History Recap / GameOfThronesS8E2AKnightOfTheSevenKingdoms

** Though they're pissed at him initially, the Starks also decide to pardon Jaime for his crimes against the Starks, partly thanks to Brienne speaking up for him, Jaime reminding them that it's thanks to him entrusting ''Oathkeeper'' to Brienne and sending her to find Sansa and Arya that they're in Winterfell now, and because they need every body they can get. Jaime is given back ''Widow's Wail'' to seal the deal, the same sword forged from their father's confiscated blade.

** Jaime anoints Brienne as a knight with ''Widow's Wail'', a sword made for Joffrey with the Valyrian Steel appropriated from ''Ice'', the Stark ancestral greatsword. Brienne herself wields ''Oathkeeper'', its sister sword which was made for Jaime himself. So, in summary, a Lannister is performing a ceremony in Winterfell with a sword stolen from the Starks, knighting the wielder of another sword stolen from the Starks.

** Sansa accepts Brienne's judgement when she vouches for his character and concedes that if it weren't for Jaime giving Brienne ''Oathkeeper'' and sending her on her quest, Sansa would not be sitting in Winterfell.

* BottleEpisode: Probably the only episode of the show that comes closest to this concept. Much like "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS2E9Blackwater Blackwater]]" and "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E9TheWatchersOnTheWall The Watchers on the Wall]]" before it, the entirety of this episode takes place in a single location; in this case, Winterfell, which is justified since the battle with the Dead is just on the horizon and there aren't many plots left now aside from this battle and the clash with Cersei. However, unlike the two aforementioned episodes that were focused on large and expensive battle sequences (which goes against the concept of a "bottle episode"), this episode is focused only on the characters having long dialogues while waiting for the arrival of the White Walkers.

** Once again, Edd requests that whoever of their friend group survives burn the dead's bodies so he won't become a Wight.

* WantsAPrizeForBasicDecency: Daenerys refers to the upcoming Long Night as "Jon's war" as if it has little to do with her, but she omits the fact that her assistance in the battle does actually serve her self-interest as well - if Daenerys ignores the approaching threat of the White Walkers and headed for King's Landing to defeat Cersei, any victory she attained would be rendered moot once the Night King reached King's Landing, and he would do so with much greater numbers as if he took Winterfell, then nothing would stop him from simply turning everything north of the capital into Wights. And on the offchance the North ''did'' survive, they would not forget that Daenerys was too busy conquering the South to help them when they needed it.

** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest nearly 300 years ago, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the ninjas are facing ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen surrendered to Aegon without a single battle, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North was ''completely untouched'' by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. The sense of Tyrion's comment sounds most like a reference to Aegon's Conquest, but this would mean it happened quite differently in the show than in the books, it would ignore the two more recent events below, and it would also serve as a SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest nearly 300 years ago, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen surrendered to Aegon without a single battle, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North was ''completely untouched'' by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. The sense of Tyrion's comment sounds most like a reference to Aegon's Conquest, but this would mean it happened quite differently in the show than in the books, it would ignore the two more recent events below, and it would also serve as a SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

* DeathbedPromotion: With everyone being aware that they may all die very soon, Jaime knights Brienne and dubs her "Ser Brienne of Tarth," witnessed by Podrick, Tyrion, and Tormund. She has always wanted to be recognized as a knight, but has never been formally dubbed due to being a woman in Westeros' patriarchal society. She survives the final battle and gets to keep her title afterwards.

** The first time dragons are mentioned as actually coming North is when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later on their dragons Vermithor and Silverwing. Their royal progress was consternating to some of the Northern lords (though not the Starks; Lord Alaric Stark and his daughter Alarra got along with Queen Alysanne quite well) -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several Houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]called the New Gift because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift", for this purpose but Queen Alysanne increased it[[/note]] -- but there is no way that a history of petty politics could be seen as a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.

** The first time dragons are mentioned as actually coming North is when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later. Their royal progress was consternating to some of the Northern lords (though not the Starks; Lord Alaric Stark and his daughter Alarra got along with Queen Alysanne quite well) -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several Houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]called the New Gift because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift", for this purpose but Queen Alysanne increased it[[/note]] -- but there is no way that a history of petty politics could be seen as a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.
** The next, and final, mention is when Prince Jacaerys flew North to obtain Lord Cregan Stark's support for his mother Queen Rhaenyra against her half-brother Aegon II in the Dance of the Dragons, which Cregan readily gave, and arranged for a marriage between Jacaerys's future daughter and Cregan's heir Rickon (known as the Pact of Ice and Fire) that sadly never came to fruition due to Jacaerys's death later on. This incident also involved no violence or intimidation in the North by the Targaryens for the Northmen to remember poorly; in fact, Cregan and Jacaerys got along very well and indulged in much feasting and hunting before the prince left.

** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest nearly 300 years ago, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen surrendered to Aegon without a single battle, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North was ''completely untouched'' by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. The sense of Tyrion's comment sounds most like a reference to Aegon's Conquest, but this would mean it happened quite differently in the show than in the books and would also serve as a SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

** The first time dragons are mentioned as actually coming North is when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later. Their royal progress was consternating to some of the Northern lords (though not the Starks) -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several Houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]called the New Gift because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift", for this purpose but Queen Alysanne increased it[[/note]] -- but there is no way that a history of petty politics could be seen as a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: Tyrion justifies the North's fear of Daenerys by invoking "the last time Targaryens brought dragons north." He presumably isn't talking about the last time Daenerys herself brought dragons north, which was [[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall to save the Magnificent Seven]] and fight the White Walkers. But the histories given in the books don't contain any negative instances of Targaryens bringing dragons to the North, which leaves it a mystery what historical incident Tyrion could possibly be referring to and thus fails to justify why the North dislike her outside of plain FantasticRacism. To wit:

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: Tyrion justifies the North's fear of Daenerys by invoking "the last time Targaryens brought dragons north." The problem is, every time Daenerys brought dragons north, it was 1) [[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall to save the Magnificent Seven]], or 2) this season, to fight the White Walkers, failing to justify why the North dislike her outside of plain FantasticRacism (which, to be sure, the Northerners ''do'' exhibit). Going back to the books doesn't help either, which leaves it a mystery what historical incident Tyrion could possibly be referring to:
** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen surrendered to Aegon without a single battle, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North was ''completely untouched'' by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. This also serves as SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

* LoopholeAbuse: Jaime points out that the rule is "any knight can make a knight", not "a king", even if it goes against the tradition that a knight has to be male.[[labelnote:FromTheBooks...]]The knighting ceremony usually involves a Septon, too, as it's a religious ceremony; this happens to be why Northerners and the Ironborn don't become knights very often, as they follow different religions. Considering that in the show Cersei literally vaporized the Faith of the Seven, it goes to show that by now, enforcing the rules is pointless. And the Brotherhood Without Banners did it without a Septon, since they had converted to the Lord of Light, opting to perform it with a Red Priest instead.[[/labelnote]]

** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen ''surrendered'' to Aegon without a fight, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North was ''completely untouched'' by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. This also serves as SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen ''surrendered'' to Aegon without a fight, while encamped at the Trident in the South, and the Kingdom of the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King Who Knelt, the North, ''as a territory'', was completely untouched by the war. No dragons came North or burnt up any Northmen. This also serves as SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mention Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.

** Despite Daenerys's attempts to mend fences Sansa by telling her she needs smart people on her side and a rapport beginning to develop between them, things are halted when Sansa asks Daenerys what happens to the North if Daenerys becomes Queen. Daenerys has no answer for her, showing that just because two people [[CommonalityConnection have been through similar things]], it does not mean the issues that divides them in the first place will go away because of it.

** Daenerys's very cross remark to Tyrion, in light of his persistent "failures", that "[she'll] find [her]self a Hand who will" do as she prefers is very reminiscent of [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E5TheWolfAndTheLion the fallout between Ned and Robert]] way back in Season 1 -- which [[DramaticIrony ironically]] was dealing with whether to assassinate her or not. Thankfully, much like then, circumstances (and people) bridge them again.

* BigDamnKiss: When Arya kisses Gendry, something their [[ToyShip shippers]] had been hoping for since Season Two.

** The first time dragons are mentioned as actually coming North is when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later. Their royal progress was consternating to some of the Northern lords -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several Houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]called the New Gift because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift", for this purpose but Queen Alysanne increased it[[/note]] -- but there is no way that a history of petty politics could be seen as a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.

** The next, and final, mention is when Prince Jacaerys flew North to obtain Lord Cregan Stark's support for his mother Queen Rhaenyra against her half-brother Aegon II in the Dance of the Dragons, which Cregan readily gave, and arranged for a marriage between Jacaerys's future daughter and Cregan's heir Rickon known as the Pact of Ice and Fire that sadly never came to fruition due to Jacaerys's death later on. This incident also involved no violence or intimidation in the North by the Targaryens for the Northmen to remember poorly; in fact, Cregan and Jacaerys got along very well and indulged in much feasting and hunting before the prince left.

** The first time dragons are mentioned as actually coming North is when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later. Their royal progress was consternating to some of the Northern lords -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several Houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]called the New Gift because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift", for this purpose but Queen Alysanne increased it[[/note]] -- but there is no way that a history of petty politics could be seen a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.

* AdaptationInducedPlothole: Tyrion justifies the North's fear of Daenerys by invoking "the last time Targaryens brought dragons north." The problem is, every time Daenerys brought dragons north, it was 1) [[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall to save the Magnificent Seven]], or 2) this season, to fight the White Walkers, failing to justify why the North dislike her outside of plain FantasticRacism (which, to be sure, the northerners ''do'' exhibit). Going back to the books doesn't help either:
** The first time Targaryens brought dragons north, during Aegon's Conquest, they... Didn't. King Torrhen Stark marched his forces south of the Neck and arrived in the Riverlands, only to hear how King Mern of the Reach and King Loren Lannister had [[EnemyMine united against the Targaryens]] but gotten [[CurbStompBattle absolutely slaughtered]] despite outnumbering Aegon five to one -- because ConservationOfNinjutsu is absolutely justified when the three ninjas are ''dragons''. (The singers call it the Field of Fire.) King Torrhen ''surrendered'' to Aegon, and the North joined with him peacefully. Thanks to The King who Knelt, the North, ''as a territory'', was completely untouched by the war. This also serves as SeriesContinuityError since Daenerys did mentionned Torrhen Stark and the fact that he bent the knee quickly against her ancestor in the previous season.
** The only other time dragons are mentioned as coming north are when [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireCourtOfJaehaerysI King Jaehaerys I]], called "the Conciliator," and Good Queen Alysanne came to visit about 50 years later. Their royal progress was somewhat problematic to the northern lords -- they abolished DroitDuSeigneur, and took land from several houses to create the "New Gift" so that the Night's Watch could meet its agricultural needs[[note]]so called because Brandon the Builder had already set aside land, "Brandon's Gift," for this exact purpose[[/note]] -- but there is no way Daenerys could possibly use a history of petty politics as a meaningful threat with ''TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt'' knocking at the door.

** According to Bran, the Night King can be lured into a trap because he wants to personally kill the Three-Eyed Raven; that way, once he's exterminated humanity, all memory of the world of the living will be gone. If that's the case, the Night King is placing the erasure of the world's legacy above winning the war against it on his list. Perhaps justified by the fact that, according to Bran, many Three-Eyed Ravens have managed to escape his grasp before; Bran himself did so when when the Night King killed his predecessor.

In the castle courtyard, the sound of a horn blowing draws Jon's attention, where he finds Edd and Beric. Jon is overjoyed to see them, and before he can reach them, Tormund [[{{Glomp}} glomps him]] in a tackle from the side. Jon is relieved to see them all alive and they all properly reunite. However, Edd, Beric, and Tormund bring bad news: Last Hearth has fallen, the Umbers are now a part of the Army of the Dead as is anyone who has not made it to Winterfell by now, and the undead will reach Winterfell before daybreak.

* {{Glomp}}: Tormund gives Jon one of these upon his return to Winterfell. Then Sansa gives one to Theon.

** Daenerys angrily reams Jaime out for killing Aerys Targaryen, even though she is well aware her father was an insane tyrant and she herself admitted to Samwell in the previous episode that she executed his father and brother for refusing to bend the knee to her, which Sam managed to take with considerably more grace. On the other hand, killing a bad man doesn't make someone a good man, and most of the Seven Kingdoms believes Jaime did it to advance his family's position and not because Aerys was evil, with only Jaime himself and Brienne knowing it was motivated by Aerys's plan to burn King's Landing with wildfire. Even Ned Stark, whose father and brother were executed by Aerys, had disdain for Jaime [[BodyguardBetrayal backstabbing the man he was sworn to protect]] and believed it proved he could never be trusted, which is Dany's opinion here as well.

** Daenerys angrily reams Jaime out for killing Aerys Targaryen, even though she is well aware her father was an insane tyrant and she herself admitted to Samwell in the previous episode that she executed his father and brother for refusing to bend the knee to her, which Sam managed to take with considerably more grace. On the other hand, killing a bad man doesn't make someone a good man, and most of the Seven Kingdoms believes Jaime did it to advance his family's position and not because Aerys was evil, with only Jaime himself and Brienne knowing it was motivated by Aerys's plan to burn King's Landing with wildfire. Even Ned Stark, whose father and brother were executed by Aerys, had disdain for Jaime backstabbing the man he was sworn to protect and believed it proved he could never be trusted, which is Dany's opinion here as well.

** Daenerys angrily reams Jaime out for killing Aerys Targaryen, even though she is well aware her father was an insane tyrant and she herself admitted to Samwell in the previous episode that she executed his father and brother for refusing to bend the knee to her, which Sam managed to take with considerably more grace. On the other hand, killing a bad man doesn't make someone a good man, and most of the Seven Kingdoms believe Jaime did it to advance his family's position and not because Aerys was evil, with only Jaime himself and Brienne knowing it was motivated by Aerys's plan to burn King's Landing with wildfire. Even Ned Stark, whose father and brother were executed by Aerys, had disdain for Jaime backstabbing the man he was sworn to protect and believed it proved he could never be trusted, which is Dany's opinion here as well.