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The Wars To Come

Revision as of 23:24, 14 April 2015 by Ragestorm (talk | contribs) (→‎At the Wall)
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"The Wars to Come" is the first episode of the fifth season of Game of Thrones. It is the forty-first episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 12, 2015. It was written by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, and directed by Michael Slovis.

Plot

Template:S05E01 Synopsis

Summary

Prologue - 25 years ago

YoungCersei&Melara

Young Cersei and Melara, in the Prologue flashback

A young Cersei Lannister and her wary tag-along Melara Hetherspoon, are creeping through the woods of The Westerlands. Melara doesn't want to continue, but young Cersei eggs her on. They reach a hut within the woods, which belongs to a witch named Maggy. Unafraid, Cersei walks in first. Upon meeting this "witch", Cersei demands to have her future read. Maggy is hesitant at first, but after Cersei threatens to have her eyes gouged out, the witch relents. After Cersei cuts her thumb on an athame, Maggy tastes her blood and offers the young girl three questions. Cersei's first question was if she will marry the prince. Maggy says she will not marry the prince, instead she would marry the king, and become queen. When asked about children, Maggy tells young Cersei that the king will have twenty children and she would have three, and that "gold will be their crowns, and gold, their shrouds". Lastly, she told the youth that her reign will not last: a younger and more beautiful queen is fated to take her place.

In King's Landing

Tywin dead sept wars to come cersei

Cersei kissing her deceased father Tywin.

In the present, Cersei arrives at the Great Sept of Baelor to pay respects to her deceased father Tywin. Once inside the Sept, she chastises her brother Jaime for freeing their brother Tyrion and indirectly causing their father's death. At Tywin's wake, Cersei is approached by Lancel Lannister. He has become a devout member of the Sparrows, a religious cult, and asks Cersei's forgiveness for their adulterous relationship, as well as getting her husband Robert Baratheon obscenely drunk on the day he died. Since Lancel clearly doesn't realize that had been her plan the whole time, Cersei denies any knowledge of her husband's death, and leaves.

While in bed together, Loras and Olyvar contemplate a mark on Loras's skin which looks a little like Dorne. Margaery walks in on them, complains about his lack of discretion and sends Olyvar away. Loras retorts that since his sexuality is an open secret anyway there isn't much point in discretion. He also opines that as Tywin is dead, no one will force Cersei to marry him anymore. He points out how this will leave Cersei in King's Landing, as Margaery's omnipresent mother-in-law rather than her distance sister-in-law. Margaery simply replies with "perhaps."

In the Free Cities

Wars to come tyrion varys pentos

Varys speaks to Tyrion about his possible furture in Pentos.

Tyrion arrives in Pentos, with the aid of Varys. Varys tells Tyrion that he and Illyrio Mopatis had worked together in secret to restore House Targaryen as to the Iron Throne, but that their errors have left them in Pentos, unable to return to King's Landing. Later, Varys discusses the virtues needed in a new ruler for Westeros, to which Tyrion replies that such a man does not exist. Varys points out that he never said this ruler would be a man. Varys offers Tyrion the choice of either drinking himself to death in Pentos, or travelling with him to Meereen to support Daenerys. After a moment, Tyrion agrees.

In Slaver's Bay

The Unsullied remove the large gold harpy from the top of the Great Pyramid in Meereen to show the Meereenese people they are under Targaryen rule now and their old traditions are gone. One of the Unsullied, White Rat, is seen walking into a brothel and pays a prostitute to lie with him and comfort him. He is subsequently murdered by a member of the Sons of the Harpy, a resistance group operating in Meereen. Upon being presented with the murderer's mask (left at the scene), Daenerys orders Grey Worm to find those responsible, and for the murdered soldier to be buried in the Temple of the Graces as a statement.

Dragons s 5

Dany attempts to visit her dragons.

Hizdahr zo Loraq and Daario Naharis return to Meereen and declares that their mission to Yunkai has been successful, and that the Wise Masters will turn over power to a council of former slaves and former slave owners. In exchange, the Wise Masters have asked that Daenerys consent to the reopening of the fighting pits, an arena where slaves used to fight to the death. Daenerys denies the request. Later, Daario convinces her to reconsider, as his youth fighting in the pits gave him the fighting skills necessary for him to join the Second Sons, where he met Daenerys. Upon hearing that Drogon hasn't been seen in weeks, Daario muses on the irony of a dragon-queen with no dragons.

Later, Daenerys attempts to visit Viserion and Rhaegal, whom she locked underground in the Meereenese catacombs to prevent them from killing innocents or fleeing (both of which Drogon did). When she approaches them, they attempt to attack her, forcing her to briskly escape the room.

In the Vale

Baelish and Sansa watch over Lord Robin Arryn struggle while sparring with a young boy. While watching Robin spar, Sansa witnesses Baelish receive a message, which he quickly hides. Lord Yohn Royce has agreed to take Robin as his ward and train him to fight, but is not optimistic of his abilities, stating "he swings a sword like a girl with palsy." Though Baelish told Lord Royce that he and Sansa would be traveling to the Fingers, they instead head west. Sansa asks if they have anything to fear from Lord Yohn; Baelish explains that he doesn't trust the retainers and soldiers who saw them, and is taking Sansa somewhere the Lannisters will never find her.

Podrick Payne attempts to plan the next move for himself and Brienne of Tarth, but Brienne tells him that she doesn't want anyone following her. He reminds her of the oath she swore to Jaime to find the Stark girls, but she states that Arya did not want her protection. Brienne also points out that Pod was not safe in King's Landing and now they are far away from the capital, he is safe and they can go their separate ways. Baelish and Stark's carriage passes them, Brienne unaware of how close her goal is.

At the Wall

Jon and Mance wars to come

Jon relay's Stannis' offer to Mance.

Jon Snow's attempts at training Olly are interrupted by Melisandre, who has been sent to fetch Jon for an audience with Stannis. On the ride to the top of the Wall, Jon is discomfited by Melisandre's presence and questions. Stannis explains that he needs an army, and desires the Free Folk to fight for him. He wants Jon to get Mance Rayder to bend the knee and have the wildlings fight for him; in exchange, he would set them free and give them their own land within Westeros. Jon relays this message to Mance, but he refuses to bend the knee. Because he will not fight for Stannis, his punishment is death by being burned alive. On the night of his execution, Mance stands before Stannis, and although he cannot bend the knee, he offers him luck in the wars to come. Mance is led to the stake. Melisandre lights the pyre, and Mance slowly begins to feel the agonizing pain of the fire. Unable to watch him suffer any longer, Jon turns and storms off. Others turn away from the scene as well, including Gilly and Shireen. Just as Mance begins to give in and start screaming, an arrow pierces directly into his chest. It is Jon, giving the man he respected an easier death. Mance dies before he feels the agony of the flames.

Appearances

Main: The Wars to Come/Appearances

First

Deaths

Production

Cast

Starring

Guest Starring

Cast notes

Notes

  • Arya Stark, House Bolton, and House Martell do not appear in this episode.
    • Once again House Greyjoy and its subplot from the novels have not reappeared - that is, focusing not on Theon/Reek but on Balon, Yara, and the ironborn as a political faction. The producers have intimated that they had a choice between focusing on subplots from the fourth novel from either the Martells or the Greyjoys, but didn't have enough screentime to fit in both - resulting in the Greyjoy subplot being significantly condensed (if not pushed back entirely to Season 6).
  • The producers and actors have confirmed that Bran Stark and his associated characters (Hodor and Meera Reed) will not be appearing at any point in Season 5: their storyline caught up with its current point in the books, and it was at a very sensible stopping point, so they decided to simply give it a year off, to return in Season 6. Bran will be training off-screen with the Three-eyed raven to hone his powers.
  • The episode title refers to Mance's words to Stannis "I wish you good fortune in the wars to come".
  • This episode marks the returns of The Eyrie and Pentos to the title sequence. Neither location had appeared since in the sequence since Season 1, though the Eyrie was a major location in Season 4.
    • Additionally, a third version of Winterfell appears in the title sequence, no longer smoldering but now bearing the sigil of House Bolton.
  • The Young Cersei flashback in the Prologue to Season 5 at the beginning of this episode marks the first time that the TV series has ever used a flashback. The novels make extensive use of flashbacks - or rather, characters within their own POV chapters will recall events that happened earlier, through vivid narration (the narrative itself doesn't shift an entire chapter to past events). The unaired pilot episode included several flashbacks, but the showrunners were left with a very negative impression from the experience, feeling that the use of flashbacks was too confusing for audiences already trying to keep track of several dozen characters in the present.
    • Young Cersei is played by Nell Williams, who worked very hard to copy Lena Headey's mannerisms in order to portray a younger version of the same character.
  • Charles Dance returns in this episode to "play" the corpse of Tywin Lannister, just as Jack Gleeson returned in "Breaker of Chains" - the episode after his character died - in order to "play" his corpse.
    • Tywn's corpse appears with stones over his eyes, which have paintings of eyes on them. This is apparently a common Funeral custom in Westeros, and has actually been seen throughout the series, indeed Jon Arryn's funeral in the very first episode, "Winter is Coming". That was also the very first scene that Jaime and Cersei appeared in, and in several ways it mirrors the scene in this episode: both scenes involved Jaime and Cersei in King's Landing, observing a corpse as it lies in state at a funeral, while they discuss their father. The stones over a corpses's eyes were also later seen at the funeral of Hoster Tully ("Walk of Punishment"), and of Joffrey ("Breaker of Chains").
    • Similarly, notice the seven vases next to Tywin's corpse: this was also seen at the previous public funerals of Jon Arryn, Hoster Tully, and Joffrey. From Pycelle's remarks at Tywin's funeral in the book version, it is common practice in southern Westeros (at least among great noble families that can afford the process) to embalm bodies during funeral rites, a process which includes removing several of the major organs and storing them in vases buried alongside the body (organs which would make the rest of the body rot much more quickly if they were left in; their removal is somewhat akin to Egyptian mummification practices). Specific details of funeral rites, however, even in two regions that both follow the Faith of the Seven, can very from one family to the next (i.e. the Tullys use the eye-stones and organ removal, only to then burn the corpse on a funeral pyre set adrift in the Trident River).
  • The opening Prologue sequence takes place when Cersei is a young teenager, which based on her current age in the TV series puts it about 25 years ago, before Robert's Rebellion.[1] Therefore when Cersei says that she was promised to marry "the prince", she is referring to Crown Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, then-current heir to the throne (and Daenerys's older brother, though she was born a few months after Rhaegar later died). Cersei's father Tywin had been Hand of the King for nearly twenty years at the time of the flashback, and hoped that his only daughter would marry the heir to the throne. However, in his growing paranoia the Mad King snubbed him. Instead, as Oberyn Martell summarized in the Season 4 premiere "Two Swords", Rhaegar married Elia Martell, with whom he had two small children - but Rhaegar later made off with Lyanna Stark, Eddard Stark's sister, even though she was betrothed to Eddard's friend Robert Baratheon. This sparked Robert's Rebellion, by the end of which the Mad King, Rhaegar, Elia and her children were dead, along with Lyanna. With Rhaegar dead and Robert king, Tywin made Cersei marry Robert to secure a political alliance with the new ruler, and ensure that there would be a Lannister queen in the Red Keep. Cersei didn't identify Rhaegar by name, of course, leading to her initial confusion when told that she would not marry "the prince" but would marry "the king" - she assumed that meant when Rhaegar succeeded his father, not future king Robert Baratheon.
    • The Prologue takes place about five years before Robert's Rebellion began: Cersei is around 14 or so in the flashback, Jaime is her twin and the same age, and Jaime was named to the Kingsguard at 17 (the TV series has been inconsistent and at other points said he was 16). Tywin's relationship with King Aerys soured when he snubbed the marriage pact between Cersei and Rhaegar, and the last straw was when Jaime was appointed to the Kingsguard - normally a great honor, but robbing Tywin of his eldest son and heir, because Kingsguard foreswear any inheritance. When Jaime was named to the Kingsguard at 17, Tywin resigned his position as Hand in disgust. Robert's Rebellion began a little over a year after that, and ended when Cersei and Jaime were both 19 years old.
  • In Season 1, the TV series invented the detail that Cersei actually did have a son by Robert, before Joffrey was born, but that he died in infancy - back in the earliest days of their marriage when she was willing to at least give their relationship a chance. In the novels, Cersei actively avoided ever getting pregnant by Robert, to the point that the one time she did, she secretly had an abortion. The prophecy that she would have no children by Robert therefore doesn't seem to take this into account. There have been subsequent points in the TV series when Cersei also described Joffrey as her "eldest" son. However, infant mortality is high in the medieval society of Westeros, and even in the novels it is not unusual for people to simply not include babies who died in the cradle in the count of children they have had.
    • In the novels, Maggy the witch actually said that Robert would have 16 bastards, though not all have been identified and it isn't clear how many are still alive. The TV series apparently just rounded up to "twenty" or so bastards. Even Varys, through his spy network, only claimed to know of eight. Many were killed in the purge after Joffrey was crowned (which Cersei, not Joffrey, ordered in the books). In the novels there are three confirmed surviving bastards: Gendry, Edric Storm, and Mya Stone, though this may have been condensed so that Gendry is Robert's only surviving bastard at this point in the TV series.
  • Kevan Lannister and his son Lancel return in this episode, who first appeared in Season 1 but have not been seen since Season 2 ended. Lancel's absence is explainable, as in the books the arrow wound he took at the Battle of the Blackwater developed a life-threatening infection, and he spent all of the time between then and Tywin's death half-alive in sickbed, only really regaining the ability to walk under his own power by Tywin's funeral (earlier in the novels he was briefly carried out to Joffrey's wedding). This near-death experience caused Lancel to believe that the Seven must have spared him for a reason: to atone for his earlier sins. Kevan, however, apparently did not reappear in Seasons 3 and 4 because the actor was unavailable, though he was present at all of Tywin's councils in corresponding sections of the novels.
    • Cersei remarks in dialogue to Lancel that his wounds from the Blackwater seem to have finally healed, acknowledging that this is why he has been absent since Season 2 ended.
  • This episode marks the first time that Daenerys's dragons Viserion and Rhaegal are mentioned by name on screen, while Drogon's name had only been spoken for the first time in the previous episode. Drogon is referred to again by name in this episode. Prior to Season 4, the dragons' names appeared nowhere in the TV continuity - the writers insisted in interviews that their names were the same as in the novels, but it was just difficult to work their names into casual conversation. During Season 4 they were at least identified by name in the HBO Viewer's Guide, but only Drogon was actually referred to by name in dialogue. In the novels, Daenerys specifically named her dragons in honor of the important men in her life: "Drogon" for her husband Khal Drogo, "Rhaegal" for Rhaegar (her older brother who died before she was born, last great champion of House Targaryen), and "Viserion" for her brother Viserys. Daenerys noted that Viserys was weak and cruel in life but also alone and afraid in exile, and he was still her brother, so she hoped the dragon she named after him would have the success he could not in life.
  • Lancel describes his prior sexual encounters with Cersei as "unnatural". Similarly, in Season 2's "The Ghost of Harrenhal", Tyrion mocked Lancel by pondering if Jaime would kill him for having sex with Cersei, or if he would sympathize with him due to having similar "unnatural" urges. Sex between first cousins, however, actually is not considered Incest in the Seven Kingdoms. Tywin himself married his first cousin, Joanna Lannister, and it is fairly common among the nobility. The comments about Cersei's "unnatural" relationships could be alternately interpreted in the sense that they were "adultery", given that she was a married woman - though this probably wasn't the writers' intent.
  • Stannis says that if the wildlings agree to fight for him, he will let them settle south of the Wall and be "citizens" of the realm. In the novels, the Seven Kingdoms are not a modern "nation-state", and people in it are not described as "citizens", but more often as "subjects".
  • The extra details about his backstory that Daario Naharis gives were invented for the TV show: all that is said about his background in the novels is that he is a mercenary from the Free City of Tyrosh. In the TV series, Daario explains that his mother was a whore who sold him to a slaver at age 12, who sold him to the fighting pits in Tolos, but he was a very good gladiator, rose to great fame, eventually earned his freedom and then became a mercenary. This does not mean that Daario is "from" Tolos, originally or ethnically, just that he lived there for some years (similarly, Daenerys lived in Pentos for a time, but it wasn't her ultimate origin). Notably, Daario says that his prostitute mother grew to drink a lot of pear brandy. He doesn't mention Tyrosh by name in this scene, but Tyrosh is actually famous for its local pear brandy, thus indicating that as a child with his mother he was originally from Tyrosh.
  • This is the first time that Tolos has been mentioned in the TV series. It is one of the three surviving cities in the Valyrian Peninsula, located between the Free Cities and Slaver's Bay. In fact, the three great cities Astapor, Yunkai, and Meereen are considered the heart of "Slaver's Bay" and are located on its eastern shores, but Tolos is located on the western shore of the same bay. The Valyrian Peninsula was devastated in the Doom of Valyria and few major cities in the area survived. Mantarys (mentioned in the Season 4 finale) up in the mountains became very isolated, a city of assassin and poisoners. Tolos and Elyria, however, were both located on the coast of Slaver's Bay. They then came into something of an odd cultural position, as while more akin to the Valyrians and their colonies in the Free Cities, they fell into the economic and cultural orbit of the main Ghiscari cities on the other side of Slaver's Bay, and came to be thought of as more of an extension of that region.

In the books

See: Differences between books and TV series - Season 5#The_Wars_to_Come
  • The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Storm of Swords:
  • The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Feast for Crows:
    • Chapter 7, Cersei II: Cersei arrives at the Great Sept of Baelor, escorted by Ser Meryn Trant, for Tywin's wake. Cersei feels surrounded by Tyrells. She talks to Kevan, Tywin's brother, and encounters Kevan's son Lancel, who looks unrecognizably ragged. He has become a member of a new religious fanatic movement, the Sparrows. Cersei fears what Lancel may tell the High Septon about King Robert's death in an apparent hunting accident, which Lancel had helped stage.
    • Chapter 9, Jaime I: Jaime stands over Tywin's body and feels incredible guilt for releasing Tyrion.
    • Chapter 36, Cersei VIII: Cersei looks back on how, when she was young, she and her friend visited a fortuneteller called Maggy in the woods. Cersei pressed Maggy for her fortune, and Maggy answered her questions: yes, she would be queen, until one younger and more beautiful replaced her; no, she would not have children with the king, but he would have many; and her own children would die before she did. Scared, her friend urged her to flee.
    • Chapter 41, Alayne II: having descended from the Eyrie, Littlefinger discusses his own plans and Cersei's reign with Sansa Stark, who is disguised as Alayne.
  • The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Dance with Dragons:
    • Chapter 1, Tyrion I: Tyrion arrives drunk in Pentos, at Illyrio's manse. Tyrion's new benefactor convinces him not to drown himself in wine and instead go on to to serve someone stronger than Tommen, gentler than Stannis; the only one who he claims can save the Seven Kingdoms.
    • Chapter 2, Daenerys I: an Unsullied soldier visits a brothel alone to cuddle with a prostitute, but is then killed by a Son of the Harpy, which enrages Daenerys. Grey Worm is asked why a eunuch would go to a brothel. Hizdahr zo Loraq asks Daenerys to reopen the fighting pits, which he argues are a part of the cultural heritage of Slaver's Bay.
    • Chapter 5, Tyrion II: Tyrion heads to Meereen in order to serve Daenerys Targaryen and help her win the throne. He is told that Daenerys needs men such as him, and that Varys and Illyrio are old friends.
    • Chapter 10, Jon III: in the yard of Castle Black, Mance Rayder is sacrificed in a pyre by Melisandre, who denounces him as a King of Lies, and claims Stannis is the one true ruler in Westeros. As Mance burns, Jon has him shot full of arrows in order to end him mercifully.
    • Chapter 11, Daenerys II: soon after imprisoning them, Daenerys visits Viserion and Rhaegal in the catacombs of the Great Pyramid, but they are growing more savage every day and are out of control.
    • Chapter 23, Daenerys IV: Daario Naharis returns to Meereen from his mission. Daario urges Dany to loose the dragons on her enemies before they attack her.
    • Chapter 36, Daenerys VI: Hizdahr suggests terms of peace with Yunkai which the Wise Masters will accept, though it would mean reestablishing some of the practices the Queen has abolished, including the fighting pits.

Memorable Quotes

Maggy: "Oh yes, you'll be queen...for a time. Then comes another, younger, more beautiful, to cast you down and take all you hold dear."

Maggy: "Gold will be their crowns, gold their shrouds."

Brienne of Tarth: "I don't want anyone following me. I'm not a leader. All I ever wanted was to fight for a lord I believed in. The good lords are dead and the rest of them are monsters."

Tyrion: "Good luck finding him."

Varys: "Who said anything about him?"

Daario Naharis "A Dragon Queen, with no dragons, is not a Queen."

Lord Yohn Royce: "He swings a sword like a girl with palsy."

Daenerys Targaryen: "I'm not a politician, I'm a Queen."

Loras Tyrell: "He was a force to be reckoned with..."

Loras Tyrell: "Everyone knows everything about everyone."

Mance Rayder: “The freedom to make my own mistakes was all I ever wanted.”

Cersei Lannister: "I doubt you ever led anyone anywhere."

Image gallery

References

  1. ↑ Jaime and Cersei are twins and thus the same age, and one year ago in Season 4 Jaime was said to be 40 (though Joffrey may have been rounding a little). Cersei in the flashback is around 14-15, thus ~40 - ~15 = around 25 years ago, give or take a year or two.
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