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Apr 21, 2019 · A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms: Directed by David Nutter. With Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emilia Clarke, Kit Harington. Jaime faces judgment and Winterfell prepares for the battle to come.
- David Nutter
- 40 sec
"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is the second episode of the eighth season of HBO's fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 69th overall. It was written by Bryan Cogman, and directed by David Nutter. It aired on April 21, 2019.
- April 21, 2019
- Ramin Djawadi
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4 days ago · By James Hibberd. May 7, 2024 9:00am. 'Game of Thrones' Courtesy of HBO. Some breaking news from Westeros: The Game of Thrones prequel series A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms has added a major ...
- Overview
- Synopsis
- Cast
- Quotes
- Behind the scenes
"A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is the second episode of the eighth season of Game of Thrones. It is the sixty-ninth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 21, 2019 on HBO. It was written by Bryan Cogman and directed by David Nutter.
The dragon and the lion
Jaime stands still while Daenerys speaks. She begins by saying that when she was a child, her brother would tell her a bedtime story - about the man who murdered their father. He told her other stories as well, about all the things they would do to that man, once they took back the Seven Kingdoms and had him in their grasp. Daenerys remarks to him that Cersei had pledged to send her army north, but that all she sees is one man with one hand, and it appears Cersei lied. Jaime makes it clear that Cersei lied to him as well, and that she never had any intention of sending her army north. Jaime tells her that Cersei has Euron Greyjoy's fleet and 20,000 fresh troops in the form of the Golden Company. Even if they defeat the Army of the Dead, she'll have plenty of men to kill the survivors. When Daenerys asks why he came, Jaime states he promised to fight for the living and he intends to keep that promise. Tyrion tries to step in, but Daenerys quickly stops him because Tyrion was wrong about his sister too. Tyrion argues that the fact Jaime knew of the cold reception he'd get at Winterfell but came anyway surely has to mean something, but Daenerys suggests Jaime came north with the intention of worming his way into her confidence with Tyrion's help, and potentially assassinating her. Sansa surprisingly takes Daenerys's side, agreeing that they can't trust him, that Jaime attacked their father in the streets and tried to destroy her house and family the same as he did Daenerys's. Jaime quickly retorts if it's an apology they are seeking, they won't get it. He says they were at war, and that everything he did, he did for his house and his family and would do it all again. Bran interjects: "The things we do for love." When Daenerys again asks Jaime why he's abandoned House Lannister now, Jaime quotes something Brienne once said to him, "This goes beyond loyalty. This is about survival". Brienne stands and steps forward on Jaime's behalf. She tells Daenerys that Jaime is indeed a man of honor. Jaime defended her from Locke and his Bolton cronies at the cost of his hand. She then looks to Sansa and adds that without Jaime, she wouldn't be alive; moreover, Jaime armed and armored her, and sent her to find Sansa and bring her home because he swore an oath to her mother. Sansa eventually agrees that they should let Jaime stay, without seeking approval for this from Daenerys first. Daenerys looks at Jon and asks his advice on the matter. Jon says they need every man they can get. Daenerys eventually acquiesces, and Tyrion sighs in relief. Grey Worm walks over and gives Jaime back his sword. Jaime thanks Daenerys. As Sansa leaves, Daenerys turns to face Jon, but Jon awkwardly avoids her. A confused Daenerys also leaves, followed by Tyrion, Jorah and Varys. Once out of earshot, Daenerys vents her anger about Cersei's betrayal, accusing Tyrion of either knowing Cersei was lying or allowing himself to be duped by her. Both Daenerys and Tyrion agree he was a fool in this matter, and she threatens that if he cannot help her claim the Iron Throne, she'll find another Hand who can. Once Daenerys has left, Tyrion drily opines to Jorah and Varys that one of them might be getting his position soon.
Reunions
At the Forge, the men are hard at work with the Dragonglass forging weapons. Gendry is busy working, not seeing Arya watching him at first. She is watching him with piqued interest. Gendry asks Arya if she has something better to do, for which she replies, "Have you made my weapon yet?" He remarks he'll get to it after he's done making a few 1,000 more arrowhead style weapons first. Arya says he needs to make hers first, and that it should be stronger than the weapon he's currently working on. Gendry says it'll be safer down in the crypt anyway. Arya asks if he'll be in the crypt, and he says no. She then questions, "but you're a fighter?". Gendry says he's done his share and even fought a few. He even describes the Army of the Dead as best as possible to Arya. He tells her that he knows she wants to fight, but that they are much different than rapers or murderers, that they are simply put 'death'. Arya says coyly that she knows 'death', and lifts one of the dragonglass arrowhead weapons and throws it like a dagger, hitting a door frame in the near distance. She adds "[death has] many faces", before throwing another and have it landing right beside the first dagger she threw, surprising Gendry. Arya adds, "I look forward to seeing this one," and throws the last dagger, it landing exactly beside the other two weapons. She walks past Gendry and asks one last time for her weapon, for which he hastily replies, "I'll get right on it." Bran is in his wheelchair out amidst the snow-covered godswood, just beneath the red leaves of the heart tree. Jaime slowly nears. The first thing Jaime says is that he is sorry for what he did to him. Bran replies, "You weren't sorry then." He adds that he was protecting his family. Jaime says he isn't that person anymore. Bran states that he still would be if he hadn't pushed him out of that window, and that he'd still be Brandon Stark. Curious, Jaime simply asks, "You're not?" Bran replies that he isn't, and that he is something else now. Jaime is curious why Bran isn't angry at him, and Bran says he isn't angry at anyone. Jaime asks why Bran didn't tell anyone the truth. He replies that Jaime wouldn't have been able to help them in this war if they had been able to murder him first. When he asks about 'afterwards', Bran says, "how do you know there is an afterwards?". While Tyrion is walking about the castle grounds inspecting everything, Jaime approaches him. The brothers are back together, saying a quick "here we are" to one another. Up on a staircase, one of the Stark military men spits down near the Lannister brothers, where Tyrion quips "and the masses rejoice". Jaime asks Tyrion what they think of their new Queen Daenerys. After reminding Jaime that she's now his new queen as well, he remarks the people remember what happened the last time Targaryens brought dragons north. He also states they'll come around once they see Daenerys is different. Jaime asks his brother if he is sure about her, and Tyrion says yes. And when Jaime states that Daenerys didn't seem to be sure of his brother, Tyrion agreed saying he didn't blame her. During their conversation, Tyrion finds out through Jaime that Cersei's pregnancy wasn't a lie. Tyrion admits that in their last conversation, Cersei told Tyrion she'd hoped her pregnancy could be a second chance for her and Jaime, and he allowed himself to be swayed by her. Jaime tells Tyrion to not be too hard on himself, that Cersei fooled him more than anybody. Tyrion states that Cersei never fooled him, that Jaime always knew exactly what she was and he loved her anyway. Tyrion tells Jaime he never imagined he'd die at Winterfell, bringing a past joke between the two of exactly how Tyrion pictured himself dying. As Tyrion is talking, finding some black humor in the prospect that being torn apart by the undead will deny Cersei the satisfaction of having him killed, Jaime is distracted and walks away to look out in the distance at Brienne, who is overseeing sword practicing in the yard. Jaime walks out of the castle gate onto the grounds beyond the walls where men, among them Podrick Payne, are either practicing with their swords, building siege engines or laying traps for the Army of the Dead. He eventually reaches Brienne and they greet one another. Jaime tells her that he has been told she is commanding the left flank during battle. She states it is great ground and with the rise it would give good advantage. Quickly, she finally turns to him and asks what he's doing, knowing they've never had a conversation this long without him insulting her. He finally admits that he came to Winterfell because he's not the fighter he use to be, and that he'd be honored to serve under her command, if she'd have him.
The princess and the queen
Elsewhere, back in the castle, Jorah enters to speak to Daenerys on Tyrion's behalf. He tells her she should give him a second chance and they both remark on why Jorah isn't Daenerys's Hand of the Queen. She remarks that if he hadn't gone away, he surely would've have taken on that role and not Tyrion. Jorah however, insists Daenerys made the right choice in naming Tyrion her Hand; he has made mistakes, yes, but he learns from them, takes them to heart, and he has Daenerys' best interests at heart. Jorah advises that Daenerys forgive Tyrion, and offers another suggestion of advice... In Winterfell's library, Daenerys finds Sansa conversing with Lord Royce, who is advocating for sealing the gates as soon as they have their troops deployed outside the walls, while Sansa is in favor of keeping them open as long as possible, to let as many refugees reach Winterfell as possible. Daenerys requests a private audience with Sansa; once Royce is gone, Daenerys remarks on how she thought they were on the verge of agreeing in regards to Jaime, and asks Sansa why she changed her mind. Sansa replies that she trusts Brienne's judgement completely. Daenerys responds that she wishes she could have faith like that in her own advisors. Sansa tells Daenerys that Tyrion is a good man; he was nothing but decent to her while she was captive in King's Landing. Daenerys replies she chose Tyrion for her Hand not just because he was good, but also because he was intelligent and ruthless when necessary. Daenerys adds, "He never should have trusted Cersei," to which Sansa replies, "You never should have either." Wanting to clear the air and find common ground between them, Daenerys acknowledges she and Sansa have similar experiences: they have complicated families, they're both women who've been trusted with ruling in a world where few women can do that — and they've done it well, to which Sansa agrees. However, Daenerys notes that despite this, she can't help but feel they're still at odds with one another but then realizes, "Your brother." Sansa admits she is wary of Daenerys because Jon clearly loves Daenerys, remarking that men do foolish things for the women they love, and their emotions can be manipulated to exploit them. Daenerys replies she's only known one goal all her life - the Iron Throne - but then she met Jon. Now, she's at the North, having brought her armies north to fight the Army of the Dead. Taken aback, Sansa responds she should have thanked Daenerys when she arrived and Daenerys confides she is here because she loves Sansa's brother and trusts him completely, "He's only the second man in my life I can say that about." When Sansa asks about the first, Daenerys replies, "Someone taller," making both Sansa and Daenerys laugh. However, Sansa has one sticking point that drives a wedge through her and Daenerys's new rapport: assuming they succeed in defeating the Night King and Cersei and Daenerys takes the Iron Throne, what happens to the North? After taking it back from the Boltons, Sansa vowed they'd never bow to another ruler. Before Daenerys and Sansa can talk that out, Maester Wolkan interrupts. Theon has arrived. In Winterfell's Great Hall, Theon waits with a detachment of Ironborn. He informs Daenerys of Yara's plans to reclaim the Iron Islands from Euron in her name, but he's come back to fight to defend Winterfell if Lady Stark will have him. Sansa embraces him emotionally. Elsewhere, Missandei finds herself on the receiving end of a lot of racial prejudice from the hostile Northerners, prompting Grey Worm to ask if she would want to stay once Daenerys has the Iron Throne. He says he'll fight for his queen until the war is done but there is no place for them in Westeros, "Do you want to grow old in this place? Is there nothing else you want to do, nothing else you want to see?" When Missandei admits she'd like to see the beaches of Naath again, Grey Worm promises he'll take her back there, and his fellow Unsullied will come to help protect the natives from the pirates and slavers who've long preyed on the peaceful Naathi. The sound of a horn blowing brings Jon out into the courtyard, where to his delight, he finds Edd, Beric and the rest of the Night's Watch dismounting from their horses. As he moves to greet them, he is unexpectedly tackled by Tormund, ecstatic to see his "little crow" again. Unfortunately, the new arrivals bring bad news: Last Hearth has fallen, the Umbers are now part of the army of the dead, as is anyone who has not reached Winterfell by now, and the undead will reach Winterfell before daybreak.
Starring
•Peter Dinklage as Lord Tyrion Lannister •Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister •Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen •Kit Harington as Jon Snow •Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark •Maisie Williams as Arya Stark •Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth •Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei •Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy •Joe Dempsie as Gendry •Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark •John Bradley as Samwell Tarly •Hannah Murray as Gilly •Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth •Conleth Hill as Varys •Rory McCann as Sandor "the Hound" Clegane •Kristofer Hivju as Tormund •Jacob Anderson as Commander Grey Worm •with Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Guest starring
•Richard Dormer as Lord Beric Dondarrion •Ben Crompton as Lord Commander Eddison Tollett •Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne •Bella Ramsey as Lady Lyanna Mormont •Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce •Richard Rycroft as Maester Wolkan •Megan Parkinson as Lady Alys Karstark •Seamus O'Hara as Fergus •Staz Nair as Qhono •Bea Glancy as Teela •Lucy McConnell •Conor Maguire •Thomas Finnegan •Logan Watson as Sam •Finn Watson as Sam •Fionnuala Murphy •Rosa Frazer
Uncredited
•Michael Fitzgerald as Knight of the Vale •Jaryd Headley as Unsullied Soldier •Patrick Kelly as Stark Archer •Andrew McClay as Stark Soldier •Jesse Morris as Stark Guard •Stephen Presley as Unsullied •Mark Quigley as Bannerman •Andrew Watson as Unsullied
Daenerys Targaryen: "When I was a child, my brother would tell me a bedtime story... about the man who murdered our father, about all the things we would do to that man."
Daenerys Targaryen: "He never should've trusted Cersei."
Sansa Stark: "You never should've either."
Arya Stark: "I know Death. He's got many faces. I look forward to seeing this one."
Jon Snow: "How long do we have?"
Tormund: "Before the sun comes up tomorrow."
General
•The episode title refers to the hardcover collection of the first three of the Dunk & Egg novellas, itself titled A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Within the episode it is the phrase that Jaime uses when he knights Brienne: rather than say she is sworn to a specific part of it, he just says she is a knight of the whole realm. •The connection that the title makes between Brienne and Ser Duncan the Tall is perhaps a reference to the prominent hints in the novels that Brienne is actually Duncan's descendant. •In a post-episode interview, episode writer Bryan Cogman explained that the title "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" is meant to refer equally to Brienne and Jaime. Brienne is knighted in the episode - and on a deeper level, by keeping his word to the Starks and by fully acknowledging Brienne's worth and honor, Jaime has finally become the honorable knight he's been struggling to be his whole life. •The King's Landing storylines do not appear in this episode, instead focusing entirely on the various storylines at Winterfell. This has only happened a few other times, usually major battle episodes such as "Blackwater" and "The Watchers on the Wall". •The title sequence has been updated slightly since the preceding episode: the same locations appear, but the ice which covered the landscape down to the Wall has now extended south to cover Last Hearth, showing the advance of the Army of the Dead. The Winterfell map animation also now includes more of the entrenchments being constructed around the castle in this episode. •The end credits version of "Jenny of Oldstones" was performed by major music group Florence + The Machine. Lead singer Florence Welch subsequently gave an interview with The New York Times about it. The showrunners are fans of her work and had actually been trying to get her to be one of their soundtrack cameos since Season 2 - indeed, one of the Season 2 trailers famously licensed and used her song "Seven Hells". For Season 2, the showrunners had originally hoped she could be the one to record a cover of "The Rains of Castamere," but at the time she hadn't watched the show and declined. •As Benioff acknowledged in the Inside the Episode featurette, while Jenny's Song is famous in the books, only the first lines have actually been presented in the text, so they had to invent the next few lines to fit with it. The full importance of the song hasn't been revealed, but it was about Jenny of Oldstones - a commoner that the Targaryen crown prince abdicated to marry. The crown then passed to his younger brother, and then to Aerys II Targaryen, the Mad King, setting in motion the events surrounding Rhaegar, Lyanna, Jon, and Daenerys's lives. There is some speculation that Jenny's Song might have even been the specific one that Rhaegar performed during the great Tourney at Harrenhal, singing and harping the mournful song so beautifully that Lyanna Stark wept and fell in love with him. •Vanity Fair noted that Podrick singing a mournful song before a hopeless battle may have been an homage to Pippin Took doing the same thing in the 2003 film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. •This is one of the few episodes (alongside "Lord Snow" and "The Bear and the Maiden Fair") in which absolutely no one has died. Not even magical creatures (wights) or simply animals (from hunting, etc.). •The off-screen conversation between Tyrion and Bran is the likely source of Tyrion's reasoning for putting forward Bran as King of the Andals and the First Men. If this is so, this scene could be seen to be foreshadowing the "winner" of the Game of Thrones.
Callbacks
This episode includes numerous callbacks to prior episodes and events: •Sansa initially distrusts Jaime, specifically recalling how he attacked her father in the streets of King's Landing in Season 1's "The Wolf and the Lion". •Jaime is shocked when Bran quotes the sentence he said prior to pushing Bran from the window "The things I do for love". Littlefinger reacted similarly in "The Spoils of War" when Bran quoted the sentence "chaos is a ladder" which he said in "The Climb". •Jaime tells Daenerys that he abandoned his family and house because "this goes beyond loyalty", referring to what Brienne told him in "The Dragon and the Wolf", when he insisted that he was loyal to Cersei: "This goes beyond houses and honor and oaths". •Gendry mentions the wight hunt ("Beyond the Wall"). •Jaime and Bran, of course, discuss how he threw Bran out a tower window in the first episode of the TV series, Season 1's "Winter Is Coming". •Tyrion reminds Jaime the first time they were in Winterfell ("Winter Is Coming"). •Tyrion recounts that he always thought he'd die at the age of 80, in his own bed, with a belly full of wine, and a girl's mouth around his cock. This is what he said to Shagga and the hill tribes back in Season 1's episode "The Pointy End". Jaime joins in saying the last lines in this episode, implying that it is an old joke Tyrion has been saying for years. •Podrick training recruits mirrors how he was trained by Brienne, giving his sparring partners similar advice she gave him in "The Queen's Justice". •Jorah refers to the cruise with Tyrion between Volantis and Meereen ("Kill the Boy"). •Daenerys tells Sansa that Jon is smaller than the man she previously loved, echoing how she deemed Jon to small for her in "Beyond the Wall". •Sansa's reunion with Theon recalls the one between Daenerys and Jorah in "Eastwatch": a conversation between Sansa and Daenerys is interrupted by Wolkan to announce that a man important in Sansa's life, Theon, has arrived, just like Qhono interrupted a conversation between Daenerys and Jon to tell her of Jorah's return. Theon offers to fight for Winterfell "if Sansa will have him", the same words Jorah spoke to Daenerys. Then, just like Daenerys did to Jorah, Sansa hugs him out of joy of having him back. •Beric reports the Fall of Last Hearth ("Winterfell"). •Bran shows the mark on his forearm, which he received from the Night King in his vision ("The Door"). •Tyrion tells Daenerys that he has fought before, presumably referring to the fight on the way to the Eyrie ("The Wolf and the Lion"), the battle on the Green Fork, and the Battle of the Blackwater. He might have referred to the second siege of Meereen, though he did not participate in the fighting in that occasion, but served as an advisor. •Theon tells Bran "I took this castle from you", referring to the capture of Winterfell ("The Old Gods and the New"). •Sam says that he destroyed a White Walker ("Second Sons"), fought the Thenns (referring to the battle for the Wall - "The Watchers on the Wall"), stole books from the Citadel ("Eastwatch") and survived the fight at the Fist ("Valar Dohaeris"). •When Brienne tells Podrick to only have half a cup of wine, Tyrion fills his cup until it overflows and spills. This recalls Podrick's first scene, back in Season 2's episode "The Night Lands", when as a new squire he accidentally overfilled Tyrion's wine glass until it spilled. •Brienne tells Tormund she is glad he survived the Breaching of the Wall ("The Dragon and the Wolf"). •Arya mentions that the Hound joined the Brotherhood ("No One") and participated in the wight hunt ("Beyond the Wall"). •Sandor asks Arya if Beric Dondarrion is still on her kill list, that she recites as a prayer every night, but she confirms he was on briefly ("First of His Name"), but she took him off. •In the books, the Brotherhood never took Gendry the way they did in Season 3, thus he remained with them, and Arya never added Beric or Melisandre or Thoros to her list. In the TV series, she added them in Season 3 after they took Gendry away, but then she simply stopped mentioning them again when she recited her list in later TV seasons. She had bigger problems with the Freys and Boltons after the Red Wedding, and Gendry ultimately came to no lasting harm. The exchange in this episode acknowledges that this change to her list relative to the books was later simply removed. •At this point, the only people left on Arya's kill list in the TV series are Cersei and Gregor Clegane. Ilyn Payne, the executioner who personally beheaded Ned at Joffrey's order, was also on the list, but after his actor developed near-terminal cancer he was simply phased out of being mentioned on the show. •Gendry reminds Arya that she wanted him to come with her ("Kissed by Fire"). •Gendry tells about the leech ritual ("Second Sons") and that Melisandre told him he was Robert's bastard son ("The Bear and the Maiden Fair"). •Tyrion states that Brienne defeated the Hound ("The Children"). •Tyrion calls Jaime a war hero from the Siege of Pyke (which was first mentioned in "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things"), but Jaime points out that he also lost the Battle of Whispering Wood, at Season 1's episode "Baelor", resulting in his army's destruction and his capture. •Tyrion and Davos refer to the Battle of the Bastards ("Battle of the Bastards"). •Daenerys says her brother liked to sing; Ser Barristan Selmy told her that in "Sons of the Harpy". •Jon tells Daenerys that Sam read about the marriage of Rhaegar and Lyanna ("Eastwatch"), and mentions Lyanna's death and her request from Ned (seen in Bran's vision in "The Winds of Winter").
At Winterfell
•This episode is the first time that the four surviving Stark children have shared the same scene since the first episode of the TV series, when the assembled Stark household welcomed King Robert to Winterfell. Even then, they didn't exchange speaking lines with each other as they do during the war room scene in this episode. Jon didn't attend the feast afterwards, then left to join the Night's Watch, only returning last episode - but then Arya wasn't there with Sansa and Bran to greet him, because she had gone ahead to the winter town to see him. So this is really the first time all four have been part of the same conversation, during the battle map scene. •Director David Nutter discussed the positioning of characters in the Game Revealed behind the scenes video. In the preceding episode, Jon was seated front and center at the main table in the great hall of Winterfell, because he was trying to rally all the lords to accept Daenerys and fight the White Walkers together. In this episode, Daenerys is now the one sitting front and center at the table, as she judges Jaime - a visual display she is putting on, to act like she is taking command as the rightful queen. Unfortunately, the intended display of power doesn't work, as both Sansa and Jon end opt to let Jaime stay, so Jaime can help them battle against the Army of the Dead instead of being killed. The whole event leaves Daenerys upset that her supposed allies either openly disagree with her, or in the case of Tyrion, have failed her. •Daenerys pointedly refers to Jon Snow as the "Warden of the North": this title is inherently inferior and subject to the monarch on the Iron Throne, as one of four regional Wardens tasked with defending each section of the realm. When the Starks declared their independence again, they gave up claim to being "Warden" for being King in the North. This was probably intentional by the writers: Daenerys seems to be pointedly reminding Jon that when he bent the knee to her as his queen, he gave up his title as "king" (comparable to her pointedly calling him "governor"). •Ghost the direwolf finally returns in this episode, having missed all of Season 7; he was previously seen in "Oathbreaker". Originally he was going to briefly appear in "Stormborn" but this was cut due to time and budget. There are often trade-off decisions that need to be made with CGI budget (i.e. faced with having a giant or a direwolf in the same episode, but not both). Moreover, the direwolves have been particularly difficult to work into scenes, as they are actually played by live animals, who are then digitally scaled-up. •Tyrion incongruously says that the Northerners aren't warming up to Daenerys because they remember "what happened the last time Targaryens took dragons to the North". This line is vague and doesn't really apply well to any specific context: •Most recently, the Targaryens went to war with the Starks during Robert's Rebellion - when the Starks marched south to fight them after the Mad King killed their lord, Rickard Stark. Moreover, the last Targaryen dragon died about a century and a half before Robert's Rebellion, so they couldn't have "taken dragons north". •During the reign of the Targaryen dynasty before that, they did sometimes fly dragons to the North on royal processions, or rarely, as messengers. One of Rhaenyra Targaryen's sons, Jacaerys Velaryon, flew to Winterfell as a messenger during the Dance of the Dragons, which is the most recent explicitly mentioned occasion in the histories where a dragon (Jacaerys's mount, Vermax) came to the North. Jacaerys's visit was well received by Lord Cregan Stark and the two men got along famously, so there is no reason the Northerners would remember this occasion poorly. •Before that, King Jaehaerys I Targaryen made a famous royal visit to Winterfell with his sister-wife Alysanne - during which they did much to win over the support of the Starks, including giving generous donations to the Night's Watch. It's mentioned that after an initially cold reception, Queen Alysanne became good friends with Lord Alaric Stark and also with his daughter Alarra. •The only context this line might loosely apply to was already explained in Season 7 dialogue, when Jon first met Daenerys: during Aegon's Conquest, King Torrhen Stark marched his army south to the Trident River, after the Targaryens had already conquered all of the southern kingdoms sans Dorne, adding their surviving forces to their own, which marched "north" - in the sense that they were heading to the North, but were still in the Riverlands at the time. But when Torrhen saw their now much larger army, and in addition, their three live dragons, he realized he had no real hope of victory, so he peacefully surrendered without a fight. In return, Aegon treated him generously, confirming his position as ruler of the North under the Targaryens. No dragons actually came to the North on this occasion (and calling it "the last time" would ignore the visits of Alysanne, Jaehaerys and Jacaerys), and there were no Northman casualties in the conquest whatsoever. •Therefore, other than "losing their sovereignty" by voluntarily joining a larger regional union of realms - and thus benefiting in various improvements to infrastructure, trade, and internal borders - nothing particularly bad happened "the last time Targaryens took dragons to the North". •In contrast to Tyrion's comments that the last interaction between the Starks and Targaryens were particularly harsh (when they didn't have dragons during Robert's Rebellion), Daenerys's comments about Robert's Rebellion to Sansa almost leave out any animosity between the Starks and Targaryens. Daenerys says that they're both enemies of the Lannisters, who destroyed all of the rest of House Targaryen and tried to destroy the Starks. Actually, the Starks were one of the leading forces in the rebellion, right behind House Baratheon itself - and it was Robert Baratheon, not a Lannister, who killed Rhaegar Targaryen and smashed his army at the Battle of the Trident. The Lannisters only joined the rebellion after Rhaegar died and the Targaryens' armies were destroyed, opportunistically sacking King's Landing to curry favor with Robert once it became obvious he would win. Jaime did kill Daenerys's father the Mad King - but he is now at Winterfell pledging to help them. Other Lannister forces did, technically, wipe out the rest of her family - as Rhaegar's other two children were killed by Gregor Clegane. Still, the rebellion is generally seen as the Baratheons and their Stark allies overthrowing the Targaryens. It is possible that this scene was intended to be Daenerys giving a slanted view of history to try to ingratiate herself with Sansa (certainly, the Lannisters are their common enemy now), but it contradicts Tyrion's own statements in the episode that the North has been badly treated by the Targaryens. •Tyrion's remark that "almost everyone" there had fought the Starks, but was now defending Winterfell, is somewhat odd: this is true of those who fought for the Lannisters or the wildlings, but not of Baratheon followers like Brienne and Davos, or Beric. Of course, he did say "almost" everyone. •This episode is the first time that Missandei has given any specific details about her homeland, Naath, and its culture, in the five years she has been on the TV show. Naath is a large island off the northwest coast of Sothoryos, the third known continent, which is loosely this world's analogue of Africa. Missandei explains here that the people of Naath are peaceful, and cannot defend themselves. The books give more detail: the Naathi "cannot" defend themselves due to their religious beliefs, which command utter pacifism. Their religion forbids them from taking any life, to the point that they will not eat the flesh of animals, and are strict vegetarians. So great is their devotion to pacifism that they are forbidden to resort to violence even to directly defend their own lives. Unfortunately, this has made them a favored target for slaver-raids from foreign lands. •The books further reveal that the reason the Naathi have survived so long despite their extreme pacifism is that the island is home to a terrible plague, carried by butterflies, which causes the flesh to literally slough off a man's bones like wet parchment. The Naathi themselves are immune to this disease, but a drawback is that outsiders cannot survive on the isle for more than a few hours. This dialog doesn't take into account if Grey Worm or the Unsullied could even survive on Naath. In-universe, Missandei, who must be aware of the plague due to both her childhood and her education, might have decided not to ruin the moment by bringing up the butterfly plague. •According to leaked script reports for Season 7, which turned out to be mostly accurate, Bryan Cogman originally intended to have this exchange between Missandei and Grey Worm about Naath island right before their sex scene in "Stormborn", the second episode of Season 7 - but it was cut for time, and pushed back here to the second episode of Season 8. •This is the first time that Jorah Mormont and Lyanna Mormont have shared dialogue in a scene together. As they state in dialogue, Jorah is indeed Lyanna's "cousin", specifically her first cousin. When Lyanna was introduced in Season 6, Jon prominently explained in dialogue that she is the niece of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont through his sister, and Jeor was Jorah's father. When Jorah was exiled rule passed to his aunt Maege Mormont, and after she died (off-screen) to Lyanna. Jorah makes absolutely no attempt to have his rank and title restored, openly saying that Lyanna is "the future of our House". •Every Valyrian steel blade introduced in the TV series is now present at Winterfell - there are more in the books and animated featurettes that haven't appeared in live-action. The books have not yet explicitly confirmed that Valyrian steel can kill White Walkers, though Sam and Jon assume that references in ancient texts to "dragon-steel" killing White Walkers refers to Valyrian steel, forged in dragon-flame and imbued with magical spells. The swords and their current wielders are: •Longclaw - wielded by Jon Snow, a gift from Jeor Mormont •Heartsbane - wielded by Jorah Mormont, ancestral blade of House Tarly, lent to Jorah as a gift by Samwell Tarly in memory of his father Jeor •Oathkeeper - wielded by Brienne of Tarth, one of two new swords made by melting down the ancestral Stark sword, Ice. •Widow's Wail - wielded by Jaime Lannister, the second of two swords made by melting down Ned Stark's sword Ice. •A Valyrian steel dagger - wielded by Arya Stark. Not a full sword, originally belonging to Littlefinger, who gifts it to Bran Stark, who in turn passes it to Arya. •Jaime and Brienne carry the two swords which have been forged of Ice, the ancestral sword of House Stark, at Tywin's order in "Two Swords". Although they are not Starks, Jaime's arrival at Winterfell and his request to serve under Brienne's command can be considered as symbolizing the return of Ice to its rightful place. •As Jaime says, any knight can dub another man a knight - though the prestige varies, much like how a college degree from a major university versus a local college is technically the same. The full knight dubbing ceremony has not yet been presented in the texts, for what the new knight is charged with in the name of each of the Seven. Jaime gives the first three here, though the fourth one is also known: "In the name of the Maiden, I charge you to defend women". It is still unknown what the Smith, the Crone, and the Stranger charge knights with. •Tormund's tall-tale about being nursed by a female giant is actually from the books, although slightly revised. In the books, he claimed that he slit open the belly of a sleeping female giant for warmth on a freezing night, only for her to mistake him for her baby when he came out of her; he admits to Jon that he never killed that female giant, or any giant in general, but asks Jon not to reveal that; otherwise, that would ruin his reputation. The story had been previously adapted in the Histories & Lore entry "The Nations of the North" released as a special feature for Season 4 narrated by Tormund as voiced by the actor. In that entry, Tormund mentioned how the wife was in a good mood unlike her angry husband. The TV version is not quite as blatantly made-up, with Tormund claiming he killed a giant, and the giant's wife mistook him for her baby. •Jon, Sam, and Dolorous Edd remark that only the three of them are left from the Night's Watch members who were together in the beginning, mentioning Grenn and Pyp by name. Actually, while this is true in-universe, Edd wasn't introduced until the second novel, and thus second TV season. Retroactively, it was established that he was always there, but in the background. Pyp didn't go beyond the Wall with the rest of them, and Jon left soon after they reached the Fist of the First Men in Season 2. All five of them were only on-screen for the first time when Edd and Grenn made their way back to Castle Black, in Season 4's "Breaker of Chains", but then Grenn and Pyp died six episodes later in "The Watchers on the Wall". •Edd recites the first line of the Night's Watch oath (mentioned in "You Win or You Die"). •Jon Snow isn't just the rightful "male heir" to the Iron Throne, ahead of Daenerys. Even under gender-blind inheritance law, Rhaegar was simply Daenerys's older sibling, thus any child of Rhaegar's would rank ahead of her. •Daenerys says she was told Rhaegar had raped Lyanna; she makes it sound as if she believes that. It is very unlikely that she'd believe such a thing about her elder brother, whom she adored. In the books, Jorah and Barristan Selmy tell her very "sugarcoated" versions of her father and brother's personalities and deeds, mostly sticking to positive facts. Viserys told Daenerys that Rhaegar had kidnapped Lyanna, but not a word about rape. •Brienne states that Jaime saved her from gang-rape, and lost his hand because of that ("Walk of Punishment"). This is incorrect: Jaime indeed saved Brienne from being raped, by telling Locke the lie about sapphires, but it had nothing to do with his maiming, both in the show and the novels: Locke cut Jaime's hand because the latter annoyed him, by telling about the wealth and power of his father; Vargo Hoat (Locke's analogous book character) had Jaime maimed in order to drive a wedge between Tywin and Roose Bolton. •Brienne doesn't even go into much detail about how Jaime saved her from a bear, which was unquestionably heroic. The answer seems to be that this was in the original draft, but later cut. In post-episode interviews, Bryan Cogman explained that the original draft he wrote was filled with very detailed recaps of every character's prior story on the TV show - but he scoffed that "it looked like a Wikipedia page", so Benioff and Weiss revised his script to focus it down to how the actors non-verbally react to each other, with minimal exposition. •In the fourth novel A Feast for Crows, Brienne confronts people who hate the Lannisters - the Brotherhood, which has greatly fallen low ever since Beric's death, and now it is just like any other outlaw gang. Their new leader, the monstrous Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark) particularly wishes Jaime dead, based on Roose Bolton statement while killing Robb "Jaime Lannister sends his regards". The Brotherhood accuses Brienne that she serves the Lannisters, because she carries a Lannister sword. Brienne insists that Jaime has changed, and couldn't possibly be involved in the Red Wedding; she says that he saved her from being gang-raped by the Brave Companions, jumped into the bear pit to save her, and sent her to find and protect Sansa. Everything Brienne says is true, but her words fall on deaf ears. •Brienne also relates to Jaime's oath to Catelyn (first mentioned in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", and in "Two Swords", "Oathkeeper", "The Broken Man" and "No One"), claiming that he armed her and sent her to bring Sansa home. •Brienne claimed before ("No One") that Jaime has fulfilled his oath; actually, he did not, since he swore that he would return the Stark girls to their mother, not just help Brienne find them, and not only in respect of Sansa. Jaime had a chance to try to help Sansa escape in "Two Swords", but he didn't act on it: when Brienne reminded him his promise, he refused on the grounds that all the other Starks were dead, so there was no one to send her back to. The complication, of course, arises from the fact that in the books, Jaime only returns to King's Landing after Sansa escapes, so keeping his vow was a moot point. •Jaime claims that in general, everything he did (killing Aerys and his actions against the Starks) - he did for his house and his family. In respect to Aerys's death, this is ironically a lie - because he did that out of genuine altruism, in order to prevent Aerys from killing all the residents of King's Landing ("Kissed by Fire"). This detail, which would have been of particular interest to Daenerys, is not brought up. •Tyrion says "Maybe after I'm dead... I'll march down to King's Landing and rip her [Cersei] apart". This is perhaps a reference to Maggy's prophecy "the valonqar ["little brother" in High Valyrian] shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you", which has been omitted from the show. •Daenerys tells Sansa that she loves Jon, trusts him and knows he's true to his word, and that he's only the second man in her life she can say that about. To Sansa's question "Who was the first?", she quips "Someone taller" - presumably referring to Drogo. •Daenerys questions why Tyrion would trust Cersei's promise at this point, even due to her pregnancy. In the books, Tyrion has certainly decided never to trust Cersei again, and both wish the other sibling dead. Tyrion assesses in the fifth novel that Cersei is "as gentle as King Maegor, as selfless as Aegon the Unworthy, as wise as Mad Aerys". •Daenerys says it is not the first time Tyrion disappointed her, referring to his plan to seize Casterly Rock. •Tormund tells Jaime that people call him "King-killer". Actually, Jaime's derogatory nickname is "Kingslayer" - apparently the mistake was intentional in-universe, as Tormund doesn't know the story of Jaime very well. Tormund made a similar mistake in "Beyond the Wall", referring to Sandor Clegane as "The Dog" rather than "The Hound". •Brienne is addressed to both as "Lady" and "Ser" during the scene of her knighting. This is presumably a reference to the fourth novel "A Feast for Crows": since Pod is uncertain what is the proper way to address Brienne, he keeps saying "Ser? My Lady?" whenever he speaks to her. •Tyrion calls his brother "Ser Jaime Lannister, fabled hero of the Siege of Pyke". In the show, it has been mentioned before ("Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things", "Dragonstone") that Jaime participated in the siege, fiercely fighting the ironborn. •In the novels, however, his name is never mentioned in respect of that battle, or any other stage of the Greyjoy Rebellion. Presumably he did, given that Robert himself and Barristan Selmy were there, and it would be unusual for a Kingsguard to be absent from his king during a war; perhaps the reason for not mentioning his name is that he has not distinguished himself in that battle, in contrast to Jorah and Thoros. •Bran says "We need to lure him [the Night King] into the open before his army destroys us all. I'll wait for him in the Godswood". He does not specify what plan he has in mind, and why it is necessary to lure the Night King into the Godswood of all places, especially since Bran seems to be able to use his Three-Eyed Raven abilities from anywhere. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the Night King was created while strapped to a weirwood tree ("The Door"). •Arya asks Bran whether dragonfire will stop the Night King; he answers "I don't know, no one has ever tried". Why didn't Jon and Daenerys answer that question? They have seen with their own eyes (Jon - during the massacre at Hardhome, both of them - during the wight hunt) that the White Walkers were not harmed by fire, and the Night King was unaffected by dragonfire. •It is curious why Winterfell was first warned by specifically Tormund and Eddison Tollett about the imminent approach of the Army of the Dead - as if Jon and Daenerys didn't post scouts of any kind to monitor the advance of the White Walkers' large army after the Wall was breached. •In a post-episode interview with Entertainment Weekly, Emilia Clarke commented on the ending scene between Jon and Daenerys: particularly that, being a Targaryen, Daenerys did not have a strong reaction to learning she incestuously had sex with her own nephew, whereas it deeply shook Jon - and in turn, the fact that this didn't bother Daenerys shocked Jon even more: •"The related thing, to her, is so normal. She could have easily married her brother. It's not a thing. It's a thing for Jon, but let's just forget about that. The main thing is we’re up for the same promotion and I’ve been working for it for my entire existence..." She continued: "This is my whole existence - since birth! Dany literally was brought into this world going: RUN! These f—ers [in Westeros] have f—ed everything up. Now it’s, 'You're our only hope.' There's so much she's taken on in her duty in life to rectify. There's so much she's seen and witnessed and been through and lost and suffered and hurt to get here...and Jon doesn't even want it!" •Writer Bryan Cogman reiterated Clarke's point about aunt-nephew incest being normal to Daenerys: "What really upsets Jon is that he's a blood relative to the woman he's in love with. In the crypt, Jon is taken aback when essentially the first thing she says is acknowledging that he has a claim to the Iron Throne - and Jon's immediate concern is the fact that that's her immediate concern. [Kit Harington and Emilia Clarke] play it beautifully." •As pointed out in the Notes for the first episode, creating Dragonglass weapons is nothing like what is being presented on-screen during the forge scenes. They treat it essentially like casting and forging metal - but "dragonglass" has been stated to be "obsidian" - the volcanic rock, which as the name implies is closer to "glass". Obsidian can be chipped into a shape, much like making tools out of flint, but heating it up like metal and then pouring it into forms would only make material so brittle that it would shatter impact. •Director David Nutter explained in the Game Revealed behind the scenes video for this episode that Gendry is leading all the blacksmiths in the forge creating dragonglass weapons, as he has experience with it - presumably referring to how he started making dragonglass weapons while at Dragonstone in Season 7. •The Game Revealed behind the scenes video for this episode goes into great detail explaining how the Winterfell set was significantly expanded for Season 8, even more so than the incremental expansions it received with each passing season, so it is now essentially a fully realized castle. Not only are all of the towers in place, but everyday things such as functional baker's ovens, kitchens, brewing vats, etc. Another major new addition was the Winterfell library set, where Sansa and Daenerys have their long discussion scene (which is incredibly detailed, even featuring direwolf heads carved into the ceiling beams). •Episode writer Bryan Cogman noted that Jaime's "trial" (more of an interrogation) that starts this episode was "not unlike" the trial of his brother Tyrion, which Cogman also wrote (in Season 4's "The Laws of Gods and Men"). •Cogman also wrote the Sansa rape scene in Season 5's "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken" (which wasn't in the books). He now has the dubious distinction of writing trial episodes for both Lannister brothers, and writing episodes with sex scenes for both Stark sisters.
4 days ago · May 7, 2024 10:35am. HBO. A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms has found one of its directors. Owen Harris, who has directed episodes of Black Mirror including the San Junipero episode, will helm three ...
Buy Game of Thrones — Season 8, Episode 2 on Fandango at Home, Prime Video. What "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" lacks in forward narrative momentum it makes up for in cryptic callbacks ...
