History Recap / GameOfThronesS7E3TheQueensJustice

* TeethClenchedTeamwork: Despite having been named commanders of the Lannister army and navy respectively, Jaime and Euron clearly have no respect for each other. Jaime has nothing but contempt for Euron, bluntly telling him that the people cheering for him as he paraded his captives through King's Landing would be just as happy to see his head on a spike. Euron retorts by [[IShallTauntYou asking Jaime what Cersei prefers sexually]], almost [[BerserkButton goading Jaime]] to attack Euron before the Lord Reaper, [[EvilIsPetty delighted at having provoked him]], points out that Jaime should save it until they're somewhere less public.

* OvershadowedByAwesome: Jon Snow was pretty awesome in the North and among the Night's Watch he was a LivingLegend, but in front of Daenerys, a YoungConqueror who has already changed the world at a very young age, Jon doesn't feel as confident or impressive, and even Davos is overawed.

-->'''Tyrion''': They will face the bulk of the Lannister forces: they will be outnumbered, they will have less armour and fewer weapons. [[MotivatedByFear But my sister's armies fight for her out of fear]]. [[ForGreatJustice The Unsullied will be fighting for something]] ''[[ForGreatJustice greater]]. They will be fighting for freedom, and the person who gave it to them. They will be fighting for ''you'' and '''''that''''' is why they will triumph.

* AintTooProudToBeg: When she realizes Cersei means to kill Tyene in retaliation for Myrcella's murder, Ellaria desperately begs for her daughter's life. Unfortunately, the fact she's been gagged and that Cersei is not inclined to show mercy does her no good. Cersei even uses it to mock her by [[EvilGloating noting she can't understand what Ellaria is saying]].

We now know something interesting about Cersei: after doing this, she goes straight to Jaime and drags him to bed. The next morning there's a BedmateReveal to one of the castle staff, as Cersei has decided that she doesn't need to hide her proclivities anymore (Jaime protests, though halfheartedly). The attendant came to tell Cersei that Tycho Nestoris, a representative of the Iron Bank of Braavos, has come to visit. He wants to inquire after the crown's debts, which are enormous and still growing; additionally, the Iron Bank itself is suffering a bit of a downturn now that the slave trade has been completely abolished by the dragon queen. Cersei points out that the Iron Bank has a habit of backing its debtors' ''enemies'' if they believe that this will get them their investment back (in the books, Nestoris was last seen consorting with the person he thought had the best chance of overturning Cersei), and then points out that she (Cersei) happens to be Daenerys's enemy. The two come to an understanding.

Turning the spotlight back on '''Dragonstone''', Daenerys and the remains of her war council (Varys, Missandei and Tyrion) stand about the Painted Table, discussing their options. Without the combined Greyjoy-Tyrell-Martell task force besieging King's Landing, the Unsullied will have a hell of a time taking Casterly Rock. Tyrion describes (and the footage depicts) the standing garrison his father built, and the defenses he commissioned, and the loss of life when StormingTheCastle. Fortunately, it's all an ImagineSpot, as Lord Tywin didn't design ''everything'' about Casterly Rock: he left the sewers to Tyrion, who secretly designed a way into Casterly Rock so he could sneak women in without his father knowing. Grey Worm leads a commando team within, opening the gates and letting the Unsullied flood in. In the end, Grey Worm stands over a captured castle... but with Euron's fleet savaging Daenerys's out to sea, and the recognition that the Rock was under-garrisoned. This leads to the question of where the other Lannister armsmen are.

** Tyrion tells Daenerys and her court that his father put him in charge of all the sewers and drains of Casterly Rock, something he first told Varys way back during Stannis's siege.

** Daenerys's intractability comes across this way. She has every reason to believe that the impossible (i.e. the White Walkers) might be true, ''as she herself admits'', but she [[ArbitrarySkepticism distrusts Jon's motives]]. She also (as mentioned above) demands he honor the oaths his forefathers swore, while dismissing other houses forefathers' (completely legitimate) concerns about a Targaryen on the throne.

** Varys's reaction when Melisandre tells him they are both destined to die in Westeros.

* ShootTheShaggyDogStory: House Martell's storyline gets its closure in this episode by making all of its struggles tragically pointless: Oberyn's thirst for revenge for his sister and her children leads to his death at Gregor's hands. Ellaria not only kills a innocent princess to trigger a war with the Lannisters, she also murders ''Oberyn's own entire family'' simply because they refused to have any more blood spilled. All of this and for what? To get thrown inside the Black Cells and be sentenced to {{a fate worse than death}} and contribute nothing to Daenerys's cause while the Lannisters are still standing and Oberyn's killer is alive and stronger than before.

** Varys once again tries to gloat over a magic user, only for Melisandre to reveal that she has seen Varys's death, in the lands of Westeros.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: Daenerys's meeting with Jon in a nutshell. After everything she's faced since her dragons hatched, Daenerys has gotten used to getting what she wants, mostly after liberal use of dragonfire; Melisandre's vague prophecy about the 'prince that was promised' only served to further inflate her (admittedly justified) AwesomeEgo. Enter Jon Snow: King in the North, former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and one of the few people alive who has killed a White Walker, came face-to-face with the Night King, and lived to tell about it. Each has their own goals: Daenerys wants the Iron Throne, Jon wants to defeat the Night King. Each expects the other to see reason and agree to help their cause. Naturally, they end up butting heads.

* ShootTheShaggyDogStory: House Martell's storyline gets its closure in this episode by making all of its struggles tragically pointless: Oberyn's thirst for revenge for his sister and her children leads to his death at Gregor's hands. Ellaria not only kills a innocent princess to trigger a war with the Lannisters, she also murders ''Oberyn's own entire family'' simply because they refused to have any more blood spilled. All of this and for what? To get thrown inside the Black Cells and being sentenced to {{a fate worse than death}} while the Lannisters are still standing, Oberyn's killer is alive and stronger than before and contributing nothing to Daenerys' cause.

* UnstoppableForceMeetsImmovableObject: Daenerys' meeting with Jon in a nutshell. After everything she's faced since her dragons hatched, Daenerys has gotten used to getting what she wants, mostly after liberal use of dragonfire; Melisandre's vague prophecy about the 'prince that was promised' only served to further inflate her (admittedly justified) AwesomeEgo. Enter Jon Snow: King in the North, former Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and one of the few people alive who has killed a White Walker, came face-to-face with the Night King, and lived to tell about it. Each has their own goals: Daenerys wants the Iron Throne, Jon wants to defeat the Night King. Each expects the other to see reason and agree to help their cause. Naturally, they end up butting heads.

* TheReveal: This is the first time we see Casterly Rock, the famed ancestral seat of House Lannister. Ironically, in its first appearance it's abandoned by Cersei and Jaime as it is strategically useless to them except as a decoy target to separate the Unsullied from Daenerys.

** While Archmaester Ebrose still punishes Sam despite saving Jorah's life, he makes a good point that Sam could have possibly infected himself and others at the Citadel and Sam's "reward" of not being expelled (along with writing copies of a heavy load of books and scrolls) is actually quite reasonable since, if the operation went wrong, Sam could have 1) started a pandemic, 2) gotten killed, or worse, 3) expelled. [[labelnote:From The Books]]Grand Meister Pycelle reminisces that when he was a young Maester at the Citadel, Lord Quenton Hightower ordered the complete sequestration of the city of Oldtown when an outbreak of Grey Plague came over the population. The plague killed thousands, but was contained within the city, as any opportunist that would try to leave was executed, and Lord Quenton closed off the ports and burned all ships anchored there. After the plague died out, Lord Quenton and his son were ambushed and summarily killed in retaliation.[[/labelnote]]

** While Archmaester Ebrose still punishes Sam despite saving Jorah's life, he makes a good point that Sam could have possibly infected himself and others at the Citadel and Sam's "reward" of not being expelled (along with writing copies of a heavy load of books and scrolls) is actually quite reasonable since, if the operation went wrong, Sam could have 1) started a pandemic, 2) gotten killed, or worse, 3) expelled.

In a cell at '''The Citadel''', Archmaester Ebrose is inspecting Jorah Mormont, who has been cured of gray scale! It's a miracle! Or rather, Jorah claims that the rest and treatment provided by the Citadel did wonders overnight. No illicit midnight operations ''here,'' oh no. Ebrose clearly isn't buying it, but dismisses Jorah and then asks to see Samwell in his office. There, Sam admits that he went behind Ebrose's back and administered the treatment. Ebrose acknowledges Sam's skills; most maesters don't even try that method because its success rate is so low. As a reward, he does not expel Sam. As a punishment, he orders Sam to copy a bunch of rotting scrolls and books in his office: "Careful of the paper mites. They like flesh as well."

** The episode states that the Iron Bank of Braavos is involved in the slave trade. Braavos is established in the books -- and the Histories & Lore -- as an abolitionist city which has fought wars to curb the slave trade and forced the city of Pentos to shut it down. In the novels, the Braavosi also refused to deal with Cersei after her refusal to pay debts and they instead dealt with Stannis and Jon Snow, and rather than slam Robert for his profligacy, Tycho Nestoris praised King Robert as a superior client to Joffrey and Tommen Baratheon, and the latter's regents.[[labelnote:From the Books]]Braavos was founded by escaped slaves, and their first law is a complete and ironclad ban on slavery. In ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', it's ''explicitly'' mentioned that Braavosi merchants don't set foot in Slaver's Bay, and the shady underworld types who say so would have no reason to lie. In the same book, we see the Braavosi seize some ships with captive Wildlings intended to be sold in the slave markets, free all the slaves, and welcome them as refugees. If any Braavosi got involved with Cersei's side of the war, they would be an undisputed CategoryTraitor.[[/labelnote]]
** The show also does this to the smallfolk of King's Landing. They are shown cheering Euron Greyjoy and celebrate the arrival of traitors while Euron and Jaime give WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons speeches. The novels make it clear that the smallfolk despise the Lannisters, that they refused to attend Tywin's funeral -- as they remember he ordered the Sack of King's Landing durign Robert's Rebellion -- and that many of them even put on anti-Lannister puppet shows, and that Cersei maintains her authority by tyrannically attacking them and that "the mob" are not as easily swayed. [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation Or maybe, they all want a quick end to the destructive wars they have been witnessing as long as Robert's Rebellion.]]

* BerserkButton: Dany takes offenses when Jon calls her a child, although he implied everyone was compared to the [[BigBad Night King]].

-->'''Tyrion:''' ''*helping Jon up*'' I'd say you get used to them...but you never really do.

** Dany asks Tyrion if he's trying to present his own sayings as ancient wisdom (by adding "a wise man once said"). Tyrion says "I'd never do that... to you", since he did just that when talking to Missandei and Grey Worm in the last season.

* IKnowYouKnowIKnow: Jaime knew Tyrion had a plan to take Casterly Rock but not how, so he just made it that Tyrion's victory is hollow and short term by emptying the stronghold of supplies and besieging them by the sea with Euron.

** Bran repeatedly says it's difficult to explain his being the Three Eyed Raven as he chats with Sansa.

* TheReveal: This is the first time we see Casterly Rock, the famed ancestral seal of House Lannister. Ironically, in its first appearance it's abandoned by Cersei and Jaime as it is strategically useless to them except as a decoy target to separate the Unsullied from Daenerys.

* BerserkButton: Dany takes offenses when Jon calls her a child, although he implied everyone was compared to the Night King.

** Daenerys loses all her Westerosi allies when her Ironborn fleet is destroyed by Euron Greyjoy, her Dornish allies are either killed or taken prisoner, and Highgarden is sacked by the Lannisters with the help of House Tarly. Meanwhile, her Unsullied army has seized Casterly Rock, but their fleet has been burned and Jaime made sure that Casterly Rock was left bereft of supplies, which will force them to march over land to get back to Dragonstone, leaving Dragonstone practically defenseless except for her dragons and her Dothraki khalassar.

** The show also does this to the smallfolk of King's Landing. They are shown cheering Euron Greyjoy and celebrate the arrival of traitors while Euron and Jaime give WorkingClassPeopleAreMorons speeches. The novels make it clear that the smallfolk despise the Lannisters, that they refused to attend Tywin's funeral -- as they remember he ordered the Sack of King's Landing durign Robert's Rebellion -- and that many of them even put on anti-Lannister puppet shows, and that Cersei maintains her authority by tyrannically attacking them and that "the mob" are not as easily swayed.

'''Olenna:''' I never intended for the poison to work that way.

Tyrion travels out to a cliffside at '''Dragonstone''' to brood on his failure to predict Euron's ambush of the Greyjoy Rebel fleet. Jon is already there, and Tyrion quips that he's already doing a better job. Jon asks if Tyrion believes his tale about the White Walkers, and Tyrion admits he does... but points out that Daenerys has legitimate reasons to play it safe, regardless of whether she believes him. Asking her to drop everything on his word is simply unreasonable. Tyrion then asks if there is anything ''not'' unreasonable that Jon can ask for... and, one GilliganCut later, he's suggesting that Daenerys give Jon access to the mountains of dragonglass here on the island. She can use more allies, and in this case can create goodwill with one at the cost of something she does not currently have a use for. Daenerys asks what Ser Davos meant when he mentioned Jon came BackFromTheDead, and Tyrion points out that it's boring in the North and embellishments are bound to happen.

The answer is '''Highgarden'''. Jaime leads a host, with Bronn and Lord Randyll Tarly at his back, to take over House Tyrell's ancestral seat. In the solar, Lady Olenna waits for him. She asks if they fought well, and Jaime allows that they did, given how outnumbered they were. She asks Jaime if he plans to keep supporting Cersei until the bitter end, given how destructive she is, and Jaime points out that the smallfolk won't care ''how'' peace was achieved, as long as it was. The Queen of Thorns then inquires after her manner of death. Jaime admits that he had to talk Cersei out of the most vengeful ones, and instead offers her a vial of painless poison. She drinks it, and then admits that she would've picked a different one for Joffrey had she known quite how ghastly it would be. It takes Jaime [[DelayedReaction a moment]] to realize what she just said, and then he looks at her in disbelief. "Tell Cersei," she asks Jaime. "I want her to know it was me." Jaime leaves in a TranquilFury, furious about having unknowingly given his eldest son's killer a merciful death. The final shot is of Olenna sitting calmly in her chair, waiting for the poison to take effect. Cut to black.

** The episode states that the Iron Bank of Braavos is involved in the slave trade. Braavos is established in the books -- and the Histories & Lore -- as an abolitionist city which has fought wars to curb the slave trade and forced the city of Pentos to shut it down. In the novels, the Braavosi also refused to deal with Cersei after her refusal to pay debts and they instead dealt with Stannis and Jon Snow, and rather than slam Robert for his profligacy, Tycho Nestoris praised King Robert as a superior client to Joffrey and Tommen Baratheon, and the latter's regents.[[labelnote:From the Books]]In ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'', it's ''explicitly'' mentioned that Braavosi merchants don't set foot in Slaver's Bay, and the shady underworld types who say so would have no reason to lie. In the same book, we see the Braavosi seize some ships with captive Wildlings intended to be sold in the slave markets, free all the slaves, and welcome them as refugees. Neither of this is consistent with the city's major financial institution profiting off the slave trade to be affected by Dany's campaigns. In fact, Braavos was actually founded by escaped slaves, and their first law is a complete ban on slavery. If any Braavosi got involved with this, there would be hell to pay.[[/labelnote]]

* TravellingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: In the previous episode, Yara's fleet set sail for Dorne while the Unsullied went to Casterly Rock, which is on the other side of the continent. Euron Greyjoy attacked Yara's fleet in the Narrow Sea, captured her, and then set sail for King's Landing. In this episode, he arrives in King's Landing, stays a bit for parades and pleasantries, then somehow sails all the way to Casterly Rock in the time it takes for the Unsullied to arrive and seize the lightly guarded castle using a secret entrance which allowed them to get through the gates.

** Cersei claiming the destruction of the Sept of Baelor was a 'tragic accident' when Tycho Nestoris commends her for doing away with the Faith Militant.

* {{Foil}}: Euron is shown to be the rockstar to late Queen Margaery's philantropist princess. They're both determined to marry the current ruler, both quickly gain the smallfolks applause and cheers through their individual strenghts, but their moral compasses point in two entirely different directions.

** Jon explains that he isn't too keen on bending the knee to her after what her father did to his grandfather and uncle. Daenerys then asks for forgiveness for her father's actions and to not judge her based on the sins of her father. Which is ironic as Jon was doing the same thing from the first episode of season 7:Dragonstone where Jon refuses to punish the Current Leaders of House Karstark and House Umber due to the actions of their fathers.