History Recap / GameOfThronesS4E10TheChildren

** A predatory animal of Drogon's size and viciousness would almost certainly target children as easy prey if its normal prey supply is unavailable.

-->'''Jon:''' Your Grace, if my father had seen the things I'd seen, he'd also tell you to burn the dead before nightfall. ''All'' of them.

Brienne ''just'' manages to divert his strike in time, reverses their positions, then ''bites into and tears most of Clegane's right ear clean off.'' Sandor writhes in the dirt half mad with torment and fury and when Brienne spits the chunk of his own flesh at him, he comes at her with his dagger again. Brienne pounds him around the ears with a hefty stone pulled from the earth and tries to tackle him to the surface once more but Clegane bear hugs her, then drops his blade to beat her to a pulp. Incredibly, the Maid of Tarth gets a [[HeroicSecondWind remarkable resurgence]] after the second pummeling she endures and ''uppercuts'' the Hound under the chin before wailing on his ass until the knuckles of her right hand are smashed, split and bleeding, [[ScreamingWarrior shrieking all the while]]. Sandor stumbles back, barely conscious, and falls over the ravine's edge for about twenty feet, crashing down the sheer slope all the way to the gully below while Brienne collapses atop the cliff with battle fatigue, floundering in adrenaline. Soon enough, she remembers the whole point of the arduous fight: where is Arya? She screams out for her as she and Pod blindly search the hillsides.

** The {{Patricide}} is incredibly different. When freeing Tyrion, Jaime confesses that Tysha, the prostitute that he claimed to have hired to fake a RescueRomance for Tyrion, was no such thing, but rather exactly what she said she was: a crofter's daughter who really did love him. When Lord Tywin found out, he ordered Jaime to lie, deeming the girl nothing but a GoldDigger. Tyrion brings this up when he confronts Tywin, and it's Tysha that Tywin refers to as a whore one too many times. This also has the added side effect of completely changing the brothers' parting words: in the books, Tyrion, headlong over the DespairEventHorizon, gets even more furious about the revelation and the fact that Jamie had kept the truth from him for so long. Lashing out in his fury, he goes off on [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech an absolutely withering rant]], telling Jaime about the frequent trysts Cersei has behind his back and even lies that he did indeed kill Joffrey, hurting the one person who still loves him simply because he himself is in too much pain to be civil, before swearing he will one day come back for revenge on Jaime, Tywin and Cersei for all they've done to him. He regrets it almost immediately, but it's clear the damage is done.

** Tywin first appears in Season Four as the "Rains of Castamere" is being played in the background. The song plays again as he dies.

** After shooting a quarrel into his father's chest, Tyrion [[DissonantSerenity calmly reloads his crossbow]] and gives him a second bolt for good measure.

Sandor's [[BerserkButton berserk button]] is well and truly pressed and he grabs the length of Valyrian Steel with his ''bare hands'', squeezing the ever-sharp edges until blood trickles through his fingers and his grip is assured.

** The {{Patricide}} is incredibly different. When freeing Tyrion, Jaime confesses that Tysha, the prostitute that he claimed to have hired to fake a RescueRomance for Tyrion, was no such thing, but rather exactly what she said she was: a crofter's daughter who really did love him. When Lord Tywin found out, he ordered Jaime to lie, deeming the girl nothing but a GoldDigger. Tyrion brings this up when he confronts Tywin, and it's Tysha that Tywin refers to as a whore one too many times. This also has the added side effect of completely changing the brothers' parting words: in the books, Tyrion, headlong over the DespairEventHorizon, gets even more furious about the revelation and the fact that Jamie had kept the truth from him for so long. Lashing out in his fury, he goes off on an absolutely withering rant, telling Jaime about the frequent trysts Cersei has behind his back and even lies that he did indeed kill Joffrey, hurting the one person who still loves him simply because he himself is in too much pain to be civil. He regrets it almost immediately, but it's clear the damage is done.

Stannis dismounts and eyes Mance, both Kings having quite an epic [[WorthyOpponent stare-down]]. Davos introduces Stannis as the "one true King of the Seven Kingdoms" but Mance, duly elected King Beyond the Wall, snarks that they are not in the Seven Kingdoms and they're aren't even [[RefugeInAudacity dressed for this weather]]. Stannis notes that a leader should [[KneelBeforeZod make a physical show of surrender]] when parleying with a King and that his behavior will impact the fates of his people. But Mance and indeed the wildlings as a whole kneel to no one. Stannis takes this rebuke in his stride and has most of Mance's men clapped in irons. Jon Snow reveals himself to be Ned Stark's son when Davos asks what a man of the Night's Watch is doing in the enemy's camp, much to Stannis' surprise. Stannis tells Jon that his father was a honorable man, considering Ned died for Stanni's claim. What would ''Ned'' have done with Mance? Jon considers this for a second. He tells Stannis that Mance neither executed nor tortured him when ''he'' was the man's prisoner and that his father would have taken the wildlings' King hostage and heard him out. Stannis concurs and Davos escorts Mance away.

Cut to a lovely close-up of a hideous, stinking, festering, ''sizzling'' wound. At the Red Keep in '''King's Landing''', Qyburn and Pycelle are examining the drugged and delirious Gregor Clegane's rather sickly, greenish-purple veined abdomen. Cersei hangs back with a perfumed handkerchief over her nose and mouth to block the stench of Gregor's bodily fluids putrifying in his veins, and she curses the Martells. It seems Oberyn's death was not in vain after all, since his spear was in fact coated with venom from the ''Death's Head Manticore'', thickened with Qartheen sorcery so as not to kill instantly but instead ''prolong'' the Mountain's suffering. Pycelle regretfully admits that there's no hope of a cure, but Qyburn disagrees, stating that while no maester alive knows how to save him, ''he'' does. Cersei is curious and while Qyburn busies himself with apparatus, Pycelle complains to to his Queen that such arrogance was the reason why the maesters of the Citadel threw Qyburn out to begin with. Cersei, however, is enthralled and dismisses the Grand Maester from his own laboratory. Pycelle leaves in disgust while Qyburn attaches a medieval IV into Clegane's arm and uses an equally crude syringe the size of a basket-ball pump to withdraw and drain his corrupted blood into a glass round-bottom flask.

In the fallout of the Battle at Castle Black, Jon Snow marches through the tundra in the bright morning sunlight and into the '''Haunted Forest''' where Mance Rayder and his wildling army have set up camp. As he walks into the settlement, armed tribesmen emerge from the trees. Jon raises his arms in supplication and they bring him to Mance, who steps out of his tent to meet him. He notes that Jon has turned his cloak again. Snow informs him he's here to negotiate and the King Beyond the Wall allows him to step inside. Jon and Mance reminisce about the good times they had when everyone was convinced, even Jon, despite himself, that he had actually broken his vows to the Night's Watch; all due to Ygritte's intense influence. But apparently it wasn't enough to sway Jon's loyalty, who tells Mance of his ultimate role as a double agent. They discuss the first attack from the day before and Jon reveals his love's death, to which Mance has his men pour them [[GargleBlaster a "proper Northern drink"]] and they toast her along with the other glorious dead like Mag and Grenn. Mance offers Jon some food and then gets down to business. He knows the Watch threw all they had at the wildling army last night and that they are woefully undermanned. Jon is blunt and to the point: the wildling army must turn back. Mance refutes him stolidly. They ''need'' the Wall to hide from what's out there, they aren't here to conquer and they both know that "[[ArcWords winter is coming,]]" and it's in everyone's best interests not to allow a hundred thousand men, women and children to become undead slaves of the White Walkers. Mance gives Jon his ultimatum: allow them through the tunnel to settle on the Gift and no one else need die. Refuse, and he will kill every last one of them.

Jon glances at a nearby carving knife embedded in a stump... Rayder cottons on immediately and his generals move to butcher the bastard.

Stannis dismounts and eyes Mance, both Kings having quite an epic [[WorthyOpponent stare-down]]. Davos introduces Stannis as the "one true King of the Seven Kingdoms" but Mance, duly elected King Beyond the Wall, snarks that they are not in the Seven Kingdoms and they're aren't even [[RefugeInAudacity dressed for this weather]]. Stannis notes that a leader should [[KneelBeforeZod make a physical show of surrender]] when parleying with a King and that his behavior will impact the fates of his people. But Mance and indeed the wildlings as a whole kneel to no one. Stannis takes this rebuke in his stride and has most of Mance's men clapped in irons. Jon Snow reveals himself to be Ned Stark's son when Davos asks what a man of the Night's Watch is doing in the enemy's camp, much to Stannis' surprise. Stannis tells Jon that Ned was a honorable man, considering he died for his claim. What would ''he'' have done with Mance? Jon considers this for a second. He tells Stannis that Mance neither executed nor tortured him when ''he'' was the man's prisoner and that Eddard would have taken the wildlings' King hostage and heard him out. Stannis concurs and Davos escorts Mance away.

Cut to a lovely close-up of a hideous, stinking, festering, ''sizzling'' wound. At the Red Keep in '''King's Landing''', Qyburn and Pycelle are examining the drugged and delirious Gregor Clegane's rather sickly, greenish-purple veined abdomen. Cersei hangs back with a perfumed handkerchief over her nose and mouth to block the stench of Gregor's bodily fluids putrifying in his veins, and she curses the Martells. It seems Oberyn's death was not in vain after all, since his spear was in fact coated with venom from the ''Death's Head Manticore'', thickened with Qartheen sorcery so as not to kill instantly but instead ''prolong'' the Mountain's suffering. Pycelle regretfully admits that there's no hope of a cure, but Qyburn disagrees, stating that while no maester alive knows how to save him, ''he'' does. Cersei is curious and while Qyburn busies himself with apparatus, Pycelle complains to to his Queen that such arrogance was the reason why the maesters of the Citadel threw Qyburn out to begin with. Cersei, however, is enthralled and dismisses the Grand Maester from his own laboratory. Pycelle leaves in disgust while Qyburn attaches a medieval IV into Clegane's arm and uses an equally crude syringe the size of a basket-ball pump to withdrew and drain his corrupted blood into a glass round-bottom flask.

In the chambers of the Hand of the King, Cersei and Tywin discuss her upcoming marriage to Loras which she tells him point blank is never going to happen. Tywin retorts that she'll do it because, basically, he always gets his way. He even ''flatters'' her, reminding her that the future of the Lannister legacy now depends entirely on her and she's very important. When that doesn't fly, he goes for an anecdote about Cersei being stubborn in her childhood and Tywin setting her straight. Cersei [[ShutUpHannibal cuts him off]] and confirms to him what he refuses to believe: she and Jaime are indeed in a relationship and he is the father of her children. Having dropped this bombshell on him, Cersei strides off while Tywin can only stand in stupefied silence.

Cersei then interrupts Jaime flipping through the Book of Brothers. Jaime angrily tells her that she's won, Tyrion's head is going to roll. Is there really nothing she wouldn't do? For her family, she replies, no. But Tyrion ''is'' her family, Jaime retorts. Cersei denies this, saying that we ''choose'' our family and Tyrion was relegated to hated enemy as soon as he was born. Jaime objects that Tyrion had no control over killing their mother. "A disease doesn't ''decide'' to kill you. All the same you cut it out before it does." The Kingslayer has had enough, he can't choose her, she abandoned h - ''[[ShutUpKiss "I choose you."]]'' Cersei makes his mind up for him. "Those are words," Jaime groans. "Like the words I said to father?" She's admitted their incestual coupling to Tywin. While at first a little hesitant, Jaime eventually relents to her advances when Cersei accepts his mutilation and kisses his golden hand; they begin a tryst [[FridgeLogic on what must surely be a very uncomfortable table]].

Jon then visits a bound and bandaged Tormund Giantsbane; the latter wonders why the former had their wounds treated and put them in captivity rather than finishing the job. Jon says they'll burn the dead wildlings before working out what to do with the living. Tormund spits on funeral words and asks if Jon loved Ygritte and reveals that she loved him without end. He all but orders him to give her a proper funeral. "She belongs in the North. The ''real'' North, do you understand me?" To that end, Jon takes her body beyond the wall, to the base of the Heart Tree where he said his vows; he builds her a pyre and sets it alight, at last being brought to [[ManlyTears mourning]].

Joffrey's former bodyguard realizes his time is up and gamely readies himself for her revenge. He showed her how to kill a man cleanly after all. But Arya hesitates. Naked fear in his eyes, the Hound tries to goad her into finishing him by bringing up Mycah's unjust execution. How the ginger butcher's boy begged, how he pleaded. When Arya remains as impassive as ever he amps it up by wishing he'd raped Sansa before fleeing the Battle of Blackwater, claiming it would have been his only happy memory.

He enters the Tower of the Hand through a secret trapdoor and walks into his father's bedroom. As he nears the fourposter he sees a woman underneath the covers. She stirs and mutters: ''"Tywin... My lion..."'' She looks up from where she lies: it's Shae, still wearing the golden chain necklace Tyrion gave her last season. After a second's indecision Shae reaches for a cutting utensil on her plate of grapes and cheese, evidently prepared to kill him while Tyrion runs to stop her. He grapples with his former lover, managing to get her to relinquish the knife. Shae then tries to claw Tyrion's eyes out, scratching him on the cheeks, jaw and chest with her long nails but Tyrion gets the upper hand by snagging Shae by the chains around her neck and trying to throttle her into submission. She makes the fatal mistake of slapping him so hard he's sent clean off the mattress, pulling her with him. He sobs and cries as he garrotes her to death, then, lying beside her still form, he can only utter tearfully, ''"I'm sorry... I'm sorry."''

-->'''Tyrion:''' I am your son. And you sentenced me to die. You ''knew'' I didn't poison Joffrey - but you sentenced me all the same. ''Why?''

Varys opens the secret door and takes Tyrion aside, noting the state he's in and asking with some horror what he's done. He puts the dwarf in a box, asking him to trust him as he's led him this far. The crate is put on a ship sailing out of King's Landing. The spymaster moves to return to the Keep, but stops as the bells toll for Tywin's death. Varys gives the blood red castle one last lingering look then turns around and seats himself next to Tyrion.

We conclude Season Four at a harbor in '''the Saltpans'''. Accompanied by a TriumphantReprise of the Stark theme mixed with the main, Arya rides over the meadows on her white steed she acquired in the season premiere and asks to see the captain of the docked ship. ''"You're seeing him,"'' the foreign sailor says, paying little attention to her as she asks to be taken north to the Wall. The captain refuses, saying there's nothing there but ice and war and pirates. And he is sailing home anyway, to the Free City of Braavos. Arya remembers what Jaqen H'ghar told her to do two seasons ago and produces her iron coin. The very sight of it causes the captain's demeanor to change. His questions are silenced when Arya speaks the two words the Faceless assassin taught her to say to any man from Braavos upon showing him that same coin: ''[[ArcWords Valar Morghulis.]]''

** In the books Varys simply disappears after helping Jaime to get Tyrion out of prison, and it's left unclear where he goes; whether he went to Essos or whether he was just hiding in King's Landing. In the show - likely because they needed a reason to keep Conleth Hill on screen - he escapes alongside Tyrion.

** Similarly, after Arya and Gendry spend the early seasons together, Season Three ends with Gendry (the unknown Baratheon) boarding a boat and heading across the sea to escape his captors, and Season 4 ends with Arya (the Stark presumed dead) doing the same after fleeing her would-be protectors.

** Mance and the Wildlings just want the safety of the Wall when the White Walkers come and contend that they are only fighting the Night's Watch because they won't let them through and will kill any wildlings on sight. The Night's Watch isn't mistrustful without reason, as the wildlings were willing to launch a RapePillageAndBurn campaign to try to draw the Watch outside Castle Black and have no guarantee beside Mance's words that they won't do the same to the rest of the Seven Kingdoms. Even with Mance being an honorable man himself, there's still 100,000 Wildlings to control, many who have their own prejudices against the people of the South.

* BuryMeNotOnTheLonePrairie: Tormund tells Jon to give Ygritte a proper burial in the "real North" - which Jon honors, by burning her body in the forest beyond the Wall, beneath a weirwood tree.

** Brienne and the Hound use ''every'' dirty trick in the book as their fight drags on and becomes a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown on ''both'' ends.

* EtTuBrute: Missing [[TheDogBitesBack the bigger picture]], Tywin can hardly fathom that Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion are successfully rebelling against the head of house Lannister. His line "You shot me" even shares the feeling of disbelief ("why, this is violence"); that UsefulNotes/JuliusCaesar expressed during his own assassination.

* GoodVersusGood: The fight between Brienne and Sandor is this. Brienne is an honorable woman who wants to protect the Stark girls and fulfill her vow to Catelyn. Sandor, despite his flaws, also wants to protect Arya and has very good reasons not to trust Brienne. This makes the communication breakdown between them - and their ensuing violent fight - all the more tragic since both fighters are otherwise decent people.

* HeroicBSOD: Tyrion's response after killing a woman he loved - Shae - and the one man who'd made his life a living hell: his own father. When he returns to Varys to get smuggled out of King's Landing, Tyrion is silent and staring off [[ThousandYardStare into the distance]].

* LeftForDead: Arya refuses to kill the Hound, even when he begs her.

* ManipulativeBastard: Averted; Tywin tries to play on Cersei's desire to be his chosen successor. She not only rejects both her father and his legacy, she gleefully throws her twincest in his face. Later when Tyrion catches Tywin with his pants down he tells Tyrion everything he wanted to hear at the beginning of Season 3; that he's his son and that he will always protect him, and that he's even developed a grudging respect for Tyrion's ability to survive. Both children are aware of their father's true indifference to them however, so he fails ignominiously.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: Sandor tries to invoke this to goad Arya into killing him by claiming he would've been happy to rape Sansa when he had the chance. It doesn't work on Arya, though, or at least [[CruelMercy not in the way he hoped]].

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Stannis gives Jon a fairly small one by asking him what [[HonorBeforeReason Ned Stark]], the man Jon claims to be his father, would have done with Mance to determine if his claim is true.

* EtTuBrute: Missing [[TheDogBitesBack the bigger picture]], Tywin can hardly fathom that Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion are successfully rebelling against the head of house Lannister. His line "You shot me" even shares the feeling of disbelief ("why, this is violence"); that Creator/JuliusCaesar expressed during his own assassination.

** The {{Patricide}} is incredibly different. When freeing Tyrion, Jaime confesses that Tysha, the prostitute that he claimed to have hired to fake a RescueRomance for Tyrion, was no such thing, but rather exactly what she said she was: a crofter's daughter who really did love him. When Lord Tywin found out, he ordered Jaime to lie, deeming the girl nothing but a GoldDigger. Tyrion brings this up when he confronts Tywin, and it's Tysha that Tywin refers to as a whore one too many times. This also has the added side effect of completely changing the brothers' parting words: in the books, Tyrion, headlong over the DespairEventHorizon, gets even more furious about the revelation and the fact that Jamie had kept the truth from him for so long. Lashing out in his fury, he goes off on an absolutely withering rant, telling Jaime about Cersei's frequent affairs behind his back and even lies that he did indeed kill Joffrey, hurting the one person who still loves him simply because he himself is in too much pain to be civil. He regrets it almost immediately, but it's clear the damage is done.

** The {{Patricide}} is incredibly different. When freeing Tyrion, Jaime confesses that Tysha, the prostitute that he claimed to have hired to fake a RescueRomance for Tyrion, was no such thing, but rather exactly what she said she was: a crofter's daughter who really did love him. When Lord Tywin found out, he ordered Jaime to lie, deeming the girl nothing but a GoldDigger. Tyrion brings this up when he confronts Tywin, and it's Tysha that Tywin refers to as a whore one too many times. This also has the added side effect of completely changing the brothers' parting words: in the books, Tyrion, headlong over the DespairEventHorizon, lies to Jaime that he did indeed kill Joffrey, hurting the one person who still loves him simply because he himself is in too much pain to be civil. He regrets it almost immediately, but it's clear the damage is done. ...[[TearJerker Maybe it's just as well they cut this out.]]

* XanatosGambit: Oberyn Martell is revealed to have coated his spears with manticore venom, ensuring that so long as he wounded the Mountain at least once, he wins. If he wins his duel, the Mountain dies immediately and he gets his revenge for Elia. If he loses, then the venom will ensure a MutualKill after the Mountain dies in agony, also getting his posthumous revenge for Elia.

* WorfHadTheFlu: While specific attention isn't drawn to it, you might notice the Hound favoring his left arm during his fight with Brienne, not using it on his sword, despite the blade's two handed grip, showing that he's suffering the effects of his infected wound. Though he does use it for a few solid punches, Brienne hasn't won an even fight with another {{Badass}} since her win against Loras in Season 2.

--> "[[LoveMakesYouEvil I could kill for you, you know that?]]. [[KillTheOnesYouLove I expect I'll have to before this is over]]."

Cersei then interrupts Jaime flipping through the Book of Brothers. Jamie angrily tells her that she's won, Tyrion's head is going to roll. Is there really nothing she wouldn't do? For her family, she replies, no. But Tyrion ''is'' her family, Jaime retorts. Cersei denies this, saying that we ''choose'' our family and Tyrion was relegated to hated enemy as soon as he was born. Jamie objects that Tyrion had no control over killing their mother. "A disease doesn't ''decide'' to kill you. All the same you cut it out before it does." The Kingslayer has had enough, he can't choose her, she abandoned h - ''[[ShutUpKiss "I choose you."]]'' Cersei makes his mind up for him. "Those are words," Jamie groans. "Like the words I said to father?" She's admitted their incestual coupling to Tywin. While at first a little hesitant, Jaime eventually relents to her advances when Cersei accepts his mutilation and kisses his golden hand; they begin a tryst [[FridgeLogic on what must surely be a very uncomfortable table]].

** Jamie shows up in the dead of night to whisk his little brother away on a ship to safety the day before his execution.

** Jamie gave Oathkeeper to Brienne because he felt that it would be appropriate for Ned Stark's daughter to be protected by Ned Stark's ReforgedBlade. Its Lannister-styled hilt makes Sandor interpret its intended symbolism the opposite way, and turn on Brienne.

* {{Badass}}: Several:
** Brienne of Tarth thoroughly beat Sandor Clegane, coming back from an almost certain defeat at least two times during their fight.
** Credit where it's due, Sandor put up an absolutely vicious fight, far outclassing the efforts of either Jaime or Loras in their bouts against the Beauty, while suffering from a badly infected wound. Brienne was the clear victor, but it could have easily gone the other way. Of note is his feat of ''grabbing'' Oathkeeper by the blade with his bare hands and taking away Brienne's advantage, showing just how much stronger he is than her. Were it not for his wound and exhaustion due to constant fighting, it's highly likely the fight would have gone the other way.
** Even after being surprised in the privy by an ''upset'' Tyrion armed with a crossbow, Tywin never loses his cool and tries to navigate his way out of the situation (although he does fail in his attempt). Though that's more to do with his belief that Tyrion wouldn't possibly kill him. He was wrong.

* [[SwordDrag Crossbow Accessory Drag]]: Tyrion lets his goats-foot-lever scrape against the stone floor as he goes to confront Tywin, as befits a man who has no more fucks to give.

* [[RightUnderTheirNoses Right Under Father's Nose]]: Cersei mocks Tywin by noting that if he had paid any real attention to his children, he would have noticed the {{Twincest}} going on.

* AbsenteeActor: Alliser Thorne doesn't show up in the episode, either alive or in the funeral pyre; as he's still alive in Season 5, it's likely he was recovering from his injuries..

* AbsenteeActor: Alliser Thorne doesn't show up in the episode, either alive or in the funeral pyre; it's still unknown whether he survived the battle or not.

* DeathByIrony / VisualPun: Tywin Lannister ruled King's Landing [[TheManBehindTheMan from behind the Iron Throne]], and gets killed while sitting on a ''different iron throne''.

* KillItWithFire[=/=]PlayingWithFire: The Child of the forest saves Bran and his friends by shooting fireballs at the wights attacking them. These also have the benefit of blowing up corpses and incinerating the remains so they can't come back as wights.

* MakingLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces / [[ProfessionalsDoItOnDesks Siblings Do It On Desks]]: Cersei has sex with her brother on the table in the White Sword Tower.

* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil / WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Sandor tries to invoke this to goad Arya into killing him by describing how he killed Mycah, and claiming he would've been happy to rape Sansa when he had the chance. It doesn't work on Arya, though, or at least [[CruelMercy not in the way he hoped]].

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech[=/=]ShutUpHannibal: Cersei to Tywin.