Directed By: Alex Graves / Written By: David Benioff & D.B. Weiss

Original Airdate: April 21, 2013

In King's Landing, Tyrion Lannister seeks out Lord Varys' advice on getting revenge against those who tried to kill him as he learns Varys' approach to revenge. Cersei Lannister is troubled that Margaery Tyrell has King Joffrey wrapped around her little finger. North of the Wall, some of the Night's Watch are on the brink of rebellion as tensions rise at Craster’s Keep. In the Riverlands, Jaime Lannister is devastated with the loss of his hand and is continually humiliated by his captors but Brienne of Tarth has words of encouragement for him. Elsewhere, Arya Stark reaches the main group of the Brotherhood without Banners and Sandor Clegane learns his fate.

main cast

the riverlands

In the Riverlands, Jaime Lannister has had his sword-hand cut off by Locke. The following day, Locke's men lead Jaime and Brienne of Tarth back towards Harrenhal on horseback. Locke is gaining maximum enjoyment from torturing someone who can't possibly fight back: he ties Jaime's severed right hand onto a rope and hangs it around Jaime's neck, forcing Jaime to smell as the flesh of his own hand rots. Jaime is physically in agony from his wound, feverish and half-delirious. He is barely conscious, and falls headlong off of his horse into the mud. Locke has been tormenting Jaime by not giving him water and he is almost dying of thirst. One of Locke's men moves to give him water but instead empties the canteen over Jaime's head to taunt him. Jaime weakly tries to point out that if he actually dies Locke and his men will be in serious trouble, but Locke simply dismisses this. Locke then hands him a container, which he desperately guzzles down rapidly, too weak to notice what it is. Locke then points out that he filled the container with horse piss just to torment Jaime, who vomits. Jaime can barely move when Locke starts viciously kicking him repeatedly. In a surge of effort, Jaime manages to steal the sword from one of Locke's men, however, Jaime is so weak and feverish that he can barely stand and provokes one of them to kill him so he doesn't have to go on living like this. He succumbs to exhaustion and Locke doesn't even bother to punish him this time, just warning him that if he tries that again he'll cut off his other hand.

Later that evening, Jaime and Brienne are restrained near a campfire. Jaime refuses to eat, and says he wants to die. Brienne says he should try to live for revenge, but Jaime says he was that hand, and without his sword-hand, even if he escapes, he is nothing, and would rather die as the Jaime he was than go on living, robbed of his very identity. Brienne grows angry, insinuating to Jaime that this is the first time he's had to face the real world and he's “moping around like a woman.” Her criticism and strength convinces Jaime to start eating. Brienne says she overheard when he earlier managed to talk Locke out of letting his men gang-rape her, by convincing him that her father will pay Locke her weight in sapphires. While Brienne is a noblewoman and worth a ransom, Tarth is called "the Sapphire Isle" due to the color of the seas around it, not because there are any actual sapphires, and House Tarth is not particularly rich. Brienne is completely confused, and asks Jaime why he helped her, but he doesn't answer.

Elsewhere in the Riverlands, Arya Stark and Gendry are kept hooded as Thoros of Myr and his men lead them into a cave named Hollow Hill, which serves as the hideout of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Sandor Clegane is brought with them in restraints, and is confronted by another of their leaders, Ser Beric Dondarrion. At the start of the War of the Five Kings, Ser Beric was commanded by Lord Eddard Stark to lead a group of soldiers to bring Ser Gregor Clegane to justice. They subsequently became trapped behind Lannister lines, but continued to harass their forces by forming the Brotherhood. They eventually began to realize how much suffering was being inflicted on the smallfolk by both the Stark and Lannister forces, and began to defend the commoners from raiders from both sides of the war. Beric asserts he's still following the mission that Eddard Stark initially set him on, to bring Gregor Clegane to justice. The Hound balks and retorts that Beric can’t just be fighting for ghosts, adding that they also can't kill him for the crime of being related to Ser Gregor. He also scoffs at how Ser Beric and many of his men have converted to the Lord of Light religion, of which Thoros is a Red Priest. Arya then speaks up, and angrily accuses Sandor of killing her friend Mycah, the butcher's boy, back at the Crossroads Inn years ago. Sandor matter-of-factly admits that he killed Mycah, but insists that he was in no place to question the then-Prince Joffrey Baratheon's orders. The Brotherhood, closing in on an injustice Sandor has directly committed, then charge him with the murder of Mycah, however, they inform him that they will give him a fair trial: Dondarrion himself will face Sandor in a trial by combat.

king’s landing

In King's Landing, Tyrion Lannister meets with Lord Varys and asks him to help him confirm who sent Ser Mandon Moore to kill him during the Battle of the Blackwater. Varys says he cannot confirm who gave the order as Tyrion wants to know with certainty if it was his sister Cersei Lannister so that he can take revenge. Varys uses this opportunity to finish a conversation they were having on the eve of the battle, in which Varys promised to reveal how he was castrated. Varys begins with informing Tyrion that he used to be a slave in the Free Cities, but once when he was in Myr he was sold to a sorcerer who gave him a potion that temporarily paralyzed him and then he cut his genitals off, root and stem. The sorcerer needed his genitals as a sacrifice for a spell, and he burned Varys' genitals in a brazier of fire. Once thrown out on the street to die his growing determination for revenge led him to do whatever it took to claw his way up into a position of influence in the world. He then discovered that stealing men's secrets was far more profitable than anything physical as he worked his way up from the slums. Varys explains this is why hates those who claim to wield magical powers, citing Stannis Baratheon’s use of Melisandre. Varys pries the last nail out of a crate in the room and opens it. To Tyrion's astonishment, it contains the elderly sorcerer, alive and gagged, who was shipped to Varys in the crate. Using his own life as an example, Varys thus urges Tyrion to be patient, and his revenge will come to him in time.

Afterwards, Lord Varys visits Ros, who has been secretly spying on Littlefinger for him. He is surprised to hear her report from the other prostitutes in the brothel on the prodigious activities of one Podrick Payne. Varys is perplexed as to what exactly happened; Ros says the girls told her he wasn't particularly large or anything, so much as what he did, but when she repeatedly asked them what exactly that was, the most they could say is that it was "hard to describe." She then reports on how frequently Littlefinger has visited Sansa Stark, and says she thinks he is obsessed with her, and wants to smuggle her out of the city. She then presents a stolen copy of the ship's manifest for the boat that will take Littlefinger to the Vale of Arryn. Varys is surprised that Ros is literate and asks what obvious point it is that he doesn't see. She points out that there will be two feather beds, and Varys realizes Littlefinger would only pay the extra money for someone other than Littlefinger if it was Sansa.

Meanwhile, an excitable King Joffrey gives Margaery Tyrell a grim tour of the Great Sept of Baelor, where their royal wedding is to be held, as Cersei and Olenna Tyrell follow along. Joffrey excitedly relates tales of the darker chapters of the Great Sept's history, to Margaery's feigned interest and Cersei's annoyance. Lady Olenna asks if the late king, Robert Baratheon, was buried with alongside the Targaryen kings in the Great Sept. Cersei denies this, explaining that King Robert left instructions for the return of his remains to his home at Storm's End. After Cersei dismisses the boar accident that claimed Robert's life, Olenna laments that her son Lord Mace Tyrell has a total lack of military prowess. Cersei points out that Olenna's son Mace besieged Storm's End for almost a full year during Robert's Rebellion, but Olenna scoffs that her oaf of a son is no warrior and the only thing he laid siege to was the banquet table in the command tent. Olenna muses on the shortcomings of the men in their lives and the arrangement of patriarchy in general, to which Cersei wistfully says that it is the will of the gods. Thus distracted, Margaery convinces Joffrey to greet the crowd outside. Having been somewhat placated by Margaery's charity, the crowd happily cheer for the pair of them. In this moment, Cersei realizes that she has lost control of Joffrey to the Tyrells.

Subsequently, Cersei then meets with her father Tywin Lannister in his chambers as she wants to ensure that he is doing everything he can to find Ser Jaime. Lord Tywin makes it clear that he considers Jaime his heir, though Cersei points out that as she is next in line of succession and advises that perhaps Tywin should consider her the real heir to his legacy. She claims she is the only one of his children who ever took his lectures on legacy seriously. Tywin confirms that he excludes Cersei from his plans because she isn't nearly as smart as she thinks she is. He snidely remarks his intentions to rein in his grandson's deranged behavior. Cersei then expresses her conceron over the growing influence of House Tyrell at court. In particular, how skilled  Margaery is at manipulating Joffrey. Tywin bluntly responds that it's good someone has finally been able to manipulate Joffrey, as Cersei herself has been incapable. She retorts that Tywin should try stopping Joffrey from doing what he likes, implying he will find it extremely difficult, but her father firmly responds that he will.

Some time later, Lord Varys pays a visit with Olenna Tyrell in the gardens of the Red Keep. While Olenna remains polite, she instantly sees through all of Varys' niceties and asks him to get to the point. As the pair then walk through the gardens, Lord Varys informs Olenna of his concern over Littlefinger, who will likely take control of Sansa Stark now that the war hasn’t been going well for the Starks. He stresses that if the King in the North, Robb Stark, were to be defeated and die, the man who controls his sister Sansa ultimately controls the North. Varys states that while he and Olenna are both engaged in the intrigues and murders of court politics, Lord Baelish has utterly no limits on what he will do to achieve power. He claims that Littlefinger would burn the entire realm down if it meant he could be “king of the ashes”. The wise Olenna agrees with Varys, revealing that the solution is rather obvious. Meanwhile, Lady Margaery finds Sansa in the godswood outside the Red Keep and dismisses the Lannister guards, threatening to tell the king they refused her if they don't leave. She then invites Sansa to visit her home of Highgarden someday. Sansa is confused, as Queen Cersei won't allow her to leave the city, but Margaery wryly points out that ‘Queen Regent’ Cersei might not want her to, but Queen Margaery would be happy to share Highgarden's pageantry with a friend... or a sister. Margaery points out that if Sansa were to marry Ser Loras Tyrell, then she would belong in Highgarden anyway. The thought of finally escaping Joffrey, being wed to her idol and becoming a Tyrell makes Sansa choke out tears of joy.

the north

In the North, Bran Stark is having a shared greensight dream with Jojen Reed. They are walking through the woods and see the three-eyed raven again as Jojen advises Bran that he must follow the raven. When Bran is confused by this, Jojen points out that he must follow it by climbing a tree. Bran begins to climb the tree that the raven has landed in but he soon becomes terrified, remembering the fall that crippled him when he was climbing the tower at Winterfell, still unsure of how the incident occurred. After climbing up a few branches he then sees a vivid dream/memory of his mother Catelyn Stark as she repeats her warning to him about the dangers of climbing, in which she made him promise never to climb again. This, of course, was a promise which he broke, and thus indirectly led to the fall which crippled him. Bran is so terrified of this vision of a delirious Catelyn shouting at him aggressively that he falls off the tree. Bran and Jojen wake in their camp in the woods, disappointed that he couldn’t continue his dream and follow the three-eyed raven.

Elsewhere in the North, Theon Greyjoy is being led by the servant who freed him from the dungeon and rescued him during his eventual recapture. He says that he is leading Theon to Deepwood Motte, a castle that was captured by his sister Yara Greyjoy. He then adds that he is concerned that some of the guards may betray Theon, so it is best to sneak into the castle through the drains until they reach his sister in person. As the boy fumbles around with keys at a locked gate, Theon sinks to the ground and asks if his father Balon Greyjoy knows he was taken captive; the boy says he doesn't know but Theon says he probably did and left him for dead. Filled with remorse, Theon then laments about his affections for the Starks and his subsequent betrayal, admitting to killing two innocent orphan boys to pass them off as Bran and Rickon Stark. The boy is surprised and then leads Theon into a dark chamber while lighting a torch. As the room brightens it is revealed that the boy has taken him back to the same torture chamber, as Theon was led in a complete circle. Other guards come in and the boy shouts to tie Theon up again, where he belongs, and that it was Theon who killed the other guards when he tried to escape (instead of him). The boy, giving commands, is revealed to be one of the head torturers, and Theon's entire "escape" that he led him on was nothing more than another form of torture, sadistically toying with him.

craster’s keep

At Craster's Keep, tensions run high among the members of the Night's Watch who sought shelter there after escaping the defeat at the Fist.  Grenn vocalizes to Eddison Tollett that for all the esteem he held high for the Watch, when they’re not getting attacked, they find themselves mostly “shoveling shit”. Rast then declares that they need to leave, knowing the threat of the White Walkers is real. He is concerned that Craster will eventually serve them as sacrificial lambs like the newborn boys he produces. Meanwhile, Samwell Tarly visits a panicked Gilly, who is deeply distraught about the fate of her newborn baby. She is frantic, and yells at Samwell not to draw any attention to the fact that she has a boy by calling it a "he" so loud. Gilly emphasizes that Craster will want to offer it up as a sacrifice when he finds out that he has a new son. Sam tries to lift her spirits, asking Gilly if she's decided on a name yet. However, she responds that there's no point in naming her baby if he's only going to be offered up as a human sacrifice. Gilly gives Sam back his mother Meleesa Tarly’s thimble and stresses that she doesn't care about such stupid things, all she's focused on is protecting the life of her baby. Late into the evening, as some of their wounded have died from their injuries, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont leads a funeral service as they burn the corpse of a man on a pyre.

Following the service, in the main tent, Craster continues to berate the presence of the Night's Watch, though Mormont assures him that they will leave as soon as his men are strong enough. Craster, however, advises the Lord Commander that he should slit the throats of the wounded, who are as “strong as they are going to get.” A Black Brother named Karl Tanner then suddenly enters Craster’s tent and begins to complain about the food Craster is providing. This vocal altercation eventually escalates into in a fight, where Craster lunges forward at Karl. In retaliation, Karl then swiftly slits Craster’s throat. Suddenly, Rast comes up behind Mormont and stabs the Lord Commander in the back. For a brief moment the men of the Watch stare in shock, then entire room explodes into pure bedlam. The injured Lord Commander sinks to the ground, as Rast grabs a knife and repeatedly pounds it into Mormont's throat until the Old Bear is dead. Meanwhile, amidst the mutiny, Samwell rushes to Gilly's hut and orders her to escape with him, or she will never leave. Sam runs out of Craster's Keep with Gilly and her baby, as loyal Night's Watch members begin to fall against the mutineers.

astapor

In Astapor, Daenerys Targaryen arrives before Kraznys mo Nakloz and the other slave-masters of the city, with her Dothraki guards carrying the largest of her dragons, Drogon, in its large cage. All eight thousand of the Unsullied warriors are gathered in the city's main square for the transaction. Daenerys lets her dragon out of its cage, and leads it on a long chain leash attached to its foot. After trading the leash for a hilt that signifies ownership of the Unsullied, Daenerys tells Kraznys in perfect Valyrian that "a dragon is not a slave". To Kraznys’ and Missandei’s surprise she informs them that Valyrian is her mother-tongue, indicating she'd been feigning ignorance the entire time and putting up with Kraznys' insulting comments to lull them into a false sense of security. Then on her command the Unsullied instantly begin attacking all of the assembled slave-masters. Horrified, Kraznys frantically shouts for someone to kill Daenerys, to which she calmly orders "dracarys" to Drogon. Instantly, the dragon breathes fire onto Kraznys, completely engulfing the slaver in flames as he thrashes about in his death throes. Her dragon then flies across the upper walls where the other high-ranking slave masters are watching, burning them all to death. The Unsullied proceed to sack the entire city, slaughtering the slave masters and freeing fellow slaves, supported by the fire of Drogon as well as Viserion and Rhaegal.

In the aftermath of the Sack of Astapor, Daenerys walks past Kraznys' charred remains, mounts a white horse, and addresses her Unsullied as Ser Jorah and Barristan watch with pride. She declares that they have spent their entire lives as slaves, but now she sets them free. If any man wishes to leave, she will not stop him, and no harm will come to him if he goes. She asks the Unsullied to stay and fight for her, not as slaves but as free men. For a moment the Unsullied stare blankly: they have never known what freedom is. Then one starts tapping the end of his spear against the ground in support, and the others join in, until thousands of Unsullied are triumphantly striking their spears against the ground in praise of Daenerys. She has what her brother Viserys Targaryen dreamed about for seventeen years but could never find: an army with which to reconquer the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys rides triumphantly out of the smoking wreck of Astapor, and drops the slave-master's whip on the ground. The Unsullied trample the whip under their feet as they march past. She rides out with her eight thousand strong army of Unsullied marching in formation, as her three dragons fly above them. For the first time in generations, a Targaryen has begun to conquer again, and the beginning of the liberation for Slaver's Bay has begun.

*Episode descriptions from GOT Wiki