History Recap / GameOfThronesS7E1Dragonstone

* TooDumbToLive: The young Lannister soldiers Arya meets seem oblivious to what type of story they are in. They set up camp without posting sentries, they put their swords out of reach and make their presence known through loud singing. They do not find it suspicious why a young girl, wearing a sword, would be traveling through the war-torn Riverlands on her own and instead offer to share their meager meal with her. When she tells them that she plans to kill their queen, they laugh it off as a joke. Given that they're ''young'' soldiers and remark on how worried they are about recently leaving their families, it seems like they're green conscripts because the Lannisters are scraping the bottom of the barrel for manpower at this point. Fortunately, Arya can't hurt them.

** The farmer and his daughter from whom Sandor stole silver all the way back in Season 4 reappear... as corpses, having died just as Clegane predicted they would, though [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Clegane blames himself for it]] [[ForWantOfANail after taking their money]].

At '''Winterfell''', King Jon Snow prepares for the defense of the North, addressing the Northern lords and ladies. He explains they need dragonglass as dragonglass is one of the substances that can kill White Walkers. Jon addresses the issue of the Wall being their primary defense against the White Walkers and Tormund, realizing Jon needs the Free Folk to man Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, agrees to man the castle for him. Jon then insists (to the groans of Northern Lords) that all able young men and women will be trained to fight so as to defend against the coming battle against the White Walkers. When the issue of the castles that had belonged to the Karstarks and Umbers arises, Jon pardons and reissues the titles and castles to Ned Umber and Alys Karstark -- the last members of their houses -- to the initial disappointment of the Northern lords and disagreement from his sister Sansa. Sansa publicly objects, telling Jon to give the castles to families who fought for him, but Jon says that Ned Umber and Alys Karstark are not to blame for their relatives’ actions and stands by his decision. Later, in a private moment over the ramparts of Winterfell, Sansa and Jon bicker over his decision and her conduct in front of the Northern lords and ladies. Sansa tells Jon that though he is good at leading, he must be smarter than their father and brother, who made mistakes and were killed. When Jon receives a raven from Cersei Lannister demanding he recognize her as the one true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, they discuss their enemies -- Jon is focused on the Night's King while Sansa is concerned about the threat in the south, Cersei.

* BareYourMidriff: Averted with Missandei, who's now wearing a more conservative outfit.

** When asked by a group of Lannister soldiers why she is traveling to King's Landing, Arya tells them it's to [[CassandraTruth kill the queen]]. They laugh and she lets them believe it's a joke.

* LatexPerfection: Granted, the viewer has long since learned to take this trope for granted when it comes to Arya and the Faceless' masks, but Arya's successfully impersonating Walder Frey turns this trope UpToEleven, seeing how she and Walder are absolutely ''nothing'' alike in terms of height or build (for perspective, Creator/MaisieWilliams is 5'1" tall in real-life, whereas Creator/DavidBradley is 5'10").

** Jaime gets creeped out when Euron invokes this about seeing the former's battle prowess during the invasion of the Iron Islands, despite the fact that Euron was on the other side and the people Jaime killed were his fellow Ironborn and Euron's own kin.

* RealityEnsues:
** Cersei wants Jaime to fight a four-front war to protect their dynasty. Jaime is quick to remind her of the problems with that: 1) winter is here and they need food, food which the Tyrells control and aren't going to provide, 2) with the Freys dead, they have no allies to fight with, and 3) their children are dead and they have no dynasty left to protect.
** When the Northern Lords favor razing the castles of Houses Karstark and Umber to the ground as punishment for their disloyalty, Sansa is the one who points out that: 1) the castles are ''just buildings'' that are incapable of committing treason, and 2) they kind of need all the strongholds they can get right now.
** The Night King and his army may not be able to cross the Wall, but there's nothing to stop them from simply going ''around'' it.
** Sam was initially thrilled to arrive in the Citadel as he was allowed access to a massive library until they sorted out his "irregular" situation. Now we see his days are filled with hard work and doing menial tasks which makes total sense as 1) he is a novice now and a Maester's life is about service; 2) it takes years of hard work to become a true Maester; and 3) the actual Maesters at the Citadel spend nearly all their time researching, so of course they are going to pass the lesser duties onto the newer students.
** Arya, having completed her TrainingFromHell, comes to Westeros to enact vengeance... and finds out she has virtually no targets: with the exception of Freys, people who wronged her are dead or moved on, nowhere to find, and random enemy soldiers are not worth killing. The only remaining target is Cersei, and killing her is probably a SuicideMission, even for Arya.

* TheyReallyDoLoveEachOther: Invoked in that despite being exasperated with Tommen's passive nature and his becoming a puppet of the High Sparrow, Jaime still loved the boy enough to be hurt by his [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and angered by Cersei's brusque insistence Tommen betrayed her as justification for refusing to mourn him.

On the shallows of the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Stormborn, her three flying children and her court (Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Grey Worm and Missandei) finally reach the shores of '''Dragonstone''', the ancient seat of House Targaryen and the island on which she was born. Dany strides at the head of her party, she touches the beach with her palm in reverence, anointing her homecoming. The exiles venture towards the abandoned castle, past the flanking dragon-head gate, up the great walkway, and into the halls; where Dany pulls down one of the last remaining banners of Stannis Baratheon, the previous occupant. Dany enters the throne room but is drawn away from the quartz chair to the Chamber of the Painted Table behind it. She trails her fingertips along the carved map of Westeros; her birthright, while Tyrion joins her. Let the final game begin.

** Jon and Sansa both raise valid points about whether the [[HumanoidAbomination Night King]] or [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Cersei]] should be their greater concern. Sansa validly points out that Cersei [[TheDeterminator never quits]] when it comes to destroying those she perceives as her enemies, and that unlike the White Walkers, currently held back by the Wall, there's nothing stopping the Lannisters marching north. Jon counters by pointing out that the Night King is far closer to threaten Winterfell than Cersei, and his undead legions won't be stymied by the coming winter like the Lannister troops will be.

* NotSoDifferent:
** Euron invokes this to Cersei, noting they're both monarchs who've been betrayed by close family members (Tyrion for Cersei, Yara and Theon for Euron), that those family members now serve Cersei and Euron's common enemy, and that they want those family members dead. He doesn't mention the rather obvious point that both of them are usurpers.

** Jon and Sansa both raise valid points about whether the Night King or Cersei shoud be their greater concern. Sansa validly points out that Cersei [[TheDeterminator never quits]] when it comes to destroying those she perceives as her enemies, and that unlike the White Walkers, currently held back by the Wall, there's nothing stopping the Lannisters marching north. Jon counters by pointing out that the Night King is far closer to threaten Winterfell than Cersei, and his undead legions won't be stymied by the coming winter like the Lannister troops will be.