History Recap / GameOfThronesS6E4BookOfTheStranger

* CoverInnocentEyesAndEars: Jon tries to [[BigBrotherInstinct stop his sister Sansa]] from the reading the latter part of Ramsay's threatening letter but Sansa grabs the letter from him and reads it nonetheless, calmly and coldly stating the intent of the Boltons to have her raped. Given that she's spent the better part of her last months ''actually being raped on a regular basis'', simply reading a threat about it has no impact on her.

* DefectorFromDecadence: The High Sparrow's story of how he gave up his former life as a wealthy cobbler the morning after a drunken orgy when he was badly hungover. His grogginess coupled with the collective stench of naked bodies laying around his house and uneaten food going to waste, caused him to have a [[NauseaFuel visceral]] [[HeelRealization epiphany]] that prompted him to walk out of the house barefoot and [[StartOfDarkness become]] a [[HolierThanThou holy man]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Beyond all of the usual with the Dothraki, one of the other Khals is significantly less impressed with Daenerys' appearance than Khal Moro and asks why they're wasting their time on "a midget" with "flesh paler than milk".
* DeliberatelyDistressedDamsel: Daenerys refuses to sneak off with Daario and Jorah when they come for her, and instead willingly returns to the tent and seemingly puts herself and her fate at the mercy of the other khals, all so she can become a DamselOutOfDistress by killing them and thus earn the loyalty of all the other Dothraki.

* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Apparently, the Dothraki are light on the sentries in their holy city. There's only two standing outside the central building (whose throats were slit by Daario), and nobody else noticed this happening or bothered to check up on them.

** Cersei says that the High Sparrow has sowed discord between the Lannisters and the Tyrells and they need to put aside their petty differences to fight a common enemy. [[SelfServingMemory Somehow she makes everyone]] in the room temporarily forget that it was she who armed the Sparrows, put them in power -- all because she refused to make even small concessions to the Tyrells and, that by seducing Lancel and mistreating him, the latter ended up joining the Sparrows, breaking his father's heart.

* IWillFightNoMoreForever: Jon tells Sansa how he feels about fighting all these years, and the [[TheChainsOfCommanding things]] he had to endure as Lord Commander. He wants to stop fighting. However, Jon is pulled back into the fight when he is convinced Ramsay has Rickon.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Despite everything, there's one thing that Khal Moro said that Dany can't refute: going against tradition has its consequences. Khal Drogo and his son -- The Stallion who mounts the World -- both ultimately died because Drogo chose to go against tradition for her. The jerkass part is that he's just playing it safe by subsisting as raiders instead of risking his rule for greater rewards.
* MadeOfIncendium: The khals apparently hold their most important meetings in gasoline-soaked huts, if the alacrity with which Dany is able to set the place ablaze is any indication. Or [[WildMassGuessing maybe]] Dany's previously-established Targaryen fire-resistance has given way to [[PlayingWithFire latent pyrokinesis]]... [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane it's not entirely clear]].

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Jon refused to help Sansa take back Winterfell and was originally going to give up on fighting after being killed but Ramsay's threatening letter and the revelation that he has Rickon provides Sansa with the means to convince Jon to fight again. Likewise, Ramsay threatening wildlings if he doesn't get his way gives Jon a wildling army to oppose Ramsay with. instantly gives Jon the army he needs.

** Khal Moro after watching all his fellow khals burn to death, and once again moments before Dany sets him ablaze.

* PlayingBothSides: The Lords of Yunkai and Astapor negotiate peace with Tyrion, with the Yunkish diplomat pointedly asking for the queen and apparently willing to come to some compromise. But then later we hear the Dothraki discussing the fact that the Lords of Yunkai has offered a lot of money for Daenerys as a captive slave, and there's a price on her head. This suggests that Missandei was right when she mentioned that the Masters were using Tyrion all along.

** Daenerys may be fire-proof, but she isn't crush-proof. There would have been the serious possibility of the burning hut collapsing on top of her, if the plot didn't require it to leave her unharmed.

* ThrowTheDogABone: Sansa finally reunites with a family member who loves her and will look out for her. She apologizes to Jon for being awful as a child and asks his forgiveness but Jon replies there's nothing to forgive. Jon in the meantime regains his will to fight.

* ExactWords: Jaime encourages his uncle Kevan to use this on King Tommen's orders: stand down and do nothing to the Faith Militant can also mean have the Lannister bannermen do nothing as the Tyrell army massacres the Sparrows.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Dany burning the Dothraki khals alive would have been far more horrifying if not for the fact that they said that they intended to gang-rape her, then let their dozens of blood-riders rape her, and then, if there's anything left, [[{{Squick}} let their horses take a turn]]. You don't really have any sympathy for them after that.

-->'''Cersei''': You hate these fanatics as much as we do. You hate what they've done to your son. Do you want Lancel back, or have you given him up for good?
-->'''Kevan''': ''Of course'' I want him back.

* AllAmazonsWantHercules: Averted; Brienne is noticeably uncomfortable under Tormund's MaleGaze. Under all the armor she's still a virgin Southron highborn lady, and [[NoGuyWantsAnAmazon not used to being lusted after]] by huge hairy barbarians from OopNorth.

In '''Vaes Dothrak''', the ''khalar vezhven'', a meeting of all the ''khal''s, is occurring. Everyone is a little distracted by the Dothraki Jorah and Daario killed, who have since been found (Daario at least had the wits to smash the stabbed guy's head in with a rock, presenting a more obvious cause of death than "Stabbed, so it's time for a holy war"), but eventually Khal Moro orders Daenerys brought in. Moro wants her to join the crones, while Khal Rhalko wants to sell her to Yunkai for a new herd. Dany reminds them that she was married to a far more accomplished rapist and pillager, and declares that none of them are fit to lead the Dothraki people -- so she will. [[YouAndWhatArmy They laugh at the little pink girl, of course]], why, for her to take control of every ''khalasar'' there is, all the ''khal''s have to die! Unfortunately for them, they are all sitting here, unarmed, in this one holy temple, which Dany promptly sets on fire. Doh!

As the Dothraki populace come scampering over to see the decapitation of their leadership, a single naked woman emerges from the holocaust and stands framed amid the inferno. Bow before your Queen! Warriors, wise women and slaves all fall to the ground and grovel before Daenerys of the House Targaryen, the First of her Name and the Unburnt; Jorah and Daario take the knee also, as our Khaleesi becomes the undisputed leader of the Dothraki.

** The debate on graduated emancipation of slaves with compensation for the owners versus immediate and total abolition without compensation mirrors the debates on the real-world attempts to abolish slavery. More specifically the context of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, where President Lincoln came to office stating that he opposed extension of slavery but was content with graduated abolition and compensation for the South, with Missandei and Grey Worm as the Radical Republicans criticizing this plan. WordOfGod, in the Inside the Episode featurette, Benioff says they were directly inspired by the difficult choices Abe Lincoln had to face dealing with the political reality that the slave-owners would rather go to war than immediately allow all of their slaves to be freed.[[note]]Eventually once the South seceded [[SoreLoser after they lost the election]] and attacked Fort Sumter, Lincoln gradually started changing his mind, and eventually, his administration abolished slavery with no compensation, in comparison to England, which abolished [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807 the slave trade in 1807]] (the US soon following) and then slavery in 1833, but not without compensating all the slave owners. The comparison isn't perfect of course; a third of the slave states never seceded and all of the border states had volunteers on both sides.[[/note]]

* ArmorPiercingResponse: When Yara angrily demands to know from Theon why he returned to Pyke if he isn't there to make a bid to be King of the Iron Islands, Theon tells her he wishes her to rule the Iron Islands and he will help her. Yara is left speechless and calms down.

* BatheHerAndBringHerToMe: Ramsay has his servants bathe Osha thoroughly before bringing her to him to be used as a sex slave, since she and Rickon had been on the run for months. She notes that his intentions couldn't have been more obvious.

* BehindTheBlack: {{Inverted}}. Even though some of the Dothraki are behind or to the side of the temple of the Dosh Khaleen, and can't possibly see Dany when she makes her triumphant appearance, they still bow without hesitation to the burning building.
* BeingPersonalIsntProfessional: Missandei and Grey Worm believe that Tyrion is foolish to strike a bargain with their enemies, but still openly support him so that Meereen remains undivided.

** Margaery is very protective and comforting towards Loras, and is desperate to do something to help him.

* BigDamnReunion: Jon Snow and his half sister Sansa Stark reunite, marking the first time since the first season that any of the (related by blood) Stark siblings get to meet up with each other after everyone left Winterfell.

* BrokenBird: Loras Tyrell, as a result of his imprisonment.

** Jon states, "I fought, I lost", the same words he received from Alliser Thorne in the gallows.

** Tyrion recalls that a clever man once told him, "We make peace with our enemies, not our friends". Littlefinger first said this in Season 1, when he suggested Ned Stark extend an olive branch to the Lannisters, and Tywin said something similar in S4, when he mentioned that you only make treaties with people you did not trust.
** Daario refuses to let go of his dagger before entering Vaes Dothrak, and gives it a kiss. This is the same dagger he kissed in [[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E3BreakerOfChains his duel with the champion of Mereen]] to kill his horse and make him fall to the ground.

** Tyrion also takes over some of Daenerys's plotline from ''A Dance with Dragons''. In the books, it was Dany who compromised by permitting slavery to continue in Yunkai and Astapor, with some token reforms. Here it is Tyrion who does this.

* DamselOutOfDistress: Dany collaborates with the Dosh Khaleen to kill the Dothraki khals and ends the episode as the new leader of the Dothraki. Jorah and Daario weren't needed after all, except to kill the guards at the temple's doors to keep them from releasing the khals.

%% * DeadpanSnarker: Daario, Jorah and Littlefinger.

* DespairEventHorizon: After [[TraumaCongaLine being betrayed and murdered by a group of fellow Night's Watch members and resurrected only to discover there's no afterlife, executing Olly for aforementioned murder and Thorne's last words]] turned out to be the last straw for Jon, breaking him to the point where he feels there's nothing more he can do to fight the White Walkers or help the realm, he just wants to go south where he can stop fighting an endless and hopeless battle. Reuniting with Sansa does help Jon and removes some of this, but he still doesn't want his endless fights until Ramsay sends him the pink letter, convincing Jon to fight again.

* EatingTheEyeCandy: One of the Khal's [[FunnyBackgroundEvent can be seen]] checking out Dany's behind as she walks past during her BadassBoast.

You allowed thousands of Wildlings past the Wall. [[CategoryTraitor You have betrayed your own kind and you've betrayed the North.]] Winterfell is mine, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch bastard]], [[BringIt come and see]]. [[IHaveYourWife Your brother Rickon is in my dungeon.]] [[AndYourLittleDogToo His direwolf's skin is on my floor, come and see.]] I want my bride back. Send her to me, bastard, and I will not trouble you or your Wildling lovers. Keep her from me and I will ride North to slaughter every Wildling - man, woman, and babe - living under your protection. [[ForcedToWatch You will watch]] as [[FlayedAlive I skin them living]]. You will watch as [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil my soldiers take turns raping your sister]]. You will watch as [[DevouredByTheHorde my dogs devour your wild little brother]]. Then I will [[EyeScream spoon your eyes from their sockets]] and let my dogs do the rest. Come and see.\\

* ExtendedDisarming: Jorah reminds Daario that weapons are forbidden in Vaes Dothrak. Daario removes a lot of weapons from his person, and keeps a dagger anyway.

* ForgivenButNotForgotten: Overhearing a conversation between Ser Davos and Melisandre about what happened to Stannis at Winterfell, Brienne quickly relates that she was present at Stannis's last moments... right before she executed him. She then casts a withering glance at Mel with a mention of how Renly died due to "blood magic." When Ser Davos tries to justify that this was in the past, Brienne curtly mentions that despite that, she does not forgive nor forget.

** Jon is so traumatized by dying and having to hang a boy that he resigns from the Night Watch and prepares to flee south. When Sansa shows up, Jon offers to take her with him [[BigBrotherInstinct so he can look after her for their father]]. However, Sansa wants to fight to take back Winterfell. Jon refuses but later, when they receive Ramsay's letter, Sansa convinces Jon that Ramsay does have Rickon, bringing Jon back intlo the fight.

* HoneyTrap: Attempted by Osha but defied by Ramsay. Osha tries to seduce Ramsay in order to get close enough to kill him. It doesn't work, because Theon told Ramsay all about Osha and the time she used that trick on him, so Ramsay sees through the act and kills her instead.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Tommen and Robin Arryn are both totally out of their depth in politics and only trust their closest parental figures to advise them...Too bad those people are Cersei and Littlefinger. And unluckily for everyone else the two kids are the King of Westeros and Lord of the Vale. Just how clueless they are is really highlighted when Tommen ''finally'' notices that Cersei "doesn't like Margaery very much" when the whole Faith Militant catastrophe was caused by Cersei trying to get rid of her, and Robin Arryn instantly goes along with Littlefinger's threat to kill Yohn Royce.

** Brienne makes one to Melisandre when she confronts her regarding the nature of Renly's death. Brienne states that she neither forgives or forgets.

* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: When Dany tips the braziers over, the flames seem to rabidly ''attack'' the khals as if alive. Perhaps Dany's powers are evolving to rudimentary fire-binding. A trick that Mel is capable of at the Wall when she sets a Warg's eagle alight. This is especially apparent when Dany tips the third brazier and we hear a dragon ''roar'' as the conflagration charges forward to consume Khal Moro! This might also explain how the incendiaries spread so quickly aside from being usual TV and film logic when it comes to fire spreading like the plague. We'll have to wait and see if it was just heavy-handed metaphor.

* OneWomanArmy: In a GuileHero sort of way, Daenerys single-handedly kills almost twenty or so men using nothing but her wits, immunity to fire, and some conveniently places braziers in a locked and highly flammable building.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jon has been a staunch fighter and loyal to the Night Watch despite being forced to hear about his family's suffering and unable to help. To see him abandon his fellow fighters and wildlings show how much dying, resurrection, and hanging the mutineers, has traumatized him.

* TookALevelInJerkass: Brienne openly taunts Davos about Stannis's death, despite taking revenge for Renly on him as the man who ordered it, and Davos insisting that it was in the past.

** Osha to the Stark family. She puts herself at extreme risk in order to attempt to kill Ramsay to protect Rickon, and is ultimately killed for it.
** Melisandre claims that she now has this for Jon Snow, stating that she will go along with whatever he decides to do, because he is The Prince That Was Promised.

** Grey Worm is ''not impressed'' with Tyrion's negotiations, and reminds him that the slavers do not think of them as people (they see him as a weapon and Missandei as a whore).
** Missandei gives him a smaller dose of this when she says that seven years is not a small amount of time to a slave, especially since Tyrion had earlier admitted that being a slave is bad, despite having been one for little more than a week.

* BigDamnReunion: Jon Snow and his half sister Sansa Starks reunite, marking the first time since the first season that any of the (related by blood) Stark siblings get to meet up with each other after everyone left Winterfell.

* AdultFear: Brought up by Cersei for Kevan, the fact his son has been seemingly brainwashed by a violent and dangerous religious cult.
-->'''Cersei''': You hate these fanatics as much as we do. You hate what they've done to your son. Do you want Lancel back, or have you given him up for good?
-->'''Kevan''': ''Of course'' I want him back.

** In the books, Jon received Ramsay's threatening letter ''before'' the "[[FanNickname Ides of Marsh]]" (so named because First Steward Bowen Marsh was the head conspirator instead of Alliser Thorne). In fact, Jon's decision to break his vows and march south to handle the Boltons--albeit at the head of Tormund's wildling host, so that no other members of the Night's Watch would need to be hanged for treason--served as the final straw to the already-dissatisfied brothers, since the Watch is supposed to play no part in the wars of the realm. Here, Jon receives the letter after the mutiny has already occurred, freeing him of his oaths via RevivalLoophole.

* AppealToWealth: When negotiating with the slavers, Tyrion points out that Westeros doesn't have slavery and he grew up wealthier than them, so they don't need slavery to be rich.

Jon Snow is still at '''Castle Black'''. He's packing his things while Dolorous Edd asks where he could possibly go. The former Lord Commander says he'll head south, to someplace warm. Edd tries to put some sense into his friend, reminding him of his vow, but, as Jon points out, he already gave his life so his watch is over. Edd stated that he swore for "this night and all the nights to come". Jon points out that he has failed as Lord Commander: he obeyed his vows and in return got a mutiny and several stab wounds. Edd reminds him of Hardhome and the real threat beyond the Wall but Jon says he did everything he could. Even mention of the White Walkers isn't enough to convince him. But before they can argue further, they're both alerted by a single blast of the horn, and calls to open the south gate.

Over in the '''Vale of Arryn''', we check with Robin Arryn, who is-- You don't remember who he is? Don't worry, he hasn't been around much. Okay, remember in ''season 1'' when an old man died? He was Jon Arryn, Hand of the King, and his death led Ned Stark to replace him as Hand. He left behind a wife, Lysa (Catelyn's sister), and a son Robin, who has never amounted to much. Well, Littlefinger got his little finger on Lysa and married her, and then pushed her out the Moon Door, leaving Robin to uphold his father's rule as the Arryn of the Eyrie and Lord of one of the seven kingdoms, and Petyr Baelish as his advisor and regent. He's a little kid whose [[MyBelovedSmother Beloved Smother]] was breast-feeding him at the age of ''eight''. Anyway, he's trying his hand at archery and failing miserably. But Littlefinger arrives with a caged falcon as a gift and news of the absolute riot that Sansa has been going through. Lord Yohn Royce dares to challenge Baelish, pointing out that he was escorting Sansa when she was "kidnapped" by House Bolton. Baelish retaliates by pointing out he only told Royce where they were going and implies that Royce betrayed them to the Boltons. Whatever the case, Littlefinger orders that--scratch that, convinces little Robin (who's busy fawning over the falcon) to order that--the knights of the Vale sally forth and attack House Bolton.

At '''Castle Black''', Dolorous Edd apologizes to Sansa for the quality of their supper: "We're not known for our food." Next to them, Tormund Giantsbane makes flirty eyes at Brienne, with [[{{Squick}} disturbed reactions]] in return. A messenger delivers a letter to Jon, destined for the Lord Commander. "I'm not Lord Commander anymore," Jon says, but takes the letter anyway. It has the wax seal of House Bolton. It's from Ramsay Bolton, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. "He's killed his father," Sansa declares. The letter is scarcely congenial: Ramsay declares that he has Rickon as his captive, and wants Sansa back. If he does not get her, he will sweep Castle Black with 5,000 men. When Jon reads Ramsay's threats against Sansa and Rickon, he can't bring himself to continue reading the letter aloud, but Sansa snatches up the letter from her brother and reads the rest of it to the group, which contains some rather unflattering descriptions of what Ramsay plans to do to Jon and Sansa (and/or their corpses) after he wins. During their discussions to form an army to fight Ramsay, Tormund asks Sansa how many men Ramsay has and she explains she heard Ramsay say he had 5000 men. Jon asks Tormund how many men he has. Tormund replies he only has 2,000 men at his command who can march and fight. The Night's Watch would not be able to take part in this battle due to their vow of neutrality (see "Out Of Order" below for details). Sansa begs Jon to rally the North as a son of Ned Stark so they can take their home back and save Rickon, to which Jon agrees [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive in order to save their brother]] [[RelativeButton and protect their family]].

* TenMinuteRetirement: Jon declares that his watch is ended and he wants some peace. Shortly after, he's dragged into another war, this time to retake Winterfell and rescue Rickon.
* AdaptationalContextChange: Ramsay finally sends Jon the show's version of the "Pink Letter" and where the contents and authorship of the letter in the novels is left ambiguous as of Literature/ADanceWithDragons, here it is clear and absolutely correct.

** The debate on graduated emancipation of slaves with compensation for the owners versus immediate and total abolition without compensation mirrors the debates on the real-world attempts to abolish slavery. More specifically the context of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, where President Lincoln came to office stating that he opposed extension of slavery but was content with graduated abolition and compensation for the South, with Missandei and Grey Worm as the Radical Republicans criticizing this plan. WordOfGod, in the Inside the Episode featurette, Benioff says they were directly inspired by the difficult choices Abe Lincoln had to face dealing with the political reality that the slave-owners would rather go to war than immediately allow all of their slaves to be freed.[[note]]Eventually once the South seceded [[SoreLoser after they lost the election]] and attacked Fort Sumter, Lincoln gradually started changing his mind, and eventually his administration abolished slavery with no compensation, in comparison to England, which abolished [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_Trade_Act_1807 the slave trade in 1807]] (the US soon following) and then slavery in 1833, but not without compensating all the slave owners. The comparison isn't perfect of course; a third of the slave states never seceded and all of the border states had volunteers on both sides.[[/note]]

* AssholeVictim: The Dothraki khals' deaths at Daenerys's hands were undoubtedly painful but well-deserved, after they threatened to gang rape her. Moro's blood riders in particular also count, who are heard saying how they are going to rape a red-haired girl and drown her baby in a lake if he is redheaded too, before they are killed by Daario.

** Jon promises that he will go wherever Sansa goes, so he can protect her. Also, while he originally doesn't want to try to fight the Boltons, Jon is convinced to fight them once he learns Ramsay has Rickon.
*** Along those same lines, Jon's so protective of Sansa that he refuses to even read Ramsay's threat to rape her aloud.

* BothSidesHaveAPoint: Sansa and Jon discuss what to do now that they're reunited. Jon, who was preparing to flee South, tells Sansa he's tired of fighting because it never has a happy end; he had to execute his own men, including a boy no older than Rickon, who betrayed him. Sansa in the meantime says that they can't just leave the remains of their legacy to the Boltons; Ramsay will keep taking and taking, and they need to take back Winterfell. Despite their disagreeing, Jon promises that whatever happens, he's behind his sister and won't leave her again.

** Osha once more attempts to pretend she has no loyalty to the Starks and seduce a usurping lord of Winterfell in order to ultimately protect them. This time, however, [[ItOnlyWorksOnce she fails and is killed.]] Ramsay had heard about the first time from Theon, after all.

** Jon states "I fought, I lost", the same words he received from Alliser Thorne in the gallows.

** Tyrion recalls that a clever man once told him "we make peace with our enemies, not our friends". Littlefinger first said this in Season 1, when he suggested Ned Stark extend an olive branch to the Lannisters, and Tywin said something similar in S4, when he mentioned that you only make treaties with people you did not trust.

** Tyrion also takes over some of Daenerys's plotline from ''A Dance with Dragons''. In the books it was Dany who compromised by permitting slavery to continue in Yunkai and Astapor, with some token reforms. Here it is Tyrion who does this.
* ContinuityNod: The fact that Daenerys is ''immune'' to fire in the show ([[AdaptationalBadass unlike in the novels]], where she just seems to have some resistance to heat) is not only kept consistent, but is used as a plot point when she burns down the entire tent with all the khals inside, knowing it won't hurt her.

* CoverInnocentEyesAndEars: Jon tries to [[BigBrotherInstinct shield his sister Sansa]] from the latter part of Ramsay's threatening letter but Sansa grabs the letter from him and reads it, calmly and coldly stating the intent of the Boltons to have her raped. Given that she's spent the better part of her last months ''actually being raped on a regular basis'', simply reading a threat about it has no impact on her.

* {{Fanservice}}: Creator/EmiliaClarke seems to have taken a break from her alleged no-nudity-clause, most likely to mirror the season 1 finale.

* GrewASpine: Now that Sansa is no longer anyone's political hostage she's coming into her own -- assessing the military situation, being willing to lead the troops herself but also motivating Jon and the Wildlings by reading the letter out loud, without any qualms.
* TheGuardsMustBeCrazy: Apparently the Dothraki are light on the sentries in their holy city. There's only two standing outside the central building (whose throats were slit by Daario), and nobody else noticed this happening or bothered to check up on them.

** Jon is so traumatized by dying and having to hang a boy that he resigns from the Night Watch and prepares to flee south. Sansa snaps him out of it by triggering his BigBrotherInstinct; despite their disagreeing on what to do, he promises he's not going to leave her again.

* IHaveYourWife: Or in this case, I Have Your Brother, and You Have My Wife and I Want Her Back. Ramsay tells Jon that he has Rickon and wants Jon to give up Sansa. [[BigBrotherInstinct This convinces Jon to fight Ramsay.]]

* IWillFightNoMoreForever: Jon tells Sansa how he feels about fighting all these years, and the [[TheChainsOfCommanding things]] he had to endure as Lord Commander. He wants to stop fighting. Naturally, this changes when he learns Ramsay has Rickon and wants Sansa back, both of whom Ramsay is threatening to harm.

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Dany burning the Dothraki khals alive would have been far more horrifying if not for the fact that they said that they intended to gang rape her, then let their dozens of blood-riders rape her, and then, if there's anything left, [[{{Squick}} let their horses take a turn]]. You don't really have any sympathy for them after that.

* MakeItLookLikeAnAccident: After Daario stabs a dothraki, he bashes the guy's head in so the guards will assume someone beat him to death with said rock, rather than someone having violated the law against weapons in city limits.

* NeckSnap: Daario kills one of Moro's blood riders this way to prevent them from warning other Dothrakis.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Jon was originally going to give up on fighting after being killed, but Ramsay's threatening letter convinces him to keep on fighting when he mentions the horrible things he'll do to Sansa, Rickon, and the Wildlings if he doesn't get his way. The numbers are not in Jon's favour as he doesn't yet have an army but Ramsay threatening to murder every Wildling at Castle Black instantly gives Jon the army he needs.

** Jon is reluctant to join Sansa to take back Winterfell at first. However, when Ramsay openly declares to Jon that the Night's Watch and the Wildlings are his targets and tells Jon that he has captured Rickon, threatening both Rickon and Sansa, Jon gets ready for war.

** Scenes with Daario and Jorah are impregnated with this trope.

** Only one thing convinces Jon Snow to pick up his sword again -- [[BigBrotherInstinct a threat against his younger siblings]].

* ThrowTheDogABone: Sansa finally reunites with a family member who loves her and unconditionally will support her. She notes with irony that she was nasty to Jon as a child, but Jon says it doesn't matter; they're family. Jon in the meantime regains his will to fight.

* TookALevelInBadass: Sansa decides to go to war against Ramsay to take Winterfell back after he threatens the Night's Watch and declares he has Rickon as his hostage. Jon, Tormund and the Night's Watch join her plot.

** Then Sansa calls out Jon on his reluctance to fight to win back their family home from the monstrous Boltons and take back the North. This all changes when Jon agrees to war against the Boltons once he learns that Ramsay has Rickon prisoner and of Ramsay's threats against Rickon, Sansa, and the Wildlings.

** Likewise his enumeration of people he killed mentions people he admired, as he had to kill Quorin Half-hand.

* HelloNurse: One of the khal's [[FunnyBackgroundEvent can be seen]] checking out Dany's behind as she walks past during her BadassBoast.

* BigBrotherInstinct[=/=]BigSisterInstinct:

* DissonantSerenity[=/=]TranquilFury: As she often does, Dany keeps on a small, calm, polite smile while the other khals talk about how they plan to rape her, let their blood riders rape her, and give her to their horses afterwards. She then proceeds to, equally calmly, burn them all to death.

* TooDumbToLive: You don't have to be versed in modern-day fire safety to know that it's a stupid idea to build a giant fully flammable hut with only a single exit and illuminate it with several open fires sitting on loose pedestals that can easily be knocked over by a 1,57 meter woman. The Dothraki had it coming.

** The Lannister twins can bring Olenna and Kevan over to their side thanks to the Sparrows pushing theirs. Olenna is willing to screw P.R. and have her men slaughtering the Sparrows in the street to stop her granddaughter from being disgraced in public, while Kevan is willing to let it happen because (he thinks) they brainwashed his son Lancel (the truth has more to do with [[TheAtoner Lancel's guilt]] over killing Robin and [[KissingCousins committing adultery with Cersei]], but only Jaime and Cersei know this in the books, and their HBO equivalents may not. In neither continuity is Ser Kevan in the loop).

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Tommen and Robert Arryn are both totally out of their depth in politics and only trust their closest parental figures to advise them...Too bad those people are Cersei and Littlefinger. And unluckily for everyone else the two kids are the King of Westeros and Lord of the Vale. Just how clueless they are is really highlighted when Tommen ''finally'' notices that Cersei "doesn't like Margaery very much" when the whole Faith Militant catastrophe was caused by Cersei trying to get rid of her, and Robert Arryn instantly goes along with Littlefinger's threat to kill Yohn Royce.

* IncomingHam: Baelish announces his presence greeting Robert Arryn with a loud "The Defender of the Vale!"

** The Lannister twins can bring Olenna and Kevan over to their side thanks to the Sparrows pushing theirs. Olenna is willing to screw P.R. and have her men slaughtering the Sparrows in the street to stop her granddaughter from being disgraced in public, while Kevan is willing to let it happen because (he thinks) they brainwashed his son Lancel (the truth has more to do with [[TheAtoner Lancel's guilt]] over killing Robert and [[KissingCousins committing adultery with Cersei]], but only Jaime and Cersei know this in the books, and their HBO equivalents may not. In neither continuity is Ser Kevan in the loop).