Directed By: Jeremy Podeswa / Written By: Bryan Cogman

Original Airdate: May 10, 2015

In Meereen, Daenerys Targaryen has to decide how to deal with the former masters after the death of Barristan Selmy and several Unsullied as well as the injuries inflicted on Grey Worm. Meanwhile, Jorah Mormont and Tyrion Lannister sail through the ancient city of Valyria and see Drogon soaring through the air. They then survive an attack on their boat, however, Jorah does not leave unscathed. At Winterfell, Sansa Stark finally sees what has become of Theon Greyjoy, courtesy of Ramsay Bolton's jealous mistress. As Stannis Baratheon and his party prepare to ride south from Castle Black towards Winterfell, Jon Snow tries to convince Tormund Giantsbane to move his people south of the Wall and settle in lands that will be made available to them.

main cast

meereen

In Meereen, Missandei watches over the wounded Grey Worm, who is still unconscious from his wounds sustained fighting against the Sons of the Harpy. Meanwhile in the throne room, Daenerys Targaryen and Daario Naharis hold a wake for the deceased Ser Barristan Selmy. Hizdahr zo Loraq enters to extend his condolences as Daario suggests pulling back around the pyramid to use it as a base from which to eradicate the Sons of the Harpy. Daenerys instead opts for rounding up the leaders of each great family in Meereen, including Hizdahr himself. The leaders are then brought to the catacombs where Rhaegal and Viserion are chained up. The Unsullied push the leaders slowly towards the two dragons, who can be heard growling from the darkness. Daenerys states that good mothers do not give up on their children, they discipline them if needed, but never give up on them. She nods to Daario to push one of the leaders further forward. A stream of fire coming from Rhaegal sets the man aflame before he is torn apart and eaten by both dragons. Daenerys suggests that the dragons may determine the innocence of the captives and touches Hizdahr's back as if she wanted to push him but then she pretends she wants not to overfeed the dragons and lets the rest of the men be led away.

Grey Worm wakes up later with Missandei sitting beside him and asks if Barristan survived the attack but Missandei shakes her head. Grey Worm thinks he has failed Barristan, his men and Daenerys, however, Missandei tells him he shouldn't be ashamed for being wounded given that he was ambushed and outnumbered. She adds that everyone fears death. However, Grey Worm says it isn't death he fears, it is the thought of never getting to see Missandei again that terrifies him. Missandei is noticeably touched and kisses Grey Worm. Later, Daenerys asks Missandei whether she should reopen the fighting pits. Missandei only says that she has seen Daenerys listening to her counselors when her own experience was lacking and ignoring them when she thought they were wrong. Daenerys then visits the imprisoned Hizdahr, who begs for his life. Daenerys tells him she has decided to reopen the fighting pits, but only for free men. She also says that she will marry the head of an ancient family of Meereen to forge a bond with the people of the city, and that she luckily has one of them on his knees already. She leaves a very confused Hizdahr to ponder his survival and new marriage arrangement.

castle black

In the library of Castle Black, Samwell Tarly reads a letter from Slaver's Bay to Maester Aemon Targaryen updating him on Queen Daenerys’ situation in Meereen. Samwell praises Daenerys' courage but Maester Aemon worries about his great-niece's safety because she is all alone in Essos, under siege, and with hardly anyone to guide her. Aemon notes that, as Daenerys’ “last relation,” he is useless and dying thousands of miles away. He then adds that “a Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing”.  Jon Snow then enters and asks to speak with Maester Aemon in private. After Samwell exits the library, Jon asks for advice on a hard decision he is about to make, noting that half the men in the Night's Watch despise him for his sympathy for the wildlings. Aemon tells Jon that half the men of the Watch already hate him. He assures him, however, that although he may find little joy in command, he will find the strength to do what is necessary. Ultimately, Aemon advises Jon to "kill the boy, and let the man be born," in other words, just make the hard choice and do what he believes is best. Afterwards, Jon visits with the imprisoned Tormund Giantsbane and offers to forge an alliance with the wildlings. He will open the gates for them and give them land south of the Wall and in return, the wildlings will fight alongside the Night’s Watch when the wights arrive. To convince him further Jon unlocks his chains and frees him. Tormund relents, and reveals that most of the wildlings are up at Hardhome and they’ll need ships to bring his people back, which Jon says he’ll borrow from King Stannis Baratheon. Tormund's final condition is that Jon accompany him as a guarantee that the wildlings will not fall prey to any traps set by the Night's Watch.

The men of the Night’s Watch do not take news of the alliance well, citing the countless innocent lives lost due to the wildlings. Samwell asserts that there is plenty of abandoned land in the Gift where the wildlings can call home but it is made a point that the region is largely abandoned because of wildling raids, which have affected homes such as Olly’s before he joined the Watch. Even Jon’s friend Eddison Tollett rejects this decision, stating that the wildlings killed their friends Grenn and Pyp during the Battle of Castle Black. Nevertheless, Jon decides to go ahead with his plan, insisting that if they abandon the wildlings at Hardhome, the White Walkers will exterminate them all and then raise their corpses as more wights to swell their ranks. After the meeting, Olly serves Jon food in his quarters and when asked of his opinion the young boy emotionally recounts the wildling attack on his village. Nonetheless, Jon stands by his decision.

In the library, Samwell tells Gilly about his wish to go to the Citadel and join the Order of Maesters before he was sent to the Night’s Watch, when Stannis walks in. Stannis reminisces about how Samwell’s father, Randyll Tarly, defeated the late King Robert Baratheon in the Battle of Ashford. Stannis then asks Sam how he killed the White Walker as Sam informs him how he did it with a dagger made of dragonglass. Stannis muses that dragonglass is abundantly available in the caves 0f Dragonstone. Samwell mentions that he has been researching dragonglass and how it can kill White Walkers, but has yet to come up with anything. Stannis tells him to continue his research and leaves. Later that evening, Stannis informs Ser Davos Seaworth that they will march toward Winterfell the next morning. Davos suggests waiting until Jon returns with the wildlings, but Stannis decides against it, as any delay improves the Boltons' chances of winning. He also wants to take Queen Selyse and Princess Shireen with them, as he does not think they will be safe at the Wall, surrounded by criminals. The next morning, Stannis’ army and entourage, including Melisandre, begin their journey towards Winterfell.

winterfell

Meanwhile, in the North, Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne finally reach Winterfell and take a room at a nearby inn located in Winter Town which has a distant view of the castle. Podrick muses that Sansa Stark is home now, far away from the Lannisters, and may be better off here. Brienne curtly counters that a Winterfell seized by the Boltons is hardly safe at all. She reminds him of Roose Bolton’s involvement in the murders of King Robb and Lady Catelyn Stark. She adds that Sansa is in danger even if she doesn’t realize it. When a servant then enters their room to bring food, Brienne engages with the man, who confirms that he lived here when Eddard Stark was the Lord of Winterfell. Although reluctant to trust southerners, the man listens to Brienne when she says she is sworn to Lady Catelyn and is impressed when she says that her death does not release her from her vows. Brienne then reveals that Sansa is in Winterfell and she needs the old man to get a message to her. The message is to inform Sansa to light a candle in the window of the broken tower within the grounds of the castle in order to signal a rescue.

Meanwhile, inside Winterfell, Ramsay Bolton and Myranda discuss his upcoming marriage to Sansa as she admits her jealousy. Ramsay disregards Myranda’s insecurities, causing Myranda to proclaim that perhaps she will marry too. Ramsay is angered and violently tells her that she is his, however, states that she is starting to bore him with her jealousy, and she knows what he does to people who bore him. Hearing this Myranda swears never to bore him again. Meanwhile, Sansa received the message from Brienne, stating that she still has allies in the North. The instruction is to light a candle in the highest window of the broken tower if she needs help. As Sansa then wanders around the castle, coming to the tower where Ser Jaime Lannister pushed her brother Bran Stark out of the window, she runs into Myranda. Myranda puts on a friendly façade, talking to Sansa about her mother Catelyn’s demise. However, to help Sansa “remember” how things used to be, Myranda then leads Sansa down to the hound kennels where she finds her childhood friend and former ward to Lord Eddard, Theon Greyjoy. Reek is awoken and startled by Sansa’s arrival. In disbelief, she calls out to Theon but he warns her that she shouldn't be in the kennels. Seeing Reek in such a pitiful condition, Sansa angrily storms away.

Some time later, as Reek helps Ramsay Bolton get dressed for dinner, as Ramsay comments on his servant’s ever-growing ripeness. After Ramsay then presses Reek for information he confesses to seeing Sansa earlier that day. Ramsay informs him that he musn’t keep secrets from him and for his own amusement, makes it seem as though he’s going to punish Reek severely, before simply forgiving him. Afterwards, at dinner in the great hall, Ramsay is initially well-behaved as he toasts to his upcoming wedding to Sansa, declaring that their Northern families date back thousands of years. Roose’s wife Walda Bolton commends Sansa on dealing with the hardship of being in a “strange place”. Sansa, however, is quick to remind her that it is only the people who are strange. Ramsay returns to his usual brand of torment when Reek returns to serve the table and is commanded to apologize to Sansa. Ramsay boasts is his domestication of Reek as punishment for “murdering” her young brothers, Bran and Rickon Stark. Though Sansa can’t bring herself to look at Theon, she finds Ramsay’s bullying crass, asking him why he is doing this to Theon. Ramsay reasons that Reek has something to say to her, which after much difficulty, finally results in an apology. After tensions simmer, Ramsay then suggests that Reek be the one to give Sansa away at the wedding, since he is the closest thing Sansa has to kin and Roose distractedly accepts the suggestion. Seeing that Ramsay is getting complacent, however, Roose has his wife Walda announce that she is pregnant. Roose notes that with the way she is carrying, it is in favour of being a boy. Ramsay is clearly distressed by the news of this threat to his claim on the North, which in turn delights Sansa.

After the dinner, Ramsay asks his father if he is sure of Walda’s pregnancy, insinuating because of her large size that it would be difficult to tell. Roose informs Ramsay, however, that the castle’s maester is sure beyond all doubt. Ramsay further addresses his distress at the possibility of the unborn child jeopardizing his claim as Roose reprimands him for disgracing himself at dinner and seemingly dismisses his concerns. Roose then shares the brutal story of Ramsay’s birth with him as he informs his bastard son that he once had raped a miller’s wife, who had married without his consent, after hanging her husband. A year later, she showed up with Ramsay, claiming that the baby was his. Roose nearly had her whipped and the baby drowned, but when Roose laid eyes upon Ramsay, he was convinced that he was his son and decided to keep him. He then reveals to Ramsay that Stannis Baratheon has an army at Castle Black and plans to take the Iron Throne, adding that the road to King’s Landing passes through Winterfell, which means that Stannis also intends to take the North. Roose insists that he needs Ramsay’s help in defeating Stannis, as Ramsay agrees.

OLD valyria

Over in Essos, Ser Jorah Mormont and Tyrion Lannister continue their journey to Meereen along the Summer Sea. As Jorah stands up to look at the foggy ruins on the horizon, Tyrion deduces that they are going to pass through the remains of Old Valyria and is excited to see the ruins of what was once the greatest civilization in the world before the volcanic eruption. As they catch glimpses of old domes, towers and aqueducts, Tyrion recites a poem he’s read about the Doom of Valyria, only to find a studied Jorah finishing the poem for him. Tyrion insists on clapping, but silently notes that he remains in restraints. Suddenly, through the fog, Tyrion and Jorah both spot Drogon flying into view. Although he had been hearing about the dragons for some time, Tyrion is still utterly gobsmacked to see one in person. As Drogon gracefully soars past them, Jorah and Tyrion are too distracted to notice when one of the statues on a nearby aqueduct stand up and leap down towards boat. The statues are actually Stone Men - victims of greyscale so far gone that they have been sent to live out the rest of their days in quarantine among the ruins of the city. As more join in, Jorah shouts to Tyrion not to let the highly-contagious Stone Men touch him when fighting them off.  With his hands in restraints, however, Tyrion struggles to move around the boat and evade the attack. He shouts to be cut loose, but Jorah is too preoccupied with his own attackers. Just before one of the Stone Men is able to grab Tyrion, he rolls off of the boat and into the water to escape, where he struggles from drowning with his hands tied. Suddenly, Tyrion finds himself being pulled further under the water by more Stone Men. Some time following the attack, however, Tyrion wakes up and finds himself on a shore, as he was dragged out of the water by Ser Jorah. Upon being questioned, Tyrion confirms to Jorah that he hasn’t been touched by the Stone Men. In return, Jorah states that hadn’t been either. He then informs Tyrion that he hopes to find a fishing village soon, as well as another boat. When Jorah then goes to look for firewood he pulls back his sleeve to inspect the cracked skin that has already began to spread on his wrist, confirming that he has been infected with greyscale during the fight. Jorah glances in the direction of Meereen, knowing that even if he dies from the affliction, he needs to get Tyrion to Daenerys.

*Episode descriptions from GOT Wiki