- Season 7 SPOILERS ahead -
Just when we think HBO can’t make Game of Thrones any better, it does.
With every new season, not only do we experience more action-packed episodes, but we also watch the evolution of the greatest TV series to ever air. From enhanced cinematography to more in-depth character development, to increasingly intense storylines, the show never fails to keep fans on the edge of their seats. One of the most mesmerizing aspects of the show is the number of mysteries that come with it. Along with the questions that every season finale cliffhanger brings, there are also expectations of new revelations with each season that follows.
One of the ways the creators keep the fans in a constant state of suspense is by killing off some of the main characters - which they have proved they’re more than willing to do since the early days of the first season. Just when a character has a pivotal breakthrough or the writers turn one of the most hated characters into a lovable, fan favorite, we see them meet a grisly end. With season 7 being the penultimate season of Thrones, not only have we seen all the above, but the latest season saw the convergence of all the remaining storylines in the series, making it undoubtedly the most epic season thus far.
With all that being said, here’s a collection of the biggest revelations from season 7 of Game of Thrones!
The Domino Effect
A small glimmer of hope in an increasingly hopeless war against the dead came this season when Jon Snow and co. ventured beyond the wall in the penultimate episode.
They came across a small group of the dead led by a single white walker. Seizing the opportunity to attack without too much resistance, Jon took on the walker and destroyed him, learning some vital information in the process. By killing the walker, all but one of the undead wights that followed him were destroyed as well. Jon suggests to Jorah that this may have been a result of them all having been “turned” by that specific walker, leaving us all to question just how their magic works. If the domino effect theory proves true, they might be able to avoid the hundred thousand dead wights if they destroy the Night King, who “turned” them all.
Bran has truly become the Three Eyed Raven
One interesting development we’ve seen over the course of season 7 is the complete transformation of Bran Stark into the Three Eyed Raven. We could tell right off the bat that there was a distinct difference from the Bran of earlier seasons. He’s much bolder this season, in the sense that he’s not afraid to “drop bombs” on people in order to get them to take his knowledge and power seriously. More often than not, this includes revealing information to whomever he’s talking to that only that person would know.
We truly begin to understand the extent of his transformation when Meera Reed says her goodbyes to him and calls him out by name. Emotionless, he responds saying, “I’m not really. Not anymore. I remember what it was like to be Brandon Stark.”
Whatever his role in The Great War, he’s ready to play his part. Just don’t expect a whole lot of emotion to accompany it.
The bad guys now have an ice dragon
The most heart-wrenching moment of season 7 came in the second to last episode, “Beyond the Wall”, when the Night King killed Daenerys’ dragon Viserion with one perfectly placed ice spear.
Daenerys’ eleventh hour rescue effort was certainly a heroic one. However, before everyone could escape to safety, the Night King aimed his frozen javelin at Viserion and plunged it into the dragon. The last scene of the episode solidified the encounter as a victory for the dead when the Night King reanimated the deceased dragon, and it rose again as his servant. This weapon of mass destruction was the last piece of the puzzle for the White Walkers.
In the season finale, the Night King definitely put the ice dragon to use, but we’ll get to that in a bit.
Several major houses bit the dust
As the series has slowly made its way to its conclusion, not only have we seen the deaths of multiple characters, but also the total annihilation of noble houses altogether.
The very first scene of the season featured Arya Stark singlehandedly wiping out House Frey by wearing the face of Walder Frey and poisoning every notable member of his extended family. Then, as the war between Daenerys and Cersei began, we saw the defeat of both Lady Olenna Tyrell by Jaime Lannister, and the Sand Snakes of Dorne by Euron Greyjoy and his iron fleet.
Most recently, we witnessed Daenerys burn Lord Randyll Tarly and his heir, Dickon, when they refused to bend the knee.
The destruction of all these houses leaves their castles and lands vacant for future families to overtake. If anybody survives the Great War, of course.
Stark children…assemble!
There are a handful of character reunions within Game of Thrones that diehard fans have been waiting years to see, but few were more anticipated than the remaining Stark children coming together again. While Sansa and Arya had seen each other last near the end of season 1 in King’s Landing, neither of the girls had seen Bran since before his fall in the pilot. We were all surprised to see Bran arrive at Winterfell in episode 3, as the new Three-Eyed Raven hadn’t been glimpsed since the season premiere, when he had just arrived at Castle Black.
The timing seemed too good to be true, as Arya returned home in the following episode, finally bringing the three true born Stark children together again at least. The long-awaited reunion may have been underwhelming for some (all three have changed so much since the first season that it’s no surprise they barely recognize each other), but we still have Jon’s Winterfell return to look forward to!
Greyscale be gone
Few were expecting to see Jorah Mormont locked away in the Citadel at the start of season 7. But once we had a good look at him, it became heartbreakingly clear why he was in isolation. The last time we saw him was at Vaes Dothrak across the world, when Daenerys ordered him to go find a cure to his Greyscale. At that point, the affliction only covered a small area on his arm and was still easily concealable. By now, we could see that it had covered almost all of his upper torso and arms.
After meeting with the Archmaester and Sam, Jorah understood that his life was coming to an end. Samwell Tarly, realizing who he is, decided to help. In a particular cringeworthy scene, we watched as Sam defied his superiors and underwent an experimental procedure on the son of his former superior, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont.
To our surprise, it worked, and he was completely healed. So um…what was the point of that again?
Shocker: Dragonstone has a lot of dragonglass
A particularly huge discovery that came to light early on in season 7 was the abundance of dragonglass that was hidden beneath Dragonstone. Samwell Tarly was the first to find out about the resource while reading through his books during after hours in Oldtown. This came shortly after we hear Jon Snow tell the Northern lords how desperately they need to find the rare substance and use it to make weapons against the White Walkers.
Sam mentioned that he’d heard about this before, but had dismissed it because he “didn’t think it was important”. Finally realizing his mistake, he quickly wrote a scroll to the King In The North to alert him of this discovery.
After Jon and Ser Davos travel to Dragonstone, they make their request to mine the stone known to Daenerys. She agreed to help them in their venture, and now they have useful weapons against the dead! If only someone would wise up about Valyrian Steel…
Nymeria is alive and well
Another entry dedicated to the long-awaited reunion category came during Arya Stark’s journey home, when she came across her direwolf, Nymeria. The beast was last seen in season 1, when Nymeria bit Joffrey Baratheon. In an effort to save her beloved pet from certain death, Arya took her into the woods and threw rocks at her until she ran away. Episode 2, “Stormborn”, sees Arya ambushed by a pack of wild wolves, only to realize that the alpha is actually Nymeria. She asks her former companion to come home with her, but the direwolf leaves with its pack, having left her domesticated days behind long ago.
Arya realizes that the wolf has become wild, just like her. It mirrors Arya’s own journey from becoming a Lady of House Stark to a deadly assassin who doesn’t quite feel like she belongs anywhere. Something tells us this isn’t the last time we’ll be seeing Nymeria.
Gendry has been in King’s Landing this entire time
One mystery the show failed to resolve (or even address) until halfway through season 7 was the fate of Gendry Rivers. When Ser Davos goes to King’s Landing to smuggle Tyrion in for a secret meeting, he decides to go visit his old neighborhood, where he not-so-coincidentally stumbles upon a much older and cleaner looking Gendry working as a blacksmith.
Due to the nature of his escape and sudden disappearance from the show, his character had become the star of countless memes and jokes in the online community over the years. Davos even makes a fun meta reference to Gendry’s internet fame, jokingly saying, “I thought you’d still be rowing.”
Gendry’s been hiding right under the queen’s nose, and before Davos can even explain why he’s there, he starts grabbing his things, jumping at the chance to leave King’s Landing once and for all.
The bastard son of Robert Baratheon grabs his weapon of choice - a warhammer, like his father - and leaves with Davos in a scene that was simply jam-packed with awesome.
Benjen Stark to the rescue
Oh hey, another reunion!
Just when we thought Jon Snow had met his demise for the second time, he managed to find a way to survive thanks to his deus ex machina of an uncle, Benjen Stark. The last time these two were together was atop the Wall back in the early days of season 1, when Benjen went beyond the Wall to investigate “troubling reports” and never returned.
Right before the hoard of wights kills an all-but-frozen Jon at the end of episode 6, a mysterious rider wielding a flaming whip comes to his rescue. To Jon’s disbelief, he reveals himself to be Benjen, who gives his nephew his horse and tells him to ride for the Wall without him. Jon looks back one last time to see his uncle finally meeting his maker. Benjen (a.k.a. Coldhands, for all you book readers out there) had been living in a purgatory state between life and death, and finally found his purpose in doing so – to save his family.
The darkest alliance yet?
The war between Cersei Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen has resulted in some unlikely alliances on both sides. Cersei’s most valuable ally is now Euron Greyjoy, the newly appointed King of the Iron Islands.
Euron first came to Cersei with an offer of marriage in return for his allegiance and fleet, which Cersei initially declined. After capturing the Sand Snakes and personally delivering them to Cersei, she saw the value in this partnership and agreed to the mad Ironborn King’s terms – only after they win the war, that is. More recently, we’ve seen Euron and Cersei both manipulate those who attended the meeting at the Dragon Pit. Cersei promised to send troops north to help Jon, when she actually plans to let the dead take out her enemies for her. Meanwhile, Euron is heading to Braavos to hire the Golden Company, perhaps the world’s most elite sellsword fighting force.
Will Cersei and Euron get married in season 8? We’ll find out!
(No. No, they won’t.)
R+L=A legitimized J
Robert’s Rebellion was based on a lie.
Common knowledge during the start of the war was that Rhaegar Targaryen kidnapped and raped Lyanna. This is what caused Ned’s father and brother to go south to confront the Mad King, as well as what led Robert Baratheon to rebel against the crown. However, in the season 7 finale, it’s concretely confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt – that’s not at all how it really happened. With the help of Samwell Tarly, Bran discovers the truth.
Rhaegar had actually annulled his marriage to Elia Martell and married Lyanna Stark in secret. Bran looks into the past and sees this for himself, realizing that Jon is actually a trueborn Targaryen named Aegon. This makes Jon the heir to the crown prince, giving him the strongest claim to the Iron Throne out of anyone in the Seven Kingdoms. Daenerys, who is technically his aunt, would be compelled to abdicate her throne if this information went public.
White Walker war aside, this will have the biggest impact in the show moving forward.
Cersei is evil-ing for two…we think
Few believed that Cersei and Jaime would never have any more children, but to our surprise, the Lannisters are revealed to be expecting in season 7. We weren’t sure at first if this was another manipulation tactic by Cersei to keep her brother from rebelling against her; the thought of her being being genuine with anyone, even Jaime, is a tough sell nowadays. Either way, it definitely reinforced Jaime’s loyalty to her, as he couldn’t have been more thrilled when she told him the news.
She doesn’t care to keep this a secret, as she reminds Jaime what their late father used to say: “A lion doesn’t concern himself with the opinions of sheep”. This becomes evident when Tyrion deduces that she is pregnant and she doesn’t bother to deny it.
Jaime’s actions in the finale (fear not, we’re getting there) casts serious doubt over the happy couple’s future together, and honestly, we’re not even sure this isn’t simply another misdirection from the Lion Queen.
Jon bent the knee to Daenerys
Season 6 saw Jon Snow be named King in the North. Not long after, he was summoned to Dragonstone by Daenerys to bend the knee. Knowing they had dragonglass and an army with three two dragons, Jon decided to go ask for her help, despite having no intention of accepting her as his queen.
Later in the season, when Jon and a small group went north to capture a wight as evidence of the White Walker threat, they urged Daenerys to save them after becoming overrun by the dead. Dany, being the awesome person she is, flew her dragons north and saw the threat the Night King posed firsthand when he killed her dragon with a single throw of his spear.
Afterwards, she promised Jon that together, they would destroy the Night King and his armies. Jon then pledged the North, as he bent the knee to her (only figuratively as he was injured). How the Northern lords react to this will be…interesting.
Littlefinger’s latest scheme was his last
Lord Petyr Baelish is under the distinct impression that he’s playing the Stark siblings against each other throughout the course of season 7, but little did he know that he’d finally overplayed his hand.
Just when he thought he had complete influence over Sansa and had her set to execute her own sister, the Lady of Winterfell turned the tables on Littlefinger. In front of all the Northern lords, and with Bran sitting next to her for the first time, she called Baelish out on the crimes he’s been committing since the beginning of the series. We saw Littlefinger’s usual confident demeanor immediately fall away as he frantically played every card in the book, realizing where the situation was leading. He made one final attempt to save himself as he fell to his knees and begged Sansa for his life, but to no avail.
Littlefinger got exactly what he deserved when Arya slit his throat, and just like that, Game of Thrones got a little less complicated. We’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not that’s a good thing.
The wall came tumbling down
The destruction of the Wall is something that has been foreshadowed, feared, and even joked about throughout the entire series. It was originally feared that Mance Rayder had the Horn of Winter, which could be used to bring down the Wall. Since the horn was never even mentioned in the show, it left the book readers confused as to how the Wall would (inevitably) fall. Then, in the penultimate episode of season 7, the Night King’s plan became super, super obvious. Jon’s “Beyond the Wall” mission was an elaborate trap laid to bring one final ally to the side of the undead.
In the final scene of season 7, we witnessed the Night King mounted on the ice dragon, attacking the Wall in one of the most intense scenes in the series. The wall crumbled as the ice dragon breathed its blue flames, making a path for the Night King’s army to float on into Westeros.
Seriously though, is Tormund dead??
Targaryens are up to their old habits
Jon and Daenerys falling in love was predicted from the moment they met in season 7.
Not that anyone was really hiding this fact. George R.R. Martin himself said the story centered around the pair and their inevitable relationship. While the two spent the duration of the season tip toeing around their attraction for each other, Jon finally made the first move at the end of the season finale. We then saw the two hook up in Daenerys’ quarters on their way to White Harbor.
While many fans have been rooting for the Jon and Daenerys’ relationship, with this new development comes a revelation - that Daenerys is actually Jon’s aunt. Bran’s voiceover during the scene cements his intention to inform Jon of his true lineage.
How will the two react when they find out just how closely related they are? How will they handle all this claim to the throne business? Are Targaryens just naturally attracted to one another? We’re waiting on you, season 8.
Jaime Lannister is now a free agent
Despite being known as a dishonorable oathbreaker, Jaime Lannister has always done what he felt was right, regardless of what people thought of it. This season has been a hard road of internal conflicts for Jaime. When it comes to the woman he loves, he has always overlooked her faults and listened to his heart, even if that meant serving the most murderous queen in the world. He has seen Cersei commit some terrible acts, but he always excused them away, assured that he was forever exempt from her wrath.
But every man has a breaking point, and Jaime finally reached his in the season 7 finale. He believed Cersei was genuinely doing the right thing when she pledged her army to the fight against the Night King. When he realized that she was lying and intended to let Jon and Daenerys deal with it (and that she didn’t trust her brother/lover with this information), Jaime decided that enough was enough. It’s not like he can just join up with the Northern cause and be accepted with open arms, of course, so only time will tell where the Kingslayer ultimately ends up.
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Did we miss any major season 7 revelations? Which of these game-changers will have the biggest impact on the final season of Game of Thrones? Let us know in the comments.
