‘The Long Night is coming, and the dead come with it.’
Our spoiler-heavy recap of Game of Thrones season 5 episode 8, “Hardhome.’’
This is an episode recap, so spoilers abound—you’ve been warned.
Jorah and Tyrion stand before Daenerys in her throne room in Meereen. Dany does not yet know what to make of the wayward Lannister lord, who tries to assure her he’s on her side—hey, after all, he killed his dad.
“So I should welcome you into my service because you murdered members of your own family?’’ Dany asks.
“Into your service?’’ Tyrion answers. “Your Grace, we’ve only just met. It is too soon to know if you deserve my service.’’
Tyrion’s had to do a lot of convincing so far this season, first with the pirates and slavers and now with the last Targaryen. He wants to advise her, and is doing his best to convince her that he’s worth listening to. He tells her the most well-informed person he knew—Varys—said she was their “last, best hope to build a better world.’’
She tests him by asking what he would do with Jorah. She said she’d kill him if he ever returned, for betraying her. Shouldn’t she keep her promise?
But Tyrion vouches for Jorah, telling her that he’s devoted to her, in love with her even. He says Jorah didn’t trust you enough to forgive him, but that killing a man devoted to her is not a way to inspire devotion—something she’d need a lot of if she wanted to rule the Seven Kingdoms. Dany heeds Tyrion’s advice, and Jorah is once again banished, not killed.
Jorah promptly heads back to the slaver from the previous episode, though, vowing that if the slaver allows him to compete in the fighting pits before his Queen, he can own him once again. He sells himself back into slavery just for the chance to fight for her.
Dany shares a glass of wine with Tyrion. They bond over their “terrible’’ fathers—his a ruthless ruler who ended entire families, hers an insane person who burned men for his own enjoyment. Dany tells him she won’t kill or banish him, but will make him an advisor to her as she vies for the Iron Throne.
Tyrion warns her that she may be better off in Meereen, where she managed to end slavery and change lives for the better. She argues that it isn’t her home. She says the common people will support her in Westeros. Even allowing that, Tyrion argues, you’d need the support of the rich, too—after all, even though Dany has the support of the commoners in Meereen, the rich former masters are the ones causing her grief lately. He mentions that the rich families in Westeros would not support her.
“They’re all just spokes on a wheel,’’ she says of those ruling families. “This one’s on top, then that one’s on top, on and on it spins, crushing those on the ground.’’
Others have tried to stop the wheel, Tyrion says.
“I’m not going to stop the wheel,’’ Dany answers. “I’m going to break the wheel.’’
In Winterfell, Sansa stops Theon again, this time asking for an explanation for why he betrayed her plans last episode. Broken as he has become, he thinks he was doing her a favor—because “there is no escape.’’ After all, Theon tried to escape once, and Ramsay punished him until there was no Theon left, only “Reek.’’ Sansa says she would do the same things Ramsay did to him if she could.
“If it weren’t for you, I’d still have a family,’’ Sansa says.
That’s when Theon drops the big game-changer—he didn’t actually kill her brothers, he just faked it with two other, random farm boys. He’s still a child-killer and all, but now Sansa, who thought she was alone in this world, knows that Bran and Rickon are still alive somewhere.
Meanwhile, the Boltons are making plans to deal with Stannis’s approaching army. When last we saw Stannis, his camp was buried under snows, he was running out of food and horses, and his sellsword soldiers were deserting. Roose wants to wait in the castle, while Stannis’s forces “freeze, starve, and mutiny.’’ Ramsay disagrees, and says they should meet his army in the field, to show the rest of the Northern lords under them what they do to their opponents. The snow is too deep to lead a large force.
“I don’t need an army,’’ Ramsay tells his father. “I need 20 good men.’’
What’s he planning?
In King’s Landing, Cersei isn’t looking so good. She’s locked in a cell, where a septa visits her frequently, asking her to confess. Qyburn comes to visit her, and tells her that her trial will start soon. She’s charged with fornication, treason, incest, and the murder of King Robert—and as viewers know, she’s guilty of all of these things.
Qyburn fills her in on life on the outside. Her uncle Kevan was asked to come back from Casterly Rock to serve as Hand of the King, and Tommen won’t eat or see anyone. Cersei wants desperately to get out and comfort her son, but there is only one way. Confession will bring her her freedom, but she won’t do it.
“I made him,’’ she says of the High Sparrow, to whom she would confess. “I rose him up from nothing. I will not kneel before some barefooted commoner and beg his forgiveness.’’
So, she rots in the cell.
In Braavos, Arya takes on a new identity, creating a backstory of a girl who sells oysters. Jaqen H’ghar sends her to the docks, where she observes an old man, some sort of insurance salesman, who gambles on the lives of sailors. Should a sailor die at sea, the man should pay the sailor’s family a hefty sum—though Jaqen says he is a gambler, and asks Arya to imagine what would happen if he decided not to pay? It seems one of these screwed-over families sought help from the Faceless Men in dealing with this gambler, and Arya is being tasked with taking care of him. She is told to watch him and learn his habits, then give him a “gift’’—a vial of poison.
At the wall, Gilly is tending to Sam’s wounds, while the two hide from the rest of the Watch, who aren’t exactly their friends. Olly comes, asking Sam his opinion on Jon Snow’s decision to make common cause with the Wildlings. Olly has a huge problem with this Wildling-Watch alliance, as Tormund and his raiders butchered his village and killed his parents. Sam assures him that Jon’s taking a risk to save them all, that the White Walkers don’t care if they are Night’s Watch or Free Folk, they’ll kill them just the same. Olly doesn’t like that answer.
“I’ve been worrying about Jon for years,’’ Sam tells Olly. “He always comes back.’’
But Sam doesn’t realize that Olly’s not worried about the Lord Commander’s well-being.
Jon and Tormund are rowing to shore at Hardhome, a Wildling fort where the remnants of Mance Rayder’s army have gone after being smashed by Stannis’s forces at the Wall. As they row closer, thousands of Free Folk stare them down. Once ashore, they are approached by the Lord of Bones, a Wildling commander we haven’t seen for a few seasons. When he refuses to call the elders and just talk with Jon, Tormund kills him.
A council is gathered, and Jon attempts to win over the leaders of the Wildling clans. They get angry when they find out Jon killed Mance, but Tormund vouches for him, telling the crowd that Jon killed Mance out of mercy. Jon gives a rousing speech, and gives them the dragonglass, telling of how it is the only known weapon that works against the White Walkers. He tells them the “Long Night’’ of legend is coming, and the dead with it. He outlines his plan to let the Wildlings settle the land south of the wall, offering them protection as long as they will fight with him when the White Walkers attack.
“This isn’t about friendship,’’ Jon says. “This is about survival. This is about putting a 700-foot wall between you and what’s out there.’’
Most of the leaders agree, only because Tormund tells them it’s the only way.
But as they’re loading the boats, the army of the undead attacks. The gates of Hardhome are closed, but soon overrun by wights and skeletons (which, thankfully, look a lot scarier and less cartoonish than those from last season’s finale). A battle ensues, Wildlings and Night’s Watch brothers against the undead. It is one of the greatest action sequences in the show’s history, a 20-minute spectacle of swordfighting and CGI.
During the battle, the bag of dragonglass is lost. The zombified army climbs through and over the walls, and slaughters the Free Folk who haven’t yet made it to the boats. On the cliffs above the fort, the White Walkers and their leader—the writers refer to him as the “Night King’’ in the after-the-episode video—watch the battle take place. One of the Walkers comes down to fight. His sword shatters the steel sword Jon picks up, and he throws the swordless Lord Commander around. But when Jon grabs his Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw, and it stops the Walker’s weapon, the blue-eyed monster looks just as surprised as Jon does. Jon strikes the Walker, and he shatters into pieces.
Note: Valyrian steel can kill them, too.
Jon and Tormund get on the final boat that leaves before the camp is totally overtaken. Looking back, they watch as the last Wildlings are slaughtered by the wights and White Walkers. The Night King watches them row away. He raises his arms, and those he just slaughtered rise as part of his army, staring with cold, hard blue eyes.
He’s telling Jon, “Look what I can do.’’
Stray Arrows:
—“You’re going to advise me,’’ Dany tells Tyrion, but takes away his wine. “…while you can still speak in complete sentences.’’ Everyone’s taking the poor guy’s wine this season.
—Tyrion says the Starks are dead, and Stannis and the Lannisters would never support Dany. He does mention, though, that the Tyrells might. They fought for the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion. If the family recovers from Loras and Margaery being imprisoned, would they fight for a Targaryen again? And what about Dorne? The Dornish don’t seem to fond of the rest of the continent. If the other families keep destroying one another, Dany might have better support than Tyrion thinks.
—We now know that both dragonglass and Valyrian steel can take down White Walkers. It’s admittedly not much to stop an army that grows in numbers the more it slaughters the living. But I’d be willing to bet dragon fire can destroy the Walkers, too—if Dany and her dragons ever make it across the Narrow Sea.
—The Night King has a very Vader-Luke “the Force is strong with this one’’ moment when he sees that Jon kills one of his fellow blue-eyed White Walkers.
—“He’s prettier than both my daughters, but he knows how to fight.’’ That may be the nicest thing Tormund’s ever said about Jon!
—That giant seems to be as unstoppable as the zombie army. It’s a good thing he’s not on their side … yet.
—As Qyburn leaves Cersei’s cell, he tells her “the work continues.’’ She’s seemingly aware of his making a FrankenMountain out of Gregor Clegane’s remains—remember, we saw what’s left of him moving under a sheet in Qyburn’s lab. But what are their plans for FrankenMountain?
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