S2┬ÀE6 ÔÇö The Old Gods and the New
The hour retold
The old gods and the new both take a beating. Theon takes Winterfell with twenty men and a night ladder, and the price of playing prince comes due by breakfast: Ser Rodrik, the old master-at-arms who trained him, spits in his face, and ironborn pride demands a sentence Theon is not equipped to carry out. Four strokes to take a head ÔÇö the man who taught him the sword watching him botch it. In KingÔÇÖs Landing the new godsÔÇÖ city turns on its anointed: a bread riot nearly takes the king, the High Septon is torn to pieces by the faithful, and Sansa is dragged from her horse and saved from the mob by the Hound, who does not want thanking. Crowns, the hour observes, are hats; hunger does not salute.
The quieter betrayals matter more. Beyond the Wall, Jon is handed a captured wildling to execute and cannot do it ÔÇö Ygritte talks, and keeps talking, and by nightfall the prisoner is the one setting the pace. Bran and Rickon vanish out of captured Winterfell with Osha and Hodor, into the dark with the direwolves. And in Qarth the seasonÔÇÖs eastern plot finally bares its teeth: DanyÔÇÖs dragons are stolen, her people murdered in the halls of her host, and her scream ÔÇö where are my dragons ÔÇö is the sound of the story reminding her that the only power she has ever really held has scales. The titleÔÇÖs gods, old and new, answer no prayers this week; everyone is on their own.
What happens
- Theon takes Winterfell with twenty men and beheads Ser Rodrik with four strokes.
- A bread riot nearly takes the king; the High Septon is torn apart; Sansa is saved by the Hound.
- Beyond the Wall, Jon is ordered to execute a wildling woman named Ygritte ÔÇö and can't.
- Bran and Rickon vanish from Winterfell with Osha and Hodor.
- In Qarth, Dany's dragons are stolen and the Thirteen bleed for it.
The people of the episode
Theon Greyjoy ÔÇö Took his home's home. It will cost him everything he had left.
Jon Snow ÔÇö One prisoner, one sunset, and he's lost in wildling country.
Sansa Stark ÔÇö The mob wanted the wolf girl. The Hound wanted otherwise.
Bran Stark ÔÇö Gone into the dark with a giant and a wildling.
Daenerys Targaryen ÔÇö "Where are my dragons?!"The fallen ÔÇö spoilers
- Ser Rodrik Cassel ÔÇö Master-at-arms of Winterfell, hacked apart by the boy he trained.
- Irri ÔÇö Dany's handmaid, strangled in the theft of the dragons.
- The High Septon ÔÇö Torn to pieces by the starving city he blessed.