The climax of the season has come and gone. So much speculation on the internet about what would happen especially when a certain preview got leaked. If anything I’m certain everyone will agree in unison that everyone will be immediately impatient for the next season to start already. At any rate, let’s get cracking on this review!
The show starts off with Melisandre observing the melting of ice. She declares victory for Stannis by virtue that the way would be paved for his army. Unfortunately, Stannis immediately faces news of mutiny in that half his army had deserted him during the night. At that point, it becomes clear to Melisandre that her predictions were completely off the mark.
More terrible news arrives for Stannis as he’s informed that his wife Selyse has committed suicide by hanging, no doubt as a result of the burning of their daughter Shireen. With Stannis distracted by this tragedy, Melisandre is able to escape. Unmoved by these recent events, Stannis decides to continue his advance against the Boltons….
….to his utter failure. Instead of dealing with a siege, Stannis’ remaining forces must fight off the incoming, prepared forces of the Bolton army. Demoralized, the army doesn’t stand much of a chance and we see the remaining men in an utter bloodbath with Stannis’ flag broken. Stannis himself is exhausted and injured in the battle and comes across two men, one of whom cuts his leg. Although Stannis manages to slay both, he does not have the endurance to do much else and wilts against a tree.
With Stannis’ incoming forces, Podrick had spotted them and alerted Brienne who abandons Sansa Stark in the hope of exacting her revenge. As Stannis is hobbled, she easily manages to discover the wounded self-proclaimed king and sentences him to death. Stannis, the ever resolute soldier, accepts his fate and we see a cut to black with Brienne raising her blade to presumably slay him.
Back over at Castle Black, Sam requests for Jon Snow to send Gilly, little Sam and himself to Old Town to become a maester at the Citadel. With Maester Aemon gone now, it’s clear that Sam’s purpose is to replace the ancient Maester in the hopes of better serving Jon Snow and the Night’s Watch. At first, Jon is reluctant since Sam provides sage advice and is one of the few remaining true friends but recognizes the higher purpose. Of course, both share a moment of their similar situations that oddly paralleled each others’.
Amidst the chaos of the battle between the Boltons and Stannis’ army, Sansa attempted to contact her savior (Brienne) through climbing the steps and lighting the candle at the highest tower. However, since Brienne has left her post for Stannis, Sansa has no ally at that moment. Afterwards, with the Boltons returning from victory, Sansa desperately tries to find an escape, encountering the psychotically obsessed Miranda along with Reek ready to send Sansa back to her room. However, Miranda has other plans not dissimilar to her lover’s and is about to put an arrow through Sansa when Reek finally snaps out of his apprehension and shoves Miranda off the balcony. In turn, Theon Greyjoy helps Sansa and together jump from the wall. As Miranda did not survive her impact, we are left to wonder of Sansa and Theon’s fate.
Over in Braavos, we see Ser Meryn Trant in the whore house flogging underage girls. He has picked three, two of which respond in utter terror at his whippings. However, the third stoically receives his abuse without flinching nor whimper. It turns out that there’s another girl of unknown origin underneath the hair. And that little girl charges at the surprised Meryn Trant with a tiny knife, stabbing him in his right eye. She proceeds to stab him in the other eye then gags him and reveals her true identity as Arya Stark. She talks about how he is the first name on her list before filling him with more holes and declaring him as No One.
Returning to the House of Black and White, Arya replaces the mask she had taken from the hidden Hall of Faces. However, Jaqen H’ghar and the other female apprentice confront her and accuse her of still being Arya Stark. Jaqen mysteriously talks about how a wrong death must be repaid by another and swallows the contents of a tiny vial and dies. Arya panics but learns that the person who swallows the poison isn’t Jaqen but some random person with numerous faces. In turn, Arya goes blind and freaks out.
Over in Dorne, we see the last leg of Jamie and Bronn’s adventures as they manage to secure Myrcella along with Trystane. Ellaria gives Myrcella and odd prolonged kiss upon her lips before they set off while Tyene makes carnal insinuations at Bronn. On the boat back to King’s Landing, Myrcella and Jamie have a chat that seems to end well with Myrcella getting her fairy tale happy ending with Trystane and even knowing about Jamie and Cersei’s incestuous relationship. Despite that, Myrcella accepts his situation and even calls him father before falling victim to poison as she bleeds from her nose. Back by the docks, Ellaria is seen bleeding from the nose as well but possessing the antidote and walks away with the other three Sand Snakes.
Back in Mereen, we find the three deserted men from Dany’s court hanging about the throne room. There they discuss plans of the fate of Mereen and Dany. Daario convinces Ser Jorah to accompany him to find the lost Dany while Tyrion will attempt to organize the city with the aid of Missandei, Grey Worm and the surprising reemergence of Varys. Apparently, Varys’ network of spies cross the world as well.
In another unknown zone, we see Dany with the injured Drogon. Dany implores Drogon to carry her back to her city but Drogon is either too tired or in a food coma to listen (I came up with the food coma thing based on the bones surrounding his nest). Since in reality Drogon is useless to her, Dany goes off to search for food. Instead, she finds herself almost immediately surrounded by a familiar but perhaps not-welcomed bunch of faces in the form of the Dothraki. She drops a ring onto the ground (Merry anyone from The Two Towers???) as the riders form a vast ring around her.
Back in King’s Landing, Cersei confesses to her crime of fornication with Lancel but continues to deny charges of her incestuous relationship with Jamie. Hoping to return to see her son, Cersei instead finds herself faced with atonement for her sins. Here, she is shaven (though not completely naked as compared with the book) and brought before the entirety of King’s Landing and forced to perform a walk of penance where everyone calls her names and hurls things to shame her. At first, she stands proud but the walk is long and arduous with her feet bleeding and her pride torn asunder. She learns the truth about how the people of King’s Landing feel about her and she cries.
Eventually, she makes it back to the Red Keep where she is cloaked and carried by the HUGE, new and improved Ser Gregor-….I mean Ser Robert Strong of the King’s Guard, introduced by Qyburn as her personal bodyguard. Despite her walk, you can see through her eyes and the notions planted by Qyburn that she should take vengeance upon all her enemies through this new being.
Lastly, back at the Wall, Ser Davos shows up imploring Jon Snow to help Stannis with the newly acquired Wildlings. However, Jon Snow understands the Wildlings’ stance where they refuse to fight for anyone. As they converse, Melisandre appears and is visibly shaken. Her body language clearly indicates Stannis’ defeat and Ser Davos is particularly concerned about Shireen.
Later, Jon Snow is alerted by FUCK OLLY that his long, lost uncle Benjen Stark has returned. Jon, just as the rest of the audience, has anticipated this moment for a while but is greeted with a simple sign with the writing “Traitor.” Thereafter, Ser Alliser Thorne and other members of the Night’s Watch proceed to stab him with Olly being the last little fuckhead to do the deed. Jon Snow falls over, left bleeding as the season makes its conclusion.
So, just wow what a finale. In all honesty, I’m surprised they managed to get this much in considering how many story lines are remaining. Some people’s storylines have definitely concluded while others are now thrown way up in the air. Certainly, there’s tons of things to consider as the TV show in many ways has surpassed the books and allows us to look into the future for next year.
Let’s go area by area in examining everything. First, Stannis’ story is one of the sections where we’re now passed the books. I recall reading how George RR Martin himself mentioned that the beginning of the Winds of Winter, he intended to wrap up several cliff hangers. One obvious major one is the Stannis vs Boltons war. I suppose you can’t even call what occurred a war. It was a fleeting battle at best with Stannis suffering a crushing defeat.
More than that, we see things such as Melisandre abandoning Stannis, his immediate family decimated at his own hands and Ser Davos in limbo. Of course, one of the biggest changes is Brienne discovering Stannis, now evidently crippled and supposedly ending his life. It’s unclear though with the cut to black scene whether Brienne actually slew Stannis. Her storyline is one of the most changed this season. There’s a good chance that Stannis will return next season since we do not see his fate as of yet. On the other hand, there are many other characters whose fate are in utter purgatory that are still in limbo such as Ser Sandor Clegane, Lady Stoneheart (a subject I will return to at the end of this), Gendry, etc. So there’s also a good chance that this is the end of Team Stannis once and for all.
Part of me kinda hopes that Brienne spares Stannis. A broken Stannis makes for an interesting character. However, he’s not a major viewpoint character whereas Brienne is. On top of that having Brienne gain revenge over Stannis makes her into a darker character as well as an oath breaker since she abandoned her watch for Sansa. If they ever decide to pursue the Lady Stoneheart storyline, then Brienne slaying Stannis rather than retaining her vows for Catelyn Stark is the perfect opportunity to introduce that plot. On the other hand, since Jamie’s Riverlands story has been abandoned, there’s also the chance that Stannis’ storyline ends up becoming Jamie’s in part. Either way, the cliffhanger of Stannis’ fate gives me inclination that he will make it for at least one more season. He just seems too useful of a character to dismiss at this point.
Sam going to Old Town to become a Maester honestly felt as though they should have completed during this season. I suppose they wanted to give him more motivation to make the decision on his own rather than Jon Snow’s rather cold mandate. But his storyline just was too slow overall and felt as though nothing really moved forward nor back. Either way, at the very least I’m glad we’ll see him move away from the Wall and follow up on his storyline to become a Maester next season.
I didn’t mention Ramsay so far even though he made a quick appearance. Jon Snow did not receive the Pink Letter that supposedly was sent by Mance Rayder in the novel. But that whole storyline is completely shafted at this point so I doubt we’ll see Mance Rayder appear ever again. However, what is clear is that Ramsay is accumulating a LOT of power and the defeat over the Boltons is making him subtly one of the most powerful characters in the story. Certainly, with Miranda’s death and Sansa and Theon’s escape, Ramsay will swear vengeance and enact mass chaos next season.
One important aspect of the results of the battle is the sheer number of dead left around Winterfell. People should never forget the death toll resulting from these costly battles and wars as Winter approaches. We’ve already seen what the Night King is capable of and even Jon Snow provided that much information to Sam, indicating that those bodies left unburnt will serve as more soldiers for the White Walkers and the Army of the Dead. Unfortunately, few people outside of Jon, Sam, the Wildlings, etc. know the truth about the Army of the Dead.
Returning to the Sansa Stark storyline, one of the things we learned from this season is that Sansa did not become the super badass many predicted her character to become as hinted through her apparel and image from the end of season 4. Sophia Turner had hinted that we would see her go to a dark place, but that dark spot ended up being raped by Ramsay Snow. We did not see Sansa yet take her revenge upon the Boltons but she did grow in strength internally because of learning that her brothers Bran and Rickon still being alive. For all intents and purposes, Sansa’s character was Jeyne Poole’s for this season and we have yet to see her with Theon reuniting (at least in Theon’s case) with Yara/Asha Greyjoy.
However, because she learned that her brothers are alive (unlike in the books), we do not know how she will change in the TV series. My guess is that both Theon and Ramsay will go on a hunt for either of them. Supposedly, that role was relegated for Ser Davos but his storyline is in limbo as well. Since Theon does not know where either boy is, the only remaining true ally is Jon Snow. However, we’ve seen what happened to him so there’s no telling if Sansa will find out in time to avert the Wall in case she gets ambushed en route. Perhaps, one idea might be to see her Ser Davos, Theon and Yara locate Rickon. The other idea is that Bran might still attempt to contact Theon who could still mentally be Reek. If that happens, then we’ll likely see Sansa and Theon head beyond the Wall in search of Bran while Ramsay follows.
Arya’s storyline pretty much finishes her A Feast for Crows plot with her going blind, although the mechanism ended up not being milk that she drinks. With that in mind, it looks as though next season still will continue parts of A Feast for Crows and A Dance of Dragons as well as exploring a few other stories (such as the reported Euron Greyjoy). We did not get to see Samwell Tarly and Arya cross paths this season but there’s a chance to see that happen next season as Arya continues her training.
The Dorne storyline with Jamie, Myrcella, Bronn and the Sand Snakes continues to move in a very odd direction. Ellaria appears to be continuing her personal vendetta to trigger a war with the Lannister. Since Myrcella has fallen especially in her own revelation of knowledge of Jamie’s relationship with Cersei while admiring her father, it’s clear that Jamie will finally switch dispositions next season. Cersei clearly isn’t going to be any saner and in fact more vindicated through her tribulations with tonight’s penance walk. But with Myrcella’s death, that might push her over the edge.
This time though Jamie will step up. Since Tywin is dead and Tommen a weak child leader, Jamie might try to take charge of King’s Landing. At the moment, Kevan Lannister remains Hand of the King (I believe). Not sure if Varys might return to murder Kevan and Grand Maester Pycelle. But if he does (or if someone else does), then Jamie will be cleared to take charge with the aid of Cersei and Tommen. I don’t think we’ll see his storyline to make peace in the Riverlands take place any longer. Instead, it’ll be Dorne pushing forward with the much predicted grand conspiracy to gain revenge against the Lannisters. Unfortunately for the Lannisters, they’ve managed to alienate themselves from everyone and it’s doubtful that High Garden will come to their aid this time around.
With Dany seemingly captured by the Dothraki (presumably the Khaleesar that abandoned her when Khal Drogo fell), Tyrion’s storyline moves into a new oddity that has not yet surfaced in the books where he gets a second chance at ruling, this time over a city on the brink of chaos. However, this time around it seems that he will have better allies. If anything King Tyrion does make for a very exciting season 6.
That leaves the ever mysterious Daario with the infected Ser Jorah. Thus far, Ser Jorah’s infection seems very slow in spreading through the rest of this body. No mention was made tonight and no one besides himself at this stage realizes his ailment. What is apparent is his inherent distrust for Daario who might be leading the knight into a trap to secure Dany for himself. Since next season is casting a pirate who presumably will be Euron Greyjoy, some of the conspiracies surrounding Daario’s identity as Euron might fade away. Nonetheless, Daario remains a very seedy persona and Ser Jorah does detect potential foul play.
Going back to Cersei’s storyline, we’ve caught up to her situation with the books. There were no real surprises here except the fact that she wasn’t bald and we did not get to see her knock over her chamber pot (the ONLY thing I really wanted to see from her). In the books though, we do not get a firm glimpse of the psychological ramifications of her atonement and jail time. Here, we do see the vengeful eyes as Maester Qyburn suggests using Ser Robert Strong to cease the lives of her enemies. In the books, just before he is killed off, Kevan Lannister remarks how they “declawed the cat” (meaning Cesei). Even if Cersei has been humbled to a degree, it feels as though the eventual news of her daughter’s death will push her over the edge to make her overprotective of her last child in Tommen. Just as she declared to Tywin before he was shot by Tyrion, Cersei may keep true to her words in burning down all the cities in protecting her son.
Although we look at Dany as the one with the potential for madness through her genealogy as a Targaryen, the true Mad One is Cersei. Now, that she has witnessed first hand the filth of King’s Landing (whereas before her view was always protected by guards), any love of the people probably has been thrown out the window. All her vendettas and hatred towards everything will seem vindicated in her small mind and most likely she’ll cause massive death in the South just in time for the White Walkers to eventually arrive. That will, of course, be too late for her when she realizes the futility of her life’s work and succumbing to the whims of prophecies.
Returning to Ser Davos for a moment, I want to say that he’s completely lost now. In the books, Stannis has Ser Davos travel other parts of the North to rally more troops. In the Riverlands, Ser Davos is apprehended by the Manderlys. There, he learns the truth about Rickon’s survival and goes on a quest to recover Rickon on the Summer Isles. In the show, he was sent back to the Wall. However, there’s a good chance he’ll learn about the fate of Stannis. With Melisandre back at the Wall and Jon Snow seemingly murdered by his brothers, Ser Davos has no allies.
On the other hand, there’s little reason for the Men of the Night’s Watch to hate Ser Davos and the Wildlings too may feel indifferent. Nevertheless, he lacks a true purpose at this point in the TV series, although he may force Melisandre to help Jon Snow, perhaps by having him resurrected. However, Melisandre too might feel defeated by the betrayal of her own visions. Some have speculated that Ser Davos might serve the Night’s Watch but I doubt he’ll do so because of Stannis’ fate. There’s still a chance that he might go to help Rickon but there’s no clear logical line defined through tonight’s events how that may happen as of yet.
Lastly, we come to Jon Snow’s fate. Any book reader probably isn’t surprised but there’s no question non-book readers are probably up in arms. Yet it’s pretty obvious that Jon Snow is too important of a character to leave hanging on the chopping block for no purpose. If the theories are true then Jon Snow will become Azor Ahai reborn. In actuality, both Stannis and Jon are in a good position for that fate, but Jon Snow is by far the more obvious choice.
During a talk over at Oxford with Dan, David, Jon Bradley and Kit Harrington, the producers hinted that Kit would come back as a wolf in season 6. Whether or not Kit knew that beforehand is anyone’s guess (most likely yes). So there’s a chance that we’ll see Jon Snow running around as Ghost. After all, Ghost did show up to help Sam a few episodes ago and it’s clear in the book that all the Starks have some form of worg power. Here, Jon Snow will most likely discover that power and live through Ghost while Melisandre raises him from the dead (most likely through a funeral pyre, thus fulfilling the prophecy).
At the same time, Kit Harrington himself has hinted that he might not appear in season 6. Or if he does, it might happen in some limited capacity. By the looks of things, we’ll see a few major stories from A Feast for Crows and A Dance of Dragons take place next season like Euron Greyjoy’s, Samwell’s quest to become a Maester, Arya’s training, etc. Part of it might be to help buy some much needed time for George RR Martin to put the finishing touches on at least The Winds of Winter. However, A Dream of Spring most likely won’t be done until after the last episode which quite possibly will be in season 7. Nonetheless, it’s time to digest all of this and get back to a sad reality as well wait another full year.
One last thing that I almost failed to mention is Lady Stoneheart. Despite all indications of a possible return, we did not get that final moment. If there’s any hope of seeing the return of Catelyn Stark/Michelle Fairley, it’s pretty much out the window at this stage. Even with Brienne’s story and the absent Men without Banners part, more than likely the show runners won’t incorporate Lady Stoneheart. The perfect moment really was at the end of season 4 and tonight’s episode should’ve ended with her as a glimmer of hope.
People are speculating that Sophia Turner/Sansa Stark will replace the image/mood of Lady Stoneheart, perhaps in rallying the Men without Banners. Sansa did hint to Theon that her family still had allies in the North and the Men without Banners still are around, if not unheard of for a while. I suppose it makes far more sense just to convert Sansa into a single symbol of filial revenge rather than moving through potentially three or four muddied stories. I will say that it was really deflating not to get that last moment but the show really is its own beast at this point.