Game of Thrones/Recap/S2/E10 Valar Morghulis

*Valar Morghulis*
A story from Game of Thrones
Preceded by:	Blackwater
Followed by:	Valar Dohaeris
Central Theme:
Synopsis:
	v · d · e

Tyrion awakes somewhere in Maegor's Holdfast, bandages across his face. The first thing he sees is Grand Maester Pycelle, who is somewhat short a beard now. He yells for Podrick and has him find Bronn and/or Varys with news that he is alive--possibly a necessary precaution, considering Pycelle's gloating. The maester brings him up to speed: Stannis defeated by the new Lannister-Tyrell alliance, Lord Tywin in town, Tyrion himself demoted from Hand. And, obviously, the bandages.

Meanwhile, down in the throne room, Joffrey of house Baratheon, First of his Name, rightful king of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, confirms his grandfather as Hand and proclaims him a Big Damn Hero. (Tywin accepts this honor on horseback, for whatever reason.) Petyr Baelish his granted Harrenhal for brokering the Lannister-Tyrell alliance, and Loras Tyrell is granted a single boon, which he uses to recommend that Joffrey wed Margaery. Margaery is wearing that Absolute Cleavage dress again. Joffrey plays his gallantness card and points out he is already betrothed, and a king should keep his word, but his small council rescues him: he was affianced to Sansa before her family revealed themselves to be traitorous dogs, and the gods will not hold it against him if he sets her aside. Sansa's off the hook. She manages to keep her depressed expression on until she's escaped the crowd.

Of course, she's barely let a relieved giggle escape that Littlefinger pops up on her. He's one hell of a downer: points out that now that Joffrey is no longer marrying her, he can abuse her without restraint. As an alternative, Littlefinger offers to get her home to Winterfell, for Catelyn's sake. He has trouble meeting her eyes. Classy, Lord Baelish.

We cut to a woman dabbing makeup onto her face. It's Ros, a little haunted behind the eyes but still open for business, about to entertain a new client. It's Varys. She claims to recognize him, and yet still tries to cop a feel--Eddard Stark! When you said "everyone knows" Varys is a eunuch, were you lying to us?? In any case, Varys is here with a business proposition: he wants Ros to become his informant in Littlefinger's organization, and is fairly sure he can offer safer employment than he does.

Somewhere in the riverlands, Brienne pulls the boat up out of the Trident. Jaime stands by, snarking: "You're a virgin, I take it?" Classy, Kingslayer. He's trying to play on Brienne the same way Ygritte did to Jon, with markedly less success, but soon they are both distracted by the sight of three tavern wenches hanged from a tree. "They lay with lions," claims the sign that hangs round one's neck; in other words, this was done by northerners. "Must make you proud to serve the Starks," Jaime observes, but Brienne retorts, "I don't serve the Starks. I serve Lady Catelyn." She ties Jaime to a tree so that she can cut the women down and bury them, but voices herald three men, those responsible for the hanging. "I hope you gave them quick deaths," is all Brienne says, and they gloat and say, "Two of 'em we did." Once the questioning begins in earnest, Brienne and Jaime put on a pretty good double act and are almost able to lie their way out... but one of the three recognizes the Kingslayer. As the bandits count down, Brienne and Jaime trade glances; he leaps out of the way and she comes out slashing sword and dagger--not even her own sword and dagger, but one from each bandit. The disarmed Stark men she kills. The last one she castrates. "Two quick deaths."

Speaking of Stark men, Robb is consulting his mother on what to do with Lady Talisa now that he's done it with Lady Talisa. Catelyn thinks offending Walder Frey would be a bad idea, and points out that she and Ned did not love each other at the start of their Arranged Marriage--in fact, they barely knew each other; they built their love, gradually, over time. But all Robb can see is his love for Talisa, and he makes a (rather valid) point in reminding Cat she has no right to claim a moral high ground. In the end, he walks away without another word, both of them sick at heart.

Stannis has arrived back at Dragonstone and broods over the Painted Table, furious at Melisandre for his defeat. He tries to strangle her, but he is not so lost to honor as that. She reminds him that he is the Prince who was Promised and draws him to the flames where she has her visions. As Stannis stares, he sees them too.

Five hundred northmen, led by the still-unnamed Ramsay Snow, the Bastard of the Dreadfort, have surrounded the castle, and are blowing horns at all hours to keep the defenders awake and unnerve them. In Theon's case, it's working. "I will kill that man. I don't care how many arrows they feather me with, how many spears they run through me, I will kill that horn-blowing cunt before I fall." Maester Luwin stands by, trying to help as best he can, but Theon is in no mood for it. Theon reminisces on the first time he saw Winterfell (interrupted on occasion by aforementioned horn-blowing cunt) and his feelings during his childhood: "Know what it's like to be told how lucky you are to be someone's prisoner? To be told how much you owe them? And then to go back home to your real father?" Who thinks you weak and soft, he has no need to say; and Luwin doesn't say it. Instead he counsels that Theon take the black, which will wash out his past crimes--of which there are quite a few.

Maester Luwin: "I've known you many years, Theon Greyjoy. You're not the man you're pretending to be."
Theon: "You may be right... but I've gone too far to pretend to be anything else."

So the next morning finds Theon pacing before his men, rallying them, whilst Dagmer stands by with a spear. It's pretty epic.

"You hear that? That's the mating call of the northmen. They want to fuck us! Well I haven't had a good fuck in weeks, I'm ready for one! They say every ironborn man is worth a dozen from the mainland. You think they're right? We die today, brothers! We die today, bleeding from a hundred wounds, with arrows in our necks and spears in our guts! But our war cries will echo through eternity. They will sing about the battle of Winterfell until the Iron Islands have slipped beneath the waves. Every man, woman and child will know who we were and how long we stood! Aggar and Gelmar! Wex and Urzen! Stig and Black Lorren! Ironborn warriors will cry out our names as they leap onto the shores at Seagard and Faircastle. Mothers will name their sons for us! Girls will think of us with their lovers inside them!! --And whoever kills that fucking horn-blower will stand in bronze above the shores of Pyke!!! What is dead may never die!!"

He raises his sword and prepares to charge... and Dagmer brains him with his spear haft. "Thought he'd never shut up," Potato-Head grouses. "It was a good speech," Dagmer shrugs, "didn't want to interrupt." The ironborn tie him up and slip a bag over his head, and then prepare to abandon Winterfell... but not before stabbing Maester Luwin, just because.

Tyrion, still abed at King's Landing, is a bit incredulous at the intelligence Varys gives him: that Cersei ordered Ser Mandon Moore to slay him during the chaos of the battle. Tyrion sends Pod to get gold cloaks to guard him, but Varys tells him that Bronn has been removed from command of the city watch. Tyrion's hill tribesmen have also been shooed away with Lannister gold in their purses. However, Varys leaves Tyrion with his gratitude... and Shae as well. She unwinds his bandages, revealing a hideous scar slanting across his face. Tyrion jokes that she should charge him double now, but Shae, surprisingly, isn't in it for the money. She invites him to flee with her to the Free Cities, but Tyrion admits that he can't leave: he was made to play the game of thrones, and he belongs here. Shae decides to stay as well. "I am yours, and you are mine," she tells him, and Tyrion draws her close, weeping into her hair.

Somewhere out in the Seven Kingdoms, a man and a woman stand before a septon, getting married with no witnesses. Jaime and Brienne? No, the heights aren't right for that. Tyrion and Shae? Same problem. Joffrey and Margaery? Ha. No, it's Robb and Talisa. Surely a wedding that must needs be secret is a good start, right? ...Right?

In Qarth, Ser Jorah, Daenerys and Kovarro advance on the House of the Undying. There appears to be no door, and Mormont follows his khaleesi as she circles the tower. She outdistances him... and when he comes back round, he sees Kovarro... but no Daenerys. He resorts to yelling up at the tower: "Khaleesi!" Inside, Daenerys ignores the noise, pulling a torch from a wall bracket and following the cries of her dragons.

Arya, Hot Pie and Gendry trudge through the riverlands with no set destination, but are startled to see Jaqen H'ghar surveilling them from atop a rock outcropping. Arya wants to know how he killed the guards, and if it was difficult. "No harder than taking a new name, if you know the way," he answers. If Arya wants, she can go to Braavos with him, and learn to be a "Faceless Man." It's clearly tempting to her, but Arya decides she needs to stay and link up with her brother and mother. "...And my sister. I need to find her too." So instead, Jaqen gives her an iron coin. "If the day comes when you must find me again, just give that coin to any man from Braavos and say these words to him: Valar morghulis." He turns away and does something to his face, and when he turns back the white Skunk Stripe in his hair is gone, his cheeks are different, his jawline heavier, his eyes more deeply sunken. He has a different face.

A door creaks open in a castle somewhere--oh, Osha comes out; shall we assume it's Winterfell? Bran and Rickon emerge to find their ancestral home a smoking wreckage, people slaughtered and buildings burnt. Precisely who died, and how, and why, is not made clear, but the little lords find their direwolves waiting at the threshold to the godswood. Within, Maester Luwin waits, at peace but too injured to go anywhere else. He instructs them to head north to the Wall and the refuge of Jon Snow. He orders Osha to look after them--she's the only one who can--and then gives a knowing look at her dagger. "Do it quickly," is all he says.

At the edge of the wolfswood, Bran turned ... for once last glimpse of the castle that had been his life. Wisps of smoke still rose into the grey sky, but no more than might have risen from Winterfell's chimneys on a cold autumn afternoon. Soot stains marked some of the arrow loops, and here and there a crack or a missing merlon could be seen in the curtain wall, but it seemed little enough from this distance. Beyond, the tops of the keeps and towers still stood as they had for hundreds of years, and it was hard to tell that the castle had been sacked and burned at all. The stone is strong, Bran told himself, the roots of the trees go deep, and under the ground the Kings of Winter sit their thrones. So long as those remained, Winterfell remained. It was not dead, just broken. Like me, he thought. I’m not dead either.

—George R. R. Martin, A Clash of Kings, final paragraph (pg. 968-969, paperback)

But where Martin ended the book, we still have a good 20 minutes of show remaining. How's Daenerys doing? Well, at the moment, she's wandering the halls of the House of the Undying, trying to track her dragons' anguished cries. They lead her through a door to a ruined hall, one she has never seen before but which audiences are eminently familiar with, one with seven-pointed-star stained-glass windows and great braziers built around the pillars. The roof has fallen in and snow covers the ground, as well as the hulking behemoth of a chair at the far end, a chair that seems to be made of swords... Dany is about to touch it when her dragons' cries call her away from the Iron Throne of Westeros. They lead her out a door set in a wall of ice, a thousand leagues long and seven hundred feet high, and then into a tent built of hides for desert work, incongruous in the midst of all this snow. Within sits someone none of us never expected to see again: Khal Drogo, cradling a plump and adorable baby Rhaego in his arms. Daenerys quite clearly wants this dream to be true (audiences too), but she hears her dragons call and knows what she has to do. (Rhaego was trying to stuff his mommy's hand into his mouth.)

Daenerys emerges back in a dusty room in the House of the Undying, where she finds her dragons on a stone table, restrained with collars around their necks. Pyat Pree(s) emerge(s) and explain his/their motivation: "When your dragons were born, our magic was born again. It is strongest in their presence, and they are strongest in yours." Is that why Daenerys is suddenly wearing chains herself? The Pyat Prees pull the chains taut, stretching her across the chamber. She is helpless... But she is the Mother of Dragons. "Dracarys," she breathes. And kids, let this be a lesson to you: don't make chains out of magic.

The Lord of Bones and his wildling raiders continue to escort their two captives towards Mance Rayder's camp in the Frostfangs. Ygritte is beating Jon Snow about the head with the flat of his own sword (which is a bit dangerous, Valyrian steel being what it is), but she also seems to be tutoring him on what to say to Mance so that he's not executed out of hand. Qhorin, knowing he won't get another opportunity, grabs a wildling's sword and goes at Jon. "Let 'em fight," Rattleshirt orders, and Ygritte tosses Longclaw down near Jon. It's not really a fair fight: Qhorin's blade is about the third the length of Longclaw, and he's pretty obviously holding back so that Jon will win. Of course, in order to really prove his disloyalty, Jon needs to kill Qhorin. He does, and Qhorin, with his dying breath, reminds him to do what he has to: "We are the watchers on the Wall." And so, as the Halfhand's corpse is burned, Jon is freed and taken over the ridge to Mance Rayder's camp at the head of the Milkwater. Ygritte said, back when they first captured her, that Mance had hundreds of thousands of wildlings. She was not exaggerating.

Xaro Xhoan Daxos is asleep with his brand-new bedwarmer--Doreah. Kovarro snatches the amulet from his neck and, with Daxos and Doreah unwilling spectators, opens Daxos's Valyrian vault. There is--surprise surprise--absolutely nothing inside of it. At least, until she locks Xaro and Doreah inside it. She then gives the order to loot Xaro's house, hoping the proceeds will buy them passage to Westeros. Ser Jorah supervises the effort while Daenerys croons over her dragons. Drogon actually nuzzles her.

But wait! We're not done yet!! We're at the Fist of the First Men, where Dolorous Edd, Grenn and Sam are scavenging moose doots from the snow to burn for fuel. Sam's still going on about Gilly: "The thing about Gilly I find so interesting is that, after all Craster's done to her, she's still got hope life will get better." "The thing about Gilly you find so interesting is that she said six words to you," Dolorous Edd snorts. "And the thing about you I find interesting is absolutely nothing," Sam returns. But their banter is cut off by the sound of a horn. At the first, Sam is surprised to realize Qhorin and Jon are returning. At the second, Grenn and Edd go for their swords.

At the third, they flee in pants-wetting terror.

Poor Sam is left behind as the wind and snow kicks up. In the far distance he sees figures emerging from the bleak white, and takes shelter behind a rock, where he is (for whatever reason) largely ignored. There are wights, in various stages of disrepair, anbd also a zombie horse whose hooves do not break the snow. And on its back? A White Walker, what the book calls "The Others," a creature of ice and snow, cold mist rising from is muscles, its hair the spun white of frost, its eyes glowing blue.

It screams and points its spear at the Fist of the First Men, and the camera pans out to show the slow shambling horde of wights and Walkers advancing on the position.

See you next season!

Tropes in this episode:

Absolute Cleavage: Margaery's new dress.
Adaptation Distillation: as mentioned, the entire "Reek" subplot has been cut out. Yara's offer plays out more or less as it does on TV, and Theon is left with only a few men to hold Winterfell. Instead of a Rousing Speech, however, he watches as the besieging northerners are taken from behind by The Cavalry, primarily Dreadfort men headed by Reek. Thankful, Theon opens the gates and lets them in... And then things go north. You see, Reek is not the manservant he's been claiming to be: he's Ramsay Snow in disguise. And House Bolton is The Rival to House Stark. Ramsay orders the ironborn slain, the castle sacked and the few remaining occupants taken back to the Dreadfort; he knocks Theon out, and as the book ends, we're not even sure if he's still alive.)
- Despite stretching out the stuff with Pyat Pree, the TV show also cuts out a lot. Whilst Daenerys is within, she's supposed to meet the Undying themselves, who infuse her with a set of prophetic visions and also a verbal one, recounted here:

...three heads has the dragon... mother of dragons... child of storm... three fires you might light... one for life and one for death and one to love... three mounts must you ride... one to bed and one to dread and one to love... three treasons will you know... once for blood and once for gold and once for love...

Adaptation Expansion: All this stuff with Daenerys in the House of the Undying should actually be over by now. There's one more chapter of her content in A Clash of Kings, which quite clearly has been pushed back until next season. Perhaps in compensation, Jaime-and-Brienne content was actually the opening chapter of A Storm of Swords but is now here instead.
Adaptational Villainy: The details of Doreah's betrayal are sketchy and not elaborated at all, but considering Irri was killed, it's implied that she went along with Xaro Xhoan Daxos and Pyat Pree's plan to steal the dragons.
All There in the Manual: Ashemark, the place Jaime claims to be from, is the seat of House Marbrand, bannermen to the Lannisters.
And Starring: Jason Momoa, back in his usual place at the end of the guest-star list for this one episode.
And Zoidberg From Arya. "I need to find my brother and mother. And my sister".
Arc Words: "Valar Morghulis" for Arya.
Army of the Dead: A White Walker leads one of these on the Fist of the First Men in the final scene.
Arranged Marriage: One is made (Joffrey/Margaery) and two are broken (Joffrey/Sansa and Robb/Walder Frey's daughter).
As You Know: Theon Lampshades the hell out of it.

Theon: Thank you, O Wise Bald One, for teaching me siege tactics.

Bad Future: Daenerys gets a glimpse of one while in the House of the Undying: She walks into the throne room in the Red Keep. She's the only one there, with absolutely no one to stop her from sitting upon the Iron Throne if that's what she wants. But it's a throne room in ruins, with the roof collapsed in on itself and exposed to the open sky. And winter has come.
Badass Boast: When Daenerys finds herself magically teleported inside the House of the Undying:

"Trying to scare me with magic tricks?! Come and face me! Afraid to fight a girl?!"

Better to Die Than Be Killed: Inverted. Maester Luwin asks Osha to kill him with her blade rather than suffer a slow death by bleeding.
Blasphemous Boast: The illusion of Drogo explains his presence as "Maybe I told the Great Stallion to go fuck himself and came back here to wait for you." Dany says that that sounds like the sort of thing he'd do.
Blood From the Mouth: Maester Luwin.
Bluff the Impostor: Some Stark bannermen call out Brienne and Jaime on their ruse (that Jaime is a common thief) by demanding that they both say his name at the same time.
Bodyguard Betrayal: The Ironborn to Theon.
Bond One-Liner: "Two quick deaths."
Brought Down to Normal: Tyrion awakens to find that most of his power and allies have been stripped from him.
Bullying a Dragon: Literally. Pyat Pree, his Affable Evilness aside, is treating Dany and her dragons rather poorly. This is a bad idea.
Call Back: Remember Old Nan in Season 1 telling her stories of the White Walkers, riding on dead horses? Well, here they are in their full glory.
- Jorah telling Dany's khalasar to loot all of the gold and jewels from Xaro's palace is a call back to the party Xaro invited her to, where her Dothraki were thinking of ways to steal the gold sculptures they see.
Chekhov's Skill: Double Subverted with the codeword Daenerys uses to order her dragons to breathe fire. At first it results only in a rather pathetic puff of smoke, followed shortly by a raging inferno.
Dark Reprise: The music that accompanies the march of the White Walkers and the credits at the end of the episode is an extremely dark, foreboding, slowed-down variation on the series's main theme.
- There's also a sorrowful one as Bran and Rickon emerge to see the wreckage of Winterfell.
Death by Adaptation: Definitely Pyat Pree. Most likely Xaro.
Demoted to Extra: With Littlefinger offering to sneak Sansa himself, Ser Dontos' role from the books was omitted from this season. It remains to be seen whether he will be brought back into that plotline in season 3.
- Also, several of the Ironborn, particularly Wex Pyke.
Does This Remind You of Anything?: Brienne seems to savour her off camera despatch of the lead rapist - driving her sword into his crotch near up to the hilt - a little too much, if you know what I mean. Jaime even partakes in a Quizzical Tilt as he watches her work, which could possibly be interpreted as Head-Tiltingly Kinky.
Due to the Dead Brienne takes it upon her self to bury three women who had been left hanging from a tree.
Eldritch Location: The House of the Undying appears to be this.
Fate Worse Than Death: Doreah and Xaro are locked inside Xaro's impenetrable vault.
Genre Savvy: The three Stark soldiers that Brienne and Jaime run into.
- Death by Genre Savviness
Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Shae pulls this on Tyrion when he's at his lowest point.
Hell Is That Noise: The screech of the White Walkers.
Hope Spot: The Small Council annul Joffrey and Sansa's betrothal so Joffrey can marry Margaery instead -- but then Littlefinger informs Sansa that she's still a prisoner, and there's no reason Joffrey won't still beat and rape her if he feels like it.
Humanoid Abomination: The White Walkers, of course.
Ironic Echo: The entirety of Dany's last scene is one huge Ironic Echo to the last scene in Season One, complete with her False Friend betrayer teaching her something useful and then dying rather horribly.
- Also, Xaro's legendary, and empty, vault proves what Varys told Tyrion; "Power resides where men believe it resides. It's a trick, a shadow on the wall"
- Pycelle tosses a coin to the now powerless Tyrion, "for your trouble."
Jerkass Woobie: This episode finally lets Theon edge closer to the Woobie side.
Karmic Death: Xaro is sealed inside his own impenetrable, empty vault to die.
- Brienne killing the third Northman slowly, driving her sword through his crotch.
Kick the Dog: Pycelle telling Tyrion that he's no longer Hand of the King. And then giving him a copper "for [his] trouble"
- Dagmer casually spearing Luwin shortly before handing over an unconscious Theon to the Northmen besieging Winterfell, for the lulz.
- While at his lowest point, Tyrion verbally lashes out at Shae, but she calls him out on it and they soon reconcile in a truly Heartwarming Tear Jerker.
Kill It with Fire: How Daenerys deals with Pyat Pree.
Last Stand: Subverted with the Ironborn, teased with respect to the Watchmen on the Fist.
Lotus Eater Machine: What the warlocks try on Dany in the House of the Undying by showing her Drogo and Rhaego. She knows it's not real, but it's depressing to see her have to leave.
Love Makes You Stupid: Robb Stark
- Seems highly likely to lead into a case of Love Ruins the Realm, or at least Love Ruins Your Carefully Built And Very Precarious Alliances.
Mercy Kill: Maester Luwin asks Osha to kill him with her blade rather than suffer a slow death by bleeding.
Mood Whiplash: Theon concluding his Rousing Speech with the most narmtastic game face and Battle Cry on the series yet only to be immediately knocked out by Dagmer and his men who were just playing along with him is hilarious... Maester Luwin getting speared in the belly and left to die shortly after? Not so much.
The Mole: Jon becomes this by killing Qhorin Halfhand.
Moral Event Horizon: Theon believes he has already crossed it.
Most Annoying Sound: The besieging Starks' trumpeter for Theon, quite intentionally.
Negated Moment of Awesome: Theon's Rousing Speech is immediately followed by his men knocking him out and taking him prisoner to hand over to the Northmen
No Ontological Inertia: Pyat Pree's copies disappear completely after he dies.
Nothing Is Scarier: Before the House of the Undying starts showing Dany visions, it just provides emptiness. The approach to the building counts as this for Kovarro, who is happy to fight guards, but is thoroughly creeped out by the lack of them.
Not So Different/Obligatory War Crime Scene: The women hanged by Northern soldiers for "laying with lions", one of them killed slowly.
Oh Crap:
- Ros when she realizes that her "client" is Varys.
- Jon when he sees the massive encampment of the wildling army united under Mance Rayder
- Three horn blasts for White Walkers.
- Sam's face when a saddled White Walker turns and looks directly at him. Fortunately for Sam, said White Walker appeared not to care.
- Tyrion when he realises he's being cared for by Pycelle, who has every reason to want him dead. Additionally, notice how Pycelle is standing upright and no longer talking in his usual "senile old man voice".
- Jaime when Brienne demonstrates to three armed men that she is not to be fucked with.
One-Scene Wonder: Drogo's back! And he's just as badass as ever. Shame it's a hallucination.
Pragmatic Adaptation: Tyrion keeps his nose.
- Bran gets a wheelbarrow to ride in, so Kristian Nairn doesn't have to constantly be carrying the quickly growing Isaac Hampstead-Wright.
- The troupe of Osha, Hodor, Bran, and Rickon stick together after leaving Winterfell with a concrete plan of seeking shelter at Castle Black with Jon Snow, largely because Jojen and Meera Reed haven't been introduced and there is therefore no impetus for Bran to go beyond the Wall to seek out the three-eyed crow.
- The alteration of Robb's storyline. Oona Chaplin was hired to play a character named Jeyne, whom fans assumed would be Jeyne Westerling, Robb's Love Interest from the books: his forces take the Crag, where her family live, but Robb is wounded Storming the Castle and the army is laid up there awhile. When word arrives of Rickon and Bran's deaths, the two, err, comfort each other, and Robb feels constrained by honor to marry her the next day, consequences with the Freys be damned. And we only find any of it out retroactively, after it's all happened. The decision to replace her with Talisa lets the character be introduced much earlier and turns the love affair into a Story Arc, instead of a bunch of stuff happening Behind the Black.
Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Dracarys."
Raising the Steaks: The White Walkers ride atop undead horses.
The Red Sonja: Jaime accuses Brienne of being this.
Reality Ensues: While Tywin waits atop his white destrier to enter the Iron Throne room to be proclaimed Savior of the City and officially taking his place as Hand of the King, guess what said white horse does?. Consider it Adaptation Distillation from the books, in which the horse does his business INSIDE the throne room.
- Sansa's moment of joy as she thinks that she's finally free from Joffrey's violence and imminent rape is shattered by Littlefinger, who points out that her situation has actually gotten worse.
Rousing Speech: Theon gives an epic one, finally proving his worth to his men. Subverted when, rather then going out and having a glorious last stand, they choose to knock Theon out and save their own skins. Dagmer, does, however, note that it was a good speech.
Scarily Competent Tracker: Jaqen, not surprisingly. Hot Pie even lampshades this.
Shout-Out: Theon pointing out a few specific members of his army and saying their names will be remembered is straight out of the St. Crispin's Day speech.
The Starscream: Dagmer Cleftjaw
Spared by the Adaptation: Agarr and Black Lorren. Most likely subverted with Doreah, who died early in this season's corresponding book and has now been sealed inside an impenetrable vault.
The Magic Comes Back: It's finally confirmed in this episode that the birth of Dany's dragons brought magic back into the world.
Trash the Set: Winterfell is burnt to the ground.
- Dany's first vision is a thoroughly trashed Red Keep in the winter.
Unfriendly Fire: Vaerys tells Tyrion that Cersei tried to have him killed during the battle of Blackwater.
Villainous Breakdown: The prospect of his imminent death has made Theon a tad bit unhinged. The hornblower isn't helping things.
Voluntary Faceshifting: Jaqen
Walking Wasteland: The White Walkers radiate cold from their bodies, and bring a snowstorm in their wake.
Wangst: Tyrion looks like he might be about to slip into this, albeit not without a lot of reason, but Shae snaps him out of it.
Wham! Episode
Wham! Line: "Three blasts".
- Also, "Dracarys."
What the Hell Is That Accent?: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau attempts a "lowborn" Ashemark accent as part of his ruse of being just a thief when he and Brienne are confronted by Stark soldiers. The result is...interesting. Whether this is meant to be an in-universe example of Jaime not being able to speak like a commoner or the actor genuinely trying and failing is unclear.