Also notice: Dany now has no advisors from Westeros. For a character that eventually wants to sit on the Iron Throne, Tyrion is sure going to valuable when he shows up. Let's hope Varys is on his way to Mereen, too. 'Cause Jorah ain't gonna' make it.
In the meantime, Dany's got a full-blown revolt going, that has taken her Queensguard, and put the Commander of the Unsullied in bed. Daario wants to set up a zone by Dany's great pyramid for civilians, then sweep through the rest of the city, Fallujah-style. Hizdar is mortified by this idea. Besides, didn't Dany's armies and armed rebelling slaves already do that? Dany decides that the first demonstration of her execution powers wasn't enough. It's time for her kids to earn their allowance.
Viserion and Rhaeghal haven't seen any action for four episodes now, but they're already behaving better to Dany. Mostly because she brought someone else for them to roast alive. Dany rounds up the heads of the richest Mereen families, confident they were the organizers of the latest bloodbath. Hizdar is horrified by the idea, mostly because that includes him.
About four men, chained together, are frightened and pleading for their lives. Except Hizdar, who slowly decides he'll die without showing Dany any fear of her or her children. Dany wanders among her condemned, bemusedly explaining that her dragons always come first. She only gives her two imprisoned children one of the men to "judge". They return a "guilty" verdict after, like, no deliberation. His execution is to be burned alive, then torn apart.
Off with his everything!
Only Hizdar stays silent. Dany reaches out to touch him, only to find that he's not even trembling in fear. Maybe he's disappointed that Dany's killing them without a trial. Maybe he feels that Dany really doesn't mean to write a new future for Mereen. Something about him convinces Dany that she can feed Viserion and Rhaegal more Mereen noblemen later.
That Dany is struggling with little guidance from anyone who has ever ruled before is obvious all the way at Castle Black, where Sam Tarley is reading what was the latest news a month ago out to Maester Aemmon Targaryen, who is her great great uncle. Jon interrupts, looking for the advice Aemmon wishes he could give Dany; if half of your men will hate you for doing the right thing, issuing the right command, then so be it. Aemmon is quite clear; pissing people off is a part of growing up.
Jon first takes his idea to Tormund Giantsbane himself, the last of the Free Folk who could lead the other Free Folk. Tormund doesn't want to be a leader, and he doesn't want a peaceful resolution to his imprisonment or his people's very lives. Jon shames him into accepting his deal of ships to bring the Free Folk to Westeros,. He's not afraid of Tormund Giantsbane, which he proves by unchaining him. He's afraid that the Free Folk will be wiped out by the dead, and march on The Wall as warriors that can only be killed with fire and dragonglass. The Wall will protect them from the White Walkers, and prevent them from being more Fighting Zombies for Jon to worry about.
Almost every Brother, even Ollie, hates the idea. The Free Folk butchered his family, relatives, and friends. How could they possibly ever be allowed into Westeros? Jon tries to comfort Ollie with talk of this being necessary to guard against the White Walkers to come. As Aemmon says, Winter isn't coming. It's here. Time to band together, even with people you hate. Because the enemy coming isn't human. Stannis isn't fond of loaning Jon the ships needed to gather the Free Folk and bring them to Westeros. But, it's Jon's Wall now, and he can let people through if he wants.
Sam understands. And Stannis, though he hasn't seen these creatures, is willing to accept that Sam and Eddison aren't lying or crazy about the White Walkers. He wanders into the library at Castle Black while Sam is trying to remind Gilly that her skills tending to home and hearth are as valuable as his book learning. One is reminded, once again, how sad it will be that Sam and Shireen are being separated. They both love their books, while appreciating that not all of life is in them.
However, Shireen is off to Winterfell with her father, mother, and Melisandre. While she's riding under what protection her father's guards and hired armies can provide, Sam is sweeping through the library of Castle Black, looking for any information on White Walkers and how to fight and kill them. He's currently got very little information, mostly rumors of the Children of the Forest, last seen at the end of Season 4 saving Bran's ass. Stannis wants more, showing more leadership of Westeros in the space of a month than Cersei has in years.
Stannis, finally, rides off, south, through the gates of Castle Black. Melisandre, seeing that Jon can't wait to be rid of her, rides at Stannis' side. His army and family follow. Ser Davos, in another bonding moment with Shireen, bucks her up for the ordeal and bloodshed ahead. They won't overwhelm Roose Bolton like they did the Free Folk.
In fact, they won't even surprise Roose Bolton. With Stannis' army coming and Roose fully aware, one would think that that might be more important than a double dinner date. Shouldn't Ramsay be readying his troops, instead of locking down his future mistress with a naked death threat? Miranda, it turns out, is the daughter of the guy who keeps Ramsay's dogs, so she, of course, knows where a certain person Sansa would be interested in is kept. After kind of a fruitless conversation, where Miranda tries to make Sansa sad over her dead mother, she leads Sansa to a classic Mean Girl Trick.
In fact, Sansa totally expects one of Ramsay's dogs to leap out its cage, and for Miranda to quick close the gate and lock her in with a homicidal beast. Miranda, knowing she'd never get away with killing someone so valuable, really just wanted to horrify her with the current sight of Theon Greyjoy, now thoroughly beaten down into Reek.
Ramsay Bolton, literally, looks and acts more and more like a vampire everyday. He spends the evening riding Reek, humiliating him in front of Sansa, by making him serve dinner, and publicly apologize to Sansa for killing her brothers. Ramsay presents Reek and his stuttering apology like a wedding gift to his fiancee, who isn't particularly impressed. After all, the guy who murdered her brother, his wife, and her mother is sitting right across from her, and he doesn't have to apologize at all.
So, no apology about Robb? Really????
Roose, while he won't scold his son at the dinner table, will make him uncomfortable by letting Lady Walda announce she's pregnant. With, presumably, a second possible heir for Winterfell. Everyone at the table knows how little Ramsay will like the news. The second Roose has a second son, he's expendable. He told Miranda that jealousy bores him. Must be a family thing, because Ramsay's jealousy of his yet unborn sibling bores Roose.
In order to placate his son, who he'll need to beat back Stannis, Roose launches into the sad story of Ramsay's conception, which involved rape and murder. Roose has no remorse about raping a commoner under her husband's hanged corpse. When presented with the result of his rape, a baby, Roose was ready to kill it as a fraud; but one look confirmed the babe was his blood. Without a legal son, his plan has probably always been to get Ramsay declared his heir. Ned Stark was very likely loathe to help him, since Ramsay is a psychopath; the Lannisters had no such qualms.
Both Ramsay and Shireen Baratheon have, lately, wanted their fathers to validate them. Ramsay wants to make sure his inheritance is secure, while Shireen just wants her father's affection. And, Stannis has spent the last six episodes earning our grudging respect, mostly because he's a caring and fair father. Roose has earned our grudging respect, but we'd love to see him lose. and his private moment with Ramsay only confirms why. Roose isn't much better, deep down, than Ramsay; he just has better table manners.
While Roose and Ramsay reaffirm their commitment to keeping the North for themselves, Sansa finds that they don't hold as much power over Winterfell as they think. Brienne finds it easy to persuade a local servant to sneak a message to Sansa's new maid. Podrick wonders if she's not better off at Winterfell. Brienne thinks that anywhere Littlefinger took her or Roose Bolton keeps her isn't safe. Brienne is wrong about one thing; Sansa knows she's not safe at Winterfell. After all, the North remembers. And, she's going to remember where to light that candle, even if it's the window her brother fell from all those months ago. Does she know that Brienne is her secret protector?
We join Tyrion and Jorah, still on their tiny boat headed towards Mereen. Tyrion would like to pass their voyage with a little conversation. Or, at least, some wine. Jorah has none of either. Tyrion reminds him that sullen silence and sudden violence is his family trait, but the two are slowly engrossed by where Jorah's route takes them; through the smoking ruin of old Valyria.
Valyria is the ancestral homeland of the Targaryen line, and their dragons. It's a series of islands, with a ton of volcanoes. Guess how Valyria went down? Turns out, it wasn't a good idea to build magnificent cities right by active volcanoes. Valyria was destroyed, with the few who lived spreading around Essos to conquer. The Targaryens conquered Westeros from the Andals and Rhoynar and First Men.
Jorah's turned in here to avoid pirates. We know, from Stannis last week, that victims of Grayscale known as Stone Men live here. And we now know that Jorah should have taken his chances with pirates. Because Stone Men strike at the worst time, just as you've bonded a bit with your traveling companion, and you've both been wowed by a dragon flying overhead.
You're not hungry, right?
Their wonder at Valyria's flying resident is stopped by a splash right in front of them. From that, the Stone Men assault the boat, and only Jorah has free hands to fight them. We learn real fast that if someone with Grayscale touches your bare skin, you're done, and Tyrion ends up jumping into the water before he can be infected. A cold hand grabs his boots, trying to drag him under, but Jorah ends up rescuing Tyrion and dragging him to an unnamed beach.
Boatless, with Jorah carrying him and swimming to shore, they can only look at Valyria, now distant in the setting sun, as they commiserate that they must travel on foot. Jorah hides from Tyrion that he's got a new, more dire problem; he's been infected. There are no Maesters to treat him. And, we heard from Gilly that Grayscale ruins the mind. Does Jorah hope to reach Mereen, and some kind of treatment?
Back in Mereen, Grey Worm finally wakes to Missandhei having to give him the bad news about Selmy. Grey Worm is angry at himself, but he also decides that it's time to admit to Missandhei that he can't live without her. They share a tender kiss, but that doesn't solve Mereen's problems.
Dany manages to pull Missandhei from nursing duty. She needs advice. Her counselor, a man who knew her father, is dead. Jorah is gone. Daario wants to clean the city of potential rebels. Missandhei doesn't think she's qualified to counsel a queen. But she has a good memory, and she reminds Dany that her greatest triumph was when she found a solution that had occurred to neither of her counselors. In fact, the stunning victory from going her own way brought her new allies.
Dany now has to come up with a way to stop the nobles from rebelling without killing them all. She now has to come up with something that's not mercy or justice. So, she does what she does best; she forges a new way. She visits Hizdar, still locked in prison, who's not so brave now, and has no problem admitting that he doesn't want to die. Dany reminds him that it takes a certain courage to admit when one's afraid. Just like it takes courage to admit when one's wrong. She tells him that she'll give him his repeated wish to re-open the fighting pits of Slavers' Bay, though to free men willing to fight only.
And, she decides that the nobles need to see her as their queen. The best way to do this is to cement a tie to an old family. And, wouldn't you know it, there's this guy who's young, healthy, and not a dick around. Hizdar realizes he's engaged.
Keep in mind, that with a foreign husband, Dany just made getting the Iron Throne harder. With herself to offer as a wife to a family she could use in Westeros, she could have gained armies and loyal lords. Instead, she's embedding herself more deeply into Essos' society. Will Dany have to choose between being a Queen in the East, and the Dragon of the West?
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