The Game of Words

Last night gave us a bit of mourning, celebration, and political drama. “The Last of the Starks” provides the viewers a bit of reprieve from the chaotic Battle of Winterfell and let’s us take a small breath of fresh winter air before we move south to Queen Cersei’s domain. While our friends have been preparing for and battling the Army of the Dead, Cersei has been gathering troops and anti-dragon artillery alongside her new boyfriend, Euron Greyjoy, and creepy Hand to the Queen, Qyburn. But before I jump too far ahead, let’s just mourn our dead friends over a few (dozen) goblets of Dornish wine.

The episode begins with a somber scene of Daenerys crying and kissing the head of a fallen Jorah and Sansa does the same with Theon’s corpse. As Sansa steps away from the funeral pyre, she leaves her Direwolf pin tucked in a leather strap across Theon’s chest signifying that even though he didn’t share their blood, he was family. We also see Ghost standing amongst our saddened friends with a few cuts and scrapes. Jon then says a few final words on behalf of the dead and the living before handing all of our favorite characters torches and lighting the several dozen pyres containing their fallen comrades. With the smell of the burning dead fresh in the air, our northern pals retire to the Great Hall of Winterfell for a bit of festing, drinking, and laughing before preparing the long journey south to face Cersei’s even but fresh armies.

The tone shifts to one of celebration in the Great Hall. Gendry attempts to leave the feast in pursuit of Arya, when he is called out by Daenerys and is blessed with the Baratheon name and the castle of Storm’s End. After the meal has concluded, Tormund begins raving about Jon’s mad dragon-riding skills stating that he is a true king. Daenerys is sitting close by, Starbucks cup next to her for moral support, seething with jealousy over Jon’s friendship with the northern people. Tyrion has left Dany’s side to enjoy a bit of his favorite drinking game, Truths, with Jaime, Brienne, and Podrick. The drunken joyous game takes a turn when Tyrion states that Brienne is a virgin, to which she storms off with Jaime chasing after her. Tormund sees his beloved giant woman leaving with another man and breaks down into tears of heartbreak and betrayal. Podrick then seems to attract women like flies almost as if they too want to find out what he did to those whores back in the day. Sansa shares a drink and a few memories with The Hound which clears up a bit of the bad air between them about what happened to her in those dark, terrible times with Littlefinger and Ramsay Bolton. Gendry finally hunts down Arya shooting arrows in an alley. He tells her that he is now Gendry Baratheon and wants to marry her. Arya, of course, shoots him down because she is no lady and will not be tied down.

We then follow Jaime to Brienne’s room where, like a couple of awkward teenagers, they share a few drinks of wine and start to remove each others clothes leading to the only possible outcome for two consenting drunk adults. I was always rooting for Tormund and Brienne because they would seem like such a strange, but fitting couple, but I guess Jaime has known Brienne longer and they seem to get on now that he isn’t under Cersei’s thumb. Meanwhile, Dany and Jon discuss the elephant in the room. Jon cannot get over the fact that Dany is his aunt, but Dany doesn’t seem to care considering that’s what Targaryens are known for. Jon

explains that he is more of a Stark and must tell Sansa and Arya who he truly is. Dany wants it to remain a secret so she can retain her claim to the Iron Throne in the public’s eyes, despite Jon bending the knee.

Strategization begins the next morning in the War Room and it seems the two armies have similar numbers. Jon is confident that they are able to defeat the Greyjoy fleet, Golden Company, and Lannister armies in the field with the dragons. Tyrion believes the people of King’s Landing will overthrow Cersei if supplies become scarce. They form a plan to send a fleet of Dothraki and Unsullied down the coast and Jon takes the northern troops down the King’s Road. After the meeting, Jon, Arya, Sansa, and Bran have a private meeting in the Godswood. Jon allows Bran to share the news of Rhaegar Targaryen, Lyanna Stark, and Jon with the sisters, which makes it not really a secret anymore. These are the final four people to have Stark blood in their veins and more importantly the final male to carry the Stark name. Better get to marrying, Bran, if you want the name to live on at Winterfell.

Later that night, Tyrion and Jaime are sharing some wine in an inn, when Ser Bronn of the Blackwater busts through the door with the gilded crossbow. Tyrion strikes a deal with Bronn for their lives offering him Highgarden in contrast to Cersei’s offer of Riverrun. Bronn saunters off back to the shadows to await his castle once more. Will he ever get that freaking castle? But some morning later, The Hound and Arya begin their introverted final ride south, in anticipation of never returning North. Dany takes off on one final joyride with an injured Rhaegal and Drogon flying above the snowy mountains for perhaps the final time. Sansa shares a political conversation with Tyrion about what Dany will or will not do for the North. Going against her promise to Jon, Sansa shares Jon’s secret which causes a crisis of faith in Tyrion. Jon is prepping his horse in the courtyard when Tormund approaches to say his goodbyes. The Wildlings are going north of the Wall once again, and Jon requests that Ghost go North as well because that’s where Direwolves belong. Sam Tarly and Gilly come to announce their departure as well. Then Jon looks over at a scarred Ghost before jumping on his horse and riding south through the gates of Winterfell. Jon couldn’t have at least patted Ghost or told him he was a good boy? But on our journey south, Tyrion and Varys discuss the Jon situation and we can see that Tyrion still very much believes in Dany where as Varys shows his favor for Jon becoming king.

Next thing we know, we’re in the warm southern coasts and Dany is flying above her ships on Drogon with Rhaegar cruising beside them. Their peaceful flight is disrupted by harpoons impaling Rhaegar in the abdomen, chest, and throat leaving him to crash and burn (dragon pun intended) in the ocean below. This leaves one dragon left in existence, so let’s hope at least one of the three was a lady dragon all along and laid a clutch of eggs somewhere secret for Dany to find later and give to her kids and grandkids as birthday presents. In other news, Euron Greyjoy now has massive crossbows (aka ballistas) mounted to his ships and begins firing at Dany’s fleet leaving her troops to literally sink or swim. In this process, Cersei’s men are able to take Missandei prisoner. This and the death of her child enrages Dany. Tyrion advises that she attempt negotiation with Cersei to show the people that when Cersei declines her terms, that it

is the Lannister to blame and not the Targaryen. Tyrion and Varys further discuss the Jon vs. Dany issue while Jaime learns of the crushing defeat of Dany’s fleet by Euron Greyjoy. Jaime decides that now is the time to go south in an attempt to convince Cersei to surrender. This breaks Brienne’s heart beyond repair to which she will never forgive him as long as she lives.

Finally, Daenerys and Cersei come face to face in a Clash of Queens. Cersei has outfited the walls of King’s Landing with ballistas to defend against a dragon attack, which is rather intimidating for our Dragon Queen. Qyburn then exits the gate and presents Cersei’s requests for Dany’s surrender. Tyrion counters with the same argument but in reverse. To eliminate the telephone game from ruining everything, Tyrion approaches Cersei directly in an effort to plead for his unborn neice or nephew’s life. Cersei strongly considers having Tyrion executed immediately but withdraws. Cersei believing she has the upper hand in this fight, allows Missandei final words. Missandei screams, “DRACARYS!” indicating this is her end and Dany is free to burn them to ashes. The Undead Mountain then severs Missandei’s head from her body, which further fuels Daenerys’ fire. The war has now begun.

This episode marks the 66.7% way mark through this season and even though there was minimal fighting in this episode, there was just as much political and verbal conflict to compensate for the lack of major action scenes. We finally get to see an actual conversation about how Jon’s true identity is volatile information that should be acted on quickly before it takes on a more chaotic form. Sansa did betray Jon and break a major promise she had made to him, but as she has learned from Littlefinger, information is power and currency. By revealing a third contender for the Iron Throne, she can actively support a candidate that she trusts and believes in instead of choosing the lesser of two evils and defaulting to Daenerys as a queen. If you’ve been a die-hard Khaleesi fan and have been rooting for Dany since the beginning, you may only just now be noticing her mind start to slip a bit. Since getting the dragon eggs until now, Daenerys has transformed from a meek girl to a strong woman in power. This constant reassurance and ego boosting by various members of her core council, has created a true Targaryen. The death of Missandei in this episode has finally caused the tip off the edge for Dany and her anger toward Cersei which may cause the deaths of many innocent bystanders. I predict that Dany will win the war against Cersei, but that Jon will end up on the throne by no choice of his own. A coup may be in Dany’s future. Let’s also not forget that Arya only has green eyes left which more obviously includes Cersei Lannister but less obviously includes Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen. Unlike in the books, due to the constraints of practicality for the actor, Emilia Clarke has green eyes. Dany originally has purple eyes, like all other Targaryens in the source material. Will that come into play in the upcoming episodes? This now guarantees that Cersei will be killed by Arya but that Arya has the chance of killing several different people including allies.

One final prediction I will leave you with is more of a hopeful wish instead of an educated prediction. The Dragonstone underground is rumored to contain various pieces of dragon armor. Drogon is the last of Dany’s children and very apparently her favorite. Drogon is pretty much the same size as the fully grown dragons of the past. This armor is said to be made of Valyrian steel

which is the hardest metal in the Known World. If this armor exists and Dany outfits Drogon with it, Euron Greyjoy’s ballista bolts would not be able to pierce the armor unless the tips were made of Valyrian steel as well. Due to the complete depletion of the Valyrian steel mines and refineries hundreds of years ago, it is extremely implausible for the ballista bolts to be tipped with Valyrian steel. Thusly, the ballista men would have to aim for the breaks in Drogon’s armor, which are extremely small openings in comparison to the dragon itself and the bolt size that are also on a moving target. Using science and real world application, if Daenerys puts that armor on Drogon, the probability of him being killed or even injured drops dramatically leaving her with a lean, mean fire machine once more. This legendary dragon armor’s existence is the tilting point as to which side will win The Last War. But more fantastical things have happened in this show so we’ll just have to wait and see in the second to last episode of the series next week.

-KatTheLadyNerd

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