This blog is published after Game of Thrones first airs on Showcase, Monday at 11am AEST (Encore 7.30pm AEST) and contains spoilers.
Think you know GOT? You know nothing! Is everyone dead? Is anyone really dead? Join us as we recap the finale while charting the ever-declining familiarity between A Song of Ice and Fire and the hit TV series, Game of Thrones.
Stannis is Done
The march on Winterfell has not been kind to the last Baratheon, and by the time it is all over, even Stannis looks relieved and ready to embrace death. Despite sacrificing his own daughter and receiving a blessing from the Lord of Light via Melisandre, nothing works out for Stannis.
His wife Selyse hangs herself and half the army deserts the camp during the night. Finally, even Melisandre flees, and by the time Stannis reaches his destination, his force is little more than a fly for the Bolton’s to swat.
Surround by bodies and wounded himself, Stannis sits groaning and thoroughly defeated. Brienne appears to extract a confession from Stannis for the murder of his brother Renly, which Stannis offers without complaint. Brienne has remained loyal to Renly and sentences Stannis to death – he is well and truly done. Then again, we don’t actually see the killing blow…
Sansa’s Escape
Sansa’s been short on rescuers so far, but circumstance has at least kept her options open. With Ramsey away putting the final touches of their annihilation of Stannis’s army, Sansa takes her opportunity to escape and lights her candle to sign Brienne.
Brienne misses the signal and Ramsey’s maniacal hunting buddy Myranda almost foils the escape plan, but when she nearly shoots Sansa in the privates, it becomes all too much for the nearby Theon/Reek. He snaps and hurls Myranda off the rampart resulting in a quick but visceral death.
You know it’s a rough episode when jumping off a castle wall into injury, death or possible recapture is one of the best things to happen, but this is a Game of Thrones finale after all. Theon/Reek and Sansa join hands and leap off into the unknown.
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: We’re definitely stepping beyond the books here. In A Feast for Crows Stannis and his army are yet to reach Winterfell and we only find out where they are because of Theon/Reek’s escape from Winterfell with Jeyne Poole ( Which occurs much the same way in the show, except with Sansa rather than Jeyne. The character of Myranda is not in the books and neither is her satisfying splattery-death-by-Theon). Brienne was last seen still searching for Sansa and meeting with Jaime in A Dance With Dragons, so we have no idea whether the books will follow the shows lead at this point and bring Brienne, Sansa, Theon and Stannis together at Winterfell. We have heard that it was GRRM himself who suggested Stannis be the one to sacrifice his own daughter in the show, which leads us to believe he will tread a similar path in the books and likely face judgement at the hands of Brienne. ]
Jaime and Myrcella
Just when you think Elliara has spent the bulk of her discontent, there she is giving a long, poisoned kiss to Myrcella Lannister right before they set off back to King’s Landing. If you can’t trust the leader of the sand snakes for a kiss goodbye, who can you trust!
Jaime remains unaware for a time, and we’re treated to an awkward moment where Myrcella acknowledges and accepts Jaime as her father. This is a pretty uncomfortable green light to the Jaime and Cersei’s incest, but Jaime is very happy. For a few minutes at least.
Myrcella has a nose bleed and then collapses, obviously poisoned. Back on the shore Elliara wipes her lips and downs a bottle of what we can assume is antidote.
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: The whole Dornish subplot has deviated almost completely from the books, with Jaime and Bronn going to Dorne personally and the Sand Snakes extensive plotting to kidnap Myrcella and force Doran Martell into war with The Iron Throne as vengeance for Oberyn’s death replaced by a quick and humiliating fight. But as a book reader I was not surprised when Myrcella is poisoned by Ellaria. It re-establishes the Sand Snakes as a genuine force and implies that their plan to incite a war may yet still occur. That all said, Myrcella is still alive, albiet missing an ear and scarred, in the books following Doran’s prevention of the Sand Snakes plot. I was really expecting Bronn to die in place of Myrcella’s bodyguard Arys Oakheart, though that may still happen next season … And it remains to be seen if as a result Trystane will still serve as a replacement on the Small Council in the show instead of Nymeria. Though given that Tyene Sand seems to have been given the lion’s share of screen time, it would seem likely she may be the character the show uses if a Sand Snake does end up in Kings Landing. It’s also worth noting that with the complete absence of Princess Arianne and Quentyn so far it seems unlikely that Doran’s collaboration with Varys and his plan to bring Dany to the Iron Throne will be used and Dorne will serve mostly as a further player in the fights over the Iron Throne. ]
Cersei’s Attonement
Cersei will not be happy, but for the meanwhile she is pre-occupied with the Sparrows. After a long stint in captivity, she finally confesses and is able to return to the Red Keep. However, she must walk back up the hill and through the town naked to atone for her sins, which is a long, disturbing spectacle.
While she makes it back to the keep, most of the council is there to see her naked, crying and for now a shell of her former terror-inspiring self. A rather mountainous knight is waiting to scoop her up, and we’re led to assume that this is a reanimated corpse (You may remember Qyburn was experimenting earlier in the season, so it appears he has had some success).
Cersei is going to be very, very angry next season.
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: Cersei’s walk of atonement and shame is pretty faithful to the events of A Dance With Dragons, with the only real difference that Qyburn’s mysterious giant knight saves Cersei from the mob outside the gates of the Red Keep, and is also introduced as “Ser Robert Strong”. The show has made it much more obvious that this giant is the resurrected corpse of The Mountain than it is in the books as well, with several scenes of Qyburn’s lab and references to his “work”. As we’ve said before though, there is a vast amount of Cersei seducing and manipulating various characters in the lead up to her imprisonment, that makes her humilation much more “deserved” than it would otherwise appear in the show. ]
Do Not Not Pass Go, Do Not Collect $200
After last week’s attack from the Sons of the Harpy, Tyrion, Jorah, Daario and a few others from Daenery’s council make a plan to deal with the fallout in Meereen. Grey Worm and Tyrion will stay behind to run the city while Jorah and Daario track down their queen.
Drogon the dragon saved Dany, but now is injured and exhausted and we have no idea where they have landed. This is soon cleared up after the arrival of thousands of Dothraki who begin circling Dany in a visually impressive swirl of mounted warriors. After a long journey, Daenerys has returned to the original land of her exile.
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: Daenerys’s fate is faithful to the end of A Dance With Dragons, though the landscape where Drogon lands is described much more as a vast grassland- and is obviously the Dothraki Sea. The Dothraki who surround also introduce themselves, which they do not in the show. However the events in Meereen are quite different to the books. In the books, Meereen is being marched upon by numerous armies from other Slaver cities at this point, and Tyrion and Jorah are in those armies, not within the city. The sections after Dany departs with Drogon are from the POV of Barristen Selmy, who is now dead in the show, so it makes sense these events will likely occur next season with Tyrion, Missendei and Grey Worm instead of Ser Barristen and the Shavepate. As a result, Jorah and Daario’s quest to find Dany has not happened in the books. The other notable departure from the books is Varys’ presence in Meereen. In the books he is still in King’s Landing, not having joined Tyrion in the journey to Pentos. This is important because Varys is responsible for the murder of Kevan Lannister, who is acting as King’s Hand for Tommen following Cersei’s imprisonment. ]
Arya is not No One
In another rare ‘win’, we see Arya take her revenge on the paedophile Meryn Trant. Meryn is about to start a new night’s torment with three girls, but Arya uses the wiles of the many-faced god to trick Meryn and eventually stab him in the eye (and then repeatedly everywhere else). She eventually cuts his throat.
As we all knew, Arya is not yet ready to be a ‘no one’ and while understandable, she must know by now that death is a gift to the Many Faced God and Arya has stolen that gift. Jaqen punishes her by threatening her with poison, then drinking it himself, then reappearing and showing Arya her own dead body. He explains that to ‘someone’ the masks of the Many Faced God are like poison and Arya appears to go blind.
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: Arya’s story has reached roughly the same point as the books, but taken a significantly new detour in the show. In A Feast for Crows she is turned blind after forgetting she is “no-one” and drinking milk meant for Arya. However she later regains her sight after learning several lessons while blind and is then tasked with her first kill- the loanshark. A Dance With Dragons leaves her after she passes this test and is admitted as an acolyte of the House of Black and White. The show has reversed the sequence of these events and inserted Arya failing to kill the loanshark because she has the chance to kill Meryn Trant-an event which has not happened in the books. ]
RIP Jon Snow
Is Jon Snow really dead? Yes, it sure looks like it. Jon’s decision to rescue the wildings has proven to be his downfall, and with his last trusted ally Sam sent away for master training, his brothers in the Night’s Watch strike. Led by the snivelling Ser Alliser, everyone takes turns stabbing Jon around a cross marked ‘traitor’. Even his former servant Olly plunges a dagger into Jon despite his pleading, teary eyes.
Of course, Melisandre is still lurking around and in need of redemption and re-animated corpses are on the table. For now though, the Lord Commander position is open (experience fighting the undead will be strongly considered).
[Book Comparison - highlight to reveal: Sam’s rather sudden request for permission to go to the Citadel to train as a Maester, and him leaving with Gilly and her baby are hurried sidesteps to catch up with the books. In the books, Sam, Gilly, and what is actually Mance Rayder’s baby, are are actively sent, along with Maester Aemon on a boat to the Citadel by Jon, and much of their story is actually their journey to Oldtown where the Citadel is. Maester Aemon dies on this trip rather than at Castle Black and Sam has a run in with Arya Stark when they stopover in Braavos on the way. Elements of this may still happen next season though. Jon’s story has caught up with the books and, as with the cliffhanger in A Dance With Dragons, Jon is betrayed and stabbed by members of the Night’s Watch. Though we are still technically as much in dark to his fate as the show watchers, the show seems to have tipped its hand moreso than the books, by having the Red Priestess Melisandre arrive at Castle Black after deserting Stannis. And as we know, the Red Priests do have the power to bring people back from the dead … In the books, Melisandre is still with Stannis, so perhaps things will play out differently in The Winds of Winter! ]
