Josh recaps Season 4 Episode 4 of Game of Thrones, titled Oathkeeper, where Daenerys moves forth with conquering Meereen, Jon Snow tries to recruit volunteers to go after the mutineers at Craster’s Keep, and we find out who is behind Joffrey’s murder! Following the recap, both Josh and Violet share their thoughts on the episode!
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Brief Summary of Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 4: Oathkeeper
- Khaleesi frees more slaves to join her ranks. Also enacts a horrifying vengeance on the “masters” of the slaves.
- Jaime discusses Tyrion’s options, and is left with going to trial if Cersei doesn’t kill him first.
- Littlefinger reveals he and Olenna are responsible for Joffrey’s death. Littlefinger remains vague as to his motives, but good news for Sansa! She’s going home to her aunt, who Littlefinger is going to marry.
- Olenna hints of her involvement with Joffrey’s death to Margaery, and tells her to make a play for Tommen’s hand in marriage before Cersei can stop it. Margaery pays Tommen a friendly nighttime visit.
- Jon Snow wants to move to stop mutineers in Craster’s landing–leaders at Castle Black oblige, but hoping he dies in the process.
- Karl Tanner, leader of the mutineers, captures Bran Stark, and realizes his usefulness against Jon Snow.
- A baby is sacrificed to the White Walkers by Karl Tanner. The baby is taken and seemingly turned into a White Walker as well.
Game of Thrones this week deals with the aftermath of Joffrey’s death. We learn pretty quickly who the culprit is, which disappointingly is the most obvious person, in my opinion. But let’s get into this week’s recap of HBO’s Game of Thrones!
This episode of Game of Thrones is titled Oathkeeper. It begins with Greyworm being taught English (or whatever language we understand as viewers) by a woman. There seems to be a connection between the two, possibly eventually a romantic one. Khaleesi interrupts them though, and Khaleesi tells them ominously, “It’s time”.
Several slave looking men seem to be breaking into a stronghold of some sort. Greyworm seems to be among these men, and we learn they are actually Khaleesi’s men in disguise. The move through some catacombs, and eventually come across some slaves. The slaves are discussing Khaleesi’s offer for freedom, but most slaves seem to be afraid to risk death for freedom. Greyworm comes in though, and offers them weapons to rise up with. Now armed with swords, the slave men seem more willing to fight, and begin slaughtering the “masters” in the streets. Afterwards, the city rejoices, cheering for Khaleesi and their newfound freedom. Barristan has a conversation with Khaleesi, and recommends her giving mercy to the masters that were captured. She decides against it however, and nails the masters to crosses in the same manner we saw children last episode. Eye for an eye seems to be Khaleesi’s mantra.
Back in King’s Landing, Bronn and Jaime continue Jaime’s sword training. He seems to be improving, but still subject to Bronn’s roguish trickery. Bronn then asks about Tyrion, and they discuss if Tyrion was the murderer. Jaime hasn’t seen his brother yet in prison. Bronn suggests that Jaime should help him out.
Jaime visits Tyrion, and they discuss Joffrey’s death. Jaime asks if Tyrion is guilty, and he denies it. Jaime tries to rationalize the trial being the proper course of action, but Tyrion feels Cersei will try to kill him, or someone else who thinks he is guilty. The conversation then turns to Sansa, and then the scene switches to her aboard Littlefinger’s ship.
Littlefinger’s destination is Sansa’s aunt in Erie, who he informs Sansa he will marry. Sansa asks if he killed Joffrey. Turns out he had a major hand it in, but didn’t carry out the actual killing. Littlefinger then accuses Sansa of being involved. Sansa’s necklace was missing a stone mysteriously, Littlefinger explains. Sansa puts the peices together–the necklace’s stones were poison. Sansa asks Littlefinger’s motives, but he says keeping his motives hidden makes it hard to accuse him. Sansa then asks what it is he wants. His response is, “Everything”. Littlefinger explains that Joffrey was too untrustworthy for his plans, and he explains he has new friends now.
The scene then switches to Olenna and Margaery. Olenna will be leaving town, but Margaery hopes to stay and marry Tommen now, since Joffrey is gone. Olenna gives Margaery a pep talk, advice to swoon Tommen. Olenna tells her to move quickly on Tommen, before Cersei can stop the marriage. Then Olenna makes the big admission. Well I guess she doesn’t directly admit to it, but she certainly drops a meteor size hint: it was her that killed Joffrey with the stone from Sansa’s necklace.
Jon, at Castle Black, is training men to be prepared for the invasion from Mance Rayder and the Wildlings. Alliser Thorne isn’t happy that Jon is training the men however, and orders him to cut it out.
The higher-ups at Castle Black discuss Snow’s ambition, and decide that letting Jon Snow go after the mutineers might be a good way to get rid of Jon Snow. Locke makes nice with Jon Snow. Locke, if we look back a few episodes, was one of Roose Bolton’s men, so he is clearly playing some sort of undercover game.
Returning to King’s Landing, Jaime comes to visit Cersei. They talk formally, and Cersei demands to know how many people are protecting Tommen. Cersei then questions to know why Jaime was set free. Cersei seems to question Jaime’s loyalty, and accuses him of taking Tyrion’s side, and protecting him.
In Tommen’s room, he wakes up, and finds he has a visitor–Margaery. She works her charm, and is trying to woo Tommen. Tommen certainly from what we have seen so far, has a much nicer demeanor that Joffrey. Margaery seems to be playing the “game”, but she also seems to have good intentions, from what we have seen so far.
Jaime and Brienne, meet up. We are given a history lesson for Jaime, who killed the king previous to Robert Baratheon, and was pardoned by King Robert. Jaime wants to add to his legacy however. Jaime asks Brienne to find Sansa, and take her somewhere safe. He gives Brienne his valyrian sword. Jaime also had a suit of armor made for her, and happens to have a squire for her as well — Podrick, Tyrion’s squire. She begrudgingly accepts the squire. We then learn why the episode is named Oathkeeper–Brienne names her sword Oathkeeper. She and Podrick ride off, in pursuit of Sansa.
Jon and Samwell have a mild argument over Gilly, and his dropping her off in the neighboring town. Samwell isn’t happy about the decision, and fears for her safety. They then discuss where Bran could possibly be hiding. Jon comes up with Craster’s as a possible hiding place. They are interrupted by Thorne, who decides to allow Jon to run a raid to Craster’s to round up the mutineers, but the only men who can go with are those who volunteer.
Jon Snow makes his pleas to the men of Castle Black, and at first it seems no one will be joining him. Finally he has a few volunteers, including Locke.
Karl Tanner, the leader of the mutineers who took Craster’s Keep, has killed many of the men there, and is horribly tormenting the women that remain. The last baby alive in Craster’s is offered to the White Walkers, as was done when Craster was still alive. Karl Tanner remarks that, “if it worked for him it will work for me”.
Meanwhile, we see that Jon Snow’s direwolf, Ghost, has been caged, and he jumps at one of Tanner’s men. We then see Bran, Hodor and Jojen, who have heard the baby crying. Bran goes into his wolf, and begins searching for the baby. In his wolf, Bran hears the caged wolf howling, and goes to investigate it. This turns out to be a bad idea, as Summer falls into a trap. Bran recognizes the other wolf though, as his brother’s.
Bran and his group investigate Craster’s secretly, but they are found by some mutineers and taken captive. Hodor is tormented while Karl Tanner questions Jojen and Bran. Karl Tanner can tell by their garments that Bran and Jojen are wearing fairly fancy clothes. Jojen begins to have a seizure, and Bran admits he is Bran Stark to Tanner. This excites Tanner.
The final scene of the episode shows a White Walker carrying the baby, still alive. The baby is taken to some sort of altar, and another White Walker approaches the baby. He picks it up, touches its cheek, and the baby’s eyes go crystal blue. Is this how the White Walkers multiply?
Josh’s Thoughts: Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 4: Oathkeeper
Overall, this episode of Game of Thrones was fairly slow paced. I would say that the best action part of the episode was Khaleesi’s men breaking into the castle, and liberating the enslaved men within. It was a pretty cool scene. Khaleesi’s vengeance seems to be on fire, and possibly causing her trouble, considering Barristan’s questioning of her orders.
As for the revelation of Joffrey’s death, I am disappointed that the killer was so obvious. Olenna seemed too obvious, which is why I sort of immediately dismissed her, despite last week stating she was the obvious culprit. Littlefinger’s involvement makes the situation a little more interesting, however, as we do not know his full intentions yet. I guess my main question is why is he delivering Sansa to her aunt, and marrying her aunt? The best guess I can come up with is perhaps he is hoping to use his marriage to her to make a play for the throne? I feel this is a weak guess though, since typically in Game of Thrones, much like historical monarchies, it is a patriarchal system, meaning the male bloodline is the one that matters. I guess we will eventually learn Littlefinger’s motives as the season progresses.
Jon Snow is being set up for a trap it seems, and I am really hoping he is able to come out the other side of Craster’s alive. Not only will he have to deal with the mutineers, but his own men want him dead. Not to mention, there is Locke, who is looking for both him and Bran, and likely is hoping to kill them as well. I guess we will see how all of that plays out.
Margaery is making her play for the throne, trying to woo young Tommen, hoping to be his queen. It was kind of a creepy scene, considering the age difference, but a smart play, in the world of Game of Thrones. I guess we will see what Cersei has to say about all of this.
As for the White Walkers, I am guessing that the final scene of the episode was showing how they multiply. It seems Craster’s sacrifices may have been feeding the White Walker army. Hopefully we get some more answers on the zombie horde of the north soon!
Violet’s Thoughts on Season 4 Episode 4 of Game of Thrones: Oathkeeper
“Umm… what just happened?” was my reaction upon watching this episode of Game of Thrones. Seriously, as a reader of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, for the most part I was confused during this episode. I’m pretty sure like 90% of what happened this episode was not in the books. (Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but it was a lot.) As I mentioned before, I have read the first four novels, and only recently started reading the fifth one (without having had a chance took get much further), so the whole time I was watching this, I was thinking, “Wait, did that happen in the books and I somehow missed it or don’t remember it? Or maybe it’s coming up in the fifth book? Or maybe it’s something that we aren’t going to learn until the later books that George R.R. Martin already told the showmakers about?”
In any case, the episode started out a bit slow, with Greyworm getting English lessons, and instigating the Meerish slaves, but quickly picked up with the Meerish slaves deciding to rise up and retaliate against their masters. Daenerys proved how ruthless she is by declining to show mercy to the slaves’ masters.
I was surprised that we found out so quickly who was responsible for Joffrey’s murder. I don’t think we found out so quickly in the books, and I thought for sure it would be something that was shrouded in mystery throughout this season. However, I was also disappointed at how obvious they’ve been making it that Olenna was the culprit. It was not so obvious in the books.
We also had the touching scene where Jaime goes against Cersei and sends Brienne on a mission to find and protect Sansa, bestowing upon her his sword. Jaime suddenly seemed like a decent guy again, in contrast to his actions last episode, which was weird. The show also accelerated things with her and Podrick, having them set off together from the very beginning of Brienne’s journey, rather than joining up later down the road, which I didn’t have any problems with that decision.
Then we come to all the stuff that’s going on at the Wall. As a reader, I know there are some pretty cool things coming up at the Wall, but again, I feel like they’re dragging things out. Not only that, but they are making up a bunch of things that didn’t happen. Jon Snow isn’t even supposed to know that Bran and Rickon are alive, as Sam was sworn to secrecy. Knowing that they are alive kind of affects an upcoming storyline, which I guess the show is going to change a bit. All of the scenes with Karl Tanner and him capturing Bran and the others are wholly uninteresting and an entire departure from the book. Oh, and it was so sad how the mutineers were torturing Hodor. The only thing I found interesting was when I recognized Karl as Burn Gorman, who played Owen on Torchwood. Then at the end we get this weird scene where the baby that was sacrificed to the White Walkers is taken by a White Walker and turned into a baby White Walker — whaaat? So, that’s how this White Walker army has been amassing, they’ve been turning all of Craster’s sons into zombie soldiers?? Yeah, not in the books. Yet, anyway.
Haven’t decided yet how I feel about this huge departure from the books that’s going on. Although, like I said, it’s possible that some of these events are forthcoming in the books. Some things, however, are just completely different. Guess we’ll see what happens as this new storyline progresses.
Scenes from Game of Thrones, Season 4 Episode 5: First of His Name
Here are scenes from the next Game of Thrones episode, titled First of His Name:
Not sure how I feel about the changes either. The bit with the Others could be something that happens later perhaps, or a detail Martin left out that isn’t completely important to the plot but the show included because it looked cool.
Was not expecting that to be the reason why those babies were being taken. Like everything involving the white walkers, it leaves a lot of questions. Are there teenage white walkers? Are all of them male then?