The Dragon and the Wolf (Spoilers Because DUH!)
Are those stinking Ice Zombies here yet?
Oh...they're almost there? Okay. I can work with this.
Using her gifts she obtained from the Faceless Men training she received in Braavos, Arya Stark hosts a gathering posing as the late Walder Frey inviting all of the main Frey men who had a role in the infamous Red Wedding to a dinner party where she poisons and kills them all. She spares the women, telling them to inform anyone who asks that "Winter came for House Frey." She then sets off towards the South to settle her score with Queen Cersei, only to run into an old friend in Hot Pie at the Crossroads Inn and learns from him that Jon Snow took down Ramsay Bolton and is now King of the North. Arya abandons her plans to head south and kill Cersei to see her brother (I mean, taking out Cersei here would have worked)
In King's Landing, Jaime observes Cersei as she glowers over a large map of her entire realm that she now rules as Queen. Despite being Queen of Westeros, Jaime and she discuss how they are surrounded by enemies on all fronts, including to the West (Olenna Tyrell) to the North (Jon Snow and Sansa Stark), to the South (Ellaria Sand and Dorne) and to te East (Tyrion and Daenerys). Jaime theorizes that Daenerys will settle on Dragonstone, given her family's lengthy history with the island and that Stannis Baratheon left the island unoccupied when he went North. Cersei refuses to discuss Tommen's death and further tries to chide Jaime when he reminds her that the Lannisters had no allies anymore with the destruction of House Frey and the destruction of the Sept of Baelor last season. Cersei tells Jaime she has plans and leaves it at that.
Jon and Sansa continually get in each other's ways while trying to oversee the governance of the North. Jon uses a more merciful approach to the remaining members of families that fought against the Starks and more of a focus on the White Walkers to the North than Cersei to the South. Sansa pleads with Jon to be smarter than their father or Robb when it comes to dealing with the Sothern Kingdoms. The two receive a summons from Cersei to come to King's Landing and bend the knee to retain their lordship over the North, but both know better than to trust Cersei and prepare for a potential war on two fronts.
Daenerys finally arrives in Westeros and tries to make herself comfortable in Dragonstone, not finding it an exactly hospitable place, but knows it will do. She initially mistrusts Varys when she reminds him that he had sent assassins on behalf of King Robert to murder her, but offers leniency for his actions by promising to burn him alive if he ever betrayed her. Daenerys then is introduced to Melisandre (who I forgot to mention was banished from the North by Jon after he and Davos found out she had burned Shireen Baratheon alive), who tells Daenerys of the dark forces coming down on the Wall and that she and Jon Snow would be the keys to destroying the White Walkers and stopping the impending winter. When Tyrion vouches for Jon to Dany, she asks Tyrion to send a letter to Jon to come and meet her, while also insisting he bend the knee.
Cersei manages to recruit the "loyalty" of Euron Greyjoy and his Iron Fleet. Euron pledges his loyalty to Cersei and offers to personally bring her enemies to justice, provided that Cersei agrees to marry him and make him King of the Seven Kingdoms. Cersei is reluctant at first, but promises to consider it once he delivers on his word. Until then, she keeps up her relationship with Jaime (ew!). She also manages to persuade many allies of Olenna Tyrell (chiefly her commander Randyll Tarly) to turn their backs on her and pledge allegiance to fight against Dany and her savage army.
Samwell Tarly finally arrives in Oldtown to study and become a Maester, but he finds that becoming a Maester is a very hierarchical system and he would have to do all of the grunt work before anyone would take him and his "outlandish theories" about the dead rising beyond the Wall seriously. While cleaning and doing the duties of a servant, Samwell comes across Jorah Mormont, who was being kept in a cell so he didn't spread his Grayscale disease everywhere. Deciding to break a few rules while he was there, Sam searches through some of the books in the library about finding ways to overcome the White Walkers and learns that not only was there a Dragonglass mine on Dragonstone that they could make weapons for, but that Dragonfire was also strong against the Wights and White Walkers. He sends this information to Jon in the North.
Daenerys hosts a meeting with her allies in Westeros while contemplating the first moves of war. The Sand Snakes and Olenna urge Dany to strike at the very heart of the Kingdom and go for Cersei's throat immediately, but Tyrion offers instead an alternative strategy where Yara Greyjoy would ferry the Unsullied to Casterly Rock to take the seat of House Lannister and make Cersei's power base collapse completely. Dany agrees to with Tyrion's plans and dispatches her forces, though Olenna takes a moment to remind Dany that she needed to take action as Queen and not leave the decision making up to her counselors.
Jon and Sansa receive both Sam and Tyrion's letters at roughly the same time and hold a meeting with the Lords of the North and the Vale to discuss their plans. Jon admits his intentions to head South and ally himself with Daenerys, citing their drastically low numbers and their need for a decided advantage against the Army of the Dead. Despite the objections of his Lords and Sansa in particular, Jon departs with Davos and an entourage of his own loyal men, trusting Sansa to govern Winterfell in his absence. Not long after Jon and Davos leave, Bran and Meera Reed finally return from Beyond the Wall and Bran reveals he has completely become the Three Eyed Rave n now and harbors no emotions and desires of his own. He and Meera have an awkward farewell and he and his sister have an even more awkward reunion with Bran telling his sister he knows about how she was raped and tortured by Ramsay. Littlefinger schemes to use Bran to his advantage in manipulating Sansa, but finds that Bran is indeed clairvoyant as he repeats Littlefinger's infamous phrase he said to Varys years ago during Joffrey's reign: "Chaos is a Ladder"
While ferrying the Sand Snakes back to Dorne, Theon and Yara's ships are descended upon by their Uncle Euron's revamped Iron Fleet and a bloody battle ensues. All but one of the Sand Snakes is killed as Obara and Ellaria are taken prisoner by Euron along with Yara. Theon, too traumatized by his time as Ramsay's pet to be of any use, flees the battle and tries to swim away, only being picked up by a loyal ship that intends to return to Dragonstone without the Dornish Army in tow. Euron returns to King's Landing with Ellaria Sand and her daughter, offering them as gifts to Cersei. Cersei has both of them imprisoned in the dungeons and gives Ellaria's daughter the same poison that she had given Myrcella and forces Ellaria to watch as her daughter dies right before her eyes.
Jon arrives at Dragonstone and reunites with Tyrion. His initial meeting with Daenerys does not go well for either of them, as Dany demands Jon bend the knee and Jon insists he was only there to gain her support in fighting the undead that were marching on the Wall. Tyrion tries to broker the peace between them and strikes a deal with Dany and Jon to get Jon to be allowed to mine the Dragonglass on the island so long as he was there, which Jon took to realize he and Davos were now prisoners of the Dragon Queen. Davos teases Jon by citing how smitten he clearly is with Dany. While mining the Dragonglass, Jon uncovers some ancient murals painted that depicted the original Long Night where the Armies of the Dead descended upon the First Men and massacred them. He shows Dany these murals and she is shaken by the pictures. She agrees to help Jon, but only if he surrendered his crown and pledged himself to her cause.
Arya arrives in Winterfell and she has a cordial reunion with Bran and Sansa. However the girl's starkly different personalities cause friction as Arya fears Sansa is going to betray Jon while he's away and Sansa is utterly horrified of what she fears her sister can do. Littlefinger takes the opportunity to sew seeds of mistrust between Sansa and Arya, allowing Arya to find the copy of the letter Sansa had written to Robb years ago condemning their father and demanding he pledge loyalty to Joffrey. This causes both Stark Sisters to turn on one another and prepare themselves for whatever conflict was to come.
The Unsullied arrive at Casterly Rock and find the castle only lightly defended. Not only do they find nothing of value at the former Lannister seat of power, but they head outside only to find the Iron Fleet had utterly decimated their entire fleet, leaving them stranded in a castle they could not possibly hold. While that takes place, Jaime leads the Lannister Armies (with Randyll Tarly's support) to Highgarden to seize House Tyrell's land, fortunes and resources supplies to bring them to King's Landing to brace for the war with Dany. Jaime also forces Olenna to drink a poisoned glass of wine. Olenna drinks and without remorse, tells Jaime of her involvement in killing Joffrey. With Olenna already dying from poison, Jaime and Cersei were robbed of avenging their son and Jaime is left to depart on his own.
Upon squaring up the Crown's debts with the Iron Bank of Braavos, Cersei decides to use House Tyrell's vast fortune to secure a loan from them to hire a mercenary army known as The Golden Company to aid in their fight with Daenerys. She also learns from Qyburn that he is preparing a weapon that might neutralize Dany's Dragons and also that she is indeed pregnant for the fourth time.
Fed up with all of Tyrion's plans blowing up in her face, Daenerys departs from Dragonstone with an her Dothraki and Drogon to annihilate the Lannister armies, but not before consulting with Jon on what to do. Jon advises her to not use her Dragons to attack King's Landing and cause innocent people to die (put a pin in that, we'll get back to that in the next part). While Dany is away, Theon arrives on Dragonstone and Jon gets to know Missandei and the rest of Dany's entourage better, with Jon only sparing Theon because of what he did for Sansa.
Jaime and his forces are obliterated in battle by the Dothraki and Drogon while Daenerys rides on his back. Bronn mans one of the scorpions that Qyburn had invented to strike at Drogon, but it only forces the Dragon to descend to the ground and does superficial damage. When Jaime rides to drive his spear through Dany's heart, Drogon nearly destroys him with dragon fire, but is saved by Bronn and the two manage to escape the battlefield with their lives. The remaining Lannister soldiers surrender to Dany or are destroyed, including Randyll Tarly and his son Dickon. Tyrion is horrified by the destructive capabilities of Dany's armies and Dragons and seems to be questioning his decision to align with her. Jaime returns and informs Cersei of Olenna's treachery and that their armies were massacred, but Cersei could not seem less interested and seduces Jaime.
Using the knowledge he uncovered in the Libraries, Sam manages to cure Jorah of his Grayscale infliction, telling him that Jorah's father Jeor had helped make him a man and he intended to ensure that he would do the same for the late Lord Commander's son. With his affliction cured, Jorah thanks Sam and departs for Dragonstone to fight for Dany once more. While in the Citadel, Gilly learns information for Sam that Rhaegar Targaryen apparently had his marriage to Elia Martell annulled at some point before Robert's Rebellion. With the Maesters refusing to listen to him, Sam takes Gilly with him back to Winterfell to aid in the fight with the Armies of the Dead.
Dany and Drogon return to Dragonstone and at first Dany fears that he would attack Jon. But Jon surprisingly manages to calm Drogon, who feels comfortable around him and allows him to speak to his "mother". Dany is amazed and begins to ask Jon questions about himself, including how Davos had said that Jon took a knife in the heart for his people, but Jon dodges the question. Jon and Jorah finally meet and Dany welcomes Jorah back into her inner circle. When Jon learns of the Armies of the Dead being seen too close to the wall for his comfort, Jon and Dany's inner circle discuss how to deal with both threats simultaneously. Tyrion suggests that Jon send a raiding party to the North to capture a Wight to bring it South to convince Cersei of the dangers they have to face. When the question over who would lead the expedition North arises, Jon and Jorah both volunteer to the admitted horror of Daenerys. She allows Jon to leave after he cheekily reminds her he is a King and allows Jon and Jorah to travel North to Eastwatch. Along the way. Davos heads into King's Landing to recruit Gendry (Robert Baratheon's bastard son) to join the expedition and to possibly ally Houses Stark and Baratheon again. Upon arriving at Eastwatch, Tormund Giantsbane informs Jon that another group wanted to go out beyond the wall and were being kept back from doing so. Despite a tense situation with Gendry and Beric Dondarrion, Jon recruits The Brotherhood Without Banners (including Thoros of Myr and The Hound) in their expedition to the North.
Littlefinger continues to manipulate the Stark Sisters and turn them on one another. He advises Sansa to send Brienne and Podrick to the South to serve as envoys for the rumored peace talks between Daenerys and Cersei, while also insisting that Arya would indeed kill her sister. Once Sansa is at her breaking point, she orders a tribunal to come into session and summons Arya to stand before her. But when everyone arrives, Sansa turns things on Littlefinger and reveals that he was the one on trial. Bran is revealed to have counseled both Arya and Sansa of Littlefinger's treachery, including his betrayal of Ned Stark and his accusation of Tyrion in the assassination plot on Bran's life. Littlefinger crumples immediately and begs for mercy, but Arya cuts his throat and both Stark Girls publicly affirm their sisterhood.
The expedition to the North is an unmitigated disaster as many in their group, including Thoros of Myr, are killed by Wight's in their attempts to capture one. Though they succeed catching one, the White Walkers soon descend upon their location. Gendry is sent back to the Wall to send word to Dany about their conditions. The group finds a momentary reprieve when the ice breaks over a frozen lake and the White Walkers reveal they cannot swim. But the army of the dead simply elects to bide their time and wait for the ice to freeze over and then kill their foes.
Dany, upon receiving word of Jon's peril, flies northward with her three dragons to render as much aid as possible. She manages to rescue Jorah, Beric, The Hound and Tormund, but Jon buys the rest of the group time by fighting off Wights before being dragged into the frozen water with them. Dany's Dragon Viserion is struck down by the Night King hurling a frozen javelin into it's heart and killing it, prompting Dany to flee and leave Jon. Jon manages to escape with he aid of his Uncle Benjen, who sacrifices himself to allow Jon to escape. Jon improbably makes it back to Eastwatch and is immediately taken in and attempted to be kept alive by Davos and his friends. Upon checking on Jon for herself, Dany sees the stab wounds he had suffered from and realizes just what Davos had meant. She sits with Jon until he awakens and informs him that she will be fighting by his side to destroy the Night King. Jon then in turn promises to support Daenerys as Queen and the two have a tender moment as their ship heads southward to King's Landing.
The summit is held in the Dragon Pit in King's Landing, where it's clear there is plenty of turmoil and mistrust on both sides, with the Hound threatening the zombified Mountain, Euron chiding Theon about Yara and Cersei and Dany trying to one up each other. The arguing manages to cease for a moment when Cersei lays eyes on the Wights. Jaime is horrified to learn that there are nearly 100,000 of them and the number keeps growing. Euron "abandons" Cersei by claiming he intends to flee to the Iron Islands and runs off. Cersei agrees to a preliminary truce so Dany can focus on fighting the undead and only asks that in the future war between them that Jon and the Armies of the North remain a neutral party. Jon, taking a page from Ned's book, reveals that he has already pledged loyalty to Dany, prompting Cersei to end negotiations. Tyrion and Dany snap at Jon for not lying, but Tyrion volunteers to discuss things with Cersei and departs.
Tyrion and Cersei debate over his actions (including killing their father) and Cersei insists she is ready to let the world burn so long as she and Jaime are safe, unintentionally revealing to Tyrion that she is pregnant. Tyrion and Cersei manage to hash out a deal where Cersei agrees to not only uphold the peace, but send Jaime and the Lannister Armies northward to aid in the battle, reminding Dany that she was doing this without any reassurances of her survival or her crown. Jon and Dany also have a brief discussion about how Dany cannot have children. While taking their ships back to Dragonstone to then sail to White Harbor in the North, Jon advises Theon to do what is right in his heart, as he can be both a Greyjoy and a Stark, but he has to believe it. Theon manages to convince some of Yara's leftover men to go with him to rescue Yara. While on their own ship headed North, Jon and Dany officially sleep together.
Jaime soon learns that Cersei intends on breaking her promise, revealing that Euron has gone to Essos to ferry The Golden Company to Westeros to fight for her. Jaime advises her on how stupid of an idea this was, but Cersei refuses to listen. Refusing to have his honor compromised, Jaime leaves Cersei and rides for the North to fight on his own honor.
Upon arriving at Winterfell, Sam has a meeting with Bran for the first time in years. The two discuss their prior journeys until Bran brings up that Jon Snow is the bastard son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Sam corrects Bran by telling him of the annulment between Rhaegar and Elia, thus making Jon truly a Targaryen. His legal name is Aegon VI of House Targeryen, son of Prince Rhaegar and Lady Lyanna and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne (also Dany's nephew so ewwww)
Finally, the White Walkers make it to the Wall. While the Night's Watch intends to defend to the last man, The Night King arrives on an undead Viserion, who uses his dragon fire to destroy the wall, allowing the Wights and Night Walkers beyond the wall and to begin their total and complete invasion of the South.
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