WARNING: This article contains spoilers.
Last Sunday night, one of America’s favorite television shows, “Game of Thrones,” aired its seventh season finale. While the entire episode wasn’t fueled by a massive revenge plot like the grand finale of Season 6, Season 7 was far from a let down. The finale gave viewers all the incest, death, war, undead dragons, Night Walkers and family drama they were hoping for.
“The Dragon and the Wolf” cut straight to the chase with the meeting of main characters Jon Snow, Tyrion, Cersei and Jamie Lannister and Daenerys at Dragon Pit. The purpose of the meeting was to show the danger of the White Walkers and to discuss a possible alliance to defeat them. The White Walkers are a dangerous bunch who seek to recruit anybody, dead or alive, to their icy zombie-like army. Ultimately, after a bit of deliberation, an alliance is formed and Cersei, Jon and Daenerys feel they have a fighting chance against the army of the undead.
Cersei also shows a sliver of emotions as she refuses to kill her brother Tyrion. After years of blaming him for many of her life’s most traumatic experiences (death of her eldest son Joffrey and both their parents), she still exhibits some empathy and doesn’t seize the opportunity to slaughter him. The cold-hearted queen has some humanity left in her.
However, Sansa Stark didn’t show any hesitation as she ordered the death of Lord Baelish. Baelish is easily one of the shadiest people on “Game of Thrones,” as he has done more than his fair share of putting words in people’s mouths, altering information for his own benefit, turning people against one another and manipulating them, lying compulsively and selling off women to monstrous men for what he likes to call “alliances.” It’d be an understatement to say Petyr Baelish is two-faced – the man has more faces than Arya Stark herself. When it comes to deceptive and cunning behavior, Baelish is a repeat offender, and his death was long-awaited and well-deserved.
After Jon Snow gives Theon Greyjoy a necessary pep talk that serves as a dose of encouragement and brings him back to his senses, he decides to fight for his sister Yara. Yes, he should have fought for her several episodes ago when Yara was taken hostage by their uncle Euron, but it’s never too late … right? Either way, Theon has, at last, mustered up the courage he’s been missing for seasons. He endures one hell of a beating but ultimately perseveres and gains the respect from Yara’s army he needs on his journey to rescue her. His newfound strength was also long-awaited and kind of deserved.
Jon Snow and Dany hooked up, but honestly, we saw that coming. The chemistry between the two has been undeniable, and it was only a matter of time before fate brought these two together. Bran Stark beautifully retells the story of Jon Snow’s biological father (a.k.a Daenerys’ eldest brother) Rhaegar Targaryen and mother Lyanna Stark and their forbidden love story. After spending all of his life being labeled a bastard, Snow’s actually the exact opposite. In fact, he’s the rightful heir to the iron throne, and his real name is Aegon Targaryen. Dany is his aunt, but her parents were siblings, so incest is just tradition at this point.
Lastly, the best had to be saved for last. Our beloved Night King took no time warming up to his new pet ice dragon. Night King and his army of White Walkers are growing exponentially and are always looking for new talent. The icy zombie army is lead out to the Wall, where Viserion completely obliterates it with what appears to be blue flames. The episode finishes off with the White Walkers marching into Westeros, thus leaving quite the cliffhanger. Not only do we see the undead moving beyond the Wall, but we see just how many of them there are. As thousands upon thousands of them pour in, if there was every any feeling that Night King had little to no chance at the Iron Throne, that feeling is long gone.
