Game of Thrones Recap: Â The Winds of Winter
Airdate: Â 6/26/16 ; Season 6, Episode 10
Game of Thrones finales like to make grand exits, and last nightâs episode was no exception.  We saw some major power shifts, establishing the next generation of leaders in the world of GOTâŠand a huge revelation was finally made.  And did I mention all the killing? Copious characters â including lots of main players âbit the dust last night.  Can somebody please do a roll call?  With a supersized finale, they packed a lot of action into last nightâs episode, so letâs get to it and find out if your favorites survived âThe Winds of Winterâ.
 Get Me To The Sept On Time
 Itâs judgment day in Kingâs Landing as the trial for Ser Loras Tyrell and  Cersei Lannister is upon us.  We have a really cool sequence showing all the main players getting ready for the trial.  Cersei is rocking a black dress with some serious hardware to get that full Rhythm Nation vibe going.  King Tommen and Queen Margaeryâs servants dress them in their individual chambers, and when his crown is placed on Tommenâs head, he couldnât look more lost. High Sparrow pulls on his special occasion burlap sack - you know, the one that he cleans once a month.  Grand Maester Pycelle drapes some chains around his robe and a self-satisfied grin passes over his face.  HmâŠcould Pycelle be looking forward to Cerseiâs comeuppance? As Pycelle leaves his room, a little girl calls him over and whispers something to him.
Crowds file into the sept and the High Sparrow takes his seat at the seven-pointed star along with his six fellow judges. Â Queen Margaery and her father, Mace Tyrell, watch as Ser Loras is brought to the floor, sporting a brand new haircut. Â Loras decides to take all the fun out of the trial by simply confessing to all his crimes. Presumably, to avoid any truly horrendous punishment, Loras commits to becoming a servant of the Faith of the Seven. This means he has to renounce his family name, his lordship, his inheritance and best of all, it means he gets one of those awesome star tattoos carved into his forehead! Â Woot, silver linings all around! Â The only downside is that whoever is giving the tat does NOT have a steady hand. Â Also, they just let Lorasâ blood drip down his face and nobody has the decency to give him a rag afterwards. Â Filthy animals.
With Lorasâ extremely short trial complete, itâs now Cerseiâs turn to be tried by the Seven, but sheâs nowhere to be found at the sept. Â Instead, we see both Tommen and Cersei still at the Red Keep â though, in separate rooms. Â Cersei is leisurely pouring a glass of wine as though sheâs about to settle in and watch her stories for the rest of the day. Â Meanwhile, Tommen has finally mustered up the motivation to get his butt to the sept, but when he tries to leave his room the Frankenmountain bars the way.
Back at the sept, Queen Magaeryâs spidey sense is tingling and she tells the High Sparrow that something is very wrong, seeing how both King Tommen and Cersei are absent. Â High Sparrow sends his lackeys to go fetch Cersei.
 As Lancel Lannister and his Faith Militant buddies step outside, they notice a little boy acting rather suspicious and running down the steps into a doorway nearby.  Lancel decides to follow the kid down a dark corridor, when the child jumps out from the shadows and stabs him.  As Lancel lays injured on the floor, he notices the corridor is lined with barrels upon barrels that have glowing green liquid oozing from them.  Itâs wildfire, and itâs everywhere.  Further down the corridor are a few candles standing in a puddle of wildfire and theyâve almost melted down completely. Â
 At the same time, at the Red Keep, Pycelle has followed the little girl down to Qyburnâs creepy office/reanimation studio under the impression that King Tommen wants to meet him there.  When Pycelle sees Qyburn, he is annoyed and turns to leave, but a group of Qyburnâs little street urchins appear with knives in their hands. Children of the Corn, much?  Is there anything more terrifying than little children with weapons?  Yes, there isâŠnamely, when those little children attack mercilessly. Pycelle is gruesomely stabbed to death by Qyburns âlittle birdsâ. Â
 Margaery has raised her personal threat level to red and sheâs not going to stick around at the sept. She grabs her brother and father and tries to convince the High Sparrow to evacuate everybody. A panic spreads through the sept, but the Faith Militant donât allow Margaery and her family to leave.
Lancel, meanwhile, is desperately crawling toward the burning candles set in the wildfire to attempt to put them out, but heâs too late. Â The sept and everything nearby explodes in a neon green inferno, instantly killing everybody. Â Cersei watches the explosion from her room, sipping her wine and smiling like a sociopath.
 Revenge is a Dish Best Served With Wine
 Tommen hears the explosion and runs to his window.  As he sees the massive smoke cloud emanating from the sept, he is dumbfounded and simply looks on speechless and impotent.  So really, itâs just business as usual for Tommen.  Ugh, where is he gonna find a new puppet master on such short notice?
Elsewhere at the Red Keep, Cersei has septa Unella tied to a table and Cersei is pretty much waterboarding Unella with wine. Â She prompts Unella to âconfessâ that she enjoyed tormenting Cersei when Cersei was in Faith Militant custody. Â Cersei goes on to gloat, and gloat, and gloat about how frigginâ much she loves doing all the horrible things she does, because it feels so darned good. Â She tells Unella she wonât be killing her anytime soon. Â Then she calls the Frankenmountain into the room to do god-knows-what awful things to Unella. Â Cersei saunters away as Unella screams hysterically. Â
 Tommen is still looking out at the smoky ruins of the sept in the distance.  He removes his crown and steps away from the window.  Then, suddenly he comes back and without hesitation, Tommen steps up on the window ledge and plunges to his death.  Meme generators everywhere go wild.  Poor Tommen, he wasnât cut out for this kind of responsibility.  Yes, he was useless and cowardly, but he was also just a sensitive, impressionable kid.
 Qyburn shows Cersei her sonâs dead body and asks about funeral arrangements, seeing how the sept is no longer a burial option.  Cersei tells him that Tommen should be with his grandfather and siblings.  She instructs Qyburn to burn Tommenâs body and bury the ashes among the rubble at the sept.  Her gloatiness from earlier has disappeared entirely.
 Miles and miles away at The Twins, Walder Frey hosts a feast to celebrate the recovery of Riverrun. Jaime Lannister looks positively unimpressed to be there.  Walder takes a seat next to Jaime and tells him heâs thrown Edmure Tully back into the dungeon.  As Walder goes off on a self-congratulatory tirade, Jaime throws some serious shade and calls him out.  âYeah, dude, nobody respects you.  You always need the Lannisters to bail you out since you have zero fighting smarts. So stop being all braggy.â  Way to sour the mood, Jaime, but it did shut Walder up pretty nicely.
We finally get an update on Sam and Gilly, who have arrived at the Citadel in Oldtown. Â They enter the Maester Registration Building where they are greeted by the Dwight Shrute of clerical workers. Â Sam informs the humorless man that Lord Commander Jon Snow has sent him here to become a maester. Â Turns out the citadel needs to update their records, because they donât show a Lord Commander Snow in charge, so the man needs to check out Samâs story. Bureaucracy, man! Â In the meantime, Sam is allowed to check out the awesome library while Gilly and Little Sam have to wait outside like a bunch of plebians. Â Citadel = definitely not progressive. Â
Caught Red (Priestess) Handed
 At Winterfell, Jon is chatting with Melisandre when Davos storms in and accuses her of stone-cold murder for burning Shireen at the stake.  Jon asks Melisandre if this is true, and she admits to it.  She tries to deflect the blame along the âWellâŠya know, her dad and mom were okay with it, too.â But thatâs really not much of a winning argument.  Sorry, girl, just because other crazies support your crazy idea, that doesnât make it okay.  Jon spares Melisandreâs life, but he banishes her to the South and warns her that if she ever returns to Northern Westeros, sheâll be executed.  He tells her she must leave immediately.  Davos throws in that heâll kill her himself if he ever sees her in the North again.  Jeez, you sacrifice one kid at the stake and everybody seems to forget how you can bring people back from the dead.  Real nice.  Â
 Jon and Sansa watch from the battlements as a sullen Melisandre trots off into the snow on her horse.  Jon thanks Sansa for calling in the cavalry to help them all defeat Ramsay, and Sansa apologizes for not having told Jon about Littlefinger.  She does warn him never to trust Littlefinger, to which Jon replies that itâs time for the two siblings to trust each other. âAgreed.  Oh, and guess what?  We got a letter from the Citadel.  They did their Groundhog Day ritual and determined that winter is HERE!  Finally. Itâs official.  Dad was right.â
My Enemyâs Enemy Is My Friend
 Next we have a mercifully brief scene with Ellaria Sand and her daughters in Dorne, who are meeting with a visitor.  Lady Olenna Tyrell, the Queen of Thornes herself, has arrived to dish out sass to the Sand Snakes and to form an alliance with Ellaria in order to get revenge against Cersei Lannister.  Out from the shadows steps Varys, and itâs clear that he has come to broker and alliance on behalf of Queen Dany.  Wow, dragons, Sand Snakes and the army of House Tyrell united are gonna be one formidable foe for the Lannisters! Â
In Meereen, Daenerys Targaryen and Dreamboat Daario are discussing Danyâs next steps. Â Her ships are being readied for her mission to invade Westeros, and Daario is excited to be a part of it when Dany has to have the awkward breakup talk with him. Â She instructs him to stay in Meereen and keep things running smoothly. Â Sheâs even rebranded Slaverâs Bay to be called Dragonâs Bay. Â Sweet! Daario is super bummed that he is being dumped and confesses his love to her. Dany reasons that sheâll need to form alliances in Westeros and will likely marry somebody to clinch a deal. Having a boyfriend in tow isnât going to help her cause. Â Also, sheâs actually not all that into Daario, despite all his dreaminess. Â
After Dany gets her pesky break-up business out of the way, she shares a warm moment with Tyrion Lannister who fails miserably at cheering her up, but gets her pumped for her conquest of Westeros. Â He tells Dany how much he believes in her and then she goes and gives him the feels by naming him Hand of the Queen. Â She even had an official pin made up for him. Â These two are a great team! Â I love it.Â
Back at The Twins, the Lannister army has left and Walder Frey is back to his usual crankiness. Heâs sitting alone in the dining hall and a pretty servant brings him his food. Â He assumes sheâs one of the servants from the Lannister army and grumbles that his sons are late for dinner. Â The servant tells him they are already here. Walder is understandably confused and she tells him again, but this time she points at his meat pie on his plate. Gag! The sons have been baked into the pie? Â Suddenly the servant pulls her face off and itâs Arya Stark! Â OMG, jaw drops on the floor! Â Arya gets Frey in a headlock tells him who she is. Â She cheerily informs him the last thing heâll see before he dies is a Stark smiling down at him and then she slashes his throat, just like the Freys killed her brother Robb and mother Catelyn. Â Ah, karma is sweet. Â Not to get too nerdy here, but Iâm a little unclear as to how Arya just has a face available to be wearing. Â Unless Jaqen gifted her with a face, I donât really understand how she can simply run around and change faces if she isnât checking one out of the face library. Â I mean, a lot of work goes into harvesting faces. We know this. Â Anyhoo, thatâs a question for another day.
 Sansa is hanging out at the Godswood at Winterfell and Littlefinger approaches.  He tells her heâs sent word out to the North of the victory against the Boltons and that the Kights of the Vale are pledged to her. He suggests that Sansa should seriously consider claiming Winterfell for herself rather that letting her bastard bro Jon Snow lay claim as the heir.  Sheâs asks him what he wants.  Itâs simple: To sit on the Iron Throne with Sansa at his side.  Just as Litterfinger is getting extra smarmy and leans in for a kiss, Sansa pushes him away, tells him itâs a pretty picture and leaves.Â
Speaking of Godswood trees, Benjen Stark has accompanied Bran Stark and Meera Reed to the Godswood just north of the Wall â itâs the same tree where Jon took his Nightâs Watch oath back in season 1. Â Benjen tells them he canât go beyond the wall because itâs imbued with magic that wonât allow him past. Â Interesting, so I guess thatâs why the Whitewalkers canât just mosey South of the wall. Â I wonder what the limits are of that magic.
Bran decides to tap into the Godswood for another warg session.  Meera asks him if heâs ready.  âDuh, Iâm the Three-Eyed Raven now, Iâd better be ready.  Whatâs the worst thing that could happeâuh, nevermind. Lemme just do this.â  In his warging vision, Bran goes back to where we last saw a younger Ned Stark at the Tower of Joy.  This time, Bran follows his father up the stairs.  Ned finds his sister Lyanna laying in bed, her torso covered in blood.  She tells Ned sheâs going to die and she whispers something into his ear.  We can faintly hear her say âIf Robert finds out, heâll kill him, you know he will.  You have to protect him.  Promise me, Ned.â  We hear a baby cry and a woman in the room lays a sweet little bundled baby into Nedâs arms.  The child opens his eyesâŠand the scene changes to a close up on present day Jon Snowâs face. Â
And there we have it. The L+R=J theory has been confirmed. Iâve kinda assumed this was the case for a while now, but itâs nice for them to finally give a definite answer as to the question of who Jon Snowâs parents really are. Â Jon Snow is actually Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryenâs son and Ned lied to him his whole life to keep him safe. Awwww, lies for protection. The sweetest kind of lies!
 On to the next scene. Jon Snow is hosting NorthCon at his house or something, because weâve got all the Wildlings and a bunch of Northern Houses gathered together in one of the big halls at Winterfell.  At first some of the Northerners are pissed that Wildlings are on their turf, but Jon tells them they need to look at the bigger picture now that winter has come and the boogeyman is beyond the wall.  Lyanna Mormont gives a rousing speech, calling out the houses that didnât support Jon when he needed them to defeat the Boltons. She pledges her support to Jon as the King of the North.  The other houses quickly fall in line, give a heartfelt âSorry, I bailed on you earlier. Can we still be friends if I call you my king?â and soon the whole room is amped and having a big Jon Snow lovefest. Sansa sits next to Jon and is genuinely enjoying the acceptance and support for her brother (though, technically heâs her cousin) until she sees Littlefinger being pouty and shady in the corner.  She knows sheâs gotta keep an eye on that one.
 In the outskirts of Kingâs Landing, Jaime Lannister and his army are returning home, but the huge billowing smoke that is still coming from the sept immediately has him worried.  As Jaime makes his way into the Red Keep, he is just in time for the coronation ceremony ofâŠQueen Cersei!  Thatâs right, Iâm not totally sure how the succession rules work, but I guess since all the Baratheons (including presumed Baratheons) are dead, and since Cersei used to be the Queen, she gets to be the Queen now? Or is it just that whoever has the biggest hidden stash of wildfire gets to rule?  Regardless, Cersei is the Queen Bee once again, but considering the price she paid for it, she looks unsurprisingly unhappy.  Jaime looks on from the wings realizing all three of their children are now dead. Â
Across the Narrow Sea, the other Queen has set sail with her massive fleet. Â Danyâs ships are pimped out with Targaryen sigil sails and golden dragon heads on the bow We see the Greyjoy siblings, and Danyâs whole Scooby Gang, including Varys, on deck with Dany. Â Her three dragons soar through the sky and we get a sweeping view of the enormity of Daenerys Targaryenâs army. Â The Mother of Dragons is ready to take Westeros by storm. Â I pity the fool that tries to stop them.
And thus ends the season. Such a lot of great things happened in this episode. Â The previous week was truly the apex of all the action, but last night still gave us a good dose of spectacle. Â I was pretty shocked that they did away with pretty much all of House Tyrell and the Faith Militant in one big swoop. Â And then Tommen bit the dust as well, making Cerseiâs witch prophecy come true. Wild. Â But I suppose, in a way, that we needed a big change. Â Wildfire will definitely do that for you. Â At this point, it looks like Cersei will become a bit of a Mad Queen. The only thing she has left in her life is Jaime, but what else do they have going for them? Â They wonât have any successors to the throne. Â I doubt Cersei will take a husband. Â Jaime doesnât want to have a family with anybody else. Â The Lannister name will die out, unless Tyrion ends up having a kid. Â Things be cray! Â But they probably wonât need to worry about long-term plans, because Dany will be knocking down their gates soon enough to disrupt the order of things.
I love that Arya is going on her private little vendetta streak. Â Cersei and the Mountain are still on her list, so I wonder if sheâll get to them before Dany has a chance to obliterate the Lannisters. Â Or will the Hound finish off his bro?
Will Bran ever get to reunite with his family again? Â And if so, how fun will it be when Jon discovers heâs a cousin to the Starks and a nephew to Queen Dany? Â I think his Targaryen roots are gonna come in might handy once Dany starts taking over Westeros. Â If we are sticklers for succession, I think he technically has a right to the Iron Throne sine heâs Danyâs older brotherâs child. Â Either way, cousins unite to save the world! Â Lots of fun things to ponder and theorize over for the next long ten months. Hang in there my fellow GOT-ers. Winter is here and itâs gonna last a while.