SPOILER ALERT: Warning, this article contains spoilers from Season 7, Episode 7 of Game of Thrones, entitled “The Dragon and The Wolf.” Proceed at your own risk.
In a finale where we finally saw Theon grow some balls, apologising to Jon and vowing to rescue sister Yara, and the undead Viserion bring down the Wall with his ice-fire breath, shocking moments were plentiful. Here are five moments that blew our socks off.
1. The Clegane Brothers Meet
With Sandor aka The Hound accompanying Jon and Daenerys to King’s Landing, the reunion of these two hulks was always on the cards. And though we didn’t get the Cleganebowl face-off fans have been anticipating, their coming together was shocking in its lack of ceremony.
A restrained affair, we weren’t given histrionics or over-dramatic posturings or speeches. There was no fanfare, no swelling of music, no hateful glares or anger. Instead, we got Sandor standing inches from the face of his helmeted brother Gregor, aka The Mountain.
He first clocks him as he approaches with Cersei, and doesn’t react. He eyes him once he’s taken up his position behind Cersei’s chair and moves forward decisively. The Mountain moves forward to meet him.
“Remember me?” says Sandor. “Yeah, you do. You’re even f—–g uglier than I am now.”
We can only see Gregor’s red-tinged eyes through his helmet, surrounded by blue-grey skin.
The Hound’s Prescient Words
“What did they do to you?” Sandor asks. “Doesn’t matter. That’s not how it ends for you, brother. You know who’s coming for you. You’ve always known.”
The Hound walks away and The Mountain returns to his position. Everyone ignores the whole thing, and Cersei gets on with asking where Dany is.
There’s no flicker of recognition from Gregor, which suggests he’s gone well and truly full zombie beneath that armour. But The Hound’s cryptic comment is very enticing, and tells us his brother will meet his end before the series is out.
Whether or not the Hound is suggesting that he’ll die by his own hand in a duel yet to come isn’t clear. Could the Hound have foreseen his brother’s fate when he looked into the fire? There’s a calmness to the Hound here that mirrors Bran’s, suggesting he’s privy to more knowledge of the future than he’s letting on.
While we’re on the subject of Sandor, this episode sees his similarly low-key reunion with Brienne, the woman-mountain who almost killed him. The encounter allows them both to bury the hatchet, as they bond over their shared desire to protect Arya. When Brienne says, “The only one that needs protecting is the one that gets in her way,” The Hound says, “It won’t be me.” They smile at one another. It’s a satisfying moment.
2. What’s In The Box?
Another moment involving the Hound. He’s been placed on zombie duty, and it’s his job to reveal the wight to Cersei at the prescribed moment.
He carries the wooden crate strapped to his back and places it on the ground in front of Cersei. We don’t yet know the effect that the south’s warmer climes might have on the ice-dwelling creature, and all has gone quiet in the box after some earlier liveliness. Has it perished?
He carefully disassembles the crate. Stands back. Nothing. Jaime, Tyrion, Dany, Jon and Cersei look on. There’s tension. Sandor kicks the box over.
And there it is. The wight emerges and runs at Cersei. Who flinches but doesn’t get up. This woman is hard as nails. It’s all a bit The Walking Dead, to be honest. Remember the Sasha reveal?
Anyway, Sandor yanks the wight back with the chain attached to its neck. He draws his sword as it charges at him, screeching, and slices it in half. Crawling now, separated from its lower half, the wight continues towards Sandor. He chops off a hand, which Qyburn picks up and regards with curiosity. Qyburn hands the severed appendage to Jon who demonstrates how the still-moving hand can be destroyed with fire. Jon then runs the wight through with a dragonglass dagger.
But has Jon succeeded in his plan to persuade Cersei of the threat and join them in the fight against the dead?
3. Cersei’s Double Cross
Following Jaime’s off-camera chat with Cersei, Tyrion also attempts to persuade her to see the light and fight alongside Jon and Dany. Cersei seems to come round.
She re-emerges with Qyburn, the Mountain and Jaime beside her and pledges her allegiance. But Cersei is a leopard who doesn’t change her spots.
She reveals later to Jaime that it was all a ploy.
“I’ll say whatever I need to say to ensure the survival of our House,” she says. She is stubborn and steadfast. She is bent on revenge, full of hatred, and power-mad.
Jaime won’t be brought round, and the wedge that’s forcing its way between them suddenly becomes inflexibly lodged.
Euron Greyjoy’s decision to hightail it back to the Iron Islands was part of a plan to secure the Golden Company’s armies to fight for her, Cersei tells Jaime. Euron is actually on a mission to ferry the Golden Company from Essos to Westeros. And it’s a plan she cooked up without consulting her brother/lover.
She accuses Jaime of conspiring against her. She calls it treason when he says he intends to go through with Cersei’s public pledge to fight the army of the dead alongside Jon and Dany. But Cersei is very willing to kill Jaime should he “walk away” from her, particularly knowing that she is pregnant with his child. This moment signals the total breakdown of their relationship.
Could this be teeing up the conclusion that fans have been anticipating, when Jaime finally kills Cersei?
4. Jon and Dany Get It On
As the scene in which Samwell and Bran share their knowledge and both come to realise that Jon is, in fact, the product of Rhaegar Targaryen’s legal union with Lyanna Stark, we get the love scene that’s been brewing between Jon and Dany.
Tyrion witnesses Jon enter Dany’s room, before a Bran vision reveals Jon’s real name – Aegon Targaryen. This makes him the eighth Targaryen to have that name, and should he find himself sitting on the Iron Throne, he would officially become Aegon VI.
The romantic liaison also comes after Jon and Daenerys discuss her pregnancy issues. Jon throws doubt on Dany’s belief that she can’t have children, saying that the witch who delivered this ‘news’ was hardly a reliable source. Could a baby be on the way for these two?
We’re still a little icked out by the whole affair, frankly, and if Jon and Dany aren’t by the time they find out Jon’s real identity, we’re not prepared to root for either of them anymore.
5. Littlefinger’s Last Breath
Finally. The loathsome Petyr Baelish is despatched in the most wonderful way possible. Duped by the smart Stark sisters, Littlefinger is stitched up like a kipper.
As the episode attempts to wrongfoot the audience by setting up what’s about to unfold as a trial for Arya, it switches somewhat satisfyingly to a death sentence for Baelish. And his face is a picture.
In front of the assembled men of the north, Sansa lists the charges. He murdered their aunt, Lysa Arryn. He conspired to murder Jon Arryn. He had Lysa send a letter to Ned and Catelyn telling them it was the Lannisters that murdered Jon Arryn, thus sparking the conflict between the Starks and Lannisters. It was his treachery that led to their father Ned being killed.
Littlefinger turns on the crocodile tears but Sansa has no sympathy or mercy.
She succeeds in revealing the extent of his scheming and treachery to the assembled crowd before Arya slits his throat.
There’s something troublingly callous about these actions though. There’s no trial, and Baelish isn’t given the chance to defend himself. Yes, as an audience we all know what she’s said is true, but where’s the presentation of the evidence, and his right to reply? They simply slaughter Littlefinger in the revenge-fuelled way that Arya has become accustomed to. We’re a little uncomfortable with that.
One thing’s certain. This won’t be the last we see of Littlefinger’s face. Arya has it now and you can bet she’ll use it. It’ll surely come in handy against Cersei in the series’ eighth and final season.