Recap of Season #6:
Princess Arianne's arrival in Meereen leads the ruling triumvirate to question whether she is Prince Rhaegar's daughter Rhaenys, and therefore a potential threat to Daenerys' royal claims. Yara Greyjoy intends to enrich herself by playing Volantis and Meereen off each other, and learns from Arianne that two dragons are held captive in Meereen. When Theon is accepted by the dragons, Yara makes the fatal error of assuming she is as well. Daenerys recruits Theon to bring the Iron Fleet under her banner, but Arianne emotionally manipulates him into also being her protector. Daenerys and Tyrion remain unsure of her true identity.
Samwell Tarly is charged by Roose Bolton to deliver Stannis' head to King's Landing. Enroute, he is enticed by Moqorro, a red priest, into delivering the head instead to Storm's End. There, Moqorro re-animates it with the same shadow spirit once given birth by Melisandre.
The Hound reports to the Brotherhood without Banners how Red God worshipping hill-tribesmen massacred his village, deeply concerning Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr.
In a vision, Bran discovered that Meera Reed is really Victaria Greyjoy, though she continues to prove a sincere ally.
Sansa tells Jon of her doubts that the boy killed at the beginning of the battle was truly their brother, Rickon.
Season Seven
Episode 7.1: Dragonstone
Disguised as Lord Walder, Arya murders the men of House Frey with poisoned wine in the banquet hall of the Twins.
Bran has a vision of marching wights. He and Victaria arrive at the Wall. Edd lets them pass.
In the great hall of Winterfell, Jon orders Tormund to fortify Eastwatch. The granting of "the Gift", land south of the Wall, to the wildlings meets with loud dissent from the Northern nobility. Jon forgives Alys Karstark and Ned Umber for their families' betrayal, Later, in private, Jon is frustrated when Sansa questions his decisions. A raven from King's Landing demands Jon swear fealty. Sansa advises him not to underestimate Cersei.
Atop a floor map of Westeros being painted in the Red Keep, Cersei and Jaime discuss Daenerys' threat and their own lack of allies. Euron arrives in King's Landing. In her throne room, he offers Cersei a marriage alliance, and crudely offends Jamie. She rejects him as untrustworthy.
Sam suffers through unpleasant duties at the Citadel. Archmaester Ebrose denies him access to the library's restricted area. Sam manages to enter it, and steals some books.
In the courtyard of Winterfell, Brienne trains Pod and wards off Tormund. Brienne witnesses Sansa resist Little-finger, but is told by her mistress that, because they need the Vale, she cannot dismiss him. Brienne and Pod corner Ned Umber, declaring that he doesn't have Lady Stark's forgiveness, and demand information about Rickon. Young Ned explains that he befriended the boy after Osha brought him to the Last Hearth. He sent word to his uncle, off fighting Ironborn, but orders returned forbidding contact with Jon Snow. Osha grew suspicious. One morning they were gone. He last heard his uncle, Smalljon Umber, was searching for Rickon around Eastwatch.
Arya, travelling south by horse to assassinate Cersei, is shown generosity by Lannister soldiers, encamped by the roadside.
Ser Beric, Thoros and the Hound arrive at a Hill-tribe village. The people bow to Thoros. They are allowed to enter a communal longhouse, converted into a shrine to the Lord of Light. Moqorro and Melisandre await them. Beric confronts Moqorro over his converts' attack on the Hound's village. Moqorro defends the Hill-tribes' zeal, challenging Thoros as to his loyalties. Melisandre commands Thoros to proceed north to aid the King in the North, but he insists on placing Moqorro on trial, drawing his sword. Moqorro passes Melisandre a covered jar. She reacts with deep concern. Around a firepit in the temple's center, the Red Priests duel. When Moqorro receives a mortal wound, he asks to be knelt before the fire to pray. Beric helps Thoros aid him. Moqorro's prayer, in Valyrian, confuses Thoros. With alarm, he sees Melisandre uncovering Stannis' head. As its eyes stir, black smoke begins to emerge from Stannis' skull. Suddenly, Melisandre seals the jar. Moqorro, defeated, falls dead into the fire. Thoros thanks Melisandre, but she says that she trapped the spirit to save Beric's life, insisting Thoros is surely damned.
That night, the Hound questions why Beric would be continually brought back to life. Thoros encourages the Hound to look into the flames for answers. He does so reluctantly, and envisions wights by a mountain north of the Wall.
At his humble home in Oldtown, Sam reads stolen books. Gilly, having found a job at an orphanage, is astounded by how few women in the south can read. Sam learns of dragonglass deposits at Dragonstone. In the Citadel, while delivering food to quarantined patients, Sam is asked by Jorah for any word of Daenerys.
Daenerys returns to Dragonstone, exploring the castle with her entourage, and proposes the invasion of Westeros begin.
Episode 7.2: Stormborn
In the Dragonstone conference room during a heavy storm, Daenerys confronts Varys over his shifting allegiances. He declares his loyalty is to the common man. Daenerys threatens to burn him if he betrays her. In the throne room, Theon confesses to Arianne that he can never return to his true home. They are overheard by Melisandre, who prophesized that "with a dragon upon each shoulder and a bear upon his breast," he may travel safely through the North. Arianne is intrigued by her, asking if she is from Ashhai. Daenerys grants audience to Melisandre, who cites prophecy that "the Prince who was promised will bring the dawn." She urges Daenerys to meet Jon Snow, implying, with Missandei's translation, that "the Prince" could be either he or Daenerys. Seeing she is loath to accept ambiguity, Melisandre recounts a legend that the Prince would first obtain "the blade of Azor Ahai" from Skagos. Tyrion explains that Skagos is an island off of northeastern Westeros. Varys advises the path to the Iron Throne is unlikely to lead through it. Tyrion vouches for Jon, so Daenerys instructs him to summon Jon Snow to Dragonstone, and "bend the knee."
Jon receives Daenerys' royal summons at Winterfell. Sansa and Davos strongly urge him not to go.
In the Red Keep throne room, Cersei appeals to the nobility. Privately, Jaime lobbies Randyll Tarly to join the Lannisters against the Dothraki, thereby betraying Lady Olenna.
In Ser Jorah's cell in the Citadel, Archmaester Ebrose informs him that his greyscale is untreatable, with suicide his best option.
Qyburn guides Cersei to the cellar beneath the Red Keep to demonstrate a "scorpion" capable of piercing dragon skulls.
Gathered about the Westeros-shaped conference table on Dragonstone, Daenerys plans her invasion with Tyrion Lannister, Grey Worm, Olenna Tyrell, Ellaria Sand and Theon Greyjoy. Daenerys adopts Tyrion's strategy for native armies to besiege King's Landing, as Unsullied troops take Casterly Rock. Ellaria bristles at depending on the Iron Fleet, for the Dornish fleet is led by Princess Arianne's loyalist, Sarella Sand, implying that Theon's affinity for Arianne puts her at risk. Daenerys insists she respect that her allies are first loyal to their queen. Daenerys privately converses with Olenna, who counsels that she ignore those who advise her caution, as Daenerys should "be a dragon".
Before departing to lead the Unsullied army, Grey Worm makes love to Missandei.
As Daenerys and Tyrion meet with Arianne in her conference room, Theon takes a seat at the Dornish Princess' side, silently and symbolically. Arianne is aware of Ellaria's presence on Dragonstone, so Daenerys apologizes for not championing her, and Tyrion offers an accommodation. He is aware of her proposal of marriage to his brother Jaime and asks Arianne if she might again offer him her hand. She is bewildered by the question, so Tyrion explains that if she lends her full support to Daenerys' cause, they will have her sail with Grey Worm to Casterly Rock. Once it falls, the castle, and the title of Lord of the Westerlands, would be granted to her. Tyrion only asks, on his own behalf and not Daenerys', that should the Lannisters promptly surrender, Arianne again consider her proposal to wed Jaime.
In the Citadel laboratory, Sam is forbidden by Ebrose to treat Jorah. He later sneaks into Jorah's cell and performs the painful procedure in secret.
Arya encounters Hot Pie at the same inn where she last saw him, learning that Jon retook Winterfell. Upon consideration, she turns north.
Receiving Sam's message about Dragonstone, Jon decides to meet Daenerys, over heavy opposition. Jon names Sansa his representative. Little-finger tries to ingratiate himself to Jon, but is violently rebuffed.
Arya, sleeping in the woods, dreams. She sees herself, in Bravos, asking for Jaqen and being told by the doorkeeper that "There is no one here by that name." She sees Jaqen dead on the floor, and cries "He was my friend," but the Waif responds, "No he wasn't. Didn't you listen to him?" She recalls blindness, fighting phantoms in the streets. She is stabbed by the Waif, but when Lady Crane treats her, the wound varies between serious and superficial. When caught by the Waif in her hideout, she contrastingly sees herself as alone there. Finally, Arya witnesses the Waif, dressed as a young man, kill Lady Crane, yet finds herself holding the weapon. This last image so disturbs her, she wakes.
Charged with returning the Sand Snakes safely to Dorne, Theon visits Ellaria's cabin on his ship. The Dornish ruler tries to humiliate him by treating him as her servant, suggesting that Arianne's interest in him is as a physiological curiosity. Tyene finds her mother's behaviour cruel, and confronts Theon outside their cabin. She talks about her cousin Trystane, enthusing how his gallantry and compassion caused her to re-appraise what she values in men. On deck, Obara Sand and Nymeria Sand humiliate any Ironborn who dare challenge them in martial skill. Enemy ships attack. Boarding their ship, Euron kills Obara and Nymeria while capturing Ellaria and her daughter. Theon fights courageously, yet he freezes upon seeing Euron hold a knife to Tyene'sthroat. When Euron demands Theon surrender, Tyene encourages him to fight on, so Euron takes a hook, punctures her tongue, pulls it out and cuts it off. Ellaria screams, and Theon is so shocked by this horror that he loses his nerve and jumps overboard.
Episode 7.3: The Queen's Justice
Jon and Davos arrive on the shores of Dragonstone, greeted by Tyrion and Missandei. Jon confirms that Tyrion's bastard uncle, Gerion Hill, commands Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Viewing them from a nearby cliff, Varys urges Melisandre to leave Westeros forever, but she prophesizes they will both die there.
Daenerys grants Jon an audience in her throne room, apologizing for her father's crimes. Jon denies being bound by his ancestor's oath. Daenerys asserts her destiny. Jon announces the threat of White Walkers. Daenerys, skeptical, prioritizes taking the Iron Throne.
As sea, Theon is rescued by the "Feathered Kiss" with a dozen other Ironborn survivors. The ship's captain, Sarella, learns from Theon that Obara and Nymeria are dead, and Tyene captured. Theon inquires after Arianne, and Sarella relays that word has arrived the Unsullied safely reached Old Town.
As Lady Olenna and Arianne disembark an Unsullied warship on the docks of Oldtown, the "Queen of Thorns" bids her well, but warns the young princess that she accepts defeat too easily. Later, Princess Arianne meets Archmaester Ebrose in the Citadel. Dressed in regal splendor, she requests the copy of Archmaester Maynard's memoir requested by her father, but Ebrose explains that, due to her status as an enemy of the crown, he cannot provide it. She assures him that the Unsullied are here with Tyrell permission, but Ebrose explains that the Citadel must be seen as fully neutral in Daenerys' war with Cersei.
After humiliatingly marching them through the streets of King's Landing, Euron presents Ellaria and Tyene as tribute to Cersei in her throne room, taking the opportunity to antagonize Ser Jaime, In the cells, Cersei kisses Tyene, poisoning her as Tyene did Bronn before drinking from the same blue vial Arianne gave Bronn, containing the antidote. She tells Ellaria that she will watch her daughter die. Afterward, Cersei makes passionate love to Jaime in her quarters. In the morning, she is unconcerned with appearances. At her desk, Cersei meets with an Iron Bank agent, disparaging Daenerys as an economic threat.
On the cliffs of Dragonstone, Tyrion tells Jon that he believes him, for Varys recalled rumors that Joffrey possessed a wight's severed hand, brought south by Ser Alliser. He asserts to Jon that Daenerys earns her followers' loyalty because she fights for them. In her conference room, Tyrion conveys Jon's appeal to mine dragonglass, advising Daenerys to accede as a gesture of goodwill. When Jon approaches her, she attempts to find common ground. Daenerys is annoyed by Jon's intransigence, yet grants his request.
With Lord Royce, Sansa readies Winterfell for war. Little-finger advises she anticipate all outcomes to better her position. When Bran and Victaria arrive, Sansa embraces him, yet he remains emotionally distant. Speaking privately in the godswood, Sansa is mystified by Bran's identification as a Three-Eyed Raven.
In his Citadel cell, Ebrose diagnoses Jorah as healed, ordering Pate, another Citadel novice, to destroy the knight's personal items, explaining that Jorah's armour can still re-infect. As the archmaester departs with Sam, Pate surreptitiously places Jorah's dragon epaulets and bear breastplate in a burgundy sack. In the laboratory, Sam confesses to providing the treatment to Ser Jorah. Ebrose orders him to make copies of documents. On reflection, he adds Archmaester Maynard's memoir to the assignment.
In the Dragonstone conference room, Daenerys, Tyrion, Missandei and Varys discuss strategy. Infiltrating Casterly Rock via its sewers, the Unsullied capture it, finding it underdefended. Atop the battlements of the Lannister castle, Grey Worm witnesses a surprise naval attack by Euron, destroying Daenerys' ships. From this vantage point, he is unable to respond as he observes Arianne taken prisoner from his ship.
Ser Jaime and Randyll Tarly take Highgarden, catching their enemy by surprise. Jaime proceeds to Lady Olenna's private chambers, where he offers her the mercy of a painless death by poison. After drinking, she proudly confesses to Joffrey's murder.
Episode 7.4: The Spoils of War
Outside Highgarden, Jaime gives a bag of gold to Bronn, who nonetheless insists that the Lannisters still owe him a castle.
At her desk in the Red Keep, Cersei assures the Iron Bank that the Crown's debts will be repaid. They discuss a new loan to engage the Golden Company, contingent on the repayment of the current loan.
In Bran's chambers in Winterfell, Little-finger gives the boy a Valyrian steel dagger, and is unnerved when Bran quotes him as having said, "Chaos is a ladder." Victaria, informing Bran that she departs for the Iron Islands, is dismayed by his indifference. "You died in that cave," she despairs. "When I've been long away," he explains, "the horrors I witness cease to disturb. I need to recall being shackled to a body. Often, to rekindle my soul, I choose to remember the desperation of an unrequited love. I'm grateful for that." Bran smiles. Hurt and confused, Victaria leaves.
Arya arrives at Winterfell, bypassing the guards. Sansa embraces her in the crypts. In the godswood, Arya is unnerved that Bran knows of her list. He gives her the Valyrian steel dagger.
Walking down to the shores of Dragonstone, Daenerys and Missandei discreetly gossip. Jon tours Daenerys past cave drawings of the First Men and the White Walkers. Impressed, Daenerys offers to fight for the North, although Jon rebuffs her aggressive persuasion to "bend the knee." Tyrion and Varys report a pyrrhic victory at Casterly Rock and crushing defeat at Highgarden. Daenerys demands Varys discover how Cersei and Euron anticipated their plans and considers striking King's Landing. Jon advises that if she destroys it, then she will be just another tyrant.
Finding Brienne sparing with Pod at Winterfell, Arya asks to train with her next. They fight to a draw as Sansa and Little-finger watch. Arya's ribs hurt. Brienne insists that she see the maester. Privately, Maester Wolkan is curious about Arya's scars. She is vague, but remarks that only the stab wound to her abdomen was serious. She is annoyed as the maester barely sees evidence that she was stabbed. Arya insists the scar is highly visible.
Wolkan waits in his lady's chamber as Sansa instructs Brienne to depart for Eastwatch. As Brienne leaves, Sansa asks if Arya is well, detecting some reservation when the maester confirms her to be healthy. Delicately, Wolkan explains his concern is for Arya's mental state.
While strolling the windswept cliffs of Dragonstone, Jon asks Missandei about Daenerys while Davos sights a Dornish ship. On the beach, Varys cordially invites Sarella Sand into the castle, leaving as Jon has a tense reunion with Theon.
In the Dragonstone conference room, as Varys tells Sarella that Arianne was captured, the ship captain realizes that she is under suspicion. Varys reveals a raven scroll dispatched from Oldtown to Arianne, asking where the Dornish fleet may be of assistance. Varys wants to know what Arianne let slip to her, and what Sarella divulged to their enemies. She counters that she has not been to Oldtown, and the scroll is not in her handwriting. Varys, recognizing that he had overlooked another possibility, proceeds to Arianne's chambers. Finding a bottle of Arianne's blue hair dye, he pours it on the raven scroll. The dye reveals a hidden correspondence, signed "Euron".
Arianne wakes in a comfortable ship cabin. A teenager brings the princess her breakfast, introducing herself as Falia Flowers. Although she is polite, Falia makes certain that Arianne recognizes that she is Euron's "salt wife," and proudly tells her that Euron communes with the gods. They have told him that the conqueror of the world shall soon be born in the Red Keep, and Euron believes it will be his son. Falia insists that Cersei is old, so the child will likely be her own. Arianne smiles patronizingly.
In the Dragonstone throne room, Theon discusses his failures of judgment with Jon. He describes the bond he and Arianne developed after Yara's death, as they are both hunted by their families. Jon reminds him how Ned Stark adopted Theon, and reveals that Grey Worm sent word that Arianne was captured by Euron. He encourages Theon's desire to rescue her.
Euron hosts Arianne in his cabin to celebrate their victory. She plays along as he flirts crudely. As he drinks, strange liquid drops from his cup to stain his shirt, matching his purple lips and teeth. She knows they are off the coast of Dorne, but Euron is evasive about when she will disembark. He becomes animated as he talks of future conquests, his descriptions become grotesque and apocalyptic. Arianne is alarmed as he becomes deliriously ecstatic, screaming to phantoms as if lost of his faculties, until falling silent and shaking. Upon recalling that Arianne is in the room, he laughs. Fatigued, Euron says he needs his cup refilled and rings a bell. Falia enters to pour from a pitcher. As she turns, it is evident that she has been crying and Arianne realizes, to her horror, that he has cut out her tongue. Euron says that he collects women's tongues because they do not know how to hold their own. Arianne is terrified.
Standing on a cliff, Theon asks surviving Ironborn to join his quest to save Arianne. Deeply dejected, they barely tolerate him, yet are amazed as he approaches Rhaegal and Viserion. With melancholy confidence, he speaks nakedly to the dragons, of surviving defeat and losing those he loves. Rhaegal is indifferent, but Viserion grants him courtesy. Vowing he seeks not power, but service to an imperiled Targaryen, Viserion responds, and Theon humbly mounts him. His men wildly cheer as they fly away.
As a lengthy wagon train of goods crosses the countryside, Ser Jaime is commiserating with Dickon Tarly when Bronn hears distant horses' hooves. Daenerys, upon Drogon, leads a Dothraki attack that overruns the Lannister army. Bronn wounds Drogon with a scorpion. As Tyrion watches, Daenerys dismounts to aid Drogon, Jaime charges her, Drogon breathes fire at him, but Bronn tackles Jaime out of the way.
Episode 7.5: Eastwatch
At a quiet distance from the battle, Bronn pulls Jaime ashore. Before the assembled prisoners, and despite Tyrion's pleas for clemency, Daenerys burns alive Randyll Tarly and his son, Dickon.
Returning to the Red Keep, Jaime declares to Cersei that the war is unwinnable. He reveals Olenna's claim to have murdered Joffrey, convincingly arguing its veracity.
Returning to Dragonstone by dragon, Daenerys closely watches as Jon encounters Drogon. The dragon investigates him without hostility. She is overjoyed when Ser Jorah returns.
In a vision, Bran foresees the Night King's approach and orders ravens be sent. Sam overhears Archmaester Ebrose discussing Bran's message with other Archmaesters in the Citadel. Sam pleads they listen, and grows exasperated by their skepticism.
Quietly in the throne room, Tyrion and Varys discuss Daenerys' ruthlessness. In Daenerys' conference room, Jon receives Bran's warning and seeks to immediately depart, requesting Daenerys' help. Tyrion proposes capturing a wight north of the Wall, using it to convince Cersei that they are mutually threated. Jon and Jorah volunteer. Tyrion recruits Davos to smuggle him into the Red Keep to persuade Jaime to lobby his sister to the Northern cause.
Speaking before Sansa in Winterfell's great hall, northern lords criticize Jon's pledge to award "the Gift" to the wildlings. Sansa suggests that the deal is not final, for House Stark would have to negotiate with the Night's Watch, of which Jon is no longer Lord Commander. In the Stark chambers, Arya privately chastises Sansa for disloyalty to Jon.
From a discreet cove, Tyrion and Davos sneak into King's Landing. Bronn leads Jaime to Tyrion in the Red Keep cellar, who requests an audience with Cersei for Daenerys and Jon. Tyrion is curious as Jaime cryptically implies that abandoning his pledge to slay the man who murdered his father may be entirely self-serving. In a blacksmith shop, Davos locates Gendry, who is eager to leave King's Landing. Returning to the cove, two guards recognize Tyrion, but Gendry swiftly kills them with a hammer he has forged. In the Red Keep, when Jaime relates Tyrion's message to Cersei, she doubts his warning, but acknowledges a ceasefire as a necessity. She tells Jaime that she is pregnant, even as she threatens that he dare not defy her.
Joining the Northerners working along the Dragonstone shoreline, Davos advises Gendry to conceal his heritage from Jon, yet he promptly introduces himself as Robert's bastard, pledging to Jon's cause. After a discreet word with Varys, Daenerys surprises all by proposing that Tyrion assess the northern threat, while Davos, uniquely capable of rebuilding their fleet with material available on Dragonstone, remain behind with her. Tyrion feigns interest in meeting his mother's bastard brother. Jon consents. Daenerys bids farewell to Jon, Tyrion and Jorah.
In his home in Oldtown, as Sam transcribes Maynard's journal, he overlooks a drawing of Arya's new dagger. Gilly reads that Maynard wed Prince Rhaegar to Lyanna Stark, performed under the ancient rites of Valyria, as had been Rhaegar's parents before him. Sam decides to return to the Wall. He steals more books from the Citadel, but on leaving his home by wagon, Gilly surprises him by vowing to remain in Oldtown. Citing Maester Ammon's advice, and her new job teaching children to read, she recognizes that she can keep her child safe without him. As Sam goes, she tells her son that he may soon have a brother.
In the Dragonstone conference room, as Davos presents his preliminary report to Daenerys, Varys confronts him with a raven scroll delivered to there for Jon, demanding ransom for Rickon Stark. It was sent by the pirate captain Sallador Saan, whose association with Davos is well known to Varys. Under suspicion, Davos offers that Sallador has a wife in Bravos, but Varys denies he's there. Davos describes a refuge off the coast from Eastwatch, on the island of Skagos. Varys concedes to Daenerys that, as Rickon Stark is heir to Winterfell, it is prudent to take possession of him. Missandei reminds Daenerys that this is the second time she has been advised that a trip to Skagos might be worthwhile.
As Arya suspiciously follows Little-finger around Winterfell, he surreptitiously lets her see him hide a scroll for Sansa. She retrieves it from her sister's room.
Jon, Tyrion, Jorah and Gendry meet with Tormund in the soldiers mess at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, where they discover Beric, Thoros and the Hound are imprisoned. In the cells, the men discuss their enmities, but Jon acknowledges that they fight a common enemy. Tyrion stays behind as the others venture north into the wilderness.
Episode 7.6: Beyond the Wall
Jon, Tormund, Jorah, Beric, Thoros, Gendry and the Hound march north. Gendry's unworldliness becomes an easy target for ridicule. Jon offers "Longclaw" back to Ser Jorah, but he insists Jon keep it.
Along the battlements of Winterfell. Arya confronts Sansa about the letter she wrote to persuade Robb to bend the knee, which Sansa realizes could destroy her reputation.
Tormund irritates the Hound with questions about Brienne. Ser Beric asks Jon if his father ever spoke of his mother, a noblewoman who died during childbirth in Dorne, proclaiming to Jon that Ned loved her deeply. Beric defines their true join mission as life against death. The Hound recognizes a mountain from his vision.
In her private chambers, Little-finger advises Sansa that complicity of the Night's Watch in Rickon's abduction may reflect upon Jon. She plans to send Brienne to King's Landing, despite her concerns about Arya.
An undead polar bear attacks Jon's party. Thoros is seriously injured saving the Hound.
Tyrion greets Brienne and Pod at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, introducing them to his uncle Gerion, the commander of Eastwatch, and hands Brienne a raven scroll, from Sansa, sending her to King's Landing. She insists on first investigating what happened to Rickon at Eastwatch.
As Jorah and Thoros reminisce, Jon and Tormund sight a troop of wights. When Jon kills a White Walker, all but one wight falls. They capture it. A horde of wights descend upon them. Gendry is dispatched back to the wall in hopes of contacting Daenerys. Jon barely succeeds in leading his party to an island in a frozen lake, where they are momentarily saved as the surrounding ice breaks. Laying down, Thoros notices ravens heading south. Gendry races to the Wall.
Jon and the others wait out the chilly night, surrounded by enemies. Gendry collapses upon reaching the Wall.
Arianne hears a roar out her cell window and sees blasts of dragonfire. A guard falls into the room with an ax in his forehead. Victaria enters, demanding Arianne follow, who grabs herself only a heavy cloak as she does. Upon reaching the castle's roof, Viserion lands majestically before them. Theon dismounts his dragon and ensures that Arianne is unhurt. Victaria signals success to a few dozen Ironborn fighting along the shore, who begin to withdraw. Arianne kisses Theon, addressing him with tearful adoration. Impatient, Victaria spies a flock of ravens approaching. They swarm about Viserion, who is increasingly attentive to these birds. Abruptly the dragon takes flight, abandoning them despite Theon's pleas. Victaria hears the castle awakening. Seeking to alert allies, she looses several flaming arrows high in the air and toward a ship at sea.
Racing through the Ironborn castle, Theon, Victaria and Arianne reach a balcony, unfurling a rope ladder over the side. Victaria shoots another couple of flaming arrows into the sky. Arianne looks in terror at the hundred-foot descent, still twenty feet shy of the slashing waves, and backs away. Theon puts his hand on her shoulders, saying death lies ever ahead and behind, and courage is only daring which path to choose. Hearing guards coming, Arianne begins the perilous climb. Theon and Victaria follow, bows slung over their shoulders. Below, men are rowing three boats toward them. Above, archers on the balcony fire down arrows upon them. Theon and Victaria, legs wrapped around the fiercely swaying rope ladder, return fire. Arianne jumps from thirty feet above the sea. Suddenly the balcony above them is blown to smithereens. Theon and Victaria see a ship firing cannons upon Pyke's archers.
Aboard the "Feathered Kiss", Arianne ignores Theon, yet tenderly embraces the captain, Sarella Sand. Seeing Theon hurt, Victaria encourages his Ironborn loyalists to cheer, and he regains some pride.
Come daylight on their small, frozen island, Thoros dies. Beric and Jorah speculate that killing the Night King will destroy his army.
At his refuge on Skagos, Sallador Saan cowers before Drogon amongst the crude battlements. On behalf of Daenerys, with a liberated Rickon by her side, Davos asks his friend of Valyrian steel swords found on the island. Desperate to negotiate, he enthuses that he can obtain for Daenerys any sword she desires. Varys announces a raven, and Davos pledges to further question Sallador. Atop the battlements, Daenerys reads a scroll from Eastwatch, and Missandei advises her that Jon Snow may be luring her into a trap, emphasizing how preposterous his story was. Varys concurs. Davos informs them that Sallador knows not of a sword, but of a Valyrian steel dagger discovered on Skagos years before and sold to a Westerosi merchant with whom Sallador has fenced goods. Daenerys asks who that was, but before receiving her answer, Viserion lands on one corner of the castle refuge, and Rhaegal lands on another. Daenerys is amazed.
Outside the room where Gendry recovers, Brienne and Tyrion confront Gerion Hill. He confirms that, when Osha brought Rickon to the Wall, he informed Castle Black while Jon was at Hardhome. Gerion confesses that when Smalljon Umber arrived, he conspired with Osha to pretend that the deaf boy who tended to Rickon's wolf was Rickon himself. Once this boy and Osha were seized, he sent Rickon to Bravos on a merchant ship that delivered goods to Eastwatch. The maester hands Tyrion a raven scroll from Varys, while Brienne demands to know who Gerion told as to where Rickon was bound. Gerion defensively testifies that he dutifully notified the one person in Westeros that was certain to aid Rickon once Jon was murdered. Reading Varys' scroll, Tyrion concludes that he knows who that was.
The wights overwhelmingly attack Jon's company once the water refreezes. Daenerys arrives and her dragons burn through hundreds of wights. The Night King kills Viserion with an ice javelin, and Jon is pulled into the water by wights. Daenerys escapes atop Drogon, with Jorah, Tormund, Beric and the Hound. Jon emerges from the ice, and is rescued by his uncle Benjen, who gives Jon his own horse to ride away.
The Hound takes leave of Beric and Tormund outside Eastwatch, loading their bound captive aboard a ship, where he discovers Brienne and Pod. She reveals that Arya is alive at Winterfell. In the castle, Tyrion asks why Gerion joined the Night's Watch, curious if Lord Tywin banished him. Gerion denies it, professing admiration for Tyrion's father, yet admits even brilliant men are fools on occasion, for Tywin never accepted that Tyrion was his only child. As a boy, Gerion befriended Prince Rhaegar while visiting his beloved half-sister, Tyrion's mother, in King's Landing, where Lord Tywin was Hand of the King. While Rhaegar was showing him secret passages in the Tower of the Hand, they came upon Joanna's room,finding the Mad King defiling her. Later, Rhaegar warned that a kingsguard, Ser Brynden, was ordered to silence him, lest Lord Tywin be alerted to the attack. Recognizing that his death warrant was signed, he appealed to the Mad King's Mother, Queen Shaera, who in exchange for his silence, helped him reach the Night's Watch. Their ship past due to set sail, Daenerys and Jorah, wait atop the wall, and finally see Jon emerge from the forest. As Jorah sees to Jon's care, Daenerys observes the wound through his heart.
Sansa searches Arya's room, finding the face of the young man with a goatee that Lady Crane saw just before her murder. Arya enters, speaking of her training with the Faceless Men and brags that she could take Sansa's face, threateningly holding her dagger. Suddenly, she notices the face Sansa holds, and shudders. Arya flashes back to the young man killing Lady Crane, but upon removing his face, Arya is revealed beneath. In the present, dazed, Arya drops the dagger at Sansa's feet and stalks out.
In his cabin aboard ship, a bed-ridden Jon apologizes to Daenerys for having gotten Viserion killed. She vows to fight the Night King. He calls her "my queen".
A horde of wights drag Viserion's body from beneath the ice and the Night King re-animates him.
Episode 7.7: The Dragon and the Wolf
From their battlements, Jaime and Bronn watch the Dothraki and the Unsullied gather formidably outside King's Landing.
Sailing into Blackwater Bay, Tyrion confides in Varys of what he learned from his uncle, noting that the spider seems unsurprised. Varys confesses that he discovered a correspondence that Queen Shaera maintained with Joanna Lannister up until his birth, in which the bastard status of Cersei and Jaime was discussed. Desiring peace, he declined to present them to Lord Tywin or King Robert. The Hound checks on his prisoner in the cargo hold.
Bronn escorts Jon and his party down a little used road to the Dragon Pit. The Hound warns Lannister soldiers not to touch the box his wagon carries. Bronn assures Tyrion that he is still watching out for himself.
As the conference commences in the enormous ruin, the Hound threatens the Mountain. Cersei is irritated at Daenerys' late arrival. Tyrion and Jon explain they face a common threat, but Cersei disbelieves them. The Hound brings in the wight. Everyone present is astounded. Jon demonstrates how to kill it, with fire and dragonglass. Qyburn examines the wight's severed hand and keeps Jon's dragonglass dagger.Euron declares his intention to flee to the Iron Islands. Cersei pledges her army to Jon, if he will remain neutral in Daenerys' invasion of Westeros, but Jon feels compelled to refuse. Cersei angrily storms off. Brienne challenges Ser Jaime to stand for a cause higher than family loyalty. Leaving the Dragon Pit, Jaime spies the smaller dragon reposing not far from their path. He finds himself stopping to return its studious gaze until Cersei, irritated and nervous, bids him to follow. Daenerys and Tyrion express frustration with Jon's unwillingness to lie. Tyrion decides to privately make his case to Cersei.
Outside her quarters in the Red Keep, Jaime warns Tyrion of Cersei's intransigence. Inside, she accuses her brother of trying to destroy her family. Tyrion professes that he never sought to harm her children. She declines to have the Mountain kill him, implying she is pregnant. Tyrion tells Cersei what their uncle revealed. When Cersei calls this slander, Tyrion insists that Jaime suspects as much, and explains that this slander may yet secure the throne for her child. Divulging that Daenerys is barren, and Princess Arianne declared a traitor, the Targaryens have no heir apparent. If Cersei can offer alliance rather than war, Daenerys might not only recognize them as Targaryens, but legitimize her marriage to Jaime, thereby providing their son unrivaled claim to the succession.
Discussing family history, Daenerys quotes "a dragon is not a slave." Jon doubts the prophecy that she won't have children. Returning, with Cersei, Jaime senses that Rhaegal is examining him even more closely. Before Daenerys and Jon, Cersei pledges her army to fight the White Walkers.
By a nighttime bonfire, Arianne and Sarella watch Theon, guarded by loyalists, accept homage from Ironborn nobles while a crowd of devoted supporters observe. Victaria proclaims him as Theon Dragon-rider. Sarella skeptically askes if this broken eunuch is to be her lord. Offput by this disrespect, Arianne advises that she too learn to sing his praises if she wishes to win these nobles as allies against Euron. Alone with Theon, Arianne kisses him with sisterly affection, telling him that she sees his heart, as both of them can call no place home until they identify their true families. She pulls from beneath her cloak a burgundy sack, which she claims to have purchased for him on the Oldtown docks. As he looks inside, she announces, "Dragons upon the shoulders and a bear upon the breast. These shall see you safely home." They smile knowingly to one another.
Receiving word in Winterfell that Jon pledged the North to Daenerys, Little-finger suggests that Sansa could usurp Jon's throne, and warns her that Arya may desire to usurp Sansa's own position.
Conferring at Dragonstone, Daenerys finds Tyrion's deal suspect, but Tyrion assures her that if Cersei's illegitimacy is established by Joanna Lannister's correspondence with Daenerys' grandmother, she and Jaime's status would be dependent on Daenerys' pledge to legitimize them. Daenerys asks for the letters, but Varys explains they were in the Great Sept. Jon and Ser Jorah debate the security of Daenerys' journey to Winterfell. Although Jorah advocates caution, Daenerys trusts Jon's assurances of safety.
On the shores of Dragonstone, Rickon learns that he is not going to Winterfell, but Dorne. Jon decrees that if Winterfell falls, a Stark shall survive.
Terrified, Arya finds Bran in the godswood. She confides in him that she fears for her sanity. Bran takes her hand and bids that she place her trust in him. Entering a vision of the past, he stands with her in King's Landing as Yoren tells her that their father "gave me the pick of the dungeons." He joins her in the ruins of Harrenhal when she inquires of Jaqen H'ghar how long he takes to fulfill his pledge to kill a man, to which he responds, "a day, a month, death is certain." Jaqen asks Arya for a name. Bran sees the Waif, in the House of Black and White, also requesting the names on Arya's list. Bran watches over Arya in the Hall of Faces as she cries over "Jaqen's" corpse, weeping "He was my friend," though the Waif contradicts her. He has a vision of Arya alone, a beggar on the streets of Bravos, fighting off an invisible attacker. Back with the Faceless Men, Arya, devoid of emotion, recites for the Waif the names on her list. Bran observes as Arya, uncharacteristically stoic in her demeanor, proudly proclaim, "As I expected," while the Waif, surgically removing the face of a young man with a goatee, laments to Arya, "Shame, the girl had many gifts." Within the Hall of Faces, Arya returns an old woman's visage and selects, in replacement, the face of that same bearded young man. Bran stands by Lady Crane's corpse as Arya peels off that young man's face from her own. Bran sees Arya tumbling through a Bravosi market, where the fruit juice she wipes off on her clothes appear as blood stains. Again, the Waif inquires about Arya's list. Again, Jaqen insists Arya provide him a name to sacrifice to the Red God. Bran observes Arya, alone in her dark hideout, extinguish a candle with her sword. Persisting, the Waif inquires, concerning Arya's list, "Are you sure you're not forgetting someone?" With blank expression, Arya replies "Which name would you like a girl to speak?" Bran takes note of the Waif's subtle, triumphant grin. In Harrenhal, Jaqen again demands Arya, "Say a name," and Bran pays close attention as his sister cunningly whispers in Jaqen's ear.
Bran returns to the present, assuring Arya that, although her past maintains mysteries even to him, she is no threat to her family. When she asks how he can trust someone who does not know their own mind, he responds, "I don't need to trust. I see." Unconvinced, she kisses him on the cheek, and leaves. Only then does Sansa emerge from behind a tree. Bran explains that the Faceless Men have bewitched Arya's mind so that she can kill for them someone who trusts her implicitly, though she herself is unaware of this mission. Sansa asks who Arya is supposed to kill, and is frustrated as Bran calmly answers, "No One."
Sansa summons Arya before her court in the great hall of Winterfell, stunning Little-finger by accusing him of murder and treason, which Bran corroborates. She explains how Varys learned that when the maester of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea sent Robin of the Vale word that Rickon was alive and bound for Bravos, Little-finger contacted Sallador Saan to have him kidnap the boy. Sansa further indicts him for causing their father's death. Little-finger begs for mercy,but Sansa hands Arya her dagger and she executes him.
Cersei interrupts a military conference in the Red Keep, ordering Jaime to cease plans to aid the North. She tells him that Euron ferries the Golden Company from Essos to fight whichever weakened faction wins the battle for the North. Jaime is disgusted and, despite being threatened, rides north. Outside the city, Rhaegal lands intimidatingly before him. They study one another for several moments, before Jaime smiles.
Sam arrives at Winterfell. Upon visiting Bran's private chambers, the boy confides in him that Jon is the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. Sam explains that he has learned that they were legally married. Bran confirms this in a vision, in which Rhaegar and Lyanna marry in a strange ritual. Bran concludes that Jon is the Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne. On a ship heading north, Jon and Daenerys consummate their love. Tyrion, aware of their relationship, is wary.
Looking out over the Winterfell battlements, Sansa and Arya reminisce about their father, and they admit respect for each other.
While Bran keeps vigil in the Godswood, Beric and Tormund witness the Night King use Viserion to blast through the Wall at Eastwatch, allowing the Army of the Dead to advance south.