Welp, episode three of Game of Thrones certainly pushed things along. While the previous episodes in the season were mostly setup for what's to come, this one paid off with several shocking reveals.
Just when the balance of power seemed to shift in one favor, the showrunners wisely pulled it back in the other direction. Below you'll find everything we spotted in episode three of Game of Thrones, "The Queens Justice," and what it might mean for future episodes.
Full spoilers for Game of Thrones season seven continue below.
Unfortunately Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen’s meeting wasn’t the warm family reunion we had sought. While Jon is singularly focused on the threat beyond on the wall, Daenerys seems more preoccupied with reminding him that she is the rightful queen and should be respected as such.
Though in moment that surprised Jon, Dany told him before her court, that her father was “an evil man” before begging forgiveness for the crimes House Targaryen perpetrated against his family. This is an important moment for Jon, who starts to see Daenerys as something more than the unimpeachable persona she presents when he first arrives.
She also asks “not to judge a daughter by the sins of her father,” when Jon references the fact her father burned his grandfather alive. This is a direct callback to the first episode in the season when Jon Snow allows Alys Karstark and Ned Umber to retain their castles and family titles after the previous heads of their houses rose up against Jon to side with Ramsay Bolton. Jon said, “I will not punish a son for his father’s sins.” So it seems like the two are on the same page as far as starting fresh goes.
And by the end of the episode (and an excellent heart-stirring speech from Davos) Jon will be able to mine dragon glass from Dragonstone, which he needs to fight the Army of the Dead. Yet, as he’s said in the past, weapons alone aren’t enough to face the Night King. He’ll need allies in the fight against the dead.
I will not punish a son for his father’s sins.
Many of the best parts of Game of Thrones are when powerful people talk plainly with one another, and as we saw in last night’s episode when the two speak plainly on the cliffs, Dany and Jon are capable of having a conversation that’s mostly devoid of pomp and circumstance. I imagine we’ll get another heartfelt conversation or two between the King and Queen before one of them joins the cause of the other, whether that means Jon’s war in the north, or Dany’s war in the south, we’ll have to wait and see.
However it’s important to note that with the destruction of Yara Greyjoy's fleet, and the Unsullied who are seemingly stranded at Casterly Rock without their ships, Dany is in short supply of allies. It seems likely she might try to find another ally in Jon Snow and the North, in return for his support in the war on Queen Cersei at King’s Landing. Friends are hard to come by, and these two (though they don’t know their potential blood relation) could be exactly what one another need.
And with all these stoic power plays happening between the two, it’s hard to overlook Daenerys later asking Tyrion about what Davos said regarding Jon Snow. “He took a knife in the heart for his people,” at which Jon quickly shot Davos a look to not mention his resurrection.
“What was that Ser Davos said about taking a knife in the heart for his people," Dany stated. Hopefully we get to hear Jon tell Dany about how he’s dead, and not dead, or somewhere between, and that if the dead can come back to life, and dragons can roam the sky, the Night King could surely exist.
Yet one of the most interesting turns of phrase didn’t come between Jon and Dany, but between Varys and Melisandre. On the cliffs of Dragonstone, The Spider confronts the red woman, saying, “If you don’t mind my saying, I don't think you should return to Westeros. I’m not sure you’d be safe here."
Melisandre in her brutally creepy prophetic nature replies, “Oh I will return dear Spider. One last time. I have to die in this strange country, just like you.”
Now neither Varys nor Melisandre are from Westeros, which is interesting since she refers to it as “strange.” And it’s worth noting that of most of those who’ve given council to multiple monarchs, both Varys and Melisandre are still alive. They’re almost cut from the same cloth, if you look at it from that standpoint.
It would be fitting that they both die in service of theirs beliefs. Varys believes in doing what’s right for the people, and Melisandre believes in carrying out the commands of the Lord of Light. But for two people who having seemingly been so untouchable, it’s interesting to hear that they’ll both die serving those they believe in. In any case, Varys did not look happy to hear the news, which means somewhere deep down he believes in red woman.
But let’s not forget, Melisandre made a similar vow to Arya Stark when they met, telling her the two would meet again. Perhaps our little faceless woman will be the red woman’s end she seems to know is coming.
While Jon has traveled south to Dragonstone, Sansa is the Lady of Winterfell. She seems to get straight to work, patrolling the grounds adding her fair of northern input into the goingson of the keep, and the shortfall of food to support those seeking cover in Winterfell from the “real cold.”
She stops by the blacksmith asking why the breastplates being hammered don’t have leather on them (since armor should be insulated against the cold in the north.) It’s our first moment seeing Sansa as a leader on the show, and it appears that she hasn’t forgotten her northern roots, nor her time in Kingslanding judging by how she handles herself as a ruler.
Of course, Littlefinger continues to weave his web around Sansa in the North, offering her advice in the form of sayings and proverbs. This one we heard in the season seven trailer, which now takes on new meaning in the context:
Either the dead will defeat the living, in which case, all our troubles come to an end. Or life will win out.
"Either the dead will defeat the living, in which case, all our troubles come to an end. Or life will win out. And what then? Don’t fight in the North or the South. Fight every battle, everywhere, always, in your mind. Everyone is your enemy, everyone is your friend. Every possible series of events is all happening at once. Live that way and nothing will surprise you. Everything that happens will be something that you’ve seen before.”
But before Littlefinger could get too deep into his waxing of proverbial preparedness, Sansa is reunited with her long lost brother, Bran Stark.
Bran isn’t what he used to be, seemingly disjointed from the real world as the Three-Eyed Raven who sees all that has been and all that is. But Sophie Turner does amazing work selling the reunion and you actually feel for her being reunited with her little brother, despite the fact he seems indifferent to the moment.
Bran apologizes to Sansa for what’s happened to her, and shares his knowledge of her wedding night with Ramsay, referencing her white wedding dress. It’s safe to say this scene was designed to impart on us that Bran is no longer a man, but a force of the universe, and that his connection with the world and the Stark family in particular is of secondary importance.
It also helps to lend credibility to the fact the guy who knows what the hell he’s talking about, and maybe all this weird prophetic mumbo jumbo, is actually something we should be paying attention to. And with Bran and Sansa back in Winterfell, and Aryra presumably on her way, we could see all the Stark children in the same place for the first time since season one. That’s exciting!
Meanwhile, things are not well for the Tyrells, with the Lannister army marching on Highgarden along with sworn bannermen Randyll Tarly and his son, so we know that the worst is in store for the knights of summer and their matriarch, Olenna Tyrell.
This entire sequence was merely a setup for Olenna’s outstanding sendoff. Of all the characters who’ve died on the show, no one did it with such a middle finger as the Queen of Thorns herself. Known for her sharp tongue, cunning wit, and blunt demeanor, it’s no wonder that Olenna decided to go out in the way that she lived... pissing off her enemies and stirring the pot, even if it was to be posthumously.
Of all the characters who’ve died on the show, no one did it with such a middle finger as the Queen of Thorns.
But there’s more to this scene that meets the eye, and fittingly, it all has to do with the eyes. After the Lannisters slaughtered the defending Tyrells (fighting was never their strong suit), Jaime makes his way up into Highgarden to confront Olenna.
She clearly knows that this visit will be the end of her, yet she defiantly confronts Jaime with plain speak and certainty. It’s an excellent scene.
But before Jaime offers her a poison-filled glass of wine, she shares her thoughts on Cersei, “She’s a disease, I regret my role in spreading it. You will too.”
The look in Jaime’s eyes tells us he takes this as more than just a jab, he knows something of it is true. Could this be foreshadowing his role to come as The Kingslayer? How fitting would it be that Jaime kills his sister to protect the realm (a theory that’s been tossed around ever since we saw his uneasy disposition when his black-clad sister took the Iron Throne.)
But before this powerful scene is finished, we hear Olenna confess to the act of poisoning Joffrey Baratheon, Jaime and Cersei’s son, and former king. This is big, because now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jaime (and soon to be Cersei) know that Tyrion was not responsible for the death of the boy.
“I’d hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck. Foam and bile spilling from my mouth. Eyes blood red, skin purple. Must have been horrible for you, as a King’s Guard, as a father. It was horrible enough for me. A shocking scene. Not at all what I intended.
“You see, I’d never seen the poison the work before,” Olenna says. “Tell Cersei. I want her know it was me.”
Not that this will change how Cersei feels about her brother who’s now the Hand of the Queen for her enemy, Daenerys Targaryen, but this could potentially unsettle the queen who’s been pining for vengeance ever since the Purple Wedding.
We finally now know the true value of Euron Greyjoy’s “priceless gift.” While it’s not the long lost bastard son of Robert Baratheon as some of us believed, it’s a much more emotionally painful reminder to Cersei.
Euron Greyjoy, riding into King's Landing as a hero, delivered Ellaria Sand and her only surviving daughter, the last of the Sand Snakes, Tyene Sand, along with his niece Yara Greyjoy. Fittingly enough, “The Queen’s Justice” saw Cersei use the same poison (The Long Farewell) to poison Ellaria’s daughter -- the same poison Ellaria used to kill Myrcella Baratheon. Cersei even delivered the toxin in the same manner - with a goodbye kiss - while the mother and daughter of Dorne were chained across the room from one another, forcing Ellaria to watch her only surviving daughter slowly die before her.
Given the quick and brutal demise of the other Sand Snakes in the last episode when Euron attacked their ship and killed them, it’s likely this scenario is going to play out. The showrunners have never really known what to do with Oberyn’s daughters, and with the swift exit the other two faced, it seems likely that the ladies of Dorne will be written off entirely. Don’t expect a cunning rescue at the last moment for these two.
But the real question is what does Cersei intend to do with Ellaria once this unsettlingly calculated show of brutality is over. She’s theoretically going to still be a prisoner Cersei has been fantasizing about killing for some time, and we all know how that ended for the last woman she fantasized about murdering.
Given the look between Ellaria and The Mountain we saw as she remembers what he did to Oberyn, there’s a connection there. I sincerely hope Cersei doesn’t take a poetic turn and let The Mountain do to her what he did to Oberyn. We’ll have to wait and see.
Meanwhile the representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos (the same bank Stannis went to with Davos to ask for the gold needed to hire an army and bring them to Westeros) met with Cersei. He’s there to call in the debts of the crown, which are considerable if we remember back to the first season of the show. It seems likely that the Iron Bank will be an ally to Cersei, which could spell disaster for Dany and her splintering forces considering the bank’s considerable wealth and interest in foreign affairs.
What seemed like a genius attack on the Lannister seat of power in the last episode revealed itself to be a terrible strategic underestimation on the part of Tyrion. As he sent Dany’s legion of Unsullied to attack Casterly Rock -- distracting the defenders with an assault on the walls while Grey Worm and a small group infiltrated the keep from the sewers -- they couldn’t know they were being mislead. The Lannisters knew they were coming.
As Jaime Lannister put it later in the episode after the appropriate “The Rains of Castamere” played while marching into Highgarden, “Casterly Rock isn’t worth much anymore.” Which makes sense since the seat of Lannister power is now the capital King’s Landing, and the gold mines of Casterly Rock have run dry.
Grey Worm himself knew something was wrong after taking the city through the hidden tunnels in the sewers, before he saw the destruction happening below, as there were far too few Lannister soldiers defending the stronghold. But he soon saw Euron’s Iron Fleet flanked the Unsullied ships, destroying them on the coast outside the city and cutting off The Unsullied’s only means of escape.
The Westerlands could play host to an incredible battle in the coming episodes.
What does this mean? Effectively it means Dany’s incredibly powerful and vital Unsullied army is now stranded at Casterly Rock. They can’t leave by the sea, thanks the Euron’s fleet, and they have nowhere to march since Dany is on an island across the width of Westeros. Should the Unsullied try to march out toward the eastern shore of Westeros, and somehow find passage back to Dragonstone, odds are they’d be run down by Lannister or Tarly cavalry before they made it to the Riverlands.
But judging by the trailers showing Dothraki and dragons fighting over an open field, I wouldn’t be surprised if the Mother of Dragons decides to flex her muscles and go rescue her Unsullied from Casterly Rock. Assuming Jaime or Cersei commands their armies to surround Casterly Rock and starve out the Unsullied, the Westerlands could play host to an incredible battle in the coming episodes.
Jorah is cured of Greyscale. Hooray!
While Sam didn’t so much get in trouble with Archmaester Ebrose for performing the forbidden procedure, he didn’t get the recognition for performing what seems like one of the more difficult procedures in Westeros and beyond.
But the important part here is Jorah is in one piece after his medicinal flaying and seems to be hell bent on getting back to Dany. Given the publicity of Daenerys being at Dragonstone, it’s safe to assume Jorah knows, or will know, how to get back to her. But what could a beat up, grizzled Westerosi knight have to offer the Mother of Dragons now?
As he said, “I surrendered to this sickness the moment I first saw it. I knew it would kill me or I’d kill myself before it could. Daenerys Stormborn convinced me otherwise. The only place for me is back with her.”
Well, outside of his sword, his council, and his soothing gravely voice, Jorah is a son of House Mormont, of Bear Island. Yes, the same Bear Island that little Lady Mormont now commands. Let’s say Jorah gets to Dragonstone, while Jon Snow is still there mining his dragon glass, could his northern heritage help to curry favor with Jon Snow, despite the fact he was banished for slave trading? Jon had an incredible respect for Lord Commander Mormont and so we could be in to see the late Lord Commander's son and Jon speak about the North, his father, and the need to convince Dany to join the cause.
Also, one more round of applause for Sam who basically flayed a guy alive for his first time. Well done, man. Well done!
Brandin Tyrrel is an Editor at IGN and stupid excited that winter is here. You can follow him on Twitter at @BrandinTyrrel.
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