Westeros
The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
GoT
EP504: The Sons Of The Harpy
The Faith Militant grow increasingly aggressive. Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) and Bronn (Jerome Flynn) head south. Ellaria (Indira Varma) and the Sand Snakes vow vengeance.
Index
Recap
On a shore near Volantis, a fisherman is assaulted by Ser Jorah Mormont, who knocks him unconscious and drags him out of the shallows. Dropping coins on his prone body, Jorah moves on to where a bound-and-gagged Tyrion desperately tries to cut the ropes binding his hands with the dagger that Mormont has used to keep him still. However, Mormont gets to him first, taking the knife of way and then tossing Tyrion over his shoulder like a sack of turnips. Dropping a bag with equipment into the boat, and then roughly throwing Tyrion into it, Mormont pushes the boat into the water and then climbs aboard.
Far away, a ship carries Jaime Lannister. Looking over its side into the distance, he stops the passing captain and asks him if the island he sees is Estermont. The captain tells him it is Tarth, an island of green, high hills amidst blue waters. The captain repeats the name given to Tarth: the Sapphire Isle. Jaime looks at it thoughtfully.
Below decks, a bored Bronn throws a knife into a sack of grain and complains to Jaime, now seated in the hold, why they’re on a merchant ship. Jaime replies that the ship will sail to Oldtown, but that he and Bronn will leave earlier, rowing themselves near Sunspear in the night. Bronn asks if Jaime’s been to Dorne, and when he responds in the negative he replies that he has been there, and in his experience the Dornish are mad: “All they want to do is fight and fuck.” Jaime suggests that should make Bronn eager to return. Bronn responds that he finds that a good fight often gets one in the mood, and that there’s nothing like a licentious Dornish girl to “clear your head for the next fight.”
Pulling his knife from the sack and proceeding to clean the blade, he informs Jaime that he expects they will fight on shore—well, he expects he will—but he imagines that when they kidnap “their princess” they won’t be able to stay around for the fun part. Jaime replies testily, saying that she’s not their princess, they’re rescuing his niece and bringing her back to her family. Bronn looks at Jaime and asks, “Your niece?” The look between them is clear enough, as Jaime keeps silent. Bronn moves to drinking wine from a flagon and remarks that he’s done the sort of task they’re setting out to do before, and that he’s good at it. But he wonders why Jaime is there, rather than forty other men like Bronn, or an entire army.
Jaime replies that he doesn’t want to start a war, but Bronn persists in wondering why Jaime. “It has to be me,” is the only answer Jaime can give. Bronn meanders through the hold and says that if he’s putting something together like this, a one-handed man with one of the most recognizable faces in Westeros—Jaime cuts him off, simply insisting it has to be him. Bronn considers him, and then guesses that Jaime released Tyrion, and that Cersei didn’t like it. Jaime corrects him, saying that Varys released him. Bronn takes that in stride and moves to lie down, but tells Jaime that if he ever sees “that little fucker” again, to give him his regards.
Jaime points out that Tyrion murdered Tywin, and that he’ll “split him in two” if he ever sees him again. And then, Jaime adds, he’ll give him Bronn’s regards.
In King’s Landing, the small council is in session. Lord Tyrell, in his office of master of coin, informs Cersei and the councillors that the Iron Bank has called in a tenth of the crown’s debts. He starts to discuss the crown’s expenses, such as the rebuilding of its fleet, when Cersei asks what the crown can afford. Lord Tyrell says that with winter’s approach, they can pay perhaps half (or even less). At Cersei’s question as to what they can do, Mace offers to have House Tyrell cover the cost as a loan to be paid back in time, and makes a jest about how otherwise he’d “have words with [his] daughter.” The joke falls flat, however.
Cersei replies that the Tyrells have already given too much. Standing and pacing toward a balcony, she says they must arrange better terms with the Iron Bank. Lord Tyrell agrees, but when she says the arrangement must be made in person, he realizes that she means he should go to Braavos. Cersei responds that an envoy is needed, someone important, and as master of coin there is no one more suitable. Initially uncertain, when he hears “important” and “qualified”, Lord Tyrell becomes very willing. Cersei adds that the king has shown great concern about Mace’s safety on the voyage, so Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard will personally lead an escort. Lord Tyrell is enthusiastic about having his own Kingsguard knight, and is ushered out with a farewell from Cersei. Lord Mace promises to give his regards to the Titan of Braavos.
After Lord Tyrell leaves, Grand Maester Pycelle remarks that the small council grows smaller and smaller. “Not small enough,” Cersei says, not looking at him as she walks out of the room.
In her chambers, a raven’s scroll bearing Littlefinger’s mockingbird sigil sits unattended on Cersei’s desk as she pours wine into a glass. She offers to pour for “Your Holiness,” but the High Sparrow—now High Septon—refuses it. Cersei pushes the glass away from herself and, staring at it, remarks the former High Septon would have asked the vintage. To that, the High Sparrow says that he could say that the mind is a temple to the Seven and should kept pure … but in truth, he simply doesn’t like the taste of wine. Then he asks how he could serve.
Cersei replies that they’ve heard that throughout Westeros septs have been burned, silent sisters raped, the bodies of holy men piled in the streets. The High Sparrow replies that war teaches obedience to swords, not the gods. Cersei wonders if the gods don’t need a sword of their own. She recalls that before the Targaryens, the Faith Militant dispensed the justice of the Seven. The High Sparrow reminds Cersei that the Faith Militant was disarmed more than two centuries before. Cersei suggests she could convince Tommen to sign a decree allowing the High Septon to arm believers he felt worthy. The High Sparrow is pleased at the thought of an army to defend the body and souls of the common people. Cersei adds that it’d be an army in service of the gods, and the High Sparrow himself as the High Septon.
He replies that he never imagined or wished that honor. Cersei replies that’s why he was chosen. Leaning back in her chair she says that they both know how the world works. Too often, she says, the wealthiest are beyond the reach of justice. She claims Tommen cannot punish all of those who deserve it most. The High Sparrow responds that all sinners are equal, before the gods. Cersei considers that, smiling, and then asks what he would say if she spoke of a great sinner in their very midst, protected by gold and privilege. The High Sparrow hopes the Father will judge him justly.
In a market in King’s Landing, men in black robes with chains around their torsos and the seven-pointed star carved into their foreheads march in and begin to wreak havoc: they break open barrels of beer and ale, throw men from taverns, smash religious idols of foreign gods, beat merchants who oppose them… and all under the eyes of the City Watch, who turn away and do nothing. As we see this, a member of this new Faith Militant having the star cut into his forehead.
Entering Littlefinger’s brothel, the zealots interrupt a man enjoying a prostitute, dragging the naked woman away by her hair as she screams and beating her client. The woman is dragged into another room as she’s called a harlot. Another door is opened, where men and women are taking part in orgiastic pleasures. There are screams as the women run, and as the Faith Militant zealots beat the men. Olyver enters, grabbing one of the men and telling him it’s Petyr Baelish’s establishment, and all he earns for his trouble is an elbow to the face as the men press on deeper into the brothel.
Olyver hears screams and cries and curses, and moves to witness another room where the zealots scream imprecations at two naked men, calling them filth for their homosexuality. The older man offers to pay them all… and the zealot says they will, as he takes out a knife and approaches. We hear the mans scream as Olyver runs, and we see the latest member of their order sit up with the bloody seven-pointed star on his forehead: Lancel Lannister.
A troop of the Faith Militant, Lancel among them, walk unmolested through the stairs of the Red Keep to come to where a group of young courtiers watch Ser Loras Tyrell, clad in green, defeating a sparring partner. Then he notices the approaching men, but it is too late as they seize hold of him. He struggles, but is held fast. Lancel tells him that he’s broken the laws of gods and men. When Loras asks who he thinks he is, Lancel replies, “Justice.”
Margaery storms into Tommen’s chambers, where he’s eating, and angrily asks why her brother is in a cell. Tommen says he doesn’t know, that he didn’t order it, and she replies that he knows who did. Pacing away from him, she angrily says that Tommen assured her she was returning to Casterly Rock. Tommen stands up, asking uncertainly if she means that his mother is behind it. Margaery replies that she’s jealous that she’s not hers anymore, and that arresting Loras is her revenge. Tommen innocently asks if they aren’t getting along, and his queen lets out an exasperated breath.
She goes over to him and sits, calling him her sweet king. She asks him that if he has any affection for her. He takes her hand, reassuring her, calling her his queen. She says she can’t think of her brother locked away in a grimy cell, and Tommen promises he’ll set him free for her. He then goes to Cersei, who is drinking a glass of wine as she looks out a window. He demands Loras be freed immediately, and Cersei turns and asks if she arrested him. Tommen admits she didn’t, but then explains she armed the Faith Militant and gave the High Sparrow an army. Cersei admits she did, and responds that Margaery has every right to criticize.
She moves deeper into the chamber, remarking that they can’t allow fanatics to arrest the queen’s brother “no matter his perversions.” She sits at her desk as Tommen asks if he can tell Margaery that Cersei will have Ser Loras released, but she responds again that she isn’t holding him. “You’re the king,” she tells him, and assures him that if he speaks to the High Sparrow she’s sure he’ll release Loras.
King Tommen arrives in a litter at the Great Sept, with five of the Kingsguard at his back. They start to mount the steps when a troop of the Faith Miltiant block their way. One of them says His Holiness is praying and does not wish to be disturbed. One of the Kingsguard knights tells Tommen to give the order and he and his Sworn Brothers will clear out the rabble. Tommen asks if he means killing them, there on the steps of the sept. The knight replies that they’ll be sending them to the gods that they love. The knights all seize their swords, as the fanatics prepare to defend themselves, when a voice from the crowd cries, “Bastard!” Another calls, “You’re an abomination.” There are more shouts, and Tommen backs down, saying he’ll find another way.
Returning to his chambers, Tommen looks for Margaery. She comes in from a balcony and seems expectant… and then crestfallen when he tells her there was no way to free Loras without violence. Margaery says he’s the King of the Andals, the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, the Protector of the Realm… and he allowed fanatics imprison his brother by law. Tommen insists he’ll speak with the High Sparrow, and Margaery asks when. Tommen says he doesn’t know when, that the High Sparrow was praying just then. Margaery leaves the chamber, saying she needs to send word to her grandmother. Tommen calls after her, asking she’ll come back later. Margaery stops, then she says she needs to be with her family and leaves.
In the yard of Castle Black, men practice at arms as Jon Snow helps to train them. Above them, Stannis leans against a balustrade as Selyse remarks that he thinks highly of “this boy.” He reminds her he’s lord commander of the Night’s Watch, and she retorts that he’s a bastard by some tavern slut. “Perhaps,” Stannis says, “but that wasnt’ Ned Stark’s way.” Selyse regards her husband and repeats that she should have given him a son. He says it isn’t her fault, but she asks whose it is. Turning to look at Shireen, who sits further away on steps as she watches the men as well, she tells Stannis that all she gave him was weakness and deformity. Stannis says nothing, and Melisandre arrives just then to tell her that the Lord of Light does not care about Shireen’s scars.
Melisandre goes on to say that Shireen’s father is the Lord’s chosen king… and her father’s blood runs through her vain. A significant look passes between her and Selyse, and Selyse nods to her before leaving. Melisandre asks Stannis if he means to march on Winterfell soon, and he says they must, to beat the snows. Melisandre points out that he once put his faith in Davos and left her behind, and she hopes he doesn’t intend to make the same mistake. He promises he won’t. Stannis then replies that he needs her, to which she says he only needs faith. As he turns to start to go, he asks what Melisandre needs. She looks at Jon sparring below and says she only needs to serve her lord.
Later that day, in the lord commander’s chambers, Samwell presents letters for Jon’s signature, letters to the likes of Lord Ashford, Lady Caulfield, Lord Smallwood. Jon complains that he hasn’t heard of any of them, and Samwell replies they haven’t heard of him either, but they have men that the Watch needs. Another parchment placed before him, Jon wonders how many men Lord Mason could send, and Samwell replies that it’s more than Lord Weberly.
Another letter follows… and then rather hurriedly one more. Jon starts to sign when he realizes it’s a plea to Lord Roose Bolton. Jon refuses to sign it, saying that Roose murdered his brother, but Samwell persists that they have sworn vows to defend the realms of men, and they desperately need the men and supplies Bolton can provide. Samwell insists that they can’t defend the Wall with a mere fifty men, and only the Warden of the North’s help can get them more men. Jon considers that in silence and then, with disgust, signs the letter. He pushes back from his desk, and Samwell leaves just as Melisandre enters.
Samwell apologizes to her… but then with a look to Jon, he leaves, shutting the door behind him. Melisandre asks Jon to ride with Stannis when he goes south, that Jon knows Winterfell better than anyone else on the Wall—its tunnels, its weaknesses, its people—and emphasizes that it was his home once. She asks if he doesn’t want to “chase the rats” out of it. Jon replies that Castle Black is now his home, and the Night’s Watch take no part in the wars of the Seven Kingdoms. Melisandre insists there’s only war: life against death. She offers to show him what he’ll be fighting for.
Jon, skeptical, wonders if she plans to show him a vision in the fire, and reveals that he doesn’t trust in visions. Melisandre, now standing before him, promises neither visions nor magic, only life…. and proceeds to disrobe, baring her body to him. She takes his hand and draws it up to her breast, which he grasps. She asks if he feels her heart beating, and Jon faintly nods. Melisandre insists that there’s power in him but that he resists it, and that that is his mistake.
She tells him to embrace that power… but Jon suddenly pulls his hand away from her. She merely moves to straddle his lap, informing him that the Lord of Light made them male and female, two parts of a greater whole whose joining has power: power to make life, to make light, to cast shadows. Jon, in a strained voice, says he doesn’t think Stannis would care for that. Melisandre says they shouldn’t tell him, and proceeds to work on the laces of his coat. Jon insists he can’t, that he swore vows, and that he loved another. “The dead don’t need lovers,” Melisandre responds. “Only the living.” He stops her hands, and Jon says he knows but that he still loves her.
Defeated, Melisandre stands up and walks away, closing her robe. But at the door she stops… and says to the lord commander, “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Jon seems stunned, and Melisandre amused as she leaves.
Stannis, too, sits at his desk, but he is alone and seemingly lost in thought. There is a knock at the door and Princess Shireen enters. He says nothing after glancing at her, and she looks about his chamber and then considers some of the scrolls and objects on a desk. She takes up a large chunk of gold (or perhaps fools’ gold) as he asks if she’s lonely. Shireen replies that she’s just bored, and Stannis replies gruffly that his father used to say that boredom indicates a lack of inner resources. Shireen, reading into that, asks if Stannis was bored a lot as well.
Stannis ignores the question, instead starting to say that he knows Castle Black is no place for a child, but she stops him and says she likes it. She moves to a table laid out with a map and figures representing troops and ships, and starts to play with them as she adds that she had been afraid she was going to be left at Dragonstone, and knew her mother didn’t want her to come. Stannis asks what makes her say that, and Shireen replies that Selyse told her, “I don’t want to bring you.” Stannis takes that in and then quietly says that she shouldn’t have said that. Shireen turns back to her father, pacing the room and then stopping to ask if Stannis is ashamed of her.
Stannis looks up at her, then fiddles with materials on his desk. He rises and tells her that when she was an infant, a Dornish merchant landed on Dragonstone. Most of his goods were “junk”, but for a single wooden doll with a dress in the colors of House Baratheon. Stannis supposed he’d heard of Shireen’s birth and assumed new fathers were easily targetted. He looks at the map for a long moment, then turns to Shireen and tells her he remembers how she smiled when he put the doll in her cradle, how she pressed it to her cheek…
Shireen is smiling at that, when Stannis gives her a grim look. “By the time we burnt the doll, it was too late,” he tells her, moving to the map and adjusting the placement of some of the markers. He informs her that he was told she would die or, worse, she would only die slowly from the greyscale, that she would have enough time to grow and learn about the world before killing her. Stannis notes many advised him to send her to the ruins of Valyria, to live out her remaining days with the Stone Men, before the sickness could spread through the castle.
Stannis turns back to her daughter with the words, “I told them all to go to hell.” Shireen gives a tremulous smile at that, as her father talks of how he called for every maester, healer, and apothecary “on this side of the world”. He says they succeeded in stopping the disease and saving her life. He moves toward his daughter as she sheds a tear, telling her that she did not belong on the other side of the world, that she didn’t belong with the “bloody Stone Men”, because she was the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon. “And you are my daughter,” he finishes. She throws herself at him, embracing him. Stannis hesitates, then returns the hug.
In the crypts of Winterfell, Sansa lights candles at the tombs of the Starks. She carries her candle to the statue of Lyanna Stark, placing a candle in her hand. Stepping back, she looks down and finds a single hawk’s feather and wonders how it came to be there when Littlefinger interrupts her. Saying he thought he’d find her there, he then remarks on Sansa’s aunt Lyanna. Sansa responds that Ned never spoke to her about his sister, but sometimes she’d find him in the crypts lighting the candles and he’d say she was beautiful.
Littlefinger replies that he saw her once, when he was a boy living with the Tullys, when Lord Whent held a great tourney at Harrenhal. He notes everyone was there, among them the Mad King, her father Eddard, Robert Baratheon. And Lyanna, he notes, who was already promised to Robert. He tells Sansa she could imagine what it meant to him, “a boy from nowhere with nothing to his name” watching the legendary knights and warriors tilting at the lists. He recalls that the last two riders were Ser Barristan Selmy and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. He notes that when Rhaegar won, everyone cheered; that when he took off his helm, everyone was laughing joyously, and saw how handsome he was with that silver hair…
Until, that is, he rode past his wife Elia Martell and all the smiles died. Littlefinger never saw so many people so quiet when Rhaegar rode past her, and when she laid a crown of winter roses in Lyanna’s lap. Petyr wonders how many tens of thousands died because Rhaegar Targaryen chose Sansa’s aunt. Sansa admits he did, and then proceeded to kidnap and rape her. Littlefinger gives her a considering look, smiles to himself, and then tells Sansa to come to him so they can speak somewhere where the dead cannot hear them.
Sansa notices he’s dressed for riding, and wonders where he’s going. He tells her he’s been sent for by Queen Cersei, so he’s traveling to King’s Landing so that she doesn’t “sniff out any trouble.” Sansa is terrified of being left alone in Winterfell, insisting he can’t leave her. Littlefinger responds that he knows how it is to live with people you despise, but it will not be long. She asks how he knows, and he leads her further down the crypt, telling her that Stannis Baratheon has his forces at Castle Black but he’ll march south on King’s Landing before the winter snows block him… but first, he needs to take Winterfell.
Sansa doesn’t believe he knows it, but Littlefinger insists that he does. He suggests that when Stannis takes the lands from the Boltons and rallies her father’s bannermen behind him, he can finally take the Iron Throne. Sansa wonders if this means he thinks he’ll defeat the Boltons, and he replies that Stannis has the larger army, is the finest commander in Westeros, and a betting man would bet on Stannis. “As it happens, I am a betting man,” he tells Sansa. She asks what happens if he’s right, and he lays out a scenario where Stannis deposes the Boltons, rescues her from the most despised family in the North, and grateful for Eddard’s support of his claim will name her “Wardeness of the North.”
Sansa seems unnerved by the idea, that she wouldn’t know how to hold such an office. Petyr replies that Stannis will know as the last surviving Stark, he’ll need her. Sansa questions what happens if he’s wrong: if Stannis doesn’t attack, or if he’s defeated by the Boltons. Littlefinger tells her that in that case, she has to make Ramsay Bolton hers. She says she had no idea how to do that, and he responds that of course she does, that Ramsay’s already “fallen” for her. Sansa considers that and then says that Ramsay’s father frightens her. Littlefinger says she should be afraid, that Roose is dangerous, but even the most dangerous men can be outmaneuvered… and she’s learned to maneuver from the best.
He promises he’ll return before too long, and tells her to be strong without him. Then he proceeds to kiss her. Sansa closes her eyes and seems uncertain. When he pulls away, he asks if she believes him, and she replies that she expects she’ll be a married woman by the time he returns. Littlefinger laughs a little at that, and leaves her.
Far away in the south, Bronn rows him and Jaime ashore. Bronn doesn’t seem happy with the task, and looks at Jaime, who replies silently by showing his metal hand. Later, the two drag their boat to the shore, and the next morning Jaime is sleeping… when suddenly a sound wakes him, and Bronn throws his knife at him. Jaime’s startled and rolls away, only to see that Bronn’s killed a snake that was preparing to bite him. “Breakfast,” Bronn remarks, and soon he’s eating roasted snake while Jaime is pulling a black glove over his metal hand. Bronn notes it would have been a “shit” way to die, and Jaime replies that they all are. Bronn seems surprised, agreeing but pointing out that knights and nobles like Jaime like to give the singers a good ending.
Jaime responds with disgust, saying that he doesn’t care what’s said about him after he’s dead. Bronn seems dubious, pointing out that they’re two knights alone on a mission to rescue a princess—sounds like a good song. Jaime thinks it sounds like all the rest and, after considering the spitted snake, sets it aside rather than eating while Bronn eats his share with gusto. Jaime wonders what way Bronn would choose to die, and Bronn replies that he’d like to be in his own keep, drinking his own wine, watching his sons grovel for his fortune. Jaime considers that disappointing, not the exciting death he supposed Bronn would imagine. “I’ve had an exciting life,” Bronn replies. “I want my death to be boring.”
Jaime seems thoughtful, and when asked what death he’ll want, he replies, “In the arms of the woman I love.” Bronn considers him and asks if she wants the same thing. Jaime stares at him, then looks away. Hefting a bag over his shoulder, Jaime says they should go. Bronn kicks out the flames. Later, climbing a hill, Bronn asks if the ship’s captain was Braavosi and Jaime replies he was Pentoshi. Bronn confirms he was heading to Oldtown, and Jaime wants to know why he wants to know. He reveals his suspicion that nothing would stop the captain for docking elsewhere and telling the Dornish that Ser Jaime Lannister was in Dorne. Jaime says he paid him a bag of gold, and Bronn notes that Jaime doesn’t understand how much the Lannisters are hated in Dorne.
Jaime responds that it was a heavy bag, and Bronn guesses that the man swore all sorts of oaths to get it… but Jaime won’t be around if the man breaks them. Then they stop, hearing horses in the distance. Four Dornish knights crest the hill as Jaime and Bronn lie down out of sight. Bronn asks how many Jaime thinks he can fight, and Jaime thinks he could manage one, if he’s slow. The knights notice footprints in the sand, and Bronn sighs and then gets up and raises his hands. The men move to surround them, and Bronn informs them that he’s Cooper and Jaime is Darnell. He claims they’re glad to have found them. When the lead knight says they’re from King’s Landing, “Cooper” says the accent must have given him away.
He admits he’s from Flea Bottom, and explains their ship capsized in the night and he and “Darnell” were able to swim ashore. Jaime then speaks, saying that he thought the sharks would get them. The Dornish captain considers him and then says flatly that there are no sharks in Dorne. “Darnell” insists he saw shark fins, and Bronn supposes they were dolphins. The captain calls on them to give up their weapons, and Bronn insists it’s unnecessary, asking them to just point them in the right direction. The captain insists, and he and his men point their lances at Bronn and Jaime. Bronn gives Jaime a look, and both start to draw their weapons to surrender them . . . when Bron grabs his knife from its sheath and throws it into the captain’s neck.
The Dornish knight falls dead, and Bronn parries the charge of a second knight, stabbing him through the chest as he drags him from his horse. Turning with the last two Dornishmen before and behind him, he faces the first who charges at him wielding a curved sword. Bronn ruthlessly cuts at the man’s horse as it rears up, slashing open its belly. It falls screaming, its rider with it. Bronn gestures to him and tells Jaime that that one should be slow enough for him, while he turns to face the last mounted Dornishmen.
The knight rises and attacks Jaime, who is overmatched fighting with his left hand. Driven back, knocked to the ground, and disarmed, the Dornishman prepars to kill him with a over-handed blow when Jaime flinches away, raising his hand—his metal hand. The blade catches in the prosthetic with a ring, and the Dornishman can’t pull it away before Jaime takes up his fallen sword and drives it through the man’s chest. Ser Jaime watches the man’s body tumble downs the sandy slope, then has to use his foot to help kick the sword before it finally dislodges itself. Bronn calls out that it was a nice move, having already finish his opponent. Jaime says it was luck, but Bronn insists that it’s because he had a wonderful teacher.
Bronn wipes his sword on a dead Dornishman, then pats the man’s horse, remarking that he always wanted a Dornish stallion. He notes they can run a day and a night without tiring, and they’ll be able to ride to the Water Gardens with a breeze in their face. Jaime responds that before that, they need to bury the bodies. Bronn protests, but Jaime notes bodies raise questions and questions raise armies; they’re not there to start a war. Bronn complains about how long it’ll take for them to dig the graves for four men, and Jaime points out he can’t dig well with one hand—in fact, he can’t dig at all. Bronn stares at him and seems less than pleased. He’s then shown dragging bodies together to make the burial easier.
Elsewhere on the Dornish shore, a veiled Ellaria Sand rides a Dornish horse on the strand and comes to a tent where three women await with horses. Ellaria dismounts, removing her veil, and her daughter Tyene Sand comes up to her while Tyene’s half-sisters look at her. Ellaria greets Nymeria (whom she calls Nym) and Obara. Obara bluntly asks if it will be war, but Ellaria says that Doran will weep for Oberyn but willl do nothing more. Moving into the tent, she opens a flask and says it’s up to them to avenge Oberyn before she takes a drink. Obara points out that without Prince Doran, they won’t have an army to march against the Lannisters.
Ellaria looks back at her and says that an army isn’t needed to start a war. She notes that Cersei loves her children, and they have one of them. At that, Nymeria speaks up and says they may have a problem. Using her whip, she skillfully knocks over a bucket with scorpions approaching it… and reveals under it the head of the Pentoshi ship’s captain, gagged and buried up to his neck in the sand. One of the scorpions cralws over his head. Obara notes it’s a ship captain who found her in Planky Town, offering to sell information, and that he informed her he had smuggled Jaime Lannister into Dorne.
Ellaria considers that and then says he’s come for Myrcella, and if he gets to her before they do, they’ll lose their chance for revenge. She informs the Sand Snakes they must choose between Doran’s way and peace, or Ellaria’s way and war. Her daughter goes up to her and promises she’ll always be with her. Nymeria nods. Obara notes that when she was a child, Oberyn came to take her to court. She notes she had never seen him before, but he called himself her father. Her mother, she claims, wept and said she was too young and just a girl. Oberyn threw his spear to Obara and told her that girl or boy, they fight their own battles but the gods let them choose their weapons. Obara walks up to her spear where its set point-up in the sand, decorated with a serpent much like her father’s was.
Obara informs them that Oberyn pointed to the spear, and then to her mother’s tears. She pulls the spear from the ground and with a smooth motion throws it into the head of the ship’s captain. As she tells them she made her choice long ago, Ellaria smiles.
Away in Essos, Jorah sails the boat he stole. Tyrion, still gagged, tries to speak to him but Jorah ignores him. Tyrion begins to hum an undecipherable song until Jorah finally relents and roughly removes the gag. Tyrion thanks him as Mormont returns to the rudder. He asks who Jorah is, and Jorah replies he’s his captor. Tyrion’s next question is if there’s wine, and when told there isn’t he complains that he can’t sleep without it. “Then stay awake,” Jorah replies, uncaring.
Tyrion looks around and then notes that Jorah is going the wrong way since Cersei is in Westeros, and Westeros is west while Jorah is piloting them east. Jorah points out he’s not taking her to Cersei, and when Tyrion replies that Jorah said he was taking him to the queen. Mormont says he is: Queen Daenerys Targaryen, the queen he serves. Tyrion starts to laugh at that, noting that he was heading to Daenerys himself. When Jorah asks what business Tyrion could have with her, Tyrion says gold and glory… and hate. He points out that if Jorah had ever met Cersei, he’d understand.
Then Tyrion suggests Jorah can untie his hands, but Jorah says nothing to it. Looking about, Tyrion runs through what he’s gleaned about Jorah: a highborn knight from Westeros, impoverished in Essos, with dragons on his epaulets and a bear on his breastplate. He names him as Jorah Mormont… and then goes further, wondering how Jorah planned to serve his queen in a whorehouse in Volantis, and correctly determines that he was running and that Daenerys had sent him away. Then he recalls Jorah had been spying on Daenerys for the Iron Throne; drunk though he was through most of the small council’s meetings, or so he claims, Tyrion admits he’s starting to remember how Jorah passed notes to Varys’s little birds.
Tyrion rightly guesses that Daenerys found out and sent him into exile, but that Jorah hopes to win her favor again by giving her Tyrion. He considers that risky, even desperate, since why would Daenerys execute Tyrion and pardon Jorah? Tyrion supposes the reverse is as likely. Jorah finally moves away from the rudder, sits in front of Tyrion… and then backhands him down to the deck, knokcing him unconscious.
High above Meereen, Daenerys looks down from her pyramid at the city and remarks to Ser Barristan that from up there everyone looks happy enough. Barristan chuckles, and when she asks why he explains that Prince Rhaegar had often made him go down with him into the streets of the city, to walk among the people and to sing to them. Daenerys, moving into the pyramid, seems dubious that he liked to sing to them. Barristan, however, insists that he did, that he’d pick a spot on the Hook or the Street of Seeds and he’d sing like all the other minstrels. Daenerys asks what Barristan did then, and he notes he made sure no one killed Rhaegar, and he also collected the money. Rhaegar, she says, liked seeing how much money he could make.
Daenerys is amazed at the idea that he wa good at it, but Barristan confirms that he was very good and wonders that Viserys never told her. Sitting down, she says Viserys only told her that Rhaegar was very good at killing people. Barristan replies that Rhaegar never liked killing, but he loved singing. She asks what Rhaegar did with the money, and Barristan recalls that one time he gave it to the minstrel down the street, that another he gave it to an orphanage in Flea Bottom, one time they became horribly drunk. Daenerys laughs.
That laughter is interrupted by Daario, who informs her that Hizdahr is there to meet her. She asks how many others are present, and he says fifty or a hundred. She asks if Barristan will be joining them, and Daario notes he can protect her from Hizdahr zo Loraq. Daenerys retorts that she thinks she can defend herself from him. Then to Barristan, she tells him to go and sing a song for her. “Your grace,” he says, leaving.
Holding audience in the throne room, Hizdahr informs Daenerys that all men must die, but not all men can die glorious deaths. Daenerys questions the use of glory in connection with his plea to reopen the fighting pits, but he asks why else men fight if not for glory. Why did Daenerys’s ancestors cross the narrow sea to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, Hizdahr asks, if not to have their names live on? He notes that those who fight in the pits will never be kings, but their names will live on, that it’s the best chance they’ll ever have.
Daenerys disgustedly asks if that’s what they told men before sending them to slaughter one another for sport. Hizdahr notes that the current date is the traditional start of the fighting season, and Daenerys bluntly responds that she does not recognize that tradition. Hizdahr presses the point that only tradition will hold the city together, that without them the former slaves and the former slave owners will have nothing in common.
As he speaks, images of masked sons of the harpy with torches moving through dark tunnels are seen. As they march, Hizdahr says that without tradition nothing will be left but centuries of mistrust and resentment. He cannot promise that opening the pits will solve their problems, but it’s a start.
In a market, Second Sons are enjoying the company of prostitutes—including the woman who was with White Rat when the sons of the harpy killed him—when masked men come out and start to stab them to death. There are cries and screams. As quickly as they appeared, the sons of the harpy disappear. Nearby, a troop of Unsullied march through an alley when they hear the cries from the market. They rush there, and find the market empty but for the dead men and the prostitute who points in the direction that the sons of the harpy went. The Unsullied rush headlong in pursuit, but it’s plain that she is collaborating with them as her tears stop as soon as they’re gone.
Entering a wide hall, they look around…. and then dozens of sons of the harpy appear at either end of the hallway, trapping them between them. A desperate battle breaks out as the outnumbered Unsullied fight for the lives. Part way through the fighting, one of them loses his helmet: it is Grey Worm. He fights on, as two other Unsullied elsewhere in the city—possibly guards of the great pyramid itself—are attacked and overwhelmed by four times their number.
Barristan Selmy, walking the streets alone, hears a bell ring and the Meereenese begin to run and scream. Drawing his sword, he goes to investigate. Grey Worm and the last of the Unsullied fight on, and Grey Worm is stabbed in the chest but kills more of the sons of the harpy. Pulling the knife from his side, he kills another man…. and then he stands entirely alone, vastly outnumbered, while in other parts of the city yet more Unsullied are killed.
Surrounded, Grey Worm tries to keep the sons of the harpy away with his spear, falling to a knee… when there’s a cry, and Barristan Selmy runs a lookout through the back. He approaches more than a dozen men alone. And then they tattack, and Barristan’s famed skill reveals itself, as he cuts down one man after another. Grey Worm, seeing the unlooked-for reinforcement, resumes fighting the men at the other end of the hall.
However, despite his courage and skill, the numbers are too many for Barristan the Bold: he’s cut in the leg, kicked, stabbed several times—and then is about to have his throat cut when Grey Worm kills the last of the harpies and collapses atop Ser Barristan’s still corpse. The hall is filled with bodies as the screen goes dark.
Recap
On a shore near Volantis, a fisherman is assaulted by Ser Jorah Mormont, who knocks him unconscious and drags him out of the shallows. Dropping coins on his prone body, Jorah moves on to where a bound-and-gagged Tyrion desperately tries to cut the ropes binding his hands with the dagger that Mormont has used to keep him still. However, Mormont gets to him first, taking the knife of way and then tossing Tyrion over his shoulder like a sack of turnips. Dropping a bag with equipment into the boat, and then roughly throwing Tyrion into it, Mormont pushes the boat into the water and then climbs aboard.
Far away, a ship carries Jaime Lannister. Looking over its side into the distance, he stops the passing captain and asks him if the island he sees is Estermont. The captain tells him it is Tarth, an island of green, high hills amidst blue waters. The captain repeats the name given to Tarth: the Sapphire Isle. Jaime looks at it thoughtfully.
Below decks, a bored Bronn throws a knife into a sack of grain and complains to Jaime, now seated in the hold, why they’re on a merchant ship. Jaime replies that the ship will sail to Oldtown, but that he and Bronn will leave earlier, rowing themselves near Sunspear in the night. Bronn asks if Jaime’s been to Dorne, and when he responds in the negative he replies that he has been there, and in his experience the Dornish are mad: “All they want to do is fight and fuck.” Jaime suggests that should make Bronn eager to return. Bronn responds that he finds that a good fight often gets one in the mood, and that there’s nothing like a licentious Dornish girl to “clear your head for the next fight.”
Pulling his knife from the sack and proceeding to clean the blade, he informs Jaime that he expects they will fight on shore—well, he expects he will—but he imagines that when they kidnap “their princess” they won’t be able to stay around for the fun part. Jaime replies testily, saying that she’s not their princess, they’re rescuing his niece and bringing her back to her family. Bronn looks at Jaime and asks, “Your niece?” The look between them is clear enough, as Jaime keeps silent. Bronn moves to drinking wine from a flagon and remarks that he’s done the sort of task they’re setting out to do before, and that he’s good at it. But he wonders why Jaime is there, rather than forty other men like Bronn, or an entire army.
Jaime replies that he doesn’t want to start a war, but Bronn persists in wondering why Jaime. “It has to be me,” is the only answer Jaime can give. Bronn meanders through the hold and says that if he’s putting something together like this, a one-handed man with one of the most recognizable faces in Westeros—Jaime cuts him off, simply insisting it has to be him. Bronn considers him, and then guesses that Jaime released Tyrion, and that Cersei didn’t like it. Jaime corrects him, saying that Varys released him. Bronn takes that in stride and moves to lie down, but tells Jaime that if he ever sees “that little fucker” again, to give him his regards.
Jaime points out that Tyrion murdered Tywin, and that he’ll “split him in two” if he ever sees him again. And then, Jaime adds, he’ll give him Bronn’s regards.
In King’s Landing, the small council is in session. Lord Tyrell, in his office of master of coin, informs Cersei and the councillors that the Iron Bank has called in a tenth of the crown’s debts. He starts to discuss the crown’s expenses, such as the rebuilding of its fleet, when Cersei asks what the crown can afford. Lord Tyrell says that with winter’s approach, they can pay perhaps half (or even less). At Cersei’s question as to what they can do, Mace offers to have House Tyrell cover the cost as a loan to be paid back in time, and makes a jest about how otherwise he’d “have words with [his] daughter.” The joke falls flat, however.
Cersei replies that the Tyrells have already given too much. Standing and pacing toward a balcony, she says they must arrange better terms with the Iron Bank. Lord Tyrell agrees, but when she says the arrangement must be made in person, he realizes that she means he should go to Braavos. Cersei responds that an envoy is needed, someone important, and as master of coin there is no one more suitable. Initially uncertain, when he hears “important” and “qualified”, Lord Tyrell becomes very willing. Cersei adds that the king has shown great concern about Mace’s safety on the voyage, so Ser Meryn Trant of the Kingsguard will personally lead an escort. Lord Tyrell is enthusiastic about having his own Kingsguard knight, and is ushered out with a farewell from Cersei. Lord Mace promises to give his regards to the Titan of Braavos.
After Lord Tyrell leaves, Grand Maester Pycelle remarks that the small council grows smaller and smaller. “Not small enough,” Cersei says, not looking at him as she walks out of the room.
In her chambers, a raven’s scroll bearing Littlefinger’s mockingbird sigil sits unattended on Cersei’s desk as she pours wine into a glass. She offers to pour for “Your Holiness,” but the High Sparrow—now High Septon—refuses it. Cersei pushes the glass away from herself and, staring at it, remarks the former High Septon would have asked the vintage. To that, the High Sparrow says that he could say that the mind is a temple to the Seven and should kept pure … but in truth, he simply doesn’t like the taste of wine. Then he asks how he could serve.
Cersei replies that they’ve heard that throughout Westeros septs have been burned, silent sisters raped, the bodies of holy men piled in the streets. The High Sparrow replies that war teaches obedience to swords, not the gods. Cersei wonders if the gods don’t need a sword of their own. She recalls that before the Targaryens, the Faith Militant dispensed the justice of the Seven. The High Sparrow reminds Cersei that the Faith Militant was disarmed more than two centuries before. Cersei suggests she could convince Tommen to sign a decree allowing the High Septon to arm believers he felt worthy. The High Sparrow is pleased at the thought of an army to defend the body and souls of the common people. Cersei adds that it’d be an army in service of the gods, and the High Sparrow himself as the High Septon.
He replies that he never imagined or wished that honor. Cersei replies that’s why he was chosen. Leaning back in her chair she says that they both know how the world works. Too often, she says, the wealthiest are beyond the reach of justice. She claims Tommen cannot punish all of those who deserve it most. The High Sparrow responds that all sinners are equal, before the gods. Cersei considers that, smiling, and then asks what he would say if she spoke of a great sinner in their very midst, protected by gold and privilege. The High Sparrow hopes the Father will judge him justly.
In a market in King’s Landing, men in black robes with chains around their torsos and the seven-pointed star carved into their foreheads march in and begin to wreak havoc: they break open barrels of beer and ale, throw men from taverns, smash religious idols of foreign gods, beat merchants who oppose them… and all under the eyes of the City Watch, who turn away and do nothing. As we see this, a member of this new Faith Militant having the star cut into his forehead.
Entering Littlefinger’s brothel, the zealots interrupt a man enjoying a prostitute, dragging the naked woman away by her hair as she screams and beating her client. The woman is dragged into another room as she’s called a harlot. Another door is opened, where men and women are taking part in orgiastic pleasures. There are screams as the women run, and as the Faith Militant zealots beat the men. Olyver enters, grabbing one of the men and telling him it’s Petyr Baelish’s establishment, and all he earns for his trouble is an elbow to the face as the men press on deeper into the brothel.
Olyver hears screams and cries and curses, and moves to witness another room where the zealots scream imprecations at two naked men, calling them filth for their homosexuality. The older man offers to pay them all… and the zealot says they will, as he takes out a knife and approaches. We hear the mans scream as Olyver runs, and we see the latest member of their order sit up with the bloody seven-pointed star on his forehead: Lancel Lannister.
A troop of the Faith Militant, Lancel among them, walk unmolested through the stairs of the Red Keep to come to where a group of young courtiers watch Ser Loras Tyrell, clad in green, defeating a sparring partner. Then he notices the approaching men, but it is too late as they seize hold of him. He struggles, but is held fast. Lancel tells him that he’s broken the laws of gods and men. When Loras asks who he thinks he is, Lancel replies, “Justice.”
Margaery storms into Tommen’s chambers, where he’s eating, and angrily asks why her brother is in a cell. Tommen says he doesn’t know, that he didn’t order it, and she replies that he knows who did. Pacing away from him, she angrily says that Tommen assured her she was returning to Casterly Rock. Tommen stands up, asking uncertainly if she means that his mother is behind it. Margaery replies that she’s jealous that she’s not hers anymore, and that arresting Loras is her revenge. Tommen innocently asks if they aren’t getting along, and his queen lets out an exasperated breath.
She goes over to him and sits, calling him her sweet king. She asks him that if he has any affection for her. He takes her hand, reassuring her, calling her his queen. She says she can’t think of her brother locked away in a grimy cell, and Tommen promises he’ll set him free for her. He then goes to Cersei, who is drinking a glass of wine as she looks out a window. He demands Loras be freed immediately, and Cersei turns and asks if she arrested him. Tommen admits she didn’t, but then explains she armed the Faith Militant and gave the High Sparrow an army. Cersei admits she did, and responds that Margaery has every right to criticize.
She moves deeper into the chamber, remarking that they can’t allow fanatics to arrest the queen’s brother “no matter his perversions.” She sits at her desk as Tommen asks if he can tell Margaery that Cersei will have Ser Loras released, but she responds again that she isn’t holding him. “You’re the king,” she tells him, and assures him that if he speaks to the High Sparrow she’s sure he’ll release Loras.
King Tommen arrives in a litter at the Great Sept, with five of the Kingsguard at his back. They start to mount the steps when a troop of the Faith Miltiant block their way. One of them says His Holiness is praying and does not wish to be disturbed. One of the Kingsguard knights tells Tommen to give the order and he and his Sworn Brothers will clear out the rabble. Tommen asks if he means killing them, there on the steps of the sept. The knight replies that they’ll be sending them to the gods that they love. The knights all seize their swords, as the fanatics prepare to defend themselves, when a voice from the crowd cries, “Bastard!” Another calls, “You’re an abomination.” There are more shouts, and Tommen backs down, saying he’ll find another way.
Returning to his chambers, Tommen looks for Margaery. She comes in from a balcony and seems expectant… and then crestfallen when he tells her there was no way to free Loras without violence. Margaery says he’s the King of the Andals, the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, the Protector of the Realm… and he allowed fanatics imprison his brother by law. Tommen insists he’ll speak with the High Sparrow, and Margaery asks when. Tommen says he doesn’t know when, that the High Sparrow was praying just then. Margaery leaves the chamber, saying she needs to send word to her grandmother. Tommen calls after her, asking she’ll come back later. Margaery stops, then she says she needs to be with her family and leaves.
In the yard of Castle Black, men practice at arms as Jon Snow helps to train them. Above them, Stannis leans against a balustrade as Selyse remarks that he thinks highly of “this boy.” He reminds her he’s lord commander of the Night’s Watch, and she retorts that he’s a bastard by some tavern slut. “Perhaps,” Stannis says, “but that wasnt’ Ned Stark’s way.” Selyse regards her husband and repeats that she should have given him a son. He says it isn’t her fault, but she asks whose it is. Turning to look at Shireen, who sits further away on steps as she watches the men as well, she tells Stannis that all she gave him was weakness and deformity. Stannis says nothing, and Melisandre arrives just then to tell her that the Lord of Light does not care about Shireen’s scars.
Melisandre goes on to say that Shireen’s father is the Lord’s chosen king… and her father’s blood runs through her vain. A significant look passes between her and Selyse, and Selyse nods to her before leaving. Melisandre asks Stannis if he means to march on Winterfell soon, and he says they must, to beat the snows. Melisandre points out that he once put his faith in Davos and left her behind, and she hopes he doesn’t intend to make the same mistake. He promises he won’t. Stannis then replies that he needs her, to which she says he only needs faith. As he turns to start to go, he asks what Melisandre needs. She looks at Jon sparring below and says she only needs to serve her lord.
Later that day, in the lord commander’s chambers, Samwell presents letters for Jon’s signature, letters to the likes of Lord Ashford, Lady Caulfield, Lord Smallwood. Jon complains that he hasn’t heard of any of them, and Samwell replies they haven’t heard of him either, but they have men that the Watch needs. Another parchment placed before him, Jon wonders how many men Lord Mason could send, and Samwell replies that it’s more than Lord Weberly.
Another letter follows… and then rather hurriedly one more. Jon starts to sign when he realizes it’s a plea to Lord Roose Bolton. Jon refuses to sign it, saying that Roose murdered his brother, but Samwell persists that they have sworn vows to defend the realms of men, and they desperately need the men and supplies Bolton can provide. Samwell insists that they can’t defend the Wall with a mere fifty men, and only the Warden of the North’s help can get them more men. Jon considers that in silence and then, with disgust, signs the letter. He pushes back from his desk, and Samwell leaves just as Melisandre enters.
Samwell apologizes to her… but then with a look to Jon, he leaves, shutting the door behind him. Melisandre asks Jon to ride with Stannis when he goes south, that Jon knows Winterfell better than anyone else on the Wall—its tunnels, its weaknesses, its people—and emphasizes that it was his home once. She asks if he doesn’t want to “chase the rats” out of it. Jon replies that Castle Black is now his home, and the Night’s Watch take no part in the wars of the Seven Kingdoms. Melisandre insists there’s only war: life against death. She offers to show him what he’ll be fighting for.
Jon, skeptical, wonders if she plans to show him a vision in the fire, and reveals that he doesn’t trust in visions. Melisandre, now standing before him, promises neither visions nor magic, only life…. and proceeds to disrobe, baring her body to him. She takes his hand and draws it up to her breast, which he grasps. She asks if he feels her heart beating, and Jon faintly nods. Melisandre insists that there’s power in him but that he resists it, and that that is his mistake.
She tells him to embrace that power… but Jon suddenly pulls his hand away from her. She merely moves to straddle his lap, informing him that the Lord of Light made them male and female, two parts of a greater whole whose joining has power: power to make life, to make light, to cast shadows. Jon, in a strained voice, says he doesn’t think Stannis would care for that. Melisandre says they shouldn’t tell him, and proceeds to work on the laces of his coat. Jon insists he can’t, that he swore vows, and that he loved another. “The dead don’t need lovers,” Melisandre responds. “Only the living.” He stops her hands, and Jon says he knows but that he still loves her.
Defeated, Melisandre stands up and walks away, closing her robe. But at the door she stops… and says to the lord commander, “You know nothing, Jon Snow.” Jon seems stunned, and Melisandre amused as she leaves.
Stannis, too, sits at his desk, but he is alone and seemingly lost in thought. There is a knock at the door and Princess Shireen enters. He says nothing after glancing at her, and she looks about his chamber and then considers some of the scrolls and objects on a desk. She takes up a large chunk of gold (or perhaps fools’ gold) as he asks if she’s lonely. Shireen replies that she’s just bored, and Stannis replies gruffly that his father used to say that boredom indicates a lack of inner resources. Shireen, reading into that, asks if Stannis was bored a lot as well.
Stannis ignores the question, instead starting to say that he knows Castle Black is no place for a child, but she stops him and says she likes it. She moves to a table laid out with a map and figures representing troops and ships, and starts to play with them as she adds that she had been afraid she was going to be left at Dragonstone, and knew her mother didn’t want her to come. Stannis asks what makes her say that, and Shireen replies that Selyse told her, “I don’t want to bring you.” Stannis takes that in and then quietly says that she shouldn’t have said that. Shireen turns back to her father, pacing the room and then stopping to ask if Stannis is ashamed of her.
Stannis looks up at her, then fiddles with materials on his desk. He rises and tells her that when she was an infant, a Dornish merchant landed on Dragonstone. Most of his goods were “junk”, but for a single wooden doll with a dress in the colors of House Baratheon. Stannis supposed he’d heard of Shireen’s birth and assumed new fathers were easily targetted. He looks at the map for a long moment, then turns to Shireen and tells her he remembers how she smiled when he put the doll in her cradle, how she pressed it to her cheek…
Shireen is smiling at that, when Stannis gives her a grim look. “By the time we burnt the doll, it was too late,” he tells her, moving to the map and adjusting the placement of some of the markers. He informs her that he was told she would die or, worse, she would only die slowly from the greyscale, that she would have enough time to grow and learn about the world before killing her. Stannis notes many advised him to send her to the ruins of Valyria, to live out her remaining days with the Stone Men, before the sickness could spread through the castle.
Stannis turns back to her daughter with the words, “I told them all to go to hell.” Shireen gives a tremulous smile at that, as her father talks of how he called for every maester, healer, and apothecary “on this side of the world”. He says they succeeded in stopping the disease and saving her life. He moves toward his daughter as she sheds a tear, telling her that she did not belong on the other side of the world, that she didn’t belong with the “bloody Stone Men”, because she was the Princess Shireen of House Baratheon. “And you are my daughter,” he finishes. She throws herself at him, embracing him. Stannis hesitates, then returns the hug.
In the crypts of Winterfell, Sansa lights candles at the tombs of the Starks. She carries her candle to the statue of Lyanna Stark, placing a candle in her hand. Stepping back, she looks down and finds a single hawk’s feather and wonders how it came to be there when Littlefinger interrupts her. Saying he thought he’d find her there, he then remarks on Sansa’s aunt Lyanna. Sansa responds that Ned never spoke to her about his sister, but sometimes she’d find him in the crypts lighting the candles and he’d say she was beautiful.
Littlefinger replies that he saw her once, when he was a boy living with the Tullys, when Lord Whent held a great tourney at Harrenhal. He notes everyone was there, among them the Mad King, her father Eddard, Robert Baratheon. And Lyanna, he notes, who was already promised to Robert. He tells Sansa she could imagine what it meant to him, “a boy from nowhere with nothing to his name” watching the legendary knights and warriors tilting at the lists. He recalls that the last two riders were Ser Barristan Selmy and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. He notes that when Rhaegar won, everyone cheered; that when he took off his helm, everyone was laughing joyously, and saw how handsome he was with that silver hair…
Until, that is, he rode past his wife Elia Martell and all the smiles died. Littlefinger never saw so many people so quiet when Rhaegar rode past her, and when she laid a crown of winter roses in Lyanna’s lap. Petyr wonders how many tens of thousands died because Rhaegar Targaryen chose Sansa’s aunt. Sansa admits he did, and then proceeded to kidnap and rape her. Littlefinger gives her a considering look, smiles to himself, and then tells Sansa to come to him so they can speak somewhere where the dead cannot hear them.
Sansa notices he’s dressed for riding, and wonders where he’s going. He tells her he’s been sent for by Queen Cersei, so he’s traveling to King’s Landing so that she doesn’t “sniff out any trouble.” Sansa is terrified of being left alone in Winterfell, insisting he can’t leave her. Littlefinger responds that he knows how it is to live with people you despise, but it will not be long. She asks how he knows, and he leads her further down the crypt, telling her that Stannis Baratheon has his forces at Castle Black but he’ll march south on King’s Landing before the winter snows block him… but first, he needs to take Winterfell.
Sansa doesn’t believe he knows it, but Littlefinger insists that he does. He suggests that when Stannis takes the lands from the Boltons and rallies her father’s bannermen behind him, he can finally take the Iron Throne. Sansa wonders if this means he thinks he’ll defeat the Boltons, and he replies that Stannis has the larger army, is the finest commander in Westeros, and a betting man would bet on Stannis. “As it happens, I am a betting man,” he tells Sansa. She asks what happens if he’s right, and he lays out a scenario where Stannis deposes the Boltons, rescues her from the most despised family in the North, and grateful for Eddard’s support of his claim will name her “Wardeness of the North.”
Sansa seems unnerved by the idea, that she wouldn’t know how to hold such an office. Petyr replies that Stannis will know as the last surviving Stark, he’ll need her. Sansa questions what happens if he’s wrong: if Stannis doesn’t attack, or if he’s defeated by the Boltons. Littlefinger tells her that in that case, she has to make Ramsay Bolton hers. She says she had no idea how to do that, and he responds that of course she does, that Ramsay’s already “fallen” for her. Sansa considers that and then says that Ramsay’s father frightens her. Littlefinger says she should be afraid, that Roose is dangerous, but even the most dangerous men can be outmaneuvered… and she’s learned to maneuver from the best.
He promises he’ll return before too long, and tells her to be strong without him. Then he proceeds to kiss her. Sansa closes her eyes and seems uncertain. When he pulls away, he asks if she believes him, and she replies that she expects she’ll be a married woman by the time he returns. Littlefinger laughs a little at that, and leaves her.
Far away in the south, Bronn rows him and Jaime ashore. Bronn doesn’t seem happy with the task, and looks at Jaime, who replies silently by showing his metal hand. Later, the two drag their boat to the shore, and the next morning Jaime is sleeping… when suddenly a sound wakes him, and Bronn throws his knife at him. Jaime’s startled and rolls away, only to see that Bronn’s killed a snake that was preparing to bite him. “Breakfast,” Bronn remarks, and soon he’s eating roasted snake while Jaime is pulling a black glove over his metal hand. Bronn notes it would have been a “shit” way to die, and Jaime replies that they all are. Bronn seems surprised, agreeing but pointing out that knights and nobles like Jaime like to give the singers a good ending.
Jaime responds with disgust, saying that he doesn’t care what’s said about him after he’s dead. Bronn seems dubious, pointing out that they’re two knights alone on a mission to rescue a princess—sounds like a good song. Jaime thinks it sounds like all the rest and, after considering the spitted snake, sets it aside rather than eating while Bronn eats his share with gusto. Jaime wonders what way Bronn would choose to die, and Bronn replies that he’d like to be in his own keep, drinking his own wine, watching his sons grovel for his fortune. Jaime considers that disappointing, not the exciting death he supposed Bronn would imagine. “I’ve had an exciting life,” Bronn replies. “I want my death to be boring.”
Jaime seems thoughtful, and when asked what death he’ll want, he replies, “In the arms of the woman I love.” Bronn considers him and asks if she wants the same thing. Jaime stares at him, then looks away. Hefting a bag over his shoulder, Jaime says they should go. Bronn kicks out the flames. Later, climbing a hill, Bronn asks if the ship’s captain was Braavosi and Jaime replies he was Pentoshi. Bronn confirms he was heading to Oldtown, and Jaime wants to know why he wants to know. He reveals his suspicion that nothing would stop the captain for docking elsewhere and telling the Dornish that Ser Jaime Lannister was in Dorne. Jaime says he paid him a bag of gold, and Bronn notes that Jaime doesn’t understand how much the Lannisters are hated in Dorne.
Jaime responds that it was a heavy bag, and Bronn guesses that the man swore all sorts of oaths to get it… but Jaime won’t be around if the man breaks them. Then they stop, hearing horses in the distance. Four Dornish knights crest the hill as Jaime and Bronn lie down out of sight. Bronn asks how many Jaime thinks he can fight, and Jaime thinks he could manage one, if he’s slow. The knights notice footprints in the sand, and Bronn sighs and then gets up and raises his hands. The men move to surround them, and Bronn informs them that he’s Cooper and Jaime is Darnell. He claims they’re glad to have found them. When the lead knight says they’re from King’s Landing, “Cooper” says the accent must have given him away.
He admits he’s from Flea Bottom, and explains their ship capsized in the night and he and “Darnell” were able to swim ashore. Jaime then speaks, saying that he thought the sharks would get them. The Dornish captain considers him and then says flatly that there are no sharks in Dorne. “Darnell” insists he saw shark fins, and Bronn supposes they were dolphins. The captain calls on them to give up their weapons, and Bronn insists it’s unnecessary, asking them to just point them in the right direction. The captain insists, and he and his men point their lances at Bronn and Jaime. Bronn gives Jaime a look, and both start to draw their weapons to surrender them . . . when Bron grabs his knife from its sheath and throws it into the captain’s neck.
The Dornish knight falls dead, and Bronn parries the charge of a second knight, stabbing him through the chest as he drags him from his horse. Turning with the last two Dornishmen before and behind him, he faces the first who charges at him wielding a curved sword. Bronn ruthlessly cuts at the man’s horse as it rears up, slashing open its belly. It falls screaming, its rider with it. Bronn gestures to him and tells Jaime that that one should be slow enough for him, while he turns to face the last mounted Dornishmen.
The knight rises and attacks Jaime, who is overmatched fighting with his left hand. Driven back, knocked to the ground, and disarmed, the Dornishman prepars to kill him with a over-handed blow when Jaime flinches away, raising his hand—his metal hand. The blade catches in the prosthetic with a ring, and the Dornishman can’t pull it away before Jaime takes up his fallen sword and drives it through the man’s chest. Ser Jaime watches the man’s body tumble downs the sandy slope, then has to use his foot to help kick the sword before it finally dislodges itself. Bronn calls out that it was a nice move, having already finish his opponent. Jaime says it was luck, but Bronn insists that it’s because he had a wonderful teacher.
Bronn wipes his sword on a dead Dornishman, then pats the man’s horse, remarking that he always wanted a Dornish stallion. He notes they can run a day and a night without tiring, and they’ll be able to ride to the Water Gardens with a breeze in their face. Jaime responds that before that, they need to bury the bodies. Bronn protests, but Jaime notes bodies raise questions and questions raise armies; they’re not there to start a war. Bronn complains about how long it’ll take for them to dig the graves for four men, and Jaime points out he can’t dig well with one hand—in fact, he can’t dig at all. Bronn stares at him and seems less than pleased. He’s then shown dragging bodies together to make the burial easier.
Elsewhere on the Dornish shore, a veiled Ellaria Sand rides a Dornish horse on the strand and comes to a tent where three women await with horses. Ellaria dismounts, removing her veil, and her daughter Tyene Sand comes up to her while Tyene’s half-sisters look at her. Ellaria greets Nymeria (whom she calls Nym) and Obara. Obara bluntly asks if it will be war, but Ellaria says that Doran will weep for Oberyn but willl do nothing more. Moving into the tent, she opens a flask and says it’s up to them to avenge Oberyn before she takes a drink. Obara points out that without Prince Doran, they won’t have an army to march against the Lannisters.
Ellaria looks back at her and says that an army isn’t needed to start a war. She notes that Cersei loves her children, and they have one of them. At that, Nymeria speaks up and says they may have a problem. Using her whip, she skillfully knocks over a bucket with scorpions approaching it… and reveals under it the head of the Pentoshi ship’s captain, gagged and buried up to his neck in the sand. One of the scorpions cralws over his head. Obara notes it’s a ship captain who found her in Planky Town, offering to sell information, and that he informed her he had smuggled Jaime Lannister into Dorne.
Ellaria considers that and then says he’s come for Myrcella, and if he gets to her before they do, they’ll lose their chance for revenge. She informs the Sand Snakes they must choose between Doran’s way and peace, or Ellaria’s way and war. Her daughter goes up to her and promises she’ll always be with her. Nymeria nods. Obara notes that when she was a child, Oberyn came to take her to court. She notes she had never seen him before, but he called himself her father. Her mother, she claims, wept and said she was too young and just a girl. Oberyn threw his spear to Obara and told her that girl or boy, they fight their own battles but the gods let them choose their weapons. Obara walks up to her spear where its set point-up in the sand, decorated with a serpent much like her father’s was.
Obara informs them that Oberyn pointed to the spear, and then to her mother’s tears. She pulls the spear from the ground and with a smooth motion throws it into the head of the ship’s captain. As she tells them she made her choice long ago, Ellaria smiles.
Away in Essos, Jorah sails the boat he stole. Tyrion, still gagged, tries to speak to him but Jorah ignores him. Tyrion begins to hum an undecipherable song until Jorah finally relents and roughly removes the gag. Tyrion thanks him as Mormont returns to the rudder. He asks who Jorah is, and Jorah replies he’s his captor. Tyrion’s next question is if there’s wine, and when told there isn’t he complains that he can’t sleep without it. “Then stay awake,” Jorah replies, uncaring.
Tyrion looks around and then notes that Jorah is going the wrong way since Cersei is in Westeros, and Westeros is west while Jorah is piloting them east. Jorah points out he’s not taking her to Cersei, and when Tyrion replies that Jorah said he was taking him to the queen. Mormont says he is: Queen Daenerys Targaryen, the queen he serves. Tyrion starts to laugh at that, noting that he was heading to Daenerys himself. When Jorah asks what business Tyrion could have with her, Tyrion says gold and glory… and hate. He points out that if Jorah had ever met Cersei, he’d understand.
Then Tyrion suggests Jorah can untie his hands, but Jorah says nothing to it. Looking about, Tyrion runs through what he’s gleaned about Jorah: a highborn knight from Westeros, impoverished in Essos, with dragons on his epaulets and a bear on his breastplate. He names him as Jorah Mormont… and then goes further, wondering how Jorah planned to serve his queen in a whorehouse in Volantis, and correctly determines that he was running and that Daenerys had sent him away. Then he recalls Jorah had been spying on Daenerys for the Iron Throne; drunk though he was through most of the small council’s meetings, or so he claims, Tyrion admits he’s starting to remember how Jorah passed notes to Varys’s little birds.
Tyrion rightly guesses that Daenerys found out and sent him into exile, but that Jorah hopes to win her favor again by giving her Tyrion. He considers that risky, even desperate, since why would Daenerys execute Tyrion and pardon Jorah? Tyrion supposes the reverse is as likely. Jorah finally moves away from the rudder, sits in front of Tyrion… and then backhands him down to the deck, knokcing him unconscious.
High above Meereen, Daenerys looks down from her pyramid at the city and remarks to Ser Barristan that from up there everyone looks happy enough. Barristan chuckles, and when she asks why he explains that Prince Rhaegar had often made him go down with him into the streets of the city, to walk among the people and to sing to them. Daenerys, moving into the pyramid, seems dubious that he liked to sing to them. Barristan, however, insists that he did, that he’d pick a spot on the Hook or the Street of Seeds and he’d sing like all the other minstrels. Daenerys asks what Barristan did then, and he notes he made sure no one killed Rhaegar, and he also collected the money. Rhaegar, she says, liked seeing how much money he could make.
Daenerys is amazed at the idea that he wa good at it, but Barristan confirms that he was very good and wonders that Viserys never told her. Sitting down, she says Viserys only told her that Rhaegar was very good at killing people. Barristan replies that Rhaegar never liked killing, but he loved singing. She asks what Rhaegar did with the money, and Barristan recalls that one time he gave it to the minstrel down the street, that another he gave it to an orphanage in Flea Bottom, one time they became horribly drunk. Daenerys laughs.
That laughter is interrupted by Daario, who informs her that Hizdahr is there to meet her. She asks how many others are present, and he says fifty or a hundred. She asks if Barristan will be joining them, and Daario notes he can protect her from Hizdahr zo Loraq. Daenerys retorts that she thinks she can defend herself from him. Then to Barristan, she tells him to go and sing a song for her. “Your grace,” he says, leaving.
Holding audience in the throne room, Hizdahr informs Daenerys that all men must die, but not all men can die glorious deaths. Daenerys questions the use of glory in connection with his plea to reopen the fighting pits, but he asks why else men fight if not for glory. Why did Daenerys’s ancestors cross the narrow sea to conquer the Seven Kingdoms, Hizdahr asks, if not to have their names live on? He notes that those who fight in the pits will never be kings, but their names will live on, that it’s the best chance they’ll ever have.
Daenerys disgustedly asks if that’s what they told men before sending them to slaughter one another for sport. Hizdahr notes that the current date is the traditional start of the fighting season, and Daenerys bluntly responds that she does not recognize that tradition. Hizdahr presses the point that only tradition will hold the city together, that without them the former slaves and the former slave owners will have nothing in common.
As he speaks, images of masked sons of the harpy with torches moving through dark tunnels are seen. As they march, Hizdahr says that without tradition nothing will be left but centuries of mistrust and resentment. He cannot promise that opening the pits will solve their problems, but it’s a start.
In a market, Second Sons are enjoying the company of prostitutes—including the woman who was with White Rat when the sons of the harpy killed him—when masked men come out and start to stab them to death. There are cries and screams. As quickly as they appeared, the sons of the harpy disappear. Nearby, a troop of Unsullied march through an alley when they hear the cries from the market. They rush there, and find the market empty but for the dead men and the prostitute who points in the direction that the sons of the harpy went. The Unsullied rush headlong in pursuit, but it’s plain that she is collaborating with them as her tears stop as soon as they’re gone.
Entering a wide hall, they look around…. and then dozens of sons of the harpy appear at either end of the hallway, trapping them between them. A desperate battle breaks out as the outnumbered Unsullied fight for the lives. Part way through the fighting, one of them loses his helmet: it is Grey Worm. He fights on, as two other Unsullied elsewhere in the city—possibly guards of the great pyramid itself—are attacked and overwhelmed by four times their number.
Barristan Selmy, walking the streets alone, hears a bell ring and the Meereenese begin to run and scream. Drawing his sword, he goes to investigate. Grey Worm and the last of the Unsullied fight on, and Grey Worm is stabbed in the chest but kills more of the sons of the harpy. Pulling the knife from his side, he kills another man…. and then he stands entirely alone, vastly outnumbered, while in other parts of the city yet more Unsullied are killed.
Surrounded, Grey Worm tries to keep the sons of the harpy away with his spear, falling to a knee… when there’s a cry, and Barristan Selmy runs a lookout through the back. He approaches more than a dozen men alone. And then they tattack, and Barristan’s famed skill reveals itself, as he cuts down one man after another. Grey Worm, seeing the unlooked-for reinforcement, resumes fighting the men at the other end of the hall.
However, despite his courage and skill, the numbers are too many for Barristan the Bold: he’s cut in the leg, kicked, stabbed several times—and then is about to have his throat cut when Grey Worm kills the last of the harpies and collapses atop Ser Barristan’s still corpse. The hall is filled with bodies as the screen goes dark.
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