The Lion and the Kraken

The Lion and the Kraken is the seventh episode of Season Seven (7.7).

Summary
Two armadas face off at Dragonstone; Daenerys begins to doubt her Westerosi allies; Tyrion treats with the occupying forces but feels undermined by his Queen; Euron turns on the Lannisters; Drogon is unleashed; the Castle falls; Jon’s attempts to sail north meet with dragonfire; Jaime is taken prisoner.

Plot
At Dragonstone, Daenerys’ armada faces the Greyjoy fleet across the Narrow Sea. Euron’s ships form a huge ring around the island, cutting off the mouth of the Blackwater rush. Euron and Jaime stand on Dragonstone’s battlements, looking out at the massive force arraying against them. Around them, men shout orders and hurry around, archers forming up, ballistas armed, catapults loaded up with boulders and pitch. Jaime looks tense; Euron smiles. They both duck at the sound of a loud roar and rushing wings of a dragon. When they arise, Euron says, “Well, they haven’t roasted us yet.”

On Dany’s fleet, Yara and Tyrion stand on deck. Yara recalls it was Euron who burned the Lannister fleet at Lannisport, effectively kicking off Balon’s rebellion. “He thought he was smart, to force my father’s hand before he was truly ready. All he did was bring the full power of the Seven Kingdoms to our door, and then run away.” Tyrion remarks that she really seems to hate him – was that before or after he won the Seastone Chair? Yara asks what of Tyrion’s own family? Is he expecting a loving reception from his brother, whose father and son he murdered? “I did not kill Joffrey,” says Tyrion angered, but Yara just shrugs. “That’s not what everybody else says.”

In her quarters, Daenerys consults with Grey Worm and Akkaro. Grey Worm tells her there is no way for her troops to land unless they break the Greyjoy fleet. Their own Greyjoy fleet is smaller and not as well-equipped. Akkaro says the Dothraki fight on horses, not on boats, not on the poison water. Grey Worm urges her to use her dragons, just as Tyrion and Yara arrive. The Queen relays Grey Worm’s advice. Yara is enthusiastic about “setting Euron’s ships afire”. Tyrion dislikes the notion, saying the threat of the dragons is enough. The Queen snaps that if it was enough, they would have surrendered already; Tyrion is surprised at her abruptness. Tyrion goes on to say that even if they break the Greyjoys’ naval line, they will have to land and scale the long, narrow stone steps to the keep. “Those steps are no place for galloping bloodriders. Hundreds of your horses would break their legs, Akkaro.” Tyrion goes on to note that the Stark host surrounds the castle from the shore at the eastern walls all the way to the steps, and that the Northern navy is lined up in front of the keep, flanking both sides of the walkway, and led by Davos Seaworth. “I fought him on the Blackwater, he is a formidable captain.” “You defeated him with fire, as I recall,” says Yara, smirking at Daenerys. Tyrion looks uncomfortable and irritated, and continues to explain that even if you destroy the Manderly fleet too, his brother and Euron will rain arrows, stones, fire, pitch, oil – whatever they can – on their constricted troops as they try to storm the castle up the walkway. “You’re asking us to defeat the Greyjoys at sea, then storm the walls of an island castle on a cliff, as impregnable in its own way as Casterly Rock, or even the Eyrie. Each of those is hard enough on their own, never mind combined.” “None of that is so difficult if we use the dragons,” answers the Queen. “And melt the walls of your own ancestral home?” replies Tyrion. Dany grows impatient. “Castles can be rebuilt. What would you have me do?” “Let me treat with them,” her Hand says.

Outside, at sea, there is commotion. Daenerys and her advisers emerge to discover Ellaria Sand and her daughter, boarding the Queen’s ship from their own few. Tyrion is distinctly unhappy to see Ellaria. The Queen tells her she is sorry about Sunspear, but the Sands say they will not stop until they have it back. Once they’re out of earshot, Tyrion remarks to the Queen that of their three Westerosi allies, two are pretenders who have now been chased off their own lands.

Inside the Chamber of the Painted Table, a war council – of Jaime with and his highest-ranking general SER ADDAM MARBRAND, Euron and VICTARION GREYJOY, and Jon and Davos. Jaime says the three dragons circling the castle are terrifying the men. “Your men,” says Euron derisively. “Not the Ironborn. And that’s the point. To make us surrender without losing a single one of her cockless soldiers. Well, it won’t be us who piss themselves first. A true Targaryen wouldn’t hang around. I’ve sailed all around the world, and I heard stories about this dragon queen. She locked up two of her dragons because they killed one shepherd’s child. And when she defeated the slavers, she did not kill or imprison the enemy troops: she set them free. Like most women, she is soft, and hates the sight of blood.” His leering confidence annoys Jaime. “I heard very differently. I heard she nailed hundreds of Meereenese noblemen to posts, and that her dragons ate one for supper. Her tactic might be to scare us, for now, but that doesn’t mean she won’t cook us in the end.” Victarion suggests the Greyjoy fleet hit the enemy now, and hard, and turn the ballistas on the dragons as they do it. No force on the water can best the Ironborn longships. “Except perhaps other Ironborn longships,” says Jaime. “You’re as pig-thick as you are ugly. If we attack, we break our own line, and the dragons will turn your longships into tinder.” He turns to Jon. “Does our King in the North have any bright ideas?” Jon looks up. Everyone in the room looks expectantly to him. “If what you say is true, King Euron, this dragon queen understands mercy. That does not have to be a weakness. True kings and queens know mercy can inspire loyalty. And I do not believe she has come here to burn Dragonstone, seat of House Targaryen for generations. With those beasts above, she knows she holds our lives in her hands. But she knows we have something of hers too: her home.” Jaime borders on outrage. “You would have us cede the castle and pray for mercy? Leave King’s Landing wide open?” “I am King in the North, not King of King’s Landing.” “You swore to fight with us!” “I made no such vow. I said I would defend the North.” Jaime sneers. “The son of the honourable Ned Stark plays word games with me. You have your mountain of glass and now you betray us? I should hang you from the walls.” “If I was betraying you, I would not announce it in your war council,” says Jon. “Nor did I say we should surrender the castle. But I did not come all this way to sacrifice my men to dragonfire. You all read the letter from the Night’s Watch. The dead are at the gates.” “The vivid imaginations of our Black brothers,” jokes Marbrand, uncertainly. Euron, too, is dismissive. “I’ve seen many things in my travels. Nothing that ever made me believe the dead can walk.” “A man who was dead is talking to you right now,” says Davos, surprising Jon, who gives Davos a look. “I don’t know what you’ve seen,” Jon tells Euron, “but I’ve seen the Army of the Dead. I fought them beyond the Wall, and I lost. I think you’re a madman, and you may think the same of me, but I’m telling you the truth. And if you’d seen what I’d seen, you’d understand that before spilling any more of the blood of the living, we should at least talk to this dragon queen first.”

On the sea, a ship from each armada sails out to meet in the middle. On one side, Tyrion sails out with Grey Worm, Missandei, Akkaro, Yara, Ellaria and Tyene Sand. Tyrion makes it clear to the latter two that he did not want them here. “But our Queen knows better,” Ellaria says. Tyrion warns her he will not forgive her for what she did for Myrcella. “You will pay for your crimes in due course,” he says. From the other side, Euron, Victarion, Ser Addam, a young Lannister general SER HARYS LANNISTER, Jon Snow, Davos and Lord Petyr sail. “You bring me out here, but you do not tell me what you plan, and you left me out of your war council,” complains Littlefinger. “You declared for House Stark while you were still sworn to the Lannisters,” says Jon. “Your presence doesn’t serve when treating with Lord Jaime.” “But it serves here?” “We shall find out. I want you to listen and watch – on both sides – and tell me what you see.”

The boats cross paths and stop, and the two sides gather for parley. “Beloved niece,” says Euron to Yara. “Where is little Theon?” She tells him it’s of no concern to him. “I am King of the Iron Islands,” says Euron. “The fate of Balon’s last living… son, if you can call him that, is of great concern to me.” Yara ignores him, turning to her other uncle. “Uncle Victarion, this usurper killed your brother, my father, our lord. Do you not long for justice?” But Victarion spits. “You talk like a mainlander.” Tyrion addresses Jon first, remarking on their unlikely coming together as Hand of the Queen and King in the North. Before Jon can respond, Ser Harys shouts that Tyrion is a traitor, murderer, kinslayer and kingslayer. Ser Addam gives him a look of admonishment, but Ser Harys stares back, sullen. “Quite a litany of charges. Is that why my brother in blood and kingslaying is not here – terrified of a dwarf?” asks Tyrion. “He does not trust you not to seize him for your dragon queen,” answers Ser Addam. “And where is she?” Tyrion smiles. “She does not trust your army of kingslayers, kinslayers, bastards…” his eyes fall on Lord Baelish, “and Littlefingers, any more than you trust mine. Her life is too valuable, losing it too much of a risk. Too much of a risk for you, as well as us. Dragons have been known to go mad with grief.” Euron puts his arm around Jon. “All these cowards who won’t show their face,” he says. “But not me, and not my good friend, the Bastard King.” Jon frowns at Euron and shakes him off. Tyrion tells them they don’t have the numbers, and no dragons. The Greyjoy fleet will be decimated in their flames. The castle will fall in a couple of hours if the dragons descend on it. Euron seems to be barely listening, staring at Missandei. “And who’s this?” Missandei of Naath, and adviser to the Queen, she tells him, who replies with something crude, raising Grey Worm’s hackles. “You should know that our Queen can be merciful,” she says to Euron, “and grateful to those who help her. Surrender the castle and she will be in your debt.” Yara looks alarmed at this, while Tyrion is a mixture of perturbed and impressed. “We have ballistas,” says Euron, casually. “And an arrow in the eye can fell a dragon. An arrow to the heart could fell your flying Queen. And thousands of your men will die on the stone steps before they ever reach the castle.” “And none of that would save you,” says Tyrion. Davos asks where the Tyrells are – Ellaria answers that they are laying siege to King’s Landing. “And the Dornish?” asks Davos. Ellaria gives him a cold look, although the question was innocent enough. Tyrion addresses Petyr directly. “The last I’d heard you’d sold Sansa Stark – my wife, alas, in name only – to Ramsay Bolton, and yet here you stand serving the King in the North who defeated him.” “Every man makes mistakes,” Petyr replies. “Wise men learn from them. I played my own, small part in the Bastard of Bolton’s downfall, convincing Lord Robyn Arryn to send the Knights of the Vale into the fray.” “Ah, lovely boy,” remarks Tyrion. “Fond of seeing things fly, as I recall. Bad things mostly. People for example. And his charming lady mother… I heard she suffered a tragic fall shortly after your wedding. You must still be in mourning.” “I grieve for Lysa every day,” Littlefinger says. Jon finally speaks, ending the exchange. “Lord Tyrion. When you journeyed with me to the Wall, you said I was off to fight Grumkins and Snarks. Well, you were right. But they turned out to be real. You were the King’s Hand when Lord Commander Mormont wrote that a dead man had tried to kill him. I was there; I was the one who saved him, and ended it with fire. While you were fighting off Davos here at the Blackwater, my brothers fought the dead at the Fist of the First Men. I fought the dead at Hardhome. A brother killed a White Walker with dragonglass. I killed one with Valyrian steel. Fire kills the dead, obsidian kills the Walkers and we need them both, now, because the dead are at the gates.” Tyrion is confused. “At the gates? What do you mean?” “At the gates,” Jon restates. “They amass at the wall, from Eastwatch to the Shadow Tower. Hundreds of thousands of them. The Night’s Watch can’t stop them. The North can’t stop them. The Seven Kingdoms cannot stop them. But all our might, combined with all of yours, and your dragons… well, might be there’s hope then, at least. So you see… none of this matters. Abandon this fight, this small, tiny thing, and forget this castle. Tell your Queen, tell her I beg her – come with me, north, to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Sail her ships with mine, fly her dragons overhead, to the Wall. If she wishes to rule the Seven Kingdoms, perhaps she can – but not if she doesn’t protect the realm first, and there are no days left to waste.”

As they sail away from parley back to base, Jon speaks quietly to Davos. If it comes to a battle at sea, he tells him, take down the Direwolf sigils, and the Merman sigils. “And replace them with white sails,” Davos says, finishing Jon’s thought for him, neither of them very happy about it, but Jon nods.

On the other boat, Tyrion looks at Missandei, and asks if she just gave Euron Greyjoy the Queen’s peace terms without involving he, the Hand, whatsoever. Missandei clearly feels embarrassed and slightly guilty. “I do as my Queen commands,” she says hurriedly, before stepping away from him.

In Jon’s tent, back at the Stark camp outside Dragonstone, Lord Baelish greets the King. Before they can discuss business, Jon is wound up about Littlefinger and Tyrion’s exchange. Jon says the first time he ever heard from Ramsay Bolton was a letter vowing to flay him living. The first time he ever met him, Ramsay said he would feed his balls to his hounds. Was it not evident what kind of man Ramsay was? How could he, Lord Petyr, possibly not know? Littlefinger answers it would be naïve to think of him as a fount of information. What information he has comes from people, and they are fallible, with gaps in their knowledge, meaning so is his information. Knowledge is power, but the illusion of knowledge is almost as powerful. Every move he has ever made has been a gamble in some way or another. “I get better with age,” he adds. “Attempting to slay your uncle Brandon for Catelyn’s heart – now that was a foolish gamble. A lose-lose. And marrying Sansa off to a bastard boy I was… ill-informed about, was not one of my better notions. Then again, if she hadn’t gone to Ramsay, she would never have escaped his clutches to find you at the Wall, and you may never have marched on Winterfell, and it could have been a disunited North facing the Army of the Dead, with no dragonglass, and no King Jon.” Jon scoffs, asking if he is suggesting it’s all his doing. “Of course not. But every situation brings its upsides and its downsides,” says Littlefinger. “As King, you have to understand these subtleties, or they can best you.” Jon asks what subtleties were lurking under the surface at the parley. Petyr remarks that the Unsullied and the Naathene girl were clearly freed slaves. “The former are said to be prodigious in the field; as fearsome in their own way as the Dothraki. And in the girl’s voice, I heard complete devotion. This Queen inspires love and loyalty in a manner not entirely different to you, my King.” He goes on to say Ellaria Sand no longer has any power in Dorne – he says he had heard rumours of an uprising in Sunspear, and the look she gave Davos confirmed it. Daenerys is one Westerosi ally down – there is a vacancy. “What of Tyrion Lannister?” asks Jon. “When I knew him before, I thought him a good man.” “The Imp can be good when he pleases, and he’s certainly a clever man, a brave man for one so diminutive,” says Baelish. “And a dangerous enemy. Full of tricks.” “And what of our side?” asks Jon, and Petyr smiles. He asks if the King saw the way Ser Addam looked at Ser Harys after the latter’s outburst at Tyrion, explaining Marbrand was the ranking general and the young Lannister should not have spoken. “But I noted Ser Harys returned Ser Addam’s look with interest. There is dissension in the ranks.” Jon asks why. “Harys was the second cousin of Ser Kevan Lannister, and squired for him during the War of the Five Kings. Ser Kevan was killed in the wildfire inferno at the Great Sept – by the woman who now sits the Iron Throne. There’s much of it around these days, and yet kinslaying is still considered the most grievous crime in these Kingdoms.” Jon asks what he is supposed to do with that. Lord Petyr says Tyrion listened to Jon’s plea for aid at the Wall intently, and will no doubt faithfully relay it… but this dragon queen is here for the Iron Throne, first and foremost. She will want to secure that before anything else. “You appealed to her Hand with all you had, from the bottom of your heart, but you cannot stop the tide, and you cannot stop it sweeping over King’s Landing. So speed it up. Send me to meet Ser Harys, and I will promise him justice against Cersei for Ser Kevan if he and the men loyal to him capture Jaime and lay down their swords against Daenerys.” Jon scowls. “I’ve heard this from you once already, and I will not hear it again. It’s treachery enough to stand by and do nothing.”

On Dany’s ship, Tyrion confronts the Queen about undermining him during the parley. Daenerys defends herself, saying she has numerous advisers and she will use them the way she sees fit. He complains again about overruling him on Ellaria. “She is nothing now. You dishonour yourself by standing with her, and you dishonour me. She should be in the brig, not on-deck, if you truly serve justice.” Dany says it is more important, for now, that she be seen to have Westerosi allies, even if it stretches the truth. “I cannot just be a foreign invader,” she says. “I was a foreigner in Essos because I was born here, and now I'm a foreigner here because of exile. Now I have to destroy my home in the middle to have somewhere I belong.” Out the window onto deck, she watches Yara Greyjoy. “This bastard in the North,” she says, returning to Tyrion. “He claims half my Kingdom and then asks that I fight monsters with him?” Tyrion explains that he knew Jon when he was barely a man. “He was very young, and very gruff, but not stupid, and I believed what he said. Jorah’s father, Lord Commander Mormont, was not a liar when he wrote to King’s Landing about murderous dead men, and Jon Snow was not a liar today.” “Nevertheless,” Daenerys says, “until he bends the knee he is just another usurper.”

Night has fallen, and a hooded man boards the Queen’s ship from a small rowing boat, led on deck by Missandei. She leads him through to the Queen’s quarters, where Daenerys is waiting. The hooded man reveals himself as Salladhor Saan, who smiles widely and says that the Queen’s beauty does not do the rumours justice. Dany thanks him, and thanks him personally for his help on the Stepstones, and says he will have everything Yara promised and more. “You knew the Greyjoys,” she says. “How well do you know this Euron?” Salladhor says only by reputation – that he went mad on the Jade Sea; that his ship the Silence has plundered and journeyed further out than even he has; that he is interested in magic, and power, and violence. Missandei confides in her Queen that he scares her. “And yet,” says Daenerys, “he is the lawful ruler of the Iron Islands.” “Indeed,” says Salladhor. Daenerys asks the pirate how good a smuggler he is, and if, under cover of night, he could smuggle himself over to the Greyjoy lines. “I have black ships, with black sails, and black men to man them. It is fraught with danger, but it can be done, at a price.” Daenerys says he can have whatever he desires, but first he must smuggle this – and hands him a sealed scroll.

Jon and Lord Manderly keep watch from the camp at night, a fire lit. A Stark scout returns, to say there has been no movement from the Targaryen side. “How can you see?” Manderly asks, amused. The scout looks embarrassed. “The water sounds still,” he says. Jon says he has done well and lets him go, jokingly asking Manderly if he can stop winding up his scouts. “We’ll all see what’s what the minute those things in the air start breathing fire,” Manderly replies. Jon asks him if he thinks it’s right to stand aside and leave the Lannisters to their fate. The Lord of White Harbor puffs himself up. “They who butchered your brother and my sons at a wedding? We’d be well within our rights to kill them ourselves. We have broken no bread with the Lannisters. They do not shelter us under their stolen roof. You were wise in that, my King.” “I camped out here the better to mine the glass, not the better to slaughter the Southrons,” says Jon. Dawn has slowly begun to break: a beautiful but deadly red. Jon suddenly puts a tight hand to Manderly’s shoulder. “The dragon queen is moving. Quick! Wake Glover! See Davos is alerted! Array our forces on the east of the castle.”

At a watchtower within Dragonstone, a Lannister soldier blows a huge, ornate horn shaped like a dragon, which gives off a low, rumbling sound. He blows it again and again as dawn continues to break. Bells ring too, as on the battlements, Lannister and Greyjoy soldiers line up and Jaime joins Euron on the battlements. Commands are shouted across the lines. Rows of archers form up. Groups of men gather around trebuchets, and crossbows – and the all-important, finite ballistas. “She’s soft, as I’ve been saying,” says Euron. “She seeks to take this castle but without using her greatest weapons.” “Not yet anyway,” says Jaime, and Euron grins, and clasps Jaime on the shoulder.

The Queen’s attacking fleet, split roughly down the middle between Greyjoy ships and the old Slaver ships – all bearing squadrons of Unsullied, head for the enemy and load spitfires and scorpions, drums beating, men shouting orders. Yara leads the left flank comprised of Greyjoy ships, on the same deck as Grey Worm.

Aboard Iron Victory, Victarion orders the Iron Fleet’s front line forward, readying their own weapons, sounding drums of their own, and warhorns.

From the battlements, Jaime and Euron watch the navies edge closer. “They must be in range by now,” says Jaime. “When will they start firing?” “Soon enough, Kingslayer. When I command it.”

Daenerys, Tyrion, Akkaro and Missandei watch from the deck of the Queen’s ship. Akkaro complains that they are leaving all the glory to the eunuchs and the “Iron woman”. Daenerys tells him in Dothraki there will be glory enough for her khalasar when they assault King’s Landing. Tyrion is unsettled by this, and is clearly helpless about the entire situation – he does not approve of a naval dawn raid on Euron’s ships, and fears the worst. Dany asks if he has so little faith in her, and he looks up at her, uncomprehending. Suddenly, the cries of Drogon sound nearby and Daenerys goes to him. Tyrion asks what she is doing. “Going home,” she answers. Drogon waits for her, wings hovering just over deck. She climbs the railing off deck and clambers onto the dragon’s body before flying in the direction of the castle.

Victarion watches as across the water, Yara’s ships get closer. Overhead, Drogon flies across. “NOW!” he shouts. At port and stern, his oarsmen begin to row backwards.

From Jaime’s vantage, slowly but perceptibly the Greyjoy fleet begins to part. “What are they doing?” he asks Euron urgently. “You’ll see, don’t worry,” he replies. Then he raises his hand and shouts, “IRONBORN! NOW!” And the Ironborn forces on the battlements start to run away, scrambling down steps over walls to the castle’s lower levels. Jaime whirls around in the chaos and confusion. Then Euron seizes him from behind, holding a knife to this throat. “Come, my lord Kingslayer, it’s about to get toasty up here.” He drags Jaime away from the battlements, shielded by Greyjoy troops who stop the Lannisters from intervening to aid their Commander.

Drogon swoops over the battlements. The remaining Lannister lines are in disarray. “Dracarys,” says Daenerys. Ser Harys stares up, open-mouthed, before being engulfed. The battlements are firebombed, Lannister men screaming, all their weapons of war going up in the flames. From the turret stairs, the fierce flames light up the top as Euron drags Jaime down. He laughs at the scorch and carnage. Jaime struggles, so Euron dashes his head against the stone wall, knocking him unconscious. Descending onto the next level carrying Jaime, he hands him unceremoniously to two guards by dropping him at their feet. “This one’s valuable. See to it he stays alive, and see him well shackled.” He turns to the chaos in the castle and brings out twin battleaxes. He throws himself into the anarchic battle, burying his first axe in a Lannister soldier’s gut and disembowelling him with a great war cry.

Jon watches from the eastern shore as the Greyjoy blockade melts away to let the enemy fleet through. Yara and her ships begin to fire at the castle. Over on the Iron Victory, Victarion, now facing the same way, shrugs and commands his ships to do the same. Yara stares across the water at her Uncle, not understanding. On board, Grey Worm and his Unsullied prepare to hit the shore. Back on shore, Jon stares up at the castle, in flames up top. From within, they can hear the shouts and screams of battle, the clash of steel. “The Greyjoys,” says Lord Glover. “Those treacherous cunts.” He looks to Jon. “What do you command, Your Grace?” He looks around at his expectant generals. “Nothing,” says Jon, voice thick with bitterness.

Davos, leading the Manderly fleet, shouts at the sailors to hurry as they raise white sails in favour of their House sails. Overhead the mounted Drogon flies with Viserion and Rhaegal, screeching. They seem to hover above the Manderly fleet, now dwarfed by the combined Greyjoy and Targaryen naval forces. Davos closes his eyes and prays silently, though his lips move. The dragons fly on. A captain shakes Davos to open his eyes. “They’ve gone,” he says. “She’s spared us.” Davos looks out to the huge encroaching armada. “Aye, she’s spared us. That doesn’t mean the Greyjoys will. MAKE FOR SHORE!”

On the Queen’s ship, Tyrion watches in dismay as the armada bombards the castle, whose blackened battlements smoke, as the Unsullied begin to land and storm the steps unanswered, and as Lannister men are thrown from castle windows. The shouts and cries of fighting echo over the water. “Did you know of this?” he asks Missandei, who doesn’t answer. He grabs her by the wrist. “Did you know of this?” “You’re hurting me.” “Unhand her, little man,” says Akkaro. “She belongs to Queen. We win, why you complain?”

Yara and Grey Worm’s ship hits shore, ramps clattering down from the deck as Unsullied storm down, spears and boots splashing in the water. Grey Worm follows his men. Yara gathers her Ironborn to her and they follow in turn. They get off ship in a messier manner to the Unsullied, more of a stampede, bellowing and brandishing weapons. When Yara emerges from the water to the shore, she sees a detachment of Unsullied in a half-moon surrounding her and her men, spears raised. “Not you,” says Grey Worm. Yara stares at the scene in shock. Behind her, Iron Victory sails into shore, and Victarion and his Ironborn disembark, and more hit the shore from the other side, joining the Unsullied. “We’ll take her from here,” says Victarion.

In Dragonstone, the throne room is a slaughter house, littered with Lannister dead. Greyjoy soldiers swarm over the dead and wounded, killing those who remain alive, some ripping out tongues. A small unit of Lannisters band together in front of the throne, led by Ser Addam Marbrand, slowly being hemmed in by the far larger force of Euron and his men. “Surrender now, for the mercy of a quick death,” says Euron, spattered from head to foot in blood. Voice shaky but resolute, Ser Addam says, “I am a Marbrand of Ashemark. I will not submit to reavers and rapers.” Euron grins. Just then, the first Unsullied burst into the room, and the Unsullied and Greyjoys charge the Lannisters. A few scatter and the unit breaks down, and they are all slaughtered.

Jon and his northmen help Davos and his sailors from their ships onto shore. “Our battles never go according to plan, do they?” Davos asks Jon grimly. Back on shore, Littlefinger waits with the Northern camp. “Euron has done what you should have,” Petyr tells the King. “Betrayal and butchery,” answers Jon. “I regret our part in it.” “It’s what they did to your brother at The Twins,” says Petyr. “It’s what they did to your father in the Red Keep. Be thankful that this time, the Starks were outside the walls. More concerning is what comes next – the dragon queen will look to Euron Greyjoy now, not you, for alliance and counsel.” “Aye,” Jon says, “so maybe I should look for you in his council.” Littlefinger recoils from this. “Your grace, you wound me. Would I have such little honour I would not be by your side still, with the spoils going elsewhere.” Jon seizes Littlefinger by the throat and stares into his eyes. “Do not pretend that this is not your kind of work! Do not pretend that you're better than this just because I didn't let you worm your way into it!” He releases him and Littlefinger falls to the ground, half-choked. “Your honour? If you've got a shred of it, prove it. Find me safe ground.”

Jon tries to escape North, against the advice of Littlefinger, who says it will mean going around Dragonstone and is too dangerous. Jon says they have no other choice, and Littlefinger recommends that if they can make it north of the island, they should head for the ruined castle The Whispers. But Jon is forced to change course as he watches part of his Navy obliterated by the Queen’s dragons, including a nephew of Lord Manderly.

Morning breaking, the castle won, the Lannister soldiers dead, Drogon lands with a great crash before Dragonstone’s stone dragon gates, battered open by the Unsullied during the attack. Up the winding stone steps, Dragonstone smokes a little but is for the most part intact, Viserion and Rhaegal whirling around its towers. Daenerys dismounts her dragon, and a troop of Unsullied led by Grey Worm gather to escort her on the long climb to her ancestral home. Jon watches her scale the steps from below, on the shore. Dany sees parts of the steps and castle pockmarked by incendiaries, and blood – war. She enters the castle, heading down a dark passage until she gets to the throne room, where the Lannister dead have been hastily dragged out, and the Lion banners torn down to be replaced with the Targaryen Dragon, and Unsullied and Greyjoy troops flank her on both sides, cheering and raising their weapons for “The Queen! The Queen!” She sits in the throne built into the stone wall. Euron emerges and approaches, throwing a manacled Jaime at the Queen’s feet. “I give you the Kingslayer, Your Grace,” he says. From the ground, Jaime looks up to Daenerys, who stares coldly back.