa, maybe? "Jon isn't really my father's son."
WHAT. PLOT TWIST OF THE CENTURY.
And ok, that's not fair, because the clues are really subtle in the books. The fanbase just have a lot of time between releases to figure things out.
"He's the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and my aunt, Lyanna Stark," Bran continues. "He was born in a tower in Dorne. His last name isn't really Snow. It's Sand."
"It's not," Sam says, so I guess he WAS listening when Gilly was speaking.
"Dornish bastards are named Sand," Bran says, like Sam is stupid. But Sam says he transcribed a high septon's diary at the Citadel. The high septon annulled Rhaeger's marriage and wrote about it. Why would he lie? He asks Bran if this is something he can see, and then we're in Bran's vision.
We see Rhaegar and Lyanna getting married. Robert's Rebellion was built on a lie.
MEANWHILE. Jon hovers outside a door on the ship. HERE WE GO. He's hesitating, thinking. Then he knocks. Dany opens the door. They stare at one another, and then he steps into the room and closes the door.
From the end of the corridor, Tyrion stares at the closed door, looking concerned. He doesn't even know the worst part!
"Jon's real name is Aegon Targaryen," Bran says, as Dany and Jon make out. Oops. "He's the heir to the Iron Throne. He needs to know. We need to tell him." Too late, Bran. Maybe you should have sent a raven or something.
Meanwhile, Tyrion continues to stare at that door.
It's getting creepy, Tyrion. Time to move on.
Meanwhile, Sansa and Arya stand on the walls of Winterfell. "You were right," Arya says. Sansa says she believes Littlefinger did love her, in his own horrible way, but Arya says she did the right thing. "I'm just the executioner. You pass the sentence. You're the Lady of Winterfell."
Arya says she never could have survived what Sansa survived, but Sansa says she would have. She's the strongest person she knows. Arya looks up at her. "I believe that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
But the FACE, Sansa. The FACES!
"Well," Sansa says. "Don't get used to it. You'e still very strange and annoying." They look out over the walls. "When the snow falls and the white wind blows," Sansa says, "the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives." And now the pack is back together again.
"I miss him," Arya says. Sansa does too. And the camera camera pans past dying autumn leaves to Bran at the Heart Tree, in the middle of a vision. He sees the wall, where the land meets the sea, a thousand feet tall. Crows fly overhead, past Tormund and the others at Eastwatch. "It's a long way down," Beric comments.
The Wall is going to fall, isn't it? I suddenly have this feeling in my stomach. The Night King is going to crumble the Wall.
Yup. A single rider approaches from the trees, leading more shamblers behind him. And OK, I didn't think about this until I started writing this up, but the timing is so messed up again. Jon travelled down to King's Landing, had that whole meeting, sailed back to Dragonstone, had some more meetings, and then started the journey back to White Harbor and hooked up with Dany, while the Night King walked from the place where Viserion died to the Wall? Gendry ran that distance in five minutes last week.
But OK. This is still a cool moment. The White Walkers walk slowly, purposefully forward, while the Night King rides on his zombie horse.
A thousand feet of ice stands ahead of them. They march on, with their zombie giants, while the Wildlings blow their warning horn. Then the dead stop. Wait. And Viserion descends, breathing blue fire.
Shit. That's TERRIFYING.
Tormund and Beric run, as Viserion breathes fire at the wall. The men race down the steps as Viserion flies past again and again, sending spikes of ice flying. And then, the wall begins to fall. The dead stare impassively, as Viserion burns it all down.
And the Night King's army march through.
Shit.
When does Season 8 start again???