History Recap / GameOfThronesS4E5FirstOfHisName

* WeakButSkilled: Deconstructed in Arya's scene with The Hound. The Hound points out that even if Syrio Forel is a MasterSworsdman, he doesn't stand a chance against a Kingsguard with full plate and an actual sword, even if the Kingsguard in question is someone The Hound considers to be incompetent

* AuthorityEqualsAssKicking: Jon personally kills ''eight'' of the deserters, including Karl!

Littlefinger and Sansa, who is pretending to be Littlefinger's neice, arrive at '''The Eyrie''' via the ''"Bloody Gate"'', which is the only way into the castle. The Bloody Gate gets its name because the terrain restricts any enemy to march three abreast, making it a veritable bottle-neck that would stop any army in its tracks.

* UriahGambit: Slynt's plan from last episode failed in its primary objective (getting Jon Snow killed), but has achieved its secondary one: half the volunteers (and [[TheMole Locke]]) died during the battle with the mutineers, lowering Jon's potential votes when the time for the election comes.

* WorfHadTheFlu: In-universe. Arya insists that Syrio Forel would have beaten Ser Meryn Trant (armoured or not) if he had a real sword instead of his wooden one, since he was a badass. The Hound just sneers that dead because of a major situational handicap is still dead.

* AbsenteeActor:
** No Tyrion. Peter Dinklage has only missed [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E7YouWinOrYouDie two]] [[Recap/GameOfThronesS3E9TheRainsOfCastamere episodes]] before this one, so it's pretty notorious. As it is, the show has strained at times to give him a scene.
** No Bronn[[note]]Although Jerome Flynn ''is'' listed in the credits[[/note]] or Ellaria, either.

* KnifeNut: Karl ''really'' likes his double-daggers.

* RealityEnsues: A lot of the earlier subplots are submitted to this by way of deconstruction:
** Podrick Payne is hailed by Tyrion for his loyalty, but he squired for a man in a city, who tended to be pretty hands-off and rarely travelled by horse. This gave him very little training for basic squire work - like riding a horse, or living on grass and the open field, which is all required of him when travelling with Brienne.
** Arya's interaction with the Hound. The Hound is pretty inaccurate as to Syrio's real skills[[note]]He was surprised and was unprepared and acquitted well with a practice sword and seemed fully aware that he was making his last stand.[[/note]], but he does lampshade the technique's obvious flaws, how woefully unprepared, unskilled and untrained Arya is, and how little she knows of actual combat.
** Locke is a kind of parody of TheMole, going deep cover and waiting to kidnap Bran and stab Jon in the back during the chaos of a fight. He dies unexpectedly and numbers among the other four casualties. The other members of Jon's group mourn him with their three longer-tenure brothers, thinking he was a hero.
** Tywin Lannister {{lampshades}} to Cersei how precarious their position is despite winning the war, the fact that the Iron Bank of Braavos is not an organization that will submit to their usual bribes and intimidation tactics and that he's in a situation where he has to accommodate the Tyrells. The Lannisters are in a credit crunch after a devastating war that's drained their coffers dry and, even before that, funding Robert Baratheon's spendthrift regime. Having inherited his government, they can no longer call the debts they owe themselves, and their gold mines are spent. He even tells Cersei that Tommen's marriage is going to be a much more modest affair.
** After the euphoria of liberating Meereen, Daenerys comes to terms with the consequences of her actions. The "Wise Masters" won't give up without a fight, the council she set up as a preliminary government in Astapor have been killed and replaced by a dictator and if she leaves, it will almost certainly lead all the people she freed sliding back into the same conditions. She resolves to stay and consolidate her reforms.

** Karl's death resembles the way [[spoiler:Biter is killed by Gendry in the novels.]]
* NeckLift / NeckSnap: Locke's death.

* DemotedToExtra:
** Jaime and Loras only appear briefly in the throne room scene, and they don't have any audible dialogue. Especially noticeable with Jaime, because in the absence of Peter Dinklage, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau is listed ''first'' in the credits.
** Missandei and Grey Worm are present at Daenerys' meeting, but their screen time is fleeting and they don't contribute to the discussion.
** Varys and Pycelle are seen, but barely have two words each ("Your grace" at King Tommen's coronation). Mace Tyrell is also on the same level in this episode; he does have some dialogue, but it's lost in the wider conversation after Tommen's coronation.

* [[ExitPursuedByABear Exit Pursued By A Direwolf]]: Rast escapes the attack on Craster's Keep only to be killed by Ghost.

'''Tywin''': And a temple is comprised of stones. One stone crumbles and another takes its place. And the temple holds its form, for a thousand years or more. And that's what the Iron Bank is, a temple. We all live in its shadow and almost none of us know it. You can't run from them, you can't cheat them, you can't sway them with excuses. If you owe them money and you don't want to crumble yourself, you pay it back.

--> '''Cersei''': There must be someone at the Iron Bank you can speak to. Come to some arrangement.
--> '''Tywin''': The Iron Bank is the Iron Bank. There is no someone.
--> '''Cersei''': Someone does work there. It is comprised of people.
--> '''Tywin''': And a temple is comprised of stones. One stone crumbles and another takes its place and the temple holds its form for a thousand years or more. And that's what the Iron Bank is, a temple. We all live in its shadow and almost none of us know it. You can't run from them, you can't cheat them, you can't sway them with excuses. If you owe them money you don't want to crumble yourself, you pay it back.

* AttemptedRape

* AwesomeButImpractical: The Braavosi fencing style of waterdancing is considered this by the Hound, who has a point: while it's flashy, it's so ineffective against armored combatants (you can't AttackItsWeakPoint if there ''is'' no weak point) that even as poorly-regarded a knight as Ser Meryn Trant is able to ([[KilledOffscreen supposedly]]) defeat Arya's teacher Syrio Forel.

** In "Second Sons," Cersei makes it ''very'' clear that she doesn't want to be called sister by Margaery. During Tommen's coronation, Margaery smugly proves that she isn't at all intimidated by Cersei's prior death threats.

* CombatPragmatist: Karl. Unfortunately for him, he doesn't follow his own advice and turns his back to Jon Snow at a crucial moment.

* DeadGuyJunior: One of Oberyn's daughters is named after his sister, who also happens to be the trouble child. Cersei wonders if she's troublesome because her very name keeps inciting grief and anger in Oberyn.

** Varys and Pycelle are seen, but barely have two words each ("Your grace" at King Tommen's coronation). Mace Tyrell is also on the same level in this episode.

* DramaticIrony: Brandon Stark kills the man who maimed Jaime Lannister, unknowingly avenging the man who crippled him for life.

* FunnyBackgroundEvent: When we glimpse the throne room from Margaery's perspective, Loras is chatting with Oberyn. [[note]]Presumably, as the man we see from behind is about the same height as Loras--just as Finn Jones and Pedro Pascal are in real life--dark-haired and dressed in gold, and previous shots of Oberyn show that he is wearing a gold outfit in this scene.[[/note]] [[DidTheyOrDidntThey Did those two men already hook up off-screen]], or are they planning to do it soon?

* MamaBear: Cersei gets a subdued version in the crowning scene when Margaery is staring and smiling at Tommen, by sternly placing herself between the two.

* NoSocialSkills: Little Robin Arryn isn't shy about confronting his cousin with her family's cruel murders.
* OddCouple: Pod and Brienne's road trip is played for the expected laughs.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Cersei acts the loyal daughter with Tywin, encourages Maergery to discuss Tommen's marriage with her own father Mace Tyrell, and sympathizes with Prince Oberyn's anger over his dead sister. All three are clearly puzzled by this, but only Tywin calls her on the reason -- she's trying to influence the three judges in Tyrion's upcoming trial.

* PrecisionFStrike: Jaime gets annoyed when Cersei starts needling him about his deal with Catelyn Stark.
-->'''Cersei:''' So you made a sacred vow to the enemy.
-->'''Jaime:''' I wanted to get back to you. Should I have told her to fuck off?

* PyrrhicVictory: It's been hinted at before, but now the state of the Lannisters is made clear: they may have won the war and gained control of the Iron Throne, but it's bankrupted them and put them in even more debt to the Iron Bank of Braavos, something that Tywin seriously worries will ruin them.

** Arya's interaction with the Hound. The Hound is pretty inaccurate as to Syrio's real skills[[note]]He was surprised and was unprepared and acquitted well with a practice sword and seemed fully aware that he was making his last stand.[[/note]], but he does lampshade the technique's obvious flaws and how woefully unprepared, unskilled and untrained Arya is and how little she knows of actual combat.
** Locke is a kind of parody of TheMole, going deep cover and waiting to kidnap Bran and stab Jon in the back during the chaos of a fight. He dies unexpectedly and numbers among the other four casualties. Jon laments his death, thinking he was a hero.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: A rare villainous version. Locke, Bolton's number one henchman was set up as a great threat and TheMole inside the Night's Watch. He gets killed trying to kidnap the crippled Bran Stark by a possessed Hodor. His body is placed among the rest of the Night's Watch casualties with Jon Snow grieving over him, thinking he died a hero.

* StealthExpert: As if being a good fighter wasn't enough, Locke has an easy enough time creeping through Craster's Keep and remaining hidden when he scouts it out (though admittedly there were no guards and everyone was drunk).

* SympatheticPOV: A lot this episode. Epitomized with Cersei, as she talks about and shows her love for her children.