‘What will we find when we strip away your finery?’
Our spoiler-heavy recap of season 5 episode 7, “The Gift’’
This is an episode recap, so spoilers abound—you’ve been warned.
At Castle Black, Jon is preparing to lead a small group of Night’s Watch brothers to Hardhome, to bring the remaining Wildlings of Mance Rayder’s broken army south of the wall before the White Walkers add them to their undead army. Captive Wildling Tormund Giantsbane is led out in chains, and unshackled as Watch members look on with disapproval. Jon catches more flak from Ser Alliser Thorne, who he’s leaving in charge of the castle in his absence, and has a heartfelt goodbye with Samwell Tarly. Before Jon leaves, Sam gives him a bag of dragonglass daggers, the only thing known to kill the White Walkers.
Jon isn’t the only one leaving. Maester Aemon dies after a night filled with delusions about his long-dead brother Aegon, who went on to be king after Aemon refused the crown. During his funeral in the courtyard at Castle Black, Ser Allier reminds Sam that he’s losing all of his friends.
When he tries to defend Gilly from some unsavory members of the Watch, Sam is beaten to a pulp, and only alive because Jon’s direwolf Ghost showed up at the right moment. He’s the best friend of an unpopular Lord Commander and has shown affection to a Wildling woman—he’s becoming a target for his sworn brothers, so without his stronger friends to defend him, he’s locked in a room with Gilly while she tends to his wounds. Luckily, they make use of their alone time.
At Winterfell, Theon brings a meal to a battered and bruised Sansa Stark, who has been locked in her bedchamber and at the mercy of her new husband, Ramsay Bolton. Theon tells her to do whatever he says, as Ramsay can always find new ways of hurting her—but Sansa wants Theon’s help in alerting her rescuers and getting the hell out of there. She wants him to light a candle at the top of the broken tower, to alert these mysterious friends that her serving lady told her about. After Sansa reminds him he is Theon Greyjoy, and not Reek, he seemingly agrees.
But maybe he’s really Reek after all. The former Theon snitches on Sansa to Ramsay. Sansa’s brutal bridegroom takes her to Winterfell’s courtyard to show her his latest handiwork; He tortured and killed the serving woman who set the candle plan in motion. There will be no rescue yet, though Brienne is still waiting outside Winterfell’s walls, watching the tower for the signal.
At Stannis Baratheon’s camp, the words of House Stark seem to have come true—winter has arrived. The camp is buried in snow drifts. Men and horses are dying. The sellswords he hired aren’t used to this harsh wintry weather and have deserted him. He’s marching against Northerners who know the terrain and the climate—as Ramsay says, “our people are used to fighting in frost.’’ Suddenly, Stannis is beginning to look like less of a sure victor. Stubborn as ever, though, he says there is no turning back.
“We march to victory, or we march to defeat,’’ he tells Davos. “but we go forward, only forward.’’
In private with Melisandre, he has his doubts. The red preistess reminds him of the vision he saw in her flames, of a great battle fought in the snow. But she also tells him that sacrifices must be made—she goes too far in suggesting he kill Shireen, his daughter and only heir, to ensure the favor of the Lord of Light. Disgusted, Stannis sends her away. But as the cold sets in and his army dwindles, will he reconsider this terrible sacrifice?
In Dorne, Areo Hotah arranges a visit between an imprisoned Jaime and his “niece,’’ in order to assure him that she’s safe. She still doesn’t understand why her “uncle’’ Jaime is there—after all, she did her duty by going to Dorne as her mother commanded. It’s just her luck that she happened to fall in love with her betrothed. She refuses to leave, after sticking Jaime with some shade and the ultimate teenager-to-parent insult, “you don’t know me!’’
Meanwhile, Bronn and the Sand Snakes are imprisoned in cells directly across from one another. He flirts with Nym, who then lets him know that the dagger she sliced him with was poisoned. As he starts to succumb to the deadly substance, she teases him with the antidote, only giving it to him after he tells her she’s the most beautiful woman he’s ever seen. It’s a close call for the fan favorite.
Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen is still fooling around with the sellsword Daario Nahaeris, even though she is now to be wed to Hizdahr zo Loraq in order to quell the unstable population of Meereen. He offers her some advice in ruling.
“On the day of the great games, gather all the great masters and wise masters and worthy masters you can find, and slaughter them all,’’ he says.
When Dany answers that she is a queen and not a butcher, he tells her that all rulers are either butchers or meat.
In the same city, Jorah and Tyrion are auctioned off to a trainer of fighting slaves, and manage to stay together after some quick thinking and fast talking from Tyrion. Jorah is to fight the other slaves for a chance to compete in the great games, and finally glimpse his beloved queen again.
But once he sees that Dany is present at this preliminary fight, he rushes out into the ring, knocking out every other fighter without killing them. Dany is disgusted when she finds out that the champion was the man who she exiled for spying on her.
“Get him out of my sight,’’ she tells the guards.
But before he can be led away, Jorah shouts that he has a gift for her. Tyrion runs out into the ring and stands before her.
“I am the gift,’’ he tells her. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, my grace. My name is Tyrion Lannister.’’
And just like that, east meets west.
In King’s Landing, Olenna Tyrell confronts the High Sparrow over the Faith’s imprisonment of her grandchildren, Queen Margaery and her brother Loras. She believes him to be a hypocrite, pretending to be a champion of the common folk while doing Cersei’s bidding—to her credit, it certainly seems like everything he’s done so far has been in the Lannister queen’s favor. She threatens to cut off the supply of grain to the Faith. But the High Sparrow calls Lady Olenna out.
“Have you ever sowed the field?’’ he asks, painting her as just one more member of the oppressive royalty. “Have you ever reaped the grain? Has anyone in House Tyrell?’’
She finds an unlikely ally in Littlefinger. He had a part in her grandson’s imprisonment, having provided Cersei with the informant that testified against him. But, as Olenna points out, they did kill the last king together, so their fates are intertwined—and Littlefinger swears he has information that will serve the Tyrells.
Cersei goes to visit Margaery in her cell in order to placate King Tommen, who is beside himself with the fact that he was unable to protect his beloved Margaery. Cersei asks the High Sparrow what will become of the Tyrell prisoners, and he describes the trial before branching out into a speech about the simplicity of the Sparrows’ brand of religion.
“Strip away the gold and the ornaments, knock down the statues and the pillars, and this is what remains,’’ he says. “Something simple, solid, true. The Tyrells’ finery will be stripped away … what will we find when we strip away your finery?’’
Cersei thought she was using the new Faith Militant as a tool to oust her enemies, but she failed to realize that she was creating a monster that would ultimately target her too. The High Sparrow brings out Cousin Lancel, who Cersei had an incestuous affair with back in season two. It turns out, he’s confessed it all to the faith. As a result, Cersei is locked up, too.
But even as she’s locked in a cell, Cersei is arrogant and defiant.
“Look at my face,’’ she tells the septas who throw her into her cell. “It’s the last thing you’ll see before you die.’’
Stray Arrows:
—If we’re following the age-old dramatic principle of Chekov’s Dragonglass, Jon will need to use those daggers soon—we’ll probably be seeing the White Walkers again this season, possibly at Hardhome.
—Maester Aemon is the first Game of Thrones character to die of old age (Okay, so Hoster Tully died of old age back in season three—Aemon’s the first character with any lines to die of old age). Considering the ways other characters have been killed off—like the guys in the fighting pit—Aemon is pretty lucky.
—Cersei tells Tommen she would do anything to keep him happy—and safe. She must be thinking about that prophecy again, the one that said she’ll live to see all of her children die. I wonder how much longer Tommen and Myrcella have.
—Listening to Olenna cut at Littlefinger is a pleasure. “You’ve always been rather impressed with yourself, haven’t you?’’ she says.
—Of course, her granddaughter Margaery has an equally perfect line, when she hurls a bedpan at Cersei while yelling, “get out, you hateful bitch!’’
—What will become of Jorah now? Will Dany send him away again, or kill him? Or could she possibly forgive him? Even if she spares his life, the greyscale won’t, so what is his plan?
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