This clause contains monolithic spoilers for " The Broken Man , " the 7th episode ofGame of Thrones ' 6th season . continue accordingly .
As it so often does this time of twelvemonth , Game of Throneshype bookended the weekend . On Friday night,2016 ’s best selfiehit Twitter , showingHamiltoncreator and notedThronesfan Lin - Manuel Miranda standing wing next to George R.R. Martin .
News of GRRM ’s New York City Hell block up speedily fueledspeculationthat he ’d come to townsfolk to redeem the manuscript forThe Winds of Winter , the sixth book in theA Song of Ice and Firesaga – a view that gained adhesive friction yesterday when someone claim to crop for Martin ’s publishing company posteda photo of a blank - whiskered manfitting the author ’s general description walk through the lobby of the Random House building .
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With the show ’s impending season coda also reportedly title " The flatus of Winter , " the book ’s publication escort will apparently be announced soon – right ? TheGame of Throneshype - string never stops , and it ’s chugging even more furiously down the tracks in the Wake Island of last night ’s surprising episode , " The Broken Man . "
As everyone ’s pet new character , Lyanna Mormont , would doubtlessly say regarding the above : " I conceive we ’ve had enough small talk . Why are you here ? " And with that , rent ’s start this retread off with a tripper to Bear Island .
The North: grin and Bear it
FewGame of Thronescharacters have been introduced as gloriously asLyanna Mormont . The no - nonsense 10 - year - erstwhile rule of Bear Island will see you now – and she will also stop you cold-blooded mid - time should you make any endeavor at chitchat . " Get to the Point " are the unofficial words of House Mormont from here on out . On a per - second screentime foundation , Lyanna ’s badass quotient is challenged only by that of Smalljon Umber , who unforgettably razzed Ramsay Bolton earlier this time of year . But Lyanna wipes the story with that guy , too , because Lyanna is undoubtedly the with child persona in the history ofGame of Thrones .
Jon and Sansa learn all too apace that you ca n’t bring sapless poppycock to Lyanna . As the Stark kids dance hideously for Mormont table chip , only to be bail out by the wisdom of Davos , they ’re serve all of the following rejoinders by the littlest Mormont ( who happens to be Jeor Mormont ’s niece and Jorah Mormont ’s cousin-german ):
" I think we ’ve had enough belittled talk . Why are you here ? "
" My mother was no great knockout , or any other kind of smasher . "
" If you say so . In any causa , you do n’t just want my fealty – you desire my defend serviceman . "
" I translate that I ’m responsible for Bear Island and all who live here . So why should I sacrifice one more Mormont life for someone else ’s war ? "
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The indignities Jon and Sansa suffered on Bear Island to net a measly 62 Mormont fighting Isle of Man ! Long endure Lyanna Mormont ( who will probably kick the bucket soon , because it’sGame of Thrones ) .
Jon , meanwhile , seems to be unusually utter inside . While grimly conjure the wildlings to bring together in their cause to take back Winterfell , he search like he ’s about to cry . This may be because the wildlings are looking more and more like extras from the " Dancing With Myself " video , or he may be bummed out about tinker’s damn fix into his stab wounds , or it might be because he no longer thinks he has a righteous effort on his side . Jon is ( rightfully ) more interested with the risk lying to the North than the political morass he ’s being sucked into in the South , and he ’s Mr. Gloomy Gus about the outrageousness of it all . Whatever the reason , Sansa ’s not avail to cheer him up .
I ’ll say it : what the inferno is Sansa doing ? First , she reminds a borderline hostile Lord Glover of his obligation to tantalise behind the Starks , a poor decision that causes Jon to sigh and Lord Glover to refer to Robb Stark ’s dead wife as a " foreign whore . " Then Sansa disses Davos snarkily to Jon ’s face after the Onion Knight had single - handedly won Lyanna Mormont over to their campaign . Finally , Sansa system . Without telling Jon or anyone else of her design , she fires off ( quills out ? ) a varsity letter , destination unknown , after being seemingly upset with Jon ’s insistence that they march on Winterfell as - is , with only 2,000 wildlings , 200 Hornwoods , 143 Mazins , and 62 Mormonts . No one put Sansa in the recession .
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So whom did she send the alphabetic character to , via Mormont pig ? It ca n’t be going to any of the northerly house already cite , include Houses Glover , Mormont , Manderly , Mazin , Hornwood , and Cerwyn . It ca n’t be the Blackfish , because Sansa has already off Brienne to Riverrun to draft her great uncle and his men in their fight . Did she send it to Littlefinger ? Possibly – but the alphabetic character was signed a bit too formally , not to mention that require for his assistance would weaken everything she said to him during their confrontation before this season .
My three guesses for where the Corvus corax is heading : to her full cousin Robert Arryn , aka Sweetrobin , who is partial to her vs. Littlefinger and who is presumably still hole up at the Eyrie ; to Yohn Royce , who hates Littlefinger with a passion , who was a even hunt partner of Ned Stark , and who is conveniently camp out out with the Knights of the Vale in the south of Winterfell at Moat Cailin ; or to Howland Reed .
My Bob Hope is that Sansa sent the raven to Howland , begetter of Jojen and Meera Reed . He ’s among the loyalest Stark bannermen who , remarkably , has croak unheard from for the full serial ( in the Scripture and on the show ) , save for helping Ned beat Ser Arthur Dayne in the flashback Bran had at the Tower of Joy . It ’s undecipherable how many men Howland Reed command , but his surfacing on the side of the Starks would no doubt suck up any noncommital Northmen toward the Stark cause .
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But yeah , she probably just commit it off to Littlefinger .
Camp Deadwood: Swearengen swears again
In his breakdown ofthe Hound ’s returnand what it signify forCleganebowl , my fellow Septon Patches made a potent case against the much - hype lover possibility that Sandor and Gregor Clegane will feather off . And base on " The Broken Man , " I ’m decreasingly sure that it ’ll encounter , either . Colorado - creators and carbon monoxide gas - showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss had to be trolling lover when they place an actual pipe bowl of gruel in Sandor Clegane ’s gargantuan mitts . You want Cleganebowl ? Here you go : Clegane + a bowl !
But that was n’t the only snarky visual put-on in this root on segment of the episode . Our older HBO brother Ian McShane made an inspired visit toGame of Thronesin the physical body of Septon Ray , a character reference cut from the same mold asDeadwood ’s foulmouthed Al Swearengen . So many trees were being chopped to chip in this installment that I could n’t help oneself but think : dead Ellen Price Wood . And of course Septon Ray winds up flow from wooden raftsman .
This interchange betweenMcShane and Rory McCann , who play the Hound , makes me particularly sad that McShane ’s spark was n’t extend :
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Septon : " When I found you , I believe you ’d been numb for days . You were stinking already and you had hemipterous insect all over you , and a bone was coming through [ point to leg ] right there . I was going to give you a proper burial and then you cough . Nearly shit myself . I suppose you were going to pass away by the time I loaded you on the wagon . But you did n’t . And I figure you ’d die a dozen more multiplication over the next few day , but you did n’t . What restrain you going ? "
dog : " Hate . "
McShane : " No , there ’s a reason you ’re still here . "
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Hound : " Yeah , there ’s a reasonableness : I ’m a enceinte fucker and I ’m hard to pour down . "
McShane : " No . A reason : gods are n’t done with you yet . "
bounder : " I ’ve heard that before . Man was talk about a different god , though . "
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McShane : " Well , possibly he was correct . I do n’t know much about the gods . "
blackguard : " You ’re in the wrong line of work . "
McShane : " There ’s quite a little of pious son of bitches who intend they do it the parole of God or God . I do n’t . I do n’t even have it off their real names . possibly it is the Seven . Or perchance it ’s the Old Gods . Or maybe it ’s the Lord of Light . Or possibly they ’re all the same fucking thing . I do n’t know . What matters , I believe , is that there ’s something greater than us . And whatever it is , he ’s got program for Sandor Clegane . "
With the Hound localise off to exact his revenge on the Brotherhood Without Banners outlaws who bolt down the septon and his followers , I suggest that it ’s clock time to launch the penstock on crossing with other HBO shows . Next week , let ’s see him team up with an Omar - esque vigilance man play by Michael Kenneth Williams . The week after that , let ’s have T.J. Miller turn up as quasi - Erlich Bachman , with the only purpose to pepper Walder Frey with put - down feather while the Hound wields his ax to chop down some more Freys . And who would n’t need to see Ann Dowd ofThe Leftoversappear as one of the Silent Sisters ?
For now , I ’m well-chosen just to have been able to hear McShane say , " I ’m a bally septon . What was I presuppose to say ? " And that Cleganebowl still has leg . ( Get hype ! )
King’s Landing: a personal matter
You recognise that Cersei must go down on openhanded - time for Olenna to detest her more than the High Sparrow . Maybe the Queen of Thorns has forgotten what a hooter the manipulative religious nut has been when she says to Cersei , " I wonder if you ’re the bad person I ’ve ever met . "
Of naturally , she did n’t take in the calculating High Sparrow need her granddaughter , the as shrewd Margaery , about a " personal matter . " If Olenna had , there ’s no way he would n’t top any and all lists she ever make regarding the bad people she ’s ever met .
First , the High Sparrow says to the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms , " The Martin Luther King Jr. bring up that , since your reunion , you have n’t joined him in the marriage bed . You have a duty , Your Grace . To your husband , your Martin Luther King Jr. , the nation , to the god themselves . " And then when Margaery in effect says that Tommen is repellant , he says , " Congress does not require desire on the woman ’s part . Only patience . "
It will be dear to see him die .
Now that Olenna is departing and Jaime is reboot from King ’s Landing , too , and her own family and any former allies have all turned their backs on her , Cersei is , as Olenna strongly intimate , " fence in by enemies , thousands of them . " The smoulder flavor on Cersei ’s boldness when Olenna say , " You ’ve lost " would be priceless if I think that was the least bit true .
Cersei is far from finish . What Lady Olenna does n’t seem to factor out in is that Cersei has the Mountain to defend her and Qyburn operating in the vestige – under the right circumstances , that ruff yard of less - crafty enemies . And next hebdomad could bear that out . In the teaser for Episode 8 , she finally fork over the line " I choose violence , " as the zombified Gregor moves into on the face of it imperviable action mechanism against Lancel Lannister and his brainwashed chums .
Even if Cersei were to submit to a trial by scrap , she has a behemoth to defend her . ( And it ’s not like the Hound is alive or anything , right ? Oh , wait … ) And retrieve that tantrum in Bran ’s visual sensation that appeared to show wildfire exploding underneath the city ? I ’m put my money on Cersei have something to do with that . Here ’s go for that she survives long enough to take out the High Sparrow , so that we can get back to the day when she was understandably the worst somebody Olenna has ever gather .
Riverrun: Tully loaded
" Now that is a no-count endeavour at a siege , " says the upjumped sell - sword we acknowledge and bed by the name of Bronn . " Someone needs to instruct those distressing pussy how to grok trenches . "
Theory : Bronn should be in every scene . ( Another hypothesis : bring back Shagga . Remember Shagga ? Whatever come about to Shagga ? ) For now , we ’ll have to settle for a handful of scenes with Jaime . The exiled Lannister lacks a righthand man as much as he does a right hired man , so he taps Bronn to assist him win back Riverrun , the Tully stronghold officially have by the Freys that Catelyn Stark ’s uncle Brynden Tully , aka the Blackfish , refuses to hand over . move into that sorry siege try by the Freys – followed now by the 8,000 Lannister soldiers who have arrived to clean house up the mess .
The only noted moment of this plot line – this episode provide setup for consequential effect certain to happen next week – happens during the lift bridge parley between Jaime Lannister and Brynden Tully , and it ’s all about the armour . Jaime ’s samurai - elan power train features glow alloy lion engrave into the shoulders , while the Tullly armour resemble the scales of a fish . Do Jaime and Brynden ask to tire armor to the parley ? Not really – they ’re only exchanging banter , per the rules of war . So they ’re just peacocking . The finding of fact : the Blackfish clearly wins the parley ( in a nutshell : no direction do the Tullys leave that castle of their own free will ) , but the competition for best armour is House Lannister by a landslip .
Volantis: the official Ironmen rally song
Two thing were confirmed by the vista at the brothel legal profession in that despicable hive of trash and villainy know as Volantis . The first is that Yara is an chronic , slap - ass horndog . And the 2d is that we now know for certain that she and Theon are heading to Meereen to get ahead over Daenerys and her dragons for their vengeful plan to recapture the Iron Islands . On the plus side , Dany could use their ship . On the downside , Dany ’s consultant , Tyrion Lannister , is no fan of the Greyjoys , and Euron Greyjoy is in quick-tempered pursuit . So while Theon seems to have been converted through that flagon of ale ( chug it ! ) , his prospects are still calculate mightily down in the mouth to me .
Braavos: that’s just the Waif it is
The good news : Arya ’s tedious Braavos plot line is almost certain to be wrapping up before long , one way or another . The bad : our favourite Stark kid might break !
While we ’re questioning that Arya Horseface will set forth this plane of cosmos without slap the smirk off the Waif ’s face , things were n’t looking too good for her at the end of this episode . When we last see her , after she ’d booked passage back to Westeros , she ’s bleeding out and stumbling through the crowded , uncaring streets of Braavos . Braavosi , you ’re so harsh to a girl !
Not amazingly , the sudden development of her getting stab in broad daylight by her implike - scourge while gaze at the Titan of Braavos , follow soon after by the teaser for next week ’s instalment that sport a miss who front much like Arya jumping acrobatically somewhere in Braavos , made quite a little of viewers scratch their heads instead of vexation that Arya might be a goner . The full-grown question : was that even Arya who the Waif slashed once in the gut and then poke twice more , the 2d with an evil braid of the tongue ?
What if that ’s really Jaqen H’ghar sitting as Arya , because he is n’t testing Arya at all but is in fact testing the Waif ? What if that ’s Arya in the ship - book scene but not the about fatal bridge attack panorama ? What if Arya , having spent time with the mummer of previous , steal a bladder of simulated blood from the play troupe , andthat’swhat the Waif knife ? What if the Waif is really Arya and the person we cerebrate is Arya is Jaqen H’ghar – only Aryathinksthat Jaqen - Arya is in reality the Waif pretend to be Arya ? What if ?
We ’ll have to be contented with hold off for answers to get ( hopefully ) next hebdomad . Speculation here leads to foolishness , and I sleep together this because I ’m totter on the verge of insanity .
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