Game of Thrones Recap ‘Oathbreaker’: And Now His Watch Has Ended

In the Game of Thrones recap, Jon Snow faces life after death, Ramsay receives a valuable gift, Cersei plots her revenge and we meet the Sword of the Morning…

By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer

It’s been exactly one week since Jon Snow was brought back from the dead in a scene most Game of Thrones fans saw coming but still celebrated when it finally happened.

Now that Jon is alive again, he must face a frightful new world.

It’s a world where he should not be there. A world that was supposed to go on without him. But now he’s back and Jon has to figure out where he fits after his brothers betrayed him because his act of befriending the Wildlings versus slaughtering them was an offense that carried with it a penalty of death.

Somehow, Jon was resurrected and now that he’s alive again he’s going to make the most of what time he last left. Whether that means raising and army to battle the dead or traveling south to regain his family’s kingdom from a treacherous bunch of usurpers.

Jon Snow has options because after he died, his vows to the Night’s Watch officially ended. So as he gave up his cloak and his title of Lord Commander, Jon Snow is ready to live a life no longer certain and certainly not determined.

Where will go? What will he do? We have seven more episodes to figure that part out.

With that said, let’s recap the latest episode of Game of Thrones titled “Oathbreaker”….

The Prince Who Was Promised

As Jon Snow breathes again, he’s not sure what to make of this world after the only people he was supposed to call family stabbed him to death and called him traitor.

The good news is Jon still remembers everything from his former life — in past situations dealing with resurrection such as Beric Dondarrion (the leader of the Brotherhood without Banners), he mentioned that each time he was brought back from the dead that he returned a little bit less than he was before with few memories of his former life.

In Jon’s case, he remembers it all quite vividly.

“They stabbed me. Olly — he put a knife in my heart. I shouldn’t be here.”

~ Jon Snow

Upon hearing that Jon is alive, Melisandre makes her way to his chamber to check on the fallen and risen Lord Commander. She’s very interested to find out what Jon saw once he faced death but much to her dismay, he saw nothing. No light, no fire, no Lord. Only darkness — nothing. Nothing at all.

Still, Melisandre is convinced that Jon Snow is the “prince who was promised” — which is an ancient prophecy about a savior who was sent to rescue the world from darkness. A great warrior meant to defeat the armies of the dead, who mean to plunge the world into eternal night. She once thought Stannis Baratheon was that prince, but clearly he was not. Maybe Jon Snow is the one she sought all along.

Either way, Melisandre exits while Jon converses with Davos Seaworth, who tries to make sense of this miraculous resurrection alongside him. Jon is not only confused but he’s struggling to figure out which direction he’s supposed to go now that he’s alive again. The last time he made an important decision, he was killed for it.

Jon: “I did what I thought was right and I got murdered for it. Now I’m back, why?”

Davos: “I don’t know. Maybe we’ll never know. What does it matter? You go on. You fight for as long as you can. You clean up as much as much of the shit as you can.”

Jon: “I don’t know how to do that. I thought I did. I failed.”

Davos: “Good — now go fail again.”

Jon makes it out of his chambers and into the courtyard where he’s greeted by a lot of widened eyes and gaped mouths, who can’t quite believe what they are seeing. Thankfully, Tormund Giantsbane is there to hug his friend and remind him that even though he’s alive again, he’s still not a God. Jon also embraces his friend and true brother Edd, who fought to keep him safe until Melisandre could bring him back.

Now Jon Snow has to face the reality of his situation, whether he’s ready or not.

Meet the Tarly’s

While Jon Snow has been murdered and resurrected back at Castle Black, Samwell Tarly has still been making the long trip to Old Town where he will finally begin his training to become a maester. He’s still accompanied by Gilly and her son Sam, who have promised to stay by his side no matter what.

But the Citadel where Sam will train doesn’t allow women and unlike Castle Black, he won’t have any allies that will let him bend the rules. So Sam has to put Gilly and the baby somewhere safe where no one can touch them.

Sam plans to stash Gilly and little Sam at Horn Hill — the home of House Tarly.

Sam may not think much of his father Randyll, no more than he thought of his son before telling him to join the Night’s Watch or die to make way for a new successor to his throne (Sam’s younger brother Dickon), but he knows that he’ll keep Gilly and her son safe, far away from anyone who could harm them.

The Tarly family are well known for breeding great warriors and Sam’s mother is a kind woman, who will care for Gilly and the baby while her eldest son continues his training at the Citadel.

The Sword of the Morning

Bran’s flashes into history continued this week after visiting his father and the rest of the Stark family at Winterfell during much happier times. The latest travel with the Three-Eyed Raven takes Bran to Dorne and a place known as the Tower of Joy. (for the full history on this story, read the latest Send the Ravens column, which tells the entire ordeal that took place during the War of the Usurper).

Right away, Bran recognizes his father Ned, who is accompanied by his friend and loyal bannerman Howland Reed, who is father to Meera and Jojen Reed. They are greeted by a trio of Kingsguard loyalists including Ser Arthur Dayne — better known as “The Sword of the Morning”.

Ser Arthur Dayne was regarded as the finest swordsman in the Seven Kingdoms and the best friend and closest ally to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen. He was joined by Ser Oswell Whent and the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Gerold Hightower.

They were sent to the Tower of Joy to protect Lyanna Stark, who was allegedly kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen, which then sparked Robert Baratheon’s rebellion against the Targaryens. Ned arrives at the Tower of Joy to retrieve his sister after sharing news about the end of the war to the last remaining loyalists to Prince Rhaegar Targaryen.

Ned: “The Mad King is dead. Rhaegar lies beneath the ground. Why weren’t you there to protect your prince?”

Arthur: “Our prince wanted us here.”

Ned: “Where’s my sister?”

Arthur: “I wish you good fortune in the wars to come. And now it begins.”

Ned: “No, now it ends.”

A battle ensues and the North men gain the upper hand right away, killing both Whent and Hightower, but Ser Arthur Dayne wasn’t going to go down quite as easily. He quickly dispatched all of the men alongside Ned Stark with the exception of Howland Reed, who was stabbed but not killed almost immediately as the battle began.

As Bran watched from a distance, he had heard the stories about this great sword fight — the time that Ned Stark defeated and killed “The Sword of the Morning”, except there was one big problem — Ned clearly wasn’t as good as Ser Arthur Dayne.

Just as it looked like Arthur was about to kill Ned, Howland Reed jumped up from the ground and stabbed him in the back of the neck. Ned picked up his sword and slit Arthur’s throat as Bran looked on at the real story that took place all those years ago.

Finally, Ned heard his sister Lyanna screaming from the top of the tower — giving birth to a child perhaps? Ned flees to make it to his sister, but quickly Bran is back inside the tree, sitting at the roots by the Three Eyed-Raven.

Once again, Bran curses him for not allowing him to see further into the future but the Three-Eyed Raven warns him that staying in the past for too long could prevent him from returning to the present. Bran is clearly frustrated and doesn’t want to stay inside this place any longer, but the Three-Eyed Raven won’t allow him to go anywhere until he knows all that he will need once he leaves. So what does he need to know?

Everything

Vaes Dothrak

A long journey alongside the Dothraki horde has led Daenerys to the temple inside the great city known as Vaes Dothrak, where she will now be rejoined with the other widows of the great Khals who are now dead.

Inside the temple. Daenerys is stripped bare and given new clothes but she’s mostly interested in grand standing and telling the other women about her great stature as the queen of Meereen as well as the mother of dragons. The head woman in the temple doesn’t seem all that impressed.

In fact, the woman reminds Daenerys that she’s no more special than anyone who lives in this place. Every widow living there was once married to a Khal, who promised to conquer the world with their wife beside them and now they are all dead. The same could be said for Daenerys and her great Khal Drogo.

But Daenerys might have a bigger problem.

According to the head widow, when a Khal dies his wife is supposed to go to the temple immediately but now Daenerys has lived out in the world too long and she might be an infection to the other women inside. So the Dothraki will convene soon to discuss upcoming battle plans including which cities they will sack and enslave as well as the fate of Daenerys.

She can live inside the temple forever or die outside — the Dothraki war council will be the ones to decide.

The Money Men

Back in Meereen, Varys is working his magic already as he begins listening the whispers from the little birds all over the great city. One particular bird is who Varys wants to chirp because she has valuable information about the Sons of the Harpy.

Her name is Valla — she was the prostitute who lured a member of the Unsullied into her hut last season before his throat was slit. She also lured the Unsullied into the trap set by the Sons of the Harpy that eventually led to the death of Ser Barristan Selmy.

Now Varys wants to know information from Valla and in exchange he will send her and her son to the free city of Pentos with a bag of silver so they can begin their life anew. Valla sounds loyal to the cause at first, calling Daenerys and her Unsullied army nothing more than outsiders who came to invade the great city of Meereen, but really she’s just a scared woman, who has been brought drafted into the war of the masters against the queen of the free.

Varys’ promise to get her free of the city is enough for Valla to spill her guts and that’s when he is able to find out the real power players behind the Sons of the Harpy. He returns to the pyramid where he shares his findings with Tyrion, Missandei and Grey Worm.

“The good masters of Astapor and the wise masters of Yunkai with help from their friends in Volantis.”

~ Varys

Those three cities are personally funding the Sons of the Harpy in their war against Daenerys. The problem is if the Unsullied leave to go conquer Astapor and Yunkai again, then Meereen will fall.

The only way to negotiate with those slavers is to speak to them in a language they will understand. From the look of things, the good masters of Astapor, the wise masters of Yunkai and the benevolent enslavers from Volantis will be invited to Meereen to meet with Tyrion and Varys where they hope to strike a deal to bring an end to the uprising by the Sons of the Harpy. If that doesn’t work, then killing them all could be just the trick as well.

All the Queens Men

Back in King’s Landing, Qyburn is gathering his flock as the new Master of Whispers to take over in Varys’ absence. Qyburn is employing the same tactics that led to Varys knowing more than anybody in the entire city as he will try to tempt every child and every whore to tell him all the secrets they hear.

When Cersei and Jaime arrive along with Ser Gregor — who apparently won’t be called Ser Robert Strong and thus it’s no great secret that “The Mountain” is still (sort of) alive — she has a command for her favorite part time maester.

She wants him to spread his wings and send birds to Dorne, send birds to Highgarden and send birds to the North — anywhere her enemies might live, Cersei wants to know what they are saying.

“If someone is planning on making our losses their gains, I want to hear it. If someone is laughing at the queen who walked naked through the streets covered in shit, I want to hear it. I want to know who they are. I want to know where they are.”

~ Cersei

Cersei also explains to her brother and Qyburn that her upcoming trial to deal with her sins won’t last long because she has other plans. Cersei intends to demand a trial by combat with “The Mountain” once again acting as her champion and there doesn’t appear to be a single member of the Faith Militant strong enough to beat an undead killing machine.

Cersei then travels with Jamie and Ser Gregor to the chamber of the Small Council, where they hope to arrange plans to deal with Dorne. Cersei wants to avenge the death of her daughter and the women responsible for her murder have overthrown Prince Doran and now rule Dorne in his place.

Unfortunately, Cersei’s uncle Kevan Lannister (sitting at the head of the table) doesn’t want to have anything to do with his niece or her plans for vengeance. Instead, Kevan decides to exit the chamber all together and taking with him both Lady Olenna Tyrell as well as her son Mace Tyrell, who now sit on the King’s small council. The Tyrell family is concerned about freeing Margaery and Loras and they don’t seem all that worried about Cersei’s latest tragedy or her thirst for vengeance.

This ongoing power struggle only seems to be gaining strength as the seasons pass.

Meanwhile, King Tommen decides to grow a pair and visit the High Sparrow to demand that he allow his mother to visit the final resting place of his sister Myrcella. Of course, the High Sparrow declines but instead of ordering his men to butcher the priest and all his armed guards, the king ends up sitting with him and sharing a conversation instead.

The High Sparrow gives King Tommen an impromptu sermon about his mother’s love and the sins she still needs to atone for. He also explains how everybody — including King Tommen — needs to adhere to God’s laws and that’s why his wife Margaery must confess before she can be freed and why his mother still has to face the courts for her sins even after confession.

He then explains to Tommen something that his grandfather and Hand of the King Tywin Lannister told him on the day he first put on the crown.

“A true leader avails himself of the wisest counsel he can and no one is wiser than the Gods.”

~ High Sparrow

It’s not exactly clear what the purpose of this meeting truly was but the takeaway is one of two possibilities — either Tommen is still proving to be the weakest king in history, unwilling or unable to strike down those who usurp his control or he’s actually starting to listen to the influence of the High Sparrow.

Neither of those choices end well for Cersei or Margaery

The Girl is No One

Back at the House of Black and White, Arya is once again continuing her daily training where she’s learning to fight and adapt without her eyesight. With each passing day, her reflexes are stronger and her instincts are sharper.

She answers questions about Arya Stark’s life and her family while attempting to lie to the Waif, who is training her. Arya does make one confession that’s interesting — when the Hound died, she had already removed him from her “kill list”. It seems Arya was conflicted about her relationship with the Hound after he went above and beyond to protect her during all those travels after she was taken hostage after escaping the Brotherhood without Banners.

After all her training, Arya finally fights back and beats the Waif while still swinging with no eyesight. At that moment, Jaqen H’ghar shows up and it appears Arya’s training is nearly complete.

Back out in the great room, Jaqen tells Arya once again that if she tells him her name, she will be given her eyesight. But the girl has no name. So Jaqen then instructs Arya to sit with him by the great pool of water that occupies the middle of the room. It’s the same pool that contains the liquid that the Faceless Men use to take the lives of those men and women who are sacrificed to the Many Faced God.

When Arya sits down, Jaqen scoops up some of the liquid from the pool and hands it to her to drink.

“If the girl is truly no one, she has nothing to fear.”

~ Jaqen H’ghar

Arya takes a leap of faith and drinks from the bowl — a second later, her eyesight returns and it appears she’s one step closer to truly becoming no one and a master assassin for the Faceless Men.

Welcome Home

In Winterfell, Ramsay is holding court with his new ally, the Karstarks, when he is met by a member of House Umber. Now to be clear, in the episode guide this man is listed as Smalljon Umber — the eldest son of Greatjon Umber, the Lord of House Umber. In the books, Smalljon is killed at the Red Wedding while defending his king Robb Stark, but in the television version it’s unclear which member of House Umber this actually is but that’s who he’s listed as for the episode.

Regardless, the Umbers have arrived at Winterfell to strike a pact with the new Lord Ramsay Bolton. It seems they have a serious problem with Jon Snow allowing the Wildlings to enter the North because the Umbers are closer to the Wall than any other family and so they constantly have to fight back raiding parties from the invaders.

Now with Jon Snow allowing a huge army of Wildlings to travel south of the Wall, the Umbers are no longer feeling so loyal to House Stark and they decided to strike a new deal with the current Warden of the North. But Lord Umber isn’t going to bow and he isn’t going to kiss Ramsay’s hand. Umber just wants help eradicating the Wildlings and dealing with Jon Snow.

So Lord Umber presents a gift to Ramsay to prove his loyalty.

Enter Osha and Rickon Stark — who fled to stay with the Umbers back in season three thinking that they would be safe there under the protection of a house with long standing ties to the Stark family.

When Ramsay asks for proof that this is actually Rickon Stark, Lord Umber presents the head of poor Shaggy Dog, who has been killed and beheaded just like Robb’s direwolf when he was butchered at the Red Wedding.

“Welcome home, Lord Stark.”

~ Ramsay Bolton

Ramsay may have lost his bride but he’s got another Stark back under his thumb and something tells me he’ll soon be sending off a letter to Jon Snow proclaiming that he’s got his brother and if he wants him back in one piece, he better make a pilgrimage to Winterfell.

And Now His Watch Has Ended

Finally at Castle Black with Jon back in control it’s time to deal with the real traitors who turned on him and had him murdered.

Jon has the four of them standing with nooses around their necks — Ser Alliser Thorne and Olly both among the traitors who are about to die. Jon allows all of them to say a few words before they die.

One man proclaims that Jon shouldn’t be alive and it’s unnatural that he is. Another asks Jon to send a letter to his still living mother to say that her son died battling the Wildlings. Ser Alliser doesn’t apologize for killing Jon Snow and in fact says he still believes he did the right thing.

“I fought. I lost. Now I rest but you Lord Snow, you’ll be fighting their battles forever.”

~ Alliser

As for Olly — he has nothing but anger and contempt in his eyes but Jon has no sympathy for him either. Finally, Jon strikes the rope and all four of them strangle to death.

After the traitors have been executed, Jon hands over his robes to Edd and tells him the decision what to do with their bodies is up to him. The decision for anything concerning the Night’s Watch is now up to him because Jon Snow is Lord Commander no more.

“Wear it. Burn it. Whatever you want, you have Castle Black — my watch has ended.”

~ Jon Snow

As suspected, Jon Snow was released from his vows the moment his heart stopped beating and after he tried so desperately to convince his brothers that the real threat was coming from the army of the dead and not the Wildlings looking for refuge south of the Wall and they refused to listen, he knew this was a battle he could no longer fight.

Jon knows a war is coming from beyond the Wall and soon enough he might find another war to fight just south of him at his old home in Winterfell, but his days of commanding the Night’s Watch have ended. Jon is giving up the black and he’s going to live as a free man — and possibly a man who could one day rule.

Game of Thrones returns next Sunday night at 9pm ET on HBO and you can take a look at a very interesting preview below: