Game
of Thrones
Season
Six
Episode
Five
The
Door
After receiving a
raven bearing his sigil, Sansa Stark, accompanied by Brienne of
Tarth, meets secretly with Petyr Baelish. Littlefinger is surprised
to see Brienne and relieved that Sansa is unharmed but Sansa quickly
corrects his assessment of her.
Sansa tells Petyr of
the horrific abuse and violence she suffered at the hands of Ramsay
Bolton and dismisses his offer of aiding her with the forces of the
Vale. Sansa vows to take back the North from Ramsay with her own army
but Littlefinger reminds her that the Wildings follow Jon Snow, not
her and informs her that Brynden ‘Blackfish’ Tully has retaken
Riverrun.
At Castle Black, Jon
Snow seeks advice on who will join the Stark/Snow army and Davos
Seaworth has concerns about Jon’s appeal but Sansa is confident
that her trueborn status will bolster their cause. Sansa then shares
the news that Littlefinger gave her but not his name as her source.
Once back in her
chambers, Sansa orders Brienne to go to Riverrun and enlist the
Blackfish to their cause. Brienne, hesitant to leave her behind, also
questions why Sansa withheld naming Littlefinger as her source.
As Jon readies to
leave Castle Black, Sansa gives him a handmaid cloak bearing the
Stark sigil, modelled on the one their father Ned Stark used to wear.
The group which
consists of Tormund and Brienne as well then departs for their
journey, while Eddison Tollett in his first act as Lord Commander,
remains in the courtyard and orders the gate closed behind them.
In Braavos at the
House of Black and White, the Waif continues to train Arya and mocks
her high-born origins. Jaqen H’ghar explains that the Faceless Men
were slaves in Valyria before founding the free city of Braavos and
the House of Black and White.
Handing Arya a vial,
Jaqen tells her that an actress, Lady Crane, is the next to receive
the ‘gift’ from the Many Faced God.
Arya enjoys the
spectacle of a play about the War of the Five Kings, with actors
outrageously playing Lannisters and Baratheons to comical effect but
her mirth ceases when her fathers execution is portrayed in the same
manner.
Arya then sneaks
into the dressing room and observes that Lady Crane, the actress
playing Cersei Lannister, is actually a clever and decent woman.
Arya later shares
her plan with Jaqen to poison Crane’s rum and suspects that a
younger, jealous actress called Bianca has arranged for the murder.
Jaqen cuts her off and reminds her that a servant does not question.
Thousands of years
in the past, in a lush green forest clearing, Bran Stark and the
Three Eyed Raven observe the Children of the Forest huddled in front
of a weirwood tree with a man tied to it. Leaf, suddenly inserts a
shard of dragonglass into the man’s chest and his eyes turn ice
blue.
It was the Children
of the Forest that created the Night’s King and the White Walkers.
Pulled back from the
vision back into the cave, Bran demands to know why they made the
White Walkers and Leaf tells him that they needed to defend
themselves, from men.
In the Iron Islands,
Yara Greyjoy is met with scepticism and derision until Theon throws
his support behind her and declares her the rightful ruler. The
cheers of her supporters are suddenly silenced by the appearance of
Euron Greyjoy who steps forward to lay his own claim to the Salt
Throne.
Immediately accused
of Balon’s murder, Euron only apologizes for not having done it
sooner and proposes the rebuilding of the enormous Iron Fleet which
he will deliver to Daenerys Targaryen in exchange for her hand in
marriage. Together, they will destroy the Lords of Westeros and rule
over the Seven Kingdoms, not just the Iron Islands. With this said,
he is chosen as the new King.
In accordance with
tradition, the priest Aeron Greyoy drowns Euron and then when he
revives, places a driftwood crown on his head. Euron then rallies his
supporters to kill Yara and Theon but discovers they have stolen his
best ships and sailed away.
The new king orders
his subjects to begin building anew.
With Daario present,
Daenerys decides what to do with Jorah and acknowledges that despite
his past transgression that he has always been completely loyal to
her, saving her many times.
Revealing his
rapidly spreading greyscale, Jorah finally confesses his love to her
and makes ready to leave.
To both his surprise
and Daario’s, Daenerys suddenly gives Jorah one command: to find a
cure and return to her side.
In the cave, Bran
grabs the weirwood and returns to the location where the first White
Walker was born and finds it an icy, barren wasteland. He then sees
an Army of the Dead and walks amongst the wights until the Night’s
King, on a horse, looks directly at him. Frozen in fear, Bran
realizes that the entire army is now looking at him as well and the
Night’s King suddenly grabs his forearm.
Screaming, Bran
awakens in the cave and the Three Eyed Raven tells them that they all
must leave because by touching Bran, the magical protection of the
cave has been broken. But first, Bran must become the Three Eyed
Raven himself.
While the Three Eyed
Raven transfers his knowledge to Bran, Meera Reed suddenly notices
that the cave has suddenly become rather chilly and rushes to the
entrance to find the Army of the Dead gathered outside. The Children
of the Forest try to hold them off as she rushes back into the cave.
Bran is trapped in a
vision of his own father Ned saying goodbye to his Rickard Stark and
cannot be awakened. Meera yells for a panicked Hodor to help her get
Bran on to a sledge and Bran, hearing her in the vision, wargs into
him.
Chased by wights
from all sides of the cave, Hodor bravely pulls Bran through the
tunnels along with Meera. Bran’s direwolf, Summer, bravely attempts
to aid in their escape but is killed and then Leaf sacrifices herself
so that they can escape out of a hidden back door.
Inside the cave, The
Night’s King approaches the Three Eyed Raven with his blade and
turns to ash in Bran’s vision as his body is destroyed. Bran
suddenly sees Wylis looking directly at him before falling to the
floor, eyes rolled back.
Finally outside the
cave, Meera now pulls the sledge into a blizzard while yelling at
Hodor to ‘Hold the door’ against the Army of the Dead. As he
does so, his past self, linked to him through Bran’s powers, begins
yelling Meera’s command.
The dead grasp and
tare at Hodor but he refuses to let through, bravely sacrificing
himself to save his companions.
Back in the past,
Bran watches as convulsing young Wylis fuse ‘Hold the door’ into
one word.
Hodor.
Review:
Both epicness and sadness combined as one long standing character finally fulfilled their destiny and revealed the meaning of the only word they ever spoken.
