MASSIVE ‘Game of Thrones’ S7E2 spoilers in this one. This entire post is pretty much spoilers.
‘Game of Thrones‘ is nothing if not laden with hidden meaning, and ‘Stormborn‘, while not the most thrilling of episodes, was poetic as hell in its references to seasons past. You’d need to be an ASOIF nerd master to pick them all up, which luckily, literally tens of thousands of people are.
Here’s everything you might’ve missed in last night’s episode.
Samwell Tarly is basically George R.R. Martin at this point.
It’s not the first time that fans have speculated Martin wrote himself into his own series via the character Samwell Tarly. He’s even admitted as much in the past:
“I would probably be Samwell Tarly. I love Sam, too. He’s a great character. Tyrion might be who I want to be, but Sam is probably closer to who I actually am. The fat kid who likes to read books and doesn’t like to go up a lot of stairs.”
Last night’s episode gave us a nod-and-wink scene with Sam and Maester Ebrose, who told the Maester-in-training that he was writing a history book.
“Mmm, possibly something a bit more poetic?” Sam replies. Like, IDK, ‘Game of Thrones‘* perhaps???Either way, looks like Sam’s gonna finish that book and give it a WAY better title.
Jon Snow choking Littlefinger was a throwback to Ned Stark.
Littlefinger, the cretin of Westeros, accosted Jon Snow in the crypts of Winterfell to remind him about his huge giant boner for both his step-mum Caitlyn and sister cousin Sansa. Jon responded by choking him out, a power move that we’ve seen once before via the late Ned Stark.
Unfortunately for Ned, that was quickly followed by a Littlefinger betrayal and then his own beheading. Hopefully it’s not foreshadowing at things to come for Jon / Sansa – although every shot of Littlefinger creepily watching proceedings in a corner is giving me lowlevel anxiety. ARYA, WHERE ARE YOU GIRL? There’s a murder that needs doing.
Arya meeting Nymeria was also a throwback to Ned.
Some serious rewatching of Season 1 must have happened before this episode was penned. When Arya asks her direwolf Nymeria to come northward, Nymeria refuses – she doesn’t follow Arya, but she also calls off her pack of wolves. These two have a mutual agreement, if not the partnership we’re all desperately hoping for.
When Nymeria bolts, Arya says, “That’s not you”, which is reminiscent of Ned Stark telling his youngest daughter once that she’d grow up to be a lady, and Arya replying, “That’s not me.”
Hot Pie’s lines were a throwback to Season 2.
This was nothing like the other throwbacks this episode gifted us, but hey, it’s cute. Hot Pie tells Arya he’s seen Brienne recently. “The lady knight? You know, I figured she was a knight, ’cause she had armour on.” Oh Hot Pie. You’ve survived some trauma and now have a decent life making hot pies in the inn, but you’ve learnt sweet fuck all about the way the world works.
Still. Petition for Hot Pie to score his own spin-off 2K17.
Tyrion’s call-out of Ellaria Sand were referencing her dead lover Oberyn Martell.
SO MANY REFERENCES. When Oberyn came to King’s Landing, he was seeking revenge for the death of his sister Elia and her children at the hands of the Mountain and another Lannister knight, Ser Amory Lorch.
“We don’t hurt little girls in Dorne,” he pointedly tells Cersei Lannister, reassuring her of her daughter Myrcella‘s safety. Cut forward a few seasons, and Oberyn’s skull is crushed, and Myrcella has been poisoned by Ellaria.
And during Daenerys‘ first ever strategy meeting with her new council, Tyrion reminds Ellaria of this. “I know how you wage war,” he says. “We don’t poison little girls here.”
Wrong. Everybody is poisoned. Everybody dies. There will only be one person left alive at the end of the series, and it’ll be Samwell Tarly, diligently writing his book.
Sansa’s clothing is super foreshadowing AGAIN.
If you ever can’t tell what’s going to happen next on ‘Game of Thrones’, just pause on whatever Sansa happens to be wearing, then run it through your encyclopedic knowledge of every other costume Sansa and her co-stars have ever worn, and what was going on with the plot at the time. SIMPLE!
Sansa was wearing an ugly-as-sin circle necklace thingy, which if you recall with your genius ‘GoT’-stuffed brain, last made an appearance when Sansa dyed her hair black and escaped King’s Landing with Littlefinger.
Costume designer Michele Clapton said that the necklace was “based on the idea that Arya had Needle. At the end of the necklace there’s a point, a spike, which is like Sansa’s smaller version of Needle. It’s a jewellery idea of Needle. She’s finally taking them on.”
So is this proof that Sansa is taking on the North and/or Littlefinger and/or Jon? The glances she throws Littlefinger’s way do little to settle the stomach, and there’s theories that Sansa is ready to convince the Northmen that she’s the true ruler of Winterfell.
Yes, that was a tongue being cut out in the final battle sequence.
Euron Greyjoy‘s ship is called Silence, because its crewed by men he’s defeated in battle and then cut out their tongues like some kind of initiation ritual. “I needed silence,” he explained to Balon Greyjoy before throwing him off a bridge, and honestly, same.
Is there a betrothal on the horizon?
Before Daenerys set sail to Westeros, she sent Daario away to keep herself open to a marriage alliance. And now, Jon is riding her way to barter for dragonglass – and Daenerys wants him to bend the knee. The alliance makes complete and total sense, tbh, except for the tiny detail that if Jon’s father really is Rhaegar Targaryen, then Daenerys is his aunty. (Not that it’s a total dealbreaker for Targaryens, who used to wed brother and sister.)
Littlefinger’s past is about to be EXPOSED.
Oh thank god. The only person who knows that it was Littlefinger who betrayed Ned Stark is Tyrion Lannister – and Jon’s on his way to meet with Tyrion as we speak.
The downside is that Littlefinger knows this, and knows he’s about to get rumbled, so chances are he’s going to use Jon’s absence to strike. Goddamnit it. But if this season gives us Jon goddamn beheading Lord Petyr Baelish, then I would just be so happy.
And if you’re wondering where TF Jon’s direwolf Ghost was last night – here’s your answer.
Photos: HBO.
