Three Massive Reveals You Probably Missed In Last Night's 'Game of Thrones'

While last night’s episode of Game of Thrones,
Eastwatch, didn’t have dragons frying entire
armies (just two people), it was still a hugely
important sixty minutes.
Eastwatch was unique in that it hid its most
important information in moments that were
almost throwaways. Game of Thrones
superfans may have caught everything that
was said (or read) in these scenes, but for the
more casual viewer, I would not blame you if
a lot of this stuff went over your head.
If you caught all of these and fully understand
their implications, I applaud you. But if you
didn’t, here’s what you missed and some
context about why each is such a big deal.
There were three pretty huge moments that
seem worth highlighting this morning:
The Gilly Nuclear Bomb
This was the exact topic I wrote about
yesterday ahead of the episode, but I did not
expect it to be made so explicitly clear so
quickly. Here’s Gilly, randomly reading a
passage in some old book:
"Says here [the High Septom] annulled a
marriage from Rhaegar, and married him in
secret to another women, in Dorne."
This is arguably the most significant reveal in
the show’s history, short of the original
unveiling of Jon’s parents, and Gilly just drops
it while Sam isn’t even paying attention.
To sum up what this means, Jon’s parents are
not Ned Stark and some random prostitute,
they’re Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark,
which was revealed last season. The story was
always that Rhaegar kidnapped and raped her
which got her pregnant, but what Gilly is
reading here proves a long-running fan
theory that Lyanna was willingly with
Rhaegar, that the two were actually in love.
But not only in love, but married, meaning Jon
isn’t a bastard after all. He is literally Jon
Targaryen, son of Rhaegar, who was the eldest
son of the Mad King. That means Jon is
technically heir to the Targaryen throne, not
Daenerys (she’s also his aunt, which makes
her longing looks at him a bit weird).
What this means for the future of the show is
unclear. It should be a huge deal. We should
be approaching a Bran flashback where we
actually see this wedding, and I assume this
passage will be found and read again by
someone actually paying attention (I believe
this book was brought with them when Sam
left). Like I said last night, in an age when
Robert, Joffrey, Tommen and Cersei have all
sat on the throne in the span of a few years,
I’m not sure “claim to the throne” means all
that much these days, but the fact that Jon
Snow is literally Jon Targaryen is a pretty big
deal in many, many ways.
Cersei Dooming Herself
Speaking of Targaryens, Cersei and Jaime are
ready to go full Targaryen, announcing
they’re the parents of a new child who will be
their heir to the Iron Throne. But by getting
pregnant, Cersei may have very well screwed
herself over, thanks to a little prophecy that’s
been haunting her for years. Here are the
relevant parts:
“The king will have 20 children and you will
have three. Gold will be their crowns ... gold
their shrouds….And when your tears have
drowned you, the Valonqar shall wrap his
hands about your pale white throat and choke
the life from you.”
In short, Cersei will never have this child.
Perhaps it will die in the womb, but more
pressingly, Cersei herself might die before it’s
born. That seems likely, given that this
prophecy also predicts her death at the hands
of her Valonqar, her “little brother.” The
immediate idea is that it’s Tyrion, who is an
expert at strangling women, but fans believe
that somehow Jaime will end up turning on
his beloved sister. Though what she could do
at this point to make him hate her that she
hasn’t done yet, I have no idea. You would
think blowing up the sept and causing her
son’s suicide might have done it, but instead
Jaime’s more loyal than ever lately (even if
Cersei is classifying his meeting with Tyrion
as “betrayal”).
I’m convinced that Cersei will not live to see
the end of the series, but I hope she isn’t
killed off too soon, as she’s the only relevant
villain the show has left outside of the Night
King, and lord knows she’s more interesting
than him. And honestly, half the time I feel
like I’m still rooting for her to win.
Littlefinger’s Letter
I know you paused the show to try to read it,
but let me save you the trouble:
“Robb, I write to you with a heavy heart. Our
good king Robert is dead, killed from wounds
he took in a boar hunt. Father has been
charged with treason. He conspired with
Robert’s brothers against my beloved Joffrey
and tried to steal his throne. The Lannisters
are treating me very well and provide me
with every comfort. I beg you: come to King’s
Landing, swear fealty to King Joffrey and
prevent any strife between the great houses of
Lannister and Stark.”
This is in fact the letter than Sansa wrote to
Robb when Ned was arrested for treason in
season one when he was trying to claim
Joffrey was Jaime’s son and Robert had no
trueborn heir. Sansa wrote it under duress to
a certain extent, though probably genuinely
thinking it would help keep her father and the
rest of her family safe. It was implied Ned
would take the black and avoid execution if
the Starks could be brought in line, and this
was part of that plan before Joffrey decided to
scrap it and just behead him.
Of course…Arya doesn’t know any of that, and
this does look somewhat weird out of context.
This is Littlefinger’s plan. I’m not sure it’s a
good plan (show Littlefinger is so much less
clever than book Littlefinger), but it’s a plan.
The idea is that by saying “Lady Stark thanks
you” when he knew Arya was watching is to
imply Sansa wanted this note hidden from
everyone. That plus the content of the note
will make Arya distrust her further, after she
was already accusing her of grabbing power.
I don’t really like this whole “the corruption
of Sansa” storyline. Arya accusing her out of
nowhere of trying to seize power was really
random, and Sansa and Littlefinger are still
in such a weird place, I don’t get what he’s
trying to do with her in power, because she
hates him. Maybe with her in charge he
proposes a marriage between their houses? I
don’t know. I feel like Arya is one smug glance
away from just cutting his throat outright and
I have a hunch Littlefinger won’t leave
Winterfell alive. But Sansa going full evil and
Arya falling for this hook, line and sinker? I
really don’t like that. We’ll see where it goes, I
suppose.
So yeah…that was a lot. This may have seemed
like a slow episode, but it was actually a
hugely significant one. And much of the
biggest moments were almost entirely hidden
or glossed over, which is unusual. You may
have caught all these yourself, so bravo, but if
you missed them I would not blame you. Only
two episodes left. See you next week.
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