Game of Thrones Recap ‘No One’: The Things We Do For Love

In the latest Game of Thrones recap, Cersei is dealt a devastating hand, The Hound runs into some old friends and Arya reclaims her place in the world…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

It looks like Clegane-Bowl will remain a fantasy for book readers who are still waiting on George R.R. Martin to finish his fantasy series.

A week ago, rumors started swirling — and even I wrote about it — that there was a possibility that Cersei’s trial by combat would result in a fight between her champion Ser Gregor Clegane aka “The Mountain” and the Faith’s chosen champion, who we all guessed would be Ser Sandor Clegane aka “The Hound”. Unfortunately, the brother versus brother showdown will never likely happen on Game of Thrones after King Tommen made a royal decree this week that took away his mother’s best chance at freedom from the Faith Militant.

“After much prayer and reflection, the crown’s decided from this day forward trial by combat will be forbidden throughout the Seven Kingdoms. The tradition is a brutish one, a scheme devised by corrupt rulers in order to avoid true judgment from the Gods. Cersei Lannister and Loras Tyrell will stand trial before seven septons as it was in the earliest days of the Faith.”

~ Tommen

Ever since Cersei finished her walk of atonement a season ago and was introduced to a zombified version of The Mountain, she’s been waiting on the chance to call for a trial by combat knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that her champion could not be defeated. What she underestimated was the power the High Sparrow had over her son, not to mention how a show of strength against the Faith Militant likely spurred the pious leader to play his best hand yet.

So after watching The Mountain literally rip a Faith Militant member’s head off his neck, Cersei’s joy turned to misery as her son took away the only real chance she had to survive a trial for all of her many sins.

While Tywin Lannister was a man who understood how to unravel a very meticulous plot — like the one he used to eliminate Robb Stark by betrayal rather than on the battle field — was just further proof of his cunning and conniving ways to get things done. Joffrey Baratheon did things out of pure joy of torture, but mostly he was a puppet controlled by his grandfather. It looked like Tommen was on his way to the same status until Tyrion murdered Tywin and left him to become someone else’s puppet.

As it turns out, The High Sparrow has the best strings in the Seven Kingdoms because he has Tommen bouncing around at his every command.

And unfortunately for Cersei, her grandest weapon in this war against the Faith was violence and now she’s just watched her sword get taken away by the very son she was trying to protect all along. Who will save Cersei now that she has no champion and no trial by combat? It appears Cersei has one more plot up her sleeve and this queen of the damned isn’t doomed just yet.

With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Game of Thrones titled ‘No One’….

The Things We Do For Love

As Jamie Lannister and his army sit outside the gates of Riverrun, he soon receives a new visitor as Brienne of Tarth arrives on a mission to recruit The Blackfish and the Tully army to ride north and fight alongside his great niece as she battles to take back Winterfell.

When Brienne arrives, she’s a sight for sore eyes because Jamie was quite the noble gentleman the last time they saw each other. Of course a lot has changed since then.

Jamie has been absorbed back into his family business as an arm of King Tommen while still sitting at his sister’s side because deep down she’s all he’s ever really wanted. Meanwhile, Brienne has accomplished her mission to find Sansa Stark and protect her at all costs, but her loyalty now puts her right back in the crosshairs of the Lannister family and their plans for Riverrun.

Jamie tries to explain to his old friend that there is no bargaining with the Blackfish and she’d be better off riding back home and just passing along the message. Brienne is undeterred and says that she wants one chance to give the Blackfish a note from his great niece and if she can get him to surrender the castle peacefully to go along with her, Jamie will agree to let them all go without a single drop of blood being shed.

Jamie agrees to give Brienne one night to swing the Blackfish in her favor and after that all bets are off. Before she leaves, Brienne decides to give Jamie back his sword — Oathkeeper — after she was given the weapon as a tool she could use in her hunt for Sansa Stark. Now that Sansa has been found, Brienne is ready to return the sword to its rightful owner.

Brienne: “You gave it to me for a purpose. I’ve achieved that purpose”

Jamie: “It’s yours. It will always be yours.”

As Brienne leaves the tent, she knows that the next time she stands across from Jamie Lannister — if she ever stands across from Jamie Lannister — they will do so as enemies. She now serves Sansa Stark, who is still a suspect in the murder of King Joffrey and as much as Jamie knows deep down that she had nothing to do with it anymore than Tyrion did, there’s no way to stop the crown from going after the Stark family if they revolt again. So this really might be goodbye for good.

Inside Riverrun, Brienne finds out what a tough “old goat” the Blackfish really is after he refuses to hear her out and even after reading Sansa’s note, he’s determined to hold onto the castle for as long as he can. As much as Sansa wants Winterfell return to its rightful owner, the Blackfish wants the same for Riverrun and he’s got a leg up in the competition because he’s already taken his castle.

Brienne has to leave defeated — just as Jamie predicted — but he had another plan in mind to eradicate the Blackfish just in case he was as stubborn as he was honorable.

Jamie goes to the tent where they are holding Edmure Tully and inside he tells the true lord of Riverrun about his baby boy — the one he sired with Walder Frey’s daughter on their wedding night and the same child he still has never met because he’s been in chains ever since they took their vows. Jamie then tells Edmure a story about how Catelyn Stark and Cersei Lannister aren’t all that different despite the fact that they shared quite a disdain for one another. See, Catelyn was so fiercely protective of her children that she was willing to let Jamie go — the greatest prize her son Robb had captured during his war — in return to retrieve Sansa and Arya from King’s Landing. It’s no different than the lengths Cersei would go to in protecting her children, although one could argue she hasn’t been all that successful considering two of them are dead.

Regardless, the point is Catelyn Stark and Cersei Lannister are mothers who will do anything and everything to protect their children. And seeing as Jamie is completely, head over heels in love with his sister, he’ll do anything to get back to her. That’s why Jamie is willing to step over a line when it comes to Lord Edmure to ensure that he’s not sitting outside the gates of Riverrun for the next two years waiting for the Blackfish to surrender or starve to death.

“They’d do anything to protect their babies. Start a war, burn cities to ash, free their worst enemies. The things we do for love. I’ll send for your baby boy and I’ll launch him into Riverrun with a catapult because you don’t matter to me Lord Edmure. Your son doesn’t matter to me. The people in the castle don’t matter to me. Only Cersei and if I have to slaughter every Tully that ever lived to get back to her, that’s what I’ll do.”

~ Jamie Lannister

Make note of two things Jamie said right there — burn cities to ash (more on that later) and “the things we do for love”. That’s the exact same phrase he used just before shoving Bran Stark out a window in the debut episode of season one. It certainly seems like that phrase will come back to bite him eventually when Bran’s greenseer travels take him back to the day where he was paralyzed.

Anyways, Jamie sends Edmure to the castle where he demands the drawbridge be lowered. As the true lord of Riverrun, the soldiers have no choice but to follow his commands despite the Blackfish imploring them not take his orders because he’s been compromised. Sure enough, Edmure walks in and demands that the drawbridge be lowered again and the entire castle stand at surrender so they can turn it over to the Lannisters and the Freys. Edmure was always a moron but now we know for certain that he’s also a coward.

As the Lannister armies march into Riverrun, the Blackfish makes one last escape long enough to help Brienne and Podrick get out of the city on a boat. Brienne tries to talk him into leaving with them and helping Sansa in her war, but the Blackfish knows his best fighting days are done.

“I haven’t had a proper sword fight in years. I expect I’ll make a damn fool of myself.”

~ The Blackfish

The Blackfish provides enough distraction so Brienne and Podrick can get away. Eventually, the Lannister men overpower him and the Blackfish is gutted. Meanwhile, Brienne and Podrick sail away on a boat and from the top of the castle stands Jamie Lannister looking down on them. He could easily order his men to seize the slow moving boat and have both of them captured, but instead Jamie waves as his friend Brienne as she floats away from him. She waves back and it certainly seems like this will be the last time the two of them see each other.

Whether it’s the war brewing in the north or the dead coming to reclaim the Seven Kingdoms, it doesn’t seem likely that Jamie and Brienne will ever set eyes on each other again because not everyone in this story is going to make it out alive. In the end, neither Jamie nor Brienne may live to see the final chapter unfold and it’s even less likely they’ll see it together.

A New Brotherhood

Elsewhere in the Riverlands, Sandor Clegane aka The Hound is on the hunt for the rogue members of the Brotherhood without Banners who killed his friends back at the makeshift sept. The first group of four people he runs into all get axed in a matter of seconds and the last one standing gets gutted as his entrails spill out onto the ground with the Hound standing over him and he’s understandably at a loss for words.

The Hound: “Those are your last words — fuck you? Come on, you can do better.”

Dying Man: “Cunt!”

The Hound: “You’re shit at dying you know that?”

Not long after dispatching those four, The Hound happens upon the three killers who helped massacre his friends, but it turns out they were already set to be hanged by the real Brotherhood without Banners. It seems these rogue soldiers broke away from the main sect and they went into business for themselves while using the Brotherhood’s name. When they eventually slaughtered a group of innocent people, the Brotherhood finally had enough and now they are being executed for their crimes.

The Hound demands that he gets the carry out the sentence and while he kicks out the stumps holding them up, it’s still not as satisfying as laying waste to them with a blade and watching them bleed out while screaming for help.

After a good execution, the Hound is hungry and so he sits down to dinner with his old “friends” including Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr.

The conversation quickly turns to what the Hound is going to do next now that he’s been given a second chance at life. Despite past misgivings between the Brotherhood and the Hound, they are interested in him joining their ranks.

“Cold winds are rising in the North. We need good men to help us.”

~ Beric Dondarrion

It seems the Brotherhood — who follow the Lord of Light remember — are headed north to battle the army of the dead that will soon find a way past the great Wall. They want the Hound to join them but he’s hesitant to fight anybody else’s war anymore. Of course, Beric has a not so subtle reminder to give to the Hound after he stepped away from the fray after the Battle of Blackwater Bay so many years ago.

“You’re a fighter. You were born a fighter. You walked away from a fight. How did that go? Good and bad. Young and old. The things we’re fighting will destroy them all alike. You can still help a lot more than you’ve harmed, Clegane. It’s not too late for you.”

~ Beric

The Hound joining the Brotherhood without Banners as they begin to trek north would be an interesting team indeed. The Hound has done plenty of bad in his day, but the chance to literally battle back against the forces of darkness would be one hell of a redemption story. He might even run into a familiar face if he goes north….

The Girl is Someone

Back in Braavos, Arya has run to the only other person she knows in the city who might give her safe haven away from the Faceless men. Arya ends up calling on Lady Crane to help her and the actress does exactly that. In fact, Lady Crane nurses Arya back to health and even gives her food to regain her strength while recovering from the stab wounds.

Unfortunately, the Faceless Men don’t give up just because they fail a first time.

So a day later, the Waif shows up and kills Lady Crane and then tells Arya that the Many Faced God finally got the sacrifice demanded but there’s still one more life to give. Arya decides to jump out a window and down through the city as she looks to avoid the Waif and get to safety.

Over railings, down a flight of stairs and through any number of people, Arya runs and no matter how far she gets, the Waif is already right behind her. But after her stab wound opens up, Arya starts leaving a very blood trail — almost like she’s giving the Waif every chance to follow her.

As it turns out, Arya was leading the Waif exactly where she wanted her to go — into the catacombs of a building where she was staying, complete with her sword needle waiting for her there along with one single candle that was lit. When the Waif arrives, she’s ready to hand Arya a final death, but one swipe of the sword later and the light is gone. Remember, Arya lived in darkness for months, adapting to the fact that she lost her sight and in the end she was rather skilled.

The Waif on the other hand only learned how to beat up a blind girl, but never embraced the darkness. Arya was born into it. Molded by it.

Back at the House of Black and White, Jaqen H’ghar finds a spot of blood and then another and yet another that eventually leads him into the Hall of Faces. The bloody trail leads to the wall and on the wall sits a new addition — it’s the Waif and she’s been killed, skinned and her face added as a sacrifice to the Many Faced God. When Jaqen turns around, there is Arya with needle pointed directly at him.

She’s satisfied the Many Faced God’s need for another soul to be added to his collection — it just wasn’t the face that was intended. Jaqen can’t help but smile and proclaim that his star pupil has finally proven herself and she has ultimately become no one in the process.

“A girl is Arya Stark of Winterfell and I am going home.”

~ Arya

Arya turns and leave the House of Black and White for good and Jaqen sees her walk away one last time. Arya is going home and when she arrives there, she might find a sister, a brother and a Hound waiting for her.

Wild Rumors

A brief sidebar about Cersei’s last interaction this episode after hearing Tommen’s decree that there will no longer by trial by combat as an option for anybody seeking violence as an answer to justice.

As Cersei watched her son walk away, ignoring her standing just a few feet away, she realized that he’s lost to her — at least for the time being — and to break free of the Faith, she’s going to need to go at this one alone. Before she exits, Cersei’s old friend Qyburn whispers something that is very interesting.

Qyburn: “That old rumor that you told me about. My little birds investigated.”

Cersei: “And? Is it just rumor or something more?”

Qyburn: “More. Much more.”

Back in episode three, Qyburn consorted with many of Varys’ former “little birds”, who were actually children that ran around the kingdom and found any little bit of information they could feed back to the Master of Whispers. At that time, Qyburn ordered them to find anything good and then return to him. Cersei also asked that he spread his wings and find anybody in the Seven Kingdoms stupid enough to laugh or mock the queen who was forced to walk naked, covered in shit, all the way back to the Red Keep.

But part of the conversation we didn’t hear was this “rumor” that Cersei told Qyburn about and what he’s been investigating ever since.

Now the strongest possibility regarding this rumor is something that was hinted about a couple of episodes ago when Bran was having his flashes and we saw the Mad King Aerys II Targaryen scream ‘burn them all’ just before Jamie Lannister shoved a sword through his back. See, Aerys had hidden jars of wildfire (the highly flammable green liquid used to destroy Stannis Baratheon during season 2) all around the city. Aerys essentially decided that if he couldn’t have King’s Landing then no one would and as soon as he gave the order, his pyromancers would set loose the wildfire and everyone inside the city would burn alive.

Since that time, Cersei has already put the pyromancers back to work to make even more wildfire — the vats that were used by her brother at the Battle of Blackwater Bay. But what about all those jars of wildfire that were hidden underneath the city and throughout buildings? Were all of those found and disposed? Or is it possible that the “old rumor” was that there are jars upon jars of wildfire hidden in the Great Sept of Baelor — the very structure that serves as a home to the High Sparrow and his minions.

Is it possible Cersei plans to ignite the wildfire and burn the High Sparrow and all of his followers to the ground? Remember what Jamie said earlier in the episode — that Cersei would burn cities to the ground to protect her children. If this “rumor” is true, Cersei may get her chance sooner than you might think to prove him right.

A Queen in Her Castle

Back in Meereen, life has returned to normal.

The streets are filled with merchants and the people are all well fed and happy again. Tyrion is beaming with pride after his pact with the Masters from Volantis, Yunkai and Astapor worked brilliantly. The Sons of the Harpy have disappeared and Meereen is a city living in peace.

But Tyrion is saying goodbye today as he watches his friend Varys leave Meereen on a mission to return to Westeros. It seems Varys plans to talk to some powerful friends about teaming up with Daenerys when her conquering forces come looking for a kingdom because she can’t do this all alone.

“We need friends in Westeros and we need ships.”

~ Varys

Perhaps Varys intends on visiting the Iron Islands? Or maybe he’s going to Dorne? We haven’t seen anything of Dorne since Ellaria Sand murdered Prince Doran and took control of the kingdom back in the season premiere. Everyone has been asking what was the point of that assassination considering we haven’t been back to Dorne since then? Perhaps, Varys wants a new ally and a group of Lannister hating Dornishmen would be a great ally in Daenerys’ war against the throne. Don’t forget, the Martells were loyal to the Targaryens during Robert’s Rebellion and Oberyn Martell wanted vengeance against the Lannisters after her half Targaryen children were butchered at the hands of The Mountain.

Something to think about before the season finale.

Back inside the pyramid, Tyrion is attempting to befriend Missandei and Grey Worm as the three of them share drinks and a few joke before laughs turn to sorrow a few seconds later.

Outside, ships have arrived from Slaver’s Bay — the ships belonging to the masters. It’s clear Tyrion’s plan for peace didn’t work. It only allowed the slavers to see that the dragon queen wasn’t on her throne any longer.

“The masters have come for their property”

~ Missandei

Tyrion is forced to admit his massive mistake as the Masters bombard the city with fire from catapults as they try to bait the Unsullied to meet them on the beach for battle where they will have a decided advantage. Grey Worm finally puts his foot down and tells Tyrion this is a military situation and he’s no longer in charge.

So Grey Worm commands that the Unsullied will stay inside the pyramid and wait for the Masters to come there where they will have a better chance to win. At that moment, a loud crash is heard on the top of the pyramid — something so forceful it shakes the walls. As the Unsullied up the door, prepared for whatever trap the Masters have set for them, a second later the soldiers are all kneeling down.

From outside steps Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen — returning home to reclaim her kingdom. As Drogon flies away, she catches Tyrion’s eye as he sees his queen come back to her castle that is now in ruins thanks to placing his trust in the wrong people. She’ll eventually deal with the world’s most famous dwarf, but she’s got more important things to worry about right now.

Thankfully, Daenerys didn’t come back to Meereen empty handed. She’s got a dragon, two more flying around somewhere close by and an army of 100,000 Dothraki ready to follow her every command. Daenerys is home — and she brought hell with her.

Don’t miss the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones season 6 next week as Jon Snow prepares his army for a fight against Ramsay Bolton in “The Battle of the Bastards”….