Recap / Game of Thrones S7E2: "Stormborn"

At Dragonstone, a storm is raging against the rocks and the castle at night. Daenerys, Tyrion, Varys, and Missandei are in the room of the Painted Table. Tyrion notes that it was on such a night years ago that Daenerys came into the world, and this is the reason she is known as Daenerys Stormborn. Varys remembers that night and says it was such a heavy rain that the dogs were barking at King's Landing. Daenerys laments that she wishes she could remember that night, saying that Dragonstone doesn't really feel like home to her. Tyrion assures that she won't be there for long. Daenerys then confronts Varys and interviews him about his loyalties. Grey Worm then informs her that Lady Melisandre has come to pay court. She informs Dany about the Prophecy of The Prince Who Was Promised which could refer to either her or the King in the North, Jon Snow. Melisandre urges her to summon Jon Snow and Tyrion tells Dany that he has met Jon—he likes Jon, trusts him, and explains that the Lannisters murdered Jon's father and brother so Jon has every reason to be against Cersei Lannister as she does. Dany is curious about the New King in the North and asks Tyrion to summon him at once, to pay court, and bend the knee.

At Winterfell, Jon, Davos, and Sansa receive Tyrion's letter, which is far more tactfully written. Sansa is doubtful that the letter is authentic. However, Jon—who developed a friendship with Tyrion in Season 1—reveals that the letter's last line, "All dwarves are bastards in their father’s eyes," is something Tyrion said to him the night they met. Jon asks for Sansa’s opinion; Sansa explains that Tyrion was kind to her and is not like the other Lannisters, but she is still leery that the situation is not safe for Jon. While Davos agrees, he points out that the three dragons mentioned in the letter can kill wights.

In King's Landing, Cersei is addressing the lords about Daenerys Targaryen's invasion with her army of foreigners. The former bannermen of House Tyrell are reluctant to join her, as well of their chances of victory, but Jaime persuades Lord Randyll Tarly — the most powerful of House Tyrell's bannermen — by reminding Randyll of his oath to the crown and offering him the position of Warden of the South once the war is won.

At The Citadel, Ser Jorah Mormont's condition is discussed by Archmaester Ebrose and Samwell Tarly, in training to become a maester. Ebrose gives a pessimistic diagnosis. He reveals Jorah's condition is far too advanced to treat. He grants Jorah one day at the Citadel to decide what to do before he is sent to live with the Stonemen. When Sam asks Jorah about notifying his family, Jorah reveals his estrangement from them. When Jorah reveals his family name Mormont, Sam realizes Jorah is the son of Lord Commander Jeor Mormont.

Beneath the Red Keep, Cersei meets with Qyburn to discuss weapons that could target Daenerys's dragons. Demonstrating the power of a newly designed ballista, Qyburn insists that dragons are powerful, but not invincible.

At Dragonstone, Daenerys holds court with her full group of allies. Yara Greyjoy proposes a lightning raid on the capital. Tyrion confronts Ellaria Sand over the death of his niece Myrcella. He proposes the strategy of laying siege on King's Landing while sending the Unsullied to capture and occupy Casterly Rock. Yara Greyjoy is tasked to escort Ellaria Sand and her Sand Snakes to Dorne.

At The Citadel, Samwell Tarly discusses an experimental procedure with Archmaester Ebrose but the latter discourages him again. Novice Tarly at night pays a visit to Jorah and applies the painful treatment regardless.

In the Riverlands, Arya Stark reunites with her old friend Hot Pie at the Inn of the Crossroads. She learns that her brother Jon Snow is alive, and he has retaken Winterfell for the Starks from the Boltons. She abandons her quest for revenge to reunite with her family.

At Winterfell, Jon receives word from Samwell Tarly about the mine of dragonglass beneath Dragonstone. He announces his decision at the Great Hall where he notes that he will accept Daenerys and Tyrion's invitation and go to Dragonstone to recover both Dragonglass and attempt to form a common alliance for the war against the White Walkers. This decision is controversial among everyone in Winterfell but Jon insists they need the dragonglass for weapons against the Walkers and allies to fight their legions of the undead. He explains that the North is his home, it is part of him, and he will never stop fighting for it. Sansa protests Jon’s decision to go as well and Jon says he is placing her in charge of the North until he returns as she is his sister, regent, and a Stark. Sansa accepts.

Jon visits his father’s statue in the crypts beneath Winterfell when Littlefinger comes down. Jon and Littlefinger have a tense confrontation; Littlefinger tries to inveigle his way into Jon's confidence but Jon doesn't buy it. When Littlefinger goes Slimeball, telling Jon that he loves Sansa as he loved her mother Catelyn, Jon vows to kill Baelish if he goes anywhere near his sister again.

While Jon and Davos prepare to set out for Dragonstone, Jon and Sansa have a farewell moment. As they leave, Sansa looks worryingly after Jon.

In the the Riverlands, Arya sets up camp in a very cold snowbound area, further North than she has been yet. While starting her fire, she is confronted by a pack of wolves and turns around to face Nymeria, her long-lost direwolf pup, now a fully-grown pack leader. She reaches out to Nymeria and Nymeria recognizes Arya. She asks Nymeria to come home with her but, after a moment, Nymeria decides to return to her pack of wolves. Arya is heartbroken but recognizes Nymeria is no longer who she was when she and Arya were together.

On the Narrow Sea, at night, Yara's ship, the Black Wind is sailing for Dorne. The Sand Snakes are doing what they do best: bicker about who will get to kill who when they take King's Landing. Ellaria starts to take an interest in Yara and the two aggressively flirt, leading to some potential sex. Then suddenly, the ship is attacked by The Silence, led by Yara's uncle Euron. A fierce ship battle ensues. Euron kills Obara and Nymeria Sand with their own weapons, takes Yara, Ellaria and Tyene hostage, and burns most of Yara's ships, while Theon abandons ship and floats for his life.

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Tropes:

• 0% Approval Rating: Varys tries to reassure Daenerys that Cersei has one of these and that getting the lords to support Daenerys will thus be easy. Daenerys sneers at this, recalling the lies Illyrio told Viserys about the people rallying behind the Targaryens and drinking secret toasts, fully aware of her reputation as the Mad King's daughter. While everyone does indeed despise Cersei, she and Jaime can voice coherent arguments to win fence-sitters to their side by exploiting the fact that as bad as the Lannisters are, Daenerys would not likely represent an improvement in the eyes of the old nobility, especially with the allies she's gathered.
• Abandon Ship: Theon's response to having their ships raided by Euron and his army. With Yara losing and being held hostage by Euron, Theon opts to jump off the ship and flee to safety.
• Accidental Misnaming: Jaime can't quite remember Dickon Tarly's name and is corrected when he calls the young man "Rickard."^note Coincidentally, the name Dickon serves as an old synonym for the English name Richard (where the Westerosi name Rickard was derived), which was actually used as a nickname for English kings Richard II and Richard III.
• Adaptational Badass: Of a sort. In the books, Samwell Tarly is exceedingly squeamish at the sight of blood and gore (to the point of passing out), which is his primary objection to being sent to become a maester. In this series, Sam is only slightly squicked out and is even brave enough to attempt a dangerous (and gross) greyscale-curing surgery.
• Adaptational Dumbass: In the books, Varys's various betrayals of the kings he served were part of a master plan, not a sign of him prevaricating.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: On a character level, Varys's motivations for backing Viserys run into a serious Logic Bomb, as Daenerys points out. He served Aerys, who was mad and cruel, then served Robert Baratheon, who wasn't despotic, just lazy and irresponsible. Then, for reasons that even Varys can't adequately defend, he decided to destabilize a relatively peaceful government by giving support to Viserys, who was vicious and cruel (and never made an effort to hide it). In the novels, Varys was merely using Viserys and the alliance with the Dothraki for his own ends as a distraction in his real plan^note Varys actually intends for the Adapted Out Aegon VI, the supposed lost prince whom he trained to rule and serve as a perfect prince, to take the throne, and both he and Illyrio planned all along to throw Viserys under the bus and expected Daenerys to die, which they changed to having her marry Aegon after she hatched her dragons, but his motivations for supporting Viserys don't make any rational sense on the show, and Varys changes the subject instead of addressing it.
• Amputation Stops Spread: Discussed. The archmaester tells Jorah he should have cut off his arm to stop the infection when he first noticed it. Now that the infection has spread to his torso, it is no longer an option.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Grey Worm for Missandei. It's quite literally anguished, because, trained to be a merciless killing machine all his life, he doesn't even possess the vocabulary to express what he's feeling, and describes his love for Massandei as a weakness and a fear, since he is afraid of dying and leaving Missandei alone now.
• Answer Cut: Played with. Jaime tells Randyll Tarly how he doesn't know anyone better suited to be Warden of the South than him... then the scene cuts to Sam in the Citadel.
• Anti-Air: Qyburn's solution to the problem of Daenerys's dragons is to create an effective ground-to-air weapon in the form of a scorpio, the Roman version of a ballista known to be especially accurate for an artillery weapon.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Sansa is furious at Jon when he decides to leave the North to meet Daenerys, saying that he's abandoning his people and home, but Jon ensures her he's leaving the North in good hands. When Sansa asks who, Jon answers it's she, explaining that they're siblings and she's the only Stark in Winterfell. This leaves Sansa speechless and she accepts Jon's decision.
• Artistic License – Ships: When a ship is rammed, it is held afloat (somewhat and not forever) by the ship that rammed it. After disengaging, it sinks immediately. This doesn't happen to Yara's ship, enough of which remains afloat so the dead Sand Snakes remain above water on the prow.
• Asshole Victim: Ellaria Sand and the Sand Snakes. Tyrion is quick to remind her — and the viewers — that despite her alliance with Dany, they murdered an innocent child just to spite the Lannisters, not to mention their coup in Dorne to seize power just because Doran refused to drag Dorne into a proxy war for the sake of their vengeance. By episode's end, Euron has killed both Obara and Nymeria with their own weapons and plans to deliver Ellaria and Tyene to Cersei as war prisoners. Given the type of person Cersei is, it may have been kinder for Euron to kill Ellaria and Tyene then and there.
• At the Crossroads: Arya is heading for King's Landing to kill Cersei when she encounters Hot Pie at the Inn at the Crossroads. He tells her that her brother Jon Snow has retaken Winterfell. Should she pick South and revenge, or North and her family? Arya goes North.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The Sand Snakes' ninja-aesthetic works well for sneak attacks, stealth raids, and torture against helpless victims, but are useless for close-quarters combat on a cramped ship against raiders experienced in this sort of combat, who are armed with swords and axes, and more importantly wearing proper armour. Nymeria's whip is only good for restraining opponents from a distance, which renders it useless on the deck of a ship in the middle of a raging battle, and Obara's spear is too long to use easily in the large melee. Euron makes short work of both, breaking the spear and impaling Obara, then disarming and overpowering Nymeria before using her own whip to garrote her. Likewise, Tyene's dagger is effective even without poison but it's still just a knife, and is useless to fend off multiple raiders.
• Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: The Sand Snakes are shown constantly bickering, insulting and mocking each other, but Nymeria is clearly heartbroken when Euron kills Obara.
• Badass Armfold: Randyll crosses his arm after Cersei suggests that the Tyrell vassals should join her in her speech, making it clear he doesn't approve of her request.
• Badass in Distress: Yara is captured by Euron while Theon flees and ends up drifting in the sea.
• Battle Trophy: When Qyburn expresses surprise that Robert didn't destroy the Targaryen dragon skulls after he took the Iron Throne, Cersei replies that he kept the skulls as trophies of his victory over the dynasty.
• The Berserker: This is Euron's fighting style in a nutshell; first into battle, swinging a large battle axe, shrugging off most blows, killing everything in sight, and laughing his head off as he does so. Unlike typical berserkers, though, Euron wears heavy armor. He spreads it to his whole crew too as one mook's first action once boarding is to give a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to the first person he sees.
• Be Yourself: Olenna's advice to Daenerys, even using the Animal Motif of the latter's family.
  Olenna: The lords of Westeros are sheep. Are you a sheep? No. You're a dragon. Be a dragon.
• Big Brother Instinct: When Littlefinger starts talking about Sansa, a furious Jon slams Littlefinger against a wall and promises "Touch my sister and I'll kill you myself."
• Blatant Lies: Littlefinger gleefully rewrites what happened in King's Landing, painting himself as Ned's Sour Supporter rather than the guy who stabbed him in the back and sold him out to Cersei, and playing up how he returned Ned Stark's bones to Catelyn. Jon doesn't buy it.
• "Blind Idiot" Translation: Missandei notes that the word in High Valyrian that is usually translated as "prince" in "the Prince Who Was Promised" in the Common Tongue is gender-neutral and would more accurately mean "Prince or Princess." Nobody else in the scene (all of whom are fluent) caught that.
• Blood from the Mouth: Obara after Euron spears her.
• Blood Knight: Even by Ironborn standards, Euron is psychotically gleeful during the ship battle.
• Boarding Party: Euron leads one on Yara's ship, landing his gangway right on top of a poor soldier. This is actually a very authentic depiction of how ship battles happened in the pre-gunpowder era; it mostly involved ramming, boarding, and then a fierce ship battle. Ship-bound catapults, which Euron seems to use extensively, were more rare however, as most ancient and medieval navies couldn't figure out how to fire them without the force of launch tipping the boat. The Masters were able to do so, though, and in Euron's travels it's possible he learned the method.
• Body Horror: Jorah's greyscale infection has utterly ruined his torso and lower body. And as bad as the infections are, Sam having to cut the infected skin off to treat him is even harder on the eyes.
• Bookends: When Arya first left Winterfell and went South, she had to force her direwolf Nymeria to flee so as to prevent the Lannisters from killing Nymeria. Now that Arya is on The Homeward Journey out of the Riverlands, she runs into Nymeria, who is now a fully grown adult direwolf and is leading a formidable pack. Arya begs Nymeria to come to Winterfell with her but Nymeria leaves Arya to return to her pack.
• Both Sides Have a Point: Jon and Sansa disagree when he receives the note from Tyrion asking to meet and schedule an alliance. Sansa is worried about Jon's safety while Jon needs the resources an alliance with Daenerys can supply to defend the North from the undead army. Sansa and the other lords of the North are worried that this is a trap since — three times in a row — Starks who have left the North have died; they believe the King in the North should remain in the North, Daenery's father brutally executed Jon and Sansa's grandfather and uncle, and the lords are concerned over Daenery's own nature, whom they do not know. Jon is worried the North doesn't have supplies the North needs to defend themselves against the White Walkers, and they need the powerful alliance, resources, and the dragonfire and dragonglass Daenerys can supply to stand a chance against the undead army. He knows that Tyrion is a good man, and that the letter came from him. He decides to go south to bargain for the dragonglass the North requires. Jon gives Sansa charge of the North until his return, since if he dies, there will still be a Stark in Winterfell.
• The Bus Came Back: Hot Pie shows up for the first time since Season 4, and Nymeria the Direwolf disappeared all the way back in Season 1.
• But Not Too Gay: We're treated to a rather explicit sexual encounter between Grey Worm and Missandei, but Ellaria and Yara barely get farther than making out and some raunchy flirting before a pirate attack puts a stop to that.
• Call-Back: Many.
  • Someone else tells Sam that they're not a poet.
  • Sam tells Jorah that he was with Jorah's father Lord Commander Mormont when he died.
  • Tyrion's line to Jon Snow "All dwarfs are bastards in their fathers' eyes" shows back up in the raven he sends to Jon, since he knows it will prove to Jon that Tyrion did write it himself.
  • Hot Pie asks Arya if the "lady knight" ever found her. He also says "I think she was a knight because she had armor on", a reference to an argument he had with Gendry back in Season 2.
  • Arya notes that she's made one or two pies. Their recipient wasn't really meant to enjoy them.
  • When Nymeria turns her back on Arya and her offer to return home, Arya remarks "That's not you." Way back in Season 1, Arya's father Ned said that one day she would marry a lord and rule his castle; Arya's response was "That's not me."
  • Cersei brings up Dany's ruthless actions such as crucifying Masters, and Randyll brings up the Red Wedding and Jaime's kingslaying.
  • Jon says that Sansa is the only Stark in Winterfell, which goes back to Season 1 where both Ned and Catelyn said there must "Always be a Stark in Winterfell".
  • When Randyll Tarly points out his house swore an oath to House Tyrell, Jaime counters by pointing out the Tarlys also swore an oath to the Crown, proving his point from his old conversation with Catelyn about how they make you swear so many oaths when you are Knight or Lord that it is impossible not to become an oath breaker eventually.
  • Melisandre used the exact same words as the Red Priestess in Volantis to describe her life as a slave "Bought and sold, scourged and branded." It may be a standard line.
  • Missandei tells Grey Worm, "I want to see you," when he hesitates to disrobe. Back in Season 4, when Grey Worm saw her bathing and apologized, she told him, "I'm glad you saw me."
  • Tyrion and Ellaria begrudgingly recall the events of Seasons 4 and 5, particularly the death of Oberyn and Myrcella's poisoning.
  • The start of the episode reminds the audience why Daenerys has the epithet "Stormborn", which was briefly mentioned about 6 seasons ago.
  • Once again, an archmaester declares a patient a lost cause, only for his enterprising assistant/rival to refuse to give up and opts for a Dangerous Forbidden Technique to save them.
  • After Jon's decree in "Dragonstone" that everyone in the North who is capable should be trained to fight, the first Winterfell scene shows a master-at-arms giving an archery lesson to a group of three boys and one girl.
  • Sansa references the last time a Stark went South to meet with a Targaryen, they were murdered, which reflects a conversation she had with her Septa back in Season One, in the very room it happened, no less.
  • Once more, Littlefinger gets choke-slammed against a wall because he hits the Relative Button of a normally stoic member of the Stark family.
  • It appears that Jon Snow wasn't the only virgin lover with a taste for oral sex.
  • While gathering material for his own book, Archmaester Ebrose references Maesters Faull and Ch'vyalthan; the first one for his stylized but inaccurate writing that Maester Aemon had once ridiculed to Sam, and the second for accurate if boring writings that Tyrion had read when preparing for the Battle of the Blackwater with Bronn.
• Can't Have Sex, Ever: Technically, Grey Worm and Missandei. They are unable to have intercourse since Grey Worm was emasculated, rather than simply castrated, but he doesn't hesitate to perform oral sex on her.
• Captain Obvious: Ser Davos just has to point out that obvious tactical value of dragons against the undead to Jon.
• Character Witness: Having been forcefully married to Tyrion, who nevertheless protected and comforted her after the Red Wedding, Sansa doesn't argue when Jon points out that Tyrion is a good man.
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder:
  • Not unjustly, Daenerys notes Varys's track record of "conspir[ing] to crown" new kings when he dislikes the current one (noting how he behaved throughout the reigns of Aerys II, Robert, Joffrey and Tommen). Varys, however, insists that he's Loyal to the Position and the institutions of the Kingdom and will serve a ruler who upholds the same, and that he doesn't betray for personal advancement, security, or benefit, but because he really does believe in the greater good.
  • The lords of the North believe that no Lannister can be trusted, even a "good" one like Tyrion. Jon and Sansa disagree, but Sansa is worried that Tyrion's letter has come from an impostor and that Jon can't risk dying again.
• Closest Thing We Got: When Jorah asks if Sam has actually performed the treatment he's about to attempt, Sam admits he hasn't, but since the others maesters won't even try, Jorah doesn't have any better options.
• Composite Character: Euron takes over parts of his brother Victarion's characteristics, namely as an ax-wielding berserk captain leading a boarding party. He's shown taking several hits from the Sand Snakes, but shrugs them off. This was also one of Victarion's characteristics: he wore heavy armor into battle, trusting it to protect him while he went full-on berserker.
• Continuity Snarl: The Ballista is treated as a new invention in this episode, though others have been seen earlier in the show. One was seen being loaded in the Battle of Blackwater, and another was used to kill a giant in the battle of Castle Black.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Sam learns of a technique to cure advanced greyscale infection, but the maesters have banned it because it involves slicing the infected skin off the victim to treat them, thus exposing the maester performing the surgery to infection, as the one who pioneered the technique found out when he got himself infected doing it. Sam wisely wears thick gloves.
• A Day in the Limelight: After about six seasons worth of being the Butt-Monkey of the show, the Ironborn finally get to show off how their prowess at seafaring combat isn't just an Informed Ability; Euron's ramming tactics throw the entire Daenerys-allied Ironborn off kilter, the boarders and defenders alike show incredible skill in close-quarters combat, and by the end of it Euron has killed Obara and Nymeria as well as kidnapping Ellaria, Tyene, and Yara, leaving Dany's Ironborn fleet in ruins.
• Dead Guy on Display: Obara and Nym are mounted to the prow of Yara's ship, the Black Wind, after Euron kills them — Obara pinned to it by her spear and Nym hung from her whip.
• Demoted to Extra: Nymeria, who appears in a single scene after six years. In the books, there are constant mentions of a large and fearsome wolfpack led by a monstrous she-wolf, and Arya has several "wolfdreams" even during her time in Braavos.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • "A Targaryen cannot be trusted." Said by Lord Yohn Royce to Jon Snow, the King in the North and, unbeknownst to everyone except Bran (and possibly Howland Reed), the child of Prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
  • Sansa tells Jon to remember what happened to "our grandfather". She means Rickard Stark (who was Jon's grandpa on his mother's side), but the tragic part is that the Mad King, Aerys II, was also Jon's grandfather, so when Sansa mentions what happened to "our grandfather" she is unintentionally bringing up the fact that Jon's paternal grandfather killed his maternal grandfather.
• Dress Hits Floor: When Missandei seduces Grey Worm.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Arya shows this in her interactions with Hot Pie, who is disconcerted at how cold and distant she has become since he last met her. Arya barely shows any recognition or camaraderie toward Hot Pie, and her sense of loneliness increases when Nymeria refuses to follow her North.
• Dynamic Entry: Euron enters the battle with a kill, screaming and riding down the Silence's gangplank on top of some poor mook, laughing his head off and marching at the head of his boarding party on Yara's ship.
• Enemy Mine: Both queens have allies that are at odds with each other (Jaime and Euron, Tyrion and Ellaria, etc.).
  • Tyrion also invokes this about Jon to Daenerys, noting that the crimes the Lannisters committed against his family give him more than enough reason to side with them.
  Tyrion: I like Jon Snow and I trusted him, and I'm an excellent judge of character. If he does rule the North, he would make a valuable ally. The Lannisters executed his father and conspired to murder his brother: Jon Snow has even more reason to hate Cersei than you do.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Tyrion overestimates the value of Casterly Rock toward Cersei's regime. As Tywin explained in Season 4, their mine ran dry three years ago and he vested the Tyrell to the Crown so they could pay back the loan he took from the Iron Bank to keep up appearance.
• Elite Mooks: The Silence's crew, who can't speak since Euron cut their tongue, are shown savagely beating Tyene and Yara's Ironborn.
• Emerging from the Shadows: Yara and Theon watch in horror as the sails of Euron's flagship appear from out of the night.
• Et Tu, Brute?: Yara's reaction after Theon abandons her to Euron.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Randyll Tarly is an abusive father and a racist, but even he deprecates the Lannisters for the Red Wedding and the destruction of the Sept. He also clearly has reservations about attacking a family he's served loyally for years, headed by a woman he's known since his childhood.
• Evil Is Hammy: Pilou Asbaek is obviously having a grand old time during the battle between Euron's fleet and Yara's.
• Evil Uncle: Euron Greyjoy invokes this in his battle with his nephew and niece. He calls out to "Little Theon" as if he was uncle come to visit with gifts and then insists to Yara during their sword fight:
  Euron: Come and give your uncle a kiss.
• Fantasy Gun Control: Invoked and exaggerated; ballistas of the bolt-thrower variety are apparently something that the South of Westeros has never seen before, despite the fact similar weapons had been in use since Roman times in the real world. This helps emphasize the Medieval Stasis that Qyburn so despises the Maesters for. This is particularly poignant if you've read the books, where not only were ballistas a Dornish invention, they actually did kill one of Aegon's dragons during his conquest of the Seven Kingdoms, albeit after much damage and loss of life to the Dornish and what was more or less a lucky shot.
• Fear Is the Appropriate Response: Even without the traumatic events Theon lived through, seeing the bloodbath Euron and his men caused and are still causing, not to mention his almost certain death, Theon decides his best option is to flee and abandon his captured sister.
• Forced Meme: Olenna's line of encouragement to Daenerys: "You're a dragon, be a dragon." Co-showrunners Dan Weiss...waxes poetic in the Inside-the-Episode video for this about how amazing that line is, not only in context of this scene, but as a great mantra for life. Even though it's kind of just a generic "be the eye of the tiger"-style mantra that you might see as a poster in a gym. Literally the same day, the HBO Online Store updated to start advertising t-shirts they already designed and produced that say "Be a dragon!" on them...so quickly that there was no possible way they could gauge if it was a well-received line. It's comparable to last season when the Tyrion line "I drink and I know things" was heavily used in promotional materials, and put on t-shirts, despite a lot of major critics thinking it blatantly sounded like a line inserted just to be memetic and sell t-shirts.
• Flaw Exploitation: Jaime's conversation with Randyll Tarly doesn't appear to be getting very far until Jaime begins to play off of Lord Tarly's racism and xenophobia towards Wildlings by emphasizing how dangerous the similarly barbaric Dothraki are.
• Flaying Alive: Part of Jorah's treatment involves skinning the infected flesh off him. Sam gives him something to bite down on because he is going to scream from the pain and Sam doesn't want to be caught. There at least is no blood apparently, the infected flesh is held on through what looks to be pus and connective tissue alone.
• Friendly Fire: Euron's fleet doesn't stop their fire even as they are shooting near "The Silence". Euron and Yara both have to dodge an incoming shot.
• Get It Over With: Said word-for-word by Ellaria when she and Tyene are being captured by Euron's men. The lead mook shakes his head mockingly and takes them in alive.
  Ellaria: Kill us! Get it over with!
• Giggling Villain: After Theon jumps overboard and abandons Yara, Euron gleefully cracks up laughing, both from cruel amusement and as a way to taunt the beaten Yara even further.
• Godzilla Threshold: Since Jon knows how much of a threat the Night King is and they lack the materials and numbers to take on his army, he is willing to accept Tyrion's invitation to go to Dragonstone to meet Dany so he can get dragonglass from her land and ally with her to take on the Night King's army. This is despite the protest of the entire assembled lords and ladies of the North and Vale, and the fact that the last three Starks (Rickard, Brandon, and Ned) to go south on a king's command were executed by the respective royal government in charge.
• Groin Attack: Tyene stabs one of her attackers up his groin with her dagger.
• Hell-Bent for Leather: Randyll and Dickon's wardrobe is mostly leather. Justified because they are both expert hunters and would probably wear deer leather.
• Hero with Bad Publicity:
  • Tyrion seems to be ready to become one even further. Considering that Daenerys's council meeting pointed out that using the Unsullied and the Dothraki to attack the Seven Kingdoms is bad PR for their side, Tyrion choosing to be the one to utilize the Unsullied in retaking Casterly Rock (his own home, where his reputation is already pretty terrible) is definitely under this.
  • Daenerys is the Breaker of Chains and liberator of Slaver's Bay, but helping the oppressed is no mark on the resume to winning over the feudal nobility who after all were restrained and pacified by her ancestors with the help of dragonfire, and who likely fear her precisely for that reason alone. Incidentally, Dany is impressed by Jon Snow, who also had this reputation, precisely because he's also extending an olive branch to a despised minority and helping to integrate them into society.
• Heroic Wannabe: Dany is rather chuffed about potentially being the messiah of the world, but then given the stuff that she's seen and done, she'd be one of the characters who'd fit the bill.
• History Repeats:
  • Randyll Tarly notes that Dany is more or less Aegon come again with three dragons to invade a divided Westeros.
  • The Northern lords warn Jon against going south by reminding him what happened to the last three times any Starks marched out of Winterfell. First his grandfather and uncle were murdered by Aerys, then Ned was betrayed by Cersei, and Robb was killed at the Red Wedding.
  • Once again, a strategy to topple the Lannisters from the Iron Throne involves a plan to attack Casterly Rock. This time it's Tyrion proposing it rather than Robb Stark, who unfortunately never quite made it that far.
  • And of course, Petyr Baelish gets choked and slammed against a wall for hitting on a Stark girl, and Ned's statue is prominently featured in the frame when it happens.
  • King's Landing is once again going to be encircled and laid siege to, with food and supplies not allowed entry. This time it's Tyrion laying siege on the very city that he once defended (and which in retrospect he feels he should have let Stannis occupy).
• Hobbes Was Right: Olenna proudly believes this, noting that deep down people are only held by fear and that appealing to them peaceably as Dany wants to do is meaningless.
• Hoist by Their Own Petard: Two of the Sand Snakes are killed with their own weapons — Obara on her own spear and Nym strangled with her own whip. Euron leaves their corpses displayed this way on the prow of Yara's destroyed flagship.
• Horrible Judge of Character: Averted with Jon. He doesn't fall for Littlefinger's lies or manipulations for one second and even threatens to kill him if he touches Sansa.
• Hypocrite:
  • Varys gets called out for his constant flip-flops and serving multiple administrations by Dany. Indeed, Varys's confession on how he was planning to destabilize Robert's regime just because he didn't like the ruler, even if he didn't like the alternatives, makes his criticisms of Littlefinger doing it for chaos ring hollow.
  • Cersei, showing her trademark skill for Psychological Projection and utter lack of self-awareness and self-reflection, calls the Dothraki and the Unsullied heathens, hoping that everyone doesn't remember who it was that recently destroyed the Faith's most sacred site and massacred a huge congregation of the faithful in the bargain, including the High Septon.
  • There's also Cersei invoking the prejudice against Dothraki for their war-like tactics and Rape, Pillage, and Burn ethos, when House Lannister has done the same and worse to the Riverlands, and openly employs and rewards Gregor Clegane. Previous seasons have also shown that Westerosi is a serf-run casteist society that during wartime inflicts oppression on civilians and Westerosi feudalism shows none of the potential for change and reform that allowed Dany to convince a misogynistic tribe to accept her as Khaleesi and then reform them from their slaving ways.
  • Ellaria once again insists that she is justified murdering Lannisters to avenge Oberyn and then blames Tyrion for Oberyn's death because Oberyn was acting as Tyrion's champion in a trial by combat at the time. Leaving aside the Insane Troll Logic of that, if there is anyone who actually avenged Oberyn, it was Tyrion (who murdered his father, who in turn had employed Oberyn's murderer and started that cycle), not Ellaria, who has until now murdered people who had nothing to do with that, and since extended to killing her own in-laws and nephews.
  • When Tyrion objects to getting innocent civilians involved in the assault on King's Landing, Ellaria says that, in war, it's unavoidable, and if he doesn't like it, he can scurry off into hiding. When Euron's fleet invades Yara's, Ellaria does just that.
  • In Season 3, Jaime lamented to Brienne that oaths taken often conflict with each other, yet when Randyll Tarly cites his oath to his liege lord, the Tyrell family, Jaime is quick to remind him of his (now conflicting) oath to the crown, against whom the Tyrells are currently rebelling.
• I Choose to Stay: Arya tries to get Nymeria to return home with her, but Nymeria simply calls off her pack and walks away. It's not really surprising since she's been out in the wilderness for years by now and become wholly wild.
• I Did What I Had to Do: How Varys defends himself to Dany when she questions his loyalty, since he's served and betrayed multiple other kings, noting that he only did so because he felt he was serving the greater good. Dany eventually accepts this, but insists that Varys inform her if he thinks she's failing her duties rather than plot behind her back, and should he attempt to undermine her while in her service, she'll burn him alive.
• I Have Your Wife: Euron captures Yara, and provokes Theon into trying to save her. Theon, cracking from PTSD, chooses to run away. Whether he does because of tactical convenience or sheer horror is up to the viewer.
• I Need a Freaking Drink:
  • Sam drinks a bit of the rum intended for Jorah before operating on him.
  • Hot Pie asks what happened to Arya while she was away. She looks at him uncomfortably for a few seconds before asking for some ale, then taking the bottle herself before he can grab it.
• Idiot Ball: While the show plays a bit fast and loose with geography at times, sailing from Meereen to Dragonstone would have taken Dany's fleet right by Dorne to get to the Narrow Sea in the first place; stopping at Dorne first to solidify her control over the Dornish houses before moving on to Dragonstone would have prevented the disaster here as even if Euron ended up attacking them on their way north from Dorne, he would have been facing the full fleet, dragons included, bolstered by dornish allies, along with the dragons. Instead, Dany chose to bypass Dorne on her initial trip, making her first landing at Dragonstone seemingly purely for its symbolic and sentimental value, and later divide her forces for some unnecessary backtracking.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Euron stabs Obara in the chest with the broken halves of her own spear, then hoists her corpse aloft for all to see.
• In the Back: Obara manages to stab Euron from behind while his attention is on Nymeria. Unfortunately for her, his armour negates the worst of the damage, leaving Euron both pissed off and now focused on her.
• Internal Reveal: Arya and Tyrion learn of the new leadership in the North.
• Incoming Ham: Euron's entrance to the battle rivals that of a Disney Villain — it has him laughing maniacally while wielding an enormous axe and crashing his gangplank onto Yara's ship in the middle of a storm, crushing some unfortunate bastard beneath it.
• Irony: The episode that Nymeria the Direwolf makes her reappearance in is also the same episode that Nymeria the Sand Snake dies.
• Jabba Table Manners: Arya eats as rudely as the Hound does when she doesn't care what anyone thinks.
• Join or Die: Randyll Tarly references this, noting that he knows better than to ignore the summons of a Queen who is getting a reputation for dealing brutally with any sign of defiance.
  Randyll Tarly: When my Queen summons me, I answer the call...and I've heard what she does to those who defy her.
  • Varys also states this was his only choice after Robert's Rebellion.
    Varys: I had a choice, Your Grace. Serve Robert Baratheon or face the headsman's axe.
• The Juggernaut: No one seems to be able to slow Euron down for more than a second, partly because of his deranged bloodlust and partly because he's wearing plate armor.
• Kill It with Fire: Euron's fleet makes use of trebuchets to hurl fireballs at Yara's fleet through the fog, to devastating effect.
• Kneel Before Zod: Dany asks Tyrion to write Jon a letter summoning him to come to Dragonstone and bend the knee. Tyrion writes a more tasteful missive merely asking him to come and meet them to discuss a common alliance against Cersei.
• Lampshade Hanging: Baelish explicitly points out that he and Jon have never had a chance to talk to each other alone to excuse why he's skulking around the Winterfell crypts.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Ellaria and Tyene at last are about to be delivered as a 'gift' to the woman whose daughter they murdered in cold blood. And any situation where Cersei is the sympathetic one has to be all kinds of messed up from the get-go.
• Leave Behind a Pistol: Jorah's infection has progressed to the point that the maesters intend to ship him off to die with the stone men. However, because he's a knight, they'll allow him to remain a day and have left his sword in his room. How he chooses to spend that day is up to him.
• Lesser of Two Evils: Cersei's appeal to the lords of the Reach to side with her rests on her being a better alternative than the Dothraki horde Dany has brought to their land. Lord Tarly seems to be swayed, though Jaime has to sweeten the pot by promising him rulership over the Tyrell holdings once the war is over.
• Love Is a Weakness: Grey Worm says Missandei is his, as he was raised to be an unstoppable killing machine with no fear.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Arya has been away from Westeros for a while and as such comes to know far later than everyone else that the Boltons are dead and that her brother Jon Snow is now King in the North.
• Match Cut:
  • In the same manner as the previous episode matched the contents of the chamber pot with the contents in the bowl, the pus oozing out of Jorah is matched to the gruel in Hot Pie's inn.
• Meatgrinder Surgery: Sam treats Jorah's grayscale without any painkillers, aside from some rum (Sam is performing the operation secretly so he can't take milk of the poppy from the Maesters' inventory) by slicing away the scabrous infected epidermal layers with knives and painting the raw skin beneath with some kind of healing ointment. It's best advised not to eat while watching this scene, as the Match Cut for the next scene involves a literal food as if the showrunners deliberately want to gross out the audience.

• Metaphorically True:
  • Queen Cersei's speech to the Westerosi nobles mentions Dany's brutal reputation and her atrocities against the nobles of Essos. While largely true, she leaves out a lot of context, namely that those nobles were slavers (who had crucified an equal number of slave children), in order to increase the fear factor among her own people.
  • Varys, during Daenerys's interview, insists that Robert ordered her assassination, but he tellingly forgets to mention that Robert only did so because of his intelligence and insistence, his suborning of Jorah Mormont, and more importantly that Robert on his deathbed rescinded that order of assassination and when Ned informed Varys to call it off, he only muttered apologetically that he couldn't.
• Moment Killer: Just when Ellaria and Yara start making out, Euron's attack begins, interrupting them.
• Mundane Solution: Dany has three flying, fire-breathing dragons. Qyburn's solution to this problem? A simple ballista. It proves capable of piercing the ancient skull of Balerion the Dread, the biggest dragon that ever terrorized Westeros.
• Must Not Die a Virgin: Grey Worm being a eunuch (and never having had such romantic entanglements before), this is where it falls for him when he and Missandei finally decide to consummate (of sorts) their long-unsettled relationship.
• My Greatest Second Chance: Part of the reason Sam badly wants to help Jorah is because he wasn't able to do anything to help his father, the late Jeor.
• My Sister Is Off-Limits: Jon makes this point extremely clear to Littlefinger.
  Jon Snow: Touch my sister and I'll kill you myself.
• Mythology Gag:
  • The idea of using the ballista as an explicit anti-dragon weapon was actually at the heart of the story of the Targaryen founder Aegon I's First Dornish War: such a weapon killed the dragon Meraxes (the sibling of Balerion, whose skull Qyburn and Cersei practices on).^{From the books...}Meraxes was supposedly slain by a scorpion bolt digging into her right eye◊—the same spot Cersei fires her test run at Balerion's skull. The eyes are the weakest part of any dragon with the hides generally being impenetrable.
  • Archmaester Ebrose mentions Archmaester Pylos. Maester Pylos is Cressen's replacement in the novels.
  • The fact that Daenerys, despite speaking High Valyrian, doesn't realize that its word for "prince" is gender-neutral. A few initial reviews thought this might be an Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole—actually, in the books, her own great-great-uncle Maester Aemon knew of the prophecy for decades, and he knows High Valyrian (possibly better than she does, as a career scholar). On hearing about Daenerys and how she hatched live dragons again, however, he laments that in all that time, it simply never occurred to him that "prince" in High Valyrian can also refer to a woman. So if even Aemon didn't realize this for years, it's no stretch that Daenerys wouldn't realize this the first time she heard about the prophecy. The TV show's staff linguist was asked about this and confirmed via his Tumblr that he saw no contradiction, and used the example that it didn't occur to Aemon in the books either. He also brought up the example that many people who speak English as their mother tongue assume that words like "doctor" or "surgeon" automatically refer to a man.
  • The boarding gangplank Euron is standing on, in real life, is known as a Corvus, which is Latin for "crow", due to the spike (or in this case, spikes/teeth) on the bottom resembling the beak of a bird. In the books, he's nicknamed "Crow's Eye". The Crow's Eye is above the crow's beak.
• No Hero to His Valet: Varys argues this is the reason for his reputation for Chronic Backstabbing Disorder, and claims that this is the proper behavior counselors should carry with regards to their lieges. Daenerys agrees to his opinion, but only so long as he voices his opinions on how she is failing the people to her face, instead of behind her back:
  Daenerys: If [Varys] dislikes one monarch he conspires to crown the next one. What kind of a servant is that?
  Varys: The kind the Realm needs! Incompetence should not be rewarded with blind loyalty. As long as I have my eyes, I'll use them. I wasn't born into a great house. I came from nothing. I was sold as a slave, and carved up as an offering. When I was a child I lived in alleys, gutters, abandoned houses. You wish to know where my loyalties lie? Not with any king or queen: but with the people! The people who suffer under despots and prosper under just rule! The people whose hearts you aim to win! If you demand blind allegiance, I respect your wishes. Grey Worm can behead me, or your dragons can devour me. But if you let me live, I will serve you well, I will dedicate myself to seeing you on the Iron Throne because I choose you. Because I know the people have no better chance than you.
• No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Euron manages to defeat Yara by getting up close and pummeling her with his fists.
• No-Sell: Nymeria gets a few solid hits on Euron with her whip; all she manages to do is enrage him with those attacks, and eventually he just catches it and uses it to drag her into throttling range. She even stabbed him with her knife with little result and Euron use the opportunity to grab her.
• "Not So Different" Remark: When Varys calls out Melisandre for serving the deposed Stannis, Dany shuts him up by reminding that today is officially Forgiving Former Regime Personnel Day, reminding Varys of how he got chewed out for serving multiple kings and betraying them.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Yara and Theon have this reaction when they see the Silence bearing down on them out of the storm.
    Yara Greyjoy: Euron!
  • Nymeria Sand also has a brief one as Euron overpowers her, realising she's seriously overestimated her abilities against him, just seconds before he gets her whip around her throat and starts choking her.
  • Arya has this reaction when she finds herself surrounded by snarling wolves...and then the leader of the pack appears.
  Arya: Nymeria?
• One-Steve Limit: Enforced. The episode featured the return of Nymeria the dire wolf, so of course, by episode's end, Nymeria Sand is dead.
• Papa Wolf: Tyrion finally confronts Ellaria for her murder of his beloved niece Myrcella.
  Tyrion: [addressing Ellaria in disgust] I know how you wage war. We don't poison little girls here. Myrcella was innocent!
• Pet Baby Wild Animal: On all levels, Nymeria has grown far past her designated role as Arya's Canine Companion. The only indication that she still feels any affection for Arya is that she recognizes her and calls off her pack.
• Politically Incorrect Hero: Despite being somewhat more moral than Cersei, Jaime accepts her opinions on the Dothraki and Unsullied, calling them savages when talking to Randall Tarly. Now there are legitimate reasons to fear the Dothraki as a military and colonizing and occupying force, but calling them savage is a huge stretch for any loyal child of Tywin Lannister and anyone wearing the armour of the Lannister army.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: Cersei appeals to the xenophobia of the lords of the Reach to try to convince them to join her side, by emphasizing the fact that Daenerys's army is mainly made up of Dothraki and Unsullied. She isn't exactly wrong, as the Dothraki are infamous for Rape, Pillage, and Burn and the Unsullied are famous for robotic loyalty to whoever owns them, rather than to the laws or people of the country they serve in, and people have grievances about an army that looks like an occupation.
• Prophecy Twist: Melisandre has wised up about this and cautions Dany that prophecies are tricky things, explaining as Dany gets hyped about potentially being the messiah that while the prophecy could refer to her, she also believes that it could mean another and she considers Jon Snow to be equally important.
• Protagonist Title: The title obviously refers to Daenerys.
• Ramming Always Works: Justified when Euron has his flagship ram Yara's. The prow has a rather large spike mounted to it and his ship is T-boning hers, so his ship suffers basically no damage. Ramming was more or less standard naval strategy in the pre-modern era.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
  • Dany gives a long-deserved one to Varys, calling out his poorly motivated plans to serve different kings and insisting on his trustworthiness when his betrayals are not well-motivated at all, and initially selling her off to the Dothraki solely as coin to prop up the patently unworthy Viserys, and then going along with Robert's orders to send someone to assassinate her.
  • He shoots one right back at her, defending himself by noting that he was born a slave and was using all the abilities and skill the world gave him to help the poor and that he only serves government in so far as it helps the common people, and so long as Dany does that, he will serve her loyally. Dany then admits he has a point but points out that instead of betraying her like the other kings Varys has served, he should simply speak his mind to her first before undermining her.
  • Lord Tarly lands a succinct one on the Lannisters when Jaime probes his allegiance.
    "I'm a Tarly. That name means something. We're not oathbreakers. We're not schemers. We don't stab our rivals in the back or cut their throats at weddings."
• Reluctant Ruler: Vary's points out that that Robert was not a bad king because he was Mad or Cruel. He was a bad king because he never wanted to be king in the first place.
• Remember When You Blew Up a Sun?: Jaime brings up Lord Tarly's victory against Robert in the Battle of Ashford, the only battle Robert ever lost.
• Rewarded as a Traitor Deserves: Daenerys seems almost keen to do this to Varys (after initially "thanking" him for arranging the alliance with Dorne and the Reach, no less), launching into a tirade on his reputation for plotting against the kings he serve, trying to sell her off to the Dothraki and then sending someone to assassinate her on Robert's orders. Varys, as noted in "The Reason You Suck" Speech above, makes the case for why he is motivated by a higher purpose for doing these things and not mere petty politicking (so to say), plus even he can't see or anticipate everything.
• Save the Princess: Invoked by Euron, trying to incite Theon to save his sister, but ultimately averted when Theon decides to jump overboard and flee.
• Scenery Gorn: The powerful image of Yara's fleet contrasts heavily with the wide shot of the same fleet burning and being sunk by Euron.
• Screaming Warrior: Euron, howling with bloodthirsty glee as he rides the boarding plank onto the deck of the Black Wind. He also howls with delight after he kills Obara and hoists her corpse aloft for all to see.
• Screw Destiny: Everyone keeps reminding Cersei that Aegon the Conqueror brought Westeros to its knees with just three dragons and nothing else, with the obvious inference that Daenerys will repeat that feat. Cersei responds by having her Mad Scientist create anti-dragon weaponry, in the form of the cheap, easily produced and very functional ballista.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
  • Sam decides to treat Jorah despite the risk and against orders, as he served under Jorah's father and feels he owes him as much.
  • Jon Snow was never a stickler for norms as Lord Commander (treating with the Wildlings against everyone's prejudices). Now he's willing to go further and treat with a Targaryen and a Lannister, historical enemies of House Stark, for the sake of the greater good. He points out that he and Sansa both know Tyrion to be a kind and reasonable man, and while neither of them know Daenerys, they need to try and gain her as an ally against the Night King's army.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Performed by Theon Greyjoy. Not only are his chances of surviving low but he starts twitching like Reek at the sight of Euron's mayhem so he just jumps overboard instead of saving his sister.
• Sex Starts, Story Stops: The sex scene between Grey Worm and Missandei takes quite a bit of time but isn't very necessary to show. It had been heavily foreshadowed with their mutual attraction beforehand at least.
• Shirtless Scene:
  • Grey Worm of course in his love scene with Missandei. He's reluctant to show anything else, but he does and the viewer gets to see his ass too.
  • Ser Jorah both when his grayscale is being examined and when Sam is trying to operate on him. The context makes it very much Fan Disservice (although Iain Glen is in quite good shape all the same).
• Shout-Out:
  • Apart from the in-universe idea of using scorpion ballistae in the ASOIAF books above (see Mythology Gag), Qyburn's scheme seems similarly inspired by the update done to the Black Arrow in The Hobbit film trilogy—the weapon that brought down the dragon Smaug.
  • Qyburn also says that if a dragon can be injured, it can be killed. Or as Arnie would say, "If it bleeds, we can kill it."
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: When Ellaria derides Tyrion as a coward because he doesn't want to instigate a massacre by turning the dragons loose on King's Landing to take the capital, Tyrion retorts that Ellaria's sole contribution to Daenerys's cause (in contrast to his own support of her in Meereen, as well as his experience commanding men into battle at the Blackwater) was to poison an innocent girl out of sheer spite for the Lannisters, as well as murder members of her own family when they refused to let Dorne be dragged into a futile war for the sake of her obsessive desire for vengeance.
• Sink or Swim Mentor: Grey Worm tells Missandei about how the Masters would learn the fears of the Unsullied when they were children, then force them to face those fears in the harshest way possible. Afraid of water? Better learn to swim. Heights? Up the cliff with ya. They'd either get over the fear or die.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Cersei in the South, and Sansa and the rest of Jon's bannermen in the North, automatically associate Daenerys with her father the Mad King; the Northern lords are particularly apprehensive, since Aerys II cruelly executed Rickard and Brandon Stark. Just like with the Umber and Karstark families, Jon is willing to look past Daenerys being the daughter of Aerys.
• Something Only They Would Say: Tyrion's letter to Jon Snow ends with "all dwarfs are bastards in their father's eyes", which is what Tyrion said to Jon the night they met. This convinces him the offer is genuine, or at least that it really did come from Tyrion.
• The Spartan Way: As children, the Unsullied recruits were deliberately exposed to anything they had a phobia of. If they died in the process, e.g. drowning while overcoming a fear of water by being thrown into the ocean, then the slavers just rid themselves of someone who was too weak to be Unsullied anyway.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Theon may look okay, especially compared to his book counterpart, but he really hasn't just shrugged off all the physical and mental torture inflicted on him by Ramsay. As confirmed by Word of God, witnessing the carnage, pillaging of the ships, mutilation of bodies, death and destruction around him and Yara being held hostage by Euron triggers his PTSD causing him to abandon Yara and jump overboard to save himself.
  • Daenerys could simply carry out her conquest by brute force, but doing so wouldn't leave much left for her to rule. She is convinced to take a less destructive approach.
  • Likewise, allying with a race known and feared as the most barbarous in Essos is going to breed fear and mistrust among the denizens of Westeros. As such, a few of the nobles who dislike and outright hate Cersei are willing to consider fighting by her side because they do not trust Daenerys for being willing to ally with the Dothraki and the Unsullied, and don't think she'll provide quarter to the nobility (like she refused to do at Slaver's Bay). Daenerys likewise has to consider the political implications of using them before she can dare to deploy them.
  • Arya is reunited with her direwolf, Nymeria, for the first time in ages. But since then, the latter has become more wild and even formed her own pack, so she refuses Arya's request to go with her.
  • A trio of supposedly skilled fighters like the Sand Snakes that couldn't even defeat a cripple and a mercenary trying to flee for their lives probably wouldn't last long in an actual battle against enemies with full-blown killing intent. Once they run into Euron Greyjoy, who isn't trying to escape like Jaime and Bronn did in the Water Gardens, he shows them no mercy. In addition, Euron is fighting in his element, while they're more used to fighting on solid ground and Nymeria's whip isn't that useful on the ship.
  • Tyene is only armed with a dagger, and while she can fend off Euron's men with it while they come at her one at a time, when they attack her en masse, she's quickly overwhelmed.
  • Without doubt, Yara is a fantastic fighter, but Euron catches her almost entirely unprepared here. Going up against her heavily-armed, heavily-armored uncle with no chance to properly gear up herself proves to be a major factor in why Yara loses that fight.
  • When your family has a reputation for brutality and violence, as do the majority of your armed forces, it's very unlikely that the people on the continent you're trying to conquer will want to support you or form alliances. You have to go out of your way to convince people that you have changed your ways.
  • With their last surviving member being an elderly woman, House Tyrell is starting to lose its grip on The Reach; when Olenna inevitably dies, the position of Lord Paramount of the Reach becomes up for grabs, and already House Tarly is maneuvering to replace them.
  • Little more lighthearted one here; ever since the ship teasing between Grey Worm and Missandei began, characters and audience alike have vocally wondered how they could consummate it given Grey Worm's status as a eunuch, including speculation as to whether or not Grey Worm still has any equipment.^note The books make it explicit that no, Unsullied are completely gelded, but the show still hasn't given a straight answer. As it turns out the solution is rather simple being that oral sex is a thing that exists.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Melisandre tells Dany of her prophesy from the Lord of Light, she conveniently leaves out her personal belief that Jon Snow is actually the chosen prince. When Dany assumes that she is The Chosen One due to Missandei pointing out that it can be read as gender-neutral, Melisandre just rolls with it and states that Dany has a role to play.
• Tactful Translation: Of a sort. Tyrion writes Dany's missive to Jon Snow, but leaves out the "bend the knee" part and instead merely asks that they negotiate an alliance.
• Taught by Experience: Jon seems to be prepared for a possible betrayal, given what happened to the previous kings of Winterfell who left south, and his own disastrous experience at the Watch. When the lords warn him that the North needs him to lead, he puts Sansa in charge while he's gone, since he knows that Sansa is capable and that a Stark must always be at Winterfell.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork:
  • Tyrion doesn't like working alongside the murderers of his niece Myrcella while the Sand Snakes hate Lannisters and hold Tyrion responsible for Oberyn's death (of course). Dany keeps both in line, and is happy to go with the strategy that keeps both of them away from each other.
  • Randyll Tarly is inclined to serve with Cersei, but it's clear he despises the Lannnisters for the Red Wedding, and doesn't look forward to serving under a monarch who brutally murders those who fail and/or disobey her.
• Terror Hero: Dany's reputation as this is starting to haunt her, since Cersei barely has to embellish her sacking and destruction in Essos to signify how dangerous she is, not to mention how she's the Mad King's daughter. Indeed, Dany is trying to proceed moderately this time to prove that she's different, much to the disappointment of her Martell, Greyjoy and Tyrell allies.
• There Is Another: Melisandre says that as important as Dany is, she's not the only candidate for being the prince, and thinks that Jon Snow is important as well.
• Tongue Trauma: Euron's crew can be seen mutilating Yara's crew in this fashion, while they are still alive. This is one of the factors that triggers Theon's trauma.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Exile and banishment has mellowed Melisandre considerably. She's polite, respectful, cautious in her prophetic readings and more importantly admits that even those who don't follow R'hllor can serve his will and help against the Long Night, shedding her religious fanaticism.
• Tranquil Fury: The remarkable verbal sparring between Daenerys and Varys involves them trading barbs, highly-insightful observations and views on ruling—all without resorting to shouting (although Varys does raise his voice when he makes his point by the tail-end of it).
• Trust Password: After Jon receives a raven from Tyrion to come to Dragonstone, Sansa thinks someone is impersonating Tyrion to lure Jon into a trap. Jon knows that message is really from Tyrion when he includes at the end "All dwarves are bastards in their fathers eyes", which is something Tyrion told him when they first met.
• Truth in Television: It was not an uncommon thing throughout medical history that a doctor working to treat or cure an infectious disease might inadvertently contract it themselves and die from it. Particularly in the history of treatment of skin diseases like leprosy (see Father Damien of Molokai for example). Some even deliberately infected themselves to test new treatments.
• Unfortunate Implications: In-Universe. Tyrion is wise to this with regards to having the Dothraki and Unsullied take part in the sacking of the lands surrounding King's Landing, which would play into Cersei's fearmongering of the dangerous invading heathens. To counter this, he has the Dornish and Tyrell armies lay siege to those lands, since they would be seen as rebelling against an unfit queen. Meanwhile, the Unsullied will take Casterly Rock, knocking out the true power behind the throne, which Tyrion doesn't really care about offending anyway.
• Underestimating Badassery: Obara and Nymeria Sand seriously overestimate their ability to take on Euron. They both pay with their lives for it. And this was after Nym spoke wanting to kill The Mountain.
• Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Tyrion gives full details of his grand strategy to beat Cersei. They'll lay siege to King's Landing using native Westerosi armies (the Tyrells and Martells) while the Dothraki and Unsullied march on Casterly Rock. He sends Yara's fleet to Dorne to transport the Martell army. Naturally, such an intricate plan is shattered by the end of the episode.
• Use Your Head: Euron headbutts Obara, which brings her to her knees before he stabs her.
• Vetinari Job Security: Even knowing that Varys tried to assassinate her in the past, and that he was indifferent to her being sold to the Dothraki so long as it helped the patently unworthy Viserys, the Spider still somehow maintains his position by her side.
• Villain Has a Point:
  • While Cersei's speech about the Dothraki and the Unsullied forces that Daenerys brought has traits of xenophobia, it's not like the Dothraki's reputation is undeserved; it's a matter of fact that they're a brutal conquering tribe of warriors who in the past had destroyed, looted and enslaved their opponents, though whether that is especially different from what the Lannisters did to the Riverlands or how Westerosi lords behave during war is a separate question. Tyrion is aware of this and warns that if they use the Dothraki to invade and sack King's Landing, the rest of Westeros will see this as an outright invasion and Cersei's claims will be vindicated. Cersei also doesn't entirely lie when she says Daenerys had nobles crucified or fed to her dragons, she just leaves out the context. Even sympathetic and heroic characters, such as Sansa, have legitimate grievances against House Targaryen, and even Ser Davos is iffy about Tyrion's letter just casually gloating about Dany's invincible army.
  • After Jon angrily orders him out of the Stark family crypt and bluntly shuts down his attempt to ingratiate himself with the King in the North, Littlefinger suggests Jon could thank him, pointing out that without his intervention, Ramsay would have killed Jon and his army outside Winterfell.
  Jon Snow: I have nothing to say to you.
  Littlefinger: Not even "Thank you"? If it weren't for me, you'd have been slaughtered on that battlefield.
• Villainous Valor:
  • Euron is a villain who is also fearless in marching into battle, leading from the front and personally willing to battle deadly fighters on his own.
  • He might be the worst father in a world that has more than it's share but Randyll's ruthlessness is direct and honest unlike the Lannisters.
• War Hawk: True to form, Ellaria is gleeful at the prospect of burning King's Landing to the ground in a firestorm which is unsurprising considering her hatred for the South and the fact that she equates the city with the Lannisters. Lady Olenna also subscribes to this being too old and bitter to care about peace and a working future for the commoners.
• Weather of War: The heavy sea fog presumably explains how Euron's fleet managed to catch Yara's fleet by surprise.
• What the Hell, Hero?: Jon's decision to negotiate with Daenerys in order to get the dragonglass and help they need to defend the North from the Night King's army of the dead does not appeal to the lords of the North, the Vale, or Sansa. Even Lyanna Mormont, Jon's greatest champion, speaks up against it. The reasons vary from prejudice to understandable grudges against former Targaryen rulers to Lyanna complaining that Jon should be in the North as winter is here.
• Wicked Stepmother: Invoked by Littlefinger, who guesses from Jon's guarded reaction to his talking about Cat that the King in the North and his late stepmother were not particularly close.
  Littlefinger: Your father and I had our differences, but he loved Cat very much. So did I. [he notices Jon's scowl] She wasn't fond of you, was she? Well, it seems she vastly underestimated you.
• Would Hit a Girl: Euron demonstrates this amply; his reaction to Nymeria lashing her whip around his throat is to charge at the Sand Snake and punch her in the face, before turning his full fury on both her and Obara in a brutal, one-sided fight.
  • There's also one of his men punching the hell out of Tyene, who's about a head shorter than him, and handing her off for one of his companions to hold at knifepoint before the Ironborn take her and Ellaria prisoner.
• Wrecked Weapon: How Euron kills Obara: he disarms her of her spear, snaps it in half and then impales her with the broken halves.
• You Are in Command Now: As Jon's regent, sister, and a Stark, Sansa is left in charge of the North while Jon rides south to negotiate with Dany.
• Your Days Are Numbered: According to the Archmaester, Jorah has at least six months left until the greyscale reaches his brain and he degenerates into a feral beast. Usually the infected can live at least ten to twenty years before the disease kills them, but they would be better off if they are killed first.

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