Thank god that Game of Thrones is back. Did you spot them all?
Winter is here. Grab your sword as we pick apart the stellar season opener, Dragonstone.
1) The Hound has less bark
Notice that The Hound was incredibly subdued when he and the Brotherhood without Banners (Thoros of Myr and Beric Dondarrion)
entered that farmhouse? That's because he was here before and things didn't end too pleasantly. In fact, he had a hand in the deaths of that little girl and her father.
Cast your mind back to Season 4 when Arya and The Hound met a farmer and his daughter while trespassing on their land. Arya evaded suspicion by telling these strangers that The Hound was her father and that they needed some food and shelter.
Being a kind man, the farmer took them in and fed them.
As they're about to leave, The Hound notices that this farmer somehow has managed to hide some silver away from the wild looters that were roaming free. The Hound then proceeds to steal their silver. “He’s a good man, his daughter makes a nice stew, and they’ll both be dead come winter. Dead men don’t need silver," he said.
Sadly, he was right.
This whole scene felt like The Hound was trying to make amends for his selfish ways while pleading for forgiveness. Those that read the Game of Thrones novels will also love the 'Gravedigger' reference.
“I’m sorry you’re dead. You deserve better. Both of you.” The Hound has changed but still delivers amazing lines like "I'll tell you what does scare me, bald cock suckers like you that think they're fooling anyone with that top knot!"
2) Westeros is getting bigger.
You may have heard about the two new locations that were mentioned twice throughout the episode, Eastwatch-by-the-sea and the Dragonpit.
It's almost certain that they'll feature in the upcoming episodes.
Here's why they're significant.
Eastwatch-by-the-sea The easternmost castle along the Wall, located on a grey, windswept shore by the Bay of Seals. Jon has declared that the wildlings will defend it while The Hound also mentioned 'the sea' as part of his icy vision in the fire.
It's bound to make an appearance. Perhaps during a certain set-piece that Jon is trying to escape from?
Dragonpit - In the scene where Arya meets Ed Sheeran and the rest of those Lannister soldiers, this Targeryn stronghold is mentioned twice in the same conversation.
Essentially, it's a huge cavernous pit that sits atop Rhaenys's Hill in King's Landing. The Targaryens used it to house their dragons and it's appearance
has already been heavily rumoured.
3) Sam's book.
Anyone spot this dagger that appeared in the book that Sam was reading about the White Walkers and dragon glass?
It has a striking resemblance to the one that Littlerfinger currently has.
Can you remember in Season 1 when an assassin broke into Bran’s bedroom at Winterfell and tried to murder him? Well, we're told that this blade was made of Valyrian steel.
If this is the same image, Littlefinger has a weapon that can murder the White Walkers.
4) Aegon Targeryn built the actual 'war board' that Dany is using.
Known as the Chamber of the Painted Table, we've already seen Stannis use this in Dragonstone but we loved the fact that Daenerys got to touch it.
Why? Well, it was built by Aegon the Conqueror who also used dragons to rule Westeros and forge the Iron Throne.
Let's just skip past the fact that Stannis and Melisandre had sex on it.
5) Oldtown is in the credits
We love the opening sequence and there's a new location to marvel at. Geeky but very cool.
6) Ice Giants exist.
Holy shit!
Yes, of course we knew that the Night King can raise the dead and turn them into wights, but we now know that he also has bloody ice giants in his army.
Ice giants! What chance do the Seven Kingdoms have?
https://twitter.com/JackReynolds83/status/886774507322593280
7) The Umber swords
Look at the crossguards and notice how they all match. It's small details like this that make Game of Thrones great.
[S7E1] It's details like this that makes this show great
8) The Lannisters and the Starks are more similar than we thought.
Sansa and Jon's discussion about the ownership of the castles of Umber and Karstark was incredibly heated. Sansa compared Jon's decision making to Joffrey while the King in the North fired back by saying 'how should I be smarter? By listening to you?
The similarities between Cersei and Sansa were then made clear for all to see with one passage of conversation, "You almost sound like you admire her?" said Jon. "I learned a great deal from her," replies Sansa.
Watch this space, see Sansa is even wearing her hair like Cersei.
Compare this with Jaime's disgust at Cersei's belief that Tommen 'betrayed' her by committing suicide and his belief that an alliance with House Greyjoy is like having to deal with "bitter, angry little people."
Things are not right in both houses.
Littlefinger will love that news as he stirs the pot.
9) Euron Greyjoy's gift.
Jesus, what a change in Euron Greyjoy. He's all swagger, bravado and rock 'n roll now. He even smiles at the very mention of the fact that he once burned the Lannister fleet..in front of the Lannisters!
When he's not declaring his love for the fact that his own family were once massacred, or proclaiming himself to be the greatest captain on the 14 seas, he's asking for Cersi's hand in marriage while slagging the fact that Jaime only has one hand.
Right, what could this wedding gift be? Three options.
1) We wish it was dragonbinder. It's probably not though since the show hasn't even mentioned that in its story arc.
2) There was something ominous in Euron's line, "it's fun you should try it" when he was talking about murdering your own brother.
Anyone remember this line from Tyrion as he meets Daenerys?
Truth be told, we don't think Euron is foolish enough to sail straight for Dragonstone and capture Tyrion, but there are a few other more plausible targets. In fact, two of them were even mentioned in the episode.
3) Ellaria Sand, Olenna Tyrell and the Greyjoys, Yara and Theon, better watch themsleves- especially since the season trailer showed us that a a naval battle is coming and Euron is involved.
10) "Leave one wolf alive, the sheep are never safe"
We're moving into the realms of speculation here, but this badass line from Arya as she dispatched the remaining members of House Frey does have a degree of symmetry with Sansa's ominous warning in the second trailer.
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives," Sansa said.
In this case, wouldn't Arya be the lone wolf?
We reckon that she would be able to handle herself though.
https://twitter.com/JoyAnnReid/status/886772863629484036
11) Harry Potter in Westeros
Poor Sam. All he wanted to do was study and read books. Instead, he's emptying piss and shit buckets, dishing out stew and packing books onto shelves.
Repeat, repeat and repeat...but with even more shit and piss.
This being said, it appears that Jim Broadbent's archmaester Ebrose has taken a shine to Samwell.
The fact that Broadbent is still remembered fondly for his role in Harry Potter, combined with the fact that Sam desperately wants access to the restricted section of the library, has led fans to make the same joke.
https://twitter.com/llamadetective/status/886762508954062848
12) "The Wall has stood through it all"
Yeah, this line from archmaester Ebrose to Sam was very, very ominous.
We all know that Bran is effectively a human tracking beacon that the Night King can find all too easily.
Where's Bran now? The Wall.
13) Podrick landed a hit on Brienne
As Brienne looked on at Tormund, her squire finally managed to strike a blow.
Is Brienne starting to actually take a romantic interest in our favourite wildling? We loved that Tormund considerd Podrick to be a "lucky man" for being sent on his arse by Brienne.
14) The other cameo
Forget Ed Sheeran because anyone who watched This is England will recognise this actor, Thomas Turgoose.
In case you're wondering, he was the Lannister soldier that was told by his mother to be kind to strangers.
https://twitter.com/OmnosF/status/886846016481374208
15) Stannis left his home in a sorry state.
We know that Stannis is long gone, but what about the state of Dragonstone?
For such a lovely castle, Stannis treated it like he was some pissed of Airbnb guest that spent the entire weekend on the beer.
https://twitter.com/aryqstark/status/886770299139764225
