The Game of Thrones Season 7 finale begins with Daenerys' army arriving at King's
Landing.
This is as close as Dany has ever come to her goal of the Iron Throne.
She could probably swoop in and take it now, but she's holding off in the hopes of a
truce.
In her vision in Season 2, Dany approaches the Throne, and reaches for it, but doesn't
take it.
Maybe this suggests that Dany will never win the Throne.
Jaime and Bronn watch from above and talk about the meaning of life.
Is it gold?
Family?
Cocks?
Bronn is one of the few characters in Thrones who's actually better off now than he was
in Season 1.
He's made money, been knighted, got people calling him "my lord".
While so many others have lost loved ones, or lost their heads, or their hands, or their
cocks.
Jon Snow also arrives at King's Landing.
When his uncle Ned came to this city, he died.
When Ned's father and brother came to this city, they died too.
The Starks are never comfortable in the crowded capital – Jaime once said Starks are made
of ice, and when they come south, they melt . But, as we soon learn, Jon is more than
just a Stark.
The groups meet in the ruins of the Dragonpit.
The Dragonpit was built a few hundred years ago as a sort of a stable for the Targaryen
dragons . But as Daenerys learned in Meereen, dragons don't like captivity . Over the
years, the pit dragons grew smaller and stunted , which reflects the slow decline of the Targaryen
dynasty.
It also reflects the nature of magic in Game of Thrones.
Magic is wild and uncontrollable, a sword with no hilt . If you lock a dragon in a box,
it'll waste away.
But if you let it loose, it'll eat people . So there's no safe way to use it.
Which is why some people think that the maesters of the Citadel may have deliberately killed
off the dragons as part of a conspiracy against magic – go watch that video.
But everyone comes together in the biggest meeting of characters ever.
Tyrion reunites with Bronn and Pod – who have both saved his life in the past.
Brienne and the Hound talk about Arya like proud soccer moms, even though Brienne almost
killed Sandor once.
Other reunions aren't so happy.
Tyrion sees his sister Cersei – after he killed their father Tywin.
Daenerys meets Jaime, who killed her father Aerys.
Theon sees Euron, who captured his sister Yara.
And Jon meets Cersei who helped kill his uncle Ned.
There's also this awkward love… square between Brienne Jaime Cersei and Euron.
So all of this history makes for a very tense scene.
Bronn leaves early, with Pod.
Tyrion had just offered Bronn gold if he changes sides , and Bronn always said he looks after
himself and doesn't wanna risk his life fighting dragons.
So it looks likely that Bronn will leave Cersei and maybe join Daenerys.
But another possible reason why Bronn leaves is that there's apparently drama between
Bronn's actor and Cersei's actress, they don't wanna be in the same scenes .
The Hound threatens the Mountain, which all but confirms Cleganebowl – the idea that
these brothers will fight to the death in the greatest grudge match in Westeros.
Sandor has always wanted to kill his brother . They fought once in Season 1, and it looks
like they'll fight a final time in Season 8.
Since Gregor is now some kinda zombie, the Hound might need to use fire to kill him.
Which might allow Sandor to get over his fear of fire, which he got from Gregor burning
his face in the first place.
So Cleganebowl is kinda silly, but it could give a neat sense of closure to Sandor's
story.
Daenerys arrives on her dragon – you can tell she's been practicing her impressive
entrances – and Euron gets a hungry look seeing the dragon.
There's a whole plot in the books about Euron trying to use a magic horn to steal
one of Dany's dragons . Maybe he'll try something similar in the show.
Dany apologises for arriving late, and making everyone wait , which is bit of a meta joke
about the fact it's taken Dany seven seasons to join the main plot in Westeros.
Tyrion starts a speech, but Euron interrupts and gets all aggressive, and threatens to
kill Yara, but Cersei shushes him.
Cersei might actually have told Euron to this, because it's useful to remind Dany's side
that Cersei has a hostage, but shushing Euron's threat also makes Cersei look cooperative.
It's kinda the opposite of how Littlefinger uses Lyn Corbray in Book 4 – for those who
are keeping score.
Jon shows everyone the zombie, which is the first time most of these people have seen
a wight.
Tyrion, Varys, Missandei, Theon, Brienne, Jaime, Cersei – they've all been mostly
separate from the supernatural in this story.
But now magic and politics come crashing together.
Jon explains the threat of the army of the dead.
With Qyburn it's love at first sight.
But everyone else is suitably spooked.
Euron says he'll retreat to the Iron Islands – which is a lie designed by Cersei to make
Dany think Euron's out of the picture, when he's actually getting more soldiers for
Cersei.
Cersei says she's convinced, and agrees to a peace on one condition – Jon has to
swear to stay out of the war between Cersei and Dany.
So this is a good strategy from Cersei – she's hoping to take away Dany's greatest ally,
and let Dany fight the dead, while Cersei gathers her strength to later fight a weakened
Dany.
But Jon refuses Cersei's deal, and Cersei stomps out.
Brienne tries to get Jaime to change Cersei's mind, telling him "Fuck loyalty", which
is a neat reversal of their usual dynamic, with oathkeeping Brienne trying to teach honour
to Jaime the Kingslayer.
But the job of convincing Cersei falls to the man who Cersei hates most – her brother
Tyrion.
Cersei starts out hating Tyrion for a lot of the same reasons their father Tywin hated
Tyrion – for the death of Tyrion's mother in childbirth, and for Tyrion's mockery
of their family pride.
But Cersei's hatred of Tyrion grows through the series as he undermines her power, threatens
her and her children, and sends Myrcella to Dorne.
In Season 4 Cersei accuses him of killing Joffrey, which he didn't, but then he kills
Tywin – and ever since, Cersei's tried to have Tyrion killed.
Cersei accuses him of wanting to destroy their family – even though Cersei has killed more
Lannisters than Tyrion has – she blew up uncle Kevan and cousin Lancel.
It's true that the murder of Tywin was a huge blow to House Lannister.
But at least in the beginning, it wasn't Tyrion's goal to destroy his family.
He loved Jaime, and he loved Myrcella and Tommen.
And deep down, Cersei must know this.
Cause when Tyrion tells her to kill him, she doesn't.
Or maybe she only wants him alive to make this peace deal.
Cersei says she doesn't care about the world, doesn't care about anyone but herself and
the people she loves.
Tyrion works out she's pregnant, the scene ends, and they make the peace deal.
So we don't know exactly what happens here, but it seems Cersei uses her pregnancy to
show that she's got something to lose, to make Cersei more believable when she says
that she'll make peace.
It's similar to when Cersei used her pregnancy to assure Jaime's loyalty – she's using
her body as a strategic tool.
As Cersei once said, a woman's weapon is between her legs . As always, Cersei uses
her weapon to protect her power and pride.
Some people think that Tyrion might have offered Cersei something to convince her to make peace
– like maybe that her child could be the heir to the Throne or something.
But does Cersei have much leverage in this situation anyway?
It's in her interests to make peace even if she gets nothing in return – so there
may not have been a secret deal here between Cersei and Tyrion.
At the Dragonpit, Dany tells Jon that Mirri Maz Duur said that Dany can't have children,
and Jon suggests that Mirri might have been wrong.
They keep on bringing up Dany's fertility – maybe she can have kids now.
Maybe she always could, and Daario was just shooting blanks.
It could solve this whole succession problem if Dany has a kid with Jon.
And a pregnancy could also suggest that Dany might actually survive this series – at
least, for another nine months.
Cersei declares that she'll make peace with Dany and fight with her against the dead.
But later we learn it was all a lie, and Cersei will let Dany go north while she stays south
and gathers her strength.
Jaime argues that they need to go help defeat the dead, and that they won't defeat Dany
in the long run anyway.
Cersei points out that Dany has lost a dragon, which means she can be beat, and she reveals
that she sent Euron to Essos to hire a mercenary group called the Golden Company using the
gold from Highgarden.
In the books, the Golden Company has a long history , and they're involved in Varys'
complex conspiracy – go watch that video.
That sorta stuff won't be in the show, but they do have oliphants, so that'll be dope.
Point is, with the help of the Golden Company, Cersei hopes to defeat Dany when she returns
from fighting the dead.
But Jaime's mad.
He's mad that Cersei didn't tell him her plan.
He's mad that she's talking about marrying Euron.
And most of all he's mad about being forced to break his word to help Dany – cause all
his life Jaime's been hated for breaking his Kingsguard oaths and killing King Aerys.
Now, Jaime wants to ride with Aerys' daughter, and restore his honour – do something selfless
for once.
Jaime stood by Cersei when she tried to kill his brother Tyrion.
He stood by her when she killed Jaime's uncle and cousin and hundreds of innocents.
But now Jaime realises that he can't be with Cersei and become the person he wants
to be.
And so he leaves.
Jaime rides north.
Instead of rich gold Lannister armour he wears black and rides a black horse, maybe hinting
he could join the Night's Watch someday.
But Jaime's final fate may be back at the capital.
He and Cersei often say that they'll die together – watch the Cersei video to see
how that might end.
As Jaime rides, snow falls on King's Landing.
Winter is here.
Up at Winterfell, Littlefinger leads Sansa to believe that Arya wants to kill Sansa and
become Lady of Winterfell – which Arya herself kinda hinted last episode.
And Sansa seems to believe Petyr.
But later, she teams up with Arya and turns against him.
So… what changed?
Some people think that Sansa and Arya had been secretly working together all along.
That these arguments they had last episode were staged under the assumption that Littlefinger
would spy on them, so he would think his plan to divide the sisters was working, while they
actually plotted against him.
But this idea isn't really supported by the show.
It's not clear what Sansa would gain by leading Petyr along.
There's no evidence that Petyr would have heard these multiple private conversations.
And if Petyr was a good enough spy to see these, wouldn't he also have heard their
real plans?
An interview with Bran's actor suggests that these Sansa Arya scenes were real, but
at some later point Sansa asked Bran for help and he told her that Littlefinger misled them,
and only then did Sansa team up with Arya against Petyr . So there was no complex hidden
plot, the Starks were just really slow to work out that Littlefinger was playing them.
Even though Sansa already knew Littlefinger's been playing her.
And even though Arya is a highly trained spy and lie-detector.
And even though Bran knows everything.
So this whole plot was a pretty huge fail from the Stark siblings.
But they now realise that Petyr's their enemy, and accuse him his crimes – killing
Lysa, conspiring to kill Jon Arryn, lying bout this dagger to cause war, betraying Ned,
and giving Sansa to the Boltons.
Littlefinger falls to pieces, and totally fails to defend himself, even though he probably
could.
The Starks have no hard evidence of Petyr's crimes, apart from the word of a crippled
boy who claims to be psychic.
Surely the master schemer Petyr could talk his way out of this, just like how he talked
his way out of Lysa's murder in the first place.
But he breaks down when he sees Sansa set against him.
He loves her so much – in his own creepy way – that he just cannot deal with her
against him, and so he's killed by Arya – with the same blade Petyr used to start
this whole war in Season 1.
Catelyn once said that Petyr is clever, but not wise . He was clever enough to trick Sansa
and Arya, clever enough to cause a whole war, but not wise enough to see his obsession with
Sansa was his blind spot and his downfall.
And now Sansa has finally freed herself of his control.
All series, she's been a pawn of Cersei, the Tyrells, Petyr, Ramsay.
But as Petyr says, "even the humblest pieces can have wills of their own" . Sansa has
learned from the people who controlled her, and freed herself at last.
She's her own person now, with her own power.
We'll see next season how she chooses to use it.
We also get a scene of Arya and Sansa being friends again.
Sansa quotes Ned saying "When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf
dies, but the pack survives" – Starks gotta stick together.
Might have been better advice if Ned said "Hey if you're thinking of murdering your
sister, ask your psychic brother first to check if you're being Littlefingered"
but it did work out in the end – the Starks are united.
At Dragonstone, Theon tells Jon about how he felt growing up at Winterfell.
He felt torn between his Greyjoy identity and wanting to be part of the Stark family.
And that conflict led Theon to commit his crimes – betraying the Starks, capturing
Winterfell, killing Rodrik, killing innocent kids.
He has suffered for his crimes – Ramsay saw to that.
And he's tried to redeem himself by saving Sansa.
But he still feels guilt and feels torn between Greyjoy and Stark.
So Jon gives Theon the forgiveness and the acceptance that he needs.
Says that Theon that he can be both a Greyjoy and a Stark . So with his character conflict
fixed by a porque no los dos, Theon sets off to save his sister Yara.
But first, he has to win over his ironborn crew, and he does it the way ironborn do – violence.
On the one hand, it might feel kinda cheap for Theon's long and complex character arc
to climax with a fistfight.
But on the other hand, this scene really does capture the meaning of Theon's Greyjoy identity.
He gets beaten down and defeated – but then he rises again, harder and stronger . No matter
how bad he suffered, how bad he fucked up, he can survive and persist and succeed.
After the fight, Theon baptises himself with saltwater, born again, like he was Season
2.
But this new identity he's forged is stronger than before.
He gathers his twenty good men, and sets off to save his sister.
Sam arrives at Winterfell, and meets with Bran – who he helped through the Wall back
in Season 3.
Bran says he remembers everything , and he confirms the biggest oldest secret in Game
of Thrones – that Jon Snow is the child of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
Rhaegar is Daenerys' brother, and Lyanna is Ned's sister.
Twenty years before the main story, Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna, even though Rhaegar was
married to Elia Martell, and Lyanna was promised to marry Robert Baratheon.
So Robert started a war against the Targaryens, killing Rhaegar, usurping King Aerys, and
making himself king.
Lyanna died giving birth in Dorne.
And Ned Stark came home with baby Jon Snow and claimed Jon was his bastard, in order
to protect Jon – because Robert would have killed him if he knew he was the son of a
Targaryen.
So that's the R+L=J theory, and readers have known about this for years.
But Sam says something that not even Bran knew – that Rhaegar annulled his marriage
to Elia Martell and secretly married Lyanna, meaning that Jon is not a bastard, but a legitimate
child of Prince Rhaegar, which means Jon's the rightful heir to the Iron Throne – ahead
of Daenerys.
A lot of readers suspected this too – there are heaps of hints in the books that Jon would
be king . And people have speculated for years about a secret marriage.
One idea was that they would be married on the Isle of Faces, because that's near where
Lyanna met Rhaegar, and it has a bunch of weirwood trees.
Weirwoods are used in northern marriage ceremonies, and greenseers like Bran can see through weirwoods
for their visions.
So maybe this'll be how we learn of the marriage in the books.
But this idea of annulment raises questions.
In the books, it seems as though you can only annul a marriage if it's unconsummated – if
the husband and wife haven't had sex.
Rhaegar and Elia had two kids.
So could their marriage be annulled?
Maybe in the books, Rhaegar will just marry Lyanna in addition to Elia.
The Targaryens do have a history of polygamy.
But another weird twist is that Jon Snow's real name is Aegon Targaryen.
Aegon is a popular name cause it's the name of the Conqueror, who first took over Westeros
and founded the Targaryen dynasty.
But the weird thing is that one of Rhaegar's other children, by his first wife Elia, is
also named Aegon.
So Rhaegar's three children are named Rhaenys, Aegon, and Aegon.
Why?
One possible reason is that Rhaegar seemed to be naming his children after Aegon the
Conqueror and his two sisters, Rhaenys and Visenya.
Rhaegar was really into prophecy, and thought his first son Aegon would be Azor Ahai, maybe
with his two other children, Rhaenys and Visenya forming the three heads of the dragon, another
prophetic thing.
Point is, he might have expected his child with Lyanna to be a daughter, and to name
her Visenya.
But when Rhaegar died, and Jon turned out male, Lyanna would have had to come up with
a new name.
And by that time, Rhaegar's first son Aegon was dead – so Lyanna might as well name
this new kid Aegon – for the Conqueror, and maybe to commemorate the dead Aegon.
But it might still be a different name in the books.
Some people think Aemon, as a parallel to Jon's mentor – and ancestor – Maester
Aemon.
Or maybe Jaehaerys, one of the better Targaryen kings, whose name starts with the same letter
as Jon.
But they say a blue winter rose by any name still smells as sweet . So maybe the name
is unimportant.
What matters is that Jon is half Stark, and half Targaryen.
Which connects nicely to what Jon told Theon earlier – just as Theon can be a Stark and
a Greyjoy, Jon can be a Stark and a Targaryen.
We also get our first glimpse of Jon's father, Rhaegar Targaryen.
He's perhaps not as pretty as he's described in the books , but he does look a lot like
his brother Viserys.
Maybe Viserys was imitating his brother's look.
Bran explains that Rhaegar and Lyanna were in love – Rhaegar didn't kidnap and rape
her, like Robert Baratheon claimed.
And so, Bran says, Robert's Rebellion was based on a lie.
Which might not be quite true – Rhaegar and Lyanna weren't the only cause of the
war.
You could argue it really began when King Aerys killed Rickard and Brandon Stark, and
demanded the heads of Robert and Ned . But still, this misunderstanding adds tragedy
to Lyanna and Rhaegar's relationship – star-crossed lovers from opposing houses who both died
young.
But before we get too rosy-eyed, remember we still know almost nothing about Lyanna
and Elia's perspectives here.
It sure looks like Elia was screwed over by Rhaegar, and that Lyanna was a teenager who
Rhaegar locked in a tower and used to produce a prophecy baby.
So in the books at least, there's still a lot to be explored about these relationships.
While Jon's cousin Bran explains Jon's parents, Jon has sex with his aunt Daenerys
– which is a lotta weird layers of incest.
Tyrion listens outside, and looks concerned.
He might be jealous of Jon – everyone's a bit in love with Daenerys.
But he might also worry that romance between Dany and Jon could complicate the political
situation.
As Aemon once said, "What is honor compared to a woman's love?"
If you're in love with someone, you might make decisions based on what's best for
them instead of what's best for the kingdom.
In Book 5, Barristan thinks of all the loves throughout history that have caused conflict
– including Rhaegar and Lyanna's . So maybe Tyrion sees that Jon and Dany's relationship
could be destructive.
But, as Rhaegar knew, you can't fulfil a prophecy of ice and fire to save the world
without breaking a few Aegs.
At Eastwatch, Tormund and Beric chill on the Wall, when the Night King arrives with his
army – and with his dragon.
Viserion breathes "blue fire" on the icy Wall , and it starts to crack.
The Wall has stood for some eight thousand years.
Built by the first men, children and giants to protect the living from the dead , it's
one of the "hinges of the world" . In Book 1, Jon thinks if the Wall falls, the
world falls with it . And now, the Wall falls.
There is nothing between the army of the dead and Westeros.
The fact that the Night King uses Viserion to take down the Wall supports the idea that
the lake scene last episode was a trap to take Dany's dragons.
Cause otherwise, the Night King was marching on Eastwatch with no apparent plan to pass
the Wall.
So maybe, the Night King, like Bran, is some kinda greenseer, who can have visions of the
future and past.
His power must be limited – he'd win all the time if he knew everything.
But this definitely makes him even more dangerous.
Some people think that Bran and the Night King are the same person.
Like, that Bran went back in time and warged into this guy who became the Night King, and
lived as a white walker for thousands of years, and is now battling the past version of himself
– which might help explain the psychic connection between the two.
It's a fun idea, but there's no real evidence, and it'd require a level of time-travel-fuckery
that might not really fit the story of Thrones as we know it.
So it's a cool idea, but isn't likely.
Finally, some people are worried that Beric and Tormund might have died here.
But it looks like they run to safety along the Wall.
Beric's been talking about destiny so much there's no way he's dying off-screen.
And Tormund's gotta survive to make giant blond babies with Brienne, right?
So they'll prolly be back in Season 8 – but who else will?
Game of Thrones Season 7 killed the Freys, the Sand Snakes, the Tarlys, Olenna, Thoros,
Benjen, and Littlefinger.
So basically all the lords of the south are dead, along with some other loose ends.
This lets Season 8 focus on the main conflicts further north – between Cersei and Daenerys,
and between the living and the dead.
Almost all the named characters are in the north or heading there – the Starks, Sansa
Arya and Bran.
The northern lords, like Lyanna.
Brienne and Podrick.
Sam and Gilly.
Davos, Gendry, and the Hound.
Dolorous Edd with the Night's Watch.
Beric and Tormund at Eastwatch.
And Dany's crew – Tyrion, Varys, Jorah, Missandei, Grey Worm with the Unsullied, and
the Dothraki.
Jaime, and probably Bronn.
All who's left south with Cersei is Qyburn and the Mountain.
Euron's heading to Essos to get the Golden Company, with the help of the Iron Bank.
Theon's out to save Yara, who might be at the Iron Islands with Aeron?
Or travelling with Euron maybe.
And Melisandre's in Volantis, maybe with some other red priests, she said that she'd
return.
There are others who we might see again – there's Meera in the Neck, the maesters at Oldtown,
and Robin Arryn, who rules the Vale, represented in the north by Bronze Yohn Royce.
We don't know what's happening in the riverlands, but maybe we'll see Edmure again?
The reach, stormlands and Dorne are a big question mark, maybe Cersei will take em all
back while Dany's gone.
We prolly won't see Ellaria, or Daario, or Illyrio, or Quaithe – we'll hopefully
see Ghost.
But what this basically comes down to is all of these people in the north against the dead,
and against Queen Cersei.
The time is done for complicated politics, for whole episodes devoted to walking and
talking.
The show has just six episodes left – to give satisfying ends to all these character
arcs, to answer big mysteries like Azor Ahai.
To decide who'll live and who'll die, to bring an end to the song of ice and fire.
Thanks for watching – this video, and this series.
Alt Shift X is now taking a break, the Patreon is paused – but we will be back with more
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We can also do other series – you want Westworld?
Stranger Things?
American Gods?
Comment below what you wanna see.
There might also be a kinda book club live stream podcast type thing coming.
And there is the also season finale of Alt Schwift X on soon, though that's– honestly
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But yeah lots more coming from Alt Shift X in the near future.
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