Winter is finally coming to Westeros as Game of Thrones returns for its seventh season, and all of the different factions are preparing for their respective battles. Daenerys and Tyrion are planning their march on Kings Landing to claim her rightful place as the Queen. Cersei is doing everything she can to continue to punish her enemies. The Iron Islands have thrown their full support behind her, although it appears to be simply so Euron can satisfy his fantasy with the Queen. Most importantly, Jon Snow is trying to build an army to fight off the White Walkers and if he fails, no one will be able to sit on the Iron Throne. The first episode is a promising to start to the abbreviated season, and the plot feels as if its going to move along quickly. Below is our recap of Dragonstone, so if you haven’t watched it yet… be warned, spoilers follow.
Game of Thrones Episode 1 – Dragonstone
In this shortened season, the pieces are all moving into position quickly. The season started off with a very satisfying revenge enacted by Arya as she murdered the entirety of House Grey while disguised as Walder Frey. She gather the members of the house for a celebration at which she gives them all poisoned wine while chastising them for leaving one Stark alive. As they are gasping for breath, she reveals herself and leaves Walder’s current wife alive to tell people that, “The North remembers and winter came for House Frey.”
We get a brief glimpse of an army of White Walkers on the march south. There are undead on horseback, on foot, and even a giant in their company. In preparation of their arrival, Jon Snow is ordering everyone in the North to be trained for battle, including women. He also orders his maesters to begin searching for dragonglass as it is the only known definitive way to kill a White Walker, besides fire of course. Against Sansa’s wishes, he also enlists the help of some houses whose ancestors previously betrayed House Stark as long as they reaffirm their loyalty, which they do. All the while, Little Finger is lingering in the background with that smirk of his… he has to be up to something.
Sandor Clegane is traveling with a group of soldiers when they encounter a farm house in which to take refuge. Sandor is uneasy staying in the house though because they discovered the long dead bodies of a mother and daughter that he met on a previous journey. He does the honorable thing and buries their bodies outside the house. During their stay, one of the men convinces Sandor to appeal to the Lord of Light by looking into the fire. Surprisingly, Sandor sees a vision of the wall with the dead marching.
Samwell Tarley is still in Old Town and his daily duties are a montage of serving soup, emptying bedpans, and cleaning them all for the next day. It is a stomach turning sequence that has you asking, “Was that soup or poop?” Sam does get to perform other duties as well such as helping dissect corpses, studying, and putting away books in the library. Citing his first-hand experience with the White Walkers, he tries to convince the archmaester to give him access to restricted section of the library so that he can research the whereabouts of dragonglass. The archmaester refuses, so Sam finds an opportunity to steal a key and takes a few books to research. His theft pays off as he learns there is an abundance of dragonglass just waiting to be mined at Dragonstone. He also has a brief encounter with a stone-covered arm reaching out of a cell who we know to be Jorah Mormont.
Bran Stark shows up at the Wall as Cersei and Jamie plot the future in Kings Landing. Cersei is admiring a large map she is having painted on the floor as Jamie tries to convince her that she is losing the war. She is unaffected by his speech and is determined to assert the Lannister’s dominance. Euron GreyJoy is invited to the throne and he clearly has a lust for Cersei. She knows this and uses his longing to get him to join forces with her against their enemies. Cersei knows he is not trustworthy, but since when has she been known to let something like that stop her.
Daenerys has made her way to Dragonstone with her entourage including three very large circling dragons overhead. They climb the steps toward the throne room where Daenerys appears to be in awe of the huge volcanic rock throne. She and Tyrion make their way to a room with a large table that represents a map of Westoros. She shifts her gaze to him and simply states, “Shall we begin?” The episode ends there leaving us anxiously awaiting the next installment of Game of Thrones.
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Featured Image Credit: Credit: Helen Sloan/HBO
