S2·E10 — Valar Morghulis
The hour retold
The season closes by handing out the prizes to the wrong people, which by now is house style. Tywin is named Hand and savior; Littlefinger gets Harrenhal for brokering the Tyrell alliance; Margaery gets a king swapped in for a betrothal, and Sansa — discarded, delighted, and immediately warned by Littlefinger that being unclaimed in that court is not freedom. In the north the bill comes due at Winterfell: Theon rallies his twenty men with the finest speech of his life and is sacked mid-sentence by his own crew, who have arithmetic where he has feelings. The castle burns behind them. Maester Luwin, speared at the heart tree, spends his last breath telling Osha to take the boys north, to Jon — the old teacher managing the syllabus to the end.
The finale’s two visions aim the whole series. In the House of the Undying, Daenerys walks through a throne room open to falling snow — or ash — and a gate in a wall of ice, declines both illusions for the sound of her children crying, and burns the warlock who caged them; the vault of Qarth pays her passage west. And on the Fist of the First Men, three horn blasts find Sam in the snow. The great ranging’s answer marches past him in the storm: the army of the dead, ranked and led, with the Night’s Watch camped directly in its path. Five kings have spent the season contesting a throne. The finale’s last shot is the audit: none of their wars matter, and only one man in the realm is close enough to see why — hiding behind a rock, too frightened to move.
What happens
- Tywin is named Hand and savior; Margaery Tyrell replaces Sansa as the king's betrothed.
- Theon's own men sack him; Winterfell burns behind them; Maester Luwin dies at the heart tree.
- Brienne and Jaime go south; Robb marries Talisa and breaks his word to Walder Frey.
- In the House of the Undying, Dany sees a ruined throne room and an empty Wall — and burns the warlock.
- The great ranging finds the army of the dead marching on the Fist of the First Men.
The people of the episode
Daenerys Targaryen — Dracarys. The vault of Qarth pays for its own greed.
Robb Stark — Marries for love; the toll on the bridge goes unpaid.
Theon Greyjoy — Rallied his men with a speech; they answered with a sack over his head.
Sansa Stark — Freed from Joffrey — into Littlefinger's orbit.
Jon Snow — Kills the Halfhand to buy a wildling's welcome.
Samwell Tarly — Three horn blasts. There is no fourth.The fallen — spoilers
- Maester Luwin — Speared by ironborn at the heart tree; asked Osha for a quick mercy.
- Qhorin Halfhand — Made Jon kill him so the Watch would have a man inside.
- Pyat Pree & Xaro Xhoan Daxos — The warlock burned by three small dragons; the merchant sealed in his own empty vault.
- Doreah — Sealed in the vault beside the king she chose.