S5·E2 — The House of Black and White
The hour retold
A door of ebony and weirwood, carved with a thousand faces, and Arya Stark stands in front of it starving and unimpressed — Braavos does not care that she crossed an ocean to get here. When it finally opens, on the face of the man she knew as Jaqen H’ghar wearing a face that is and isn’t his own, the House of Black and White reveals its terms: not sanctuary, but a school with a curriculum that starts by taking away the one thing she has left, her name. It is the season’s cleanest image for what all its plots are secretly about — the price of becoming what you need to be.
The rest of the map pays out old debts unevenly. Brienne finds Sansa on the road with Littlefinger and offers her sword a second time; Sansa, half out of grief and half out of a hard new pragmatism, refuses her again, choosing the man with a plan over the woman with only an oath. In Dorne, Oberyn’s death has curdled into two factions rather than one grief — Ellaria wants Lannister blood, Doran wants patience Dorne can no longer afford — and the split will cost the region its independence from the war for good. In Meereen, Daenerys metes out equal justice to a freedman who murdered a Harpy in vengeance, and discovers that a queen who treats mercy as a rule rather than a relationship pleases absolutely no one.
What happens
- Arya reaches Braavos and a door of ebony and weirwood that won't open — until it does, on a familiar face.
- Brienne finds Sansa at an inn with Littlefinger; her oath is refused a second time.
- Dorne mourns Oberyn; Ellaria wants war on children; Doran wants proof and patience.
- Dany executes a freedman for murdering a captive Harpy — and Meereen hisses at its queen.
The people of the episode
Arya Stark — "Valar dohaeris." Jaqen's face was never Jaqen's.
Brienne of Tarth — Two Stark girls, two refusals — the oath holds anyway.
Sansa Stark — Chooses the devil who talks over the stranger who swears.
Daenerys Targaryen — Justice for all turns out to please no one.
Jaime Lannister — A secret mission to Dorne, with Bronn as the entire army.The fallen — spoilers
- Mossador — Freedman of Meereen, beheaded by the queen he loved for a murder he called justice.