Warning: What is dead may never die, but you can’t un-see something you wish you hadn’t, so if you are wary of any potential spoilers about this week’s Game of Thrones episode then don’t cross the Narrow Sea of this paragraph.
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If we can learn anything from the photos for this week’s 7th episode of this 6th season of Game of Thrones, titled “The Broken Man,” it’s that lots of people, women included, fit that description currently. In this batch of images released by HBO (all available in our gallery below) we see that all throughout Westeros and even across the Narrow Sea in Braavos, a city itself guarded by a broken man (the Titan of Braavos’s sword is snapped off near the hilt), characters find themselves in desperate situations, partly due to their own actions and partly due to circumstance.
Starting in King’s Landing we see Margaery finally free from the Great Sept of Balor and embracing her grandmother, the Queen of Thorns Olenna Tyrell, but at the great cost it required of her, as the devout and violent Septa Unella stands guard over the proceedings. If Margaery’s sudden conversion to the Seven is really just a ruse, it’s not one the Faith will her get away with easily.
Showing that her role is growing in importance in both King’s Landing and in trying to save the union of House Tyrell and House Lannister/Baratheon (remember, Tommen is technically Baratheon), Olenna Tyrell greets Cersei in a meeting sure to be full of blame and scolding. Cersei got both their houses into this mess by trying to ruin House Tyrell, and Olenna Tyrell has never been shy about saying what she really thinks.
While Cersei and the Tyrells are left to deal with the ever growing influence of the Faith in the ruling of King’s Landing, Jaime, stripped of his white cloak and his title as Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, has already arrived at Riverrun. (That was fast, so yay for not having to waste time getting there. Also, Bronn is back FINALLY.) Jamie is there to deal with a man who has lost his nearly all his family and power, the Blackfish, Brynden Tully, last seen escaping the Red Wedding. Both men find themselves in a showdown over who will control the castle, Brynden and his small force, or the Freys, who were given the castle by Tywin Lannister for killing Robb Stark and his men.
One of the more interesting photos though is the shot of Arya, outside in the open during the day, staring off into the distance at the Titan of Braavos. When we last saw her she seemed to be preparing for a fight in total darkness (and you thought blind training wasn’t going to matter), but here she is dressed and looking at the way out, possibly to the way home. Is this her final moment of hope before being added to the Hall of Faces, or the beginning of her escape from the death cult?
Finally, the most revealing image of them all is Sansa, Jon, and Ser Davos all meeting with (get ready fellow book readers!) Robett Glover of House Glover, a Northern family that fought with Robb. And though we can’t know what the show might do with them, they are a House that Sansa and Jon have as good a hope as any to believe they will join them in their coming war against the Boltons.
We keep hearing “The North remembers,” are we about to see those words actually turn into action? Does this mean we are going to meet Ser Wyman Manderly too (oh please let it happen)? Is this the beginning of the Starks retaking of Winterfell, or another false hope for Jon and Sansa?
“The Broken Man” airs this Sunday at 9 on HBO, and we’ll see who can start to fix themselves, and who will be destroyed.
What do you think of these images? What do you think they tell us? Give us your thoughts in the comments below.
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Images: HBO