‘This is my home, and you can’t frighten me.’
Our spoiler-heavy recap of Game of Thrones season five episode six, “Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken.’’
This is an episode recap, so spoilers abound. You’ve been warned.
At the House of Black and White, Arya Stark (or, “no one,’’ if you prefer) continues to wash the bodies of the people who have come to die at the mysterious temple. When she asks again what is done with the bodies, she is told by another servant of the Faceless Men that she’ll find out when the time is right.
Jaqen H’ghar engages Arya in a game of question and answer. When he asks who she is, she responds with her true identity as the youngest daughter of House Stark, dropping the “no one’’ pretense—Jaqen knows she isn’t ready to give up her true identity. But he can tell when Arya is lying, and smacks her each time she does. He knows she’s lying when she says she wants to be “no one,’’ too.
Later, a man brings his sick daughter to the House of Black and White to end her suffering. Jaqen watches as Arya comforts the girl and gives her poisoned water to drink. Afterward, Jaqen takes Arya down into the depths of the temple, to a large room where thousands of faces hang on the walls. She’s finally found the answer to her question of what is done with the bodies—their faces are removed and added to the collection. Jaqen says it’s time for her to take on one of those faces.
“Is a girl ready to give up her hopes and dreams, her loves and hates, all that makes a girl who she is, forever?’’ Jaqen asks her. “No, a girl is not ready to become ‘no one.’ But she is ready to become someone else.’’
Tyrion Lannister and Jorah Mormont continue their long walk to Meereen, but the captor-and-slave dynamic no longer exists after their near-death experience in the ruins of Valyria last week. Tyrion lets on that he knew and admired Jorah’s father, but he didn’t know that Jorah wasn’t aware of his father’s death at the hands of his own men back in season three.
As the pair discuss Daenerys’ abilities as a ruler (or lack thereof) and the Targaryen family’s reputation for insanity, they are captured by a group of slavers. They want to send Jorah to labor on a galley or in a salt mine, and they want to kill Tyrion, cutting off his head as well as another body part that the Lannister lord holds very dear (and that apparently fetches a hefty sum for its supposed magical properties). The manner by which Tyrion successfully begs for his life is unexpected to say the least, and “The dwarf lives until we find a cock merchant’’ has to be one of the strangest phrases uttered throughout the series.
Tyrion saves Jorah’s life as well as his own. When the slavers mention that Dany has reopened the fighting pits in Meereen, Tyrion tells them that Jorah is a veteran of “a hundred battles,’’ and that he would be better suited for the blood sport of the pits than hard labor. Getting to Meereen by ship will certainly be quicker than walking, but when they get there, they’ll have a hard time meeting with the Queen as slaves.
Back in King’s Landing, Littlefinger brushes past Lancel and his sparrow buddies to meet with Cersei Lannister on urgent business. He questions her decision to have Loras Tyrell arrested, but she plays it off as if she had nothing to do with the arrest.
Each week, we gain more insight into Littlefinger’s grand plans. Cersei asks if the Vale soldiers now under his command will fight for King Tommen if war comes, and he assures her that they will. Remember, though, that he promised support to Roose Bolton against the crown, and told Sansa that he was betting on Stannis Baratheon beating Roose and becoming the new Warden of the North. He’s pitting everyone against each other, all the while making sure that he’ll come out on top no matter who wins.
Case in point: He tells Cersei that Sansa is alive, living in Winterfell, and about to marry Ramsay Bolton, who Tommen had legitimized. He capitalizes on the rage Cersei shows upon hearing the news that Roose has turned on her, and she agrees to make him the new Warden of the North, no matter how things shake out after the coming battle for Winterfell.
“Let Stannis and Roose battle,’’ he tells Cersei. “Let the enemies of the throne slaughter each other, and when they’re done, seize Winterfell from whichever thief survives.’’
The sharp-tongued matriarch of house Tyrell, Lady Olenna, has returned to King’s Landing to help get her grandson Loras out of captivity. The charges against him stem from his homosexuality, which is something of an open secret in Westeros. Loras denies it all, as does his sister, Queen Margaery. Just as it looks as if Loras will escape punishment, his lover Olyvar is brought in to testify against him. But not only will Loras be put on trial because of Olyvar’s testimony—Margaery will also be locked up for lying to the holy inquest. Cersei grins an evil grin, and Tommen looks on helplessly as his wife is dragged away.
In Dorne, Trystane and Myrcella walk through the Water Gardens, kissing, making out, and planning to ask Trystane’s father, Prince Doran, to have them wed sooner rather than later. Everyone seems to want Myrcella out of Dorne (or, you know, dead), but she’s happy with her betrothed and wants to stay.
Doran and his bodyguard, Areo Hotah, watch them from afar.
“They make a lovely couple,’’ Doran observes. “A Lannister and a Martell. They have no idea how dangerous that is. We must protect them.’’
The need to protect them comes sooner than expected, when Jaime and Bronn arrive to rescue Myrcella just as the Sand Snakes arrive to kill her. Jaime and Bronn happen upon the young prince and princess first, while they’re getting hot and heavy.
“Well, she’s made herself at home,’’ Bronn says.
Myrcella is confused at Jaime’s presence, and doesn’t want to leave. Bronn punches Trystane out when he draws his sword, and it turns into an all-out melee when the Sand Snakes show up—Obara with her spear, Nym with her whip, and Tyene with her daggers. Myrcella is captured and held at knifepoint. Luckily, Areo Hotah shows up with guards, and the fighting stops before anybody is killed. Ellaria Sand, who came up with the plot to kill Myrcella and start a war between the Lannisters and Dorne, is also captured.
How will Doran work this out? He’s been teased as a cautious and wise leader, and has expressed his desire to avoid war—but he also lost a brother and sister to the Lannisters. Whether he chooses peace or revenge remains to be seen.
In Winterfell, it’s Sansa Stark’s wedding night, and Ramsay has sent his mistress Myranda to pour a bath for his bride-to-be. Myranda tries to scare Sansa with stories of Ramsay’s horrible behavior with past lovers, how he hunts them down with dogs for sport once they become “boring’’ to him. But Sansa isn’t scared.
“And how long have you loved him, Myranda?’’ Sansa asks, cutting her off. “I’m Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home, and you can’t frighten me.’’
It’s a great moment for her character, and one that shows how far she’s come from earlier seasons, where she was the victim of countless unspeakable offenses at the hands of the Lannisters. She is powerful now, a player in the Game of Thrones.
After her wedding in Winterfell’s godswood, though, Ramsay asserts his power over her as her new husband, and violently consummates their marriage—while he forces Theon/Reek to watch.
That the episode closes with intense sexual violence is a controversial move, considering the uproar that resulted when the show depicted rape in the past. Having it take place immediately after a scene empowering Sansa, though, makes the scene feel even more wrong.
Stray arrows:
—Seeing as they have a basement full of faces, “The Faceless Men’’ name really doesn’t fit. Provided Arya takes on someone else’s face, how will the show portray her? Will they get a different actor?
—When Arya claims during the lying exercise that she hated The Hound, Jaqen says she is lying and hits her. Despite his name being on Arya’s “kill list,’’ here’s proof that they really did bond during their adventures through the Riverlands.
—Jorah Mormont was exiled from the Seven Kingdoms for participating in the slave trade by Ned Stark. Now, he is a slave himself.
—Even kings and queens aren’t safe from the justice of the High Sparrow and the Faith Militant. If Lancel tells his sparrow buddies about his affair with Cersei a few seasons ago (not to mention their plot to murder King Robert), Cersei could easily join Margaery and Loras in a cell.
—“You can smell the shit from five miles away,’’ says Lady Olenna on the approach to King’s Landing. It’s good to have her back in town.
—Doran refers to Trystane and Myrcella as “a Lannister and a Martell.’’ Is he referring to her as a Lannister rather than a Baratheon because of her mother’s family, or because he knows the truth about her parentage—that she was born of incest between Jaime and Cersei?
—Hotah recognizes Jaime, saying, “When you were whole, it would have been a good fight.’’ The guy’s never going to live down the whole “missing-a-hand’’ thing.
—Kind of a random thought, but where’s Varys now? Did he continue on to Meereen to assist Dany, or is he still looking for Tyrion? Who knows where he’ll show up next.
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