History Recap / GameOfThronesS5E8Hardhome

Jon's pretensions to actually survive, let alone win the coming war plummet, as the King's army swells their ranks from their now rising dead. He takes one last traumatized look at the ravaged coast once more and the army of the dead now stand shoulder to shoulder, drawn up behind the Night's King, with a solid mass of wights stretching along the harbor ''for miles''. The episode ends [[NothingIsScarier in silence]], with nothing but the howling wind....

Winter is here.

Jon's pretensions to actually survive, let alone win the coming war plummet, as the King's army swells their ranks from their now rising dead. He takes one last traumatized look at the ravaged coast once more and the army of the dead now stand shoulder to shoulder, drawn up in a line behind the Night's King all along the point, ''for miles''. The episode ends [[NothingIsScarier in silence]], with nothing but the howling wind....

-->'''Jon:''' I'm not asking you to forget your dead. I'll never forget mine! But I'm asking you, to thank about your children now. They'll never have children of their own if we don't band together.

Jon's pretensions to actually survive, let alone win the coming war plummet, as the King's army swells their ranks from their now rising dead. He takes one last traumatized look at the ravaged coast once more and the army of the dead now stand shoulder to shoulder, drawn up in a line behind the Night's King all along the point, ''for miles''.

* {{Realpolitik}}: Tyrion demonstrates some of his father's mastery of politics by explaining how the Houses of Westeros are likely to react to Dany's claim: the Starks are gone, the Lannisters and Stannis would never recognize her, and the Tyrells are most likely to support her (and even ''that'' is optimistic).
** Though he doesn't mention any of the other possible allies, such as the Martells (who would probably have the most reason to support her), the Arryns and Vale Houses (who haven't entered the war yet so still have a lot of military force) or the lesser Northern and Riverlands Houses who would probably want revenge on the current regime. To be fair none of those groups would talk to a Lannister (Oberyn's death, Red Wedding, armed the Shagga's clan to sack the lord of the Vale) even if it's Tyrion so it's not like he'll consider them.

** Though he doesn't mention any of the other possible allies, such as the Martells (who would probably have the most reason to support her), the Arryns and Vale Houses (who haven't entered the war yet so still have a lot of military force) or the lesser Northern and Riverlands Houses who would probably want revenge on the current regime.

* VillainBall:

* OvertookTheManga:
** A minor but specific case. In the books, it's been speculated by several characters whether Valyrian steel could be used against the Others, as Sam finds a reference to "dragonsteel" being lethal to them. This episode has Jon kill a White Walker with Longclaw, confirming this theory long before the book does.
** Tyrion and Daenerys have not yet met in the books (they are slated to in ''The Winds of Winter'').
** With the exception of the Arya and Cersei scenes, every other scene from the episode either has yet to happen in the books or diverges significantly. Making this effectively the first "new" episode for fans of the novels.

And so we come to the latter half of the episode, which takes place at the wildling settlement of '''Hardhome'''. Jon and Tormund are rowed to shore with a good portion of Stannis's fleet weighing anchor further out to the Shivering Sea, all for the express-purpose of evacuating what seems to be a good twenty thousand refugees; their camps well exceeding the boundaries of the ruined town and stretching out along the length and breadth of Storrold's Point.

Winded, head-ringing and with probably a few broken ribs, Jon staggers to his feet and flees from the leisurely pursuing fey. The snow-fall has turned into a true graupel outside and though Jon snatches up Longclaw from among the shattered timbers, internal hemorrhaging brings him down in a heap. The White Walker is not taking prisoners now, his mouth set in a teeth-clenched snarl as he bears down on the injured Lord Commander. Frantic, Jon rises, the Mormont ancestral sword in hand as he executes a last-ditch defiant, all-or-nothing block before he's decapitated. ''[[MostWonderfulSound *Crack-clang-huuuuuum*]]'' Jon is astounded, as is his opponent, when the thousand-folded dragonfire-forged metal stands up to the magical halberd without a dent. Jon cries out as the vibrations ring through his arms and needles pierce his eardrums and for a second both the Other and the man of the Night's Watch are utterly gobsmacked, they exchange looks. Jon's: "oh, ''[[HeroicSecondWind its on]]''" The White Walker's: "he can [[OhCrap kill me]]!"

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: Two of the Wildling leaders, Karsi and Loboda, are reanimated and incorporated into the Wight army. The former Thenn is even made to switch sides before the battle is over and has time to kill some of his former allies.

* CrowdPanic: The wildling flee to the few boats ferrying people to the ships offshore, fighting each other for a place on board.

* HopeSpot: After Jon successfully kills the White Walker Lieutenant with a sword made of Valyrian steel, it seemed like they may have turned the tide of the battle. They still lose and are forced to leave. And to twist the knife further, the White Walkers raise every Wildling and black brother who fell in battle and add them to their army.

* NoNameGiven: The names Karsi and Loboda (the only female Wildling leader and the Thenn, respectively) are not used in the episode. The characters are named by the script.

** This also applies to the Night King who probably could have killed a lot more Wildlings if he wanted to. Such as raising the dead in the middle of the battle as opposed to the end. Even without that, he could have at least sent in the extra troops from the beginning instead of toying around.

* TheDogBitesBack: ''Pycelle'' of all people has turned on Cersei, sending word to Casterly Rock to summon her uncle Kevan to rule as the new Hand of the King. He was loyal to the Lannisters but more specifically Tywin, and throughout the season he has been aghast at how horrifyingly unfit Cersei is at basic governance.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: A inter-storyline example. Tyrion's tells Dany "a ruler who kills those devoted to her, is not a ruler who inspires devotion". In the next episode, [[spoiler: Stannis sacrifices his devoted daughter Shireen, which results in half of his army deserting before the march on Winterfell.]]

* Foreshadowing: A inter-storyline example. Tyrion's tells Dany "a ruler who kills those devoted to her, is not a ruler who inspires devotion". In the next episode, [[spoiler: Stannis sacrifices his devoted daughter Shireen, which results in half of his army deserting before the march on Winterfell.]]

* Foreshadowing: A inter-storyline example. Tyrion's tells any Dany "a ruler who kills those devoted to her, is not a ruler who inspires devotion". In the next episode, [[spoiler: Stannis sacrifices his devoted daughter Shireen, which results in half of his army deserting before the march on Winterfell.]]

* DualWielding: Karsi kicks ass with a dagger and a a climbing pick.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: Tyrion snarks that if he ever gets around to telling Daenerys the story of his kin-slaying, he'll need a lot more wine than he has now.

One more check-in with Cersei at '''King's Landing''', who's lips are now cracked and her throat parched. Unella offers her relief once more in the form of the water of life. Delirious, Cersei offers riches and prestige but the lady of the Most Devout is remorseless. "Confess." She states, over and over; withholding the ladle. Since almost her every want has been seen to without fail during her life of privilege, Cersei is quite ready to snap, whispering that all she imagines is the septa's horrific death and yet being unable to have it carried out is causing her to have a near psychotic break. Unella smugly proves the failing of Cersei's sadistic contradictions and the lack of validity in her "power is power" mantra; by slowly pouring away the liquid that can save her. Upon her tormentor leaving and locking Cersei's cell, the Lioness of Lannister, unseen by all, is reduced to slurping up what little water she can recover from the flagstone floor to stave off her thirst, sobbing pathetically as she does.

* AnAxeToGrind: Loboda wields a huge f**king battleaxe. Unfortunately it's [[NoSell not much good]] against a White Walker.

Winded, head-ringing and with probably a few broken ribs, Jon staggers to his feet and flees from the leisurely pursuing fey. The snow-fall has turned into a true graupel outside and though Jon snatches up Longclaw from among the shattered timbers, internal hemorrhaging brings him down in a heap. The White Walker is not taking prisoners now, his mouth set in a teeth-clenched snarl as he bears down on the injured Lord Commander. Frantic, Jon rises, the Mormont ancestral sword in hand as he executes a last-ditch defiant, all-or-nothing block before he's decapitated. ''[[MostWonderfulSound *Crack-clang-huuuuuum*]]'' Jon is astounded, as is his opponent, when the thousand-folded dragonfire-forged metal stands up to the magical halberd without a dent. Jon cries out as the vibrations ring through his arms and needles pierce his eardrums and for a second both the Other and the man of the Night's Watch are utterly gobsmacked, they exchange looks. Jon's: "oh, ''[[HeroicSecondWind now]]'' it's on like Donkey-Kong!" The White Walker's: "this Mother-Hubbard can ''[[OhCrap kill]]'' me!"

Jon is found by Edd, who endorses a full retreat, "fuck the glass! We're gonna ''die'' here!" Why does Dolorous always have to be right? With a screeching Skroth war-cry from one of his two surviving generals, a teeming mass of wights rush past the Night's King and dive off the cliff in greater numbers than the defenders can ever hope to match. Although they break upon the ground, [[ImplacableMan they are not stopped]]. Neither can the palisade, which finally topples under the sheer weight of undead bodies as the gate bursts asunder. Jon, Edd, Tormund and "Wun Wun" the giant are forced to run for their lives, even as the big fella covers their asses with an uprooted flaming log stake that he bats great swathes of the pursuing wights with.

In its furious surprise, the White Walker's attempt to take Jon's head over-shoots, Jon pulls Longclaw back to his shoulder and whips it from right to left. The spell-imbued steel cuts through armour and hoarfrost flesh with a single stroke, eliciting a much faster and more powerful reaction than Sam's obsidian kill, and the individual belonging to the ancient race that nearly took the dawn lies in ice cubes, with only its crystal halberd left to mark its grave.

* CanonForeigner: Karsi and Loboda do not appear in the books.

In its furious surprise, the White Walker's attempt to take Jon's head over-shoots, Jon pulls Longclaw back to his shoulder and whips it from right to left. The Valyrian steel cuts through armour and chalky flesh in one, eliciting a much faster and more powerful reaction than Sam's obsidian kill, and the individual belonging to the ancient race that nearly took the dawn lies in ice cubes, with only its crystal halberd left to mark its grave.

Winded, head-ringing and with probably a few broken ribs, Jon staggers to his feet and flees from the leisurely pursuing fey. The snow-fall has turned into a true graupel outside and though Jon snatches up Longclaw from among the shattered timbers, internal hemorrhaging brings him down in a heap. The White Walker is not taking prisoners now, his mouth set in a teeth-clenched snarl as he bears down on the injured Lord Commander. Frantic, Jon rises, the Mormont ancestral sword in hand as he executes a last-ditch, all-or-nothing block. ''[[MostWonderfulSound *Crack-clang-huuuuuum*]]'' Jon is astounded, as is his opponent, when the thousand-folded dragonfire-forged metal stands up to the magical halberd without a dent. Jon cries out as the vibrations ring through his arms and needles pierce his eardrums and for a second both the Other and the man of the Night's Watch are utterly gobsmacked, they exchange looks. Jon's: "oh, ''[[HeroicSecondWind now]]'' it's on like Donkey-Kong!" The White Walker's: "this Mother-Hubbard can ''[[OhCrap kill]]'' me!"

[[HesMine "Get the glass."]] Loboda tells Jon and strides forward to confront the humanoid abomination, Jon searches frantically through the wreckage for the bag of obsidian while Loboda swings his axe over head with both hands and brings it down. The Other [[NonchalantDodge leans casually aside]]. And the blow embeds the head into the earth. The Magnar yanks it back and tries again with a cross-cut but his axe bites into a blazing charred wooden pillar instead, the monster is ''toying'' with him. Loboda frees his axe, and the Walker uses a partisan made of enchanted crystal to snap-freeze and shatter his weapon into so many useless pieces. Unarmed, the Thenn Chieftain is casually run-through, his blood probably solidifying in his veins from the piercing frore; as no crimson clings to his killer's quartz pole-arm when it's extracted. Jon finds an obsidian dagger among the debris, but before he can reach it he is grasped by an achromatic hand and easily cast along the dirt floor with ghastly strength, losing his sword through the hole in the cabin and into the arctic weather outside, such is the force of his rolling flight. The Walker advances ominously, but even one who is only half a wolf is never down long. Jon weaves under and around the sweeps of the mystic lancet and actually tries to ''[[CrazyAwesome box the White Walker in the face]]''. Amused, the monster throws Jon aside, who scrambles into the rafters and manages to scavenge an anelace, the Walker leaps up onto the beams in a single bound, [[CherryTapping cherry taps]] Jon's hastily telegraphed attacks and allows Jon's weapon to splinter on the edge of its pole-arm. Numb from the reverberation, Jon is helpless as the Other brings the wrapped haft of its staff sword down onto his clavicle, smashing him down to fall hard on the mud-packed floor a good twelve foot below.

[[HesMine "Get the glass."]] Loboda tells Jon and strides forward to confront the humanoid abomination, Jon searches frantically through the wreckage for the bag of obsidian while Loboda swings his axe over head with both hands and brings it down. The Other [[NonchalantDodge leans casually aside]]. And the blow embeds the head into the earth. The Magnar yanks it back and tries again with a cross-cut but his axe bites into a blazing charred wooden pillar instead, the monster is ''toying'' with him. Loboda frees his axe, and the Walker uses a partisan made of enchanted crystal to snap-freeze and shatter his weapon into so many useless pieces. Unarmed, the Thenn Chieftain is casually run-through, his blood probably solidifying in his veins from the piercing frore; as no crimson clings to his killer's quartz pole-arm. Jon finds an obsidian dagger among the debris, but before he can reach it he is grasped by an achromatic hand and easily cast along the dirt floor with ghastly strength, losing his sword through the hole in the cabin and into the arctic weather outside, such is the force of his rolling flight. The Walker advances ominously, but even one who is only half a wolf is never down long. Jon weaves under and around the sweeps of the mystic lancet and actually tries to ''[[CrazyAwesome box the White Walker in the face]]''. Amused, the monster throws Jon aside, who scrambles into the rafters and manages to scavenge an anelace, the Walker leaps up onto the beams in a single bound, [[CherryTapping cherry taps]] Jon's hastily telegraphed attacks and allows Jon's weapon to splinter on the edge of its pole-arm. Numb from the reverberation, Jon is helpless as the Other brings the wrapped haft of its staff sword down onto his clavicle, smashing him down to fall hard on the mud-packed floor a good twelve foot below.

As an exhausted Jon pukes blood, the mounted Night's King surveys the bastard boy from the cliff-top with detached interest. A diverting anomaly for one such as him no doubt. Bold. But futile. A minor victory, nothing more. Even as Tormund and Karsi chop down dozens of wights, the latter is overrun by a gang of resurrected children when she is unwilling to raise a hand against them.

They reach the docks and cast off with all haste, even as Wun Wun crushes fools like a boss, shrugs off the wights that clamber over him and in a refreshing subversion, walks through the breaker waves to the sea; (he'll probably hold onto one of the galley's anchors and get pulled back to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.)

In the turmoil, Karsi is able to get the last of the seniors onto a dinghy while Jon orders one of his rangers to take the last of their boats to the galleys and come back for him and the last of his men. Karsi insists he escape with the rest right now, as they will need the Lord Commander's personal authority to let the wildlings through the Wall. But Jon is needed here.

Who have started to fully breach the dike, even one of these ravening wights can kill multiple tribesmen, [[TheBerserker unheeding of superficial wounds]], or even of amputation and with all fuel having frozen over in the blizzard, the free folk cannot bring fires to bear. The wights lay into them, butchering them as their fellows try to hack them to pieces but human doggedness is nothing compared to such reckless hate. From over the barricade, ''tens of thousands'' of the undead swarm like locusts.

[[HesMine "Get the glass."]] Loboda tells Jon and strides forward to confront the humanoid abomination, Jon searches frantically through the wreckage for the bag of obsidian while Loboda swings his axe over head with both hands and brings it down. The Other [[NonchalantDodge leans casually aside]]. And the blow embeds the head into the earth. The Magnar yanks it back and tries again with a cross-cut but his axe bites into a wooden pillar instead, the monster is ''toying'' with him. Loboda frees his axe, and the Walker uses a partisan made of enchanted crystal to snap-freeze and shatter his weapon into so many useless pieces. Unarmed, the Thenn Chieftain is casually run-through, his blood probably solidifying in his veins from the piercing frore; as no crimson clings to his killer's quartz pole-arm. Jon finds an obsidian dagger among the debris, but before he can reach it he is grasped by an achromatic hand and easily cast along the dirt floor with ghastly strength, losing his sword through the hole in the cabin and into the arctic weather outside, such is the force of his rolling flight. The Walker advances ominously, but even one who is only half a wolf is never down long. Jon weaves under and around the sweeps of the mystic lancet and actually tries to ''[[CrazyAwesome box the White Walker in the face]]''. Amused, the monster throws Jon aside, who scrambles into the rafters and manages to scavenge an anelace, the Walker leaps up onto the beams in a single bound, [[CherryTapping cherry taps]] Jon's hastily telegraphed attacks and allows Jon's weapon to splinter on the edge of its pole-arm. Numb from the reverberation, Jon is helpless as the Other brings the wrapped haft of its staff sword down onto his clavicle, smashing him down to fall hard on the mud-packed floor a good twelve foot below.

Jon's party beaches and they are met with a decidedly chilly reception. But it quickly vaults into near open hostility when the ever-calming presence of the Lord of Bones and his delegation of warriors confront them. Accusations are hurled around despite Jon's attempts to mitigate and Tormund is mocked for his alliance with the crows. Rattleshirt takes things a step too far when he taunts Tormund for sucking Snow's co - Tormund seizes his bone staff and clobbers him to the ground and with nine titanic but crisp overhand blows, caves in the chieftain's giant-skull helmet and the head beneath. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority "Gather the elders and lets talk."]] Tormund rumbles and none of the free folk protest.