Season 6 Episode 8 of Game of Thrones, titled No One, has Arya Stark confronting Waif, and determining where she wants to go with her life. Jaime and Brienne reunite at Riverrun under less-than-ideal circumstances. Tyrion seems to think his plan in Meereen is working, but might not be all sunshine and rainbows. Cersei, meanwhile, deals with her son’s newfound faith, and learns trial by combat is to be outlawed. Oh, and the Hound might have found another ragtag group to hang around with. Check out Josh’s recap of this episode of Game of Thrones, followed by both Josh’s and Violet’s thoughts about the episode.
- His thoughts on No One, Episode 608 of Game of Thrones
- Her thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 8: No One
Arya Becomes Someone
Game of Thrones begins with the plays Arya has been watching. “Cersei” loses her son “Joffrey”, and it seems that Lady Crane’s acting has gone up a notch thanks to Arya’s tips. After the scene, the woman heads back stage, and discovers a wounded Arya hiding in the costume area. She helps Arya with some milk of the poppy, which seems to be an anesthetic, despite Arya saying she doesn’t want it. Lady Crane asks Arya to come along with her on the road with the play, but Arya says she wants to see the edge of the world, whatever is past Westeros. We also learn that Bianca, the younger actor who wanted this woman dead, was maimed by her.
Later, Arya wakes up and sees that Lady Crane has been murdered, by Waif. Arya makes for an escape, jumping out the window. Waif chases her for a time, through the city, and Arya seems to be getting more injured from her previous wounds as she attempts to flee. She winds up eventually running back to her bed we saw in a dark hallway, where there is but one candle lighting the area. Waif has tracked her down, and Arya has Needle in hand. Arya strikes the candle, ready to fight Waif in complete darkness.
Arya then visits Jaqen one more time–putting the face of Waif on the walls of his temple. Arya basically tells Jaqen she is Arya Stark, and that she is going home.
The Hound Seeks Vengeance
Meanwhile, the Hound has tracked down some of the people who murdered the people he was with. He axes them swiftly. He continues looking for the rest of the group, and finally comes across them, but he also comes across some old acquaintances.
The Hound bargains for the ability to kill the men, and these men are actually going to hang the same men he is looking for. The Hound says normally he would kill the lot of men so he can kill the one he is after. The leader of the other group, Beric, negotiates with the Hound to allow him to kill two. They won’t let the Hound butcher them, he can only hang them. He agrees, begrudgingly. The Hound kicks his two off their perches, watching them strangle under the hanging. He then scavenges shoes from the dying men.
Later he has a meal with the men, and Beric offers a position to The Hound with their group. The Hound seems to discount the group at first, but seems like he might be coming around to it.
Meereen is in Peril, but Daenerys Returns
In Meereen the priestesses are working on spreading the good word on Daenerys, and Tyrion seems to think his plan is working. Varys is skeptical though. Tyrion then tells Varys that he is taking off, back to Westeros. Apparently he is looking for allies back home. The two have a surprisingly emotional good-bye.
Later, Missande, Grey Worm, and Tyrion enjoy their victory, and drink and tell each other jokes. They are having a grand time but then they discover that the city is under attack–by the Slavers it would seem. While under siege, Tyrion tries to figure out the next move, and Grey Worm takes control, telling Tyrion they need to bring all of the men to the pyramid, as it is easiest to hold. Then suddenly the trio hear something outside, and when investigated it seems that Daenerys has returned.
Cersei’s Stunned – No More Trial by Combat
Cersei has a talk with Maester Qyburn. The members of the Faith have entered the Red Keep, requesting Cersei’s presence. Cersei confronts them, with the Mountain in tow. The men insist, and it comes to violence–the Mountain murders one of the men, and Cersei says the “High Holiness is always welcome to visit”
Cersei then heads to the throne room, where a pretty big crowd has gathered. Cersei approaches the Hand of the King, and she asks why she was not notified about the Royal Announcement coming. The Hand tells her that her place is in the gallery when she attempts to head to the throne. Then King Tommen arrives and makes a stunning decree–trial by combat is now outlawed. Cersei is stunned since she will not be able to use the Mountain to fight her trial. Maester Qyburn then discusses a “rumor” with Cersei, telling her that the rumor is not just a rumor, and “much more”–whatever that means.
Jaime and Brienne Reunite in Riverrun
At Riverrun, Podrick and Brienne have come to see Jaime Lannister’s men have the keep surrounded. Lannister men escort them to Jaime. Bronn has a reunion with Podrick, and Bronn gives Podrick a hard time, but also gives him some swashbuckling training. Meanwhile, Jaime and Brienne talk, and Brienne makes a bargain with Jaime, saying that she will convince the Blackfish to give up the keep so that she can get men to help Sansa Stark take back Winterfell. Jaime doesn’t think it would work, and says that if her plan doesn’t work, he will invade the keep. Brienne offers Jaime’s sword back, but Jaime says that the sword is hers now. As they part, Brienne says they could face each other in battle.
Inside, the Blackfish refuses to surrender. At first he is not even sure Sansa is alive, and signed the orders. He does eventually believe Brienne, but the Blackfish is going to stay in his keep as long as he can. Brienne tells Podrick to get a raven to Sansa saying they have failed.
Lord Edmure is still imprisoned in the camp, and Jaime comes in for a visit. Jaime tries to appeal to his sentimental side, saying they can get him and his son and wife to be together again. Lord Edmure realizes what Jaime is up to, and Jaime’s tone turns terse. Jaime says that he will catapult his son into the keep if he doesn’t help, because to get back to Cersei, he has to take this castle.
Lord Edmure seems to see things Jaime’s way. He waves his white flag at the drawbridge. The Blackfish tells the men in the castle to not open the bridge. But the men of Riverrun say they have to listen to their lord. Edmure comes in, and then orders the men to surrender. Blackfish, meanwhile, has made his way into the lower parts of the castle, and gives Brienne and Podrick a means of escape via a rowboat. Brienne tells Blackfish to come with her and Podrick, but he refuses, wishing to die fighting.
Jaime requests the Blackfish brought to him, but he is informed that the man has died. He seems a bit sad about this. He then sees a boat rowing down the river. Brienne and Jaime have a silent exchange, simply waving to each other.
His Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 8: No One
This was a building episode I felt like, where there wasn’t a ton going on, but there were some interesting tidbits. I am curious where The Hound will wind up. He seems to be joining this rag-tag group, but I wonder how he will loop back in with some of the main characters eventually. I wonder if the Hound and Brienne could possibly wind up meeting up again.
Speaking of Brienne, it does seem like she and Jaime have a thing. I am not willing to say its romantic like Bronn is trying to portray to Podrick, but they at the very least have some sort of respect/friendship with each other. I am curious to know what would have happened if Edmure didn’t decide to go along with Jaime’s plan.
In Essos, things looked bleak when the slavers returned, but Daenerys will figure out a way to stop them, I am sure. I wonder if the Ironborn with Theon and Yara perhaps might provide some assistance to Daenerys. It would be a way for the two to eventually have a partnership.
As for Arya, hopefully she is finally on her way back to Winterfell. It was good to see her get her revenge on Waif, although it was at the cost of a friend. I had a feeling once Arya went down that dark corridor, her plan was to fight Waif in the dark–she had been training in fighting while blind, so it made sense as a way for Arya to even the playing field.
Looking to next week, it looks like we will have the big battle between Jon Snow and Ramsay Snow. The episode is titled Battle of the Bastards, certainly a little on the nose. I have a feeling much of the revelations and new developments from this episode will not be addressed until episode 10, as I think this battle will take up the entirety of episode 9. I just hope that Jon Snow comes out on top. Not only because he was the better man, but also because it would be a horrible plot line for Jon Snow to be brought back from the dead only to be killed a couple episodes later.
Her Thoughts on Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 8: No One
If you’ve read our Game of Thrones recaps before, you’ll know that my biggest “ship” in this franchise is Daenerys and Jorah. Well, my second biggest ship is Jaime and Brienne. Not just from watching the show, but also from reading the books. I’m not sure how popular this ship is. While I appreciated Bronn’s comments about Jaime and Brienne hooking up in the tent as comic relief, at the same time, I felt like it cheapened the Brienne/Jaime ship, in that it blatantly pointed out the potential for the two to have something going on between them, whereas before, I felt like it was more subtle. I didn’t like that now they’re making it more obvious, and putting the idea into people’s heads, where that idea may not have been there before. I know this season has been more about the Tormund/Brienne ship, but I don’t think Brienne is really into that. Will Jaime and Brienne ever get together? Right now it doesn’t seem like it, what with Jaime spouting off about how much he loves Cersei (Ew). Maybe eventually he’ll start to get over that and consider Brienne. Or maybe it will remain tragically unrequited. It was sweet the way he let her go without any fuss, though what was up with Podrick rowing so slow?! It’s a good thing Jaime did let them go and that no one else saw them, because they could have easily been caught up to!
Switching gears, let’s jump over to Arya’s storyline this episode, which was pretty awesome. I remember when the who first started, I found Arya so annoying. She has come quite a long way since then. You knew Arya just couldn’t be killed off after getting saved when she was close to death. I was a bit surprised to see Waif come after her, as it seemed like she was satisfied that she had killed Arya at the end of last episode. But of course it would come down to Arya “Daredevil-ing” her. Too bad we couldn’t see some infrared of that fight! But anyway, I’m ready for Arya Stark to make it home and have a Stark children reunion! …That is, whatever is left of the Stark children by then.
It looks like next episode might be entirely the fight for Winterfell between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton – aka the Battle of the Bastards, kind of like in Season 4 Episode 9, The Watchers on the Wall, which was entirely made up of the Wildling attack on the Wall. I actually didn’t like that, and would prefer to see at least one other storyline, because so much else is going on, too much to wait to get wrapped up with just one episode remaining after that. But then, who’s to say what will get wrapped up this season and what will get pushed over to next season anyway?
Scenes from Game of Thrones, Season 6 Episode 9: Battle of the Bastards
Preview of Season 6 Episode 9 of Game of Thrones
