History Recap / GameOfThronesS5E10MothersMercy

** Jon is viciously gutted and stabbed in the heart by his own sworn brothers and although his physical death is absolutely confirmed, there are several possibilities for BackFromTheDead and enough lingering mysteries for many fans to [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt refuse to believe]] that Jon's song actually ends here, despite the undignified or anti-climactic ends suffered by other prominent characters.

** Daenerys's diarrhea and other squicky health problems brought on by poisonous berries in the wilderness are AdaptedOut, both for time and because the former is PlayedForLaughs on television so often that {{Narm}} would be inevitable.[[note]]Many similar instances have also been excised: Ned in the black cells, Tyrion slipping Cersei a laxative, Tyrion himself in the field hospital after the Blackwater, Davos suffering dysentery when stranded, and Tywin's averting of NoDeadBodyPoops to name a few. Only Jaime, as Robb's prisoner, claims that he was covered in his own filth for nearly a year.[[/note]] It's worth noting, however, that the early and heavy onset of her period in the books prompts Dany to realize it may have been more than a month since her last one, a hint that she may not be as barren as she believed herself to be after Mirri Maz Duur's ritual. While the show removes a lot of this, it still has Dany describe her dragons as "the only children I will ever have," in Season 2.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** Unfortunately for Stannis, it turns out that sellswords won't follow a man who has no food or siege equipment and [[EveryoneHasStandards who sacrificed his own daughter]] ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane which only ended up clearing the weather]]). They leave with all the horses, leaving Stannis's loyal men easy pickings for the Bolton mounted cavalry.
** Even after the events of the last episode, Dany is still having trouble controlling her dragon, mostly because Drogon is tired from the flight and busy licking the wounds he took in Daznak's Pit.
** Discussed by Jon. Even knowing about two [[AchillesHeel weaknesses]] of the White Walkers (dragonglass and Valyrian steel), he points out that they don't have anywhere near enough of either to make a difference and that they're still hopelessly outmatched.
** You take a group of men, most of whom are criminals banished to the Wall as alternative to execution and forced to take a vow of celibacy and live in arctic conditions in order to (as far as they're concerned) protect the North from the wildlings, only to have a young Lord Commander go against the reason why they're stuck there to begin with... [[TheMutiny You can do the math.]]

Somewhere past '''Long Lake''', the snows are melting. Melisandre gives us a knowing smile; her magic has worked and the road to Winterfell is now open. However, Stannis isn't celebrating. Mel feeds him more codswallop about the Lord of Light but he's a bit cranky after murdering his daughter. Worse? He pretty much gets told he's the worst father of the century through the actions of his men, as half of his forces packed up and left during the night, taking all their horses with them. Oopsie-daisies, looks like Mel's tea leaves were fucking wrong. Who would have thunk it? Stannis gets lectured some more about corporate-social responsibility, and Selyse [[DrivenToSuicide has decided to jump off the face of the world]] as a result of MyGodWhatHaveIDone Stannis sarcastically asks his remaining men how this day could get any worse... Big mistake: because that's when he learns that Melisandre, clearly now seeing the writing on [[JustForPun the wall]], has also done a runner.

** You take a group of men, most of whom are criminals banished to the Wall as alternative to execution and forced to take a vow of celibacy and live in arctic conditions in order to (as far as they're concerned) protect the North from the wildlings, only to have a young Lord Commander go against the reason why they're stuck there to begin with... You can do the [[MurderTheHypotenuse math]].

** Unfortunately for Stannis, it turns out that sellswords won't follow a man who has no food or siege equipment and who sacrificed his own daughter (which only ended up clearing the weather). They leave with all the horses, leaving Stannis's loyal men easy pickings for the Bolton mounted cavalry.

** Melisandre very suddenly abandons Stannis's side and rides for Castle Black. She doesn't explain why to either Davos or Jon Snow. Before that, half of Stannis' tropps, [[EveryoneHasStandards disgusted by his gruesome sacrifice of his daughter to the Lord of Fire]], pulls this one.

** After Jon put aside his differences with Thorn and appointed him as First Ranger, Thorn leads a mutiny against him.

** Meryn Trant is one taken UpToEleven when he makes no attempt to fight back against Arya Stark stabbing him repeatedly despite being a knight, but he has no problem beating little girls a third his size.

* AbsenteeActor:
** Roose Bolton is conspicuously absent while a decisive battle is fought on his doorstep. Could also double as Fridge Brilliance, since Roose was in favor of letting Stannis's army suffer through a protracted siege, thus risking none of his forces. And given how tired he seems to have been getting of Ramsay's pointless bloodlust (along with his wife having a bun in the oven), he may simply not have cared if BloodKnight Ramsay got himself killed in the fight.
** Two of Jon's remaining allies, Tormund and Edd, are conveniently not present at Castle Black when the mutiny occurs. While Tormund is presumably leading his people to the Gift, Edd is simply not there, though he could have accompanied Tormund as a guide.

* DarthVaderClone: The resurrected Gregor Clegane, a massive knight [[WeCanRebuildHim transformed]] by Qyburn's experiments who now wears the armor and cloak of the Kingsguard, complete with a [[CoolHelmet face-concealing helmet]] and VaderBreath.

** Fans have noted quite a few similarities to the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise. The LukeIAmYourFather scene (with Myrcella giving the "I've always known" response that Leia did to Luke being her brother), Arya seeing her own face (Luke seeing his face on the Vader he fights on Dagobah), Gregor resurrected as a DarthVaderClone, and Theon killing Myranda like Vader did Palpatine.

* AdultFear:
** Discussed. Sam asks Jon for leave to take Gilly and Little Sam to safety in Oldtown, saying he'd rather face an army of White Walkers than watch them die because he failed to protect them.
** Myrcella is poisoned and collapses in her father's arms.

* EarAche: Tyene [[FoeYay nips Bronn's ear]] while whispering in it.

** Stannis calmly allows Brienne to execute him, and tells her to do her duty.

* DownerEnding: Where do we even begin? With the exception of Sam (who is sent to the Citadel, where he will protect Gilly from the threat of the White Walkers) and Tyrion (who ends up better than he was at the beginning of the season, as a ruler of Meereen), all the other characters receive a tragic ending on this season finale: Stannis is dead, Sansa and Theon jump off Winterfell's walls to an uncertain fate, Brienne misses her chance to rescue Sansa, Arya goes blind, Jaime is forced to see his daughter die, Daenerys is imprisoned by the Dothraki, Cersei is publicly humiliated and yet remains without her power, Davos discovers that Shireen has died, Melisandre is devastated by her failure with Stannis, and Jon is betrayed and killed by his own men.

* DownerEnding: Where do we even begin? With the exception of Sam (who is sent to the Citadel, where he will protect Gilly from the threat of the White Walkers) and Tyrion (who ends up better than he was at the beginning of the season, as a ruler of Meereen), ALL the other characters receive a tragic ending on this season finale: Stannis is dead, Sansa and Theon jump off Winterfell's walls to an uncertain fate, Brienne misses her chance to rescue Sansa, Arya goes blind, Jaime is forced to see his daughter die, Daenerys is imprisoned by the Dothraki, Cersei is publicly humiliated and yet remains without her power, Davos discovers that Shireen has died, Melisandre is devastated by his failure with Stannis, and Jon is betrayed and killed by his own men. .

** Melisandre very suddenly abandons Stannis's side and rides for Castle Black. She doesn't explain why to either Davos or Jon Snow.

* FamousLastWords: Brienne asks if Stannis has any. His response?
-->"Go on, do your duty."

* RealityEnsues:
** Unfortunately for Stannis, it turns out that sellswords won't follow a man who has no food or siege equipment and who sacrificed his own daughter (which only ended up clearing the weather). They leave with all the horses, leaving Stannis's loyal men easy pickings for the Bolton mounted cavalry.
** Even after the events of the last episode, Dany is still having trouble controlling her dragon, mostly because Drogon is tired from the flight and busy licking the wounds he took in Daznak's Pit.
** Discussed by Jon. Even knowing about two [[AchillesHeel weaknesses]] of the White Walkers (dragonglass and Valyrian steel), he points out that they don't have anywhere near enough of either to make a difference and that they're still hopelessly outmatched.
** You take a group of men, most of whom are criminals banished to the Wall as alternative to execution and forced to take a vow of celibacy and live in arctic conditions in order to (as far as they're concerned) protect the North from the wildlings, only to have a young Lord Commander go against the reason why they're stuck there to begin with... You can do the [[MurderTheHypotenuse math]].