Well, ladies and gentlemen, Game of Thrones brought it like what! Things have been building up all season, and finally explode. And considering the major scenes here were not even in the books, we still have the next two episodes for all the drama the book ends with.
So, lets start with the book accurate ones. Arya is basically going by the books (give or take). She’s learning to be someone else, and this someone else is meant to assassinate someone. All part of her training. Lets see what this all comes down to, but so far, she’s as cool as she’s ever been.
Sansa’s story is not in the books. I’ve mentioned this before, she never leaves the Eyrie. But while some “readers” complained, I think its a great change HBO has provided. Think about it… in the books Littlefinger sends an Arya lookalike to marry off to Ramsey; who basically does to this girl what he does to Sansa. But television is different than books. Its faster paced. Its less patient. So, when its ok to do that in the books, especially if the writer is good (though, truth be told, even in the books some things feel like they’re dragging on), but its not ok for television. Nobody would care of what Ramsey did to this new random girl. Everybody would get bored of watching Sansa just sit around. So changing it up creates some drama, emotion and excitement. I’m honestly curious to see how this all ends. And I also like the emotional scenes between Theon and Sansa, who in this episode revealed to her that he never killed her little brothers!
Cersei is still being held in a cell, groveling for food food and water. And the sparer priestess won’t even give her any unless she confesses, which she refuses to do. It’s crazy to see her licking water off the floor… exactly what she deserves. We also find out that her uncle Kevan has returned from Casterly Rock to assist the King, and won’t lift a finger to help Cersei. HA! These scenes are also moving along as the books for the most part.
Now, one of the big changes. Tyrion makes it to Dani. This doesn’t happen in the book. We follow Tyrion traveling and being sold and traded and sold, as he slowly makes it closer, but in the books, he never makes it to Dani. It seems like it’s leading there, but something happens that changes things. I won’t mention what, cause I’m curious to see how they will tie it in. But it’s big, so I’m positive we’ll be seeing something in the next episodes. That being said, them two meeting is everything we always hoped for. Tyrion at his best, and Dani recognizing and respecting that. Oh, what a smile I had there… Tyrion finally being respected. It’s almost too good to be true, and I’m starting to worry that something bad might happen soon.
During their convos, she asks for his opinion on Jorah. Tyrion is kind, and honest about how Jorah is devoted to her and no one else. But he also understands his betrayal to her, so instead of suggesting she execute him, she exiles him. I honestly felt so bad for Jorah here, but its understandable. Plus, he has Grayscale now, so there isn’t much left for him. Upon his exile from the city, he decides the spend the remainder of his days representing Dani in the only way he can do that now… he goes back to his previous “owner” and gives himself up to be a fighter in the arena, fighting on behalf of the queen.
So we come to the best scene of the episode, and best of the season so far – and probably one of the best of the show so far. And its not in the books at all, which Jon never leaves the wall. Here, he does. They get to Hardhome (where the majority of the remaining Wildlings are staying), and him and Tormund try to convince them to come south of the wall. It’s a difficult task, but Jon give an amazing speech, and most of them agree to go. As they are about to leave off (with boats, because this town is on the other side of the water), Winter finally comes. Thousands of Whites come attacking them. And we finally see how dangerous they are… they’re like 28 days later meets World War Z, but intelligent. By that I’m not saying they think and talk, but clearly they are fighting with some sort of skill.
We are also shown what seems to be 4 leaders of the Whites, standing on the top of a nearby cliff, on their horses, watching over the attack. From how it’s shot, it feels like they are the 4 horsemen. One eventually makes it down, and ends up fighting Jon Snow. I honestly thought he would die here… seriously, you never know in the story. They had lost the dragon glass earlier, so he had nothing to fight with. In a last attempt, he uses his sword, Longclaw, which if you remember was the Valyrian steel sword given to him from the previous Lord Commander. Valyrian steel being from Valyria, the original home of dragons and Targeryans. In the books, they also refer to it as dragon-forged (though I don’t remember if they mention that in the show). And so, in a last defense, he hits the White and it dies. Looks like Valyrian is another suitable weapon.
The scene eventually ends with Jon and the majority of them barely making it out alive. It was horrifying I tell you (and extremely well shot). And as they drift away, another one of the 4 horseman (now only 3 left) comes up front to stare them down. As his last action, he raises his arms, and in turn every single Wildling that dies (and we’re talking about thousands) raise from the dead and join the White army. Talk about doubling the loss.
Now this is not in the books. Nothing about it is. The only White scenes in the books are the every first scene of the entire show (episode 1), the scene when two of the dead brothers come back from the dead and Jon saves the old lord commander (which then gives him the sword in return), and when Sam kills one. Maybe another scene that I might be forgetting right now, but everything else in the books is just “talked about”. There are no “leader” Whites, no nothing. But I’m assuming this is all part of the plan, as George Martin is obviously revealing the story to them. And you always imagined how horrifying they are. But HBO making a scene out of it was amazing, really putting an actual picture how big a menace this real war is. And in the end, it ends the same way, as it looks like they are going to make it back to the wall… what happens there, I guess we’ll see. Lets just say the book ends pretty intense, so the next couple episodes will be big.
That’s it for this week. Stay tuned and don’t miss the next episodes! If you do, stay off social media until you can catch it.
~mozeus
