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Jun 6, 2016 · 'Game of Thrones' Season 6, Episode 7 recap: Arya is stabbed and [Spoiler] reappears in 'The Broken Man.'
Jun 9, 2016 · In Game of Thrones season 6 episode 7 - ‘The Broken Man’ - we all got a little distracted by The Hound and little Lady Lyanna Mormont, but there were pretty dramatic events in Braavos, with ...
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Jun 6, 2016 · In "The Broken Man" (Season 6, Episode 7 of "Game of Thrones"), Arya's got her hands full in Braavos, Sansa and Jon try to rally other Northmen to their cause, Jaime besieges the Tullys, and ...
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Appearances
- Cast
- Quotes
- Behind the scenes
"The Broken Man" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It is the fifty-seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 5, 2016 on HBO. It was written by Bryan Cogman and directed by Mark Mylod.
In the Riverlands
Revealed to have survived his wounds from his battle with Brienne, Sandor Clegane lives with a band of villagers. Brother Ray, their leader, is a septon. He talks with Sandor, and recounts how he had saved Sandor's life after having mistaken him for a corpse. When Ray mentions Justice, Sandor remarks that if there was justice in the world, he should have been punished. Ray responds that perhaps he has been punished already. At a gathering, a trio of men from the Brotherhood Without Banners arrives and attempts to extort the group, but upon finding out that the group has no worthwhile possessions, they leave. Sandor warns the septon that the Brotherhood will return, and that Ray should defend himself from them. He tells Sandor that "Violence is a disease—you don’t cure it by spreading it to more people." Sandor replies that you don't cure it by dying either. Later, while he goes out to the forest to chop wood, he returns to find all of the villagers murdered and the septon hanged. Angered, Sandor picks up an axe and heads off. Meanwhile, Jaime and Bronn lead the Lannister army to the gates of Riverrun, where the Freys attempt to coerce the Blackfish into surrendering the castle by threatening to execute Edmure Tully. The Blackfish calls their bluff and refuses to surrender. Disgusted with the Freys' incompetence, Jaime takes charge of the siege and attempts to parley with the Blackfish, warning him that the Lannisters will show no mercy to the Tullys, but if he surrenders, the lives of his men will be spared. The Blackfish rejects the offer and warns Jaime that he has two years worth of food in his stronghold, and that while hundreds of his own men may die defending, thousands of Lannister troops will perish as well.
In King's Landing
Queen Margaery is studying The Seven-Pointed Star at the Sept when the High Sparrow enters and they discuss the passage she's been reading, which is about the Mother's love and mercy. Margaery notes that in the past she pretended to love the poor when in fact she only really pitied them. The High Sparrow asks her why she hasn't joined King Tommen in the marriage bed, and Margaery explains that the desires that once drove her no longer do so. The High Sparrow assures her that desire is not necessary. She has a duty to produce an heir. The High Sparrow then makes a thinly veiled threat against Margaery's grandmother, Olenna Tyrell, stating that while she is a remarkable woman, she is also an unrepentant sinner. After Margaery returns to the Red Keep, Olenna meets with her under the supervision of Septa Unella. Olenna insults the septa until Margaery comes to Unella's defense. Olenna pulls Margaery into another room in an attempt to gain some privacy, but Unella simply follows them. Olenna threatens to have her guards come in, but Margaery again defends the septa. She states that Unella has been a true friend and teacher, to which Olenna asks with some horror what the Sparrows have done to her. Margaery replies that the gods could have punished Olenna and her allies for marching on the Great Sept, but instead they showed mercy. Olenna retorts that they marched on the Sept for Margaery and Loras' sake, and that Loras is still in prison. She then tries to convince Margaery to leave King's Landing and return to Highgarden. However, Margaery refuses, stating that her duty requires her to be at King Tommen's side. Margaery instead pleads for Olenna to return to Highgarden instead. As she emphatically tells her grandmother to return home, Margaery secretly slips a piece of paper into Olenna's hand. In doing so, she seems to have successfully communicated to Olenna that she doesn't quite mean what she's been saying in front of Septa Unella, and Olenna's expression changes, realizing this. She plays along and agrees to acquiesce, then walks away. As soon as she is clear of them, Olenna privately unfolds the piece of paper and finds that there is a rose drawn on it. She seems cheered by the silent message, as the use of the Tyrell sigil indicates that Margaery is merely tricking the Sparrows and that her true loyalty is still to House Tyrell. She also seems to understand that Margaery is urging her to leave for her own safety. Cersei later confronts Olenna about her plans to leave, telling her to remain for the sake of Margaery and Loras, who is still imprisoned. Olenna retorts that the reason all of this is happening is because of Cersei, as she was the one who allowed the Faith Militant to reform and allowed them to arrest Loras and Margaery. Cersei admits that she made a mistake with the Sparrows, but insists that an alliance between the Lannisters and Tyrells is more important now than it ever was. Olenna refuses her, noting that Cersei has neither influence nor support anymore and is surrounded by enemies. She tells Cersei that she (Olenna) will be leaving the city as soon as possible, and that Cersei's utter defeat is her only consolation.
In the North
Jon, Sansa, and Davos begin searching for allies to retake Winterfell from Ramsay. First, with the help of Tormund and Wun Wun, they secure the allegiance of the wildlings and their elders led by Dim Dalba, who are still indebted to Jon for saving them at Hardhome and are aware that Ramsay and his allies will wipe them out if they do nothing. When the meeting disperses, Jon asks Tormund if he's sure that the Free Folk will join him, and Tormund responds: We’re not clever like you southerners. When we say we'll do something, we do it. Prior to traveling to Bear Island, Davos shows Jon and Sansa the letter sent by Lyanna Mormont rejecting Stannis Baratheon's plea for help. Jon, Sansa, and Davos travel to Bear Island, where they meet with Lyanna, the ten-year old head of House Mormont. Sansa and Jon try to flatter her with small talk about her mother Maege and uncle Jeor Mormont. However, Lyanna is unimpressed and aggressively brushes them off, demanding to know their business in Bear Island. Lyanna initially rejects their request for help and stresses that House Stark is dead and that she needs her forces to garrison Bear Island. She also remarks that Jon and Sansa cannot be considered Starks since the former is a bastard and the latter has been married twice into enemy houses. Lyanna is initially unconcerned about the threat of Ramsay. Before Lyanna can dismiss them, Davos intervenes. After briefly discussing his background, Davos manages to convince the young Lady Mormont by warning her about the dangers the White Walkers pose to the living. She agrees to contribute 62 men, which is all she can manage, but promises that each Mormont soldier fights with the strength of ten men. Davos remarks that if they are half as ferocious as their lady, the Boltons will be doomed. Later, Jon and Sansa travel to Deepwood Motte to secure the allegiance of House Glover. They receive a frosty reception from Robett Glover, who points out that the late King Robb failed to protect his home from the Ironborn. Despite his being one of the Starks' most loyal bannermen, Robb did not come to his aid when the Ironborn invaded Deepwood Motte, imprisoned his wife and children, and brutalized his subjects (unaware that this was Robb's intention, but he was persuaded otherwise by Roose Bolton). When Sansa tries to highlight the fact that the Glovers had pledged fealty to House Stark, Robett responds that he received them out of respect for their father, but warns them that they have outstayed their welcome. In the end, Jon and Sansa manage to recruit only three minor houses (House Mormont, House Hornwood, and House Mazin), adding only 405 soldiers to their army. Lyanna and her men are seen among the Stark and wildling forces. Davos deals with a brawl among the wildlings and Northern soldiers. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Jon is adamant that they attack Winterfell as soon as possible before Ramsay rallies more forces and before the weather turns on them. Sansa disagrees, instead opting to try and recruit more houses (House Cerwyn). When Jon refuses to change his mind, Sansa begins writing a letter, later revealed to be sent by raven to Littlefinger, taking him up on the offer for troops she previously rejected.
Firsts
•Brother Ray •Lady Lyanna Mormont •Bear Island maester •Lord Robett Glover •Lem •Morgan •Gatins •Westerosi trader
Starring
•Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister •Lena Headey as Queen Mother Cersei Lannister •Kit Harington as Jon Snow •Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell •Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth •Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark •Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane •Maisie Williams as Arya Stark •Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow •Kristofer Hivju as Tormund •Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn •Alfie Allen as Prince Theon Greyjoy
Guest starring
•Ian McShane as Brother Ray •Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell •Clive Russell as Ser Brynden Tully •Tobias Menzies as Lord Edmure Tully •Gemma Whelan as Princess Yara Greyjoy •Faye Marsay as the Waif •Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Lem •Tim McInnerny as Lord Robett Glover •Ian Whyte as Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun •Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane •Tim Plester as Walder Rivers •Daniel Tuite as Lothar Frey •Ricky Champ as Gatins •Ian Davies as Morgan •Murray McArthur as Dim Dalba •Hannah Waddingham as Septa Unella •Bella Ramsey as Lady Lyanna Mormont •Margaret Jackman as the Waif's disguise •Kevin Horsham as a Westerosi trader •Louis Rolston as the Bear Island maester •Jed Murray as a Northman rioter •Michael Patrick as a Wildling rioter •Matt Faris as a Lannister soldier •Neil Keery as an Ironborn at brothel •Katie Alexander-Thom as Volantene whore #1 •Heidi Romanova as Volantene whore #2 •Danielle Claire Jenner as Volantene whore #3 •Ella Hughes as Volantene whore #4 •Zoi Gorman as Volantene whore #5 •Billy King as an Ironborn Abusing a Volantene Whore
Uncredited
•Raquel Arraes as a Volantene Whore •Logan Bruce as Ironborn at Brothel / Tully Guard •Michael William Burns as a Soldier •Susan Christie as a Volantene Whore •Michael Fitzgerald as a Glover General •Sophia Smith as a Volantene Whore
Lyanna Mormont: "My mother wasn't a great beauty or any other kind of beauty. She was a great warrior though. She died fighting for your brother, Robb."
Lyanna Mormont: "We are not a large house, but we're a proud one. And every man from Bear Island fights with the strength of ten mainlanders."
Davos Seaworth: "If they're half as ferocious as their lady, the Boltons are doomed."
Ray: "All I can do with the time I've got left is bring a little goodness into the world. That's all any of us can do, isn't it?"
Bronn: "You promised me a lordship and a castle and a highborn beauty for a wife."
Jaime Lannister: "And you'll get all three. A Lannister always..."
General
•The title of this episode appears to refer to the return of Sandor Clegane. He was very nearly killed after his fight with Brienne of Tarth and thus "broken". In the books, "broken men" is a term for conscripts during wartime who desert and turn into bandits, wretched men living from one day to the next. A character named Septon Meribald gives a lengthy speech about broken men, and how they should be pitied for their miserable state (lowering themselves to animals). •George R.R. Martin has said that two of the most thematic speeches in the entire book series were Varys's riddle pondering what the nature of power is (given in Season 2), and Septon Meribald's speech about the horrors and suffering in war. Another clergyman known as the Elder Brother is at a monastery dealing with other refugees from the war - and is heavily implied to have saved Sandor Clegane's life and nursed him back to health in his community. The TV series condensed these two thematically similar characters together into Ian McShane's character (who is named "Ray" in the script). Ray's sermon isn't line for line the same but it is thematically similar. •The "broken man" name can also apply in a sense to Theon Greyjoy, Jon Snow, and Edmure Tully, all of them traumatized by recent events. •The soundtrack playing over the credits is a rendition of Jaime's theme. It does not appear on the official soundtrack release. •Dorne does not appear in this episode, and has not appeared since the season premiere. The Night's Watch, Bran Stark and his subplot, the Vale, Samwell and Gilly in the Reach, Ramsay Bolton at Winterfell, Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki, and Meereen also do not appear. Cersei, Olenna, and Margaery appear in King's Landing but Tommen and the Small Council do not. House Greyjoy appears in the form of Yara and Theon's faction as their fleet arrives in Volantis, but their uncle Euron and the Iron Islands themselves do not. •Meereen appears in the title sequence even though it isn't in the actual episode. As the creators explained, it would be very expensive to create an animation for every location that appears on-screen, so they limit them to those that will recur frequently enough that it justifies the expense. No title animation was created for Volantis when it appeared in Season 5 because it only appeared in one episode - thus there wasn't a pre-existing one to use in this episode. The Greyjoy fleet is headed to Meereen, so on the balance it was probably less expensive to just re-use the animation for that location. •This is only the sixth episode of the entire TV series that Tyrion Lannister has not appeared in - and given that he didn't appear in the previous episode either, this is officially the first time in the entire run of the TV series to date that Tyrion has been absent for two episodes in a row. If Tyrion misses one more episode, he will slip down to tie with Cersei as the most frequently recurring character in the TV series. •Volantis makes its second appearance in this episode. Given that the episode it first appeared in during Season 5 also featured Braavos in it, that makes this the second episode to contain appearances by two of the Free Cities within it. •Bear Island appears for the first time on-screen in this episode, the seat of House Mormont. Jorah Mormont introduced himself as coming from Bear Island since Season 1, so it has been mentioned before in similar contexts. •Deepwood Motte also briefly appears but it is just a small interior scene. It too has been previously mentioned in dialogue, as having been taken and held by the Ironborn. •The Brotherhood Without Banners are featured onscreen for the first time since Season 3 but without any previously established characters. •This is the fourth episode to feature a pre-credit sequence, but the first that has not been a season premiere. The previous episodes were "Winter Is Coming", "Valar Dohaeris" and "Two Swords". Co-executive producer and writer Bryan Cogman has explained the cold open was necessary to preserve the impact of revealing Sandor Clegane's survival, in view of actor Rory McCann's name appearing in the opening credits.
In King's Landing
•The scene of Olenna and Cersei is the opposite of the scene in "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken": in the earlier episode scene, Cersei acted smugly and arrogantly, pretending to write a letter when Olenna was speaking to her chidingly about the arrest of Margaery and Loras; in this episode, Olenna is the one who indifferently writes a letter, while Cersei begs for her assistance. •This episode once again raises the issue that Loras Tyrell is being treated as the male heir of House Tyrell. In the novels he had two older brothers, and they were cut from the TV show, but even so it is unclear if they have younger brothers or cousins after Loras if he were to be removed.
In the North
•Lyanna Mormont appears for the first time in this episode, the new head of House Mormont of Bear Island. She was first mentioned early in Season 5, when it was explained that she is the young 10 year old niece of Jeor Mormont (and first cousin of Jorah). Stannis sent all the Northern Houses letters asking them to acknowledge him as the rightful king, but despite having no substantial army left and only being a little girl, Lyanna sent back a defiant letter which read "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark." The characters directly recount this incident in the episode. •Lyanna Mormont was named directly after Lyanna Stark, Jon and Sansa's aunt who died in Robert's Rebellion, and who appeared in flashbacks earlier this season. The TV episode outright states that she was named after Lyanna Stark (as opposed to "Lyanna" just being a common name in the North). George R.R. Martin made it a point to have multiple characters appear in the story who have the same given name, as it would be unrealistic if "Robert Baratheon" was literally the only person in the entire continent of Westeros named "Robert". Martin explicitly did this due to the freedom of constraints he had when writing a novel - after the heavy restraints on his screenwriting for television, which directly commanded that he never have two characters with the same first name. The TV series, however, reversed this in many cases, because it doesn't have as much time to explain character relations as clearly as a book can, i.e. this season the Karstarks are led by "Harald Karstark", as opposed to his brother from the novels, "Eddard Karstark" - apparently because it was feared viewers would confuse this with "Eddard Stark" himself. Lyanna Mormont is thus one of the few cases of a repeated first name in the TV series (outside of a dynasty) - probably because it's a plot point that her family is so attached to the Starks they named their children after them. •In the books, it is unknown if Lyanna's mother Maege Mormont is still alive; in the fifth novel, it is implied by her daughter Alysane that she is alive and with two of her other daughters. Robb has sent her and Galbart Glover on a mission to the north prior to the Red Wedding, and ever since no one heard from them. She has older surviving sisters (the eldest, Dacey Mormont, died at the Red Wedding). Maege did leave young Lyanna as the acting ruler of Bear Island, and she sent the same letter that appears in the TV version. Maege did appear in Season 1 but had no speaking lines and disappeared without explanation from Season 2 onwards: her subsequent status after the Red Wedding was unclear in the TV continuity, but this episode directly states that Maege died at some point in the war "fighting for Robb". Maege in the TV series was apparently simplified to not have any other daughters, making Lyanna Mormont the official new head of the House. In the books, Maege's five daughters in descending age were Dacey, Alysane, Lyra, Jorelle, and Lyanna (and Alysane had two small children of her own). •When reading Lyanna's letter to Stannis, Jon wonders how come Lyanna was the one who wrote the letter, thinking that Maege would have left at least one of the older girls behind as castellan. The answer is given by Alysane, during the march of Stannis's host to Winterfell: "Lyra and Jory are with our mother" (at unknown location) - thus, by default, Maege's youngest daughter is the acting Lady of Bear Island while her mother and older sisters are away, similar to how Bran Stark was the acting "Lord of Winterfell" in Season 2 when his older brother Robb was not physically present to rule. •In the books, Lyanna apparently has changed her mind about supporting Stannis, for a Mormont force led by Alysane (Maege's second daughter) assists him to liberate Deepwood Motte. Stannis writes Jon about that: "we had other help, unexpected but most welcome, from a daughter of Bear Island. Alysane Mormont, whose men name her the She-Bear, hid fighters inside a gaggle of fishing sloops and took the ironmen unawares where they lay off the strand." That Mormont force joins Stannis in his campaign against the Boltons. •Following the liberation of Deepwood Motte by Stannis in the books, the Glovers and more northern houses, openly join his army (even though their remaining forces are meager), and their combined strength becomes an increasing threat to the Boltons. The TV series adapted all of this out so Stannis isn't seen rallying any Northern Houses to his side - though in the books, Stannis did liberate Deepwood Motte due to direct advice from Jon Snow, who told Stannis it would make the local Houses start rallying to him. •The episode implies but doesn't make explicitly clear why House Mormont only has 62 fighting men left: almost all of the Northern Houses's soldiers were massacred at the Red Wedding. Sansa and Jon are just scraping up what little is left from their home garrisons. Most Northern Houses are down to young boys and old men, and roughly one third of all the vassal Houses are now officially headed by widows because all the men died in the war. The very fact that 10 year old Lyanna is now head of her House evidences that many of the adults of fighting age have been killed by this point. •It is unclear where the TV version is drawing the exact number of only 62 fighters. In the books, it is mentioned that all of the vassal Houses in the western half of the North can only muster about 1,200 men or so, and as Lyanna Mormont points out, Bear Island isn't very populous and didn't have a large army to begin with (before most of its soldiers got slaughtered in the war). •It is pointed out to Lyanna that her uncle Jeor Mormont made Jon Snow his personal steward, because he was grooming him to succeed him one day and thought him trustworthy. It is unclear, however, why Jon didn't take this opportunity to also point out that her uncle outright gave him the House Mormont ancestral sword, Longclaw, made of priceless Valyrian steel, and assuredly Jeor would only have bestowed his blade on a man he thought was trustworthy. Then again, perhaps Jon was worried that if the meeting didn't go well, they might try to take the sword back from him. •Lyanna Mormont actually isn't exaggerating that much when she says that the Mormonts are famed warriors worth many times their own number in battle. Bear Island is located off the northwest coast of the North, putting it in the unfortunate position of being under constant threat of attack from both Ironborn raiding ships from the south and, to a slightly lesser extent, wildling raiders from father north who go around the Wall by crossing the Bay of Ice in basic short-range skiffs. Therefore, similar to House Umber, they are one of the few Houses that is under a constant state of military preparedness, and thus has very strong martial traditions producing great warriors - among them, as noted, Jeor Mormont himself, as well as his son Jorah (a great soldier and tournament champion in his own right). The Umbers might be the most northern House closest to the Wall on the mainland, but Bear Island is located almost as far north, and without the protection of the Wall. •In turn, this explains why unlike much of the rest of Westeros or even the rest of the North, Bear Island has a strong tradition of producing Warrior women: Bear Island itself is fairly poor and densely forested (as seen in the episode), so its inhabitants gain most of their sustenance by fishing the surrounding waters. This means that the men are often out at sea for days at a time, unable to react to surprise sea raids made by Ironborn or wildling boats that slip past them to get to their homes on the island. As a result, the mothers and older daughters of families on Bear Island had to learn to take up weapons themselves to defend themselves and their homes. While they apparently follow the inheritance laws of the mainland, putting daughters behind sons, so many men die in raids that families from the island fully prepare their daughters to fight and potentially have to rule some day. •In part this explains why Lyanna Mormont is such a confident, capable, and defiant ruler despite being a 10 year old girl. Many major lords on the mainland don't expect their daughters to come to rule and thus don't train them for it, i.e. Tywin Lannister never tried 10 year old Cersei Lannister to be able to rule and fight if he died. In contrast, House Mormont does raise its daughters to be able to rule as capable political leaders if the need arises. •Maege Mormont was a capable warrior in her own right, though she didn't expect to rule at first because her older brother had a son. After Jeor joined the Night's Watch and Jorah fled into exile, however, Maege proved to be a very capable military and political leader and was one of Robb Stark's chief lieutenants in the novels. Maege had five daughters and no sons but she did raise the eldest of them, after Jorah fled, with the expectation that she would one day rule Bear Island in her own right. As the elder sisters were omitted from the TV version and Lyanna is the only daughter, Maege had been raising TV-Lyanna for years with the expectation that she would one day rule House Mormont, explaining her confidence and capability in this episode. •It isn't clear how Lyanna Mormont can still be 10 years old this season given that she was 10 years old last season - while time advanced for other characters also in the North with her, particularly that Walda Bolton announced she was pregnant in mid-Season 5 and gave birth in early Season 6, implying that at least 9 months up to maybe 1 year have passed since Lyanna was first mentioned in early Season 5, when Jon and Stannis also mentioned she was 10 years old. See "Timeline issues" below. •Robett Glover, played by Tim McInnerny, is introduced in this episode, younger brother of Lord Galbart Glover, who briefly made a minor appearance in Season 1. No stranger to medieval television serials, McInnerny previously appeared in all four seasons of the British sitcom Blackadder, portraying Lord Percy Percy in the first two seasons, the second being a descendant of the first (and co-starring with Jim Broadbent and Patrick Malahide in the first season, with McInnerny killing Malahide's character in the finale); a version of the Scarlet Pimpernel in the third season; and Captain Kevin Darling in the fourth season. •Robett Glover directly mentions that his brother Galbart fought for Robb and hailed him as King in the North: he doesn't quite explicitly state that Galbart is in fact dead, but heavily implies it, by using past tense. Robett does mention that his wife and children were held captive by the Ironborn, which did happen in the novels (Yara kept them prisoner but made sure they were well cared for). •Robett states angrily that the Ironborn "brutalized and killed our subjects". That detail has not been previously mentioned in repsect of the catpure of Deepwood Motte. It is typical for the Ironborn to sack and murder commoners during their raids, as they have done with the residents of the Stony Shore in the books. •Robett states that House Glover only recently retook Deepwood Motte from the Ironborn - which was first mentioned five episodes ago when Yara received a letter about the fight by Deepwood Motte at Pike. In this episode, Robett says that they needed the Boltons' help to do it - apparently similar to how the Boltons killed the Ironborn holding Moat Cailin in Season 4. In the books, it was actually Stannis Baratheon who liberated Deepwood Motte as part of his drive to rally the western parts of the North to attack the Boltons in the center (and the Boltons played no role in liberating it). •In the books, the Boltons might have planned to attack Deepwood Motte and kill the ironborn who held it (similarly to their actions in respect of Moat Cailin), as strongly implied in the threatening letter Asha received from Ramsay - but Stannis has beaten them to it. •House Forrester, from the tie-in Telltale video game, are actually bannermen sworn to House Glover (in both the books and TV/game continuity, though they've only been mentioned once in the novels). Despite House Glover showing up for the first time in this episode, no cameo mention is made of the Forresters. Given that "Season 1" of the video game was set during the events of Season 4, it is unclear if this implies that the Forresters have been entirely wiped out during subsequent off-screen events (though there's no specific reason to think this - Robett Glover doesn't mention any of his bannermen specifically in this scene). •Robett Glover's criticism of Robb Stark is presented as actually rational: Robb threw away his chances of winning the war (which he was already losing) by marrying a political nobody, "a foreign whore" (similarly to the phrase Rickard Karstark used in repsect of Talisa in "A Man Without Honor"), dallied around with romance while the Lannisters were beating the Baratheons, allying themselves with the Tyrells (who have the largest army in Westeros) and tightening their grip, and ultimately, got himself and all of his men killed at the Red Wedding. In the books, criticisms of Robb Stark are actually much more widespread, and if it weren't for the manner of his death in a shocking betrayal and violation of guest right, many of the Northern Houses wouldn't be as opposed to the Boltons and Lannisters as they currently are. •Much of Martin's point with Robb Stark was a deconstruction of the classic Fantasy trope of the romantic young warrior king: in real life, a brash young warrior who did what he felt like and broke vital marriage alliances would end up getting killed. In the books, when it is revealed that Robb Stark broke his promise of a marriage-alliance with the Freys, they ride out of his camp furiously, and even the lords that stay loyal to Robb lose a large amount of respect for him (both the ideal of keeping his vows, and ignoring the practical reality that he needed the Frey armies and this was a stupid decision). The TV version didn't stress this very much before: after Robb and Talisa's secret wedding in the Season 2 finale, at the beginning of Season 3 she is openly referred to as his new queen by his lieutenants, with little overt criticism. Instead it was almost presented as if Robb was right for marrying out of love and ignoring his political responsibilities. That Robett Glover's criticisms of Robb Stark are presented as a bitter but accurate assessment brings the presentation of attitudes about Robb Stark closer to what they were like in the books. •In the parallel book scene, Davos attends the court of Lord Wyman Manderly, seeking to have him support Stannis. One of the attending Freys, Ser Jared (fourth son of Lord Frey), tells the Freys' version of the Red Wedding: Robb and his followers have warged into wolves, and the Freys acted in self defense. Brazenly, Jared even goes that far to claim that Wendel was killed as he shielded Lord Frey with his body. Davos is stunned at the enormity of the lie, which Wyman seems to believe. Then, Rhaegar Frey (Lord Frey's grandson) says similar things to Robett's statement in the show: "Robb Stark betrayed us all. He abandoned the north to the cruel mercies of the ironmen to carve out a fairer kingdom for himself along the Trident. Then he abandoned the Riverlords who had risked much and more for him, breaking his marriage pact with my grandfather to wed the first western wench who caught his eye". •In contrast to Jared's outright lies, Rhaegar's criticism of Robb is correct: he took nearly all the northern troops to the south, allowing the Ironborn to raid the north freely; he was so obsessed with his vendetta against the Lannisters, that he ignored the reports about the Ironborn invasion and did not even consider to return or send any troops back (unlike in the TV show, Roose never suggested Robb to send Ramsay to liberate Winterfell - it was done without Robb's knowledge and reported to him only afterwards), not even after Wintefell was taken, but only after he heard about the alleged deaths of his brothers - then it was too late; and he did break his pact with the Freys. •An interesting nod to the political mechanisations of the Seven Kingdoms was given in the novels. When Robb introduced his bride to Catelyn, her thoughts were: "If you had to fall into a woman’s arms, my son, why couldn’t they have been Margaery Tyrell's?" This implies that if Robb had broken his marriage proposal to the Freys, who are a powerful but minor House, to marry the daughter of House Tyrell who had also the largest army in Westeros, no one would have opposed this because of the enormous powerbase. Realistically, an alliance between the Reach and the North seemed to be very unlikely because it was the intention of Mace Tyrell that Margaery becomes the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, not of just a part of Westeros (Robb had no ambitions to claim the Iron Throne), even if it meant betraying the rebels and siding with the Lannisters who had started the war with their own treachery. •in "Mhysa", when Tyrion confronted Tywin about the Red Wedding, the latter cynically responded by asking if it was better to kill thousands of their enemies on the battlefield or at dinner - by killing them in a surprise ambush at a wedding, they were saving the lives of thousands of Lannister soldiers who otherwise would have perished grinding down Robb's dwindling forces. Tyrion, however, sharply criticized his father that the North would never forget such a horrifying violation of the laws of war and guestright. Ironically, time proved Tywin wrong and Tyrion correct: had Tywin done the honorable thing and just ground Robb down through attrition on the battlefield, Robb's surviving followers like the Mormonts and Tullys might have accepted that Robb was a brash failure and grudgingly accepted Lannister rule. Robb's strict adherence to personal honor may have seemed naive and cost him the allegiance of the Karstarks and Freys, but Tywin's use of dirty tactics is now coming back to haunt his family. As Tyrion said at the time, every time the Lannisters destroyed one enemy using dishonorable tactics, all this did was create new enemies who swore vengeance for the Lannisters' crimes. •Some new Heraldry appears in this episode. House Glover's heraldry has never appeared in the TV series before and is first introduced in this episode: a silver armored fist on a scarlet red background. The other new heraldry is for House Mormont; though curiously, House Mormont's heraldry was actually introduced in the TV show in the first season. What is introduced in this episode is a significant redesign: instead of a striding (passant) black bear on a white background next to green trees as has been depicted in prior seasons, the sigil in this episode is depicted as a black bear rearing on its hind legs (rampant). •An explanation could be that it's Lyanna's personal sigil. In Westeros arms belong to a family, and any trueborn child may use them. This is similar to the practice in German heraldry, and converse to the practice in British heraldry, where only the head of the family may use the family arms; other members of the family have to difference their arms in some way. In Westeros this is not compulsory, though many choose to adopt their own personal arms, usually a minor variation on the arms of their house. •Jon and Sansa say that the other Houses that gave them soldiers so far besides the Mormonts and Glovers were House Hornwood and House Mazin. •The Hornwoods have sporadically appeared in the background of the TV series since Season 1 - primarily that their heraldry of a moose's head was clearly visible at the Tourney of the Hand. Their banners appear again at the Stark army camp in this episode (a brown moose head on an orange background). Their role is somewhat larger in the books: their lands border the Boltons' territory on the southern side, and when Robb left with most of their armies, Ramsay kidnapped Lady Hornwood, forced her to marry him and raped her, then flayed all the skin off her fingers and locked her in a tower cell until she starved to death - then used this forced marriage (really, abduction) as a nominal claim to seize control of Hornwood lands. Understandable, the Hornwoods have specific reason to hate Ramsay by this point - though all of this was omitted from the TV version. •"House Mazin", meanwhile, does not exist in the books at all - it is an in-joke reference to screenwriter Craig Mazin, who doesn't directly work on the TV series but gave the showrunners vital advice about the unaired pilot episode. This is the third time it has been mentioned in the TV series, the second this season. A new second-tier "major House" can't easily be fit into the map of the North at this point, given that the books have already clearly defined who controls which territories. There are two in-universe possibilities: House Mazin might be a prominent third-tier "minor House" (similar to how House Forrester are prominent vassals of House Glover, who are themselves vassals of the Starks), or they might be one of the 40 or so minor noble Houses from the northern mountain clans who live northwest of Winterfell - they are all as weak as minor Houses, but are technically second-tier major Houses in the sense that they are sworn directly to the Starks and don't have any other overlords. The books never gave a definitive list of all of the northern mountain clans. •Sansa also mentions that she wants to try to visit Castle Cerwyn. House Cerwyn's castle-seat is very close to Winterfell, directly south of it (their army camp is northwest of Winterfell at the moment). Recall that last season Ramsay demanded that the Cerwyns pay the Boltons taxes as the new lords of Winterfell and the North, but when Lord Cerwyn refused, Ramsay publicly flayed him alive, along with his wife and brother, while forcing his son to watch. Ramsay was satisfied that the son, the new lord of House Cerwyn, then paid his taxes, but Roose was disgusted that Ramsay traded a short-term gain for earning the long-term enmity of the surviving Cerwyns. •The letter that Sansa is writing at the end of her scenes is actually legible in some shots, simply viewed upside-down. Turning the shot 180 degrees, the phrase "Knights of the Vale" is clearly visible on one line, indicating that she is writing the letter to Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, who has the massive army of the Vale positioned at Moat Cailin ready to enter the North (which numbers in the tens of thousands, because he kept them out of the war before).
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Jun 12, 2016 · Spoilers follow for Game of Thrones season six, episode eight, "No One." Turns out a few stab wounds to the stomach aren’t too hard to shake off for Arya Stark. After refusing to carry out an ...
- Andrew Prokop
Jun 5, 2016 · This post contains frank discussion of Season 6, Episode 7 of Game of Thrones, titled “The Broken Man.” Leave now if you don’t want to be spoiled.
Jun 6, 2016 · Jon Snow, Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane, and now Benjen Stark have all conquered death through one method or another, and in this week’s episode, The Broken Man, another character makes his ...
