Game of thrones ep 6: beyond the wall
The penultimate episode of the penultimate season for game of Thrones shakes us khổng lồ our core và changes the game.
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The episode begins strong with the Magnificently Mad Seven picking up where they left off, walking Beyond the Wall. As far as I am aware, this is the first time since season 3 that Game of Thrones has filmed in the snowy reaches of Iceland, và returning khổng lồ those glistening glaciers suits the series well. It feels as much lượt thích a homecoming as any Stark reunion—and a bit warmer than the last two, as well.
Along the walk, Jon Snow và Jorah Mormont have a heart-to-heart that is plenty overdue. It’s akin to long-lost brothers discovering one another. Aye, Jorah was the son that Jeor Mormont begat while Jon Snow is the one he wanted. It’s such a welcome moment of genuine character building—and without too much concern for plot, which is a blessed relief in season 7—that I can overlook that they would’ve surely discussed this during their weeks long boat ride between Dragonstone và Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Yet here we are with Jorah learning the nature of his father’s fate: murdered by mutineers in the snow.
It’s an ignominious kết thúc for a great man, something that Jon can relate to. Ned’s fate was no more deserved than Jeor, and lượt thích Jorah, Jon was thousands of miles away, helpless lớn seek his vengeance, which came in the unrelated kích hoạt of others. At least Jeor had justice. That và perhaps Jorah’s everlasting shame of being his family’s đen sheep is why he wisely demurs reclaiming Longclaw as his own. Jon attempts to give the Bear Knight his father’s sword, which is his birthright. But Jorah knows probably the only thing Jeor liked about his son in the end is that he left the sword when he fled Ned Stark’s blade.
On that note, Jon might finally suggest he’s learning the cautions of governance by revealing he is glad that Eddard failed to take Jorah’s head. Then again, Jorah wound up saving who is increasingly likely lớn be Jon’s royal love, so what choice does he have? Comparatively, Jorah has an easy one, và he makes it again. He will never have a child lớn pass Longclaw down to. Even in the unlikely event that Jorah Mormont survives this war, he would have no interest in taking a wife, và amusingly I cannot imagine Daenerys would much care for that either. Ser Friendzone must keep khổng lồ his post. So Jon must pass it khổng lồ his own heirs. Và given that he is currently courting a woman who cannot have children, those heirs might include…
Arya and Sansa. These two really are not using their time before the Long Night descends very well. Which is why despite all the dramatic spectacle Beyond the Wall, và the devastating angst of seeing my two favorite Starks go for each other’s throats, this subplot actually feels the most in line with George R.R. Martin. Perhaps because it is beginning to be the only subplot left.
Whereas much the rest of Game of Thrones season 7 has coalesced into Jon Snow trying lớn convince Daenerys, và now Cersei, into believing the dead are coming for us all, and how the two queens react lớn this news, it is in Winterfell where fantasy is supplanted by suspicion, paranoia, và treachery. This is all khổng lồ say, it is where Game of Thrones’ true heart lies. The fact that this creeping distrust is between two characters whom fans have waited years to see reunite is both a bit contrived on the part of showrunners David Benioff & D.B. Weiss, and yet perfectly in keeping with the Martin goal of making fans rue the idea of satisfaction. Plus, Arya hating on Sansa is perfectly in line with their interactions from season 1, which is also where Arya appears khổng lồ have stunted in emotional growth after so much tragedy.
Indeed, we see that beginning year echoed in Arya & Sansa’s first scene together while overlooking the frosty Winterfell courtyard. Perched somewhere between frigid anger & the mist of a long forgotten summer, Arya anticipates Sansa’s arrival by reminiscing about their dead father. Prior to lớn even the first episode of Game of Thrones, wherein Arya sneakily shows up Bran Stark khổng lồ the older boys’ delight with a bullseye shot fired from a stolen bow, there was a quiet afternoon where Ned apparently watched Arya practice with her solitary arrow until she landed her first shot.
Arya’s disdain for the patriarchy a childish Sansa so lovingly embraced is what really seems to lớn bring fire khổng lồ Arya’s words. It was against the rules that she should use a bow, even though both she và her father knew that it was her passion. These rules meant she must steal a lonely arrow lớn practice… & it’s the rules that allowed Sansa to become a hostage to lớn the Lannister House that brought so much misery khổng lồ the Stark family.
Of course Arya does not see it only that way. During their very first reunion this season, Arya begrudgingly asked if she must now hotline Sansa “Lady Stark.” The older girl teased yes, but Arya didn’t cốt truyện in the laugh. Tellingly, she has not called her sister Sansa this whole season. She has simply been hissing “milady” and its variances at the only nearby blood relation who’s not on a permanent LSD trip. Tonight, Arya more than hissed. Unsurprisingly, she considers the letter that a 14-year-old or so Sansa wrote while in the clutches of Cersei as proof that Sansa is not a real Stark. Rather, Arya all but contends “Lady Stark” is a traitor to their house, no worthier of her current seat than Theon Greyjoy was in season 2. Seven Hells, I imagine Arya is not too far pressed away from giving Sansa the Reek treatment.
Arya proves she has neither a head nor understanding for the political game that dons the moniker of her TV show. Sure, she is a damn good assassin. Maybe the best given what she did khổng lồ House Frey. But she cannot see beyond power nguồn moves as reckless và as cruel as Walder Frey’s very own. Her suggestion lớn behead any lords who displease her last week was certainly a Walder-esque idea, & her musing on the prospect of sharing that letter with the Northern lords is equally foolish. For whatever she thinks of Sansa, the Northerners are already growing weary of their absentee king. If Arya gives them reason lớn doubt Sansa as well, they may all come to lớn the conclusion that this mythical Army of the Dead, which none of them have seen, is not worth spending the Long Night in Winterfell for; they’ll go home and khuyễn mãi giảm giá with it in their own ways.
Forget about the possibility of wearing Sansa’s face—Arya is in danger of making them all just so many cosmetics for the Night King’s power.
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Intriguingly, the show is in some ways addressing the “haters” of Sansa Stark this season by considering the assumption that her youth & naïveté does not excuse her mistakes in season 1. This could include the situation Arya is misreading—that Sansa should have spit in Cersei’s face & died screaming just khổng lồ mildly annoy the Lannisters—as well as Arya’s real grievances: Sansa was a spoiled, self-centered child who looked down on her baby sister. And for that, Littlefinger’s plan is working more well than he could have hoped… albeit, I doubt he intends for Sansa to over up dead, which is definitely on the menu.
Admittedly, this entire plotting is derived from the television contrivance that Arya will not tell Sansa where she got that note, as that would clear up this whole misunderstanding in Three’s Company fashion. But unlike most other TV tropes that Game of Thrones has begun indulging during the last two seasons, this one is drawn from genuine character psychologies, and I can believe Arya at the height of her killing prowess, and thereby arrogance, would enjoy dangling her badassery over Sansa’s head. At least in their first encounter about the letter.
And to lớn her credit, Arya does have one point: Sansa craves power. On a show like Game of Thrones that isn’t necessarily a sin. At times it can actually be a virtue. As Sansa says after finally breaking her shell of false modesty, she won the Battle of the Bastards. In so many words, she asks Arya lớn bend the knee. Và this avarice for power nguồn makes Sansa a liar when she pretends she is happy Jon Snow alone wears the North’s crown. However, desiring power and wishing ill on her brother are two separate things.
Sansa is correct in her reading of the danger Arya offers the Starks, & not just her own standing. But her desire to maintain the latter is why she only confides this lớn Littlefinger, và thus his plans turn to lớn his advantage as the daughter of Catelyn Tully moves further back into his sphere of influence. This leads to a chilling moment where Littlefinger points out that Brienne would always protect both sisters… and Sansa sends Brienne away.
Some viewers might be confused by this move, but it isn’t because she suspects only Brienne can best represent her interests with Cersei; Sansa does this because she doesn’t want Brienne around for if/when she makes a drastic move against Arya. It’s a grotesque thought and, again, a self-centered one. Not that it proves ill-prudent.
I honestly still bởi vì not think this storyline ends with one sister murdering the other… but the series surely made me hesitate on that notion when Arya catches Sansa snooping in her quarters. Sansa is probably right to lớn fear her little sister even before discovering the bag of gruesome Halloween masks. And frankly, this sequence very well could have ended with Sansa getting to lớn learn about Arya’s needle work.
On a purely speculative basis, if Sansa had played the lying game with Arya và claimed she does not covet a crown, I definitely think Arya would have reveled in slapping the older Stark at the very least. Và when Arya lifted the knife, I still wonder if Sansa had not stood her ground và had instead attempted lớn flee or talk her way out of this—cooperate instead of electing Cersei’s torture—whether Arya wouldn’t have taken her face. To threaten to murder her own sister & pretend to lớn be the Lady of Winterfell suggests that it’s a fantasy Arya has considered, và perhaps the only reason she passed on it is because Sansa behaved more like what Arya describes as a “warrior” than a lady, và didn’t flinch.
Again, it comes down lớn the patriarchy they both grew up in, và from Arya’s vantage her older sister has wrapped herself in it for materialistic gains. Of course this is a presumptuous reading. Sansa và Arya are really two sides of the same coin. One wanted khổng lồ be lượt thích her mother, the other lượt thích her father. Each had fantasies about being a storybook lady or a storybook knight, but due to the culture they were raised in, neither got anything short of a bastardization of that dream. Arya is a warrior, but one who must murder in the dark và without honor, perhaps not even a soul; Sansa is a lady, but she is no queen, and she learned that in truth, highborn ladies for all their etiquette are considered little more than property. They are more alike than they realize.
Yet here we are with the fear now moving in the other direction: Sansa knows Arya has a letter that could destabilize her (and technically also Jon’s) power. She also knows lil’ sis is cray-cray & might gut her like a stable boy. With Brienne gone và Littlefinger whispering in her ear, does she order to lớn have her own sister killed?
No, I still suspect if Game of Thrones wanted one Stark to murder the other, it would have been tonight in Arya’s bedchamber. Instead, they will yet have that Three’s Company conversation and lure Littlefinger lớn his doom. Ideally before the statue of Lord Eddard Stark. With that said, I wonder if the Stark sisters will ever be family again after tonight.
The only other break from the action north of the Wall occurred on Dragonstone, & this unto itself is a prelude of the tragedy khổng lồ come. It begins pleasantly enough with Daenerys và Tyrion able to lớn just have a drink as acquaintances và colleagues, if not great friends. Although Tyrion certainly lays it on thick trying to lớn get it there. As Daenerys goes into full rom-com mode to lớn complain about the boys in her life who’ve done boyish things—as in Drogo, Jorah, Daario, & now Jon Snow—it was all Peter Dinklage likely could vì to stop himself from going complete BFF và say, “Girl, you don’t need any of them.”
Instead, he does the other BFF tic và helpfully points out to Dany that she is talking about Jon Snow an awful lot. Yet things become less cordial (and more interesting) when the subject turns to lớn strategy. While preparing for the meeting khổng lồ come with the Lannisters, Daenerys admits she has a temper simply by getting angry in her refusals of that fact.
Chuyên mục: Thế Giới Game
