Westeros
The 'A Song of Ice and Fire' Domain
GoT
EP506: Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken
Arya (Maisie Williams) trains. Jorah (Iain Glen) and Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) run into slavers. Trystane (Toby Sebastian) and Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) make plans. Jaime and Bronn reach their destination. The Sand Snakes attack.
Index
Recap
Arya Stark washes bodies in the House of Black and White, one after the other, showing the passing of time for her in the strange temple in Braavos. One day, as a body is collected, the acolytes carrying it away leave the door they pass through partially open. Arya looks to see if anyone is watching, and is clearly tempted to go through the door. She approaches it…
And then the waif appears behind her, pushing the door shut. Arya, startled, demands to know what’s done with the bodies, but the waif tells her to go back to work. Arya refuses, saying she’s been there for weeks and won’t continue washing corpses until they tell her why she’s doing. The waif turns and tells her she’ll know why… when it’s time, and not before. Again she tells Arya to return to work, but Arya ignores her, asking when she’ll play the game of faces again. The waif notes she already played, and failed, and Arya retorts that she didn’t know she was playing then. The waif then asks who Arya is, and Arya answers, “No one.” It’s clearly not convincing, as the waif smirks and tells her to return to work as she turns to leave.
But Arya stops her with a question, asking her who she is, why she’s there, and how she got there. The waif tells her she’s from Westeros and the daughter of a lord, just like Arya. However, she explains she was an only child, heir to her father. But when her mother died, her father remarried and the new wife had a daughter. Not wishing a rival for her own daughter, the waif’s step-mother attempted to poison her. However, the waif found out, and sought help from the Faceless Men. Her father was widowed again, she noted, and she came to the House of Black and White to serve there ever since.
Arya smiles at that, moved. But then the waif approaches her and asks, “Was that true, or a lie?” Flabbergasted, Arya replies, “What?” The waif wonders if Arya believed everything she said. Arya stares at her, unable to answer, and the waif once more tells her to return to work. As she leaves, acolytes come in bearing a new body.
In Arya’s bedchamber, Arya sleeps until she hears the question, “Who are you?” She wakes and turns to find Jaqen H’ghar holding a lamp. He repeats the question. She sits up and replies humbly, “Arya.” He asks where she came from, and she replies, “Westeros.” She stands up… and begins to tell her story: that her family home was Winterfell, that her father was a great lord, Eddard Stark, who died in battle—
Jaqen lashes out with a switch, striking her on the arm. “A lie,” he explains. She resumes, speaking of his execution, her flight from King’s Landing, her having to kill a stableboy, her stabbing him through the back—
Jaqen strikes her again, and calls that a lie. She admits it was through the gut. She explains she tried to find her mother and brother, but never got to them before they were murdered by a man named Walder Frey. An outlaw named Polliver kidnapped her—
Another strike. Lowering her hand to her side in a fist, she explains it was really the Hound, who tried to sell her but was wounded and begged her to kill him. She says she wouldn’t, and left him to die in the mountains. “I wanted him to suffer. I hated him,” she explains.
Jaqen lashes out again, and Arya insists, “I hated him!” And again he hits her. “That’s not a lie!” she protests, and he strikes her once more. Jaqen explains that she lies to him, to the Many-Faced God, to herself. Does she truly want to be no one, he wonders? “Yes,” Arya responds… and he strikes her across the face. She falls to the ground in pain, and blood seeps from a broken lip as she looks at him. She angrily insists she won’t play the “stupid” game anymore. Jaqen replies, “We never stop playing.” He leaves, and Arya touches the blood on her face.
By a shore in Essos, Jorah looks at the greyscale on his arm before pulling his sleeve back down. Tyrion, eating berries nearby, wonders about the villages Jorah said they would find, and claims they can’t just live on berries and roots. “I can,” Jorah says, standing up and approaching the Imp. Tyrion asks if he isn’t hungry, and Jorah replies that he is. Tyrion complains that Jorah is a terrible traveling companion, with less charm than anyone he’s ever met, and Jorah insists that he isn’t Tyrion’s traveling companion. Tyrion begins to reply that they are traveling together in one another’s company, therefore making them—
Jorah, exasperated, asks if Tyrion ever shuts up. Tyrion tells him of having travelled in a crate to Pentos without saying a word through the whole journey. Jorah asks why as he sits down beside him. Tyrion wonders why Jorah has never thought to consider why Tyrion was in a brothel in Volantis. Jorah supposes Tyrion’s visited many brothels in many cities. Tyrion stares at him… and then tells him he killed his father Tywin, for wanting to execute him for a crime he didn’t commit and for sleeping with the woman he loved. Jorah stares into the distance, considering that, then glances at Tyrion and nods his head.
Standing up, Jorah walks back along the shore as Tyrion tells him that miserable as Jorah may be, his father was a good man. Jorah wonders how Tyrion knows of Jeor, and Tyrion explains that he met him when he was at the Wall. He notes the lord commander knew the stories of all the men under his command, and actually cared about them. Jorah seems proud to hear about his father being a good leader. Tyrion muses, wondering how they put it in the Watch: “We shall never see his like again.” That hangs between them, as Jorah begins to realize what it means. He stares at Tyrion, thunderstruck, and Tyrion suddenly realizes that Jorah didn’t know of his father’s death.
It’s hard news for Jorah. Tyrion apologizes, saying he’s sorry. Finally, Jorah speaks, asking how his father died. Tyrion starts to say he only know what he heard, but Jorah insists he go on. Tyrion explains Lord Commander Mormont was leading an expedition beyond the Wall, but there was a mutiny and he was murdered by his own men. Jorah …. eventually nods, and says they should keep moving. He resumes walking up the shore, Tyrion following behind.
In the House of Black and White, Arya scrubs a floor when a man comes in bearing a girl in his arms. He walks to the pool and lays her down carefully, then he approaches Arya. “Valar morghulis,” he says, and Arya replies, “Valar dohaeris.” Anguish in his voice, he explains his daughter is sick, suffering every day of her life, but he can do nothing more for her after having spent every penny trying to find someone in Braavos who could heal her. He just wants her suffering to end. Arya looks to see if Jaqen or the waif is present, but the hall is empty of anyone else.
Standing, she goes to the sickly girl, who breaths with labored breaths. “She hurts,” she tells Arya, and Arya replies that she shouldn’t be afraid. She explains that she, too, was once like the girl: sick, dying, but her father never gave up on her and loved her more than anything, just like the girl’s father. She tells the girl that her father brought her to the House of Black and White and prayed to the Many-Faced God, and then she drank the water from his fountain as was healed. Arya takes a bowl and dips it into the pool, bringing the water to the girl. She tells her that she’s now devoted her life to him, then says that the girl should drink so that she doesn’t hurt anymore. Trusting, the girl drinks as her father looks on… and so, too, does Jaqen.
Later, Arya is cleaning one more body: the sickly girl, now at peace in death. Arya touches her hair, considering her, when she realizes Jaqen has entered through the door she has never gone through before. He leaves back through it, and leaves it open, an invitation. She follows after him, down yet more steps lit by braziers, past rooms where shadowy figures walk, until they come to a room. Jaqen opens the doors, and Arya stares in wonder at a great chamber, stretching to a ceiling high above, and the walls and columns of the chamber hold hundreds and hundreds of small alcoves in which faces are set. They are lifelike, because they are the faces of the countless dead who have passed through the House of Black and White. Arya is speechless.
Jaqen asks if Arya is ready to give up her ears, her nose, her tongue; her hopes, dreams, loves, hates, and all that makes her what she is, forever. Arya reaches out to a woman’s face, as Jaqen says no, that Arya isn’t ready to become to no one… “But she is ready to become someone else,” Jaqen finishes, as Arya looks on mutely at the face.
In Essos, Tyrion and Jorah continue to walk, now through a grassy area near the sea. Tyrion asks Jorah why he follows Daenerys, and notes that the Mormonts fought against the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion. Jorah replies by asking if Tyrion believe in anything, and when Tyrion responds that he believes in many things, but Jorah expands, asking if Tyrion believes in gods, destiny, or anything that would say there is a plan for the world. “No,” Tyrion says curtly. Jorah responds he was like that, as well, a cynic. But then he saw Daenerys walk into a fire with three stone eggs. He had assumed he’d find her blackened bones… but he saw her instead alive, unhurt, holding baby dragons.
He wonders if Tyrion’s ever heard baby dragons singing, and when Tyrion says no, Jorah states that it’s hard to be a cynic after that. Jorah resumes walking and Tyrion replies that none of that means she’ll be a great queen. Jorah admits it doesn’t, but he doesnt’ seem to care. Tyrion insists on an argument, so notes that Targaryens are “famously insane” and wonders what happens if she conquers the world, if that will mean a thousand years of peace and prosperity. “First we have to conquer the world,” Jorah replies, and Tyrion wonders at that “we”. Then Tyrion wonders what happens if Jorah’s dreams come true: ecstatic at having been brought this “enemy dwarf”, she’ll chop off Tyrion’s head and restore Jorah to his position, commanding her armies, defeating all her enemies in Westeros, and seeing her climb the steps to sit the Iron Throne.
“Then what?” Tyrion wonders. “Then she rules,” Jorah replies, laconic. But Tyrion questions that a woman who has never lived a day in her life in Westeros should rule Westeros, wondering if that’s justice. When Jorah says she’s the rightful heir, Tyrion wonders why if it’s just because her mad father who used to burn men alive was the rightful king. They come near to a bay as they walk, and passing a rock they suddenly realize there’s a ship anchored in the water. Jorah grabs Tyrion, pulling him back behind the rock as he tells him it’s a slave ship. Tyrion asks why they’re anchored, and Jorah starts to explain they probably came ashore for—
“Water,” a voice says. Startled, the two turn to see half a dozen slavers drawing weapons on them.
Later, on the shoreline, Jorah is being punched in the face by the head slaver Malko, who punches him a second time when he struggles up to his knees. Malko laughs at how much fight Jorah as in him, and walks back to his second-in-command. The second suggests he can work in the salt mines, but Malko supposes he’s strong enough to be a galley slave. Then the second asks about Tyrion, and after a brief consideration Malko says he’s worthless and decides to have his throat cut. Tyrion anxiously tells them to wait and let him discuss the matter, when Malko says, “And chop off his cock. I’ll sell it for a fortune. A dwarf’s cock has magic powers.”
Tyrion again begs them to wait as the knife is put to his throat, and argues that they can’t just hand his member to a merchant—he’ll have to know it came from a dwarf, and so he’ll have to see the dwarf. The second suggests he that the merchant will know from the dwarf-sized member. Tyrion responds, “Guess again!” Malko considers Tyrion’s argument, and then says Tyrion can live until they find a “cock merchant”.
The two are lifted to their feet when Jorah points out that Queen Daenerys has outlawed slavery. Malko reveals they’re heading to Volantis, not Slaver’s Bay… and, in any case, she’s reopened the fighting pits and he’s never heard of free men fighting in the pits. Tyrion, seizing the opportunity, tells Malko he’s in luck and about to be rich, because he’s looking at “one of the great warriors in the Seven Kingdoms.” Malko, assuming Tyrion means himself, laughs while Jorah looks incredulous, but Tyrion then directs his attention to Jorah. Malko seems unimpressed, saying Jorah must be at least sixty years old. To that Tyrion replies that he’s a bit withered and has been in the sun too long, but he’s a veteran of a “hundred battles” and the subject of songs.
Malko has Jorah brought nearer and asks if it’s the truth. Jorah hesitates, and then nods his head. Tyrion adds that Jorah won the tournament at Lannisport, unhorsing Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. Malko is unimpressed: jousting is a game for “fancy lads”, and that the men who fight in the pits will swallow Jorah whole. But then Jorah adds that he killed a bloodrider in single combat. Malko jumps down from the beached boat he’s been preparing for the journey to ship, and coming before Jorah calls him a liar. Jorah calmly says that he killed Qotho, bloodrider to Khal Drogo. Then he tells him that in Slaver’s Bay, with a sword in his hand, he’ll prove his worth. Malko slowly nods, and begins to laugh, avarice plain.
In King’s Landing, Littlefinger with a pair of hired swords walks through the streets of the city. A beggar-woman asks for coin, but he ignores her. All along the street, zealous members of the Faith Militant stand watch in groups. Among those Littlefinger passes is Lancel Lannister, who calls to him: “Lord Baelish.” Littlefinger stops near the entrance to his brothel, and Lancel comes before him while his militant brethren surround Littlefinger and his guards. “Lancel Lannister,” Littlefinger says, by way of greeting, but Lancel notes he’s now Brother Lancel, having put aside his family name as is the practice of the Faith Militant. Littlefinger quips that it’s quite a family to abandon.
Lancel, ignoring that, notes that Baelish will find much changed in the city. Lancel lists the deeds of the Faith: pouring wine into gutters, smashing false idols, sending the godless fleeing. Baelish merely replies, “Well done”, and resumes entering his brothel when Lancel puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Littlefinger’s guards start to draw their swords as the Faith Militant readies themselves, but Littlefinger simply informs him that he’s on urgent business for the Queen Mother and wonders if he should let her know he’ll be delayed. Lancel drops his hand, but warns Littlefinger to step carefully because there’s no tolerance for “flesh-peddlers” in “the new King’s Landing”. To that, Lord Petyr replies that they both peddle fantasies, but his own happen to be entertaining. And then he leaves, guards in tow.
Later, meeting with Cersei, Littlefinger wonders if it was wise to arrest the heir to Highgarden. Cersei corrects him, stating that the Faith arrested him, but Littlefinger notes she was the one who armed the Faith to begin with. To that she replies that it was the king who ordered it, and wondered if Tommen is now supposed to be blamed for Ser Loras’s “perversion”. Littlefinger lets her know that House Tyrell won’t tolerate the insult, and Cersei is dismissive when she notes that she’s the one who was insulted when Loras was promised to her and instead preferred the company of boys.
Littlefinger offers a jocular quip about Loras’s curious choice of companions. There’s a pregnant pause, and Cersei echoes, “Most curious.” Then she remarks on Lysa Arryn, being so repellent—but then she asks his forgiveness, since he must still be in mourning. Littlefinger carefully offers that Lysa was a good woman, a kind woman, but Cersei dismisses that, saying she was neither of those things and they both know it. Then she remarks how she pities her son Robin, and finds it fortunate that he now has a new father to council him. Littlefinger admits he knows what it’s like to lose both parents at a young age, but Cersei moves on from that topic.
She asks Littlefinger if the knights of the Vale will support Tommen if a new war comes to Westeros. Baelish says Lord Robin heeds his advice, and that he has always told him to support the throne. Cersei seems reassured by that reply. Standing up to refill her wine cup, she asks if there’s anything else. He admits he has something else to discuss, something urgent that he had to bring personally to Cersei. Reminding her that she had once tasked him with finding Sansa Stark following Joffrey’s death, Littlefinger claims that to his shame he failed her… but now he has discovered where she is, alive, well, and home again in Winterfell. Cersei denies it being possible, but Littlefinger insists his “well-placed sources” have informed him that Roose Bolton plans to marry Sansa to his son, Ramsay, a recently-legitimized bastard.
Cersei, disbelieving, says that Roose Bolton is Warden of the North thanks to her father. Littlefinger agrees… but reminds her that was for stabbing his own king in the heart. Cersei, furious, paces away and says they should never have trusted a turncloak. Littlefinger points out that by marrying his son to the last Stark, this will give Roose more legitimacy in the North than his alliance with the Lannisters will. Cersei, enraged, promises she’ll skin him and his bastard alive, stalking back to her desk. When Baelish councils patience, she throws the word back at him and reminds him that Sansa helped murder her son and that Roose is a traitor.
Littlefinger in turn reminds her of another traitor: Stannis Baratheon, who is marching down on Winterfell with an army. He tells her to let Stannis and Roose fight one another, and then with her own army seize Winterfell from whichever “thief” survives the conflict. Cersei points out that with Winterfell a thousand miles away, with the weather already turning to winter. Littlefinger tells her that that’s why they must be ready to strike soon while the victor still recovers from the battle. Baelish wonders if Kevan or Jaime could lead forces, but Cersei says the one lacks courage and the other is on a “sensitive diplomatic mission.” Baelish offers another alternative: the knights of the Vale, said by him to be some of the best fighters in Westeros and men used to fighting in ice and snow.
Cersei begs Baelish’s forgiveness, stating that his reputation is as a moneylender and brothelkeeper, not as a military man. Littlefinger counters, noting that the Lannisters will not be risking any of their own forces or their own coin. “What do you have to lose? A brothel keeper?” That logic is hard to refute, and Cersei asks what he would want if he succeeds. He reveals his price to her: “Name me Warden of the North.” Cersei considers that for a long moment, then looking at Littlefinger she states she’ll speak to the king in the evening and have a royal decree issued. Littlefinger promises he won’t rest until the lion banner flies over Winterfell, and Cersei says she’ll know Littlefinger is a man of his word when she sees Sansa’s head on a spike.
“As I said,” Littlefinger replies. “I live to serve.”
Before a fountain In the Water Gardens, Prince Trystane Martell places a flower in the blond hair of his betrothed, Princess Myrcella Baratheon, while saying that he will ask something of his father tomorrow. Myrcella wonders what will happen if his father says no, but Trystane assures her he won’t, that they’ve waited long enough. He takes her hands in his own, and insists that he wants her for his wife. Myrcella is silent, and so Trystane asks what the matter is. She asks if he wants to marry her only because their families arranged the marriage, or because—
He silences her with a deep kiss. She pulls away after a moment, shyly saying they can’t do such things yet. Prince Trystane wonders why not, and she responds someone will see, but he says that she will be his wife and he will be her husband. Taking her arm, he starts to lead her away and says they are allowed to walk the gardens together. In the distance, a servant sweeps the paved paths, while Myrcella laughs and asks how many other girls Trystane has walked through the gardens. Trystane is silent for a few moments, and then offers that he likes how her eyes “go squinty” when she’s jealous. She insists it doesn’t happen… and that he didn’t answer the question.
Above them, watching from a balcony, Prince Doran says to Areo Hotah that they make a lovely couple. “A Lannister and a Martell,” Doran observes. “They have no idea how dangerous that is.” He says they must protect them, and Areo Hotah agrees with a laconic, “Yes, my prince.” Doran remarks that Areo has not used his ax in a long time, and hopes he remembers how. “I remember how,” Areo responds.
Outside the Water Gardens, Bronn sings part of “The Dornishman’s Wife” as he and Jaime approach the palace on horseback, dressed in the clothing they stole from the dead Dornish knights. Jaime tells Bronn to fall silent, and Bronn protests he’s coming to the best part, but Jaime notes that they don’t want everyone to hear Bronn’s distinctly non-Dornish accent if they want to blend in. Bronn explains that the song is all about its end, but Jaime says that can wait as they crest a hill and see the Water Gardens in the distance, a great palace on teh shore of the sea. Ahead of them a small caravan goes in that direction, traveling through tussock grass, a pair of Dornish knights at the head leading them.
Bronn asks what they do once they have Myrcella, and Jaime says he likes to improvise. “That explains the golden hand,” Bronn quips. Jaime gives him a look, and then both ride on to surreptitiously join the caravan. Soon they pass uncontested through the gates of the Water Gardens, and while the caravan travels one way they move in a different direction.
In a cool, dark vaulted chamber where the palace’s water cistern lies, Ellaria tells the three Sand Snakes the Martell words: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.” The young women are armed with their weapons and wear leather breastplates. “For Oberyn,” she tells them, and they echo her. Lifting veils over their faces, they march out of the chamber through an iron gate, into the gardens to seek out Myrcella. Ellaria watches them go.
At the very same time, Bronn and Jaime walk the gardens on foot, searching for Myrcella as well. The pair come across her kissing her prince in a pavilion in the garden. Bronn, lowering his veil, remarks that she’s made herself at home. Going forward, Jaime calls to his niece and the princess looks confused before she recognizes him. “Uncle Jaime?” she asks, and then approaches, saying she doesn’t understand what he’s doing there. Jaime tells her that they should talk somewhere in private when Trystane comes forward and interposes himself between Myrcella and Jaime, identifying himself as he does so. Myrcella quickly notes that he’s her intended. Jaime says that’s excellent and quickly takes Trystane’s hand with his remaining left hand, saying it’s good to meet him. Dubious, Trystane notes that they weren’t expecting him.
That’s when Bronn steps forward and suggests Trystane give them some time alone. Trystane takes note of the blood on both of their garb. Bronn leans in close, telling him not to do something stupid… but Trystane tries to draw the narrow sword on his hip. Bronn flattens him with a single punch to the face. Myrcella cries out and drops down to the prince as Bronn says, “That was something stupid.” Jaime reaches for Myrcella, telling them they have to go, but she shouts that they’ve hurt Trystane. Jaime starts to promise he’ll be fine… when a whip lashes out, wrapping around his arm, and pulls him away from the princess.
The three Sand Snakes face the pair. “For fuck’s sake,” Bronn says as he draws his sword. A fight ensues, Obara keeping Jaime on his toes with her spear while Tyene fights Bronn and Nymeria largely uses her whip to disrupt the two men. Obara shouts for Nymeria to take Myrcella, and Nymeria grabs her, saying she’s coming with her. Myrcella shouts that she doesn’t want to, but Nymeria holds a knife to her and tells her she’s not asking. She drags her away, crying out, and Jaime sees this but can do nothing. Bronn, still fighting Tyene, pushes her away but one of her knives manages to cut him as she’s thrown back.
But the fights end when Areo Hotah and a troop of guards arrive, stopping Nymeria. Hotah commands them to drop their weapons. “I am Obara Sand,” Obara Sand shouts, “daughter of Oberyn Martell. I fight for Dorne! Who do you fight for?!” Hotah’s response is to command her to drop their weapons once more. Tyene does so, then Obara, then Nymeria. Jaime seems less willing to do so, and almost instantly Hotah’s ax whirls around and comes down to stop precisely on his neck. “When you were whole,” Hotah says, “it would have been a good fight.” Jaime surrenders his weapon and is seized. Bronn follows his lead, telling Tyene she fights well “for a little girl”. She screams and rushes at him, but the guards stop her and drag them both away.
In the cistern chamber, Ellaria is startled to find more Dornish guards coming from all directions, trapping her.
Outside King’s Landing, Olenna Tyrell travels in a wheelhouse escorted by Tyrell guards. A halt is called and she opens a window only to complain that, “You can smell the shit from five miles away.” Shutting the window again, she angrily asks why they’ve stopped and tells them to go on. Later in the Red Keep she commiserates with a tired Margaery, telling her that the Faith only has rumors and gossip against Loras, stating that it’s mere theater; if they had arrested every “pillowbiter” in King’s Landing, she claims, there’d be no room in the dungeons for anyone else.
Margaery notes that everyone knows about Loras and Renly, and to that Olenna says that Renly slept with half the stable boys in the Seven Kingdoms and everyone knew but no one cared. Margaery argues that Renly was the king’s brother, but Olenna will have none of it, telling her that Loras is the queen’s brother. She insists this state of affairs won’t do. Margaery blames Cersei, and Olenna agrees it’s her doing and that Cersei’s aim is to sully the Tyrell name and reputation to put them in their place. She tells Margaery to rest as she looks “appalling”, and says she’ll deal with Cersei Lannister.
Cersei, in her office as Queen Regent, busily writes on a parchment while ignoring Olenna, who impatiently sits across from her. Finally, Lady Olenna tells her that she’s traveled a long way, but Cersei merely says she must be exhausted without stopping her writing. Olenna waits a moment and then tells her to put the pen down, as they both know she’s not writing anything. “Ah, yes,” Cersei says, “the famously tart tongue of the Queen of Thorns.” Olenna sits up in her chair and says, “And the famous tart, Queen Cersei.”
Cersei stops there, staring up at Olenna and matching her gaze. She begs Olenna’s pardon, but Olenna says that she knows Cersei is behind the “absurd” arrest of Loras. Cersei starts to say that if Olenna apologizes for that comment… but Olenna interrupts her, saying she’ll get her apology when she gets Loras. Cersei claims shock at his arrest, and says she has no love for the fanatics, but what can the Queen Mother do? She’s clearly smug in her answer. Olenna asks if the crown no longer needs the troop, gold, and wheat House Tyrell provides. Cersei tries to reassure her that the alliance remains, but Olenna asks how Cersei can expect the alliance to continue after she’s thrown the house’s future into prison. Cersei again insists she had nothing to do with it. “As to your veiled threats,” she starts, and Olenna asks, “What veil?”
Cersei goes on, saying that the Lannister-Tyrell alliance brought peace, and she can’t believe Olenna will throw the realm back into war. Olenna considers that and then speaks of Lord Tywin, whom she neither trusted nor particular liked. However, she says, she respected Tywin because he was no fool and understood one must sometimes work with rivals rather than destroy them. To that, Cersei says, “House Lannister has no rival.” Olenna is not amused. Cersei explains that the High Septon has called for an inquest, a small hearing rather than a trial to determine if there is evidence to merit a trial. Cersei claims to be certain it will come to nothing, Loras will be freed, and their alliance will be able to happily continue and they will be able to forget the unfortunate conversation that just happened. Cersei returns to her writing as she dismisses Olenna.
Olenna, silent, clearly unhappy and disbeliving, stands and leaves. Cersei sits back, watching her go.
In the inquest, Loras sits in the center of the chamber as the barefoot High Septon says Ser Loras was of course aware of the rumors concerning him and King Renly. Loras, filthy from the dungeons and with a beard he’s grown since his imprisonment, says he doesn’t pay attention to rumors. A scribe notes down every word. The High Septon notes how upset Loras was at Renly’s death, refusing to leave Renly’s body even as Stannis’s army closed in. “He was my friend,” Loras replies. “He was my king.”
The High Septon asks if Joffrey was not his king, anointed by the Seven as he was. Loras admits he was wrong to support Renly’s claim… but also notes that Joffrey forgave him, and that he fought for him at the Blackwater. When the High Septon observes he was wearing Renly’s armor at the battle, Loras questions why that matters. The High Septon asks if Loras denies all charges against him: fornication, buggery, blasphemy. Loras denies them unequivocally. The High Septon asks if he ever lay with Renly Baratheon. “Never,” Loras says. When the High Septon asks if he lay with any other man, Loras looks at him and repeats, “Never.” The High Septon says that will be all, and Loras moves to sit with Olenna and Margaery who, with Cersei and Tommen, are in attendance.
Olenna says that must be it and starts to stand when the High Septon calls Queen Margaery forward. Margaery, surprised, notes she’s the queen. He acknowledges this, but says that according to the law of the Seven, neither kings nor queens are exempt from testimony in a holy inquest. Margaery gives Cersei a look, who looks back and seems unsurprised. Margaery can do nothing but sit and take questions. The High Septon asks how she responds to the charges against her brother, and Margaery replies that they are lies, all of them. The High Septon asks her to swear in the presence of the gods to the innocence of her brother to the best of her knowledge. Margaery so swears.
The High Septon dismisses her, thanking her for her testimony, when another person is brought in: Olyver. Cersei half-smiles to herself while Loras looks distressed, and Margaery uncomfortable. Olyver explains he knows Loras well, having squired for him. He claims Loras took a liking to him and summoned him to his chamber the first day they met. When asked about what happened there, Olyver says he engaged in “intimate relations” with him. When the High Septon clarifies if he lay with him, Olyver says yes, on that night and many other occasions. Loras angrily says, “Liar! He’s a liar!” Olyver says Margaery can support his claim, having walked in on them once, not long ago, and that she didn’t seem surprised at all.
Cersei offers that the testimony is an insult to a great house and wonders why the word of a squire should be taken over the word of the heir to Highgarden. Olyver reveals his knowledge of the birthmark high up on Loras’s thigh, implying he could only know about it through those intimate relations as he describes it in detail. Cersei’s expression seems an attempt to keep a smile off her face, just as Loras explodes from his chair and rushes Olyver, shouting, “Liar!” Men of the Faith Militant stop him before he gets to Olyver, dragging him back as he fights to get at Olyver. They start to take him away
Olenna stands, asking what they think they’re doing. As Margaery stands with her, two more men of the Faith Militant move forward to block their way. The High Septon says there is enough evidence to bring Loras and Queen Margaery to trial. Olenna is shocked, but the High Septon explains that bearing false witness before the gods is as great a sin as any. The Faith Militant seize her. The Kingsguard accompanying Tommen reach for their weapons, but outnumbered Tommen orders them to stand down with a gesture. Olenna stares at Cersei, who stares back.
Far away in Winterfell, Sansa sits alone in her chamber. There is a knock, and Sansa opens the door to see Myranda waiting. She asks what she wants, and Myranda replies that Lord Ramsay sent her to draw a bath for Sansa. She remarks Sansa will want to be clean and fresh for her husband. Later, Myranda is helping Sansa wash out the black wash from her hair. She tells Sansa she’s beautiful, but she must keep Ramsay happy because he bores easily. She informs Sansa that she won’t want to end up like the others.
Sansa asks, “What others?” but Myranda merely remarks that it’s good to see the red in her hair again, that there’s no point in hiding anymore. Sansa repeats her question, and Myranda passes through a litany: Kyra, the blacksmith’s daughter who just talked and talked; Violet, who became pregnant; Tansy, who was sweet and so became dull. Myranda adds that Ramsay let her come with him for that hunt. “Hunt?” Sansa asks, not understanding. As Myranda scrubs her back, she asks if Sansa’s ever seen a body after the dogs have gotten to it. “Not so pretty,” Myranda remarks, but then says it’s Sansa’s wedding day and she shouldn’t be talking about such things.
Sansa asks her name again. Once she has it, she asks, “How long have you loved him, Myranda?” She turns in her bath, and questions Myranda, wondering if she imagined she’d be with Ramsay forever until Sansa came along and ruined it. Myranda is silent as Sans says, “I’m Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home, and you can’t frighten me.” Myranda can only respond by asking if Sansa is done with her bath. Sansa dismisses her curtly, and Myranda leaves. Then, still seated in the bath, Sansa puts her hand to her face and tries to take in what just happened.
Later, Sansa is in a pale weddning gown when there’s another knock. The door opens, and it’s Reek, clean and dressed in fine clothing. Sansa is not happy to see him. He informs her that he’s come to escort her to the godswood, and then asks if she’ll take his arm. Sansa refuses, and Reek insists that Lord Ramsay said that he was to take her arm. “I’m not touching you,” she tells him bluntly. Fear in his voice, he begs her, saying that Ramsay will punish him for not doing as he was told. “You think I care what he does to you?” Sansa asks, and then walks past him out of the room.
The godswood is dusted with snow. Scores of lamps light the way as they come to the gathering of Bolton men and northern lords who’ll stand as witnesses before the heart tree of Winterfell. The wedding ceremony takes place after northern fashion, with Reek speaking for Sansa in explaining who she is and why she’s come, and then asking who comes to claim her. Ramsay steps forward and says who he is, as Myranda looks upset among the witnesses. Ramsay then asks who gives her, and Reek replies, “Theon, of House Greyjoy, who was—” His voice catches, and then after a moment he continues, “—who was her father’s ward.”
Roose Bolton asks if Sansa takes Ramsay for a husband. There’s a long pause, as Sansa considers. Then she steps forward and says, “I take this man.” Ramsay smiles.
Reek leads them into their bed chamber, candles lighting it. Sansa observes the marriage bed, wolf pelts covering it, and then looks at her new husband. Ramsay seems very pleased, and tells Sansa he wants her to be happy. Then he remarks that Roose said she was still a virgin. Sansa, embarassed, looks at Reek who stands by the door. He’s looking away, and she replies that she is. Ramsay asks why that is. “Afraid of dwarfs?” he quips. Sansa explains Tyrion was kind and gentle, and never touched her, and Ramsay makes sure she isn’t lying to him. Sansa insists she isn’t, and he tells her that lying to her husband on their wedding night would be a bad start to the marriage. He puts a hand on her cheek, saying they should be honest with one another as man and wife.
She agrees, and Ramsay steps in to kiss her. Then he tells her to undress. Sansa looks at Reek, and he starts to leave but Ramsay immediately tells him to stay there and watch. Sansa, shocked, stares back at Reek, and Reek simply steps back into the room. Ramsay asks if he needs to ask a second time, and notes he hates asking a second time. Sansa slowly starts to undo the laces at a sleeve, and Reek moves to shut the door into the chamber. Ramsay notices that he gazes at his feet, and informs him that he told him to watch, noting that he’s known Sansa since she was a girl. “Now watch her become a woman,” he says.
Sansa struggles with fear in her eyes, and Ramsay simply takes the expedient approach and tears the gown open down her back, then pushes her over to bend over the bed. Sansa’s face show fear. As Ramsay consummates the marriage, her cries of pain can be heard, and on Reek’s face is grief as he tries and fails to fight back tears as he watches her rape.
Recap
Arya Stark washes bodies in the House of Black and White, one after the other, showing the passing of time for her in the strange temple in Braavos. One day, as a body is collected, the acolytes carrying it away leave the door they pass through partially open. Arya looks to see if anyone is watching, and is clearly tempted to go through the door. She approaches it…
And then the waif appears behind her, pushing the door shut. Arya, startled, demands to know what’s done with the bodies, but the waif tells her to go back to work. Arya refuses, saying she’s been there for weeks and won’t continue washing corpses until they tell her why she’s doing. The waif turns and tells her she’ll know why… when it’s time, and not before. Again she tells Arya to return to work, but Arya ignores her, asking when she’ll play the game of faces again. The waif notes she already played, and failed, and Arya retorts that she didn’t know she was playing then. The waif then asks who Arya is, and Arya answers, “No one.” It’s clearly not convincing, as the waif smirks and tells her to return to work as she turns to leave.
But Arya stops her with a question, asking her who she is, why she’s there, and how she got there. The waif tells her she’s from Westeros and the daughter of a lord, just like Arya. However, she explains she was an only child, heir to her father. But when her mother died, her father remarried and the new wife had a daughter. Not wishing a rival for her own daughter, the waif’s step-mother attempted to poison her. However, the waif found out, and sought help from the Faceless Men. Her father was widowed again, she noted, and she came to the House of Black and White to serve there ever since.
Arya smiles at that, moved. But then the waif approaches her and asks, “Was that true, or a lie?” Flabbergasted, Arya replies, “What?” The waif wonders if Arya believed everything she said. Arya stares at her, unable to answer, and the waif once more tells her to return to work. As she leaves, acolytes come in bearing a new body.
In Arya’s bedchamber, Arya sleeps until she hears the question, “Who are you?” She wakes and turns to find Jaqen H’ghar holding a lamp. He repeats the question. She sits up and replies humbly, “Arya.” He asks where she came from, and she replies, “Westeros.” She stands up… and begins to tell her story: that her family home was Winterfell, that her father was a great lord, Eddard Stark, who died in battle—
Jaqen lashes out with a switch, striking her on the arm. “A lie,” he explains. She resumes, speaking of his execution, her flight from King’s Landing, her having to kill a stableboy, her stabbing him through the back—
Jaqen strikes her again, and calls that a lie. She admits it was through the gut. She explains she tried to find her mother and brother, but never got to them before they were murdered by a man named Walder Frey. An outlaw named Polliver kidnapped her—
Another strike. Lowering her hand to her side in a fist, she explains it was really the Hound, who tried to sell her but was wounded and begged her to kill him. She says she wouldn’t, and left him to die in the mountains. “I wanted him to suffer. I hated him,” she explains.
Jaqen lashes out again, and Arya insists, “I hated him!” And again he hits her. “That’s not a lie!” she protests, and he strikes her once more. Jaqen explains that she lies to him, to the Many-Faced God, to herself. Does she truly want to be no one, he wonders? “Yes,” Arya responds… and he strikes her across the face. She falls to the ground in pain, and blood seeps from a broken lip as she looks at him. She angrily insists she won’t play the “stupid” game anymore. Jaqen replies, “We never stop playing.” He leaves, and Arya touches the blood on her face.
By a shore in Essos, Jorah looks at the greyscale on his arm before pulling his sleeve back down. Tyrion, eating berries nearby, wonders about the villages Jorah said they would find, and claims they can’t just live on berries and roots. “I can,” Jorah says, standing up and approaching the Imp. Tyrion asks if he isn’t hungry, and Jorah replies that he is. Tyrion complains that Jorah is a terrible traveling companion, with less charm than anyone he’s ever met, and Jorah insists that he isn’t Tyrion’s traveling companion. Tyrion begins to reply that they are traveling together in one another’s company, therefore making them—
Jorah, exasperated, asks if Tyrion ever shuts up. Tyrion tells him of having travelled in a crate to Pentos without saying a word through the whole journey. Jorah asks why as he sits down beside him. Tyrion wonders why Jorah has never thought to consider why Tyrion was in a brothel in Volantis. Jorah supposes Tyrion’s visited many brothels in many cities. Tyrion stares at him… and then tells him he killed his father Tywin, for wanting to execute him for a crime he didn’t commit and for sleeping with the woman he loved. Jorah stares into the distance, considering that, then glances at Tyrion and nods his head.
Standing up, Jorah walks back along the shore as Tyrion tells him that miserable as Jorah may be, his father was a good man. Jorah wonders how Tyrion knows of Jeor, and Tyrion explains that he met him when he was at the Wall. He notes the lord commander knew the stories of all the men under his command, and actually cared about them. Jorah seems proud to hear about his father being a good leader. Tyrion muses, wondering how they put it in the Watch: “We shall never see his like again.” That hangs between them, as Jorah begins to realize what it means. He stares at Tyrion, thunderstruck, and Tyrion suddenly realizes that Jorah didn’t know of his father’s death.
It’s hard news for Jorah. Tyrion apologizes, saying he’s sorry. Finally, Jorah speaks, asking how his father died. Tyrion starts to say he only know what he heard, but Jorah insists he go on. Tyrion explains Lord Commander Mormont was leading an expedition beyond the Wall, but there was a mutiny and he was murdered by his own men. Jorah …. eventually nods, and says they should keep moving. He resumes walking up the shore, Tyrion following behind.
In the House of Black and White, Arya scrubs a floor when a man comes in bearing a girl in his arms. He walks to the pool and lays her down carefully, then he approaches Arya. “Valar morghulis,” he says, and Arya replies, “Valar dohaeris.” Anguish in his voice, he explains his daughter is sick, suffering every day of her life, but he can do nothing more for her after having spent every penny trying to find someone in Braavos who could heal her. He just wants her suffering to end. Arya looks to see if Jaqen or the waif is present, but the hall is empty of anyone else.
Standing, she goes to the sickly girl, who breaths with labored breaths. “She hurts,” she tells Arya, and Arya replies that she shouldn’t be afraid. She explains that she, too, was once like the girl: sick, dying, but her father never gave up on her and loved her more than anything, just like the girl’s father. She tells the girl that her father brought her to the House of Black and White and prayed to the Many-Faced God, and then she drank the water from his fountain as was healed. Arya takes a bowl and dips it into the pool, bringing the water to the girl. She tells her that she’s now devoted her life to him, then says that the girl should drink so that she doesn’t hurt anymore. Trusting, the girl drinks as her father looks on… and so, too, does Jaqen.
Later, Arya is cleaning one more body: the sickly girl, now at peace in death. Arya touches her hair, considering her, when she realizes Jaqen has entered through the door she has never gone through before. He leaves back through it, and leaves it open, an invitation. She follows after him, down yet more steps lit by braziers, past rooms where shadowy figures walk, until they come to a room. Jaqen opens the doors, and Arya stares in wonder at a great chamber, stretching to a ceiling high above, and the walls and columns of the chamber hold hundreds and hundreds of small alcoves in which faces are set. They are lifelike, because they are the faces of the countless dead who have passed through the House of Black and White. Arya is speechless.
Jaqen asks if Arya is ready to give up her ears, her nose, her tongue; her hopes, dreams, loves, hates, and all that makes her what she is, forever. Arya reaches out to a woman’s face, as Jaqen says no, that Arya isn’t ready to become to no one… “But she is ready to become someone else,” Jaqen finishes, as Arya looks on mutely at the face.
In Essos, Tyrion and Jorah continue to walk, now through a grassy area near the sea. Tyrion asks Jorah why he follows Daenerys, and notes that the Mormonts fought against the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion. Jorah replies by asking if Tyrion believe in anything, and when Tyrion responds that he believes in many things, but Jorah expands, asking if Tyrion believes in gods, destiny, or anything that would say there is a plan for the world. “No,” Tyrion says curtly. Jorah responds he was like that, as well, a cynic. But then he saw Daenerys walk into a fire with three stone eggs. He had assumed he’d find her blackened bones… but he saw her instead alive, unhurt, holding baby dragons.
He wonders if Tyrion’s ever heard baby dragons singing, and when Tyrion says no, Jorah states that it’s hard to be a cynic after that. Jorah resumes walking and Tyrion replies that none of that means she’ll be a great queen. Jorah admits it doesn’t, but he doesnt’ seem to care. Tyrion insists on an argument, so notes that Targaryens are “famously insane” and wonders what happens if she conquers the world, if that will mean a thousand years of peace and prosperity. “First we have to conquer the world,” Jorah replies, and Tyrion wonders at that “we”. Then Tyrion wonders what happens if Jorah’s dreams come true: ecstatic at having been brought this “enemy dwarf”, she’ll chop off Tyrion’s head and restore Jorah to his position, commanding her armies, defeating all her enemies in Westeros, and seeing her climb the steps to sit the Iron Throne.
“Then what?” Tyrion wonders. “Then she rules,” Jorah replies, laconic. But Tyrion questions that a woman who has never lived a day in her life in Westeros should rule Westeros, wondering if that’s justice. When Jorah says she’s the rightful heir, Tyrion wonders why if it’s just because her mad father who used to burn men alive was the rightful king. They come near to a bay as they walk, and passing a rock they suddenly realize there’s a ship anchored in the water. Jorah grabs Tyrion, pulling him back behind the rock as he tells him it’s a slave ship. Tyrion asks why they’re anchored, and Jorah starts to explain they probably came ashore for—
“Water,” a voice says. Startled, the two turn to see half a dozen slavers drawing weapons on them.
Later, on the shoreline, Jorah is being punched in the face by the head slaver Malko, who punches him a second time when he struggles up to his knees. Malko laughs at how much fight Jorah as in him, and walks back to his second-in-command. The second suggests he can work in the salt mines, but Malko supposes he’s strong enough to be a galley slave. Then the second asks about Tyrion, and after a brief consideration Malko says he’s worthless and decides to have his throat cut. Tyrion anxiously tells them to wait and let him discuss the matter, when Malko says, “And chop off his cock. I’ll sell it for a fortune. A dwarf’s cock has magic powers.”
Tyrion again begs them to wait as the knife is put to his throat, and argues that they can’t just hand his member to a merchant—he’ll have to know it came from a dwarf, and so he’ll have to see the dwarf. The second suggests he that the merchant will know from the dwarf-sized member. Tyrion responds, “Guess again!” Malko considers Tyrion’s argument, and then says Tyrion can live until they find a “cock merchant”.
The two are lifted to their feet when Jorah points out that Queen Daenerys has outlawed slavery. Malko reveals they’re heading to Volantis, not Slaver’s Bay… and, in any case, she’s reopened the fighting pits and he’s never heard of free men fighting in the pits. Tyrion, seizing the opportunity, tells Malko he’s in luck and about to be rich, because he’s looking at “one of the great warriors in the Seven Kingdoms.” Malko, assuming Tyrion means himself, laughs while Jorah looks incredulous, but Tyrion then directs his attention to Jorah. Malko seems unimpressed, saying Jorah must be at least sixty years old. To that Tyrion replies that he’s a bit withered and has been in the sun too long, but he’s a veteran of a “hundred battles” and the subject of songs.
Malko has Jorah brought nearer and asks if it’s the truth. Jorah hesitates, and then nods his head. Tyrion adds that Jorah won the tournament at Lannisport, unhorsing Ser Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. Malko is unimpressed: jousting is a game for “fancy lads”, and that the men who fight in the pits will swallow Jorah whole. But then Jorah adds that he killed a bloodrider in single combat. Malko jumps down from the beached boat he’s been preparing for the journey to ship, and coming before Jorah calls him a liar. Jorah calmly says that he killed Qotho, bloodrider to Khal Drogo. Then he tells him that in Slaver’s Bay, with a sword in his hand, he’ll prove his worth. Malko slowly nods, and begins to laugh, avarice plain.
In King’s Landing, Littlefinger with a pair of hired swords walks through the streets of the city. A beggar-woman asks for coin, but he ignores her. All along the street, zealous members of the Faith Militant stand watch in groups. Among those Littlefinger passes is Lancel Lannister, who calls to him: “Lord Baelish.” Littlefinger stops near the entrance to his brothel, and Lancel comes before him while his militant brethren surround Littlefinger and his guards. “Lancel Lannister,” Littlefinger says, by way of greeting, but Lancel notes he’s now Brother Lancel, having put aside his family name as is the practice of the Faith Militant. Littlefinger quips that it’s quite a family to abandon.
Lancel, ignoring that, notes that Baelish will find much changed in the city. Lancel lists the deeds of the Faith: pouring wine into gutters, smashing false idols, sending the godless fleeing. Baelish merely replies, “Well done”, and resumes entering his brothel when Lancel puts a hand on his shoulder to stop him. Littlefinger’s guards start to draw their swords as the Faith Militant readies themselves, but Littlefinger simply informs him that he’s on urgent business for the Queen Mother and wonders if he should let her know he’ll be delayed. Lancel drops his hand, but warns Littlefinger to step carefully because there’s no tolerance for “flesh-peddlers” in “the new King’s Landing”. To that, Lord Petyr replies that they both peddle fantasies, but his own happen to be entertaining. And then he leaves, guards in tow.
Later, meeting with Cersei, Littlefinger wonders if it was wise to arrest the heir to Highgarden. Cersei corrects him, stating that the Faith arrested him, but Littlefinger notes she was the one who armed the Faith to begin with. To that she replies that it was the king who ordered it, and wondered if Tommen is now supposed to be blamed for Ser Loras’s “perversion”. Littlefinger lets her know that House Tyrell won’t tolerate the insult, and Cersei is dismissive when she notes that she’s the one who was insulted when Loras was promised to her and instead preferred the company of boys.
Littlefinger offers a jocular quip about Loras’s curious choice of companions. There’s a pregnant pause, and Cersei echoes, “Most curious.” Then she remarks on Lysa Arryn, being so repellent—but then she asks his forgiveness, since he must still be in mourning. Littlefinger carefully offers that Lysa was a good woman, a kind woman, but Cersei dismisses that, saying she was neither of those things and they both know it. Then she remarks how she pities her son Robin, and finds it fortunate that he now has a new father to council him. Littlefinger admits he knows what it’s like to lose both parents at a young age, but Cersei moves on from that topic.
She asks Littlefinger if the knights of the Vale will support Tommen if a new war comes to Westeros. Baelish says Lord Robin heeds his advice, and that he has always told him to support the throne. Cersei seems reassured by that reply. Standing up to refill her wine cup, she asks if there’s anything else. He admits he has something else to discuss, something urgent that he had to bring personally to Cersei. Reminding her that she had once tasked him with finding Sansa Stark following Joffrey’s death, Littlefinger claims that to his shame he failed her… but now he has discovered where she is, alive, well, and home again in Winterfell. Cersei denies it being possible, but Littlefinger insists his “well-placed sources” have informed him that Roose Bolton plans to marry Sansa to his son, Ramsay, a recently-legitimized bastard.
Cersei, disbelieving, says that Roose Bolton is Warden of the North thanks to her father. Littlefinger agrees… but reminds her that was for stabbing his own king in the heart. Cersei, furious, paces away and says they should never have trusted a turncloak. Littlefinger points out that by marrying his son to the last Stark, this will give Roose more legitimacy in the North than his alliance with the Lannisters will. Cersei, enraged, promises she’ll skin him and his bastard alive, stalking back to her desk. When Baelish councils patience, she throws the word back at him and reminds him that Sansa helped murder her son and that Roose is a traitor.
Littlefinger in turn reminds her of another traitor: Stannis Baratheon, who is marching down on Winterfell with an army. He tells her to let Stannis and Roose fight one another, and then with her own army seize Winterfell from whichever “thief” survives the conflict. Cersei points out that with Winterfell a thousand miles away, with the weather already turning to winter. Littlefinger tells her that that’s why they must be ready to strike soon while the victor still recovers from the battle. Baelish wonders if Kevan or Jaime could lead forces, but Cersei says the one lacks courage and the other is on a “sensitive diplomatic mission.” Baelish offers another alternative: the knights of the Vale, said by him to be some of the best fighters in Westeros and men used to fighting in ice and snow.
Cersei begs Baelish’s forgiveness, stating that his reputation is as a moneylender and brothelkeeper, not as a military man. Littlefinger counters, noting that the Lannisters will not be risking any of their own forces or their own coin. “What do you have to lose? A brothel keeper?” That logic is hard to refute, and Cersei asks what he would want if he succeeds. He reveals his price to her: “Name me Warden of the North.” Cersei considers that for a long moment, then looking at Littlefinger she states she’ll speak to the king in the evening and have a royal decree issued. Littlefinger promises he won’t rest until the lion banner flies over Winterfell, and Cersei says she’ll know Littlefinger is a man of his word when she sees Sansa’s head on a spike.
“As I said,” Littlefinger replies. “I live to serve.”
Before a fountain In the Water Gardens, Prince Trystane Martell places a flower in the blond hair of his betrothed, Princess Myrcella Baratheon, while saying that he will ask something of his father tomorrow. Myrcella wonders what will happen if his father says no, but Trystane assures her he won’t, that they’ve waited long enough. He takes her hands in his own, and insists that he wants her for his wife. Myrcella is silent, and so Trystane asks what the matter is. She asks if he wants to marry her only because their families arranged the marriage, or because—
He silences her with a deep kiss. She pulls away after a moment, shyly saying they can’t do such things yet. Prince Trystane wonders why not, and she responds someone will see, but he says that she will be his wife and he will be her husband. Taking her arm, he starts to lead her away and says they are allowed to walk the gardens together. In the distance, a servant sweeps the paved paths, while Myrcella laughs and asks how many other girls Trystane has walked through the gardens. Trystane is silent for a few moments, and then offers that he likes how her eyes “go squinty” when she’s jealous. She insists it doesn’t happen… and that he didn’t answer the question.
Above them, watching from a balcony, Prince Doran says to Areo Hotah that they make a lovely couple. “A Lannister and a Martell,” Doran observes. “They have no idea how dangerous that is.” He says they must protect them, and Areo Hotah agrees with a laconic, “Yes, my prince.” Doran remarks that Areo has not used his ax in a long time, and hopes he remembers how. “I remember how,” Areo responds.
Outside the Water Gardens, Bronn sings part of “The Dornishman’s Wife” as he and Jaime approach the palace on horseback, dressed in the clothing they stole from the dead Dornish knights. Jaime tells Bronn to fall silent, and Bronn protests he’s coming to the best part, but Jaime notes that they don’t want everyone to hear Bronn’s distinctly non-Dornish accent if they want to blend in. Bronn explains that the song is all about its end, but Jaime says that can wait as they crest a hill and see the Water Gardens in the distance, a great palace on teh shore of the sea. Ahead of them a small caravan goes in that direction, traveling through tussock grass, a pair of Dornish knights at the head leading them.
Bronn asks what they do once they have Myrcella, and Jaime says he likes to improvise. “That explains the golden hand,” Bronn quips. Jaime gives him a look, and then both ride on to surreptitiously join the caravan. Soon they pass uncontested through the gates of the Water Gardens, and while the caravan travels one way they move in a different direction.
In a cool, dark vaulted chamber where the palace’s water cistern lies, Ellaria tells the three Sand Snakes the Martell words: “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.” The young women are armed with their weapons and wear leather breastplates. “For Oberyn,” she tells them, and they echo her. Lifting veils over their faces, they march out of the chamber through an iron gate, into the gardens to seek out Myrcella. Ellaria watches them go.
At the very same time, Bronn and Jaime walk the gardens on foot, searching for Myrcella as well. The pair come across her kissing her prince in a pavilion in the garden. Bronn, lowering his veil, remarks that she’s made herself at home. Going forward, Jaime calls to his niece and the princess looks confused before she recognizes him. “Uncle Jaime?” she asks, and then approaches, saying she doesn’t understand what he’s doing there. Jaime tells her that they should talk somewhere in private when Trystane comes forward and interposes himself between Myrcella and Jaime, identifying himself as he does so. Myrcella quickly notes that he’s her intended. Jaime says that’s excellent and quickly takes Trystane’s hand with his remaining left hand, saying it’s good to meet him. Dubious, Trystane notes that they weren’t expecting him.
That’s when Bronn steps forward and suggests Trystane give them some time alone. Trystane takes note of the blood on both of their garb. Bronn leans in close, telling him not to do something stupid… but Trystane tries to draw the narrow sword on his hip. Bronn flattens him with a single punch to the face. Myrcella cries out and drops down to the prince as Bronn says, “That was something stupid.” Jaime reaches for Myrcella, telling them they have to go, but she shouts that they’ve hurt Trystane. Jaime starts to promise he’ll be fine… when a whip lashes out, wrapping around his arm, and pulls him away from the princess.
The three Sand Snakes face the pair. “For fuck’s sake,” Bronn says as he draws his sword. A fight ensues, Obara keeping Jaime on his toes with her spear while Tyene fights Bronn and Nymeria largely uses her whip to disrupt the two men. Obara shouts for Nymeria to take Myrcella, and Nymeria grabs her, saying she’s coming with her. Myrcella shouts that she doesn’t want to, but Nymeria holds a knife to her and tells her she’s not asking. She drags her away, crying out, and Jaime sees this but can do nothing. Bronn, still fighting Tyene, pushes her away but one of her knives manages to cut him as she’s thrown back.
But the fights end when Areo Hotah and a troop of guards arrive, stopping Nymeria. Hotah commands them to drop their weapons. “I am Obara Sand,” Obara Sand shouts, “daughter of Oberyn Martell. I fight for Dorne! Who do you fight for?!” Hotah’s response is to command her to drop their weapons once more. Tyene does so, then Obara, then Nymeria. Jaime seems less willing to do so, and almost instantly Hotah’s ax whirls around and comes down to stop precisely on his neck. “When you were whole,” Hotah says, “it would have been a good fight.” Jaime surrenders his weapon and is seized. Bronn follows his lead, telling Tyene she fights well “for a little girl”. She screams and rushes at him, but the guards stop her and drag them both away.
In the cistern chamber, Ellaria is startled to find more Dornish guards coming from all directions, trapping her.
Outside King’s Landing, Olenna Tyrell travels in a wheelhouse escorted by Tyrell guards. A halt is called and she opens a window only to complain that, “You can smell the shit from five miles away.” Shutting the window again, she angrily asks why they’ve stopped and tells them to go on. Later in the Red Keep she commiserates with a tired Margaery, telling her that the Faith only has rumors and gossip against Loras, stating that it’s mere theater; if they had arrested every “pillowbiter” in King’s Landing, she claims, there’d be no room in the dungeons for anyone else.
Margaery notes that everyone knows about Loras and Renly, and to that Olenna says that Renly slept with half the stable boys in the Seven Kingdoms and everyone knew but no one cared. Margaery argues that Renly was the king’s brother, but Olenna will have none of it, telling her that Loras is the queen’s brother. She insists this state of affairs won’t do. Margaery blames Cersei, and Olenna agrees it’s her doing and that Cersei’s aim is to sully the Tyrell name and reputation to put them in their place. She tells Margaery to rest as she looks “appalling”, and says she’ll deal with Cersei Lannister.
Cersei, in her office as Queen Regent, busily writes on a parchment while ignoring Olenna, who impatiently sits across from her. Finally, Lady Olenna tells her that she’s traveled a long way, but Cersei merely says she must be exhausted without stopping her writing. Olenna waits a moment and then tells her to put the pen down, as they both know she’s not writing anything. “Ah, yes,” Cersei says, “the famously tart tongue of the Queen of Thorns.” Olenna sits up in her chair and says, “And the famous tart, Queen Cersei.”
Cersei stops there, staring up at Olenna and matching her gaze. She begs Olenna’s pardon, but Olenna says that she knows Cersei is behind the “absurd” arrest of Loras. Cersei starts to say that if Olenna apologizes for that comment… but Olenna interrupts her, saying she’ll get her apology when she gets Loras. Cersei claims shock at his arrest, and says she has no love for the fanatics, but what can the Queen Mother do? She’s clearly smug in her answer. Olenna asks if the crown no longer needs the troop, gold, and wheat House Tyrell provides. Cersei tries to reassure her that the alliance remains, but Olenna asks how Cersei can expect the alliance to continue after she’s thrown the house’s future into prison. Cersei again insists she had nothing to do with it. “As to your veiled threats,” she starts, and Olenna asks, “What veil?”
Cersei goes on, saying that the Lannister-Tyrell alliance brought peace, and she can’t believe Olenna will throw the realm back into war. Olenna considers that and then speaks of Lord Tywin, whom she neither trusted nor particular liked. However, she says, she respected Tywin because he was no fool and understood one must sometimes work with rivals rather than destroy them. To that, Cersei says, “House Lannister has no rival.” Olenna is not amused. Cersei explains that the High Septon has called for an inquest, a small hearing rather than a trial to determine if there is evidence to merit a trial. Cersei claims to be certain it will come to nothing, Loras will be freed, and their alliance will be able to happily continue and they will be able to forget the unfortunate conversation that just happened. Cersei returns to her writing as she dismisses Olenna.
Olenna, silent, clearly unhappy and disbeliving, stands and leaves. Cersei sits back, watching her go.
In the inquest, Loras sits in the center of the chamber as the barefoot High Septon says Ser Loras was of course aware of the rumors concerning him and King Renly. Loras, filthy from the dungeons and with a beard he’s grown since his imprisonment, says he doesn’t pay attention to rumors. A scribe notes down every word. The High Septon notes how upset Loras was at Renly’s death, refusing to leave Renly’s body even as Stannis’s army closed in. “He was my friend,” Loras replies. “He was my king.”
The High Septon asks if Joffrey was not his king, anointed by the Seven as he was. Loras admits he was wrong to support Renly’s claim… but also notes that Joffrey forgave him, and that he fought for him at the Blackwater. When the High Septon observes he was wearing Renly’s armor at the battle, Loras questions why that matters. The High Septon asks if Loras denies all charges against him: fornication, buggery, blasphemy. Loras denies them unequivocally. The High Septon asks if he ever lay with Renly Baratheon. “Never,” Loras says. When the High Septon asks if he lay with any other man, Loras looks at him and repeats, “Never.” The High Septon says that will be all, and Loras moves to sit with Olenna and Margaery who, with Cersei and Tommen, are in attendance.
Olenna says that must be it and starts to stand when the High Septon calls Queen Margaery forward. Margaery, surprised, notes she’s the queen. He acknowledges this, but says that according to the law of the Seven, neither kings nor queens are exempt from testimony in a holy inquest. Margaery gives Cersei a look, who looks back and seems unsurprised. Margaery can do nothing but sit and take questions. The High Septon asks how she responds to the charges against her brother, and Margaery replies that they are lies, all of them. The High Septon asks her to swear in the presence of the gods to the innocence of her brother to the best of her knowledge. Margaery so swears.
The High Septon dismisses her, thanking her for her testimony, when another person is brought in: Olyver. Cersei half-smiles to herself while Loras looks distressed, and Margaery uncomfortable. Olyver explains he knows Loras well, having squired for him. He claims Loras took a liking to him and summoned him to his chamber the first day they met. When asked about what happened there, Olyver says he engaged in “intimate relations” with him. When the High Septon clarifies if he lay with him, Olyver says yes, on that night and many other occasions. Loras angrily says, “Liar! He’s a liar!” Olyver says Margaery can support his claim, having walked in on them once, not long ago, and that she didn’t seem surprised at all.
Cersei offers that the testimony is an insult to a great house and wonders why the word of a squire should be taken over the word of the heir to Highgarden. Olyver reveals his knowledge of the birthmark high up on Loras’s thigh, implying he could only know about it through those intimate relations as he describes it in detail. Cersei’s expression seems an attempt to keep a smile off her face, just as Loras explodes from his chair and rushes Olyver, shouting, “Liar!” Men of the Faith Militant stop him before he gets to Olyver, dragging him back as he fights to get at Olyver. They start to take him away
Olenna stands, asking what they think they’re doing. As Margaery stands with her, two more men of the Faith Militant move forward to block their way. The High Septon says there is enough evidence to bring Loras and Queen Margaery to trial. Olenna is shocked, but the High Septon explains that bearing false witness before the gods is as great a sin as any. The Faith Militant seize her. The Kingsguard accompanying Tommen reach for their weapons, but outnumbered Tommen orders them to stand down with a gesture. Olenna stares at Cersei, who stares back.
Far away in Winterfell, Sansa sits alone in her chamber. There is a knock, and Sansa opens the door to see Myranda waiting. She asks what she wants, and Myranda replies that Lord Ramsay sent her to draw a bath for Sansa. She remarks Sansa will want to be clean and fresh for her husband. Later, Myranda is helping Sansa wash out the black wash from her hair. She tells Sansa she’s beautiful, but she must keep Ramsay happy because he bores easily. She informs Sansa that she won’t want to end up like the others.
Sansa asks, “What others?” but Myranda merely remarks that it’s good to see the red in her hair again, that there’s no point in hiding anymore. Sansa repeats her question, and Myranda passes through a litany: Kyra, the blacksmith’s daughter who just talked and talked; Violet, who became pregnant; Tansy, who was sweet and so became dull. Myranda adds that Ramsay let her come with him for that hunt. “Hunt?” Sansa asks, not understanding. As Myranda scrubs her back, she asks if Sansa’s ever seen a body after the dogs have gotten to it. “Not so pretty,” Myranda remarks, but then says it’s Sansa’s wedding day and she shouldn’t be talking about such things.
Sansa asks her name again. Once she has it, she asks, “How long have you loved him, Myranda?” She turns in her bath, and questions Myranda, wondering if she imagined she’d be with Ramsay forever until Sansa came along and ruined it. Myranda is silent as Sans says, “I’m Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home, and you can’t frighten me.” Myranda can only respond by asking if Sansa is done with her bath. Sansa dismisses her curtly, and Myranda leaves. Then, still seated in the bath, Sansa puts her hand to her face and tries to take in what just happened.
Later, Sansa is in a pale weddning gown when there’s another knock. The door opens, and it’s Reek, clean and dressed in fine clothing. Sansa is not happy to see him. He informs her that he’s come to escort her to the godswood, and then asks if she’ll take his arm. Sansa refuses, and Reek insists that Lord Ramsay said that he was to take her arm. “I’m not touching you,” she tells him bluntly. Fear in his voice, he begs her, saying that Ramsay will punish him for not doing as he was told. “You think I care what he does to you?” Sansa asks, and then walks past him out of the room.
The godswood is dusted with snow. Scores of lamps light the way as they come to the gathering of Bolton men and northern lords who’ll stand as witnesses before the heart tree of Winterfell. The wedding ceremony takes place after northern fashion, with Reek speaking for Sansa in explaining who she is and why she’s come, and then asking who comes to claim her. Ramsay steps forward and says who he is, as Myranda looks upset among the witnesses. Ramsay then asks who gives her, and Reek replies, “Theon, of House Greyjoy, who was—” His voice catches, and then after a moment he continues, “—who was her father’s ward.”
Roose Bolton asks if Sansa takes Ramsay for a husband. There’s a long pause, as Sansa considers. Then she steps forward and says, “I take this man.” Ramsay smiles.
Reek leads them into their bed chamber, candles lighting it. Sansa observes the marriage bed, wolf pelts covering it, and then looks at her new husband. Ramsay seems very pleased, and tells Sansa he wants her to be happy. Then he remarks that Roose said she was still a virgin. Sansa, embarassed, looks at Reek who stands by the door. He’s looking away, and she replies that she is. Ramsay asks why that is. “Afraid of dwarfs?” he quips. Sansa explains Tyrion was kind and gentle, and never touched her, and Ramsay makes sure she isn’t lying to him. Sansa insists she isn’t, and he tells her that lying to her husband on their wedding night would be a bad start to the marriage. He puts a hand on her cheek, saying they should be honest with one another as man and wife.
She agrees, and Ramsay steps in to kiss her. Then he tells her to undress. Sansa looks at Reek, and he starts to leave but Ramsay immediately tells him to stay there and watch. Sansa, shocked, stares back at Reek, and Reek simply steps back into the room. Ramsay asks if he needs to ask a second time, and notes he hates asking a second time. Sansa slowly starts to undo the laces at a sleeve, and Reek moves to shut the door into the chamber. Ramsay notices that he gazes at his feet, and informs him that he told him to watch, noting that he’s known Sansa since she was a girl. “Now watch her become a woman,” he says.
Sansa struggles with fear in her eyes, and Ramsay simply takes the expedient approach and tears the gown open down her back, then pushes her over to bend over the bed. Sansa’s face show fear. As Ramsay consummates the marriage, her cries of pain can be heard, and on Reek’s face is grief as he tries and fails to fight back tears as he watches her rape.
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