Game of Thrones 6.10. Recap

Originally I planned a post about planning your life (which will follow soon) but I'm postpoining it for a post on the Game of Thrones season finale - because let's be honest, for the last week nothing really mattered except Game of Thrones. I did a post on the finale of season 5 before (which was glorious, still better than this finale, I think) but the end of season 6 was also spectacular, so let's have a closer look at the major storylines.

Obviously, SPOILERS.

Cercei Lannister

For me, this was definitely the most fascinating plot line of the episode, though it wasn't that surprising, It's Cercei's trial but not only doesn't she attend but she also hinders her son and king, Tommen, to attend it which already shows that she has a devious plan which she wants her child to be save from. We see Maester Pycelle being stabbed (possibly the only other person, excpet her, Tyrion and her new Maester, who knows that there are still tremendous amounts of extremely explosive and deadly wildfire in Kingslanding).

Margeary is already wary and wants to bring herself and her brother Loras to safety but the Militant Faith doesn't let them go. It's the first time we see Margaery really being afraid and she was so right. The next moment the whole sept and a huge part of Kingslanding blows up. Margaery is dead. Loras is dead. So is their father. And Lancell Lannister, Cerceis cousin and former lover. And her uncle. And of course the High Sparrow with all his followers and more noble people of Kingslanding. It's brutal but amazing. In one second, Cercei managed to erase all of her enemies. I can't help but be impressed with her. It proves once more that noone messes with Cercei and gets out of it alive. She's incredible.

It gets even more extreme when Tommen throws himself from the tower. Surprisingly, Tommen's suicide shocked me more than all those people being blown up. Maybe he couldn't stand knowing that his beloved wife Margaery is dead. Or he couldn't stand the thought that his mother killed his wife, her family and many more. Probably both. Which proves both that Tommen was actually a pretty decent guy and at the same time that he was too nice, meaning too weak, for Kingslanding.

Now that Tommen is dead, this fits perfectly into the prophecy Cercei was given as a girl. According to the prophecy she will have three children and they will all die, which now became true. The prophecy goes on that in the end Cercei will be killed by her younger brother. There is a theory which states that Cercei will become the Mad Queen, like the Mad King, and attempt to burn down her whole empire. She might be stopped before this happens by said younger brother which could be Tyrion but also Jaime, who is a couple of minutes younger than Cercei. Sure, Jaime killing Cercei would be a really dramatic ending but it would also break my heart.

Finally, we see that Cercei, with her children and rivals being dead, is crowned and becomes the first Queen of Westeros. In this moment Jaime arrives back from his travels. He sees the burned down sept and then his sister and lover being crowned and he realizes two things: 1. Tommen, their last remaining child, is dead. 2. Cercei has blown everyone up and taken the Iron Thrown and is on her way to madness. Which might support the theory that Jaime will be the one to kill Cercei in the end, especially as he looks not very pleased. But we shouldn't underestimate how much he loves Cercei. The thing about Jaime, I realized, is that all he wants is to be with her. He has stated again and again and again that him and her are the only two people who matter to him. He doesn't care about power but now Cercei has power, she has the throne and it will probably come between the two. Still, I can't believe that he'll actually betray her, he just loves her too much. On the other hand, he already betrayed her once to free Tyrion. I can't wait to see this storyline unfold furter.

Arya Stark

Apparently, Arya finally learned to change her face and she is already back in Westeros, namely at Blackwater Bay where she kills Walder Frey and gets her revenge for the Red Wedding.

Samwell Tully

Sam arrives in Oldtown to be trained as a maester and the library looks amazing.

Mellisandre

Davos tells Jon that Mellisandre burned Shereen alive. She tries to defend herself, explaining that she thought it was the only way to save Stannis and his men, but that she was mistaken. Davos asks Jon to execute her but instead Jon decides to banish her from the North. In my opinion, this is a phenomenally stupid thing to do. He should either execute her or keep her by her side nevertheless - she is extremely helpful after all, bringing him back from the dead and all. But now that he banished her, she can team up with someone else. I don't like Mellisandre at all but she is an extremely powerful woman and it's good to have her on your side.

Sansa Stark

We see a beautiful scene where Jon and Sansa look over their retaken Winterfell and Jon tells Sansa that they have to trust each other. They hug and all seems well between the siblings, except that I don't think that Sansa actually trusts Jon.

In another scene Littlefinger reveals that he wants to be on the Iron Throne with Sansa by his side. She pushes him away but not after saying that this would be a pretty picture. I don't think this alliance/romance ends here. Littlefinger obviously planned it all. He gave Sansa to Ramsay in order for her to be mistreated by him so badly that she will be determined enough to declare war against him and retake Winterfell. This is cruel of course, but in his weird way Littlefinger did it all for her. Now he wants to marry her, become Lord of Winterfell and eventually king of Westeros. Well, I don't know if this will happen but it would be an interesting picture. Also, we have to remember that Sansa spent a lot of time in Kingslanding and went to hell and back, and I don't think after all that, she'll be satisfied by being Jon Snows sister. With Littlefinger on her side, she could be queen. Another storyline which makes me excited about where it'll go.

Finally we see the houses of the North pledging themselves to Jon Snow and declaring him King in the North, despite him being a bastard. That's beautiful,yes, but also a bit macabre, because it reminded so much of when they pronounced Robb Stark King in the North.

Danaerys Targaryan

In a couple of episodes Daenarys has gained many influential supporters, among them Tyrion, who I still think will make a much better leader than her - when will he finally step up instead of following others?, Olenna Tyrell and Theon and Yara Greyjoy. She also has an army of Unsullied, of Dothraki and of the Second Sons. Her army is huge and she finally, after 6 seasons, sets sail to Westeros. We will definitely see a big showdown between Danaerys and Cercei, where Daenerys lets loose her dragons and Cercei makes use of her wildfire. I wouldn't be suprised if the two women would burn each other to the ground.

Jon Snow

The last great reveal of the episode, which everyone was waiting for, happens when we see Brans vision in which the young Ned Stark finds his sister in her death bed and she hands him a baby and asks him to take care of it. This baby is without doubt Jon Snow which finally prooves the theory R + L = J, making Jon the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen which makes him both a Stark and a Targaryan but as his father is Rhaeger, he is actually foremost a Targaryen. This of course changes everything. Will the North still follow him, when they find out that he is not Eddard Stark's son? And how will Jon himself react when he finds out? Also, is he still a bastard? I guess so, because I don't think that Rhaegar and Lyanna where married. What do the Targaryens call their bastards?

Well, it truely was a spectacular episode of a fantastic show! I'm already so excited about what season 7 will bring. But as we will have to wait a whole year for it, I plan to re-watch the entire show in the meantime.

Last but not least, it's official: Winter is here.