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Movies & TV

12th Apr 2019

GAME OF THRONES RECAP: Where did Season 7 leave us? Where is everyone? Who’s still alive?

Carl Kinsella

Game of Thrones recap

It’s been two years. We all need a Game of Thrones recap.

We’re now just days out from the return of Game of Thrones on 14 April (2am on 15 April, Ireland time). But where did Season 7 leave us off?

Author of the series George RR Martin himself has a team of helpers for the express purpose of reminding him where every character is at any given time in the story.

Thankfully, as the series has worn on, the main characters have all been drawing closer and closer to one another. This culminated in the Season 7 finale, where the majority of our protagonists met in the Dragon Pit of King’s Landing to discuss the threat of the White Walkers.

Even still, it’s been almost two years since the show was on our screens, so we’re here to help you all out with a recap of the show’s most recent events.

Who’s where? Who’s dead? What does everybody want? Look no further. This is the essential Game of Thrones recap.

The Wall

Game of Thrones recap

After Jon’s sortie beyond The Wall – to capture a wight as evidence of the undead – needs rescuing by his new girlfriend Daenerys Targaryen, her dragon Viserion is taken down by the Night King.

Him being the Night King and all that, he wights the dragon and enlists him in the army of the undead. In the last scene of Season 7, we see Viserion taking lumps out of The Wall at Eastwatch with blue flames, and the army of the dead appear to march straight through. For the first time in the history of the show, The White Walkers and their army are south of The Wall.

Fan favourites Tormund Giantsbane and Beric Dondarrion are shown atop The Wall during the attack, so their fate very much hangs in the balance ahead of Season 8.

Winterfell

Three of the Stark children are reunited at Winterfell: Sansa, Arya, and Bran. However, since his jaunts with the Children of the Forest, Bran is the new three-eyed raven — which means he can see through time, and now seems to be living through all moments simultaneously. He’s creepy now.

Sansa is in charge and recently sentenced Littlefinger to death for his many, many crimes. Arya, who is now a full-blown Faceless Man, is serving as her protector.

Also in Winterfell are Gilly and Samwell Tarly, who have realised that Jon Snow’s true name is Aegon Targaryen. He’s not the bastard son of Ned Stark, but the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Leanna Stark. This means that he is the true heir to the Iron Throne. Sam shares this information with Bran, who is immediately able to confirm it using his three-eyed raven abilities.

Dragonstone/The Narrow Sea

Most of the show’s key figures are now pledged to Daenerys Targaryen, and travelled south with her to King’s Landing for the Dragon Pit meeting with Cersei.

We know that by the end of Season 7, Dany’s party is sailing from Dragonstone to Winterfell to link back up with Jon’s northern army. This party likely includes: Tyrion, Jon Snow, Varys, Jorah Mormont, The Hound, Missandei, Grey Worm and Davos Seaworth.

She has two dragons left, and it’s not clear whether they’re flying along with the ships, or whether they remained at Dragonstone.

The only thing we really see happen on the ship is Jon and Dany having sex. Tyrion looks pretty concerned as he watches from the hallway, though the reasons for his concern are not yet clear.

On the shores of Dragonstone, Theon convinces the remaining Ironborn soldiers to help him rescue his sister Yara, who was kidnapped by their uncle Euron.

King’s Landing

Game of Thrones recap

Only Team Queen Cersei is left at King’s Landing. In the final moments of last season, her brother Jaime left her behind and rode north to fulfil his promise to fight the army of the dead, accompanied by Bronn. In King’s Landing, she is served by her loyal zombie bodyguard The Mountain, as well as her Hand, Qyburn.

We see Jaime and Bronn riding north to join up with Team Dany.

Cersei also revealed that Euron Greyjoy plans to return from the Iron Islands with a fleet of ships for her. She had promised Team Dany that she would send her army north to help with the whole White Walker thing, but it turns out that she and Euron are actually just planning to reclaim the rest of Westeros. She’s also pregnant with another of Jaime’s children.

Miscellaneous

Fans waited years for Gendry to finally finish rowing and make his return to the show, which he did in Season 7. However, it’s no longer clear exactly where he is. Did he stay at The Wall after being part of the mission to capture a wight? Is he on the boat with Dany and Jon? We can’t be sure.

Brienne of Tarth had also been dispatched to King’s Landing as Sansa’s emissary. Last we see her, she’s still in King’s Landing with her squire, Pod, but it’s possible that she hitched a ride back to Dragonstone with Team Dany, and is now on her way back to Winterfell. As she is sworn to protect the daughters of Catelyn Stark, we can assume that she’s Winterfell-bound one way or the other.

Last we saw Melisandre – the Red Priestess – she was telling Varys that she planned to go to Volantis, but that she would return to Westeros to die. We don’t know where she is now, but we can expect to see more of her before the end of the series.

Robyn Arryn is another mystery. A cousin of the Starks and the Lord of the Vale, the world’s most annoying child is currently unaccounted for. Littlefinger, who was his adviser, is now dead. Whether the show will even bother revisiting him is not certain. Honestly, there’s probably very little to gain by bringing him back into the fold.

Daario Naharis is presumably still in charge of Meereen.

So what the hell is about to happen?

In short, the army of the dead – led by the Night King and his White Walkers – have finally breached The Wall. Nobody south of The Wall knows about this yet. We still have no idea what they want, but the intel so far suggests that they want to kill everyone.

An army of Northerners, Unsullied, Dothraki, two dragons, The Hound, Jorah Mormont, Jaime Lannister, Bronn, Brienne, Arya Stark, wildlings and the Night’s Watch are poised to fight the dead as soon as they reach Winterfell.

Further south, Cersei is planning to conquer all of Westeros while the Northerners busy themselves with the White Walkers. She told them she’d send her army north to help them but this is a lie. She will soon be joined by Euron Greyjoy, his fleet, and a team of mercenaries called the Golden Company.

Elsewhere, Theon is trying to save Yara from Euron with a few dozen Ironborn.

Who’s dead?

Littlefinger was sentenced to death by Sansa ‘Lady Stark’ Stark in the final episode of Season 7, and was executed by Arya. The beloved Olenna Tyrell was poisoned by Jaime halfway through the season, effectively ending the Tyrell’s storyline in the show. Similarly, the Sandsnakes of Dorne were killed early on by Euron Greyjoy, ending the Dorne storyline — a source of relief to us all.

Other important people who are dead include: Ned Stark, Catelyn Stark, Robb Stark, Rickon Stark, Robert Baratheon, Stannis Baratheon, Renly Baratheon, Joffrey Baratheon, Myrcella Baratheon, Tommen Baratheon, Tywin Lannister, Shae, all of the Tyrells, all of the Martells, all of the Freys, Roose Bolton, Ramsay Snow, Osha, Thoros of Myr, Lysa Arryn, Khal Drogo, Jojen Reed and Hodor. And thankfully, Olly. So… almost everybody.

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