With only six episodes left in the entire series the second episode of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones had a lot of groundwork to lay down as a show comes to an end. From Arya big moment to Brienne’s new title, let’s talk about the second episode of Game of Thrones final season and what it all means.
When Jaime Lannister turns up at Winterfell to help in the fight against the incoming army of the Dead he doesn’t exactly receive a warm welcome and it’s no wonder why. Not only is Jaime forced to face down bran the boy he once tried to murder when bran court Jaime sleeping with his queen and sister, but he also has to come face to face of Daenerys whose father he successfully murdered despite being a member of the Kingsguard and swearing to protect him.
Meanwhile Sansa Stark is still angry at Jaime for turning on her own father Ned Stark during their shared time in King’s Landing. But in the end his friend and Ally Brienne of Tarth stands up for the Kingslayer convincing Sansa to allow Jaime to stay safely in Winterfell. Jaime may still be guilty of Plenty but it looks like you’ll live to fight another day chances are good that the mercy shown by both Sansa and Daenerys will have lasting effects on the conflicts to come as the series wraps up over the next few episodes. Now that the two leaders have found some common ground as possible they’ll find a way to work together to unite the Seven Kingdoms then again, after realizing that Sansa needed to be convinced to accept a new Queen Daenerys sits down alone with the eldest stark and Lady of Winterfell in the second episode determined to win over the stoic survivor and explain what she hopes to accomplish at during her time in Westeros.
The meeting seems to go well at first Sansa even cracks a smile and the two join hands as they talk about Jon, but it all eventually goes south when Sansa makes it clear that she doesn’t want to relinquish the North’s claim for independence once the narrowest takes the Iron Throne leaving things just as tense as they were before that chats. Daenerys says intentions might be good but it’s unlikely that she’ll ever fully impress anyone in the north making it that much harder for her to unite Westeros under her rule.
Daenerys may think she has John’s loyalty are given how the other lords of the North view Sansa may not end up being enough to keep hold in the region in the end.
On the eve of one of the most frightening and difficult battles throughout the entire run of Game of Thrones the characters prepare for the conflict to come during what might be their very last night alive and everybody deals with their in completely different ways. While some like Tyrion and torment drink heavily the single on the song and some achieve goals they’ve worked towards for their entire lives.
Brienne of Tarth in particular has a banner night when Jamie anoint sir as the first female Knight in all of the Seven Kingdoms and one of the final seasons most emotional moments to date.
Aside from Brienne’s new title audiences are given acquired to get stood incredibly tense episode and a build-up to one of the series most ambitious battles yet, but a seemingly unbeatable army of the Dead arrives to take Winterfell. Even though some fans might have been disappointed by the lack of action the episode let viewers spend a thoughtful and often funny hour with some of their favorite characters some of whom probably won’t be around after the next episodes enormous battle.
Over the course of seven seasons of viewers have watched as Arya stark has grown from a small feisty tomboy to a fearless faceless Warrior willing to mow down anything in a path. Now that she has finally returned home to Winterfell and joined a family Arya is truly in her element during the eighth season premiere she reunites with Gendry our old friend working as a Smith in Winterfell forge asking him to make a new custom weapon a request which is as close to Arya will probably ever get to flirting.
On the night before the battle with the night king, Arya makes a somewhat surprising decision visiting Gendry to pick up a new spear and then seducing him so that she can know what it’s like to be with a man before the day breaks and the battle begins. Besides serving as an incredible example of one of the show’s most powerful female characters taking control of sexuality and exercising her autonomy it also calls back to something that King Robert Baratheon said in Game of Thrones very first episode about joining houses with Ned Stark between Ned’s daughter and Robert’s son. King Robert was referring to Joffrey and Sansa but since Gendry is actually Robert’s bastard son and Arya is also Ned’s daughter it seems as if the late king’s prediction has come true after all this time.
There’s still plenty of secrets left to be revealed on Game of Thrones but one of the series biggest bombshells specifically the one concerning Jon Snow’s real heritage was blown wide open during the 8th season premiere when Sam broke the news to a stunt friend who had to grapple with the fact that is the actual rightful heir to the Iron Throne, not to mention that his new girlfriend is actually as aunt. After spending his life assuming that he was nothing more than Ned Stark’s bastard son Jon now has to consider the very real possibility that he could rule all of Westeros since his parents Lyanna Stark and rhaegar targaryen were rightfully married, making him a legitimate royal.
Obviously this creates plenty of awkwardness between John and Daenerys who only recently consummated their new relationship but awkward family reunions aside John breaking the news to the Daenerys about his real name and potential title throws another wrench into the proceedings.
Daenerys whose single goal throughout the series has been to take the Iron Throne now has another rival to contend with whom she hasn’t conveniently fallen in love.
Now that both characters know that the humble supposedly lowborn Jon Snow is actually Aegon Targaryen, Daenerys might turn on him entirely setting up a huge conflict between two of the show’s most important characters.
In terms of moments that will have lasting effects through the final episode of the series heed this encounter and the Stark crypt fresh in your mind a conflict between John and Daenerys may be on hold while they fight for the survival of the human race but once a night King melts into a puddle of goo, expect the full repercussions of this conversation to become much more clear in the light of day
