S5┬ÀE7 ÔÇö The Gift
The hour retold
The Wall loses its oldest resident this hour: Maester Aemon dies murmuring his brotherÔÇÖs childhood name ÔÇö Egg ÔÇö a hundred and two years of Targaryen history closing out in a small room, unwitnessed by the throne it might have changed everything to claim. Jon rides for Hardhome in his absence, gambling the WatchÔÇÖs last credibility on a fishing village of strangers who have spent their lives being told the men in black cloaks are the enemy. Back at Winterfell, SansaÔÇÖs single chance at rescue depends on Theon lighting a signal candle in a broken tower ÔÇö and the show makes the betrayal land harder by making it understandable: Reek has been so thoroughly unmade that loyalty to his own survival outweighs loyalty to a girl he once knew as a friend, and he carries her plea straight to Ramsay instead.
In Meereen, JorahÔÇÖs last gambit pays off in the strangest currency the show has offered a queen: not gold, not an army, but Tyrion Lannister, delivered into the fighting pits and bowing with the driest joke he has ÔÇö I am the gift. It is the meeting the season has been engineering for years, two of the worldÔÇÖs cleverest exiles finally in the same room. And in KingÔÇÖs Landing, LittlefingerÔÇÖs slow-motion demolition of Cersei reaches its punchline: he hands Olenna a weapon disguised as gossip, and Cersei, visiting MargaeryÔÇÖs cell to gloat, walks out of the sept in chains of her own ÔÇö the seasonÔÇÖs recurring joke about the High Sparrow finally landing on the woman who built his army for him.
What happens
- Jon rides for Hardhome; Maester Aemon dies at the Wall with Egg's name on his lips.
- Sansa begs Theon to light the signal candle; he carries the plea to Ramsay instead.
- Jorah's 'gift' to the queen in a Meereen pit is Tyrion Lannister, alive and bowing.
- Littlefinger hands Olenna a weapon, and Cersei walks into the sept as a guest ÔÇö and stays as a prisoner.
The people of the episode
Tyrion Lannister ÔÇö "I am the gift." The two cleverest exiles in the world finally meet.
Cersei Lannister ÔÇö Visits Margaery's cell to gloat; leaves in one of her own.
Sansa Stark ÔÇö One candle in the broken tower ÔÇö and the wrong man holding it.
Jon Snow ÔÇö Sails for a fishing village full of the last free folk alive.
Olenna Tyrell ÔÇö Learns the sparrow serves neither gold nor thorns.The fallen ÔÇö spoilers
- Maester Aemon Targaryen ÔÇö One hundred and two years old, the last dragon at the Wall, dreaming of his brother Egg.