WARNING

The below post will contain spoilers of Season 7 Episode 3 of Game of Thrones. If you have not seen the episode yet and do not want spoilers please DO NOT read on. For everyone else, let’s begin.

            Let me start out by saying when I see the four words flash across my screen on Sunday nights I get giddy and don’t pay attention to any social media. Those four lovely words are, “Quiet In The Realm.”

Now just a quick overview of what I will be doing on posts like this. I will not be recapping a full episodes of Game of Thrones (GOT). I will be breaking down plotlines from time to time, going over character dynamics and just pointing out things I was thinking as I watched the show.

 

Game of Thrones Season 7, Episode 4

Arya made it to Winterfell!!! Okay, I’m done fan girling, I thought she was going  to King’s Landing after meeting face to face with her direwolf, Nymeria. Instead she went and joined her “pack” in Winterfell. She was met with some oafish guards, that even though they didn’t look alike reminded me of Tweedledum and Tweedledee from Disney’s, Alice in Wonderland.  Arya being the badass she is, convinces these two Winterfell guards to let her onto the grounds and once their backs are turned, she slips away.

When Sansa is alerted to her sister’s presence, she quickly deduces where she will be: the tomb of their father, Ned Stark. This is the moment where Arya points out that their statue looks nothing like her father and Sansa comments that those who knew how he looked are all dead. Arya then counters with that they are still alive. It’s a touching moment between two sisters who haven’t seen each other in years.

Try as I might, I can’t completely figure out Littlefinger and his strategies. He approaches Bran Stark and hands him the knife that was meant to kill him. Bran, being completely different since he became the Three Eyed Raven, is blank-faced during this whole exchange. He later gives Arya the Valyrian steel dagger which she quickly adds as a sidekick to her trusty sword, Needle. An interesting comment is made here, how the person who wanted him dead must have had money because of the Valyrian dagger that was wielded by the would-be assassin.

The best part in Winterfell came between Arya and Brienne. Arya tells Brienne that it has been a while since she was able to train and that she wanted her as a training partner. Their training session was great, and everyone got a peek into Arya’s skill set as she upset Brienne, including Sansa and LittleFinger. Is anyone else just wanting Arya to stab Littlefinger in the eye with Needle, or is that just me?

Now, let’s shift over to Dragonstone to Jon showing Khaleesi the dragonglass whole in the mine before his break it all to pieces. Of course, this is not the only reason he asked Khaleesi here, he also wanted to show her the drawings on the rock walls. These etchings were from the Children of the Forest, the childlike people that looked after Bran and the Three Eye Raven. It showed how the First Men and the Children of the Forest united against the White Walkers and Jon made sure that Khaleesi sees this. She says she will join in his fight, but only if he bends the knee to her. He knows the lords of the North would never go for that idea, but he needs to the aid of Khaleesi’s dragons. This is a crossroads that Jon will have to decide very soon.

This moment quickly fades when Khaleesi is met with news that the Tyrell army was defeated by the Lannsiter army. Which also means that she now has no local allies left since the Greyjoys were also defeated. Cersei has Ellaria, which cuts off Dorne. With Lady Olenna dead, House Tyrell is no longer a player. Which means Cersei is now winning this power struggle and no one wants that. In her frustration of this news, Khaleesi accuses Tyrion of not being completely loyal to her – which cuts him deeply and is not the case.

She then decides to go off to High Garden herself, riding one of her Dragons with the Dothraki Horde following her. We finally get to see a dragon in action! As dragon fire is rained down on the Lannister army. Anyone the dragon misses, the Dothraki are taking care of. In this grueling scene you see Jamie Lannister watch his army get totally slaughtered. Definitely not the image anyone would have thought after their conquest of House Tyrell.

However, not all is lost for the Lannister’s in this battle. Their new weapon, the Scorpion, for fighting the dragons was put to the test and hit its target, wounding one of Khaleesi’s dragons. Luckily the dragon managed to destroy the weapon before it could be fired again. It had to land so Khaleesi could try to remove the massive arrow from its wing.

Jamie was on horseback nearby and watched in horror as his recent victory quickly turned to defeat. He saw Khaleesi with her back turned and saw his chance to end her rebellion against the throne and save Cersei’s life. He must have assumed at this point that he was going to die, but would not go down without a fight. Jamie rode his horse straight toward Khaleesi hoping to take her to the grave with him. When he was almost on top of her, the dragon stuck its head out in defense of her and shot a fireball at Jamie. Just when you thought he was fried someone, I’m assuming Bronn here, tackled Jamie off his horse and into the watery depths. The episode ends with him sinking towards the sea floor, I do not believe however that this will be Jamie’s demise. We will see him again.

(How I saw Jamie Lannsiter when the Dragon was destroying his army.)

Before this battle, Lord Tarly says “All the gold is safely through the gates at Kings Landing.” So Daenerys didn’t rob Cersei of all the money. Cersei has it. What they did do is decimate the Lannister army and, it appears, destroy all the food they stole from the Tyrells. Which scares me in the long run, because winter has come and people are going to starve. If they destroyed all the grain, that might come back to bite both Cersei and Daenerys in the ass later.

All of this will hit Cersei hard, because she just lost the bulk of her army, her brother Jamie, and the provisions to last through the winter. Oh sure, she has the gold to pay off the Iron Bank, but will she use it for that now? Or will she take the gold and invest in more troops? At this moment Lady Olenna’s words echoed in my mind, “You’re a dragon. Be a dragon.” Khaleesi finally decided to embrace that part of herself and it won her the battle, but definitely not the war.