Spoiler Warning: This post contains spoilers for all broadcast seasons of HBO's Game of Thrones, all published volumes of A Song of Ice and Fire, references to interviews, set reports, informed by wild speculation, and both fire and greenseer visions.
Let me say first of all, I enjoy Game of Thrones from the perspective of a book reader and someone who eagerly consumes all possible spoilers online so I watch the show anticipating things that I know or strongly suspect will be happening in the story. I admit this is not the way the show is intended to be watched and probably colors my perception of the episodes as I watch them but I have to say I was monumentally annoyed with the Tower of Joy cliffhanger in this episode but more on that below.
We start with Castle Black where apparently Davos and Melisandre have heard Jon Snow's dramatic gasp and have already rushed into the room. In this series of scenes we are starting to get a feel for how Jon has come back and, thankfully, he is not fundamentally different. There has been some fan speculation that he might come back "wrong"or even as a villain. This idea would be supported by the repeated resurrections already seen in Beric Dondarrion from earlier seasons during which he seems to have lost a little bit of himself each time he came back. Thankfully, after only one resurrection, Jon seems okay. He even shows flashes of humor which might be an improvement.
Melisandre starts to finally put two and two together and seems to think that Jon might be the hero that she mistakenly thought Stannis was. Unfortunately she doesn't get much time to articulate her feelings since she will have undergone a big point of view change since hitting rock bottom in the last couple of episodes. She does use an interesting phrase to describe Jon's possible savior role, she refers to him as "the prince who was promised." I believe this is the first time the phrase has come up in the show. Previously she has referred to Stannis as the rebirth of Azor Ahai, her religion's savior figure. The Prince Who Was Promised is another prophesied figure which may overlap with Azor Azai but who is closely associated with Rhaegar Targaryen's prophesy of a heroic warrior (or possibly trio of warriors) that was to come from the Targaryen line. So the use of this phrase is either a sloppy juxtaposition of two different prophesies or foreshadowing.
In my mind, an outstanding question regarding Melisandre is how the Targaryens fit into her Azor Azai beliefs. For example, is Targaryen lineage important in her definition of kingsblood? After all, the Baratheons are partially Targaryen descended. Can anyone claim the throne and then their blood becomes royal upon coronation? Are there degrees of royal blood power? Is she particularly interested in Targaryen blood since they were a centuries-old royal dynasty that interbred for generations? If so, it would explain her interest in Jon who is likely a Secret Targaryen.
We do get to spend some more time with Davos who gives Jon some not-particularly coherent advice about failure or something. This scene stumbles around the big question of why Davos was so set on resurrecting Jon Snow. What we do come away with is a slightly better understanding of the Onion Knight's world view in that he sees the world as a fundamentally unjust place and he is drawn to leaders who are committed to fighting to make it a little less horrible no matter how futile the struggle is. Apparently he sees Jon as that kind of leader.
Next up is the long awaited Tower of Joy scene! The book version of this scene is actually experienced in the very first book in the series while Ned Stark hallucinates in the Black Cells and it is described much as we see it on the show. The sequence looms large in Game of Thrones mythology and theorizing. It is central to the popular R + L = J theory that proposes that Jon Snow is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Infuriatingly, just was we are about to ascend the Tower and meet Lyanna and baby Jon, the Three-Eyed Raven arbitrarily decides to end the vision and millions of book readers screamed out in frustration and threw their remotes at the TV.
What's worse is move to a scene in which we check in with Sam and Gilly on the way to Old Town as if to rub salt in our wounds. Instead of entering the Tower, we cut to a scene in which two people discuss their travel plans in a storyline that doesn't seem terribly consequential. Grrr.
We also check in with Arya in Braavos whose story has been both opaque and glacially paced. But this week there was thankfully some forward movement. I don't think I have ever been so grateful to see a montage! If not for Masie Williams, this storyline would be unwatchable but she is so damn good and haunting and kind of beautiful looking all blind and abused. And she gets her sight back! And learns to stick fight. Hopefully she can breeze through being No One so that she can become Arya again.
In Meereen, Varys questions the prostitute who was helping the Sons of the Harpy last season. They have a great and very tense scene in which they are both intelligent and make good points. Here we see Varys in top form as an master chess player and a cunning pragmatist. He's been sort of hanging around in the Meereen storyline so it is great to see him use his talents.
Tyrion has an awkward scene with Gray Worm and Missendei and the subtext seems to be that they are waiting for stuff to happen and don't have much to talk about. Peter Dinklage is a great actor but even he can't carry a scene that is about nothing. This is Game of Thrones, not Seinfeld. Varys arrives and we learn that the cities on Dany's Slaver's Bay Liberation Tour are funding the Sons of the Harpy which is not entirely surprising. I was hoping for more of a reveal with this perhaps involving some specific characters that we have met in prior seasons.
In Kings Landing Qyburn has an unsettling meeting with a bunch of children and even gives them candy. He does everything creepy but lure them into a van. It turns out that these kids are Varys' (former?) Little Birds, part of his vast spy network and since Qyburn is now the Master of Whispers, he was holding a meeting with them in his dungeon. Still the guy is sketchy as hell. If the Kings Landing storyline were Archer, Qyburn would be Krieger. Cercei and Jamie arrive to discuss business and we learn that the identity of Robert Strong is pretty much an open secret in the Red Keep. Cercei and Co attempt to crash a Small Council meeting now lead by Kings Hand Kevin Lannister but the council bails on them for another location but not before Lady Olenna delivers a sick burn on Cercei. Also, everyone in the meeting knows that it is the Mountain under that armor. So we're not doing Robert Strong anymore?
Tommen attempts to confront the High Sparrow. He starts to show a little Joffrey-esque backbone but is soon outfoxed by the old man. We learn a couple of things about the High Sparrow in this scene, such as the fact that he claims that he never had a mother. This may seem inconsequential but this character is so mysterious that almost anything seems like a major revelation. More importantly, we learn that he's manipulative and slick which is a bit at odds with his image of a simple pious man. I still think that he is working for Littlefinger.
Meanwhile, Dany is confronted with her situation as one of the Real Widows of Vaes Dothrak and all of the limitations that her new role entails. Apparently, it is forbidden for a widow to go out into the world after the death of her Khal and Dany is going to be judged by a meeting of Khals. Her situation is an interesting mirror of Cercei's last season. Both women are widows who have been put through brutal and patriarchal systems of forced matrimony and will have been imprisoned and judged for their ambition and refusal to adhere to their societal place.
In Winterfell, Ramsey meets with the new Lord Umber. We last saw the Umbers as part of Robb's forces in seasons two and three. While the Greatjon has apparently died offscreen his son is no less boisterous and hilariously gives zero effs where it comes to Ramsey and the Boltons. What's less hilarious is that he presents Ramsey with a gift of Rickon Stark and Osha, the Wildling woman who was to see him to safety when he parted ways with Bran and the Reeds. As proof of the boy's identity Umber also unceremoniously dumps the head of Shaggydog, Rickon's direwolf.
This development is deeply upsetting. First, the death of any of the Stark children's direwolves is always tragic, portentous and symbolically loaded. These animals are their guardians and protectors and their last lines of defense. Without them the Stark children are dangerously exposed and disconnected from their heritage. It was especially upsetting in the matter-of-fact way Shaggydog's head was thrown on to the table with hook embedded in it, looking for all the world like the show's version of the Stark sigil.
What's worse Osha and Rickon have suffered a horrible betrayal and are now in the hands of a psychopath and we are faced with the prospect of more scenes of torture and sexual violence. This guy needs to be taken out ASAP. By the way, what is going on with the North? What houses are still loyal to the Starks? And why have they all been taken over by young male sociopaths? Perhaps this is an unintended consequence of Robb's war.
As much as I hate this development, from a story point of view it looks like this will cause a lot of characters and their forces to converge upon Winterfell, such as Jon and Sansa, other loyalist northern houses, the Wildlings and maybe even Littlefinger and the Knights of the Vale. It may not be long before we see something akin to Ramsey's infamous Pink Letter from the books. Book Ramsey has some more trollish qualities and is fond of sending provocative ravens to his enemies. In A Dance With Dragons he sends Jon a challenging letter that he has his sister at Winterfell and demands certain characters be sent to him. However it happens, once Jon learns that his brother is captive at Winterfell and how Sansa has been abused it will motivate him to action.
Speaking of which, when we check back in the Wall at the end of the episode, Jon is still struggling with his place and his purpose now that he has been brought back. He oversees the executions of Thorne, Ollie and the other conspirators. He allows them a moment for last words and Thorne actually makes a compelling case for himself. For a moment, I thought Snow was going to let them live, after all regardless of his plans, the night's watch is short of men and Thorn at least is a capable ranger but after a moment of deliberation, snow executes the traitors and turns his cloak over to Edd stating that his watch is over. Technically, his watch ended at death so despite the episode's title he satisfied his oath although he may have a hard time explaining that to people. Hopefully he will stick around long enough to meet Sansa next week.
Patrick Garone
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