LAST SEASON on Game of Thrones, Part II: “Valar Morghulis” – Fire, Ruin & Promise

This is the image Season 2 left us with last year; a horde of White Walkers and wights marching on the Wall.

The third book in Martin’s fantasy saga, A Storm of Swords, opens with this scene. It was moved to the end of the second season of Game of Thrones to up the cliffhanger quotient for a finale, and that was probably a very smart decision judging by its reception.

Before Season 3 kicks off this Sunday on HBO, let me remind us all where we left off, and guide us back with some potent imagery from “Valar Morghulis”.

Season 2 ends with Fire.

Wildfire on the Blackwater ending Stannis’ first rush for the throne. The fear of burning alive turning Sandor Clegane from duty to his boy-king. Qhorin Halfhand’s burning body signaling the end of Jon Snow’s membership in the Night’s Watch. Daenerys’s dragons unleashing a hellfire on the House of the Undying, granting supremacy over Qarth neatly into the last Targaryen’s hands. A smoldering ruin of Winterfell, to send Bran and company on their way, leaving the northern kingdom a ruin. The sight of possible victory inside the flame for Stannis Baratheon, entranced by his red priest Melisandre. And a vision of flame in Tyrion Lannister’s eyes, reminding him that every stride he made last season means nothing now.

Out of that fire came fresh promise:

Tyrion now knows he isn’t safe, but he also knows that he loves playing the game of thrones in King’s Landing, and has Shae by his side. He’s in it for keeps.

Luwin is dead. Ned Stark is dead. Cat and Robb are at war. Their guardians are gone, but the youngest Starks are still alive and in Osha’s keeping. With two dire wolves by their side, they’re out in the field, headed who knows where, and to who knows what.

Winterfell burns, but most escape unscathed. The Ironmen make their escape back home, the Starks are on the move under fresh protection, and Robb and his Northmen are waging a successful war campaign to the south.

Melisandre has exhibited real, supernatural power in her brief time on screen. We know she isn’t full of shit, having survived imbibing deadly poison, and birthing a shadowy horror to take down Renly Baratheon from a distance. Stannis still has her fire on his side.

Despite turning from the Black with this thrust, Jon is far too noble and conscientious to abandon everything he’s stood for. Still, this is the first life he’s taken, and shit just isn’t the same for him any longer. The last we see of him, he glimpses a united Free Peoples beyond the wall, amassing in a large town over a glacial ridge, and is being escorted to meet Mance Rayder, the so-called King-Beyond-the-Wall.

Theon may be in the shit with his men, but his sister Yara proved he isn’t without some meaning to his people; he’s been dragged off unceremoniously by his men, and likely has a gauntlet of questions to face from his father.

Catelyn Stark hopes her new retainer will ransom the Kingslayer for the two Stark girls. Brienne’s battle prowess on the road has already been proven in one incredibly well put-together scene from “Valar Morghulis” – ‘two quick deaths’ – and she’s all that stands between Jaime and enemies on both sides of the war during a brutal journey to the capital.

Arya Stark is on her own again, armed with new purpose – she aims to find her family, strewn across the Seven Kingdoms – and has the words of the enigmatic Braavosi acolyte, Jaqen H’Ghar on her side: “Valar Morghulis” – all men must die. She keeps a coin Jaqen gave her, before parting with this unsettling farewell:

There’s a promise made with this parting and the gift Jaqen makes to Arya; she’s assuredly now on the road to the kind of power he has exhibited. That’s if she can survive the war raging across Westeros.

Varys and Littlefinger, two essentially omniscient spectres haunting King’s Landing for two years, are finally at a crossroads. Varys is taking a stab at Petyr Baelish’s ’empire’ by plotting to win Ros the Enterprising Whore to his side.  This is a bizarre alliance that promises to turn into something delicious before long, and, Ros being an invention of the show, promises to be a mystery even to avid fans of the original novels.

And Petyr, by contrast, is now the Lord of Harrenhaal, growing stronger all the time, but with his attention seemingly about to divert from King’s Landing.

Margaery Tyrell and her house move into King’s Landing, and make a serious and deadly union of the south with…the ‘further’ south. This is Joffrey’s new queen, leaving Sansa momentarily out of Joffrey’s regular concern.

Where’s the promise in this marriage? It’s significance is all about Robb breaking a promise, which in turn, promises to deal him a terrible hand when it catches up to him. Cat urges her son to hold true to his promise to the Freys, but hormones will be hormones.

 

And finally, in the East, the last of the Targaryens, the mother of dragons, one Daenerys Stormborn, finally learns a life-altering lesson: power is in perception, and Qarth now believes she has power. She is the veritable ruler of one of the Free Cities, and is freshly armed with the means to conquer more.

The vision that empowers her is a beautiful scene we’re left with at the end of the second season; a farewell to Drogo and the child she never had, and a brief flirtation with the Iron Throne, that she never succumbs to, choosing instead to pursue her stolen dragons. It is the right decision, and she wins against the Qartheen.

Dany’s dragons are growing quickly. They respond with fire, now on command. Three veritable pocket-nukes in the hands of one, rapidly maturing queen. They won’t stay this small for long.

I’ll leave you with this incredible image, our first real glimpse of a White Walker, without shadows or secrecy. In the flesh, such as remains on its skeletal figure. This is what the north chose not to fear for two years, and now it’s coming for them, armed with thousands of shambling corpses ready to start a second war the kingdoms aren’t ready for.

Season 3.  Based on the first half of George R. R. Martin’s A Storm of Swords. HBO, Sunday night. And we’ll see you here on Omega-Level on Monday to discuss the premiere at length!

Budrickton, First of His Name, Warden of the Actual North (Canada)