Hold the door! More like hold my emotions, in check. What an amazing episode of Game of Thrones. Albeit heartbreaking, but one that puts the entire story on a much more epic scale.
Let’s leave the big stuff for last though and start off with Sansa. Littlefinger makes it out to her and they finally meet up, but Sansa will have non of his crap anymore. She basically corners him about how he knew what type of person Ramsey was and sent her their regardless. While sending him away along with the army he’s brought, at least she doesn’t have Brienne take his life. While I think she could use the army right about now, she hasn’t burnt that bridge entirely, so we’ll see where this goes.
She does get some good information from him though, which she later brings up in a metting with Jon, Davos and Brienne (though she hides the fact that she found it out from Littlefinger… probably cause Jon would gut him alive if he knew he was around). The news being that their uncle the Blackfish (on the Tully side) has his own army ready and would obviously support the Starks till the end. Sansa sends Brienne (despite her objections) towards Riverrun to talk military with the family and get things going.
Over the east ocean Arya is continuing her training. Despite how hard it is for her though, she has no name. And this gets her a first assignment… she must assassinate an actress. During her investigation, the play they are performing is that of the death of the late Robert Baratheon – and it is made out as a black comedy, making fun of Ned Stark and how he supposedly tried to steal the thrones, which is why he was beheaded. The story continues with the events the proceeded, which Arya was unaware of (at the time she was taken towards the wall, where her own trials and tribulations had begun. It’s kind of sad to see her witness all that and be reminded of the unfortunate events that befell her family. In the end, she found a clue needed for a nice, subtle assignation… something Hagar approved of.
Over the west ocean, Pyke has their trials for their new King. And while Yara had a good chance (especially with Theon backing her), their uncle Euron not only steps up to the nomination, but admits to killing his brother. With him though, he brings his idea of how to conquer the world, and not just the oceans. He will sail thousands of ships to the Dragon queen, marry her (As part of the deal for the ships) and together they will lay waste to Westoros. This is actually a great idea (though I’m not sure if Dany would be willing to marry someone just for his ships… hopefully she finds another way). Euron wins the crown and we witness a crazy scene that basically has any newly appointed king be drowned. If he survives, gasping and coughing up water, then he is truly meant to be king. Harsh test if you ask me… I wonder how many hundreds of kings have died before fully anointed. Him being king also means that his only threat to his rule would be the trueborn children of Balon, which he notices have already fled the Iron Islands (along with dozens of ships who followed Yara instead). Angrered, he commands their entire nation to start building ships… a thousand.
Where is Yara going? Off to Winterfell to assist the Starks? Around Westoros towards Dany to pull off the trick Euron was about to? Will she beat him there?
Speaking of Dany, we have a little scene of the aftermath of what went down. She confronts Jorah, who admits will never really have to bother her again since, he reveals, he has Greyscale. While admitting things, he finally tells her how he’s loved her and why he’s always been so devoted dispte being banished… twice. Dany finally forgives him, and tells him he is not allowed to die, and it is her direct command to find a cure, because she needs him by her side when she returns to Westoros.
Meanwhile Tyrion and Varys has a meeting with a Red Priestess (Kinvara) in Mereen. She believes that Dany is the chosen one, (and has some private info on Varys that makes her slightly more convincing), so she will start spreading the word around the city that Dany is the rightful leader. This will bring a religious fandom they are hoping for (as the Red god is believe in here, not the 7 Gods like in Westoros).
And so we come to North. Way north. During a first scene, Bran has another vision through the Three-Eyed Raven, about the Children of the Forest completing a sacrifice… which creates the Night King. It is finally revealed that they created them, as a weapon against the invading human back when they first sailed to Westoros. Later on, when everyone is asleep, Bran decides he wants to connect to that dream world and take a look around on his own (and you know from the start this is a bad idea). He runs into the entire army of Whites, along with the Night King himself, who not only sees him, but reaches out and grabs him. This wakes Bran up in terror, and we realize something terrible is about to happen. The Three-eyed Raven explains that, here in the roots of the tree, they were safe, but now that Bran has been touched (he still has the marking on his hand, even while awake now), there is no safety. And they are very likely on their way to kill them all. And by very likely, he means any moment. He admits that Bran is not read for what’s to come, but the time has come regardless, and Bran needs to become the new Three-Eyed Ravel. Before anything else happens, the both lapse into the dream world. And that is wear all hell breaks loose and the heartbreaking begins…
Bran and the Raven are in Winterfell. A father speaks to his son, which seems to be a young Ned stark. In the background, a young Hodor (aka Wyllis) is helping out along the courtyard. Back in the real world, Meera and the Children of the Forest run outside to keep watch, only to find an entire army of whites… thousands of them. And with the the Night King up front with the other couple generals that are left. The Children tell Meera to go and grab Bran and run. The army charges and Children start throwing fire bombs.
Meera runs in and starts putting Bran’s unconscious body on their stretcher. She asks Hodor for help but he’s already panicking, rocking back and forth in the corner mumbling Hodor, Hodor, Hodor. Outside the Children has lost ground and run back in themselves, with the White Walkers following them in. Meera starts fighting them off along with the Children as best as she can, while trying to wake Bran up, telling him he needs to wake up and warg into Hodor, who’s help they need.
This is where things start getting weird. In the dream, Bran can hear Meera’s voice. It is obviously out of place, and he seems confused. “Bran, wake up. Warg into Hodor. Wake up. We need his help”. The Three Eyed Raven stands behind watching Bran trying to figure things out. “Listen to your friend, Bran”. At some point it clicks and Bran wargs into Hodor… but the young Hodor… the one in the dream. Somehow, by warging into the dream Hodor of the past, he is controlling the future hodor at the tree. And some sort of nexus is created.
Back in the real world, Hodor gets up grabs Bran and they start running, Meera with them. The Night King gets to the Three Eyed Rave and kills him. In the dream, Bran sees him disintegrate. In the real world they running away. The last of the Children (the one who had led the sacrifice all those thousands of years ago) now sacrifices herself to help Meera, Hodor, and Bran try and escape. She grabs one of her fire bombs and just let the white walkers tackler her down, letting it explode and taking as many of them down as possible.
Unfortunately, that does not stop them. Hodor and Meera get to a large door, and after some pushing, Hodor gets it open. They run out into the snow and barely close the door behind them, as the enemy slams against it on the inside. But there is nothing to hold the door close but Hodor’s great strength. Meera grabs Bran and starts running, calling behind her “Hold The Door”. The shot switches to Bran in the dream, who hears Meera call out “Hold the Door”. And it seems Hodor/Wyllis also hears it. And even stranger… he seems to notice Bran.
Let me tell you, as the audience, goosebumps come to you around here… you realize something is extremely messed up. You hear Meera’s voice once more “Hold the Door”. And just like that, young Hodor’s eyes go white (like he’s being warged into) and collapses to the ground. His body starts having a seizure and he starts repeating the words “Hold The Door, Hold The Door, Hold The Door, Hold The Door”. In the real world, Meera and Bran disappear into the snow storm, while Hodor holds the door. He holds it as axes and sword and hands start breaking through. He holds it as arms reach through and start clawing him. He holds it as he gets stabbed. He holds it as he dies. And in the dream, the collapsed Wyllis keeps repeating “Hold the Door, Hold the Door, Hold the Door” until he slows does and Hold the Door slowly turns into HoldDoor, Holdor, Hodor. And there might heart is broken.
Now, the implications of this scene are huge. Outside of the fact that Hodor’s dramatic past was experiencing his own death in the future, and maybe to some extent recognized Bran as being that kid in the courtyard when that event happened, the main point is, the Three Eyed Raven knew this would happen. He brought him to this timeline. He told him to “listen to your friend”, referencing Meera telling him to Warg into Hodor. I don’t know what to say about whether Hodor was meant to connect with his future self here, or if it was really Bran who made it happen. Bran looked worried when he saw Hodor collapse, so I’m not sure if he did it that time. Or maybe his subconscious was doing it in the real world…
I can’t say much more about this scene, as Bran is technically still unconscious, so we have no idea how this will continue to play out. But this scene definitely paints a bigger picture of the epic war that seems to have been building up since when the first men invaded Westoros.
Well, that’s it for the week. Lets see how this amazing show continues its second half of the season. Till next week.
~mozeus
