Westeros
The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
GoT
EP508: Hardhome
Arya makes progress in her training. Sansa confronts an old friend. Cersei (Lena Headey) struggles. Jon travels.
Index
Recap
Opening in the throne room of Meereen, Daenerys sits on her throne with Missandei attending her and Unsullied guarding her. Far below at the base of the steps stand Tyrion Lannister and Ser Jorah Mormont. Mormont is the first to speak: “Your Grace, I want to say—” Daenerys cuts him off, commanding him to stay silent. The young queen turns her attention to Tyrion Lannister, questioning his identity. Tyrion indicates he wishes he wasn’t who he actually is, and Daenerys then questions why she shouldn’t kill him out of hand for the crimes of his family against her own kin.
Tyrion points out that he’s the greatest Lannister killer in their time, killing his mother at birth and murdering his own father. Daenerys, however, is dubious of the argument that he should be welcomed into her service for killing members of his own family. Tyrion replies that it’s too soon to know whether she deserves to have him in her service, to which Daenerys says that he could go back to the fighting pits instead if he prefers. Tyrion considers that… and then speaks of the tales he heard of Daenerys Stormborn, how she was born during a terrible storm, smuggled away to Essos, kept alive just steps ahead of assassins, and ultimately sold to some warlord… but that “the most well-informed person” he knew told him that year later she had acquired wealth, lands, and armies as well as three dragons, and that she could build a better world.
Tyrion finishes by saying that he thought it was worth meeting her, at least. Daenerys wonders why Tyrion is worth meeting, in turn, and Tyrion argues that he understands Westeros better than anyone at her side. Daenerys thinks her army and dragons will be sufficient to make that unnecessary, but Tyrion notes that killing and politics aren’t always the same thing. Tyrion points out that he did fairly well as Hand of the King, even though the king at the time preferred to torture animals over taking care of his people. Tyrion suggests he could do even better with a ruler worth the name… if, he notes, that’s what Daenerys actually is.
Daenerys decides to test him, asking him to advise her in what to do with Jorah, pointing out that she had told him she would have him killed if he ever returned, and wonders why she can expect people to follow her if she can’t keep her promises. Tyrion notes Jorah is not the same man as when he started informing on her, that he’s the most devoted man he’s ever seen… and yet he did, indeed, betray her. Tyrion, glancing at Mormont, begins to mount the steps only for the Unsullied to start to bar his way. Daenerys gestures, and they let Tyrion approach another few steps.
Tyrion asks if Jorah had the chance to confess his betrayal. Daenerys says he did, many of them, but on further questioning points out that he only did so once he was forced to do so. Tyrion looks back to Jorah again, and then says that Mormont worships Daenerys, is even in love with her, but he did not trust her with the truth. Daenerys asks if Tyrion is advising her to kill him, but Tyrion explains that a ruler who kills those devoted to her is not a ruler who inspires devotion… and that she’ll need a lot of devotion if she means to cross the narrow sea and win Westeros. But, he adds, she also cannot have Jorah at her side.
Daenerys looks at Mormont for a long moment, and then has the Unsullied remove Jorah from the city. Mormont looks up at her, taken aback, but then turns and walks away. The Unsullied show him out of a small gate in the city walls. Mormont lifts his sleeve to look at th greyscale on his arm, then up to the walls, before he walks away.
In the cells below the Great Sept, a tall, forbidding septa—the same who seized Cersei when she was arrested—enters with a bucket and ladle. Cersei is unkempt, clad now in a plain, grimey shift and seated against a wall. The septa throws a piece of bread into her lap, then dips the ladle into the bucket and offers Cersei a drink. “Confess,” she says at the same time. Cersei touches the ladle, then asks to be allowed to speak to Tommen, only to be struck by the ladle as the septa repeats, “Confess.” Cersei responds with anger, promising that her face will be the last thing the septa sees, but is struck yet again before she can finish the sentence. The septa puts the ladle in the bucket and leaves.
After the septa departs, Cersei gives into emotion, beginning to sob, and then she screams in useless rage.
In the House of Black and White, Jaqen and Arya sit across from one another. Affectless, Arya informs him that she is Lana, an orphan, who makes her living selling oysters, starting with a bucket and then eventually working her way to having a cart which she uses every morning to sell oysters in the canals. She names her usual first customer of the day as Lara, then she turns left onto Moonsinger Lane—
Jaqen strikes her hand with a rod, at the lie. She corrects herself, saying she turns onto Ragman Lane where she does most of her trade. Jaqen notes Lana is impressive and industrious, a fine servant for the Many Faced God. She asks how she’ll serve, and Jaqen tells her to turn right instead of left, to go on to Ragman Harbor. When Arya asks what Lana will do there, Jaqen explains that she will see. He won’t explain, saying that if he knew what she would see there’d be no reason to send her there.
We see Arya as Lana, calling out, “Oysters, clams, and cockles!” as she walks along the busy harbor where Braavosi fishermen, traders, and more go about their day. She passes an old, thin man attended by guards who sits at a table stacked with coins and documents. He eyes her as she turns past him and he calls out to her, asking if the oysters are fresh. She says they’re the best in the city, and he wonders if she’d lie to an old man. To prove claim, she takes out an oyster and opens it with a knife, while he sets down the coins he’s holding. He takes the proferred oyster and eats it, and says it’s very nice, then asks for four with vinegar.
As “Lana” turns to fill his order, a man shows up with a heavy bag of coins and tells the old man that he’s returned from 17 voyages without a scratch on him, and he’s preparing his 18th. The documents he hands over are examined by the man, presumably manfiests as well as a map indicating a route that takes him from Braavos to Volantis, through the Smoking Sea and ultimately to Meereen. The old man considers it and then says he won’t do it. The man begs, saying he has three children and they depend on him. He tries to convince the man to take the coins, but the old man glances to his guards and they drag the man away.
“Lana” oveahears it all, and after the man is out of earshot she brings the oysters to the old man. He pays her a few coins, and she returns to her business. Later, in the House of Black and White, Jaqen explains the old man’s business: he is a gambler, wagering that ships will reach their destination, and he notes it’s a strange wager for the captain to make since he only wins if he loses his life. Arya doesn’t understand why he’d make the wager, and Jaqen tells her that she should tell him what she sees. Arya considers it, and then realizes that if the captain dies, the “thin man” would be bound to pay the family a lot of money.
At that Jaqen wonders what happens if the thin man decides not to pay his debt if the captain dies, leaving a wife and small child destitute. What can they do in such a situation, he wonders, and to whom could they turn to recourse? Arya realizes the Many-Faced God is their recourse, but then notes Jaqen told her he didn’t know what she would see. Jaqen responds that he didn’t know what she would or would not see. Then he tells her that Lana will return to the docks, where she’ll watch the gambler and learn as much about him as she knows about herself. And then, when she asks, he says she’ll have a gift for him: he offers a small bottle holding a liquid. Arya takes it and leavesthe chamber.
After she’s gone, the waif appears and tells Jaqen that she’s not ready. “Perhaps she is, perhaps she’s not,” he replies. When the waif asks what happens if Arya isn’t ready, Jaqen replies that it’s all the same to the Many-Faced God. He leaves the waif to her thoughts.
In the cell beneath the Great Sept, a small window opens in the door through which the septa looks, and then the door itself opens as Qyburn enters the cell. Once the door is shut and they are left alone, Qyburn explains that the trial will take place and the High Sparrow will have a substantial case with charges of fornication, treason, incest, and the murder of King Robert. “All lies,” Cersei says immediately. “Of course, your grace,” Qyburn replies. Then he points out his concern that the Faith does not have the same standards of proof as the crown. He begs forgiveness for saying it, and tells her that belief is often the death of reason. “I wish you’d said it sooner,” she responds.
She asks after Jaime, but Qyburn has heard nothing regarding him. Then he tells her that Grand Maester Pycelle summoned Ser Kevan back to court. Cersei stands at that and tells Qyburn to have Kevan visit her, but Qyburn replies that he already implored Kevan and was rejected. Cersei takes that in, then asks after Tommen, but Qyburn tells her that the arrests of Cersei and Margaery have made Tommen despondent, often skipping meals and simply staying in his chambers. She insists Qyburn see him and convince him to see his mother, but Qyburn says he tried and failed: Tommen won’t see him, or anyone at all.
When Cersei says she can’t stand to stay, Qyburn suggests there’s a way out. “Confess,” she says, understanding his meaning. With increasing anger she says she made the High Sparrow, rose him up from nothing, and she will not kneel before “some barefooted commoner and beg his forgiveness.” Just then the septa enters, and Cersei steps back against the wall away from her. Qyburn offers his farewell, and the parting words, “The work continues.”
In Winterfell, Reek slowly opens the door to Sansa’s chamber, carrying a tray with food and drink. He finds her seated at a small table, staring at him. He goes on to set the tray down, when Sansa asks, “Why, Theon?” He corrects her, saying there’s no Theon, only Reek. “Reek.” she says, “Why did you tell him, Reek?” He replies that he was helping her, because there’s no escape from Ramsay, not ever. He tells her that Theon Greyjoy tried to escape, and “the master” knew everything, caught him and strapped him to a cross, cutting away piece after piece “until there was no Theon left.”
Sansa responds: “Good.” She tells him that if it weren’t for him, she’d still have a family, and that if she could do what Ramsay did to him, she’d do it that very moment. Reek is silent at first, then admits he deserved everything and deserves to be Reek for the terrible things he did: turning on Robb, capturing Winterfell. Sansa stands, rounding the table to excoriate him for Bran and Rickon, the boys he’d known since they were born. “They weren’t,” Reek says, defensively as he steps back away from her, “they were only—” He catches himself, falling quiet, but Sansa pursues it, asking what he meant to say.
Reek refuses, saying he can’t say unless the master says. Sansa insists, shouting at him, “Tell me why Bran and Rickon should be gone while you still breathe the air!” Grabbing his head in her hands, she yells at him, demanding that he tell her. Finally, Reek bursts out with the truth: they weren’t Bran and Rickon. Sansa can’t believe what he says, as he explains that he couldn’t find them, so he took two farm boys and killed and burned them so no one would know the truth. She has him confirm again that he never found them, and then asks if he knows where they are. He says he can’t speak to her anymore, but she presses the point, asking Theon if he knows anything about where they might be. “Not Theon! Reek!” he shouts, and escapes from the room, leaving her.
In a hall in Winterfell, one of Roose’s commanders informs him that their scouts say Stannis has no more than 6,000 men, half of them mounted. Lord Bolton wonders how high his horses can jump: the walls of Winterfell are newly-repaired, the gates reinforced, the supplies sufficient to keep them for six months. Roose bets on a siege, and the fact that they’re far more prepared for it than Stannis can hope to be. He expects that Stannis’s army will starve, freeze, and mutiny.
Ramsay stares at his father, and Roose sees that Ramsay disagrees. Ramsay admits Stannis isn’t from the North while his father is, but he believes that his father is missing an opportunity in showing the northerners who the Boltons deal with southron invaders. Prompted by Roose for what he recommends, Ramsay suggests they not sit and wait and let Stannis decide the kind of fight it will be, but instead “hit first and hit hard, and leave a feast for the crows.” Roose counters that by saying a smart commander does not give up an advantage, and that so long they’re behind the walls they’re safe. And, he adds, besides that the snows are too heavy to get an army out to engage Stannis. Ramsay responds he doesn’t need an army, he just needs twenty good men.
In Meereen, Daenerys sits across from Tyrion in her chamber. He pours them both a glass of wine as Daenerys asks if Tyrion has decided whether she’s worthy of his service. He asks with his own question, whether she’s decided if she’ll have him killed. She explains it’s probably her safest option. Tyrion leans back with his cup, and points out that her father would have done something like that. As he drinks, she asks what his father would have done. He points out Tywin sentenced him to death, so his thoughts on the matter were clear.
She asks if that’s why Tyrion killed his own father. To that, Tyrion says that some day—if she hasn’t’ executed him—he’ll explain all the reasons for why he did it, but that he’ll need more wine than they have at that moment. As they both drink, Daenerys tells Tyrion that she knows that her father earned the name of Mad King. Tyrion remarks that they are both “two terrible children of two terrible fathers.” Daenerys wonders at being called terrible, and he explains he has heard stories about her. That prompts her to question why he travelled to the far side of the world to meet her, then, but he replies that he wanted to see if she was the “right kind” of terrible, the kind who prevents her own people from being even more terrible.
At that, Daenerys responds that she agreed to reopen the fighting pits, turning murder into entertainment. Tyrion calls that wise, however, and also observes that she agreed to marry Hizdahr—whom he supposes she loathes—for the greater good. He concludes that that was very impressive. He compares her to Cersei, who married someone she loathed as well, though neither by choice nor for the greater good. He concludes that she ended up having her husband killed. To that, Daenerys says. “Perhaps it won’t come to that.”
A silence follows, and then as he sips more wine Tyrion indicates that Varys may have been right about her. She recognizes the name, noting him as Robert’s spymaster and seeming unimpressed. Tyrion quickly notes that it was Varys who convinced Tyrion to go to Daenerys, and comments that they travelled together until Jorah seized him. Daenerys retorts that Jorah sent her secrets to Varys, and notes that for twenty years Varys oversaw a “campaign” to kill her. Tyrion explains that Varys did what he had to to survive… but he suspects that the main reason Daenerys wasn’t killed was because of Varys’s interference. When Daenerys asks if Tyrion trusts him, Tyrion concludes that Varys may be the only person he trusts, besides his brother.
At the reference to Jaime, Daenerys—not looking at Tyrion—asks if that would be the brother who killed her father. “That’s the one,” Tyrion responds as he pours himself more wine. Daenerys casually suggests she may have him killed after all, and Tyrion admits tha that would be her prerogative. Then he explains he had given up on life until Varys convinced him that Daenerys was worth living for. He finishes by saying that even if she chops off his head, his final days were interesting.
After a long moment, Daenerys informs him that she’ll neither execute nor banish him, and instead says he will advise her. He lifts his cup in salute, and she snatches it from his hand before he can drink, saying she wants his advice while he can “still speak in complete sentences.” Realizing she wants advice on seizing the Iron Throne, he suggests she should want something else. Despite her displeasure, he presses on, saying there’s more to the world than just Westeros, citing how she has changed Meereen for the better and that it may be where she belongs. She stands then, moving behind her seat before turning and explaining that she fought to make sure no children in Slaver’s Bay would ever learn what it was like to be bought and sold, but that’s a fight she’ll continue in Meereen… and beyond.
However, Daenerys says, Meereen is not her home. Tyrion questions what support she’ll have. When she immediately claims the support of the common people, Tyrion offers to be generous and assume that that is true… but points out that the support of the common people alone in Meereen didn’t work so well, when the rich didn’t support her. He tallies up the problems for her: no more Targaryens to support her, the Starks destroyed, the other Lannisters will never back her, Stannis’s own claim depends on Daenerys’s illegitimacy. He concludes that only the Tyrells remain, and while he supposes they might be convinced, they alone aren’t enough.
In response, Daenerys runs through the names of those houses, calling them spokes in a wheel who are constantly shifting power: one on top, then the next, and on and on. She claims that the wheel crushes those beneath it to the ground. Tyrion thinks that stopping that wheel is a beautiful dream, and that she’s not the first who dreamt it. “I’m not going to stop the wheel,” Daenerys replies sternly. “I’m going to break the wheel.”
In Yezzan’s pit, he watches two fighters practice. Then, looking over his shoulder, he whistles the men to a halt as he turns to face the approaching Ser Jorah Mormont. Mormont flips the coin he received from Yezzan to the slaver, and states that Yezzan promised that the man who survived in the pit would fight in the Great Game, and he points out that he was the winner. Yezzan complains that Jorah struck him, and the knight offers to be flogged in punishment, but he is regardless the best fighter Yezzan has. He points out that if he wins in the Great Pit, he’ll command a huge price if Yezzan decides to sell him. Yezzan considers this, then remarks on the fact that Ser Jorah was a free man and could have gone anywhere. Why, he asks, did he return? Jorah steps nearer and tells Yezzan only that if he lets him fight for Daenerys, he’ll belong to Yezzan.
In a cell beneath the Great Sept, Septa Unella asks if Cersei is thirsty, and then tells her to confess. Cersei tells her that she will get out eventually. “Confess”, Unella responds. Cersei offers to make the septa wealthy and a lady of the court, and again Unella repeats her demand for confession. Then Cersei, seething, says that she can make sure Unella dies in a hideous fashion, and that all she does now is imagine ways for Unella to die. The septa empties her ladle on the ground, and leaves. Cersei stares… and then moves to where the water was spilled, sucking up what she can from the filthy floor as she sobs.
At Castle Black, Gilly tends to Samwell’s wounds and asks, “Did it hurt?” Sam says no, and she says that’s good. He then awkwardly asks how she is, and she replies that she’s not the one who was punched and kicked. Samwell clarifies that she knows what he means, and she briefly indicates she’s fine. Sam then asks if she’s scared, and she admits she’s a little scared; he commiserates. There’s a knock at the door then, and Samwell instictively takes up a knife as he calls out asking who it is. From the other side of the door, Olly identifies himself. Relaxing, Samwell tells Olly to enter.
The boy carries a tray of food and drink for Sam, and explains he heard what happened. Samwell says there’s no reason to worry, making light of the incident by suggesting men will brawl from time to time. Olly sets down the food for Samwell, thinking he was hungry, and then says he meant to ask Samwell something if he has time. Gilly excuses herself, and then Olly asks about Lord Commander Jon Snow. He can’t understand why Jon is trying to save the wildlings, when they killed his whole family and everyone in his village. Samwell replies that the two sides have been fighting for years, but Olly notes it wasn’t a fight, that they were just peaceful farmers and were slaughtered.
Samwell responds that the wildlings are people, just like them, and some are good and some are bad. Olly then points out that Tormund (“the one with the red beard”) was the leader of the raid on his village, and can’t understand how Jon can trust them. Sam tells the boy that he saw the army of the dead and the White Walkers, and that they’re coming for all the living. He patiently explains that when it’s time, they’ll need every man they can find. At that, Olly conjures the image of the wildlings cutting their throats after they allow them through the Wall.
Sam explains that Jon is taking a risk, but he has to make it because they stand no chance otherwise. He tells him that sometimes you must make hard choices—choices that may look wrong to others, but you know are right. Olly asks if Sam believes that, and Sam says he does so, with all his heart. Olly considers that in silence, and then takes his leave, but Samwell stops him and tells him not to worry, that he’s worried about Jon for years and yet Jon always comes back.
Beyond the Wall, with the ships anchored beyond rocks, Jon Snow is rowed to Hardhome. Several other boats join them. The small fortified village is crowded with wildlings, but beyond the walls is a huge, sprawling encampment of thousands more stretching into the distance. As the boat reaches shore, Jon, Tormund, and Edd Tollett disembark and approach. The wildlings stare at them sullenly. Tormund asks if Jon trusts him, and Jon wonders if that makes him a fool. “We’re fools together now,” Tormund says.
Pressing deeper into Hardhome, there’s a whistle and the Lord of Bones leads a troop of armed wildlings to meet them. He blocks their way. Tormund greets him, but Rattleshirt recalls that the last time he saw him, the “little crow” was Tormund’s prisoner, and now it seems to be the other way around. Tormund explains it was due to the war, but Rattleshirt says it wasn’t worth the name when the greatest army the north had ever seen was cut to pieces by Stannis. Tormund calls for a gathering of the elders, and Rattleshirt says he doesn’t give orders in Hardhome. Tormund agrees.
Rattleshirt looks Tormund up and down and then asks why he isn’t in chains. Jon speaks up then, indicating that Tormund is not a prisoner, but an ally. The Lord of Bones curses, calling Tormund a traitor, asking if he fights for the Night’s Watch now. Tormund says he doesn’t, and Jon explains they’re there to talk rather than fight. Mockingly, Rattleshirt asks if that’s right, and begins to thump Tormund in the chest with his club over and over as he observes that Tormund and the “pretty crow” do a lot of talking, and starts to ask if they have sexual relations….
…. when Tormund snatches the club from Rattleshirt’s hand, and beats him to the ground. And then he continues beating him, again and again and again, until the Lrod of Bones is dead. The other wildlings watch in stunned silence. When Tormund is done, he tosses the club away and repeats his desire to gather the elders and talk. He leads the way deeper into Hardhome, Jon and his men following behind.
In a crowded hall filled with wildling leaders (as well as one giant), Jon Snow introduces himself and explains that while they aren’t friends, and won’t become friends that day, but this is about survival rather than friendship, putting the Wall between them and what’s out there. A wildling woman, Karsi, points out the Watch made the Wall while Loboda, an ax-wielding Thenn warrior, asks since when the “crows” have cared about the wildlings. Jon admits they wouldn’t normally do so, but that now is not normal: the White Walkers do not care if they are crows or Free Folk, they’re all the same to them: “meat for their army.”
When Jon suggests they can defeat them together, Karsi casts doubts and suggests at best they could run from them. Jon takes the bag Samwell gave him—the wildlings react suspiciously at first—and hands it to Karsi. She looks inside and sees the dragonglass blades that Jon offers as a gift for those who join them. He explains that it was what a man of the Watch used to kill a Walker. Loboda asks if he saw it, and Jon admits he didn’t but that he trusts the man. Karsi admits there are old stories about dragonglass, but Loboda retorts there are also stories of “ice spiders big as hounds.” Karsi asks if, given what they’ve seen, he doesn’t believe them.
Jon tells them to come with him and he’ll share the weapons. Karsi asks where they’ll go, and Jon explains that there’s good land south of the Wall which the wildlings can farm. There’s a sound at that among the elders, who seem impressed by the offer. Jon goes on to say that Mance wanted a new life for the wildlings, and that he was prepared to offer them that life. Karsi asks what the catch is, and Jon only requires that they will support the Watch when the “real war” begins.
Then Loboda speaks, asking where Mance is. Jon explains that he was dead, and that he was killed by Jon himself with an arrow through his heart. There’s shouts of outrage and weapons drawn, but Tormund urges calm. Loboda speaks up in the silence suggesting they send Jon back without his eyes, and Tormund steps inbetween them to explain that Stannis wanted Mance burned alive to send a message, but that Jon defied him and that the arrow was mercy. Tormund goes on to argue that that took courage, and that that’s what they need most as they’ll need it to make peace with the men they’ve been fighting for generations.
Karsi then points out that she’s lost her father, her uncle, and two brothers fighting the crows. Jon raises his voice, saying he’s not asking them to forget their dead, because he’ll never forget his own. He points out that he lost fifty brothers when the wildlings attacked the Wall, but he’s asking them to think about their children, now, because they’ll have no chance if they do not band together against the White Walkers with the Long Night coming. Jon adds that there’s no clan that can stop them, that the Free Folk can’t, that the Watch can’t, even the southron kings can’t…. but if they all banded together, they had a fighting chance if not a guarantee of survival.
There’s a long silence of consideration, and then Karsi asks if Tormund vouches for Jon. Tormund admits he’s prettier than both his daughters, but he knows how to fight and lead, and he came to Hardhome because he needs the wildlings as much as they need him. Loboda grimly says his ancestors would spit on him for making peace with a crow, to which Karsi replies, “So would mine, but fuck them, they’re dead.” She steps forward to stand before Jon and tells him that she’ll never trust “a man in black”. Then, moving to Tormund, she says she trusts him, and that if he says that alliance is the way forward, her people are with him.
Another wildling speaks up, agreeing. He states that they’re dead men if they stay, but with “King Crow” there’s a chance. Then a rumbling sound draws their attention to the giant, who simply says, “Tormund” in a deep voice. Tormund bows to him. Loboda, however, does not want the new life or dragonglass that Jon Snow offered. He tells the gathered elders that Jon’s men will slit their throats as soon as they climb aboard his ships. He points at Jon and says that that is their enemy, and has always been their enemy. He pushes past Jon and leaves, and more than half of the elders follow them.
Karsi, looking to Tormund, curses the Thenns, saying she hates them. Tormund nods his head in agreement.
Later, boats are rowing back and forth between Hardhome and the ships. Wildlings are lined up waiting for a chance to board one of the boats. We see Tormund and Jon helping when Jon Snow asks how many wildlings are with them, and he speculates some 5,000. Tormund claims he’s never been good at counting. Jon complains they’re leaving too many behind, but Tormund tells him that the free folk are stubborn—it took Mance 20 years to bind the tribes and clans of the free folk together. Jon observes that Mance knew them much better than he ever would, and at that Tormund tells him that with the lack of food and hunting opportunities they’ll come around. He moves back to the boats.
Karsi brings her two daughters to the boats, and tells the youngest that Johnna, her elder sister, would look after her. Her daughter says to her that she wants to go with her, but Karsi explains she has to get the “old folks” on the boats. She promises she’ll be right behind them, hugs each and kisses them, and then helps push the boat away. She watches her daughters go.
In the longhall where the elders met, the giant Wun Wun studies a piece of dragonglass. Edd Tollett, seeing him, cannot help but stare. The giant catches notice of this and looks down, asking in a guttural language, “The fuck you looking at?” Edd, getting the drift, moves away… but then their attention is called to the village’s dogs starting to bark and howl for no apparent reason. Outside, wildlings look in the distance. Jon Snow and Tormund, helping more wildlings aboard the boats, stop as they hear the distant rumbling of a storm. Snowy mist floats in a haze above the cliffs that dominate Hardhome. Karsi, too, looks.
And then the wildlings see that plumes and clouds of snow begin to fall down the cliffs, rolling toward the huge, sprawling encampment. There are shouts and screams, and wildlings begin to run for the shelter of Hardhome. Loboda, having gone forward, calls for the gates to be shut. Panicked, the wildlings stream through the gates as they shut, and then more hammer at the gates in terror shouting for them to be opened. Loboda and other wildlings watch as the gate flexes and quivers against the weight of begging wildlings.
Then suddenly, the hammering ends, the shadows of feet disappear, the begging stops. There are isolated cries and screams, but it is almost eeriyl quiet. Loboda carefully approaches the gate to look through a gap in the timbers. Through it he sees only mist, but he more clearly hears cries of pain and anguish. And then there are the beats of many feet, and from the mist come scores of wights. One screeches as it plunges against the wall, reaching a hand through the gap at Loboda, who flinches from its grasp. More and more wights begin to pile against the gates, and wildling archers start to loose their arrows, while Loboda chops the grasping whight’s arm off.
At the docks, the wildlings panic and rush for the boats, plunging into the water. Jon and Tormund try to stop them, to little effect. Inside the longhall, wildlings, Edd, and Wun Wun hear the sound of feet on the roof and the noises of the creatures. Suddenly half a dozen appear in a gap in the roof, and begin to plunge trough. Edd screams as he prepares to fight for his life.
Wights break through timbers and others try to crawl under them—one has its head crushed by Loboda—as the wildlings continue to panic. Karsi helps a fallen wildlign up and then gets him to a boat. She pushes the boat away and then elbows another wildling in the face as he tries to force himself onto the boat. In the meantime, a man of the Watch calls for Jon, but Jon commands him to get the refugees to the ship before coming back to him. The brother protests but Jon insists he go immediately. Wildlings fight one another and fling themselves into the water. Jon, seeing Karsi helping another wildling, says she should be on a boat but she retorts that he should be on one, as well, and then says her daughters got on. Then she asks if her daughters will be able to pass the Wall, even if Jon doesn’t make it, and Jon gives his word that he’s given orders. Karsi wonders how he can enforce those orders if he’s not there.
There’s another rumbling sound, and Tormund appears and urgently tells Jon that if the wights get through the walls everyone will die. Jon draws Longclaw, Tormund his falchion, and Jon shouts for the Watch to go with him. He leads them to the walls, as boats continue to row to the ships.
At the gates, more timbers are broken and shattered, and the first wights start to break through. Arrows knock some down, others are cut down, but they continue to rush at the wildlings in endless waves. Hundreds, thousands more wights begin to pile against the walls and break through the openings. Jon leads his men to the largest breech, and personally holds off a wight as Tormund guards his back and a wildling archer begins to pin the wight to the walls with arrows. At Jon’s urgent call for a sledge, Tormund and other men bring one forward, using it to block up the gap in the timber walls.
Fighting continues, wights cut down by the likes of Karsi, Loboda, Tormund, and Jon, while others fall before the wights. In a pause in the fighting, Jon and Tormund look up to the top of the nearest cliff, their eyes drawn to four figures riding dead horses watching the battle below. Loboda, too, sees them. Then Jon sees the hall is being attacked by wights clambering on its roof, and shouts about the dragonglass inside. Loboda shouts that Jon is with him now, and as Tormund yells for them to go, they rush forward through the battle, cutting down wights as they go.
Near the hall, Jon is shocked when there’s a sudden bursting of timbers and Wun Wun thrusts himself out from the building, skeletal wights clinging to him. He throws them off and tears them apart, and then crushes one underfoot as it rushes Jon. He continues to destroy wights as Loboda and Jon enter the hall, fire raging inside of it. At its other end, a White Walker enters with a spear slung on his back. As he steps into the hall, the fres nearest him die out as a misty cold follows him. Loboda, unphased, tells Jon to get the obsidian while he himself faces the White Walker. The creature is far faster, however, and when his spear meets Loboda’s ax the steel ax shatters. The White Walker runs Loboda through.
Jon, finding the dragonglass, scrambles to grab at it only to be grabbed and flung across the room by the White Walker. It approaches him and tries to kill him, but he escapes its blows. Thrown to one side, he then clambers up to the second story of the building and takes up a sword, having lost Longclaw. That sword shatters when the White Walker blocks, and then Jon is kicked down to the floor blow. Breath knocked from him, he stumbles away, running out into the cold as the White Walker calmly leaps down after him. Jon finds Longclaw and takes it up desperately, while the White Walker approaches deliberately.
It swings its weapon, and Jon brings Longclaw up to block. The weapons meet… and there’s a sound, the sound of metal ringing but not shattering. Jon and the White Walker both look surprised. It pulls the weapon back and prepares another blow when Jon blocks it and then cuts back the other way. The Valyrian steel sword shatters the White Walker as if it were nothing but pieces of brittle ice.
Far above on the cliff, the Night’s King watches Jon’s victory. Elsewhere, the battle continues, Tormund and Karsi fighting the wights. The chieftainess cuts down many of the wights, then turns … and faces a new group of wights: several children, including one skeletal, sightless boy. Karsi, overwhelmed by the sight, becomes easy prey as they rush at her and bear her down, teeth snapping as she cries out in agony.
Jon Snow, half-dazed on the ground, is found by Dolorous Edd who helps him up. He shouts for Jon to come on, but Jon protests that they can’t leave the dragonglass. Edd succinctly tells him, “Fuck the glass! We’re going to die here!” Then there’s a screech from the cliff, and Edd and Jon turn to see the White Walkers on horseback looking down… and then a wave of wights rushing past them, flinging themselves from the cliff to fall within the walls of Hardhome. For a moment they lie on the ground… and then many of them leap up and start to rush to battle. Edd and Jon run for their lives.
Near the walls, Tormund fights on, destroying wights. Then there’s a shout, and the timber walls fall under the weight of the wights. A fresh wave of wights rushes in, and Tormund runs, shouting back to the giant to run to the sea. Wun Wun follows him, and joins Tormund, Jon, and Edd Tollett while swinging a great burning log back and forth to destroy wights. Some leap on him, while above the chaos the Night’s King watches. Jon, Edd, and Tormund leap into a boat and they shout for them to row as Wun Wun holds the docks, crushign more wights for a time before he turns and wades into the water as the last wildlings fight and die. He throws off the wights clinging to him, walking deeper into the water towards the ships.
Jon looks back to Hardhome as the wights kill their last victims. White Walkers can be seen among them, slaying wildlings as well. And then a figure steps forward onto the dock: the Night’s King. He slowly comes to the end of the dock, forst and snow blowing around him. He looks out to the retreating Jon Snow. Then, slowly, he raises up his arms… and the dead rise, blue-eyed, to stand silenly with their fellows wights on the bleak, forbidding shore. Where once the wildlings had sprawled over many acres, their dead now stand gathered all along the shore, silent and still.
Recap
Opening in the throne room of Meereen, Daenerys sits on her throne with Missandei attending her and Unsullied guarding her. Far below at the base of the steps stand Tyrion Lannister and Ser Jorah Mormont. Mormont is the first to speak: “Your Grace, I want to say—” Daenerys cuts him off, commanding him to stay silent. The young queen turns her attention to Tyrion Lannister, questioning his identity. Tyrion indicates he wishes he wasn’t who he actually is, and Daenerys then questions why she shouldn’t kill him out of hand for the crimes of his family against her own kin.
Tyrion points out that he’s the greatest Lannister killer in their time, killing his mother at birth and murdering his own father. Daenerys, however, is dubious of the argument that he should be welcomed into her service for killing members of his own family. Tyrion replies that it’s too soon to know whether she deserves to have him in her service, to which Daenerys says that he could go back to the fighting pits instead if he prefers. Tyrion considers that… and then speaks of the tales he heard of Daenerys Stormborn, how she was born during a terrible storm, smuggled away to Essos, kept alive just steps ahead of assassins, and ultimately sold to some warlord… but that “the most well-informed person” he knew told him that year later she had acquired wealth, lands, and armies as well as three dragons, and that she could build a better world.
Tyrion finishes by saying that he thought it was worth meeting her, at least. Daenerys wonders why Tyrion is worth meeting, in turn, and Tyrion argues that he understands Westeros better than anyone at her side. Daenerys thinks her army and dragons will be sufficient to make that unnecessary, but Tyrion notes that killing and politics aren’t always the same thing. Tyrion points out that he did fairly well as Hand of the King, even though the king at the time preferred to torture animals over taking care of his people. Tyrion suggests he could do even better with a ruler worth the name… if, he notes, that’s what Daenerys actually is.
Daenerys decides to test him, asking him to advise her in what to do with Jorah, pointing out that she had told him she would have him killed if he ever returned, and wonders why she can expect people to follow her if she can’t keep her promises. Tyrion notes Jorah is not the same man as when he started informing on her, that he’s the most devoted man he’s ever seen… and yet he did, indeed, betray her. Tyrion, glancing at Mormont, begins to mount the steps only for the Unsullied to start to bar his way. Daenerys gestures, and they let Tyrion approach another few steps.
Tyrion asks if Jorah had the chance to confess his betrayal. Daenerys says he did, many of them, but on further questioning points out that he only did so once he was forced to do so. Tyrion looks back to Jorah again, and then says that Mormont worships Daenerys, is even in love with her, but he did not trust her with the truth. Daenerys asks if Tyrion is advising her to kill him, but Tyrion explains that a ruler who kills those devoted to her is not a ruler who inspires devotion… and that she’ll need a lot of devotion if she means to cross the narrow sea and win Westeros. But, he adds, she also cannot have Jorah at her side.
Daenerys looks at Mormont for a long moment, and then has the Unsullied remove Jorah from the city. Mormont looks up at her, taken aback, but then turns and walks away. The Unsullied show him out of a small gate in the city walls. Mormont lifts his sleeve to look at th greyscale on his arm, then up to the walls, before he walks away.
In the cells below the Great Sept, a tall, forbidding septa—the same who seized Cersei when she was arrested—enters with a bucket and ladle. Cersei is unkempt, clad now in a plain, grimey shift and seated against a wall. The septa throws a piece of bread into her lap, then dips the ladle into the bucket and offers Cersei a drink. “Confess,” she says at the same time. Cersei touches the ladle, then asks to be allowed to speak to Tommen, only to be struck by the ladle as the septa repeats, “Confess.” Cersei responds with anger, promising that her face will be the last thing the septa sees, but is struck yet again before she can finish the sentence. The septa puts the ladle in the bucket and leaves.
After the septa departs, Cersei gives into emotion, beginning to sob, and then she screams in useless rage.
In the House of Black and White, Jaqen and Arya sit across from one another. Affectless, Arya informs him that she is Lana, an orphan, who makes her living selling oysters, starting with a bucket and then eventually working her way to having a cart which she uses every morning to sell oysters in the canals. She names her usual first customer of the day as Lara, then she turns left onto Moonsinger Lane—
Jaqen strikes her hand with a rod, at the lie. She corrects herself, saying she turns onto Ragman Lane where she does most of her trade. Jaqen notes Lana is impressive and industrious, a fine servant for the Many Faced God. She asks how she’ll serve, and Jaqen tells her to turn right instead of left, to go on to Ragman Harbor. When Arya asks what Lana will do there, Jaqen explains that she will see. He won’t explain, saying that if he knew what she would see there’d be no reason to send her there.
We see Arya as Lana, calling out, “Oysters, clams, and cockles!” as she walks along the busy harbor where Braavosi fishermen, traders, and more go about their day. She passes an old, thin man attended by guards who sits at a table stacked with coins and documents. He eyes her as she turns past him and he calls out to her, asking if the oysters are fresh. She says they’re the best in the city, and he wonders if she’d lie to an old man. To prove claim, she takes out an oyster and opens it with a knife, while he sets down the coins he’s holding. He takes the proferred oyster and eats it, and says it’s very nice, then asks for four with vinegar.
As “Lana” turns to fill his order, a man shows up with a heavy bag of coins and tells the old man that he’s returned from 17 voyages without a scratch on him, and he’s preparing his 18th. The documents he hands over are examined by the man, presumably manfiests as well as a map indicating a route that takes him from Braavos to Volantis, through the Smoking Sea and ultimately to Meereen. The old man considers it and then says he won’t do it. The man begs, saying he has three children and they depend on him. He tries to convince the man to take the coins, but the old man glances to his guards and they drag the man away.
“Lana” oveahears it all, and after the man is out of earshot she brings the oysters to the old man. He pays her a few coins, and she returns to her business. Later, in the House of Black and White, Jaqen explains the old man’s business: he is a gambler, wagering that ships will reach their destination, and he notes it’s a strange wager for the captain to make since he only wins if he loses his life. Arya doesn’t understand why he’d make the wager, and Jaqen tells her that she should tell him what she sees. Arya considers it, and then realizes that if the captain dies, the “thin man” would be bound to pay the family a lot of money.
At that Jaqen wonders what happens if the thin man decides not to pay his debt if the captain dies, leaving a wife and small child destitute. What can they do in such a situation, he wonders, and to whom could they turn to recourse? Arya realizes the Many-Faced God is their recourse, but then notes Jaqen told her he didn’t know what she would see. Jaqen responds that he didn’t know what she would or would not see. Then he tells her that Lana will return to the docks, where she’ll watch the gambler and learn as much about him as she knows about herself. And then, when she asks, he says she’ll have a gift for him: he offers a small bottle holding a liquid. Arya takes it and leavesthe chamber.
After she’s gone, the waif appears and tells Jaqen that she’s not ready. “Perhaps she is, perhaps she’s not,” he replies. When the waif asks what happens if Arya isn’t ready, Jaqen replies that it’s all the same to the Many-Faced God. He leaves the waif to her thoughts.
In the cell beneath the Great Sept, a small window opens in the door through which the septa looks, and then the door itself opens as Qyburn enters the cell. Once the door is shut and they are left alone, Qyburn explains that the trial will take place and the High Sparrow will have a substantial case with charges of fornication, treason, incest, and the murder of King Robert. “All lies,” Cersei says immediately. “Of course, your grace,” Qyburn replies. Then he points out his concern that the Faith does not have the same standards of proof as the crown. He begs forgiveness for saying it, and tells her that belief is often the death of reason. “I wish you’d said it sooner,” she responds.
She asks after Jaime, but Qyburn has heard nothing regarding him. Then he tells her that Grand Maester Pycelle summoned Ser Kevan back to court. Cersei stands at that and tells Qyburn to have Kevan visit her, but Qyburn replies that he already implored Kevan and was rejected. Cersei takes that in, then asks after Tommen, but Qyburn tells her that the arrests of Cersei and Margaery have made Tommen despondent, often skipping meals and simply staying in his chambers. She insists Qyburn see him and convince him to see his mother, but Qyburn says he tried and failed: Tommen won’t see him, or anyone at all.
When Cersei says she can’t stand to stay, Qyburn suggests there’s a way out. “Confess,” she says, understanding his meaning. With increasing anger she says she made the High Sparrow, rose him up from nothing, and she will not kneel before “some barefooted commoner and beg his forgiveness.” Just then the septa enters, and Cersei steps back against the wall away from her. Qyburn offers his farewell, and the parting words, “The work continues.”
In Winterfell, Reek slowly opens the door to Sansa’s chamber, carrying a tray with food and drink. He finds her seated at a small table, staring at him. He goes on to set the tray down, when Sansa asks, “Why, Theon?” He corrects her, saying there’s no Theon, only Reek. “Reek.” she says, “Why did you tell him, Reek?” He replies that he was helping her, because there’s no escape from Ramsay, not ever. He tells her that Theon Greyjoy tried to escape, and “the master” knew everything, caught him and strapped him to a cross, cutting away piece after piece “until there was no Theon left.”
Sansa responds: “Good.” She tells him that if it weren’t for him, she’d still have a family, and that if she could do what Ramsay did to him, she’d do it that very moment. Reek is silent at first, then admits he deserved everything and deserves to be Reek for the terrible things he did: turning on Robb, capturing Winterfell. Sansa stands, rounding the table to excoriate him for Bran and Rickon, the boys he’d known since they were born. “They weren’t,” Reek says, defensively as he steps back away from her, “they were only—” He catches himself, falling quiet, but Sansa pursues it, asking what he meant to say.
Reek refuses, saying he can’t say unless the master says. Sansa insists, shouting at him, “Tell me why Bran and Rickon should be gone while you still breathe the air!” Grabbing his head in her hands, she yells at him, demanding that he tell her. Finally, Reek bursts out with the truth: they weren’t Bran and Rickon. Sansa can’t believe what he says, as he explains that he couldn’t find them, so he took two farm boys and killed and burned them so no one would know the truth. She has him confirm again that he never found them, and then asks if he knows where they are. He says he can’t speak to her anymore, but she presses the point, asking Theon if he knows anything about where they might be. “Not Theon! Reek!” he shouts, and escapes from the room, leaving her.
In a hall in Winterfell, one of Roose’s commanders informs him that their scouts say Stannis has no more than 6,000 men, half of them mounted. Lord Bolton wonders how high his horses can jump: the walls of Winterfell are newly-repaired, the gates reinforced, the supplies sufficient to keep them for six months. Roose bets on a siege, and the fact that they’re far more prepared for it than Stannis can hope to be. He expects that Stannis’s army will starve, freeze, and mutiny.
Ramsay stares at his father, and Roose sees that Ramsay disagrees. Ramsay admits Stannis isn’t from the North while his father is, but he believes that his father is missing an opportunity in showing the northerners who the Boltons deal with southron invaders. Prompted by Roose for what he recommends, Ramsay suggests they not sit and wait and let Stannis decide the kind of fight it will be, but instead “hit first and hit hard, and leave a feast for the crows.” Roose counters that by saying a smart commander does not give up an advantage, and that so long they’re behind the walls they’re safe. And, he adds, besides that the snows are too heavy to get an army out to engage Stannis. Ramsay responds he doesn’t need an army, he just needs twenty good men.
In Meereen, Daenerys sits across from Tyrion in her chamber. He pours them both a glass of wine as Daenerys asks if Tyrion has decided whether she’s worthy of his service. He asks with his own question, whether she’s decided if she’ll have him killed. She explains it’s probably her safest option. Tyrion leans back with his cup, and points out that her father would have done something like that. As he drinks, she asks what his father would have done. He points out Tywin sentenced him to death, so his thoughts on the matter were clear.
She asks if that’s why Tyrion killed his own father. To that, Tyrion says that some day—if she hasn’t’ executed him—he’ll explain all the reasons for why he did it, but that he’ll need more wine than they have at that moment. As they both drink, Daenerys tells Tyrion that she knows that her father earned the name of Mad King. Tyrion remarks that they are both “two terrible children of two terrible fathers.” Daenerys wonders at being called terrible, and he explains he has heard stories about her. That prompts her to question why he travelled to the far side of the world to meet her, then, but he replies that he wanted to see if she was the “right kind” of terrible, the kind who prevents her own people from being even more terrible.
At that, Daenerys responds that she agreed to reopen the fighting pits, turning murder into entertainment. Tyrion calls that wise, however, and also observes that she agreed to marry Hizdahr—whom he supposes she loathes—for the greater good. He concludes that that was very impressive. He compares her to Cersei, who married someone she loathed as well, though neither by choice nor for the greater good. He concludes that she ended up having her husband killed. To that, Daenerys says. “Perhaps it won’t come to that.”
A silence follows, and then as he sips more wine Tyrion indicates that Varys may have been right about her. She recognizes the name, noting him as Robert’s spymaster and seeming unimpressed. Tyrion quickly notes that it was Varys who convinced Tyrion to go to Daenerys, and comments that they travelled together until Jorah seized him. Daenerys retorts that Jorah sent her secrets to Varys, and notes that for twenty years Varys oversaw a “campaign” to kill her. Tyrion explains that Varys did what he had to to survive… but he suspects that the main reason Daenerys wasn’t killed was because of Varys’s interference. When Daenerys asks if Tyrion trusts him, Tyrion concludes that Varys may be the only person he trusts, besides his brother.
At the reference to Jaime, Daenerys—not looking at Tyrion—asks if that would be the brother who killed her father. “That’s the one,” Tyrion responds as he pours himself more wine. Daenerys casually suggests she may have him killed after all, and Tyrion admits tha that would be her prerogative. Then he explains he had given up on life until Varys convinced him that Daenerys was worth living for. He finishes by saying that even if she chops off his head, his final days were interesting.
After a long moment, Daenerys informs him that she’ll neither execute nor banish him, and instead says he will advise her. He lifts his cup in salute, and she snatches it from his hand before he can drink, saying she wants his advice while he can “still speak in complete sentences.” Realizing she wants advice on seizing the Iron Throne, he suggests she should want something else. Despite her displeasure, he presses on, saying there’s more to the world than just Westeros, citing how she has changed Meereen for the better and that it may be where she belongs. She stands then, moving behind her seat before turning and explaining that she fought to make sure no children in Slaver’s Bay would ever learn what it was like to be bought and sold, but that’s a fight she’ll continue in Meereen… and beyond.
However, Daenerys says, Meereen is not her home. Tyrion questions what support she’ll have. When she immediately claims the support of the common people, Tyrion offers to be generous and assume that that is true… but points out that the support of the common people alone in Meereen didn’t work so well, when the rich didn’t support her. He tallies up the problems for her: no more Targaryens to support her, the Starks destroyed, the other Lannisters will never back her, Stannis’s own claim depends on Daenerys’s illegitimacy. He concludes that only the Tyrells remain, and while he supposes they might be convinced, they alone aren’t enough.
In response, Daenerys runs through the names of those houses, calling them spokes in a wheel who are constantly shifting power: one on top, then the next, and on and on. She claims that the wheel crushes those beneath it to the ground. Tyrion thinks that stopping that wheel is a beautiful dream, and that she’s not the first who dreamt it. “I’m not going to stop the wheel,” Daenerys replies sternly. “I’m going to break the wheel.”
In Yezzan’s pit, he watches two fighters practice. Then, looking over his shoulder, he whistles the men to a halt as he turns to face the approaching Ser Jorah Mormont. Mormont flips the coin he received from Yezzan to the slaver, and states that Yezzan promised that the man who survived in the pit would fight in the Great Game, and he points out that he was the winner. Yezzan complains that Jorah struck him, and the knight offers to be flogged in punishment, but he is regardless the best fighter Yezzan has. He points out that if he wins in the Great Pit, he’ll command a huge price if Yezzan decides to sell him. Yezzan considers this, then remarks on the fact that Ser Jorah was a free man and could have gone anywhere. Why, he asks, did he return? Jorah steps nearer and tells Yezzan only that if he lets him fight for Daenerys, he’ll belong to Yezzan.
In a cell beneath the Great Sept, Septa Unella asks if Cersei is thirsty, and then tells her to confess. Cersei tells her that she will get out eventually. “Confess”, Unella responds. Cersei offers to make the septa wealthy and a lady of the court, and again Unella repeats her demand for confession. Then Cersei, seething, says that she can make sure Unella dies in a hideous fashion, and that all she does now is imagine ways for Unella to die. The septa empties her ladle on the ground, and leaves. Cersei stares… and then moves to where the water was spilled, sucking up what she can from the filthy floor as she sobs.
At Castle Black, Gilly tends to Samwell’s wounds and asks, “Did it hurt?” Sam says no, and she says that’s good. He then awkwardly asks how she is, and she replies that she’s not the one who was punched and kicked. Samwell clarifies that she knows what he means, and she briefly indicates she’s fine. Sam then asks if she’s scared, and she admits she’s a little scared; he commiserates. There’s a knock at the door then, and Samwell instictively takes up a knife as he calls out asking who it is. From the other side of the door, Olly identifies himself. Relaxing, Samwell tells Olly to enter.
The boy carries a tray of food and drink for Sam, and explains he heard what happened. Samwell says there’s no reason to worry, making light of the incident by suggesting men will brawl from time to time. Olly sets down the food for Samwell, thinking he was hungry, and then says he meant to ask Samwell something if he has time. Gilly excuses herself, and then Olly asks about Lord Commander Jon Snow. He can’t understand why Jon is trying to save the wildlings, when they killed his whole family and everyone in his village. Samwell replies that the two sides have been fighting for years, but Olly notes it wasn’t a fight, that they were just peaceful farmers and were slaughtered.
Samwell responds that the wildlings are people, just like them, and some are good and some are bad. Olly then points out that Tormund (“the one with the red beard”) was the leader of the raid on his village, and can’t understand how Jon can trust them. Sam tells the boy that he saw the army of the dead and the White Walkers, and that they’re coming for all the living. He patiently explains that when it’s time, they’ll need every man they can find. At that, Olly conjures the image of the wildlings cutting their throats after they allow them through the Wall.
Sam explains that Jon is taking a risk, but he has to make it because they stand no chance otherwise. He tells him that sometimes you must make hard choices—choices that may look wrong to others, but you know are right. Olly asks if Sam believes that, and Sam says he does so, with all his heart. Olly considers that in silence, and then takes his leave, but Samwell stops him and tells him not to worry, that he’s worried about Jon for years and yet Jon always comes back.
Beyond the Wall, with the ships anchored beyond rocks, Jon Snow is rowed to Hardhome. Several other boats join them. The small fortified village is crowded with wildlings, but beyond the walls is a huge, sprawling encampment of thousands more stretching into the distance. As the boat reaches shore, Jon, Tormund, and Edd Tollett disembark and approach. The wildlings stare at them sullenly. Tormund asks if Jon trusts him, and Jon wonders if that makes him a fool. “We’re fools together now,” Tormund says.
Pressing deeper into Hardhome, there’s a whistle and the Lord of Bones leads a troop of armed wildlings to meet them. He blocks their way. Tormund greets him, but Rattleshirt recalls that the last time he saw him, the “little crow” was Tormund’s prisoner, and now it seems to be the other way around. Tormund explains it was due to the war, but Rattleshirt says it wasn’t worth the name when the greatest army the north had ever seen was cut to pieces by Stannis. Tormund calls for a gathering of the elders, and Rattleshirt says he doesn’t give orders in Hardhome. Tormund agrees.
Rattleshirt looks Tormund up and down and then asks why he isn’t in chains. Jon speaks up then, indicating that Tormund is not a prisoner, but an ally. The Lord of Bones curses, calling Tormund a traitor, asking if he fights for the Night’s Watch now. Tormund says he doesn’t, and Jon explains they’re there to talk rather than fight. Mockingly, Rattleshirt asks if that’s right, and begins to thump Tormund in the chest with his club over and over as he observes that Tormund and the “pretty crow” do a lot of talking, and starts to ask if they have sexual relations….
…. when Tormund snatches the club from Rattleshirt’s hand, and beats him to the ground. And then he continues beating him, again and again and again, until the Lrod of Bones is dead. The other wildlings watch in stunned silence. When Tormund is done, he tosses the club away and repeats his desire to gather the elders and talk. He leads the way deeper into Hardhome, Jon and his men following behind.
In a crowded hall filled with wildling leaders (as well as one giant), Jon Snow introduces himself and explains that while they aren’t friends, and won’t become friends that day, but this is about survival rather than friendship, putting the Wall between them and what’s out there. A wildling woman, Karsi, points out the Watch made the Wall while Loboda, an ax-wielding Thenn warrior, asks since when the “crows” have cared about the wildlings. Jon admits they wouldn’t normally do so, but that now is not normal: the White Walkers do not care if they are crows or Free Folk, they’re all the same to them: “meat for their army.”
When Jon suggests they can defeat them together, Karsi casts doubts and suggests at best they could run from them. Jon takes the bag Samwell gave him—the wildlings react suspiciously at first—and hands it to Karsi. She looks inside and sees the dragonglass blades that Jon offers as a gift for those who join them. He explains that it was what a man of the Watch used to kill a Walker. Loboda asks if he saw it, and Jon admits he didn’t but that he trusts the man. Karsi admits there are old stories about dragonglass, but Loboda retorts there are also stories of “ice spiders big as hounds.” Karsi asks if, given what they’ve seen, he doesn’t believe them.
Jon tells them to come with him and he’ll share the weapons. Karsi asks where they’ll go, and Jon explains that there’s good land south of the Wall which the wildlings can farm. There’s a sound at that among the elders, who seem impressed by the offer. Jon goes on to say that Mance wanted a new life for the wildlings, and that he was prepared to offer them that life. Karsi asks what the catch is, and Jon only requires that they will support the Watch when the “real war” begins.
Then Loboda speaks, asking where Mance is. Jon explains that he was dead, and that he was killed by Jon himself with an arrow through his heart. There’s shouts of outrage and weapons drawn, but Tormund urges calm. Loboda speaks up in the silence suggesting they send Jon back without his eyes, and Tormund steps inbetween them to explain that Stannis wanted Mance burned alive to send a message, but that Jon defied him and that the arrow was mercy. Tormund goes on to argue that that took courage, and that that’s what they need most as they’ll need it to make peace with the men they’ve been fighting for generations.
Karsi then points out that she’s lost her father, her uncle, and two brothers fighting the crows. Jon raises his voice, saying he’s not asking them to forget their dead, because he’ll never forget his own. He points out that he lost fifty brothers when the wildlings attacked the Wall, but he’s asking them to think about their children, now, because they’ll have no chance if they do not band together against the White Walkers with the Long Night coming. Jon adds that there’s no clan that can stop them, that the Free Folk can’t, that the Watch can’t, even the southron kings can’t…. but if they all banded together, they had a fighting chance if not a guarantee of survival.
There’s a long silence of consideration, and then Karsi asks if Tormund vouches for Jon. Tormund admits he’s prettier than both his daughters, but he knows how to fight and lead, and he came to Hardhome because he needs the wildlings as much as they need him. Loboda grimly says his ancestors would spit on him for making peace with a crow, to which Karsi replies, “So would mine, but fuck them, they’re dead.” She steps forward to stand before Jon and tells him that she’ll never trust “a man in black”. Then, moving to Tormund, she says she trusts him, and that if he says that alliance is the way forward, her people are with him.
Another wildling speaks up, agreeing. He states that they’re dead men if they stay, but with “King Crow” there’s a chance. Then a rumbling sound draws their attention to the giant, who simply says, “Tormund” in a deep voice. Tormund bows to him. Loboda, however, does not want the new life or dragonglass that Jon Snow offered. He tells the gathered elders that Jon’s men will slit their throats as soon as they climb aboard his ships. He points at Jon and says that that is their enemy, and has always been their enemy. He pushes past Jon and leaves, and more than half of the elders follow them.
Karsi, looking to Tormund, curses the Thenns, saying she hates them. Tormund nods his head in agreement.
Later, boats are rowing back and forth between Hardhome and the ships. Wildlings are lined up waiting for a chance to board one of the boats. We see Tormund and Jon helping when Jon Snow asks how many wildlings are with them, and he speculates some 5,000. Tormund claims he’s never been good at counting. Jon complains they’re leaving too many behind, but Tormund tells him that the free folk are stubborn—it took Mance 20 years to bind the tribes and clans of the free folk together. Jon observes that Mance knew them much better than he ever would, and at that Tormund tells him that with the lack of food and hunting opportunities they’ll come around. He moves back to the boats.
Karsi brings her two daughters to the boats, and tells the youngest that Johnna, her elder sister, would look after her. Her daughter says to her that she wants to go with her, but Karsi explains she has to get the “old folks” on the boats. She promises she’ll be right behind them, hugs each and kisses them, and then helps push the boat away. She watches her daughters go.
In the longhall where the elders met, the giant Wun Wun studies a piece of dragonglass. Edd Tollett, seeing him, cannot help but stare. The giant catches notice of this and looks down, asking in a guttural language, “The fuck you looking at?” Edd, getting the drift, moves away… but then their attention is called to the village’s dogs starting to bark and howl for no apparent reason. Outside, wildlings look in the distance. Jon Snow and Tormund, helping more wildlings aboard the boats, stop as they hear the distant rumbling of a storm. Snowy mist floats in a haze above the cliffs that dominate Hardhome. Karsi, too, looks.
And then the wildlings see that plumes and clouds of snow begin to fall down the cliffs, rolling toward the huge, sprawling encampment. There are shouts and screams, and wildlings begin to run for the shelter of Hardhome. Loboda, having gone forward, calls for the gates to be shut. Panicked, the wildlings stream through the gates as they shut, and then more hammer at the gates in terror shouting for them to be opened. Loboda and other wildlings watch as the gate flexes and quivers against the weight of begging wildlings.
Then suddenly, the hammering ends, the shadows of feet disappear, the begging stops. There are isolated cries and screams, but it is almost eeriyl quiet. Loboda carefully approaches the gate to look through a gap in the timbers. Through it he sees only mist, but he more clearly hears cries of pain and anguish. And then there are the beats of many feet, and from the mist come scores of wights. One screeches as it plunges against the wall, reaching a hand through the gap at Loboda, who flinches from its grasp. More and more wights begin to pile against the gates, and wildling archers start to loose their arrows, while Loboda chops the grasping whight’s arm off.
At the docks, the wildlings panic and rush for the boats, plunging into the water. Jon and Tormund try to stop them, to little effect. Inside the longhall, wildlings, Edd, and Wun Wun hear the sound of feet on the roof and the noises of the creatures. Suddenly half a dozen appear in a gap in the roof, and begin to plunge trough. Edd screams as he prepares to fight for his life.
Wights break through timbers and others try to crawl under them—one has its head crushed by Loboda—as the wildlings continue to panic. Karsi helps a fallen wildlign up and then gets him to a boat. She pushes the boat away and then elbows another wildling in the face as he tries to force himself onto the boat. In the meantime, a man of the Watch calls for Jon, but Jon commands him to get the refugees to the ship before coming back to him. The brother protests but Jon insists he go immediately. Wildlings fight one another and fling themselves into the water. Jon, seeing Karsi helping another wildling, says she should be on a boat but she retorts that he should be on one, as well, and then says her daughters got on. Then she asks if her daughters will be able to pass the Wall, even if Jon doesn’t make it, and Jon gives his word that he’s given orders. Karsi wonders how he can enforce those orders if he’s not there.
There’s another rumbling sound, and Tormund appears and urgently tells Jon that if the wights get through the walls everyone will die. Jon draws Longclaw, Tormund his falchion, and Jon shouts for the Watch to go with him. He leads them to the walls, as boats continue to row to the ships.
At the gates, more timbers are broken and shattered, and the first wights start to break through. Arrows knock some down, others are cut down, but they continue to rush at the wildlings in endless waves. Hundreds, thousands more wights begin to pile against the walls and break through the openings. Jon leads his men to the largest breech, and personally holds off a wight as Tormund guards his back and a wildling archer begins to pin the wight to the walls with arrows. At Jon’s urgent call for a sledge, Tormund and other men bring one forward, using it to block up the gap in the timber walls.
Fighting continues, wights cut down by the likes of Karsi, Loboda, Tormund, and Jon, while others fall before the wights. In a pause in the fighting, Jon and Tormund look up to the top of the nearest cliff, their eyes drawn to four figures riding dead horses watching the battle below. Loboda, too, sees them. Then Jon sees the hall is being attacked by wights clambering on its roof, and shouts about the dragonglass inside. Loboda shouts that Jon is with him now, and as Tormund yells for them to go, they rush forward through the battle, cutting down wights as they go.
Near the hall, Jon is shocked when there’s a sudden bursting of timbers and Wun Wun thrusts himself out from the building, skeletal wights clinging to him. He throws them off and tears them apart, and then crushes one underfoot as it rushes Jon. He continues to destroy wights as Loboda and Jon enter the hall, fire raging inside of it. At its other end, a White Walker enters with a spear slung on his back. As he steps into the hall, the fres nearest him die out as a misty cold follows him. Loboda, unphased, tells Jon to get the obsidian while he himself faces the White Walker. The creature is far faster, however, and when his spear meets Loboda’s ax the steel ax shatters. The White Walker runs Loboda through.
Jon, finding the dragonglass, scrambles to grab at it only to be grabbed and flung across the room by the White Walker. It approaches him and tries to kill him, but he escapes its blows. Thrown to one side, he then clambers up to the second story of the building and takes up a sword, having lost Longclaw. That sword shatters when the White Walker blocks, and then Jon is kicked down to the floor blow. Breath knocked from him, he stumbles away, running out into the cold as the White Walker calmly leaps down after him. Jon finds Longclaw and takes it up desperately, while the White Walker approaches deliberately.
It swings its weapon, and Jon brings Longclaw up to block. The weapons meet… and there’s a sound, the sound of metal ringing but not shattering. Jon and the White Walker both look surprised. It pulls the weapon back and prepares another blow when Jon blocks it and then cuts back the other way. The Valyrian steel sword shatters the White Walker as if it were nothing but pieces of brittle ice.
Far above on the cliff, the Night’s King watches Jon’s victory. Elsewhere, the battle continues, Tormund and Karsi fighting the wights. The chieftainess cuts down many of the wights, then turns … and faces a new group of wights: several children, including one skeletal, sightless boy. Karsi, overwhelmed by the sight, becomes easy prey as they rush at her and bear her down, teeth snapping as she cries out in agony.
Jon Snow, half-dazed on the ground, is found by Dolorous Edd who helps him up. He shouts for Jon to come on, but Jon protests that they can’t leave the dragonglass. Edd succinctly tells him, “Fuck the glass! We’re going to die here!” Then there’s a screech from the cliff, and Edd and Jon turn to see the White Walkers on horseback looking down… and then a wave of wights rushing past them, flinging themselves from the cliff to fall within the walls of Hardhome. For a moment they lie on the ground… and then many of them leap up and start to rush to battle. Edd and Jon run for their lives.
Near the walls, Tormund fights on, destroying wights. Then there’s a shout, and the timber walls fall under the weight of the wights. A fresh wave of wights rushes in, and Tormund runs, shouting back to the giant to run to the sea. Wun Wun follows him, and joins Tormund, Jon, and Edd Tollett while swinging a great burning log back and forth to destroy wights. Some leap on him, while above the chaos the Night’s King watches. Jon, Edd, and Tormund leap into a boat and they shout for them to row as Wun Wun holds the docks, crushign more wights for a time before he turns and wades into the water as the last wildlings fight and die. He throws off the wights clinging to him, walking deeper into the water towards the ships.
Jon looks back to Hardhome as the wights kill their last victims. White Walkers can be seen among them, slaying wildlings as well. And then a figure steps forward onto the dock: the Night’s King. He slowly comes to the end of the dock, forst and snow blowing around him. He looks out to the retreating Jon Snow. Then, slowly, he raises up his arms… and the dead rise, blue-eyed, to stand silenly with their fellows wights on the bleak, forbidding shore. Where once the wildlings had sprawled over many acres, their dead now stand gathered all along the shore, silent and still.
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