History Recap / GameOfThronesS6E10TheWindsOfWinter

* AdaptationalBadass: A relatively minor thing, but at the end, Daenerys' Dothraki are shown to be handling themselves quite well on board her ships; in the books, Dothraki, having never sailed before, tend to be prone to massive seasickness even on relatively calm waters.

* AgeCut: Bran's vision ends with a close up of Lyanna's newborn son as his dark eyes open. The next scene is of those same brown eyes of Jon Snow, 21 years later as he sits in the great hall of Winterfell.

** Davos more or less says Melisandre's sacrificing Shireen for the sake of Stannis's victory was this because Stannis was slain and his cause defeated regardless.

** The North, the Vale and the Wildlings are united under Jon Snow against the White Walkers.
** Dany leads a coalition of Essosi forces joined by Ironborn ships and about to bolstered by armies from Dorne and the Reach.

** When Walder tries to give a NotSoDifferentRemark to Jaime, he calls him out on how pathetic he is and asked him why the Lannisters would even need the Freys if they can't hold onto the Riverlands. Walder was left speechless as Jaime leaves.

** [[ApologeticAttacker Qyburn]] says that, whatever Pycelle's faults, he didn't deserve the death that he receives. Considering that Pycelle was a shameless weasel who did everything in his power to stay in the good graces of whoever happened to be in charge, it's easy to disagree with him. [[labelnote:from the books...]]In the novel, this scene involves Varys and Kevan, with Pycelle already dead and Varys apologizing to Kevan. It's implied that Varys truly respects Kevan and doesn't hold any ill will toward him, but Kevan was such a good Hand that he was effectively holding the Lannisters' rule together; ergo, he had to die.[[/labelnote]]

** Sansa reminisces that, back when she was younger, she used to wish to be anywhere outside of Winterfell. That wish came true in the worst way, and now she wishes she had appreciated what she actually had.

** Though Jon adored his brother Robb, he was secretly, but benignly, envious of his charisma and future and just wanted to be him. Now Jon is named as the King in the North just as Robb had been before him -- but it's only possible because all of Jon's brothers, who Jon loves dearly, are (apparently) dead.

** The bitter: Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor and makes herself queen after Tommen kills himself. She declares war on the Reach and Dorne so they ally with Daenerys. The stage is set for ''another'' war. While not seen, the White Walkers are approaching the Wall, and the Ironborn under Euron Greyjoy are gearing up for war.

* BloodbathVillainOrigin: Formerly a hated consort queen, then a hated dowager queen, Cersei now becomes regnant Queen in her own right, and the first Lannister to rule openly under the family name. She makes her debut with a massacre comparable to the Red Wedding (carried out by the Freys and Boltons) and the destruction of houses Reyne and Tarbeck perpetrated by House Lannister, both curiously planned by her own father.

** Lady Lyanna Mormont echoes herself telling Stannis "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, and his name is STARK" and the Winterfell servant telling Sansa "the North remembers", both from the previous season.

** Walder Frey unwittingly devouring his own children is a call back to the tale of the Rat Cook told in Season 3: for breaking guest right, the Rat Cook was cursed by the gods and turned into a rat that could only feed on his own offspring.

** Jon tells Sansa "we can't fight a war amongst ourselves", which were the exact words Ned said to Arya all the way back in the [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E3LordSnow third episode]] of the series, ''five years ago''. During that conversation, Ned also talked about how Winter was coming, while in this conversation, Sansa tells Jon that Winter is here.

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: This episode holds the dubious distinction of managing to kill off more named characters at once than any other, impressive in a show where AnyoneCanDie. The Great Sept going up in wildfire flames alone claims six: the High Sparrow, Kevan Lannister, Lancel Lannister, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell and Margaery Tyrell. Tommen Baratheon dies shortly after from [[DespairEventHorizon despondent suicide]] after witnessing it and Grand Maester Pycelle dies beforehand as a precautionary measure by Quyburn's little birds. Septa Unella is as good as dead, too, albeit [[FateWorseThanDeath wishing she truly was]]. Walder Frey, and his two inept sons Black Walder and Lame Lothar become goners when Arya pays a visit to the Twins.

* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: When Littlefinger tells Sansa that he's declared his allegiance for House Stark, Sansa reminds him that he's been allied with many Houses, while always serving his own interests.

* DeathByChildbirth: After years of [[EpilepticTrees speculations]], viewers (and readers) do eventually learn that Lyanna Stark indeed died after giving birth to her son Jon Snow and her brother Ned found her in a pool of blood from postpartum bleeding. This is when Lyanna passes her son [[DyingWish into her brother's care]], who raises Jon as his own son after his sister's death.

** Walder Frey dies at the same room he killed the Starks, in the same way Catelyn was killed and at the hands of Catelyn's daughter, Arya Stark.

** Cersei planned the explosion well, but didn't count on Tommen taking it so hard.

** The same episode that gives Jon nearly everything he had once dreamed of -- recognition as a Stark by his Lord Bannermen and a Stark position of leadership -- reveals he's not Eddard Stark's son, though he ''is'' a Stark on his mother's side. Jon is the nephew of Eddard Stark, and likely royalty. In addition, since his biological father was Rhaegar Targaryen, the North is once more bowing to a dragon without ''anyone'' (including Jon) even knowing.

** Twofold for Tommen. In jumping out the window of the Red Keep, Tommen finally was able to make a single decision as his own person without anyone guiding his hand -- not Tywin, not Cersei, not the High Sparrow. He also removed his crown before he jumped, so that he would die not as the King of the Andals and the First Men, but as Tommen Baratheon.
** Lancel gets this, as well, since him dragging his crippled body to the candles despite it not having any effect on whether he lived or died could be seen as him returning to who he was in the first two seasons; a good-natured, if misguided and somewhat bumbling, young man who just wanted to please people.

** Margaery Tyrell also gets one when she realizes that the only reason Cersei would not be at her trial is if she didn't intend to face the consequences for not being there. She spends her last moments defying the High Sparrow and desperately trying to get everyone out of the Sept before it goes sky high.

** In the same episode that Queen Daenerys makes Tyrion her Hand, Cersei is crowned Queen by Qyburn, who has the Hand badge pinned to his own robe.

'''At Winterfell''', Jon reminisces about his past times there to Melisandre before Ser Davos enters. Ser Davos furiously confronts Melisandre with Shireen's toy stag. He demands that she confess what was done with her. She admits Shireen was burned at the stake as a sacrifice. Davos, naturally, is enraged and denounces the Lord of Light when she says it was his will, accusing Melisandre of leading Stannis on about being the Lord's Chosen. Melisandre protests she didn't lie, she was wrong...which Davos counters by asking her how many died because of that mistake? He requests permission from Jon to execute her for the murder. Melisandre, however, notes that she can help them win the war against the Night King and his army. Jon says she must ride south but if she returns North, she'll be hanged for murder. Davos adds to it the promise that he would do it himself if she does. Jon watches as she rides away into the distance through the snow. Sansa apologizes for not telling him of Petyr Baelish and the Knights of the Vale. They must trust each other, he says, and she agrees.

In other news, during the scene in '''Winterfell''' Sansa tells Jon that a white raven has arrived from the Citadel. Winter has come.

* DaylightHorror: The destruction of the Great Sept takes place in broad daylight and bright sunlight but it doesn't make it any less horrific.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Feeding someone their own children would have been Arya's MoralEventHorizon if that person wasn't Walder Frey, and his kids weren't the ones that personally stabbed a pregnant Talisa in the stomach and slit Catelyn's throat.

** After Walder starts lecherously eyeing up the "servant girl" serving him meat pie, the girl responds to his query of "You're not one of mine, are you?" with "No, my lord." Arya's saying "My lord" instead of "M'lord" like a peasant would was a give-away to the highly astute Tywin Lannister. Here, it's a subtle foreshadowing as to the true identity of the servant girl: Arya Stark, in disguise.

* GenerationXerox: Long ago, Aerys II Targaryen named Tywin Lannister as his hand. Now many years later, Aerys' youngest child named Tywin's youngest child her hand.
* GodIsEvil: Davos says this about the Lord of Light when Melisandre claims it was the Lord of Light's will that Shireen be burned alive as a sacrifice. Melisandre points out that it was the same Lord who resurrected Jon Snow, suggesting that the Lord of Light has BlueAndOrangeMorality. Alternatively, she may have been mistaken about what he wants, perhaps implying Shireen's sacrifice was also a mistake. Considering that the other named follower of R'hllor, Thoros of Myr, did nothing but raise people from the dead and fight for the weak, and that the other Red Priestesses appears to follow Daenerys for her good works, this seems to lean more on Melisandre's flawed logic. Especially since none of them called for the deaths of children.

** Cersei lost all respect among the populace with her public shaming, and has lost all her authority to the Tyrells and the Faith Militant. Only a massive act of state terrorism will enable Cersei to regain her authority, this time through fear.

** Only three people possibly know Lancel was in the cellar: Cersei, Qyburn and the little bird. Not one person knows Lancel was trying to save everyone's lives.
** Bran witnesses ''only through a vision'' what is perhaps the best kept secret of all Westeros -- Ned Stark's sister Lyanna dying after giving birth to her son by Rhaegar Targaryen (revealed to the viewers as Jon Snow). Ned promises to protect his nephew Jon, whom he raises and loves as his own, and Jon is safe and sound, despite the entire kingdom believing the Targaryens are gone -- at least the male line.

* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The reveal that Lyanna was Jon's mother puts multiple moments from early seasons in this light: Ned telling Jon, "You are a Stark. You might not have my name, but you have my blood," and that Ned never cheated on Catelyn and was actually faithful to her his entire life. Jon and Arya's particularly close relationship among the Stark siblings gets even sweeter with the reveal, as Arya is implied to be GenerationXerox of Lyanna -- meaning Jon had a special attachment to his mother without even realizing it.

*** And just like with Robb and the Riverlands, Jon is poised to fight with not one, but two, regional forces with the initial support of the Vale. In addition, their [[AwesomeMomentOfCrowning Awesome Moment of Crowning scenes]] almost exactly mirror each other. Curiously enough, neither Robb nor Jon were born in the North (Robb was born at Riverrun; Jon was born at the Tower of Joy in Dorne).

** King's Landing is again cursed with a vicious idiot for a monarch, and taking into consideration the ''Dance of the Dragons'' animated featurette, Cersei would be the second woman ever to sit in the Iron Throne. 200 years prior, Rhaenyra Targaryen seized the throne under similarly chaotic circumstances and having lost two of her Velaryon sons during the civil war, leaving her a cruel creature of grief that reigned with vengeance and blood in her mind.

* IJustWantToHaveFriends: Tyrion and Daenerys finally recognize in each other what they had been seeking for a long time: to have a peer, a true friend and a confidant. Tyrion expresses his sincere belief in Daenerys as a person that appreciates his counsel; Daenerys reciprocates by naming him Hand of the Queen, a token of friendship and honor that almost brings him to tears, leading him to bend the knee to ''his'' Queen.

** Neither is it clear why Cersei would choose to give Lancel a front-row seat for the cornerstone of her entire plan (or why the boy would choose to lure him there, if it was his idea). Lancel may not have managed to prevent the plan, but if he had even a minute more he arguably could have put all those candles out in time.
** Nor is it clear why the High Sparrow sent Lancel, his only witness against Cersei, to retrieve Cersei, especially since the last time he did so she simply had her 8-foot undead bodyguard literally tear the head off one of those he sent.
** The High Sparrow has in all previous appearances demonstrated a keen insight of his opponents and planned accordingly. He only moved against his enemies when he knew they couldn't retaliate. So Cersei can win this one, he suddenly decides to be a rules stickler despite Margaery's entirely logical warnings and even goes the extra mile of trapping everyone in the sept for no reason, convinced that nothing she can do will stop the judgement of the gods. This may stem from arrogance in believing that he has Cersei beaten already.

** The main reason Jon did not hang Melisandre for burning Princess Shireen is because Melisandre resurrected him. He exiles her instead.

** The first time a Stark was recently anointed "THE KING IN THE NORTH!", the kingmaker was a big burly stereotypical Northman -- Greatjon Umber. This time? A young pre-adolescent girl who inherited a lordship title prematurely, is [[WiseBeyondTheirYears wise beyond her years]], and barely comes up to the waist of the typical Northern Lord is Jon's kingmaker.
** Only a few years ago, House Stark was seen as the resounding loser among the noble families of Westeros and was believed to have lost all its heirs, while many of the other houses were on the rise (the Lannisters, Freys, Boltons, Tyrells) or at least surviving pretty well (the Baratheons and Martells). Now, House Stark is in the best position to continue its line thanks to having ''four'' possible heirs: The [[HeroicBastard illegitimate son]] Jon who managed to leave the Night's Watch; firstborn daughter Sansa, who escaped her marriages to both the Lannisters and Boltons; trueborn son Bran, who everyone falsely believes to be dead; and the wildcard Arya, also believed to be dead, but managed to survive five seasons of being on the run from the crown and is still very much a Stark.

* KarmaHoudiniWarranty: Like we saw with Ramsay and The Boltons, Walder and The Frey's has finally ran out.

** The High Sparrow orders his men to carve the Seven-Pointed Star onto Loras' forehead with a knife, earning the dismay of Mace and the ire of Margaery, who had struck a deal with the High Sparrow for Loras's release in exchange for bringing the Crown and the Faith together. However, scarring Loras was not part of the deal, meaning that the High Sparrow ordered it just because he had the power to do it.

* LipstickAndLoadMontage: The episode begins with a montage of Cersei, Margaery, Tommen and the High Sparrow all getting ready for the big trial, with strong emphasis on Cersei.

** Justified by Ser Jorah, as Greyscale takes long to cure, if it does.

** We also find out that Jon had another birthname (yet to be heard, though), but it's heavily implied that Ned Stark thought it was [[MrSmith safer to name him Jon]], probably because the other name screamed Targaryen with each of its letters.

** When the show started, Jon Snow was the illegitimate son of Lord Eddard Stark about to join the Night's Watch, which disqualified him in multiple ways from ever inheriting anything. Now, while Sansa is Lady of Winterfell, Jon is proclaimed the ''King'' in the North. Then viewers find out that Jon, while he's a Stark (via his mother Lyanna Stark, Ned Stark's sister), is also technically a Targaryen as well, via his biological father, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, with a possible claim to the Iron Throne (it's yet to be seen if he's a trueborn son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen). As such, his claim could potentially be considered just as strong as Daenerys's (with him being her older brother's son, he would have a stronger claim to the throne if he is not the illegitimate son of Rhaegar and Lyanna -- considering also that Rhaegar was still married to Elia Martell when Jon was conceived).

* VerbalBackspace: Ellaria offers an alliance to Olenna, telling her that their survival depends on cooperation. Since her family is dead and her house all but ruined thanks to Cersei, survival is the last thing on Olenna's mind. Ellaria clarifies that she can offer vengeance and justice, instead.

** Walder orders his sons to come to his presence, while eating pie.

* WhatYouAreInTheDark: It's unclear how fatal Lancel's stab wounds would have been (though he does seem to be at least paralyzed from the waist down), but he still heroically tries to save everyone else, and it's unlikely anyone will ever know. Even if he had succeeded ''and'' the stab wound had turned out to be non fatal, it's highly likely he would have died of starvation, nowhere far from the wildfire bomb.

* YouAreTooLate: Lancel ''could'' have defused the wildfire time bomb by blowing out the three trigger candles, had he had about two more minutes to take care of it.

** Jaime implicitly warns Walder Frey of this trope, telling him that the Lannisters gave the Riverlands to the Freys to hold it for the Lannisters, and that if the Freys cannot hold the Riverlands and must rely on the Lannisters to hold the Riverlands for them, their necessity will expire.

** The Northmen elect a King in the North once again (Jon Snow). In addition to Jon being [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority the embodiment of a Northern warrior]] who [[FrontlineGeneral fought in the battle alongside his men]] and can lead them in the [[http://deadline.com/2016/08/game-of-thrones-david-benioff-d-b-weiss-emmys-interview-1201803698/ wars to come]], he is also elected king because he's Ned Stark's blood son which (unbeknownst Jon and most everyone else) isn't actually true -- just as Joffrey was not Robert Baratheon's biological son. However, Jon ''is'' still related to Ned because he's Ned Stark's ''blood nephew'' by Lyanna Stark, making Lyanna Mormont still correct when she said, "Ned Stark's blood runs through his veins".

* SmallNameBigEgo: We see yet again that Walder Frey considers his role in orchestrating the Red Wedding to be the stuff of legend. As Jaime indirectly points out, however, it at best makes it look like he killed the Starks in the way he did because he knew he couldn't defeat Robb's forces in the conventional manner, and thus indicates that the Freys aren't as much of a military force as they like to let on. At worst, it makes Walder look like such an utterly disgusting coward that it practically ''invites'' people to try attacking the Freys and seizing their lands. Either way, Walder's rapidly becoming more of a liability to the Lannisters than an asset -- not that it really matters for very long, mind you.* SoftSpokenSadist: As her SanitySlippage reaches its climax, Cersei's talk becomes at once cold and ruthless.

* PyrrhicVillainy: Cersei manages to blow up all her enemies and takes the Iron Throne for herself. All it cost her was her son's life when he is DrivenToSuicide and the last meaningful ally she had left now that every meaningful Lannister besides Jaime (who now likely despises her) is either dead or defected. With the Tyrells now firmly against her, the city is likely to starve, and any surviving Sparrows will certainly rise up against her. On top of that, the Tyrells have allied with Dorne to get revenge and Dorne in turn is joining Daenerys (whose war fleet is already en route to Westeros). The Starks have risen in the North and all the houses therein have declared their fealty to Jon. And for what little it was worth, now House Frey won't be of much help since Walder Frey and his sons have been assassinated by Arya. And that's not including [[ZombieApocalypse the army of the living dead]] commanded by a race of AlwaysChaoticEvil [[EvilIsDeathlyCold ice]] [[EldritchAbomination demons]] descending from the far North under the cover of the worst winter predicted in one thousand years to [[KillAllHumans purge all life]]. [[SarcasmMode Long may she reign.]]

** Appears to be the case concerning Tommen's suicide. [[AllThereInTheManual The "Inside the Episode"]] segment even notes that if Cersei had been present to console him over becoming a widower, rather than [[PyrrhicVillainy doing other things like torturing Septa Unella]], he may not have taken his own life.

* AdultFear: There's plenty of in this episode, perhaps more than your average season finale...
** To Mace Tyrell, helplessly watching his [[TraumaCongaLine utterly broken son]] and heir renouncing his lands and status to join [[TheFundamentalist the Faith Militants]], being scarred as a rite of initiation, and there's nothing he can do at that point.
** Olenna left King's Landing believing her granddaughter still had everything under her control. Instead, most of Olenna's family is dead and House Tyrell is extinct since she is an old woman and a Tyrell by marriage.[[labelnote:from the books...]]In the novels, Loras and Margaery have two older siblings, the crippled Wyllas (heir to Highgarden) and Garlan the Gallant. Neither of these characters appear on screen, and WordOfGod for the show is that they do not exist in this continuity.[[/labelnote]]
** Tommen's suicide would have been one to Cersei one season ago, but since she already crossed the DespairEventHorizon, her SanitySlippage is now complete as she watches her son's corpse.
** Although it was 21 years ago, Ned fought a bloody war to rescue his sister, Lyanna. When he finally finds her, she is dying anyway after having given birth to her son by Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, the man King Robert Baratheon hates more than anyone. Robert had anyone with Targaryen blood slaughtered, including children. Lyanna's last request to her brother is to keep her son safe, particularly from Robert, meaning he has to carry this burden ''forever'' and [[TheGreatestStoryNeverTold Ned does so]]. He raises and loves his sister’s son as his own child, spending the rest of his life protecting him, all the while guarding one of the most dangerous secrets in Westeros. He risks high treason against King Robert: endangering himself, his nephew and the rest of the family, to keep this giant secret so he can save his sister's only child;
** For Lyanna herself, dying of childbirth bleeding is slow and painful, with her son's future being uncertain, because Rhaegar is dead and his forces beaten. Her last hope is her brother, who is [[{{Irony}} Robert's closest friend and has been fighting against Rhaegar all this time]]. He has accepted to protect her son, but how and if he will succeed, she would never know.

* CorneredRattlesnake: Backed into a corner, facing a KangarooCourt almost certain to find her guilty and with all other avenues to escape justice for her crimes (i.e., Trial by Combat) cut off by the High Sparrow, Cersei lashes out with a colossal act of state-sponsored terrorism, using the fantasy equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction to bomb a holy site where she would have been tried to eliminate all of her enemies (who were inside at the time) in one fell swoop.

** Walder unknowingly [[IAteWhat ate Lothar and Black Walder]].

* IAteWhat: Walder Frey is tricked by Arya into eating two of his sons cooked in a pie.

** Walder Frey compares himself to Jaime, saying that since they're both kingslayers, they've managed to outlive those high and mighty people who've slighted them. But Jaime (and the audience) knows that he killed the Mad King to save the city and not for petty revenge and join the winning side of the war. Walder toasts to House Stark's demise, not knowing that Sansa Stark and Jon Snow have taken back the North.

** When Walder tries to give a NotSoDifferent comment to Jaime, he calls him out on how pathetic he is and asked him why the Lannisters would even need the Freys if they can't hold onto the Riverlands. Walder was left speechless as Jaime leaves.

* NotSoDifferent:

** Both Cersei and Arya use the "last thing you'll see is me looking down at you" line.
* NotSoSimilar: When [[OrcusOnHisThrone Walder Frey]] tries to tell Jaime Lannister how they are "two [[TheKingslayer kingslayers]]", as if to say they are NotSoDifferent, he ignores that Walder just allowed a king (Robb) into his hall and had his army butchered without even standing up to help, and it was out of spite, not for any good reason. He also broke sacred [[SacredHospitality Guest Right]] to do it, which is actually considered ''infinitely worse'' than kingslaying. On the other hand, Jaime had to become an infamous example of TheOathbreaker for quite some time, and ''personally'' killed his king instead of having someone else do it. Furthermore, Jaime [[ShootTheDog was forced to kill the Mad King Aerys II]] in order to prevent him from [[TakingYouWithMe blowing up King's Landing out of spite]]. In all, it paints Walder as more similar to the Mad King than his killer. The [[YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame expression on Jaime's face]] says it all.

** An example from one antagonist to another in Jaime talking down Walder Frey. When the latter tries posturing how he has defeated his enemies and that they are NotSoDifferent, Jaime tells him outright he is a useless peon who has no respect from ''anybody'', least of all the Lannisters who keep having to bail him out of trouble, as well as adding in an implied threat that the Lannisters will cut him loose as dead weight if they have to keep fixing problems in the Riverlands for him.

* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Jaime's reaction to Walder Frey's NotSoDifferent observation.

** Walder Frey dies at the same room he killed the Starks, in the same way Catelyn was killed and the hands of Catelyn's daughter, Arya Stark.

* DeathByIrony: The High Sparrow, a religious fanatic who made a career of threatening people with the gods' wrath dies, swallowed by infernal flames rising from beneath his feet, resembling iconography of punished sinners.

* LastRequest: Lyanna's FamousLastWords, at her deathbed.

-->'''Melisandre''': Her own blood knew it was the only way-!\\

* FlyAtTheCameraEnding: The final shot pans into the sky from Daenerys's fleet. Her dragons each fly just past the camera before it cuts to credits. This doubles as a CallBack to the end of Season 3, when she began her march to liberate the ci-devant Slaver's Bay. * ForcedToWatch: Upon arriving in the location where the wildfire is kept, Lancel is stabbed in the spine, paralyzing him from the waist down, and sees the candles left in the pool of wildfire, desperately trying to crawl towards it and avert the catastrophe, [[HopeSpot only to fail]].

* MadBomber: Cersei outdoes the Mad King and actually manages to "burn them all", blowing up the Sept of Baelor with most of her enemies inside.* MaliciousMisnaming: Olenna calls Obara "Barbara", likely knowing full well that this is not a Dornish name at all.

** An example from one antagonist to another in Jaime talking down Walder Frey. When the latter tries posturing how he has defeated his enemies and that they are NotSoDifferent, Jaime tells him outright he is a useless peon and has no respect from ''anybody'', least of all the Lannisters who keep having to bail him out of trouble.

As Cersei continues to not arrive at the sept, Margaery grows suspicious of her absence, certain the queen mother is planning something, and urges the High Sparrow to dissolve the proceedings. Instead, the High Sparrow sends Lancel to escort Cersei to the sept. Unfortunately, Lancel is distracted by the sight of another one of those little birds. The boy leads Lancel to the darkness under the Great Sept and then stabs him in the back, leaving Lancel to look in wonder at what's surrounding him: thousands of barrels with green glowing liquid leaking out of them. Remember how Tyrion mentioned, [[Recap/GameOfThronesS6E9BattleOfTheBastards last episode]], the wildfire caches that [[Recap/GameOfThronesS3E5KissedByFire Jaime says]] Mad King Aerys buried all over the city? Here's one of them. And, even better, there's candles in a VaporTrail of wildfire, slowly burning down. Lancel, deprived of his legs, struggles towards it. He is working up some spittle (he can't even risk blowing them out) when they burn down. The Great Sept of Baelor explodes in a blaze of green fire, and Cersei watches in satisfaction as everyone in King's Landing who has ever vexed her--the High Sparrow, Ser Kevan Lannister, Lord Mace Tyrell, Queen Margaery Tyrell, Ser Loras Tyrell, Lancel Lannister--is incinerated. She has full and complete control over King's Landing, and with it the Iron Throne. She even has Septa Unella chained up in a basement and Cersei gives her a bit of LaserGuidedKarma (waterboarding her with wine, demanding she confess, intoning "Shame, shame") before turning her over to the tender care of Ser Gregor Clegane.

'''At Winterfell''', Jon reminisces about his past times there to Melisandre before Ser Davos enters. Ser Davos furiously confronts Melisandre with Shireen's toy stag. He demands that she confess what was done with her. She admits Shireen was burned at the stake as a sacrifice. Davos, naturally, is enraged and denounces the Lord of Light when she says it was his will, accusing Melisandre of leading Stannis on about being the Lord's Chosen. Melisandre protests she didn't lie, she was wrong...which Davos counters by asking her how many died because of that mistake? He requests permission from Jon to execute her for the murder. Melisandre, however, notes that she can help them win the war against the Night King and his army. Jon says she must ride south, and will be hanged for murder if she ever returns. Davos adds to it the promise that he would do it himself if she does. Jon watches as she rides away into the distance through the snow. Sansa apologizes for not telling him of Petyr Baelish and the Knights of the Vale. They must trust each other, he says, and she agrees.

In the great hall of '''Winterfell''', that same infant -- today called Jon Snow -- presides over a gathering of the remaining strength of the North. Many of them are unhappy at the idea of allying with the Wildlings. Jon replies that they have proven themselves true friends on the battlefield, and the real war is still coming. Lady Mormont rises to rebuke the lords who refused the call to fight with Jon, despite the atrocities of the Boltons. She calls for the lords all to support Jon as the king in the North, regardless of him being a bastard. Lord Manderly supports this, and pledges fealty to him. The others swiftly follow, Lord Glover apologizing that he did not help them. They hail him as the King in the North together with drawn swords, and soon the entire hall has knelt in fealty beside them. Sansa looks at her half-brother with a proud smile, but her smile fades when she notices Petyr looking on from the side, grimacing, up to no good.

* AdaptationalAttractiveness: In the books Lord Wyman Manderly is so massively fat that he has been nicknamed ''Lord Too-Fat-to-Sit-a-Horse'' by his peers, while on the show he is considerably leaner and more martial looking.
* AdaptationalBadass: A relatively minor thing, but at the end, Daenerys' Dothraki are shown to be handling themselves quite well on board her ships; in the books, Dothraki, having never sailed before, tend to be prone to massive sea sickness even on relatively calm waters.

-->'''Melisandre''': Her own blood knew it was the only way-!
-->'''Davos''': The only way for ''what''?! '''''They all died anyway!'''''

* AnywhereButTheirLips: In a moment of tenderness, Jon kisses Sansa's forehead after saying they need to trust each other.

** The bitter: Cersei blows up the Sept of Baelor and makes herself queen after Tommen kills himself. She declares war on the Reach and Dorne so they ally with Daenaerys. The stage is set for ''another'' war. While not seen, the White Walkers are approaching the Wall, and the Ironborn under Euron Greyjoy are gearing up for war.

* CharactersDroppingLikeFlies: This episode holds the dubious distinction of managing to kill off more named characters at once than any other, impressive in a show where AnyoneCanDie. The Great Sept going up in wildflames alone claims six: the High Sparrow, Kevan Lannister, Lancel Lannister, Loras Tyrell, Mace Tyrell and Margaery Tyrell. Tommen Baratheon dies shortly after from [[DespairEventHorizon despondent suicide]] after witnessing it and Grand Maester Pycelle dies beforehand as a precautionary measure by Quyburn's little birds. Septa Unella is as good as dead, too, albeit [[FateWorseThanDeath wishing she truly was]]. Walder Frey, and his two inept sons Black Walder and Lame Lothar become goners when Arya pays a visit to the Twins.

* CompositeCharacter: Qyburn takes the place of Books!Varys in having the little birds commit assassination. Pycelle (who in the books gets his head smashed in by Varys) gets the death of Book!Kevan, who is stabbed to death by the little birds.
* CorneredRattlesnake: Backed into a corner, facing a KangarooCourt almost certain to find her guilty and with all other avenues to escape justice for her crimes (i.e., Trial by Combat) cut off by the High Sparrow, Cersei lashes out with a colossal act of state sponsored terrorism, using the fantasy equivalent of a weapon of mass destruction to bomb a holy site where she would have been tried to elimate all of her enemies (who were inside at the time) in one fell swoop.

* FlyAtTheCameraEnding: The final shot pans into the sky from Daenerys's fleet. Her dragons each fly just past the camera before it cuts to credits. This doubles as a CallBack to the end of Season 3, when she began her march to liberate the ci-devant Slaver's Bay.
* ForcedToWatch: Upon arriving in the location where the wildfire is kept, Lancel is stabbed in the spine, paralyzing him from the waist down, and sees the candles left in the pool of wildfire, desperately trying to crawl towards it and avert the catastrophe, [[HopeSpot only to fail]].

* GenerationXerox: Long ago, Aerys II Tarrgaryen named Tywin Lannister as his hand. Now many years later, Aerys' youngest child named Tywin's youngest child her hand.
* GodIsEvil: Davos says this about the Lord of Light when Melisandre claims it was his will that Shireen be burned alive as a sacrifice. Melisandre points out that it was the same Lord who resurrected Jon Snow, suggesting that the Lord of Light has BlueAndOrangeMorality. Alternatively, she may have been mistaken about what he wants, perhaps implying Shireen's sacrifice was also a mistake. Considering that the other named follower of R'hllor, Thoros of Myr, did nothing but raise people from the dead and fight for the weak, and that the other Red Priestesses appears to follow Daenerys for her good works, this seems to lean more on Melisandre's flawed logic. Especially since none of them called for the deaths of children.

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Melisandre points this out regarding Shireen's sacrifice, saying however cruel her actions were, the mysterious ways of the Lord of Light are the reason they are all standing in Winterfell. She both burnt Shireen and resurrected Jon Snow as per the Lord's commands and they will need her in the fight to come. Davos demands execution while Jon Snow banishes her, mostly likely because a good act does not wash out the bad, nor the bad the good.

** Subverted with the Great Sept of Baelor, which was only ~150 years old at the time of its destruction. It was one of the youngest landmarks in Westeros, specially compared with castles and keeps that have survived millennia.

* MadBomber: Cersei outdoes the Mad King and actually manages to "burn them all", blowing up the Sept of Baelor with most of her enemies inside.
* MaliciousMisnaming: Olenna calls Obara "Barbara", likely knowing full well that this is not a Dornish name at all.

** Ellaria and Varys tell Lady Olenna that they will help her get "Justice, Vengeance... Fire and Blood". In the books these words are spoken by Doran Martell instead, under similar circumstances.

** Alternately, the sept's explosion leads directly to the deaths of seven characters: Lancel, High Sparrow, Margarey, Loras, Kevan, Mace, and Tommen.
* RuleOfThree: Used twice in the "King in the North" scene: Lyanna Mormont calls out houses Manderly, Glover and Cerwyn for refusing the Starks' call; right after that, she proclaims Jon Snow to be her king, followed by Lord Manderly, then Lord Glover, and then every northman in the hall joins in the acclamation.

-->'''Lyanna Mormont:''' Your son was butchered at the Red Wedding, Lord Manderly, but you refused the call. You swore allegiance to House Stark, Lord Glover, but in their hour of greatest need, you refused the call. And you, Lord Cerwyn, your father was [[FlayingAlive skinned alive]] by Ramsay Bolton. Still you refused the call. But House Mormont remembers. The North remembers. We know no king but the King in the North whose name is Stark. I don't care if he's a bastard. [[RightForTheWrongReasons Ned Stark's blood runs through his veins.]] He's my king from this day until his last day.

* SmallNameBigEgo: We see yet again that Walder Frey considers his role in orchestrating the Red Wedding to be the stuff of legend. As Jaime indirectly points out, however, it at best makes it look like he killed the Starks in the way he did because he knew he couldn't defeat Robb's forces in the conventional manner, and thus indicates that the Freys aren't as much of a military force as they like to let on. At worst, it makes Walder look like such an utterly disgusting coward that it practically ''invites'' people to try attacking the Freys and seizing their lands. Either way, Walder's rapidly becoming more of a liability to the Lannisters than an asset -- not that it really matters for very long, mind you.
* SoftSpokenSadist: As her SanitySlippage reaches its climax, Cersei's talk becomes at once cold and ruthless.

** Cersei kills the majority of the characters in King's Landing, which also causes Tommen to kill himself, and afterwards declares herself Queen.