‘Kill the boy, and let the man be born.’
Our spoiler-heavy recap of Game of Thrones season five episode five, “Kill The Boy.’’
This is an episode recap, so spoilers abound. You’ve been warned.
Ser Barristan is most definitely dead (though Grey Worm survived!), and Daenerys is looking to avenge her fallen friend and advisor. But she’s fighting an enemy that hides behind masks and blends in to an unfamiliar city. Daario wants to root them out by going house-to-house, but Dany has an idea more fitting for the “Mother of Dragons.’’
She has all the heads of the city’s noble families marched into her dragons’ lair, and makes them watch as one of their own is burned and eaten by her two remaining dragons. She threatens to feed Hizdahr zo Loraq to the beasts, too, but stops.
“Don’t want to overfeed them,’’ she says.
As refreshing as it is to see her assert her power once again, she knows she can’t just solve her problems by burning everyone. Upon advice from Missandei, she seeks a better way. She apologizes to Hizdahr, and finally gives in to his wish to reopen Meereen’s fighting pits in order to please the traditionalists opposing her—and she proposes that they marry, to further bond the people of Meereen.
Across the Narrow Sea at the Wall, her last living relative—Maester Aemon, once Aemon Targaryen—is being read a letter about her exploits in Meereen by Sam, who remarks that “she sounds like quite a woman!’’
Jon enters, and asks to speak to Aemon alone. He knows his decision to find peace and make common cause with the Wildlings will make him a very unpopular Lord Commander, and he’s feeling unsure of himself. Luckily, he’s got Maester Aemon around to give him a pep talk.
“You will find little joy in your command,’’ says Aemon. “But with luck, you will find the strength to do what needs to be done. Kill the boy, Jon Snow. Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy, and let the man be born.’’
He follows Stannis’s advice and speaks with Tormund Giantsbane, who he has locked in a cell. Jon tells him that he wants Tormund to find the rest of the Wildlings and get them south of the wall, to safety. But Jon doesn’t just want to save them—he wants them to help fight the white walkers and zombie army moving toward the wall. Tormund says they’re going to a place called Hardhome, and they’ll need ships—and that he’s only going if Jon comes with him as a show of faith.
Predictably, the Night’s Watch doesn’t take it well when Jon announces that they’ll be going on a Wildling rescue mission. His steward, Olly, is especially frustrated, since Wildlings killed his parents. Jon tries to explain to him that the real enemy is coming, and they’ll need everyone they can find to help defend the realm from the white walkers.
It’s too bad, then, that everyone’s leaving with Stannis to go and take Winterfell from the Boltons. Stannis’s family, Princess Shireen and Queen Selyse, are coming with—Stannis says it’s safer than leaving them at the wall with “killers and rapers.’’
Outside Winterfell, Brienne is still dead set on saving a Stark who doesn’t want to be saved. She talks to an innkeep who once served the Starks, and enlists his help to get a message to Sansa.
“Sansa’s in danger even if she doesn’t realize it,’’ says Brienne.
Once we see how dangerous Ramsay’s mistress Myranda is, it’s evident that she’s right. Ramsay promises Myranda that he’ll still “have time for her,’’ but she’s jealous of Ramsay’s new bride-to-be. She even seeks Sansa out, and has a seemingly innocent conversation with her about remembering the way things were. Myranda says she has something else to help Sansa remember her home as it was before the Boltons were there.
She brings Sansa to Theon, or “Reek’’ as he’s now known, the man who grew up alongside her but then betrayed her family and “murdered’’ her brothers Bran and Rickon (they aren’t really dead, but Theon’s the only one who knows that). Sansa didn’t know he was even alive. She’s overcome by emotion and runs from him.
Later, during a very awkward dinner with her new family, Ramsay brings Reek in and re-introduces them. He makes Theon/Reek apologize for killing Sansa’s brothers, and then announces that Reek will be giving Sansa away at their wedding.
“Reek here is the nearest thing to living kin you have left,’’ Ramsay says, and we see that he’s decided to torture her mentally if not physically, like his other victims.
It’s a good thing Sansa has some help on the inside. A washerwoman working in the castle tells her that, if she’s ever in trouble, she can light a candle in the top of the broken tower, and help will arrive. Is this Brienne’s message? Brienne and Pod won’t be much help if they have to scale Winterfell’s walls and break into the castle first.
Roose Bolton has some news, too—he and Walda are going to have a baby, and probably a boy at that. This is bad news for Ramsay, though, as Roose may one day decide his new child would make a better heir. When Ramsay flayed a few Northerners back in episode three, we saw Roose begin to get annoyed with his bastard son’s wild ways—so his happy announcement is also a sharp warning to his son. But it’s also an effort to get him to prove himself again, as he did by taking Moat Cailin for the Boltons last season. This time, Roose needs his help to fight Stannis.
Meanwhile, Tyrion and Jorah are still on their way to Daenerys Targaryen and Meereen, and are now floating through the ruins of the long-gone city of Valyria. They have a surprising bonding moment as they recite old poetry about the doomed city, but they’re interrupted by Drogon flying above. The look on Tyrion’s face is priceless—seeing the winged beast is proof that this “dragon queen’’ he’s been hearing about is more than just a legend. Jorah, too, must be glad to have a reminder of the queen he serves and loves.
But they’re interrupted by “stone men,’’ who have been reduced to bloodthirsty animals by the disease greyscale. They attack Jorah and Tyrion’s boat, and a struggle ensues. Jorah fends them off, but Tyrion falls overboard, into the murky water.
Tyrion awakes on a beach, rescued by Jorah. They’ve lost their boat, but they’ve also lost some of the tension that came from Jorah kidnapping and beating Tyrion. They’re friendly now, having survived the attack—both claim the stone men didn’t touch them. As the episode closes, though, we see that Jorah was lying, and a spot on his wrist is already showing the scarring that comes with the disease.
Stray Arrows:
—One minute Dany’s about to feed Hizdahr to the dragons, the next she’s proposing to him. The deal might end the killing and ease her rule, but can she really trust him after she almost made him into dragon dinner?
—Theon/Reek is going to “give the bride away’’ at Sansa and Ramsay’s wedding (saying that still feels weird, doesn’t it?). He’s one of the only people who know that Bran and Rickon aren’t dead. Will he ever tell her?
—Stannis tells Sam to “keep reading,’’ to find a way to fight the white walkers. Even though he’s about to ride to Winterfell to fight the Boltons, his mind is still on the big picture.
—The broken tower that will be Sansa’s beacon for help is the same tower that Bran fell from in the first-ever episode of Game of Thrones.
—How long has Jorah got, what with the greyscale, and will he make it to Meereen?
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