GoT Ep 703 “The Queen’s Justice

Image via HBO.

Fortunately for us viewers we didn't have to wait the entire episode for Jon Snow and Ser Davos to reach Dragonstone. The first scene opened with their skimmer rowing to shore. Tyrion and Missandei were there to greet them along with a couple of Dothraki who relieved the men of their weapons. Tyrion introduces himself to Ser Davos and he catches up with Jon since they haven't seen each other since Tyrion left the Wall in season 1. Ser Davos tries to make friends - as he usually does - by making small talk with Missandei and asking where she is from. She tells him she is from the Isle of Naarth and he says he's heard it's very beautiful. We all know Missadei isn't much of a talker, so she gives a slight nod to Ser Davos and keeps walking. He turns back to Jon and tells him that Dragonstone has changed from the last time he was there.

As they make their way up to the castle Tyrion finds out that Sansa is alive and well. He assures Jon that his marriage to her was a sham and that he never consummated it. Jon says Tyrion doesn't need to say anything about that. Tyrion tells Jon that Sansa is smarter than she lets on and Jon replies that she is starting to let on. They joke over the fact that Jon is now King in the North and Tyrion, a Lannister, is now Hand to a Targaryen. They promise to exchange stories at some point. Jon tells Tyrion that his bannermen didn't want him to come and Tyrion agrees with them. He says if he were Jon's Hand he would've advised against it. As a general rule, Stark men don't fare well in the south. Ned Stark was beheaded, his brother and father were both killed by the Mad King, Robb was killed at the Twins, which isn't south, but definitely not the north. Jon says he shouldn't worry because he's not a Stark. Suddenly they hear and roar and Ser Davos and Jon hit the deck as Drogon flies over them almost grazing them with his feet. They look up in amazement. Tyrion says that he'd say you get used to them, but you never really do. All three dragons are flying above the castle and Jon and Ser Davos now know they are indeed not a myth or story.

Melisandre is watching them enter Dragonstone from a cliff above. Varys finds her and asks why she isn't down there greeting the King in the North. She so adamantly told Dany she should invite Jon to Dragonstone so he can't imagine why Melisandre would be hiding from him. Melisandre says she did what she was supposed to do, bringing together ice and fire. She didn't leave Jon on good terms and she would only be a distraction so she will leave and head back to Atlantis. Varys says she should probably never return to Westeros, but Melisandre says she must at some point. She is supposed to die in Westeros, just like Varys is.

Jon finally makes it up the steep climb to the castle and enters the main hall. Missandei announces Daenerys and goes through all of her titles, which takes quite a bit of time. Daenerys Targaryen, Stormborn, last Targaryen, Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, Mother of Dragons, the Unburnt, Breaker of Chains... Jon looks to Ser Davos to introduce him and he does, saying this is Jon Snow. Jon gives him a look like "say a little more than that man," so Ser Davos adds that he is King in the North. Daenerys thanks Lord Snow for traveling so far. Ser Davos corrects Dany for calling Jon "lord" when he was introduced as King in the North, which means he should be addressed as "your grace." She apologizes for her lack of knowledge as she never had a formal education, but according to history, the last King in the North was Torren Stark who bent the knee to Aegon Targaryen when he conquered Westeros and united the seven kingdoms. She assumes Jon is there to bend the knee, but he says he is not. She's not happy at this news and doesn't understand why he traveled so far only to break faith with her. He says that he cannot bend the knee to the daughter of the man who killed his grandfather and uncle. She admits that her father was an evil man and apologizes for his actions, but asks that they not judge her for the sins of her father. The Targaryens and Starks were allies for years, most of which were the most prosperous and peaceful in the seven kingdoms. She says she is the last Targaryen - little does she know - and that if Jon bends the knee she will name him Warden of the North so they can work together to repair Westeros. Jon says she is not guilty of her fathers crimes, nor is he beholden to his ancestor's oath. He still can't bend the knee. Then he also says they need each other. She asks if he saw the three dragons outside the castle, as well as the Dothraki and the Unsullied. How on earth could she need his help to win the seven kingdoms? He agrees that she doesn't need his help to fight Cersei. There is another war they need to make an alliance for.

Jon changes tactics and asks why Daenerys hasn't taken Kings Landing yet. When she doesn't answer he guesses it's because she doesn't want to kill thousands of innocent people and that - at the very least - makes her better than Cersei. He finally tells her their is an enemy to the north even greater than the threat Cersei poses. He mentions the Night King and White Walkers, but Dany isn't sure what to make of it, nor does she believe him at this point. Jon says that he, Dany and Cersei are all acting like children fighting at a game when the real enemy is coming. Dany takes offense at this and speaks to Tyrion saying "I thought you liked this man," but so far he has not bent the knee and called her a child. Tyrion says he does like Jon and he says Jon called them all children. He tries to find out what exactly Jon is talking about and Jon asks if he thinks he's a liar or a madman. He tells Jon he does not think that at all and Jon tells them once again that they need to work together and look to the north. Dany gets up from the throne and walks toward them. She points out that Jon's "father," Ned, was best friends with Robert - the man who stole the throne from her father and had him killed, then drove her and her brother into exile. Did Ned know that Robert sent assassins over and over again to kill Dany since she was a baby?  She says she has been sold, chained, raped and betrayed and the only thing that got her through all of that was faith in herself. She hatched dragons and convinced the Dothraki to cross the sea - something they have never done. She was born to rule the seven kingdoms and she will. Jon tells her it will be a graveyard if they don't stop the Night King.

Tyrion tells him they have already started the war with Cersei and they can't just break away and march north. Ser Davos says they don't believe Jon and while Dany was hatching dragons and freeing slaves, Jon was fighting beyond the Wall, becoming Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, making peace with the Wildlings and allying them with the north to take back Winterfell. Jon is the first to make allies with the Wildlings. So Dany and Jon have both done incredible things. He tells them that Jon didn't do all of these things because it was his birthright, he's a bastard after all. These men chose him and followed him because they believe in him. He fought the monsters coming for them and took a knife in the heart. He almost says that Jon died, but Jon gives him a look so he trails off. Ser Davos adds that if they don't stop the Night King it won't matter whose skeleton sits on the Iron Throne. Tyrion asks Jon why he can't just bend the knee if it doesn't matter and Jon tells Dany that he means no offense to her, but he doesn't know her and the north put their faith in him to protect them and he's going to do that as long as he can. Dany says that if he won't bend the knee that means he is in open rebellion with her.

Varys scurries in at this point and whispers in Dany's ear. She abruptly stops the conversation with Jon and apologizes to them for not being a good host. She says they will be taken to rooms now to eat and get cleaned up. Jon asks if they are prisoners and Dany says, not yet. After they are out of the room Dany asks how many ships and people they lost. They just found out about Euron attacking the fleet. Varys says that Ellaria, the Sand Snakes and Yara are missing so they are dead or were taken as prisoners. Dany asks if there were any survivors and we cut to a scene where Theon is being lifted from the water. The captain asks if his sister is dead and Theon tells him Euron took her. The captain accuses Theon of jumping ship to save himself, because if he had defended his sister he wouldn't be alive.

Euron is parading his prisoners through the streets of Kings Landing and right into the throne room. He presents the prisoners to Cersei throwing Ellaria and the Sand Snake at the foot of the throne. Ellaria spits at Cersei's feet. Cersei promises Euron he will get everything his heart desires after the war is over. She leaves and Euron takes this moment to ask Jaime for advice on how to please Cersei. Jaime doesn't understand and Euron says he wants to know how she likes it in bed. Jaime almost loses it, but manages to hold himself together as Euron says they can catch up about that later.

Cersei has gone to the dungeons with Ellaria and her daughter. Qyeburn is there as well. Ellaria and her daughter are chained and gagged. Cersei says she remembers the day that the Mountain crushed in Prince Oberyn's skull and the way Ellaria screamed. She thought that must be what real love sounds like. She also says that if Oberyn hadn't taunted the Mountain he would still be alive instead of rotting away in the dirt somewhere. She wants to know why Ellaria killed her daughter Myrcella, who was innocent. Then she says that doesn't matter now. It's done and now she is going to exact her revenge. So, what should she do to the daughter? She thought about having the Mountain crush her skull in like he did to Oberyn, but she's too pretty to do that to and Cersei can't entertain the thought. She kisses the daughter on the lips and then reveals that she has the same poison on her lips that Ellaria killed Myrcella with. Qyeburn was able to figure out which poison she used and replicate it. So, she is going to leave Ellaria chained there while she watches her daughter die. Then she is going to stay there for the rest of her life with her daughters dead and decaying body in the cell with her until she dies as well. I think Ellaria is going to end up crazy talking to a skeleton for the rest of her life.

Cersei is energized and feeling powerful after exacting her revenge on Ellaria. Jaime is waiting for her in her room and she jumps him when she gets there. They spend the night together and wake up to a knock on the door the next morning. Cersei gets up to answer it and Jaime tells her to stop because he shouldn't be seen in her bed. She says she is the queen now, so she can do whatever she wants. One of her ladies is there to tell her that a guest has arrived from the Iron Bank of Braavos.

Cersei meets with the man who has come to claim the debts the crown owes the bank. He mentions the explosion at the Sept of Baelor, which Cersei says was a tragic accident. The bank plans to back Dany. With her three dragons they feel she is sure to win. Cersei says the dragons aren't as invulnerable as one might think and that she has already won the first battle. She asks how the bank is doing since Dany stopped the slave trade and also points out that dragons, freed slaves and Dothraki don't pay back their debts, but the Lannisters always pay theirs. She wantsthe man to stay in Kings Landing for two weeks and promises that at the end of those two weeks she will have won the war and he will be paid in full.

Tyrion runs into Jon on a cliff at Dragonstone. He says he came there to brood over his lack of foresight into Euron's attack on their ships. However, he feels he is an inadequate brooder standing there next to Jon. Jon says he's a prisoner and he needs to go home and help his people. He doesn't understand why they won't believe what he's saying about the Night King and the army of the dead. Tyrion says he does believe him and Jon asks how he can convince others. Tyrion doesn't have any advice for that. He says people's minds are too small to believe and worry about something like White Walkers. Cersei is an easy monster to believe in. Tyrion tells Jon he is giving up too easily. Dany could've sailed for Westeros years earlier, but she didn't. She stayed and helped protect people from monsters and Jon should ask people on the island what they think of the Mad King's daughter. It's unreasonable for Jon to come there and ask them to believe him so quickly when she doesn't know him. Just like it's a little unreasonable for Dany to ask Jon to come bend the knee when he doesn't know her. Tyrion asks if there is anything else he could possibly help Jon with.

Tyrion talks with Dany about the dragonglass. She doesn't understand why it's so important and Tyrion says it can be used as a weapon against wights. Tyrion says Jon is a potential ally so she should help him mine the dragonglass because that won't hurt her. Five him something by giving him nothing and get to know him and build a relationship. They can keep Jon occupied while they attack Casterly Rock. Dany asks Tyrion what Ser Davos meant by Jon taking a knife in the heart for his people. Tyrion says things are dreary up north so it was probably some poetic overstatement that didn't mean anything.

Dany watches her dragons flying and Jon comes to talk to her. She tells Jon that dragons didn't exist for hundreds of years and now they do, so perhaps they should all be reexamining what they think they know. She says she will not let Cersei stay on the throne and she hasn't made any decisions about separate kingdoms, he can mine the dragonglass and she will give him help and tools. He asks if she believes him now, but she only says he better get to work.

Sansa is getting the feel of command as they prepare Winterfell for winter and war. They only have enough food for one year for the current occupants of the castle, but they won't have enough for more people. She suggests they take grain from all the farms in the north. If they don't use it then they can give it back, but if people are fleeing to Winterfell they won't be able to bring loads of grain. She also notices the blacksmiths aren't covering the armor with leather, which would help against the cold. Littlefinger is right next to her telling her how great she is at command. He is worried about the south though. He thinks he knows Cersei better than anyone and that they need to prepare for war with her too. Sansa tells him he is not the only person who knows Cersei well, she knows she is evil. After all, she killed most of Sansa's family. Littlefinger tells her not to fight in the north or the south, but in her mind always. Think of every possible situation so that she is prepared.

Sansa gets word that someone is at the gate. It's Bran. They talk in the godswood and Sansa tells Bran he is the Lord of Winterfell now because he is their father's last true-born son. Bran says he can't be Lord of Winterfell because he is the Three Eyed Raven. Sansa doesn't understand what that means so he tries to explain that he can see everything. He apologizes that she had to go through horrible things in their home and that she looked so pretty in her white wedding dress in the snow. He shouldn't know these things since he wasn't there, he's trying to prove that he can see everything. This creeps Sansa out and she leaves him in the godswood.

Archmaester Marwyn is examining Jorah who seems to have completely healed from his grayscale. The infection is no longer active so Jorah can leave and go wherever he wants. Archmaester Marwyn leaves and tells Sam he wants to see him in his study. He totally knows that this is Sam's handiwork. Sam asks Jorah where he will go and he says he will go find Daenerys and serve her (of course). Jorah thanks Sam again for helping him and they both hope to cross paths again. Sam reaches out and shakes Jorah's hand.

Sam goes to the archmaester's study. It sounds like he's going to get blasted, but the archmaester ends up congratulating him and giving him props for helping Jorah. Then he tells Sam to copy old parchments that are turning to dust.

Dany and her team are trying to recoup from their loss to Euron. Dany wants to take the dragons out and destroy Euron's fleet, but Varys and Tyrion say she can't because she is too important and they don't know exactly where Euron is. They talk about how they are going to capture Casterly Rock. It's walls are impregnable, but lucky for them, Tyrion worked on the sewer system since that was beneath his father. Tyrion couldn't bring whores into the castle so he built a secret passage in the sewer system which the army can use to sneak into the walls. The bad thing is that Cersei now knows they are coming so they will be up against more soldiers.

The Unsullied make it into Casterly Rock and take over very quickly. Grey Worm is concerned because there should've been a lot more soldiers. When he looks out to the water he sees that they are stuck there now. Euron has attacked their ships which means they are stranded and will have to walk across Westeros in order to get back to Dragonstone. This will leave them open to an attack from the Lannister army. And they can't stay at Casterly Rock because the stores of food were emptied as another guarantee to make them walk across Westeros.

Meanwhile, Jaime and the rest of the Lannister army marched to Highgarden instead. They take it pretty quickly and Lady Olenna prepares for her last moments. Jaime finds her in her room. She asks how she will be killed and Jaime says Cersei contemplated having her beheaded in Kings Landing or flayed and hung from the gates, but Jaime talked her out of those. Instead she will drink a poison. He pours it into her wine. She asks if it will hurt and after Jaime says no, she gulps it down.

After she finishes the drink she tells Jaime it's good that it won't hurt because she would hate to die like Joffrey did, clawing at his neck, spitting bile from his mouth while his eyes bled and he turned purple. It must've been horrible to watch as a Kingsguard and a father. It was horrible for her to watch. She says she didn't know how the poison would work and basically admits to poisoning Joffrey. Jaime is completely surprised to find out she is the one who actually killed Joffrey. Finally, she says that she did things to protect her family, horrible things. And she never lost sleep over it because it helped her family. But Cersei, she has done things that Lady Olenna could never have fathomed. She is a pure monster. Olenna doesn't understand how Jaime can still be standing by Cersei's side. She says Cersei will be the death of him. He doesn't want to hear anything bad about Cersei and defends her, but he really can't. He finally walks out - not wanting to hear anymore - and leaves Lady Olenna there to die.

So, now the Martells and the Tyrells are gone completely. Dany has no Westerosi army to speak of. Her Unsullied are surrounded by Lannister forces and are trapped. She has no fleet anymore. I think she is going to insist on taking the dragons out now. It looks like there will be a huge battle next week complete with flying dragons. Hopefully no one gets to use Qyeburn's new dragon-killing tool, or if they do, hopefully, they will miss. We'll have to see how this relationship between Dany and Jon progresses. And will it change if he ever finds out he is Rhaegar Targaryen's son? Bran has this knowledge and is at Winterfell so Jon has to get back there to find out.

Until next week...

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Courtenay | Mother of Dragons