Season 6 Episode 5 - "The Door" - Full Recap

SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-
-
-
-
-
For those who have seen episode 5 already, I'm sure you would agree it was the best this season has offered us as of yet. In fact, "The Door" would easily break into my top 10 favorite episodes of all-time, and absolutely my top 5 for most shocking.

"The Door" gave us some great things, like some really great breakthroughs in stories and some very great moments, all of which were greatly triumphed by one single event which I can describe with justthree words; "hold the door." There is not much else to be said, so without further ado, let us begin.

**If you don't want to read the entire recap (trust me I'm not offended), skip to the end for a very brief summary of this week's events**

As always, be warned, this post is DARK and full of SPOILERS!
-
-
-
-
-
We begin at Castle Black, where Sansa is practicing her needlework. It is later revealed that she has created cloaks for herself and Jon which bear the Stark Direwolf emblem on the front. Sansa is interrupted by a man who brings her a letter, which she reads and asks "how far is Mole's Town?"

Guess who's back, bitches.

Sansa arrives in an abandoned Mole's Town building to meet none other than the "master of putting his own niece in a shitty situation", Petyr Baelish himself. From the beginning of the conversation, Sansa isn't taking any of his bullshit, and on many occasions doesn't even let him finish his sentences. He basically tries apologizing a bunch of times and that he couldn't have seen coming what actually happened to Sansa, which I believe only a little bit. At the time, Ramsay was kind of a new player in the series and we didn't know a ton about him aside from the whole Reek fiasco, but still Sansa is pisssedd..as she should be.

Sansa, who is accompanied by Brienne, tells Baelish that she could have him cut in two right now if she wanted to, and Baelish begins talking about how he knows that Sansa is going to try and retake Winterfell and how she will amass such an army to do so. (Note: remember from last episode, Baelish has roused the Knights of the Vale to fight with House Stark, but Sansa does not know that her uncle is going to provide her with troops).

After a long conversation, Sansa basically brings Baelish to his knees, however I still can't help but see that he still does have a bit of a hold on her. He tells her that the Blackfish (Sansa's great uncle) has retaken Riverrun, and that she should seek him out. However, in the books Jaime Lannister goes to retake Riverrun for himself so I think that might be happening this season as well, which could make for an interesting reunion for Brienne and Jaime.

Now we move to the House of Black and While where Arya (now fully in control of her eyesight) is dueling with the Waif. Arya gets knocked down pretty good a few times but keeps getting up because she has had all the weakness smacked out of her.

Jaqen then appears and escorts Arya to the Hall of Faces, where he tells her all about the origins of the Faceless Men (something that we didn't know much about until now). He tells her that the first Faceless Men were slaves in the Mines of Old Valyria, who one by one picked off all their masters and overseers. After that the assassins fled to Braavos where others came to meet one another, all of which possessed similar gifts of shedding their faces but worshipped different gods, which is how the Many-Faced God came to be.

Jaqen then gives Arya her first...well second...assignment as a Faceless Man. She is to kill an actress named Lady Crane who performs in the city square. Jaqen then tells Arya "a girl has been given a second chance, there will not be a third. One way or another, a face will be added to the hall". Now this means that there is no turning back for Arya, she must complete her assignments or she will die.

We move to the village square where the group of actors are performing a show centered around the events of the series so far. There is even a scene where the actor playing Eddard Stark is "executed", which seems very tough to watch from Arya's POV. I don't think she is truly 'no one' and I honestly don't think she will ever be able to be a Faceless Man, because there is too much 'Arya' in her.

We see that the actor who Arya is assigned to kill is playing Cersei in the performance (possible forshadowing for future seasons? Hmmm). We move backstage to where the actors are gathering, and Arya determines that she will be able to slip the poison into the rum because Lady Crane is the only one who drinks it.

Arya then does something...interesting. She asks Jaqen if she can use one of the faces from the Hall, and Jaqen tells her that she is not ready. It is interesting that she would ask this, seeing as that is what got her in trouble the last time. She then talk about how Lady Crane "seems like a decent woman" to which Jaqen replies "does death only come for the wicked and leave the decent behind?" Arya then asks who wants Lady Crane dead, but Jaqen tells her that if she is truly a servant of the Many-Faced God, that she should not ask questions and just serve.

We now travel north of the Wall to the Weirwood where Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven are in a vision of another Weirwood Tree. Here we see a variety of stones placed into a spiral shape and we see a group of Children of the Forest gathered in front of a man who is tied to the tree. Leaf, the Child who talks with Bran very frequently, is seen shoving a piece of Dragonglass into the man's chest, and his eyes light up with a deep blue. Thus, the first White Walker (presumably the Night's King who in the book was the 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch) was created.

Sooooooooo, that explains most of it but I will add my own two sense into it. The Children created the White Walkers as a weapon against the Men who were trying to take over their homes during one of the first Westerosi conflicts. It is ironic that the weapon created to destroy mankind is still functioning to this very day, as the Children definitely didn't think far enough ahead as to know how to stop the White Walkers aside from knowing how to kill them with Dragonglass.

We are brought back to the present, and who else would be standing right there but Leaf. Bran tells her what he saw and she explains that the Children were at war with the men and needed to defend themselves against the invaders, and she walks away clearly feeling a sense of guilt. I don't think she could have predicted all that would happen, but even so, WTF Leaf?

Now we move to Pike where the Kingsmoot is meeting to choose their new leader. Yara is the first to claim her right for the Salt Throne, and many men are questioning why a woman would ever be worthy of ruling. She speaks her mind to the listeners, and some are agreeing with her, but her claim is not yet legitimized. Theon is called out by one of the men, stating that a woman will never rule when there is still a male heir present.

Theon speaks to the crowd on behalf of his sister's achievements and worthiness to rule the Iron Islands. He calls her a reaver, a warrion, and Iron Born, among other things, which stirs the crowd to chants of "Yara! Yara!"

However, the chanting is interrupted by....you guessed it, Euron...who states that he claims the Salt Throne for himself. He approaches Theon and Yara and says that they have messed up the Iron Islands and that they need a strong ruler who will build the largest fleet in the world. Yara then tells him that she is glad he is there so that she can have him executed for killing her father Balon. The funny thing is, Euron does not deny this one bit, even taking pride in the fact that he killed his brother who "was leading us no where".

Euron's big plan is to build a large fleet and deliver it to Danerys and marry her to take the Seven Kingdoms. After his strong words of his suspected conquest, the crowd erupts into chants of "Euron! Euron!" He is then brought down to the shoreline and takes part in the crowing ceremony (which involves being drowned and brought back to life by the Drowned God). While this is happening, Yara, Theon, and many others are preparing the fleet of ships to sail. It is seen then that they sail away from the islands away from Euron's grasp (because he plans to kill them). We can assume they will be sailing to Dany to get to her first, but we are still not sure where they are headed. Euron plans to build his own new fleet and chase after them, stating to his followers "I will give you this world."

Travel now to Vaes Dothrak, where Dany and Jorah are meeting to discuss their next move. Jorah tells Dany that she must send him away, and shows her they Greyscale on his arm for the first time. She asks if there is any cure for the disease, and he tells her that he doesn't know if there is or how long it will take. He also tells her that he will kill himself before it spreads too far and overtakes his mind. Dany then apologizes to him, and he tells her "Tyrion Lannister was right, I love you, I've always loved you," and then tells her goodbye, while is truly a heartwrenching moment to see.

As Jorah is walking away, Dany tells him that she did not dismiss him from her services, and that she commands him to travel around the world, as far as he must go, to find a cure for the greyscale. He is not to return to her until he does find the cure, and then he will be welcomed back into her service. I personally do not think he will ever find a cure, but will instead return to Dany to say goodbye or will save her life one last time before dying. Jorah represents a very noble character and it is sad to see him suffer as he is, but remaining true to wanting to serve his queen is what makes him such a beloved person in my opinion.

We remain in the East to move to Meereen, where Tyrion and Varys are planning a meeting with a mysterious woman. It is revealed that the woman's name is Kinvara, who is a Red Priestess of the Lord of Light from Volantis. She tells them that she thinks Dany is "the one who was promised" and that she wants to help her take her rightful place and rule. Everything she says seems pretty good to Tyrion, however, Varys is not nearly as convinced.

Varys then begins regaling the Priestess of the tale of how Melisandre believed Stannis was the one who was promised, but he was defeated in battle twice (Blackwater and Winterfell) and then was killed soon after. He is clearly not believing Kinvara's "Lord of Light" nonsense, and then the conversation takes a very sharp turn. Kinvara then begins talking about things from Lord Vary's past, like when he was cut and made a Eunich many years ago. She also tells him how she knows about the voice that spoke to him from the fire, and even says "shall I tell you what the voice said, or the name of the one who spoke?" She clearly knows just as much about him and he knows about her, which troubles Varys greatly since he usually knows everything about everyone but not the other way around.

We move back to the Weirwood Tree, where Bran seems very bored. Naturally, since everyone is asleep, he decides to enter into a vision by himself, which is a big no no for Bran. We have onl ever seen him in visions accompanied by the Three-Eyed Raven, so we can already assume something bad is going to happen. We see bran enter into a place north of the wall, in fact it is the same tree that we saw in the earlier vision where the White Walkers were created, only this time it is very snowy and seems like present day.

After looking at the tree, Bran turns around and sees the entire army of Wights just standing there. It is worth noting that the army is huge, and goes as far as the eye can see. He walks through the crowd and looks at all the terrifying faces, and gets to the end where he sees the Night's King mounted on a dead horse. The Night's King then turns his head and appears to stare at Bran, who turns away and sees that the Wight army is now all looking at him as well. Bran then turns back around and sees the Night's King right in front of him, and the Night's King extends his arm and grabs onto Bran's, who screams and is brought back to the present in the Weirwood.

He tells the group in the tree that the Night's King saw him, and the Three-Eyed Raven tells him that he actually was touched by the Night's King, and Bran looks at his arm and sees a glowing blue hand print on it. The Three-Eyed Raven tells him that it is the mark of the Night's King and that he can now track Bran because of this mark. He also tells Bran that the Night's King will come for him, and that the time has come for Bran to become the last Greenseer and the Three-Eyed Raven now must teach Bran as much as he can in the very short time they have.

Back at Castle Black, Jon, Sansa, and Davos are talking about their plans for rallying Northern families to their cause. The Karstarks and Umbers, two of the biggest houses in the North, have already declared for the Boltons, so they are out of the question. The group plans to start with the smaller houses and then make their way all across the North to get as many people as they can on board with the Stark cause.

Sansa then mentions the Tully army and how they will back their cause, and Davos says that he didn't even think that they still had an army. Sansa tells him about how her uncle "The Blackfish" has retaken Riverrun (which was told to her by Littlefinger) and when asked about how she knew that information, she tells them that she heard it from Ramsay before she escaped Winterfell. It is interesting as to why she would lie to her own brother like this over something as little as this, which is why I think it is evident that Littlefinger still has a bit of a hold on Sansa.

Sansa meets with Brienne afterwards, who is telling Sansa about her suspicions for Davos and Melisandre, speaking of how they backed Stannis and were very quick to move to another cause upon hearing about his death. Brienne says she does not trust Melisandre after seeing the Blood Magic she created to kill Renly back in season two, and that she must take caution when dealing with these strangers. However, Sansa tells Brienne that she fully trusts her brother Jon and his men, even if Tormund is totally trying to get with Brienne, because we all know how he likes big women.

Back at the Weirwood Tree, Meera is speaking with Hodor while Bran is still in his vision with the Three-Eyed Raven. They are talking about food, which doesn't seem that important until we see that the characters are able to see their breath, which can mean only one thing in the Game of Thrones universe...

Oh yea, it's White Walker time, bitches.

Without getting you too confused or lost, basically Meera runs outside and sees the whole Wight army approaching them. The Children try to ward them off by throwing fireballs at them and creating a fire circle around the tree, but the Walkers are able to walk through it and they enter the tree. Almost all of the Children die in the struggle in the Weirwood, and Meera finally kills a Walker by throwing a spear tipped with Dragonglass at it. The whole time, Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven are stuck in a vision back at Winterfell, where they are again watching a very young Ned Stark with Lord Rickard and Hodor as well. As the group tries to leave the tree, a group of Wights comes upon them and we see Summer jump out and take out a few Wights before then attacking the larger group of them. We hear Summer's whimpers as he is cut down by the group, RIP Summer :(

Meera, Hodor, Bran (being pulled by Hodor), and Leaf escape through a tunnel and are running away from the Wights. While they are running, we see Leaf slow down and tells Meera to keep running, as she ignites a fireball in her hand and blows herself up, taking out many Wights and buying Meera and Hodor a moment to get themselves and Bran out.

They come to a door at the end of the tunnel (I still cannot talk about it without tearing up) and Hodor manages to open it, the three get out, and then Hodor stands behind the door and holds it with his back while Meera escapes with Bran.

Here are where the waterworks begin. While Meera is getting away, pulling Bran on the sled behind her, she is screaming "hold the door!" to Hodor, who is struggling to do so against all the Wights who begin cutting through the door and stabbing him and such. We are then brought into the vision with Bran who sees a younger Hodor, and we can still hear Meera screaming. The young Hodor then rolls his eyes back into his head and begins seizing uncontrollably, while beginning to scream "Hold the door!" over and over again, which slowly morphs into "Hold the door, hold do door, hod d door, hod dooor, Hodor!" Turns out, Hodor was meant to do this act his entire life, which occured because Bran went back in time and changed the past before the series even began.

Confused? Well so am I but I think I can grasp the idea to simplify it enough. Even while in the vision, Bran was able to morph into the adult Hodor to have him work up the courage to hold the door, while also morphing into the mind of the young Hodor who heard the words also heard by his adult self at the time. It still confuses me, but it was arguably the most heart wrenching moment in the entire GoT series. With the death of a very minor but harmless character like Hodor, we can only continue to assure ourselves that from now on, literally no one is safe in the series. This episode was sad, excuse me, very very sad, but very very good.

Summary:

Jon and Sansa have officially left the Wall and will begin rallying Northern families to their cause against the Boltons. We can assume that the Knights of the Vale are also going to side with her even though Sansa seemed to shoo away Littlefinger at their meeting. Euron is going to lead the Iron Born to travel to the East and meet up with Dany, although I'm not sure how much more Iron Born we will see this season.

Bran allowed the Night's King to touch him and place his mark upon him, which turned out very bad for the group. I also would speculate that since the mark destroyed the magical barrier in the Weirwood, it could also do the same to the Wall, meaning that if Bran goes South of the Wall (which I'm sure he will) then the Night's King could potentially follow him. The reason why I think this is the case is because the show has made absolutely no mention of the Horn of Winter from the books. If you're not sure what that is, it is basically an ancient Valyrian warhorn that was created to bring down the wall and it is in the books under the control of Mance Rayder. I don't think they will do this in the show, which could mean very bad things for Bran if he does travel South of the Wall.

Major deaths this week:

All Children of the Forest - killed by Wight army
Summer (Bran's Direwolf) - killed by Wight army
Three-Eyed Raven - killed by Night's King
Hodor - killed by Wight army

Top power plays of the week:

Jon and Sansa will begin rallying Northern houses to their cause
Theon and Yara and traveling somewhere with the Iron Fleet
Euron becomes King of the Iron Islands
Dany will begin her conquest with the Dothraki

Until next time.

Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.

-Tyler

Season 6 Episode 4 - "Book of the Stranger" - Full Recap

SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-
-
-
-
-
After watching the trailer preview of this episode last week, I will admit I was not as excited as I had been for last week's episode. It seems as if the events of the first three episodes have come in with such force and reckoning and have made the impact they intended to, and this week's episodes seemed as if the producers wanted to give us a minute to catch our breath.

Don't get me wrong, episode four was good, but it was not great, and even the ending scene, although very epic and powerful in its execution, was not enough for me to be able to say this episode was "great" or anything more than a 6.5/10.

This will all make sense as I explain the episode in detail, so without further ado, let us begin.

**If you don't want to read the entire recap (trust me I'm not offended), skip to the end for a very brief summary of this week's events**

As always, be warned, this post is DARK and full of SPOILERS!
-
-
-
-
-
Our opening scene this week brings us to Castle Black, where Jon is preparing his things for his journey away from Castle Black. He is speaking with Edd about his plans for his future, and even admits that he isn't really sure where he is going or what he is going to do. Edd tries pleading with Jon to stay by talking about Hardhome and "what is out there", but Jon has already made up his mind. Jon states "they killed me Edd, my own brothers. You want me to stay here after that?"

Then suddenly, the conversation is interrupted by the sound of a horn, and we hear a yell of "open the gate!" Surprise! Who shows up but none other than Brienne, Pod, and Sansa. Jon stands from the balcony and sees his sister arrive, and runs down to greet her in what is a truly heartwarming and touching embrace. Fun fact: this scene is actually the first time that these two characters have been together on screen during the entire GoT series.

The siblings sit down and speak about their past relationship when they were children. Sansa apologizes to Jon for always being mean and nasty to him, and Jon states "It's better than sulking in the corner". Sansa questions Jon about where he will go next, and Jon replies "If I don't watch over you, father's ghost will come back to haunt me".

Finally, Jon and Sansa are reunited and will travel together from now on. Sansa pleads with Jon to return to Winterfell to "take back our home" but Jon is very reluctant to fight again given how exhausted he is after all that has happened.

We then travel very far south to the Vale of Arryn, where Lord Robin is trying very hard to hone his archery skills, but to little avail. The look on the face of Yohn Royce is pretty funny, one of definite growing agitation by trying to turn Robin into a warrior. A wagon pulls into the area, and Petyr Baelish (Littlefinger) appears bearing a pet falcon gift for the young lord.

Royce now begins questioning Littlefinger about his whereabouts and Sansa, and it seems that he knows exactly what happened with the whole thing, despite Littlefinger's story he makes up. Littlefinger then tells him that he is only concerned with the judgment of Robin, and appears prepared to have Royce arrested until he makes him pledge his absolute loyalty to the Vale and to Robin.

Littlefinger then tells them that he has heard Sansa has escaped Winterfell, and begins doing exactly what he does best. Robin states "she's my cousin, we should help her", and Littlefinger agrees by answering with perhaps the most epic monologue he has had in the entire series; "gather the Knights of the Vale, the time has come to join the fray." Well it looks like the Stark cause suddenly has some serious backup, as the Vale has pretty much not done shit at any point in the series, so I am excited to finally see them help out in some way.

Travel now to Meereen where Tyrion, Missandei, Varys, and Grey Worm are meeting with the slave masters of Astapor. Tyrion is leading negotiations with the masters on behalf of the slave trade in the cities, while also trying to have them agree to cut off their support of the Sons of the Harpy movement in Meereen. Tyrion tells the masters that he will propose to them a plan to have them abolish slavery completely within a seven-year time frame, and Missandei and Grey Worm are extremely offended by this (as both are former slaves and do not want to hear that the act can be allowed to continue).

Back in the Pyramid, a group of very angry former slaves are meeting to express their deep disagreement with allowing the slave masters in the city. After biting their pride, Grey Worm and Missandei both tell the group that they trust Tyrion as the adviser to Daenerys. Afterward, Grey Worm and Missandei have some words for Tyrion about how his judgment of the masters might be misplaced.

Next, we are brought to the outskirts of Vaes Dothrak where Jorah and Daario are continuing their search for Dany. They survey the city and remove their weapons to not draw any attention to themselves, and Daario gets his glimpse of the Grey Scale on Jorah's arm.

They enter the city and try to stay hidden in side alleys. They run into a pair of Dothraki men and ask them for directions, claiming they are merchants from the market. The two do not believe them, and as the one runs off to alert the others, Daario follows him and Jorah is left to fend for himself. He pretty much gets his ass kicked left and right and just as the Dothraki man is about to finish him, we see Daario's knife enter him from behind. Guess he didn't leave it behind after all.

We enter the Temple of the Dosh Kaleen where Dany is meeting with the other widows. She asks to leave to use the bathroom and is escorted by a young woman from the temple. The two begin chatting but their conversation is cut short when Daario grabs the woman and puts a knife to their throat. Dany tells him not to hurt her and tells the woman that she must trust her and the men she is with, and claims that she has a red hot plan (zing) for them to escape the city.

Now we travel to Kings Landing and are brought to Margery's cell in prison, where she is visited by the Septa and is brought to the center chamber to meet with the High Sparrow. He begins regaling her of the time in his life when he was very free-spirited and a successful cobbler. One day he woke up after a heavy night of drinking and partying and felt disgusted by the smell and the sight of the drunk sleeping men and woman, which was the image of wealth and grandeur in his eyes. He hated the life he had created for himself and realized that he wanted to live a simpler life, so he left everything behind, even his shoes (which makes sense why he never wears them).

The two also converse about how this story is very similar to one that is held in the holy text The Seven Pointed Star, in the Book of the Stranger, which is one of the aspects of the Seven. The High Sparrow then offers his hand to Margery and they walk to Loras's cell to visit with him. Loras looks terrible and begins weeping when he sees his sister, but she instructs him that he must remain strong and not let the faith break his spirit.

Remaining in King's Landing, we enter Tommen's chambers where he is conversing with Grand Maester Pycelle. Cersei enters and tells him to leave immediately, which he does but only after Tommen tells him to because he's savage AF. Cersei tells Tommen that he needs to speak with him regarding the High Sparrow, and Tommen expresses his concerns for Margery and how he thinks they should be careful when dealing with the High Sparrow. After trying the "poor me" tactic on her son, Tommen comes to the conclusion that Cersei really doesn't like Margery very much (it only took him a few years to get it).

Cersei then meets with Jaime, Lady Olenna and her Uncle Kevan (hah, Kevan) to propose a plan for eliminating the Faith Militant and their leader. She speaks about the schemes of the High Sparrow and how he played his game very well in trying to get the group of council members to bicker and fight among themselves. The group comes to a very solid conclusion; they cannot allow Margery to complete a walk of atonement, as that will severely weaken the trust that the citizens of King's Landing have in her as a queen.

Margery has been a very just and honest queen and has shown very high regard for the citizens of the city and their well-being - much more than any of the Lannisters ever have (except for Tyrion maybe). It is paramount that she does not lose their trust as the city will erupt into even more chaos if they find out their queen is a criminal. The council agrees to a plan to bring in Tyrell armies to destroy the Faith Militant, which will return Margey to Tommen and her grandmother, and also will bring Lancel (remember him lol) back to his father (Kevan). Seems like it will pan out for a pretty awesome riot/crowd control scene in the coming episodes.

Now we move to the ocean where Theon is sailing back to Pike. He is greeted by a very angry Yara who is upset with him for the events that happened at Moat Cailin a few seasons ago. Quick refresher if you've forgotten - Yara brought a group of soldiers to the castle where Ramsay was holding Theon in an attempt to rescue him, but once she found her brother, he would not go with her and kept resisting her efforts to force him, exclaiming "Not Theon, Reek! I've always been Reek!". Yara says she lost "good men" when they stormed the castle to rescue Theon, and she is mad that he would not go with her at the time.

Yara seems to think that Theon is only returning home because he intends to seize the Kingsmoot and rule the Iron Islands, but Theon tries explaining to her that this is not the case (If you haven't read the books, a Kingsmoot is the traditional ceremony which is held when a King of the Iron Islands dies and a new ruler must be crowned. The most worthy contenders arrive to express their claims and the group votes for who they want their ruler to be. Victarion and Euron - brothers of the dead king Balon - and Yara are the Kingsmoot contenders in the books).  After some bickering, crying, and shirt-grabbing, Theon explains to Yara that he wants to help her in her quest to win the Kingsmoot and rule in her father's place, which she seems overjoyed at. The reason why this is such a big deal for Yara is that there has never been a woman to rule, so she is already at a disadvantage to the other contenders and will need all the support she can get.

We arrive now at Winterfell where Osha is brought in to meet with Ramsay. She tells him about how she served the Starks against her will and how she was accompanying Rickon to sell him for a high price, which we know isn't true. Ramsay asks her "what use do I have for you?" and Osha comes over to sit on his lap. While she is kissing him, she notices a knife on the table and tries to grab it. Ramsay explains "Theon Greyjoy told me all about the Stark boys, and who helped them escape, and how she did it."

Osha then makes the move for the knife but Ramsay beats her to it, and he kills her. I was pretty bummed by this, not gonna lie, because Osha was a really sweet character and it was really cool to see her growing love for the Stark children she was with. I really hope her death doesn't mean bad things to come for Rickon, but unfortunately we know that the producers Dan and Dave have shown that they are not above killing children on the show, so I guess we will have to wait and see how things play out for him.

We are back at Castle Black, where the group of Jon, Edd, Sansa, Pod, Brienne, and Tormund are sitting down to a meal. It is worth noting that Tormund is staring at Brienne like she is the most beautiful thing since he fooled around with a Grizzly Bear, and if we know one thing about Tormund, it's that he loves himself a badass woman. A man appears to offer Jon a letter and calls him Lord Commander, but Jon replies "I'm not Lord Commander anymore." He takes the letter anyway, and notices it bears the wax seal of the flayed man. Finally, the Pink Letter has arrived!

Without getting into too much detail, the Pink Letter is basically a letter sent to Jon from Ramsay at Winterfell. It is changed a bit from the books, but basically says that Ramsay wants Sansa returned to him, and if that does not happen, he plans to march on Castle Black and do terrible things to Jon, his men, and Sansa too. It is rather graphic in detail so definitely watch at your own risk. Long story short, this letter is crucial to the story because it gives Jon the drive and cause he needs to realize that he must march on Winterfell to liberate the North from Bolton control. He plans to march with what Wildlings he can gather and will also try to gather supporters in the North for what I'm certain will be the most insane battle scene we have ever seen on GoT.

Last scene of the week brings us back to the Temple of the Dosh Kaleen, where the best group of the Dothraki warriors are meeting. In Dothraki culture, when a new widow is brought to join the Dosh Kaleen (the group of women who serve in the holy temple, all of whom are former brides of Khals) the best of the warriors gather to deem the woman worthy or not of joining the Dosh Kaleen.

Dany is brought in and the men begin discussion about her worthiness. After some conversation, Dany tells the men that she doesn't think any of them are worthy of leading the Dothraki. She tells them that she believes she is the only one in the room who could handle such a task, and all the men laugh at her. Moro tells her "do you really think we would serve you?" along with some other choice words, and the smirk on Dany's face tells you that she loves to feed this man's rage.

Dany then tells the men "you're not going to serve, you're going to die", and all hell breaks loose, literally. Dany knocks over the braziers that are inside the room and the floor begins to catch fire, which spreads quickly since the structure is wooden and the ground is made from mats and plants woven together. The men scream and run in panic, but Dany is acting like nothing is happening. She knocks over more braziers and the men run for the door, which we see has been barred from the other side (presumably by Daario and Jorah).

We cut to an outside shot of the temple which has turned into an inferno. Dothraki men and women run to the building in sheer horror, and we see a figure emerge from the doorway. It's Dany, in all her naked glory, and she looks like something straight out of a Greek God scene. The people are awestruck by the sight, and one by one they bow to her glory. Now that's why they call her "the Unburnt".

Summary:

It can be assumed now that Dany will lead the Dothraki, which means this could be an excellent time for her to gather ships and sail to Westeros to claim her throne. I'm not sure the likeliness of this happening within season 6, but who knows. I am still really banking on the show introducing a pretty crucial storyline from the books related to Dany (if you've read the books, you'll know, but hey I might as well just spoil something else for you too, right?)

So here it is: in the books there is a character by the name of Young Griff, but his real identity is one of myth. Remember back to the sack of Kings Landing, and the reason why Oberyn Martell hated the Mountain so much? Well it was because when Tywin's army entered the city, Tywin ordered the Mountain to find and kill the baby Targaryen children to then their line of sucession. These were the children of Elia Martell, who was Oberyn's sister. You may recall Oberyn claiming to the Mountain during his trial of combat "You raped her! You murdered her! You killed her children!" Well turns out, thanks to Lord Varys, one of the children survived and was sneaked out of the city. This is Young Griff, who is really Aegon Targaryen VI, the son of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and nephew of Dany. In the books, Aegon is heading to Westeros with an army to claim his throne, and many think he will somehow link up with Dany to do so.

However, the show has not introduced him and has not made any notice that they plan to do so, so for now Young Griff remains a thing of myth.

Major deaths this week:

Osha - wildling who traveled with Rickon - killed by Ramsay Bolton
Many Dothraki men (including Khal Moro) - killed by Dany

Top power plays of the week:

Dany will now lead the Dothraki
Jon and Sansa will rally an army against Winterfell
Littlefinger will lead the Vale army to accompany Sansa

Until next time.

Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.

-Tyler

Season 6 Episode 3 - "Oathbreaker" - Full Recap

SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-
-
-
-
-
The third episode of the season opened with a bang and definitely left us wondering what would happen next. I want to jump into the full recap of the episode right now to explain why I make both of these statements.

As always, be warned, this post is DARK and full of SPOILERS!
-
-
-
-
-
The first scene puts us a moment after where we left off last week; with Jon Snow sitting up on the table trying to catch his breath and make sense of what the fuck happened last night. Davos and Melisandre exchange words with him to try and help him come to light about his current state, and although he doesn't seem happy about it, it does seem that he is able to accept the situation and definitely seems to be "with it".

Jon then gathers himself and walks out of the chamber with Davos into the courtyard where many of the Night's Watch and wildlings are waiting. The looks on their faces are absolutely incredible, and Tormund even explains to him "they think you're some kind of god". It is clear here that Jon shouldn't have much trouble rallying some of them to his cause if he chooses to pursue war with the Boltons or others, since he can totally play the "prince who was promised" card pretty well.

We then travel onto a ship caught in a storm, where we get our first glimpse of Sam and Gilly in quite awhile. Between episodes of seasickness, Sam explains to Gilly that even though he told her that they were sailing to Old Town, they are actually making a detour. The boat will be making a stop at Horn Hill (Sam's home) where Gilly and young Sam will stay with Sam's mother and sister who will keep them safe while Sam continues to Old Town on his own.

I'm not exactly sure how much of an impact Sam will have on the events of this season, since he is pretty far out of the way by now. However I am interested to see what Old Town looks like and I am excited to see how he explores the Citadel and goes through the training to become a Maester.

The next scene of the episode finally brings us to the flashback that every book reading and theory-following fan has practically reached orgasm over; the tower of joy and potential R+L=J confirmation. I say 'potential' because we do not actually learn the fate of this theory in this scene (the theory is explained in my earlier blog post regarding the major fan theory).

We open to a scene with a young Eddard Stark, Howland Reed, and fellow rebels approaching a tower (where supposedly Lyanna Stark is being held) who are met by two of the Mad King Aerys' Kingsguard (even though in the books there are three, one of which is the Lord Commander, Sir Gerald Hightower). One of these knights is none other than Sir Arthur Dayne, otherwise known as the "Sword of the Morning" and widely regarded as the greatest swordsman to ever live.

We definitely get to see this claim play out as the two groups meet up, talk for a brief moment, and then draw their swords (it's worth noting that Arthur Dayne is dual-wielding). The groups exchange bloodshed and take out one of the Kingsguard rather quickly, leaving Dayne in a 6-on-1 battle where he basically kills everyone and leaves just Ned (Howland lays on the ground wounded but not dead).

Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven now begin narrating the scene to give some context on things that may have been forgotten. Bran mentions "he is better than my father" as he watches Dayne slash and stab at Ned. Dayne is clearly much better with the swords and the Three-Eyed Raven even affirms this by saying "far better".

This is where it gets interesting, as pretty much all of the children in Westeros (including Bran which is how we heard the story in the first place) have been lulled to sleep by the story of the brave Lord Eddard Stark who defeated the great knight Sir Arthur Dayne in combat to rescue his sister from the Tower. How could this have happened if Ned doesn't even appear to prove a match for Dayne? Well our question is soon answered when Ned's sword is knocked out of his hands, and just as Dayne appears to deal the killing blow, Howland Reed comes out from behind and stabs Dayne right through the throat.

Ned picks up his sword and deals the final blow to end the legendary knight's life, and we see a much different side of the honorable and loyal Lord Stark that we saw in the first season. I'm sure that after fighting a rebellion and wanting to rescue his sister, Ned seemed to have put honor behind him for once and did what needed to be done at the time. The flashback ends with Ned walking up the steps to the tower, as the Three-Eyed Raven urges Bran back to the present, and the viewers are in the exact same boat with Bran not wanting to return and wanting to see how the events play out.

This is an interesting way to play out the storytelling through the eyes of Bran's flashbacks. The writers have done an excellent job with wanting to tell things and show events (many from the books and some not) without being super blunt and boring and just saying "here is the info you have to know, now fuck off". Through the eyes of Bran, we are able to see these events and get this information, but through a way that actually makes sense in the larger scope of the story and seems authentic and real.

We then travel to Vaes Dothrak where Dany is being led to the Temple of the Dosh Kaleen, where all the widows of former Khals gather and spend their lives in worship and servitude to the Dothraki gods. The head priestess was also the wife of a "great Khal" and definitely is able to relate to Dany in that aspect, however she tries to make Dany understand that this fate is what is expected of her as the widow of Khal Drogo. For the time being, nothing much has happened to Dany and I don't think much will until either Drogon or the Jorah/Daario team find her.

Next on the list is Mereen, where Varys is working to "interrogate" a woman who has worked with the Sons of the Harpy to murder Unsullied soldiers. Through methods unknown, Varys is able to put the woman far on the edge by knowing her name, story, and the fact that she has a son, and know her son's name, and the fact that he has a breathing problem, which doesn't seem important but for the situation at hand, it is. Varys has always been able to find out anything he wants to, and this woman is no exception.

Varys then reports to Tyrion, Missandei, and Grey Worm that the Wise Masters in Yunkai, Astapor, and Volantis are the ones who are funding the work of the Sons of the Harpy in an attempt to wage a war against Dany and her supporters. Grey Worm then suggests marching on these cities to stop their supporting of the Harpy, but Missandei suggests a different route with the help of Vary's "birds".

Speaking of the "little birds", we travel to Qyburn's chambers in King's Landing, where several children are speaking with him. One of the girls asks Qyburn if Varys will ever be returning, and when Qyburn asks why, the girl replies "he was nice, he called us his little birds". So basically, Varys persuaded children with sweets in exchange for whispers and secrets from the city, which is actually brilliant. Long story short, the little birds are now in Cersei's control (but what else is new?).

We then fly in on a confrontation between Tommen and the High Sparrow in the Great Sept. Tommen demands that the High Sparrow allow Cersei to visit Myrcella's tomb and pay her respects, and does not seem very happy when he is told that Cersei is unable to do so because she has not fully atoned for her sins. The High Sparrow then regales Tommen with a tale of Motherhood and Cersei's love for Tommen which he has observed, and we see a very interesting side of the "holy man".

We travel to Braavos where Arya continues her training with the Waif. We see more questioning, more stick fighting, and more of Arya training her other senses, who is still blind. There is an interesting part where Arya is questioned about The Hound and why she had taken him off of her list, and she determines that "she was confused". She tells the Waif more about her list, and the training continues.

Arya is eventually able to match the Waif in stick combat, and Jaqen appears, impressed. He leads Arya to a pool and tells her to drink from the cup where she has seen people drink from and die, which makes her extremely hesitant to trust Jaqen at that moment. He tells her "If a girl truly is no one, then she has nothing to fear." Arya takes the cup from him and drinks, and after a moment, she opens her eyes again and it appears that she has been given her vision back.

Travel next to Winterfell, where Ramsay and the young Lord Karstark are meeting with the Smalljon Umber from Last Hearth. It would appear that the Greatjon has died sometime offscreen, thus placing the Smalljon as the lord of his kingdom. He speaks of alliance to Ramsay but says that he wants to do things differently; he will not kneel or call anyone his lord.

Here is where the shit gets real. Ramsay doesn't seem to accept Umber as an ally, until he says "I've got a gift for you". The gift appears to be Osha the wildling and Rickon Stark, and since Ramsay doesn't believe it at first, the Smalljon goes for a moment and comes back with the head of Shaggydog the Dire Wolf, thus solidifying his claim that the captives are indeed who they are.

The last scene brings us to Castle Black, where the executions of Olly, Thorne, and the two other mutineers is set to commence. After a few last words, most notably by Thorne who says "I fought, I lost, and now I rest. But you, Lord Snow, you'll be fighting their battles forever." Jon shows little remorse to the prisoners and cuts the rope, hanging the group by the neck, giving the viewers a rather gruesome yet satisfying revenge for last season's finale events.

The end of the episode shows Jon taking off his black cloak and handing it to Edd, who asks him "what do I do with this?" Jon replies "wear it, burn it, whatever you want; you have Castle Black". Jon then walks away and proclaims "my Watch has ended" and the credits roll.

So what does this mean? Well even though the title of the episode is "Oathbreaker", Jon technically kept his oath until his death and then came back to life, and I would like to say that means he did indeed fulfill his oath. It is a very interesting turn of events to see him leave the Night's Watch after all that has happened, when back in season one he seemed so excited to be a part of the legendary Watchers on the Wall and traveled to Castle Black with his uncle Benjen (Missing ever since) to join the Watch.

Now that Jon has left, I honestly am not sure where he will go. My honest guess is he will return to Winterfell to try and take back his home. I want to think that he will run into Sansa along the way and hopefully the two will reunite after all this time. However, with the Umbers and the Karstarks now joined with House Bolton, it doesn't appear that there are many strong Stark loyalists left in the North, which could prove a problem for both Jon and Sansa.

Arya has presumably completed her training, which means that now I hope she will finally be sent on missions as a Faceless Man and will be able to tap into the magic that comes with that as well. Her power will only continue to grow as she completes assignments in Braavos and I do think that this will eventually take her back to the Seven Kingdoms as the story continues.

I would rate this episode a solid 7/10. The Tower of Joy flashback did not show us exactly what everyone was willing to bite their fingers off to see, but I wasn't surprised by that. I think we will continue to see small snippets of Stark history through Bran's eyes and we will have the same reaction every time the Three Eyed Raven is urging him back to the present. I also thought there was some good progress made with the storyline of Arya and it is finally catching up to the book in that aspect.

Until next time.

Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.

-Tyler

Season 6 Episode 2 - "Home" - Full Recap

SPOILERS AHEAD!!
-
-
-
-
-
The second episode of the season normally plays a few main functions. The first is to include the "catching-up" of any plot lines that did not make it into the first episode, while also continuing to set the stage for further progression of certain story lines and possibly even beginning new ones. This episode achieved all three of these functions in some form or another.

I am going to dive right into the recap for this episode because it needs to be done. This episode blew me out of the water for several reasons, and I will begin to explain those right now.

As always, be warned, this post is DARK and full of SPOILERS!
-
-
-
-
-
The episode begins by bringing us far beyond the Wall to the cave of Bran and the Three-Eyed Raven, whom we haven't seen an ounce of since the end of season four. Bran is much older now, and it is safe to assume that he has been learning to control and utilize his Greenseer powers this whole time. The Three-Eyed Raven is also a Greenseer and is able to see visions from anytime in the past and has tasked himself with showing Bran these same powers.

We are brought to a flashback of the Winterfell courtyard where a young Eddard and Benjen are sparring in the yard. Lyanna rides in on her horse and we get the first physical glimpse at what she might have looked like (since we have only seen the statue of her in the past). After observing his father and uncle and aunt in the vision, Bran is able to understand how his family interacted with one another. A young Hodor even makes an appearance, who is referred to as Willis (Walder in the books) and it is peculiar that Hodor can speak real sentences, meaning that the event which caused him to only be able to say "Hodor" must have occurred after this flashback.

The fun doesn't go on for long, however, as Bran is soon instructed to come back to his physical self, which he is at first reluctant to do.

"You finally show me something I care about, and then you drag me away" Bran states to his master. The Three-Eyed Raven, who is extremely wise and much much older than he appears, replies "it is beautiful beneath the sea, but if you stay too long, you will drown."

This message is very crucial to understanding the powers of the Greenseer. It is meant to help Bran understand that yes, being in the visions is great (Bran can walk and can escape the boring of the dark cave and see whoever it is he wants to see) but he must understand that he cannot linger in the visions too long. This is very similar to what is explained to Bran in the books when he continues to Warg into Summer; even though he can eat and run and hunt as the wolf, none of those actions help to satisfy the hunger or needs of his physical self. This will be something that Bran will continue to struggle with as the season progresses, which is finding the balance between his visions and his reality.

We are then transported to Castle Black, where Alliser Thorne and the Night's Watch brothers loyal to him have returned to the door leading to the Lord Commander's chambers, where Davos and a few brothers are holding the body of Jon Snow. Thorne states that the time has come for them to open the door, and Davos makes his last stand by stating the best line in the season so far; "I have never been much of a fighter; apologies for what you're about to see." Davos then unsheathes Longclaw and the other brothers do the same.

Thorne hears this and instructs one of the brothers who are loyal to him to bring down the door with a hammer. The brother smashes the door and just as he creates a hole, we hear a large bang at the main gate, which soon crashes down at the force behind it. Edd and the giant Wun Wun leads a group of fierce wildlings at the brothers, who hold their ground but do not attack. One of the brothers shoots an arrow at the giant and is soon smashed to pieces, a sight which encourages the Night's Watch mutineers to lay down their weapons.

Thorne and the others are then taken to ice cells, and Tormund is escorted into the chambers to see the body of Snow. The look on his face is surely one of mixed emotions, but it is all we will see of the Wall for now.

We are then brought to King's Landing where Cersei is attempting to leave her tower to go attend Myrcella's funeral. She is accompanied by the zombie Mountain, who looks exceptionally terrifying when confronting the group of Lannister guards who were instructed by Tommen to not let Cersei leave the tower. Tommen and Jaime are in the Great Sept talking by Myrcella's body, and Jaime is telling Tommen that he should go and see his mother.

Tommen soon leaves as the High Sparrow approaches, and things get pretty intense. In no time, Jaime makes a reach for his dagger, and the High Sparrow asks him "you would spill blood in this holy place?" Jaime replies with "What difference does it make, the gods have spilled more blood than the rest of us combined," which shows how desperate and faithless Jaime has grown as the seasons have progressed. Two of his children have been killed along with his father, his sister/lover has gone pretty crazy, and probably most of all, he has lost his sword hand and has never been the same, so what does he really have to lose?

Oddly enough, Jaime decides not to pursue any violence in the Great Sept of Baelor, and we shoot to a quick scene with Tommen finally visiting Cersei. Tommen apologizes to his mother for never coming to see her and for "being weak", in which case he asks her to "help him be strong" and they enter a long heartfelt embrace.

We shoot all the way across the world to Mereen, where after some boring conversation, Tyrion ventures down to the cellars to unchain Viserion and Rhaegal. I was very surprised that the dragons did not decide to turn our favorite dwarf into a meat kebab, but he is able to safely remove their shackles and leaves them free to roam around the bowels of the great pyramid.

In Braavos, Arya is still getting stick-whooped by the other faceless acolyte day after day. After a bit of slapping, Arya begins lashing out against her in frustration, but her blow is eventually caught by Jaqan H'gar who appears out of thin air. He tells her "A girl is not a beggar anymore" and the two walk off. This is presumably the beginning of the next part in her training, which also occurs in the books and leads to her waking up with her eyesight again. I personally think that we have seen enough of her getting her ass beat. For the sake of moving along with the story in the show, I think she will soon receive her eyesight back to begin the next portion of her training.

We move to Winterfell where Ramsay and Roose are contemplating next moves after losing Reek and Sansa. Ramsay suggests marching on the Wall to kill Jon Snow (lol) and Roose soon shoots that idea down saying that it will "unite the entire North against us". A maester enters the room to announce that Lady Walda has given birth to a boy, and the look on Ramsay's face is fucking priceless.

I was absolutely shocked at this next part. Ramsay approaches his father to hug and congratulate him, and after Roose states "you will always be my firstborn son", Ramsay replies with "thank you for saying that, it means a great deal to me", and BOOM! Roose receives a nice dagger in the heart, just as he did to Rob in season three. This part was unexpected for me but I think it was a very appropriate way to show how Ramsay is willing to do anything to rule as Lord of Winterfell. He even leads lady Walda and her newborn son into the kennels and unleashes the hounds on them in rather gruesome, but honestly very predictable way.

Just outside of Winterfell we catch up with Brienne, who is explaining to Sansa about when she ran into Arya on the road in season four. Sansa apologizes for not trusting Brienne the first time around, but Brienne understands that "it was a hard choice to make". Reek then explains to Sansa that he must leave to redeem himself, and when Sansa suggests heading to the Wall and taking the Black, Reek replies "I would have taken you all the way to the Wall and would have died to get you there," but he knows he must part ways with her and return "home".

Speaking of Theon's home on Pike, Yara (Asha in the books) and Balon Greyjoy are arguing about their next move after losing Deepwood Motte. Yara thinks her father is extremely foolish for wanting to plan a land invasion, and he leaves the meeting in frustration.

We are then taken to a scene that is almost spot-on with the book, where Balon begins to walk across the rope bridge as the rain pours down and the wind shakes it left and right. He gets about halfway across the bridge before he notices a figure standing in his way on the other side, and we are introduced to our first new major character this season, Euron Greyjoy (Crow's Eye in the books). Euron is the second-oldest brother behind Balon, and after pillaging his way around the world for the last few years, he has gone a bit crazy. Balon speaks to him and Euron refers to himself as "the drowned god" and also that he is "the storm" and when Balon attempts to cut him with his knife, Euron takes the slash to the face and pushes Balon off the bridge, killing him.

The funeral takes place and we get the first glimpse of another Greyjoy, Aeron, who is known as the "Damphair" which is a priest and servant of the Drowned god. He leads the funeral service and they release Balon's body to the sea, and Yara swears revenge upon the person who she discovers is responsible for her father's death.

We go back to the Wall for the final scene of the episode, and see Davos pleading with Melisandre and asking her about "magic that could bring him back" obviously referring to resurrecting Jon Snow. As we have seen before, Melisandre's faith in her Lord of Light is waning as time passes, and she tells Davos that she has seen it done before but has never tried it herself.

This is when Davos asks her the question that I thought we would be waiting a few more episodes for, can Melisandre attempt to bring back Jon Snow? Well, believe it or not, we're about to find out.

She begins by washing the blood off of Jon's body, and proceeds to trim his hair and beard and throw the hair into the flames. She then begins to recite her prayers and hymns, and it seems like things could actually happen. A few moments pass, and nothing happens, and Melisandre's expression gets less and less hopeful. One by one, Tormund, the other brothers, and even Davos begin to leave the room as they do not expect anything will happen.

Melisandre is the last person to leave the room, and it does seem like all hope is lost. Just as we think it is over, the shot pans to Ghost who has been sleeping beneath the table Jon is laying on the whole time. You can see Ghost breathing so you know he is not dead, but then we eventually see his eyes open and he sits up. The camera pans back to Jon, and in a shocking and heart-wrenching moment, Jon sits up frantically and begins gasping for air, and the scene cuts to the credits. Well, it looks like our favorite bastard is back.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

Everyone who has been talking about this all year since last season can finally rejoice. Yes, Jon Snow is back, but that is all we know. We have seen resurrection done before but we don't know how much of "Jon" he will be like after coming back from the dead.

We didn't see a glimpse of Dany this episode so she is still in the same place as she was. Sansa will continue moving north and it appears that she will be doing so without Reek. Bran will continue his visions and on the teaser for next week it looks like we will be getting our Tower of Joy flashback.

Arya will most likely be getting her sight back or should be getting close to it, and I'm curious to see how the dragons will react when they realize they could pretty much leave their pyramid whenever they please. Roose Bolton is also dead, meaning that Ramsay is free to enact his plans for conquest in the north.

But on the side of the Greyjoys, with Balon dead, it looks like we will begin to see the Kingsmoot, meaning that we will probably soon meet Victarion as well and see how the remaining brothers of Balon make their move for the Salt Throne, as well as a rather ambitious Asha, I mean Yara (still confuses me).

I will rate this episode an honest 8/10. We knew Jon was coming back and I personally think it was safe to say that we knew pretty much how that would happen, we just didn't know when it would occur. This episode caught up with some pretty big points in the books and also created some new ones as well, which is only adding to suspense for the rest of the season. Overall it was a great episode, not great enough to match the likes of "Hardhome" (season 5 episode 8), but pretty darn sweet for only the second in the season.

Until next time.

Night gathers, and now my Watch begins.

-Tyler