Westeros
The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
GoT
EP308: Second Sons
King’s Landing hosts a wedding, and Tyrion and Sansa spend the night together. Dany meets the Titan’s Bastard. Davos demands proof from Melisandre. Sam and Gilly meet an older gentleman.
Index
Recap
We see a stone in the close foreground, and then the background comes into focus and we realize Arya is looking at it. Lying down by a smoking fire, she glances… and then hefts up the rock and sneaks over to where Sandor Clegane, the Hound, appears to be asleep. But as she lifts the rock over him, he speaks: “I’ll give you one try, girl.” He looks at her and tells her she’ll get that one shot, but if she fails to kill him, he’ll break both of her hands. Then he challenges her to hit him “hard”, as she stares at him, frozen.
The next scene shows her on horseback, seated across the horse as the Hound is in the saddle. He eats something and offers it to her, but she refuses. He tells her she can sulk all she wants, but she’s lucky: someone worse than him might have found her in the wood. She insists there’s no one worse than him, but he replies that she hasn’t met his brother, who once killed a man for snoring. Arya says nothing. He goes on to state there are surely men worse than him, who like to beat little girls and those who like to rape them. He notes he saved Sansa from those sort of men, but Arya responds by calling him a liar. He tells her to ask her, if she ever sees Sansa again, about who came back for her when the mob was about to rape and murder her.
Arya is left silent as Sandor pauses the horse to look a the landscape before them. Arya asks if it’s the Blackwater, and the Hound is surprised. She says that she thought he was taking him to King’s Landing, to Joffrey and Cersei, but the Hound curses them both and informs her that the river is the Red Fork and that he’s taking her to the Twins. She doesn’t understand why, and he explains that Robb and Catelyn will be there and they’ll pay the Hound a ransom for her. Arya still doesn’t understand why they’d be at the Twins, which makes Clegane laugh as he reveals that the brotherhood told her nothing of the fact that Edmure was wedding a Frey woman, and that the whole countryside was talking of it. He finishes by telling her to stop trying to bash his skull in so that they have a chance to make it in time for the wedding.
Outside Yunkai, a troop of horsemen race past an old wall to an encampment outside of the city’s walls. Behind the lesser wall are Daenerys, Jorah, Barristan, Grey Worm, and a guard of Unsullied and Dothraki watching them. Barristan tells Daenerys that men who fight for gold have neither honor nor loyalty, and cannot be trusted. Jorah says otherwise, saying that if they’re paid well enough they can be trusted to fight, and he notes Yunkai is paying them well. Daenerys asks if Jorah knows them, and he replies that the broken sword on their banners identifies them as the Second Sons. They are led by a Braavosi named Mero, who is called the Titan’s Bastard. Daenerys wonders if he’s more titan or bastard, but Jorah warns that he is a dangerous man, as all are the sellswords.
Daenerys asks how many there are, and Barristan says there are 2,000 of them, all mounted. After a long moment of thought, Daenerys remarks it’s hard to collect wages from a corpse and she supposes the sellswords would prefer to fight for the winning side. Daenerys states her intention to speak with the Titan’s Bastard, and when it’s suggested by Barristan that Mero may not agree to meet her, she assures him that he will because “a man who fight for gold can’t afford to lose to a girl.”
Later that day, the captains of the company are introduced to Daenerys in her tent: Mero of Braavos, Prendahl ne Ghezn, and a younger man who introduces himself as Daario Naharis. Mero walks forward and asks if Daenerys is the Mother of Dragons, and then says he could swear he bedded her once in a pleasure house in Lys. Jorah warns him to mind his tongue, but Mero—swaggering up to seat himself on a couch besides Daenerys—asks why he should, as he didn’t mind the woman’s when she used it. He makes a lewd expression as he stares at Daenerys. She says nothing to that. Mero laughs and turns to Missandei, calling her “slave girl” and asking for wine, when Daenerys corrects him and informs him that they have no slaves in her camp.
Mero replies that they’ll all be slaves after the battle, unless he saves Daenerys. He then suggests Daenerys should undress and sit on his lap, and he might give her the Second Sons. Daenerys responds that if he gives her the Second Sons, he may not have him gelded. He laughs at that. Daenerys then asks Barristan to list the number of men who fight for the Second Sons—2,000, he repeats—and then how many Unsullied fight for her. He claims 10,000. Daenerys notes to Mero she’s only a young girl, unused to the ways of war, but she hopes a seasoned captain like Mero can explain how he proposes to defeat her. Daario Naharis speaks up then, hoping Barristan is better with a sword than he is with a lie, as he correctly notes that in fact Daenerys has 8,000 Unsullied. He smiles and nods to Daenerys as she eyes him, and then remarks that he’s very young to be a captain. Then Prendahl speaks up and notes Daario is a lieutenant, not a captain.
Daenerys then informs him that even if the numbers he stated are correct, the odds still do no favor the Second Sons. Mero replies that the Second Sons have faced worse odds and won, to which Jorah immediately retorts that they’ve faced worse odds and run. Daenerys then suggests that they might for her instead. Mero remarks that they’ve taken the Yunkish gold and will fight for them, and then sniffs rudely at Missandei when she tries to fill his cup with wine. Daenerys ignores that, saying that she’ll pay as much and more for their services. Prendahl rejects this, stating that their contract is their bond; if they break their bond, no one will trust them enough to hire them again. Daenerys informs him that if they ride for her, they’ll have gold, castles, and lordships of their choosing when she takes back her throne in Westeros. But Daario speaks again, noting she has neither ships, siege engines, nor cavalry.
Daenerys responds that a fortnight past she did not have an army, and a year ago she did not have dragons. Then she gives Mero an ultimatum: he has two days to decide whether he will bring the Second Sons under her banner. Mero lewdly suggests she show him her sex, to see if it’s worth fighting for. Jorah starts to move, as Grey Worm asks in Valyrian if Daenerys wishes him to cut out Mero’s tongue. Daenerys replies that they are guests, and then tells the men that they seem to enjoy her wine and that she’ll offer them a flagon to take with them as they consider. Mero answers that he’ll need more than a flagon if his brothers-in-arms are to drink with him, so Daenerys instead gives them a barrel. Mero is pleased, saying that he does not drink alone. As he and the other men prepare to depart, he pauses to tell Daenerys that the Second Sons share everything… and they may well share her, after the battle. Daenerys smiles and says nothing. Daario eyes Daenerys before he departs, while Mero slaps Missandei on the rear, promising to come looking for her when it’s over.
Once the men are out of earshot, Daenerys tells Ser Barristan that if it comes to battle, he should kill Mero first. Barristan replies, “Gladly, your grace.”
Then we come to Dragonstone, where Melisandre’s boat has been beached and she and Gendry are stepping onto the sand. Gendry stares at the imposing mass of Dragonstone looming above him, and then follows Melisandre as she leads the way to the castle. In the Chamber of the Painted Table, Stannis is looking over a mass of scrolls and the positions of his enemies when Melisandre and Gendry enter. Stannis moves up to them. Gendry starts to bow, but Stannis lifts his face up, eying it… and then pronouncing that he can see he’s half Robert, half lowborn. Melisandre turns to the guards, telling them to take him to his chambers where he can have a bath and some decent clothes. She promises to visit Gendry later.
Once Gendry is gone, Stannis asks what Melisandre means to do. She informs Stannis that he knows what she plans to do, and he admits this, but he doesn’t understand why Gendry must be bathed and dressed in fine clothes. “If it needs to be done, do it,” he says, “don’t torture the boy.” Melisandre asks if Stannis has ever slaughtered a lamb; when he says he hasn’t, she informs him that if a lamb sees the blade, it panics and it darkens and spoils the flavor of the meat. Stannis supposes she’s slaughtered many lambs, to which Melisandre replies that none have ever seen the blade. She takes her leave of the king.
In the cells of Dragonstone, Davos is struggling to read the book Shireen gave him, reading a passage about Visenya and her dragon Vhaghar, which is named the smallest of the three dragons but still large enough to swallow a whole horse. Davos then hears steps approaching, and hides the book. When he sees that it’s Stannis, he hastily stands and greets him. Stannis asks if Davos has been fed enough, to which he replies that he has two meals a day, one cold, one hot. He adds that he can’t complain, and when Stannis says he doesn’t belong in a place like that, Davos says that he’s seen worse from his days as a smuggler. Stannis agrees… and then offers his condolences for his son Matthos’s death, a good and loyal youth. Then he informs Davos that Melisandre has returned—Davos was unaware she had left—with Robert’s bastard son. Davos doesn’t understand why, and Stannis explains that Melisandre claims there’s power in a king’s blood.
Davos assumes she means to kill Gendry… and Stannis says she’ll sacrifice him. Davos asks if there’s a difference between killing someone and sacrificing them. He then notes that the boy is Stannis’s nephew. Stannis wonders why that matters, when they’re at war. Why, Stannis asks, should he spare the son of some “tavern slut Robert bedded one drunken night.” Davos answers that it’s because Gendry has Stannis’s blood in his veins, but Stannis points out that Renly did, too. Ser Davos pauses and then says that Renly had wronged him by proclaiming for the crown and stealing Stannis’s rightful vassals, but Gendry has never harmed him. Stannis asks how many boys, girls, men, and women there are in Westeros. He says that Melisandre promises that “the night will devour them all, the darkness that never ends,” unless Stannis triumphs.
He insists that he never asked to be in this position, nor to be king, but while he can’t choose his destiny, he must do his duty whatever it is, great or small. “What’s one bastard boy,” Stannis asks, “against a kingdom?” Davos finally asks why Stannis has come to see him. Stannis informs him that he’s come to free him, provided he swears never to raise his hand against Melisandre again. Davos swears it… but he won’t swear not to speak against her. Stannis informs Seaworth he has little regard for his own life, and Davos agrees, saying it “verges on none.” Then Davos wodners why he’s being freed this day, not the day before or the day after, and he guesses that it’s because he knew Davos would caution restraint in the matter of Gendry. Davos goes on to say that he knows Stannis himself believes this as well. Davos insists Stannis will not slaughter innocents for gain or glory.
Davos then recounts a time when Matthos, at the age of five, told him tha he never wanted to die. Davos says he wanted nothing more than to reassure him that he wouldn’t, that he hated the idea that his child would be afraid of dying. But he says that he believes that the gods were made up by parents wanting to reassure their children and see them sleep through the night. To that, Stannis responds that he saw a vision in the flames of “a great battle in the snow.” He adds that Davos, in turn, saw whatever Melisandre gave birth to. Stannis never believed, but when you see the truth in front of you, it can’t be doubted. That leaves Davos silent.
At the camp of the Second Sons, Mero, Prendahl, and Daario talk of Daenerys. Prendahl complains that Daenerys, the “dragon bitch”, talks too much, to which Daario responds that Prendahl talks too much. Mero promises she won’t talk too much when he has his way with her, while he holds a nearly-naked camp follower on his lap. Daario notes that 8,000 Unsullied stand between Mero and Daenerys, but Mero insists he and his member will find a way. Daario spends his time cleaning the blade of his stiletto, with a hilt shaped like a wanton woman. When Mero tells the prostitute to inform Daario of his prowess, Daario claims she’d say anything because he pays her. Mero calls Daario a whore who doesn’t like whores, but Daario says he likes them well enough—he just refuses to pay them. Then he adds he isn’t a whore. When Mero asks what’s the difference between the prostitute and Daario, as she sells her body and he sells his sword, Daario says he doesn’t fight for gold, but instead he fights for beauty.
Prendahl is dubious and questions that, while Mero says they fight for gold. Daario replies that the gods have given them two gifts before they die: the pleasures of sex with a woman who wants it and the thrill of killing a man who means to kill you first. Mero tells Daario he’ll die young, in response. Prendahl goes back to Daenerys, saying they can’t beat 8,000 Unsullied on the field. Mero insists there’ll be neither a battle nor a need to worry about her Unsullied. Prendahl notes she’s well-guarded, but Mero says that it will be a new moon that night, and that one of them will slip past her Unsullied and knights. Prendahl asks which one of them will do the deed.
Mero takes out three coins from a purse, and hands them to the camp follower. The square coin, from Braavos, will be the one for the man who does the deed. Meero hands the coins to the woman and tells her to give one coin to each man, without peeking. He sends her off, and Prendahl takes a coin from her. Then Mero takes another. As she stumbles with eyes shut towards Daario, he uses his voice to guide her, and pulls her into his lap: her coin is the Braavoi coin. He regards it and then says, “Valar morghulis.”
In King’s Landing, Sansa is in her wedding gown and is being made up Shae and some servants. There is a knock at the door, and when Shae opens it they see it is Tyrion, with Podrick in attendance. Tyrion enters and greets Sansa, while Sansa compliments his clothing. Tyrion replies saying, “Yes, the husband of your dreams.” But then he compliments her in turn, telling her she looks glorious, all the while that Shae stands there beside Sansa, staring at him. Tyrion gives her a sidelong glance and after a hesitation suggests a moment alone, asking Podrick to escort “Lady Stark’s hand maiden”. Shae leaves, though she gives him a last glance as she passes him by.
Tyrion informs Sansa that he did not ask for the marriage. Sansa responds, hoping she’s not a disappointment, but Tyrion tells her that she does not need to speak like a prisoner with him any longer as she’ll be his wife after today… though he then realizes that that may be a different kind of prison. He presses on, trying to say that he knows how she feels. Sansa replies that he doubts it very much, and he is forced to agree… and adds that she has no idea how he feels, as well. He takes Sansa’s hand, however, and promises that he’ll never hurt her. He then asks if she drinks wine. She replies that she does so when she has to, and Tyrion tells her that this day she’ll have to.
At the Great Sept of Baelor, Margaery compliments Cersei, calling her radiant. The queen asks why she used that word, and Margaery replies that it’s the word that came to mind. She then takes Cersei’s arm, something that sees Cersei stare down at her in obvious distaste. Margaery confides that they’ll be sisters soon, and she thinks they should be friends. Cersei —pulling back as far as she can—replies with a tight expression and a false smile that Margaery is a musical girl, and that she must have a lovely voice. As they both climb down the steps, Margaery says she’s a better dancer than singer. Cersei is sure she knows the song “The Rains of Castamere”, and Margaery says that of course she does, as it’s played so often at court. When Cersei asks if she knows the story behind it, Margaery is sure Cersei knows it better than she does.
What follows is Cersei’s recounting of how the powerful Reynes, the second wealthiest in Westeros—she pauses to ask if the Tyrells aren’t now the second wealthiest family in Westeros now—and says that they were ambitious and were not happy to be second-best and wished to climb that final rung to be above all others. As she speaks, Margaery’s expression turns flatter, fully aware of Cersei’s meaning. They pass Loras, speaking to another young man, and Loras looks at them… and then decides to move elsewhere. Cersei goes on to say that Lord Reyne built a castle as grand as Casterly Rock, gave his wife diamonds larger than any Cersei’s mother wore, and one day he rebelled against her father. She then asks Margaery if she knows where the Reynes are now, to which Margaery replies with her own false cheer, “Gone.” Cersei agrees, saying it’s a gentle word… but she’d say, “Slaughtered. Every man, woman, and child put to the sword.”
Cersei recalls seeing the bodies of the Reynes hanging high above the gates of Casterly Rock. She informs Margaery that her father let the bodies rot there all summer, and notes that it was a long summer. She quotes the lyrics, disengages her arm from Cersei’s… and then tells her that if Margaery ever calls her sister again, she will have her strangled in her sleep. She leaves with a smile, leaving Margaery to look after her when the great doors open and Sansa enters, watched by everyone gathered there. Tyrion is already present.
Joffrey appears with his Kingsguard, joining Sansa. She asks him what he’s doing, and he informs her that with her father “gone”, and as he himself is the father of the realm it will be his duty to give her away to her husband. He offers her arm, which she takes, and they enter into the sept as the doors shut behind them. Sansa is clearly nervous. They pass between the crowd from the court watching the event, and Bronn is among them, offering Sansa a slight bow. They go on, past Margaery, Lady Olenna, and Loras, as well as Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys, Lord Tywin, and Cersei when they mount the steps and join Tyrion.
Joffrey smiles, leaving Sansa… and stooping to pick up the stool that had been left there, taking it away with him. Tyrion clearly wants to protest, but says nothing in the end. The High Septon speaks aloud then, informing Tyrion he may now cloak the bride and bring her under his protection. But without the stool, Tyrion cannot reach Sansa’s shoulders. There is laughter from some onlookers, Joffrey included, but not Lord Tywin and Cersei, nor the Tyrells. Tywin silences all the laughter but Joffrey’s with a look. Finally, Tyrion asks Sansa to help, and she kneels down so that he can place the cloak. The High Septon then begins speaking.
At Dragonstone, Gendry is in Melisandre’s bed chamber, eying the curious objects and the opulence around him. She asks if he’s ever seen anything like the brazier he’s looking at, but he says he never has in his life. She remarks that it’s shocking to come across real wealth for the first time. She notes that when she was Gendry’s age, she lived on a bowl of stew a day, and “stew” was a kind word. Gendry replies that in Flea Bottom they call them “bowls of brown”, and that they would pretend the bits of meat were chicken… but they knew it wasn’t chicken. Melisandre lights the brazier as he speaks, and then moves away to pour some wine for him. She offers him the wine and he’s uncertain about it, so to prove it’s not poisoned she drinks first. Gendry smiles and takes the cup, swallows, and is amazed—he says it tastes really good. Melisandre asks if he knows where it’s from, and he says he couldn’t guess. She notes that it doesn’t actually matter, though: “It’s the real thing, or it’s not.”
The red priestess invites him to drink more, but he doesn’t and she says that he still doesn’t trust her, that he assumes he’ll have to pay for everything he takes. Gendry admits he has considered that. She reaches up to his face, and tells him there are no mistakes for them. Gendry insists that he’s a mistake, that he’s only there because Robert grabbed his mother instead of some other tavern girl, but Melisandre insists that it is all part of the Lord of Light’s plan so that he could be there right at that moment with power inside him that he doesn’t even understand. She begins to unlace his tunic as he says that her purpose is to draw it from him and “birth it into the world.” They’re both part of his plan, she says, as she kisses him and undresses him.
Gendry says he doesn’t understand, that what they’re doing isn’t very religious. She asks whom says otherwise—the silent sisters? She asks what the Seven have done for Gendry, and if they’ve ever answered his prayers. She repeats the idea that something—the gods this time—are either real or they are not. She says you only need eyes to see… as she shrugs off her robe, standing naked before Gendry. She tells him that death is coming for everyone, “a darkness that will swallow the dawn,” but she and Gendry can stop it. She leads him to the bed, drawing down his pants, and straddles him. She tells him to “come fight death” with her, as they make love… but as they do so, she draws his arms up above him, and suddenly ties them down to the headboard. He asks what she’s doing as she kisses him, kissing his way down his body, only to bind his legs as well.
She moves away from the bed and takes out a box, and from it she pulls three leeches. One by one she places on him—one on his chest, one on his belly, one (to his horror) on his genitals—as she tells him that he shouldn’t fight, that the leeches won’t take much. He asks why she’s doing this to him, and she says she told him that there is power in the blood of kings, and he has a great deal of it.
Just then, the chamber door opens and in come Stannis and Ser Davos. Melisandre tells Gendry that he can blame Ser Davos for this, as she casually moves to put on her robe again, as he insisted that there be a demonstration of what she could do with a king’s blood. Gendry begs for help, but Melisandre moves and pulls each leech off of Gendry’s body. Stannis joins her at the lit brazier and takes out the leeches. As he throws each into the fire, he speaks: “The usurper Robb Stark. The usurper Balon Greyjoy. The usurper Joffrey Baratheon.”
In King’s Landing, Joffrey drinks a glass of wine next to his mother at the wedding feast for Tyrion and Sansa. Musicians play “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, and for the most part the crowd sounds cheerful… but Tyrion is busying himself with drinking as much as possible, and Sansa’s expression is fixed. Lady Olenna, seated with Loras and Margaery, attempts to elucidate on the complexities of dynastic marriages and the queer relationships that will develop thanks to Margaery marrying Joffrey and Cersei marrying Loras. Loras can take only so much and gets up and leaves abruptly.
At the high tale, Tyrion looks at his reflection in a dish and throws it aside, while it can be seen that Lord Tywin is watching disapprovingly. Tyrion drinks wine from his glass, and ends up choking on it, dribbling wine onto his wedding doublet. Sansa seems embarrassed as Tyrion uses the table cloth to wipe at his motuh and clothing. Sansa asks if Tyrion will pardon her, and he drunkenly says of course and tells her to enjoy herself. Joffrey, seeing this, starts to get up when Cersei reaches out a hand and suggests he talk to Margaery instead. He looks to where she sits alone and tells his mother he has a lifetime for that. Cersei gets up and leaves the table, and tells her handmaiden to stay. Tyrion, on the other hand, is looking at where Shae stands in a corner when he’s interrupted by his father, who notes he seems to be drunk.
Tyrion says he’s less drunk than he means to be, and asks if it isn’t a groom’s duty to be drunk at his own wedding, but Lord Tywin says it’s not about his wedding. Renly had a wedding, he notes. Sansa needs a Lannister child as soon as possible, he insists… and if Tyrion means to give her one, he must be able to “perform.” Tyrion throws back the words Tywin said to him when he had asked for Casterly Rock, that he was a “drunken little lust-filled beast.” Tywin notes he’s said that more than once, and Tyrion says that in drinking and lust he can’t be matched. He suggests he’s a god who merits a shrine, one that he’ll build himself at the next brothel he visits. He starts to lift his glass for more wine, when Tywin snatches it away and forcibly places it back down on the table. Tywin angrily tells him he can drink, joke, and do things to make him uncomfortable, but Tyrion will do his duty. He leaves… but he notices Olenna was watching. He passes by Grand Maester Pycelle as he leaves.
Tyrion, seated at the table, has taken up his wine again and sees Ser Loras standing alone on the colonnade above. He lifts his cup to him, but Loras—seeing Cersei looking out at the sea—doesn’t return the gesture, instead moving to join her. He tries to tell her something that his father, Lord Tyrell, once said but Cersei interrupts him and says that no one cares what his father once said. She leaves.
Sansa walks with Shae through the feast, but then Shae turns off to one side… and Joffrey appears at the other, with Ser Meryn of the Kingsguard. He congratulates her on her marriage as he takes her arm and turns her around to walk with him. Sansa nervously thanks him. He says that soon she’ll have a Lannister baby, that it will be a dream come true, and she agrees. But then Joffrey supposes that it doesn’t really matter which Lannister impregnates her, and suggests he might visit that night after Tyrion passes out. He asks how Sansa would like that, and she says nothing though it’s clear what she thinks. He guesses she wouldn’t like it at all, but he says that’s all right as Ser Meryn and Ser Boros can hold her down for him.
Joffrey turns and announces to everyone that it’s time for the bedding. Tyrion says there’ll be no ceremony, but Joffrey scoffs about Tyrion’s respect for tradition and tries to encourage the feast-goers to pick up Sansa, carry her off to the wedding bed, and strip her gown from her as she won’t be needing it any longer. He invites the women to attend to Tyrion, jesting that “he’s not heavy.” Tyrion repeats that there’ll be no bedding, but Joffrey insists there will be if he commands it. Tyrion takes a knife and slams it into the table and angrily informs Joffrey that if he does, he’ll be bedding Margaery with a “wooden cock”. Tywin stands up then. Joffrey asks Tyrion to repeat himself, enraged, when Tywin speaks up and says they can dispense with the bedding and he’s sure Tyrion did not mean to threaten him. Tyrion, looking away, swallows his anger and turns to Joffrey with a drunken laugh and takes his hand from the knife, saying it was a joke made out of envy for Joffrey’s royal manhood while his own is so small.
Tywin takes the opportunity to say that it’s obvious that Tyrion is quite drunk, and Tyrion agrees as he drinks more wine. Then he stumbles up to his feet and says that he and his “tiny drunk cock” have a job to do. He invites Sansa to follow him, and he informs her aloud that he once vomited on a girl in the midst of the act, something he isn’t proud of but he believes honesty is important. They depart to the wedding chamber.
Tyrion shows Sansa within and shuts the door. He looks at her and then he stumbles over to get more wine for himself. Sansa asks if that’s wise, “my lord.” He tells her to call him Tyrion, now. She asks again if it’s wise, calling him by name. Tyrion turns and salutes her with the cup as he says that nothing was ever wiser. He moves to sit down, looking at her, when he mumbles that her neck is very long. He asks how old she is, and she says she’s fourteen. To that, he says talk won’t make her any older. He stands up as she stands nervously, and informs her that Tywin commanded him to consummate the marriage. After a breath, she moves to the table and pours herself a cup of wine, taking a long drink; Tyrion follows suit. Then Sansa goes to the bed, and begins to undress.
As she nervously prepares to take off her shift, Tyrion tells her to stop. He shakes his head and says he can’t do it, then clarifies that he could, but he won’t. When Sansa reminds him of his father’s injunction, he angrily responds that if Tywin wants someone to “get fucked,” he knows where he can start. He insists that he will not share her bed, not until she wants him to. Sansa steps closer and asks what will happen if she never wants him to. That leaves Tyrion speechless for a time. He lifts his cup and pauses to salute her and intone, “And so my watch begins.” He drinks, stumbles to a couch… and passes out unconscious.
An Unsullied marches through Daenerys’s camp, a bag slung from a shoulder and a familiar stiletto at his side. In her tent, Daenerys is in a bath tub as she remarks with incredulity Missandei scrubs her. Daenerys is marveling at how Missandei could know nineteen languages, and Missandei notes it only took a year for Daenerys to learn Dothraki “reasonably well.” Daenerys starts to say that her choices were either to learn Dothraki or grunt at her husband and hope—when she’s brought up short, and asks what Missandei means by “reasonably well.” Missandei after a hesitation says that the language is difficult to master, because it is so guttural. Daenerys speaks in Dothraki, informing her that Drogo said she spoke Dothraki like on born to it and that it gave him great pride. But after another hesitation, Missandei corrects her pronunciation. Daenerys tries to repeat it, and gets it more or less correct on the second try. She supposes aloud that she has become out of practice. Missandei then compliments her High Valyrian, informing her that it is the only language for poetry.
And then she makes a sound, and Daenerys turns in the bath to find the man in the Unsullied armor holding his knife to Missandei’s throat. He tells her not to scream, or Missandei will die. He takes off his helmet to reveal himself as Daario Naharis. Daenerys asks what he wants, and he says he wants her. When she commands he let Missandei go, he takes his hand from her mouth but cautions the “lovely girl” not to scream. Missandei steps away from him and joins Daenerys, who tells Daario that he was sent to kill her and she asks why he hasn’t. He informs her that he doesn’t want to. When she asks what his captains had to say, he tells her to ask him. Unslinging the bag, he turns it over, and out fall the heads of Mero of Braavos and Prendahl na Ghezn. She asks why, and he informs her that they had a philosophical differences. When she asks what the difference was about, he informs her it was about her beauty as it meant more to him than it did to them.
Daenerys informs him that he’s a strange man, but he insists he’s the simplest man she’ll ever meet: he does what he wants to do. When Daenerys asks if his sneaking in and his killing the captains of the Second Sons was meant to impress her, he baldly replies, “Yes.” She stares at him and then asks why she should trust him when he murdered his comrades. He replies that they ordered him to kill Daenerys, and he told them that he preferred not to. When they informed him that he had no choice, he told them, “I am Daario Naharis. I always have a choice.” He then tells her that Mero and Prendahl drew their swords, and he drew his.
Daenerys considers that… and then stands up. She gets out of the tub, and shrugs on the robe that Missandei brings to her. All the while, Daario watches. As she belts the robe, Daenerys asks if Daario will fight for her. He nods, and swears the Second Son and himself to her service: “My sword is yours, my life is yours, my heart is yours.”
The next morning in King’s Landing, Sansa is woken by Shae’s entry into the bed chamber as she brings them breakfast. Tyrion, asleep still on the couch, blearily says she ought to have knocked but she only replies that she’s brought breakfast, and then snatches away Sansa’s robe which he had balled up to use as a pillow. Tyrion sits up and watches as Sansa moves to the breakfast table, while Shae turns back the covers… and finds the sheets stainless. She looks at Tyrion silently, and he looks back for a moment and then away. Shae takes away the bedding silently.
Beyond the Wall, Gilly and Samwell trudge through a wooded area. They pass a carved weirwood and come to an old, ruined hut. Samwell comes back out after inspecting it and tells her that they can stay there for the night, when a raven comes down and sits on a branch above them. Gilly hands Samwell the baby, and starts to pick up pieces of wood for a fire. Another raven sits on the tree. Later that evening, the winds howl, and Samwell is trying to get a fire started with a flint. Samwell complains about how hard it is, and Gilly tells him it doesn’t matter, that he can join her under the furs and they can keep one another warm. Samwell claims that her baby winked at her, and she replies that she doubts it, but he insists. She tells him the child blinked, and he supposes that it’s a “rather philosophical difference between a wink and a blink.” She stares at him and then asks, “What?”
Samwell tries to explain there’s no real difference, and after a long moment Gilly informs her that a wink is on purpose. Samwell then asks if she’s thought of a name, saying that it would be easier to “refer to him” if he had a name. But she snaps back asking if he “talks fancy on purpose” just to confuse her. He insists he doesn’t, that it’s just the way he talks. Gilly hands over the boy and says that she’ll build the fire. Samwell persists that the boy should have a name, and Gilly says she doesn’t know many boy’s names. Sam suggests names: Duncan, Kevin, Jon, Guymon, Feldon, Tristifer. Gilly suggests Craster, and then bends down to the fire that has already started. Samwell hesitates, and says yes, but maybe that’s not—She goes on, interrupting him, suggesting Mormont. Sam says it’s a lovely idea, but it’s a last name, and Gilly doesn’t understand the concept of a family name. He notes he’s Samwell Tarly, trying to explain the difference. He notes that his father is also a Tarly, and she asks if that means his father was also Samwell Tarly.
Samwell says his father is Randyll Tarly, and at that she says Randyll is a handsome name. Samwell begs her not to name the child Randyll. Gilly, noting the way he said it, asks if Randyll is cruel the way Craster was cruel. Samwell says, after a hesitation, that his father was a different manner of cruel. Gilly considers that and then says she won’t name him Randyll. She joins him under the furs again, but they are distracted by the cawing outside the door as it seems many more ravens have gathered. Sam goes out with a torch, as Gilly begs him not to, but he promises to be back soon after he sees what’s going on. He leaves, taking his sword with him, to see scores of ravens in the weirwood. Gilly comes out as well, with the child.
Samwell tells Gilly to get back inside, when the ravens suddenly stop and Samwell turns to look out at the wood… and sees something approaching, a tale pale shape. He drops the torch and holds his sword with both hands as Gilly shouts that the white walker has come for the baby. Samwell shouts at the creature to stay back, and holds his sword at the ready. The Other merely grabs the sword blade, and within moments it shatters with the sound of breaking ice. It then knocks Samwell aside and approaches Gilly, eyes glowing blue. Gilly shouts at it, as Samwell clambers up, pulls out the obsidian dagger, and charges it. He thrusts the blade into its back. The white walker makes a sound like a scream, a scream that sounds like shattering ice, as it flails and its body starts to turn translucent and hard. Cracks run through it, and as it falls, it shaters like so much broken ice.
Samwell grabs Gilly’s hand and runs away with her as the ravens start to caw again. As they flee, the ravens flies in their dozens after them.
Recap
We see a stone in the close foreground, and then the background comes into focus and we realize Arya is looking at it. Lying down by a smoking fire, she glances… and then hefts up the rock and sneaks over to where Sandor Clegane, the Hound, appears to be asleep. But as she lifts the rock over him, he speaks: “I’ll give you one try, girl.” He looks at her and tells her she’ll get that one shot, but if she fails to kill him, he’ll break both of her hands. Then he challenges her to hit him “hard”, as she stares at him, frozen.
The next scene shows her on horseback, seated across the horse as the Hound is in the saddle. He eats something and offers it to her, but she refuses. He tells her she can sulk all she wants, but she’s lucky: someone worse than him might have found her in the wood. She insists there’s no one worse than him, but he replies that she hasn’t met his brother, who once killed a man for snoring. Arya says nothing. He goes on to state there are surely men worse than him, who like to beat little girls and those who like to rape them. He notes he saved Sansa from those sort of men, but Arya responds by calling him a liar. He tells her to ask her, if she ever sees Sansa again, about who came back for her when the mob was about to rape and murder her.
Arya is left silent as Sandor pauses the horse to look a the landscape before them. Arya asks if it’s the Blackwater, and the Hound is surprised. She says that she thought he was taking him to King’s Landing, to Joffrey and Cersei, but the Hound curses them both and informs her that the river is the Red Fork and that he’s taking her to the Twins. She doesn’t understand why, and he explains that Robb and Catelyn will be there and they’ll pay the Hound a ransom for her. Arya still doesn’t understand why they’d be at the Twins, which makes Clegane laugh as he reveals that the brotherhood told her nothing of the fact that Edmure was wedding a Frey woman, and that the whole countryside was talking of it. He finishes by telling her to stop trying to bash his skull in so that they have a chance to make it in time for the wedding.
Outside Yunkai, a troop of horsemen race past an old wall to an encampment outside of the city’s walls. Behind the lesser wall are Daenerys, Jorah, Barristan, Grey Worm, and a guard of Unsullied and Dothraki watching them. Barristan tells Daenerys that men who fight for gold have neither honor nor loyalty, and cannot be trusted. Jorah says otherwise, saying that if they’re paid well enough they can be trusted to fight, and he notes Yunkai is paying them well. Daenerys asks if Jorah knows them, and he replies that the broken sword on their banners identifies them as the Second Sons. They are led by a Braavosi named Mero, who is called the Titan’s Bastard. Daenerys wonders if he’s more titan or bastard, but Jorah warns that he is a dangerous man, as all are the sellswords.
Daenerys asks how many there are, and Barristan says there are 2,000 of them, all mounted. After a long moment of thought, Daenerys remarks it’s hard to collect wages from a corpse and she supposes the sellswords would prefer to fight for the winning side. Daenerys states her intention to speak with the Titan’s Bastard, and when it’s suggested by Barristan that Mero may not agree to meet her, she assures him that he will because “a man who fight for gold can’t afford to lose to a girl.”
Later that day, the captains of the company are introduced to Daenerys in her tent: Mero of Braavos, Prendahl ne Ghezn, and a younger man who introduces himself as Daario Naharis. Mero walks forward and asks if Daenerys is the Mother of Dragons, and then says he could swear he bedded her once in a pleasure house in Lys. Jorah warns him to mind his tongue, but Mero—swaggering up to seat himself on a couch besides Daenerys—asks why he should, as he didn’t mind the woman’s when she used it. He makes a lewd expression as he stares at Daenerys. She says nothing to that. Mero laughs and turns to Missandei, calling her “slave girl” and asking for wine, when Daenerys corrects him and informs him that they have no slaves in her camp.
Mero replies that they’ll all be slaves after the battle, unless he saves Daenerys. He then suggests Daenerys should undress and sit on his lap, and he might give her the Second Sons. Daenerys responds that if he gives her the Second Sons, he may not have him gelded. He laughs at that. Daenerys then asks Barristan to list the number of men who fight for the Second Sons—2,000, he repeats—and then how many Unsullied fight for her. He claims 10,000. Daenerys notes to Mero she’s only a young girl, unused to the ways of war, but she hopes a seasoned captain like Mero can explain how he proposes to defeat her. Daario Naharis speaks up then, hoping Barristan is better with a sword than he is with a lie, as he correctly notes that in fact Daenerys has 8,000 Unsullied. He smiles and nods to Daenerys as she eyes him, and then remarks that he’s very young to be a captain. Then Prendahl speaks up and notes Daario is a lieutenant, not a captain.
Daenerys then informs him that even if the numbers he stated are correct, the odds still do no favor the Second Sons. Mero replies that the Second Sons have faced worse odds and won, to which Jorah immediately retorts that they’ve faced worse odds and run. Daenerys then suggests that they might for her instead. Mero remarks that they’ve taken the Yunkish gold and will fight for them, and then sniffs rudely at Missandei when she tries to fill his cup with wine. Daenerys ignores that, saying that she’ll pay as much and more for their services. Prendahl rejects this, stating that their contract is their bond; if they break their bond, no one will trust them enough to hire them again. Daenerys informs him that if they ride for her, they’ll have gold, castles, and lordships of their choosing when she takes back her throne in Westeros. But Daario speaks again, noting she has neither ships, siege engines, nor cavalry.
Daenerys responds that a fortnight past she did not have an army, and a year ago she did not have dragons. Then she gives Mero an ultimatum: he has two days to decide whether he will bring the Second Sons under her banner. Mero lewdly suggests she show him her sex, to see if it’s worth fighting for. Jorah starts to move, as Grey Worm asks in Valyrian if Daenerys wishes him to cut out Mero’s tongue. Daenerys replies that they are guests, and then tells the men that they seem to enjoy her wine and that she’ll offer them a flagon to take with them as they consider. Mero answers that he’ll need more than a flagon if his brothers-in-arms are to drink with him, so Daenerys instead gives them a barrel. Mero is pleased, saying that he does not drink alone. As he and the other men prepare to depart, he pauses to tell Daenerys that the Second Sons share everything… and they may well share her, after the battle. Daenerys smiles and says nothing. Daario eyes Daenerys before he departs, while Mero slaps Missandei on the rear, promising to come looking for her when it’s over.
Once the men are out of earshot, Daenerys tells Ser Barristan that if it comes to battle, he should kill Mero first. Barristan replies, “Gladly, your grace.”
Then we come to Dragonstone, where Melisandre’s boat has been beached and she and Gendry are stepping onto the sand. Gendry stares at the imposing mass of Dragonstone looming above him, and then follows Melisandre as she leads the way to the castle. In the Chamber of the Painted Table, Stannis is looking over a mass of scrolls and the positions of his enemies when Melisandre and Gendry enter. Stannis moves up to them. Gendry starts to bow, but Stannis lifts his face up, eying it… and then pronouncing that he can see he’s half Robert, half lowborn. Melisandre turns to the guards, telling them to take him to his chambers where he can have a bath and some decent clothes. She promises to visit Gendry later.
Once Gendry is gone, Stannis asks what Melisandre means to do. She informs Stannis that he knows what she plans to do, and he admits this, but he doesn’t understand why Gendry must be bathed and dressed in fine clothes. “If it needs to be done, do it,” he says, “don’t torture the boy.” Melisandre asks if Stannis has ever slaughtered a lamb; when he says he hasn’t, she informs him that if a lamb sees the blade, it panics and it darkens and spoils the flavor of the meat. Stannis supposes she’s slaughtered many lambs, to which Melisandre replies that none have ever seen the blade. She takes her leave of the king.
In the cells of Dragonstone, Davos is struggling to read the book Shireen gave him, reading a passage about Visenya and her dragon Vhaghar, which is named the smallest of the three dragons but still large enough to swallow a whole horse. Davos then hears steps approaching, and hides the book. When he sees that it’s Stannis, he hastily stands and greets him. Stannis asks if Davos has been fed enough, to which he replies that he has two meals a day, one cold, one hot. He adds that he can’t complain, and when Stannis says he doesn’t belong in a place like that, Davos says that he’s seen worse from his days as a smuggler. Stannis agrees… and then offers his condolences for his son Matthos’s death, a good and loyal youth. Then he informs Davos that Melisandre has returned—Davos was unaware she had left—with Robert’s bastard son. Davos doesn’t understand why, and Stannis explains that Melisandre claims there’s power in a king’s blood.
Davos assumes she means to kill Gendry… and Stannis says she’ll sacrifice him. Davos asks if there’s a difference between killing someone and sacrificing them. He then notes that the boy is Stannis’s nephew. Stannis wonders why that matters, when they’re at war. Why, Stannis asks, should he spare the son of some “tavern slut Robert bedded one drunken night.” Davos answers that it’s because Gendry has Stannis’s blood in his veins, but Stannis points out that Renly did, too. Ser Davos pauses and then says that Renly had wronged him by proclaiming for the crown and stealing Stannis’s rightful vassals, but Gendry has never harmed him. Stannis asks how many boys, girls, men, and women there are in Westeros. He says that Melisandre promises that “the night will devour them all, the darkness that never ends,” unless Stannis triumphs.
He insists that he never asked to be in this position, nor to be king, but while he can’t choose his destiny, he must do his duty whatever it is, great or small. “What’s one bastard boy,” Stannis asks, “against a kingdom?” Davos finally asks why Stannis has come to see him. Stannis informs him that he’s come to free him, provided he swears never to raise his hand against Melisandre again. Davos swears it… but he won’t swear not to speak against her. Stannis informs Seaworth he has little regard for his own life, and Davos agrees, saying it “verges on none.” Then Davos wodners why he’s being freed this day, not the day before or the day after, and he guesses that it’s because he knew Davos would caution restraint in the matter of Gendry. Davos goes on to say that he knows Stannis himself believes this as well. Davos insists Stannis will not slaughter innocents for gain or glory.
Davos then recounts a time when Matthos, at the age of five, told him tha he never wanted to die. Davos says he wanted nothing more than to reassure him that he wouldn’t, that he hated the idea that his child would be afraid of dying. But he says that he believes that the gods were made up by parents wanting to reassure their children and see them sleep through the night. To that, Stannis responds that he saw a vision in the flames of “a great battle in the snow.” He adds that Davos, in turn, saw whatever Melisandre gave birth to. Stannis never believed, but when you see the truth in front of you, it can’t be doubted. That leaves Davos silent.
At the camp of the Second Sons, Mero, Prendahl, and Daario talk of Daenerys. Prendahl complains that Daenerys, the “dragon bitch”, talks too much, to which Daario responds that Prendahl talks too much. Mero promises she won’t talk too much when he has his way with her, while he holds a nearly-naked camp follower on his lap. Daario notes that 8,000 Unsullied stand between Mero and Daenerys, but Mero insists he and his member will find a way. Daario spends his time cleaning the blade of his stiletto, with a hilt shaped like a wanton woman. When Mero tells the prostitute to inform Daario of his prowess, Daario claims she’d say anything because he pays her. Mero calls Daario a whore who doesn’t like whores, but Daario says he likes them well enough—he just refuses to pay them. Then he adds he isn’t a whore. When Mero asks what’s the difference between the prostitute and Daario, as she sells her body and he sells his sword, Daario says he doesn’t fight for gold, but instead he fights for beauty.
Prendahl is dubious and questions that, while Mero says they fight for gold. Daario replies that the gods have given them two gifts before they die: the pleasures of sex with a woman who wants it and the thrill of killing a man who means to kill you first. Mero tells Daario he’ll die young, in response. Prendahl goes back to Daenerys, saying they can’t beat 8,000 Unsullied on the field. Mero insists there’ll be neither a battle nor a need to worry about her Unsullied. Prendahl notes she’s well-guarded, but Mero says that it will be a new moon that night, and that one of them will slip past her Unsullied and knights. Prendahl asks which one of them will do the deed.
Mero takes out three coins from a purse, and hands them to the camp follower. The square coin, from Braavos, will be the one for the man who does the deed. Meero hands the coins to the woman and tells her to give one coin to each man, without peeking. He sends her off, and Prendahl takes a coin from her. Then Mero takes another. As she stumbles with eyes shut towards Daario, he uses his voice to guide her, and pulls her into his lap: her coin is the Braavoi coin. He regards it and then says, “Valar morghulis.”
In King’s Landing, Sansa is in her wedding gown and is being made up Shae and some servants. There is a knock at the door, and when Shae opens it they see it is Tyrion, with Podrick in attendance. Tyrion enters and greets Sansa, while Sansa compliments his clothing. Tyrion replies saying, “Yes, the husband of your dreams.” But then he compliments her in turn, telling her she looks glorious, all the while that Shae stands there beside Sansa, staring at him. Tyrion gives her a sidelong glance and after a hesitation suggests a moment alone, asking Podrick to escort “Lady Stark’s hand maiden”. Shae leaves, though she gives him a last glance as she passes him by.
Tyrion informs Sansa that he did not ask for the marriage. Sansa responds, hoping she’s not a disappointment, but Tyrion tells her that she does not need to speak like a prisoner with him any longer as she’ll be his wife after today… though he then realizes that that may be a different kind of prison. He presses on, trying to say that he knows how she feels. Sansa replies that he doubts it very much, and he is forced to agree… and adds that she has no idea how he feels, as well. He takes Sansa’s hand, however, and promises that he’ll never hurt her. He then asks if she drinks wine. She replies that she does so when she has to, and Tyrion tells her that this day she’ll have to.
At the Great Sept of Baelor, Margaery compliments Cersei, calling her radiant. The queen asks why she used that word, and Margaery replies that it’s the word that came to mind. She then takes Cersei’s arm, something that sees Cersei stare down at her in obvious distaste. Margaery confides that they’ll be sisters soon, and she thinks they should be friends. Cersei —pulling back as far as she can—replies with a tight expression and a false smile that Margaery is a musical girl, and that she must have a lovely voice. As they both climb down the steps, Margaery says she’s a better dancer than singer. Cersei is sure she knows the song “The Rains of Castamere”, and Margaery says that of course she does, as it’s played so often at court. When Cersei asks if she knows the story behind it, Margaery is sure Cersei knows it better than she does.
What follows is Cersei’s recounting of how the powerful Reynes, the second wealthiest in Westeros—she pauses to ask if the Tyrells aren’t now the second wealthiest family in Westeros now—and says that they were ambitious and were not happy to be second-best and wished to climb that final rung to be above all others. As she speaks, Margaery’s expression turns flatter, fully aware of Cersei’s meaning. They pass Loras, speaking to another young man, and Loras looks at them… and then decides to move elsewhere. Cersei goes on to say that Lord Reyne built a castle as grand as Casterly Rock, gave his wife diamonds larger than any Cersei’s mother wore, and one day he rebelled against her father. She then asks Margaery if she knows where the Reynes are now, to which Margaery replies with her own false cheer, “Gone.” Cersei agrees, saying it’s a gentle word… but she’d say, “Slaughtered. Every man, woman, and child put to the sword.”
Cersei recalls seeing the bodies of the Reynes hanging high above the gates of Casterly Rock. She informs Margaery that her father let the bodies rot there all summer, and notes that it was a long summer. She quotes the lyrics, disengages her arm from Cersei’s… and then tells her that if Margaery ever calls her sister again, she will have her strangled in her sleep. She leaves with a smile, leaving Margaery to look after her when the great doors open and Sansa enters, watched by everyone gathered there. Tyrion is already present.
Joffrey appears with his Kingsguard, joining Sansa. She asks him what he’s doing, and he informs her that with her father “gone”, and as he himself is the father of the realm it will be his duty to give her away to her husband. He offers her arm, which she takes, and they enter into the sept as the doors shut behind them. Sansa is clearly nervous. They pass between the crowd from the court watching the event, and Bronn is among them, offering Sansa a slight bow. They go on, past Margaery, Lady Olenna, and Loras, as well as Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys, Lord Tywin, and Cersei when they mount the steps and join Tyrion.
Joffrey smiles, leaving Sansa… and stooping to pick up the stool that had been left there, taking it away with him. Tyrion clearly wants to protest, but says nothing in the end. The High Septon speaks aloud then, informing Tyrion he may now cloak the bride and bring her under his protection. But without the stool, Tyrion cannot reach Sansa’s shoulders. There is laughter from some onlookers, Joffrey included, but not Lord Tywin and Cersei, nor the Tyrells. Tywin silences all the laughter but Joffrey’s with a look. Finally, Tyrion asks Sansa to help, and she kneels down so that he can place the cloak. The High Septon then begins speaking.
At Dragonstone, Gendry is in Melisandre’s bed chamber, eying the curious objects and the opulence around him. She asks if he’s ever seen anything like the brazier he’s looking at, but he says he never has in his life. She remarks that it’s shocking to come across real wealth for the first time. She notes that when she was Gendry’s age, she lived on a bowl of stew a day, and “stew” was a kind word. Gendry replies that in Flea Bottom they call them “bowls of brown”, and that they would pretend the bits of meat were chicken… but they knew it wasn’t chicken. Melisandre lights the brazier as he speaks, and then moves away to pour some wine for him. She offers him the wine and he’s uncertain about it, so to prove it’s not poisoned she drinks first. Gendry smiles and takes the cup, swallows, and is amazed—he says it tastes really good. Melisandre asks if he knows where it’s from, and he says he couldn’t guess. She notes that it doesn’t actually matter, though: “It’s the real thing, or it’s not.”
The red priestess invites him to drink more, but he doesn’t and she says that he still doesn’t trust her, that he assumes he’ll have to pay for everything he takes. Gendry admits he has considered that. She reaches up to his face, and tells him there are no mistakes for them. Gendry insists that he’s a mistake, that he’s only there because Robert grabbed his mother instead of some other tavern girl, but Melisandre insists that it is all part of the Lord of Light’s plan so that he could be there right at that moment with power inside him that he doesn’t even understand. She begins to unlace his tunic as he says that her purpose is to draw it from him and “birth it into the world.” They’re both part of his plan, she says, as she kisses him and undresses him.
Gendry says he doesn’t understand, that what they’re doing isn’t very religious. She asks whom says otherwise—the silent sisters? She asks what the Seven have done for Gendry, and if they’ve ever answered his prayers. She repeats the idea that something—the gods this time—are either real or they are not. She says you only need eyes to see… as she shrugs off her robe, standing naked before Gendry. She tells him that death is coming for everyone, “a darkness that will swallow the dawn,” but she and Gendry can stop it. She leads him to the bed, drawing down his pants, and straddles him. She tells him to “come fight death” with her, as they make love… but as they do so, she draws his arms up above him, and suddenly ties them down to the headboard. He asks what she’s doing as she kisses him, kissing his way down his body, only to bind his legs as well.
She moves away from the bed and takes out a box, and from it she pulls three leeches. One by one she places on him—one on his chest, one on his belly, one (to his horror) on his genitals—as she tells him that he shouldn’t fight, that the leeches won’t take much. He asks why she’s doing this to him, and she says she told him that there is power in the blood of kings, and he has a great deal of it.
Just then, the chamber door opens and in come Stannis and Ser Davos. Melisandre tells Gendry that he can blame Ser Davos for this, as she casually moves to put on her robe again, as he insisted that there be a demonstration of what she could do with a king’s blood. Gendry begs for help, but Melisandre moves and pulls each leech off of Gendry’s body. Stannis joins her at the lit brazier and takes out the leeches. As he throws each into the fire, he speaks: “The usurper Robb Stark. The usurper Balon Greyjoy. The usurper Joffrey Baratheon.”
In King’s Landing, Joffrey drinks a glass of wine next to his mother at the wedding feast for Tyrion and Sansa. Musicians play “The Bear and the Maiden Fair”, and for the most part the crowd sounds cheerful… but Tyrion is busying himself with drinking as much as possible, and Sansa’s expression is fixed. Lady Olenna, seated with Loras and Margaery, attempts to elucidate on the complexities of dynastic marriages and the queer relationships that will develop thanks to Margaery marrying Joffrey and Cersei marrying Loras. Loras can take only so much and gets up and leaves abruptly.
At the high tale, Tyrion looks at his reflection in a dish and throws it aside, while it can be seen that Lord Tywin is watching disapprovingly. Tyrion drinks wine from his glass, and ends up choking on it, dribbling wine onto his wedding doublet. Sansa seems embarrassed as Tyrion uses the table cloth to wipe at his motuh and clothing. Sansa asks if Tyrion will pardon her, and he drunkenly says of course and tells her to enjoy herself. Joffrey, seeing this, starts to get up when Cersei reaches out a hand and suggests he talk to Margaery instead. He looks to where she sits alone and tells his mother he has a lifetime for that. Cersei gets up and leaves the table, and tells her handmaiden to stay. Tyrion, on the other hand, is looking at where Shae stands in a corner when he’s interrupted by his father, who notes he seems to be drunk.
Tyrion says he’s less drunk than he means to be, and asks if it isn’t a groom’s duty to be drunk at his own wedding, but Lord Tywin says it’s not about his wedding. Renly had a wedding, he notes. Sansa needs a Lannister child as soon as possible, he insists… and if Tyrion means to give her one, he must be able to “perform.” Tyrion throws back the words Tywin said to him when he had asked for Casterly Rock, that he was a “drunken little lust-filled beast.” Tywin notes he’s said that more than once, and Tyrion says that in drinking and lust he can’t be matched. He suggests he’s a god who merits a shrine, one that he’ll build himself at the next brothel he visits. He starts to lift his glass for more wine, when Tywin snatches it away and forcibly places it back down on the table. Tywin angrily tells him he can drink, joke, and do things to make him uncomfortable, but Tyrion will do his duty. He leaves… but he notices Olenna was watching. He passes by Grand Maester Pycelle as he leaves.
Tyrion, seated at the table, has taken up his wine again and sees Ser Loras standing alone on the colonnade above. He lifts his cup to him, but Loras—seeing Cersei looking out at the sea—doesn’t return the gesture, instead moving to join her. He tries to tell her something that his father, Lord Tyrell, once said but Cersei interrupts him and says that no one cares what his father once said. She leaves.
Sansa walks with Shae through the feast, but then Shae turns off to one side… and Joffrey appears at the other, with Ser Meryn of the Kingsguard. He congratulates her on her marriage as he takes her arm and turns her around to walk with him. Sansa nervously thanks him. He says that soon she’ll have a Lannister baby, that it will be a dream come true, and she agrees. But then Joffrey supposes that it doesn’t really matter which Lannister impregnates her, and suggests he might visit that night after Tyrion passes out. He asks how Sansa would like that, and she says nothing though it’s clear what she thinks. He guesses she wouldn’t like it at all, but he says that’s all right as Ser Meryn and Ser Boros can hold her down for him.
Joffrey turns and announces to everyone that it’s time for the bedding. Tyrion says there’ll be no ceremony, but Joffrey scoffs about Tyrion’s respect for tradition and tries to encourage the feast-goers to pick up Sansa, carry her off to the wedding bed, and strip her gown from her as she won’t be needing it any longer. He invites the women to attend to Tyrion, jesting that “he’s not heavy.” Tyrion repeats that there’ll be no bedding, but Joffrey insists there will be if he commands it. Tyrion takes a knife and slams it into the table and angrily informs Joffrey that if he does, he’ll be bedding Margaery with a “wooden cock”. Tywin stands up then. Joffrey asks Tyrion to repeat himself, enraged, when Tywin speaks up and says they can dispense with the bedding and he’s sure Tyrion did not mean to threaten him. Tyrion, looking away, swallows his anger and turns to Joffrey with a drunken laugh and takes his hand from the knife, saying it was a joke made out of envy for Joffrey’s royal manhood while his own is so small.
Tywin takes the opportunity to say that it’s obvious that Tyrion is quite drunk, and Tyrion agrees as he drinks more wine. Then he stumbles up to his feet and says that he and his “tiny drunk cock” have a job to do. He invites Sansa to follow him, and he informs her aloud that he once vomited on a girl in the midst of the act, something he isn’t proud of but he believes honesty is important. They depart to the wedding chamber.
Tyrion shows Sansa within and shuts the door. He looks at her and then he stumbles over to get more wine for himself. Sansa asks if that’s wise, “my lord.” He tells her to call him Tyrion, now. She asks again if it’s wise, calling him by name. Tyrion turns and salutes her with the cup as he says that nothing was ever wiser. He moves to sit down, looking at her, when he mumbles that her neck is very long. He asks how old she is, and she says she’s fourteen. To that, he says talk won’t make her any older. He stands up as she stands nervously, and informs her that Tywin commanded him to consummate the marriage. After a breath, she moves to the table and pours herself a cup of wine, taking a long drink; Tyrion follows suit. Then Sansa goes to the bed, and begins to undress.
As she nervously prepares to take off her shift, Tyrion tells her to stop. He shakes his head and says he can’t do it, then clarifies that he could, but he won’t. When Sansa reminds him of his father’s injunction, he angrily responds that if Tywin wants someone to “get fucked,” he knows where he can start. He insists that he will not share her bed, not until she wants him to. Sansa steps closer and asks what will happen if she never wants him to. That leaves Tyrion speechless for a time. He lifts his cup and pauses to salute her and intone, “And so my watch begins.” He drinks, stumbles to a couch… and passes out unconscious.
An Unsullied marches through Daenerys’s camp, a bag slung from a shoulder and a familiar stiletto at his side. In her tent, Daenerys is in a bath tub as she remarks with incredulity Missandei scrubs her. Daenerys is marveling at how Missandei could know nineteen languages, and Missandei notes it only took a year for Daenerys to learn Dothraki “reasonably well.” Daenerys starts to say that her choices were either to learn Dothraki or grunt at her husband and hope—when she’s brought up short, and asks what Missandei means by “reasonably well.” Missandei after a hesitation says that the language is difficult to master, because it is so guttural. Daenerys speaks in Dothraki, informing her that Drogo said she spoke Dothraki like on born to it and that it gave him great pride. But after another hesitation, Missandei corrects her pronunciation. Daenerys tries to repeat it, and gets it more or less correct on the second try. She supposes aloud that she has become out of practice. Missandei then compliments her High Valyrian, informing her that it is the only language for poetry.
And then she makes a sound, and Daenerys turns in the bath to find the man in the Unsullied armor holding his knife to Missandei’s throat. He tells her not to scream, or Missandei will die. He takes off his helmet to reveal himself as Daario Naharis. Daenerys asks what he wants, and he says he wants her. When she commands he let Missandei go, he takes his hand from her mouth but cautions the “lovely girl” not to scream. Missandei steps away from him and joins Daenerys, who tells Daario that he was sent to kill her and she asks why he hasn’t. He informs her that he doesn’t want to. When she asks what his captains had to say, he tells her to ask him. Unslinging the bag, he turns it over, and out fall the heads of Mero of Braavos and Prendahl na Ghezn. She asks why, and he informs her that they had a philosophical differences. When she asks what the difference was about, he informs her it was about her beauty as it meant more to him than it did to them.
Daenerys informs him that he’s a strange man, but he insists he’s the simplest man she’ll ever meet: he does what he wants to do. When Daenerys asks if his sneaking in and his killing the captains of the Second Sons was meant to impress her, he baldly replies, “Yes.” She stares at him and then asks why she should trust him when he murdered his comrades. He replies that they ordered him to kill Daenerys, and he told them that he preferred not to. When they informed him that he had no choice, he told them, “I am Daario Naharis. I always have a choice.” He then tells her that Mero and Prendahl drew their swords, and he drew his.
Daenerys considers that… and then stands up. She gets out of the tub, and shrugs on the robe that Missandei brings to her. All the while, Daario watches. As she belts the robe, Daenerys asks if Daario will fight for her. He nods, and swears the Second Son and himself to her service: “My sword is yours, my life is yours, my heart is yours.”
The next morning in King’s Landing, Sansa is woken by Shae’s entry into the bed chamber as she brings them breakfast. Tyrion, asleep still on the couch, blearily says she ought to have knocked but she only replies that she’s brought breakfast, and then snatches away Sansa’s robe which he had balled up to use as a pillow. Tyrion sits up and watches as Sansa moves to the breakfast table, while Shae turns back the covers… and finds the sheets stainless. She looks at Tyrion silently, and he looks back for a moment and then away. Shae takes away the bedding silently.
Beyond the Wall, Gilly and Samwell trudge through a wooded area. They pass a carved weirwood and come to an old, ruined hut. Samwell comes back out after inspecting it and tells her that they can stay there for the night, when a raven comes down and sits on a branch above them. Gilly hands Samwell the baby, and starts to pick up pieces of wood for a fire. Another raven sits on the tree. Later that evening, the winds howl, and Samwell is trying to get a fire started with a flint. Samwell complains about how hard it is, and Gilly tells him it doesn’t matter, that he can join her under the furs and they can keep one another warm. Samwell claims that her baby winked at her, and she replies that she doubts it, but he insists. She tells him the child blinked, and he supposes that it’s a “rather philosophical difference between a wink and a blink.” She stares at him and then asks, “What?”
Samwell tries to explain there’s no real difference, and after a long moment Gilly informs her that a wink is on purpose. Samwell then asks if she’s thought of a name, saying that it would be easier to “refer to him” if he had a name. But she snaps back asking if he “talks fancy on purpose” just to confuse her. He insists he doesn’t, that it’s just the way he talks. Gilly hands over the boy and says that she’ll build the fire. Samwell persists that the boy should have a name, and Gilly says she doesn’t know many boy’s names. Sam suggests names: Duncan, Kevin, Jon, Guymon, Feldon, Tristifer. Gilly suggests Craster, and then bends down to the fire that has already started. Samwell hesitates, and says yes, but maybe that’s not—She goes on, interrupting him, suggesting Mormont. Sam says it’s a lovely idea, but it’s a last name, and Gilly doesn’t understand the concept of a family name. He notes he’s Samwell Tarly, trying to explain the difference. He notes that his father is also a Tarly, and she asks if that means his father was also Samwell Tarly.
Samwell says his father is Randyll Tarly, and at that she says Randyll is a handsome name. Samwell begs her not to name the child Randyll. Gilly, noting the way he said it, asks if Randyll is cruel the way Craster was cruel. Samwell says, after a hesitation, that his father was a different manner of cruel. Gilly considers that and then says she won’t name him Randyll. She joins him under the furs again, but they are distracted by the cawing outside the door as it seems many more ravens have gathered. Sam goes out with a torch, as Gilly begs him not to, but he promises to be back soon after he sees what’s going on. He leaves, taking his sword with him, to see scores of ravens in the weirwood. Gilly comes out as well, with the child.
Samwell tells Gilly to get back inside, when the ravens suddenly stop and Samwell turns to look out at the wood… and sees something approaching, a tale pale shape. He drops the torch and holds his sword with both hands as Gilly shouts that the white walker has come for the baby. Samwell shouts at the creature to stay back, and holds his sword at the ready. The Other merely grabs the sword blade, and within moments it shatters with the sound of breaking ice. It then knocks Samwell aside and approaches Gilly, eyes glowing blue. Gilly shouts at it, as Samwell clambers up, pulls out the obsidian dagger, and charges it. He thrusts the blade into its back. The white walker makes a sound like a scream, a scream that sounds like shattering ice, as it flails and its body starts to turn translucent and hard. Cracks run through it, and as it falls, it shaters like so much broken ice.
Samwell grabs Gilly’s hand and runs away with her as the ravens start to caw again. As they flee, the ravens flies in their dozens after them.
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