Game of Thrones Recap ‘High Sparrow’: The North Remembers

In the latest Game of Thrones recap, a royal wedding takes place, Cersei feels threatened, Sansa finds out Littlefinger’s grand plan and Tyrion breaks out of the box and meets a familiar face….

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

Early on in ‘Game of Thrones’, Cersei Lannister had wise words for Ned Stark as he tried to embark on a noble quest while living in the heart of deceit and deception as he took up residence in the capital of King’s Landing.

“When you play the game of thrones you win or you die.”

The problem Ned faced was he tried to play the game by the rules and as he found out with his head lopped off by malicious King Joffrey after he was promised that he could live out his days serving as a member of the Night’s Watch — in this game there are no rules.

The Hound had to teach Arya that same lesson when he asked her last season how many Starks have to lose their heads before she figures out how this world really works. She’s finally starting to see the world for what it really is as she begins to grow and develop at The House of Black and White.

Meanwhile thousands of miles away, Jon Snow took the road to nobility when he turned down King Stannis and his offer to make him the new Lord of Winterfell because he made a sacred vow and he would never break it. Maybe Jon is the next Stark to learn that playing the game by the rules doesn’t usually just end with a happy winner and a sore loser. It ends with someone alive and someone dead.

Then again there were some masterful minds at work in the latest episode titled ‘High Sparrow’ as well with Petyr Baelish and Margaery Tyrell beginning to solidify their places in the Westeros hierarchy and neither of them raised a sword or built an army.

They are winning because they know how to play the game. And when it comes to the Seven Kingdoms, it’s the only way to stay alive.

With that, let’s recap the latest episode of Game of Thrones titled ‘High Sparrow’.

No One’s Sword

At the House of Black and White, Arya has been spending her days and nights sweeping floors as she quietly begins her training to become the next ‘Karate Kid’ — just kidding. She’s actually becoming quite impatient as the assassins known at the Faceless Men keep her busy with house work, but haven’t started to train her in the way to become an effective killer and that’s why she showed up here in the first place.

Things only get more puzzling when she witnesses on man die after drinking water from the fountain in the middle of the room. When she questions Jaqen H’ghar about the one true god he says they worship, he answers back that she already knows this god and it’s the same one all men bow down to (hint: it’s death). Arya’s day goes even further down the toilet when another assassin cadet decides to torment her by asking a series of questions and then smacking her with a tree branch every time she answers.

Just when Arya’s had enough and about to show the girl what the pointy end of her sword feels like, Jaqen intervenes and says that she’s not ready for this game yet. Arya insists that she’s ready for whatever he will throw at her, but he’s more curious why she keeps claiming to be no one when clearly he still sees Arya Stark.

“Whose sword is that? It belongs to Arya Stark. Arya Stark’s sword, Arya Stark’s clothes, Arya Stark’s stolen silver. The man wonders how is it that no one came to be surrounded by Arya Stark’s things?”

~ Jaqen H’ghar

Arya gets the point, changes into a robe like all the others are wearing at the House of Black and White before sinking all of her belongings to the bottom of the Narrow Sea. The only thing remaining is her beloved needle — but after some soul searching it’s the one thing she can’t give up so Arya buries it beneath some rocks because it’s the one link she has left to the life she left behind in Winterfell all those years ago.

Now her training to become one of the Faceless Men can truly begin

There’s Only Room for One Queen

Weddings are a very popular function in ‘Game of Thrones’ and there have been no shortage of them lately. This week we saw King Tommen wed his bride Margaery in the latest nuptials, but this one didn’t end with a royal choking by way of poison. Actually there wasn’t a reception at all (that we saw).

Instead King Tommen got busy making more Baratheon children while mounting Margaery as soon as the wedding was over. I’m guessing that in the show Tommen is supposed to be somewhere around the age of 14 or 15 so his thoughts on first time sex are probably what every teenager thinks at that point in life.

“This is all I want to do all day, everyday. For the rest of my life.”

~ Tommen

While Tommen is interesting in all things naked, Margaery has her eyes on the throne — namely the one she’s currently sharing with his mother, Cersei. Margaery has learned very well how to manipulate the men in her life and after giving Tommen the royal romp, she quickly turns the subject to his mother’s immense love for him and how she will never leave his side. Now Tommen feels like he’s a man after what he just did with his wife and the last thing he wants to think about is his mother coming upstairs and asking him if he wants tucked in.

So through a few subtle suggestions, Tommen mentions to his mother that she might be happier back on Casterley Rock. Of course, Cersei scoffs at the idea but it only takes one meeting with Margaery to know exactly where this idea came from. After enduring the new Queen calling her ‘mother’, Cersei had to hear Margaery brag about what a lion her little boy is in the bedroom and how it wouldn’t be long before she would be a grandmother. Margaery even took a jab at Cersei’s rose colored liver.

“I wish we had some wine for you. It’s a bit early in the day for us.”

~ Margaery

Cersei is quickly finding out that her power is slipping so she needs to do something quick to get a grip again.

The opportunity presents itself when the High Septon gets busted in one of Littlefinger’s brothels by ‘The Sparrows’. The force led by Lancel Lannister forces the High Septon to engage in a walk of shame, which means being stripped naked and being made to walk out of the brothel while the religious order more or less berates him as he travels along the alleyway.

When the High Septon demands this order of Sparrows be arrested, convicted and executed, Cersei sees what she believes is an opening. She puts the High Septon in jail and goes to see the order of Sparrows led by a man they call the High Sparrow. In reality, he’s just a man who sort of leads the religious order by example, which includes feeding the hungry and giving every scrap of clothing he has to those who are more in need.

“The Faith and the Crown are the two pillars that hold up this world. One collapses, so does the other. We must do everything necessary to protect one another.”

~ Cersei

Cersei is no longer wearing a crown so maybe she believes by restoring the faith, she’ll find an entirely new kind of power. Religion does seem to wield that from time to time. She’s also seeking an audience with Littlefinger so clearly he plays back into her plans as well so she orders Qyburn to send him a letter. One more thing — the giant lump moving on Qyburn’s table…

Certainly looks like a mountain of a man, doesn’t it?

The Man Who Passes the Sentence

At the Wall, Stannis makes one last go at Jon by offering him the North and a legitimate last name, but after being made Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, he’s not going anywhere but Castle Black. In a strange way, I think Stannis actually respects Jon more for sticking by his convictions, but the new friends have a bigger problem now.

Stannis and his men are eating through all of the Night’s Watch supplies and Jon is quietly hoping they’ll move on before long. Stannis agrees that it’s time to go and he plans to march on Winterfell the next night. He also suggests that Jon fortify his position by seeing of Tormund is a smarter leader than Mance Rayder when it comes to joining the Wildlings to his army. He also asks for Jon’s support as he tackles the task of ridding the North of Roose Bolton and his army. When Jon says that he’s a member of the Night’s Watch and they don’t take sides in matters of the crown, it’s Davos who finally tries to reach the new Lord Commander with a few words from the very oath he swore to when he took the black in the first place.

“The shield who guards the realms of men. It’s who you swore to be. Now I’m not a learned man but the best way to help the most people might not be sitting in a frozen castle at the edge of the world. It might just mean wading the muck, getting your boots dirty and doing what needs to be done. As long as the Boltons rule the North, the North will suffer. Just one man’s opinion.”

~ Davos Seaworth

Before Jon can do much of anything south of the Wall, he has to get his own house in order at Castle Black.

At his first meeting as the new Lord Commander, Jon hands out orders and assignments. He’s made Ollie (the boy who killed Ygritte) his new steward and he puts Samwell in charge of looking after Maester Aemon, who is apparently not feeling very well these days. He hands out a latrine to be built before facing down his two biggest detractors.

First, Jon commends Alliser for being brave in the face of danger and for always being a loyal soldier of the Night’s Watch. His reward is being named First Ranger, an honor that was once bestowed to his uncle Benjen Stark before he went missing north of the Wall. He then tells Janos Slynt that he’s to become the new lord over Greyguard, a castle that belongs to the Night’s Watch that’s been in ruins for many years.

Instead of accepting his assignment, Janos challenges Jon’s orders and eventually goes as far as telling him to stick his Greyguard post up his bastard ass. Jon’s heard enough an orders that Janos be brought outside and placed on a block of wood before ordering Ollie to fetch his sword.

When Janos realizes that his insubordination is going to cost him his head, he back tracks and begs for mercy and says he’ll go wherever the Lord Commander tells him. Jon already sentenced him and just like his father told him while they were still in Winterfell — he needs to swing the sword. One chop later and Janos lost his head and Jon gained a nod from Stannis who was watching from above on a deck at Castle Black.

Jon had to ensure his rules would be followed and this was a very clear message than he’s the man in charge and anybody who usurps him will either follow or face the sword.

A Familiar Face

After days on the road to Volantis, Tyrion has finally reached his breaking point and he’s going mad just looking at the same four walls and Varys’ as the only face in front of him. He demands a walk through the city, some fresh wine and maybe a whore to tickle his fancy. Varys finally relents although reluctantly.

In the city, Tyrion sees what the other side of the world looks like. He sees slaves who are branded with their skill or trait because that’s all they will ever be to their masters. He finds a priestess in the courtyard praying the Lord of Light as she praises the new queen who rose from the fire unburnt (while he also mentions the only other one he ever knew was Thoros of Myr aka the member of the Brotherhood Without Banners). When the priestess looks directly at him after her sermon, Tyrion decides now is a good time to go elsewhere.

The best landing spot? A brothel of course!

Inside, Tyrion drinks and watches a Daenerys clone jump around from customer to customer as the most popular choice in this establishment. Finally, Tyrion settles on a woman of his own and he manages to negotiate himself some time with her in the bedroom. Unfortunately when she starts to lead him away, Tyrion realizes that the memories of Shae are just too fresh in his head and he can’t do it. Now that he’s not horny 24/7, he wonders what he’ll do with all that free time?

Right now he’s mostly worried about urinating off the side of the wall outside the brothel. What he doesn’t notice and what Varys misses as well is another man quietly drinking himself stupid in the same establishment (after he probably dropped every penny he had on the Daenerys look-a-like). It’s Jorah Mormont and as soon as he spots Tyrion, he wraps him up in a rope, puts a gag over his mouth and tells the imp where his fate now lies.

“I’m taking you to the Queen.”

~ Jorah Mormont

Now some may think he’s taking Tyrion to King’s Landing to receive Cersei’s promise of a lordship for her brother’s head, but there’s no way Jorah will ever refer to anyone other than Daenerys Targaryen as queen. Delivering a Lannister prize at her doorstep might be the key to regaining her trust or at least that’s what Jorah has to believe. Too bad he doesn’t know Tyrion is barely a Lannister these days.

The North Remembers

Back in the North, Brienne and Podrick are still on Sansa’s tail as her garrison arrives at Moat Cailin. Brienne is content to sit back and wait until she finds an opening to rescue Sansa from Littlefinger, but patience in the key in this task. In the meantime, she realizes that she’s been rather mean to poor Pod these past few months and decides to treat him like a squire once and for all.

That means sword training twice a day and teaching Pod how to fight like a proper knight. She asks him how he came to be in Tyrion’s employ before Brienne explains how she first came to know Renly Baratheon. It was years ago when her father was parading her around as a prize for some prince in some castle in a far off land. When the boys made fun of her for being tall and awkward and ugly, it was Renly who danced with her and told her everything would be alright. She stayed loyal to him until the day he died and now promises to one day avenge him — even if that means killing his brother Stannis.

Meanwhile, Baelish and Sansa’s arrival at Moat Cailin can mean only one thing — Littlefinger’s marriage proposal is about to come to fruition. It seems when he was exchanging scrolls recently, Littlefinger was quietly arranging a marriage between Roose Bolton’s son Ramsay and Sansa — the oldest living Stark, who will bring peace to the North.

Sansa is disgusted by the idea of marrying a man whose father betrayed her family and killed her brother and mother. Baelish sees this as the perfect opportunity to get revenge for both of them.

“You’ve been running all your life. Terrible things happen to your family and you weep. You sit alone in a darkened room, mourning their fates. You’ve been a bystander to tragedy from the day they executed your father. Stop being a bystander, you hear me? Stop running. There’s no justice in the world. Not unless we make it. You loved your family. Avenge them.”

~ Petyr Baelish

Sansa agrees and she’s as sweet as apple pie when shaking Roose Bolton’s hand and meeting his flay loving son Ramsay for the first time. Despite the new alliance, Roose is still wary of Littlefinger (as he should be) because he knows that Baelish is a man who amasses power and wealth like pieces on a chess board, one by one, until there are no pieces left standing except his own.

A note from Cersei Lannister arriving for Baelish makes Lord Bolton even more curious, but as Littlefinger reminds him, he’s there to amass power. The kind that crushes crowns and crumbles dynasties. The kind Robert Baratheon started with his friend Ned Stark that eventually led to the end of the Targaryen reign in Westeros.

“The last time the Lords of the Eyrie formed an alliance with the Lords of the North, they brought down the greatest dynasty this world has ever known.”

~ Petyr Baelish

While Baelish is as devious as he is manipulative, he’s also far from stupid. He’s been playing the long game since the start of season one and just like he commented long ago when standing near the Iron Throne with his ‘friend’ Varys — chaos is a ladder. The Seven Kingdoms was thrown into upheaval with the death of Robert Baratheon and it happened once again with the death of Joffrey Baratheon. Littlefinger has quietly made alliances with the Tyrells while he rules the Eyrie and now he’s returning the Starks to their rightful home in the North. And make no mistake — Sansa isn’t marrying Ramsay because she’s destined to be a Bolton.

She’s there to stake her claim to the land her family has ruled for hundreds of years and if Baelish has his way, they will soon rule again. Sansa figured this out when she settled down in her new room deep inside the bowels of Moat Cailin as a servant woman reminded her just how powerful and influential her last name happens to be.

“Welcome home, Lady Stark. The North remembers.”

Something tells me by the end of this marriage — the Boltons will be forced to remember, too.

Make sure to come back for the next episode of ‘Game of Thrones’ airing Sunday night at 9pm only on HBO.