We have now fully parted ways with the books. If the rest of Season 5 hadn’t convinced you that the show was forging its own path, this episode is the final nail in the coffin.
And it was great. Truly, one of the best, most exciting episodes I’ve seen in the entire show’s run, let alone this season.
We’ll get to the really huge stuff with Jon Snow in a bit. First, let’s talk about Sansa. Sansa and Theon/Reek’s scene was pretty powerful tonight. Far from being the desperate damsel in distress, Sansa is unforgiving and relentless in her accusations toward the broken Greyjoy. She tells Reek she would do everything Ramsay has done to him and more for what he did to her brothers, Bran and Rickon.
And then he lets it slip, and she pries the rest from him, that the boys he killed were not really her brothers. They were farmboys. For all Reek knows, Bran and Rickon are still alive. “I couldn’t find them,” he tells her. Is that hope that flickers across her eyes? Another reason to persevere.
In the books, of course, most people still believe the boys dead, though a few know—including Sam, Jon, and Stannis. I rather like that it’s Sansa who makes the discovery in Game of Thrones. It should give her even more purpose now, even more drive to escape. Sansa is woven more closely to these stories in the show than she ever was in the books.
Her husband, Ramsay, has his own awful purpose though we don’t know what he has in store just yet. Roose Bolton wants to wait out Stannis, who he assumes will run into ruin in the snow now that winter has finally arrived (at least in the North.) Roose is the calculating one, but his bastard son just asks for twenty good men. I assume he has some terrorist strike planned.
If he leaves Winterfell, it may be Sansa’s only window to escape. Meanwhile, far off in Braavos, Arya continues to train with the Faceless Men, slowly learning to lie, to blend in, to become one of these holy master assassins. She even gets her first contract, to kill a man down at the harbor that refused to pay what essentially amounts to a life insurance policy to a widow and her children. We’re bound to see more of this in the next couple episodes, but not much really happened here.
Mostly, I’m just eager to see Arya return to Westeros. She better hurry, too, because it looks like Fire and Ice are on the verge of making their own journey to the Seven Kingdoms.
It’s really lovely to see Tyrion and Daenerys talk to one another. Tyrion’s advice to the Queen of Meereen over Jorah’s fate proves to be just and wise, or at least I thought so, and Dany seemed to agree. He gives a frank and honest description of Jorah’s devotion to the Khaleesi. He urges her not to kill him—because killing those who are devoted to you is a terrible way to inspire devotion, something she’ll need in Westeros—but also rightly says he cannot be by her side when she does return to the Seven Kingdoms.
Tyrion’s undergone an interesting shift, one that largely took place during his travels with Jorah rather than Varys, and that’s been fairly subtle up to now. The drunken, morose Imp has shed his skin and the Tyrion we all know and love has reemerged. Now, despite his House, he will advise the Mother of Dragons. And he seems kind of excited about it, even though his past experiences as adviser/King’s Hand/good person have all ended up going awry.
Speaking of ice, tonight’s most exciting bit was an extended battle at the seaside settlement of Hardhome from whence the episode derived its title. This is a huge departure from the books, but not a bothersome one at all. We see with our own eyes just how terrifying the army of the dead truly is, led by the creepy White Walkers and their frightening king.
Jon arrives just in time to save the Wildlings at Hardhome. He convinces many of them to accompany him, to travel to the other side of the Wall where they can farm and stand beside the Crows to fight off the undead.
The terrifying undead. They come in all shapes and sizes, from sword-wielding skeletons to zombies fresh off the press. And they come before Jon can load up everyone on the boats. At first it’s just dogs barking. Then, it’s as if a storm of snow rises in the distance. Something is coming toward them, and the Thenn leader calls for the gates to be closed. The Wildlings left outside scream and beat at the gates before a terrible silence falls.
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