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[soliborne-archive]

mind , heart & soul --- a dragonfather au.

after accidentally finding a treasure chest filled with eggs lukas manages to help three of them hatch , only to find himself raising three freshly hatched dragons --- and not just raising either. he’s bound to them.

he’s had to return from a trade to find his entire village ablaze ; not even bodies were visible for the most part. ashes , ashes that seemed to fly and ready to consume the world were all around him and lukas felt like he would never know joy again. his house wasn’t even there anymore , it , too , had become nothing but dark dust while his world burned before him. it was like he’d never be happy again --- and he’d never be. not without his home , not with his entire life burnt to nothing but cinders. it’s only when he finds a burnt flag embroidered with an all too familiar logo that he feels himself seethe with rage.

his uncle --- that bastared , had joined a pirate crew years ago , abandoning all responsibility. several of his uncles had scattered in the past , but this one had seriously joined the worst pack of outlaws imaginable. they weren’t even honorable for pirates --- and that meant something ! so he knows already that even if it’s the last thing he does he’ll end that blood - betraying bastard with his own hands. except he cant ; he knows where ships hide on the island , knows where to look to find him. but the ships a wreck and the crew is nowhere to be found. instead he sees something heavy fall into the water of the lagoon and sink. he doesn’t think , instead he jumps in and with a strong effort he pulls it out.

those pirates took everything from him , it was only fair he got to keep their clearly most treasured booty. he struggles for a while with the lock ( rocks don’t help a lot if they also keep scratching open your hands in the mean time ) but at last he manages to open it. eggs. lots of ‘em. the sight surprises him so much he forgets the fact that the inside of his hands are bleeding. he takes the rest of his will and energy and does his best to bring all of the eggs to safety --- he doesn’t even know if they’re from the same parents , some are heavier and larger than others despite the fact that their shells almost all feel equally as sturdy.

what they all have in common , though , are insignias on them , almost as if the eggs were trying to tell him their names in a language he didn’t speak.

he doesn’t know why , maybe it’s the loss of purpose or the fact he has nothing left to do , but lukas finds himself building a shelter in the very lagoon he found the chest in. he doesn’t know what conditions they’ll hatch under so he tries multiple methods. it takes a while ,  maybe months , maybe more , he’s not sure. but eventually one of them starts to hatch and for once lukas feels hope. he’s given up that the eggs would actually become something ( honestly he didn’t know what conditions they had to be kept in so he’d kept his hope at a low anyways ) and his heart soars when he sees a small snoot breaking through the shell.

he’s ... surprised but delighted at finding a dragon baby at his disposal ; he’s never seen one before and despite what he’s expected he immediately begins to feel a almost paternal instinct. then he hears another egg crack and he’s beyond happy. it wasn’t a human family , sure. but these were his children , his babies. his new life. it takes a night more and a third one is cracked. he waits , patiently , for a few more days. but , even without knowing how he’d know exactly , there’s something that tells him there’s not hope for the other eggs. it’s saddening , silence falling over him before he sighs. despite the losses , he was able to save three of them. that was good , wasn’t it ?

he’s not sure what drives him , but after ensuring the other eggs were all put into a spot where no human could find them on accident without destroying them he takes his children and moves on. there is no reason to his actions , just pure instinct. at first he remains with them in the remains of his village ; the woods nearby and the river parting the island he resides on giving enough playground for him to live. plus , the woods were filled with animals now that no hunters were around anymore. if there was a chance for him to teach his hatchlings to hunt now was the chance. except that he isn’t a dragon --- and one of them has to reside within the waters of the river ( previously he’d just thought it loved to swim --- trying to get it out of the lagoon had shown the little one to have neither legs nor wings to carry it ) 

so he does the best he can. raises them like his family raised him. but there’s a burning in the back of his mind , almost like voices whispering to him. he’s not sure what it is but it’s weird , in a comically positive way --- he’s never been around dragons ,  doesn’t know how to communicate with them  and  yet it’s exactly like the three little dragons know exactly what he wants them to do , and somehow it feels like he knows exactly what’s going on inside their mind. it feels almost childish of him but he talks to them as much as he can , tells them his favorite childhood fairytales at night time and tries to read to them whenever he can put his hands on a book.

they grow , slowly but steadily. except they don’t grow all that slow. the bigger his children get , the stronger the sensation in his mind. it’s as if they’re trying to communicate with him but can’t. not yet , at least. so he tries to ignore it , tries to bear it as best as he can while doing whatever possible to raise them. and it’s odd , ironic almost. how his dragons are almost similar to a human child in their curiousity and never - ending enthusiasm. and how wild he’s grown since losing his family. no , since finding them. 

when they’re big enough to not be as easily targeted anymore he decides to move with them. he’s built a ship , not the best but big enough to house his two dragons and him , with an attachment to keep his more waterbased child close to the ship without taking too much freedom away. it’s a rough start , with the way his instincts yell at him to always keep a close eye on them. but it’s nice , for once in a very , very long time he has a family again. as unconventional as it may be.

it’s when he finally sets sail for a nearby harbor , when he keeps his babies far enough for no human to find them but close enough to not shut off his odd ability to sense their presence. when he enters the local tavern looking for a short job or a way to gamble someone out of a bigger vessel for the seas he hears it first. it’s an old man in old , almost rusty armor pieces talking about how his son had told him of a big nations plan to hatch dragons to use as weapons of conquest once they grew up. how , after the first batch not many of the eggs had hatched and the question whether it’s been from the first lay on or if it was after the stress of their mother having her first eggs stolen from her.

he doesn’t want to believe it , but it makes sense --- why else would pirates out of all people possess dragon eggs ? what kind of pirate crew other than a profoundly stupid one would even willingly try and raid an army of such valuable things ? and get away with it ( most likely thanks to the luck idiots can have ) ? it angers him , makes anger flare up within him to think that some humans would dare to think of his precious children as tools for war. it’s when a panicked patron yells about how his eyes had changed to a almost electric yellow that he leaves , suddenly feeling too hot in that disgusting tavern with those lowlives wasting away in it.

he almost falls down a hill when he can hear voices in his head --- clearly --- and tell right away that those are them --- his babies , talking to him. when he gets back to where he told them to stay put and they question him about the scale patches on the inside of his hand ( out of all places , it had to be something replacing his scars , didn’t it ? ) that he realises that perhaps his bond with these dragons is more than simply a parent and a child. that perhaps it really is like the stories he’s heard about --- that he was bound to them. but bound to three instead of one dragons ? that ... sounded odd , dangerous even. but it felt right. his instincts made it feel like it was fine , that as long as he protected them with his life he’d be fine.

but his anger from before still didn’t quell and without thinking he enlists the help of his own babies to steal a bigger ship --- one large enough to fit a crew AND his dragons in. whichever , if it’s owner was rich enough to buy one he’d surely be rich enough to buy another. and he sets sail. it’s almost surprising when his dragons don’t question where they’re going ; as if they instinctually knew that his plan was now to free whichever dragons that damned nation had captured and enslaved. it felt almost humorous when he was reprimanded for acting so angry and have such a beastly expression --- by dragons. and still , it didn’t stop the plan nor made him reconsider. those were his children , his pride and joy. he raised them and he knew that they were strong --- they were his children , after all.

KIND OF a wip 

here because so far all i’ve got planned is that he’s just travelling right now--- 

[choupetit]

GOT Recap: Eastwatch

Airdate: 8/14/17 ; Season 7, Episode 5 

 Watching tonight’s Game of Thrones was like watching an elaborate set of dominoes being lined up - so many pieces of pertinent information, so many players coming together, so much anticipation for the final two episodes of the season! Not my fave episode and at times it felt like some mighty convenient revelations were coming to light, but the season is coming to a close, so I guess they are trying to pack as much stuff into one episode as possible. That said, let’s do this! Grab your warmest furs and snuggle on in for the recap of “Eastwatch”: 

When Queenie Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy

We pick things up shortly after where they ended last week. Bronn and Jaime Lannister emerge from a river and we see a smoke-filled sky in the distance - the aftermath of Dany’s dragon attack. I vaguely wonder how they managed to get this far from Dany, when it looks like they just took their first big gasp for air after plunging into the water to narrowly escape death by dragonfire. Bronn gives Jaime some flack of the “What the hell were you thinking with a stunt like that? The only one who gets to kill you is me!” variety. Jaime lays out that they are pretty much screwed, considering they just encountered what Dany can do with only one dragon - and she still has two more. Bronn tells him dragons are where his loyalty to the Lannisters ends and gives Jaime a “Good luck breaking the battle news to Cersei” quip. 

 Meanwhile Tyrion is gravely surveying the devastation of the battle his Queen just won - charred bodies and ashes are everywhere. All the surviving Lannister soldiers have been rounded up for a brief speech by Daenerys Targaryen. “I know Cersei has been trashing me as this sadistic, horrifying invader, who goes around burning people to a crisp when I don’t get my way, but I want you to know, I’m not like the other dragon moms. I’m a cool dragon mom. Seriously though, right now I need you to support me or be burnt to a crisp. So…who’s with me?” A handful of soldiers kneel before her. Randyll Tarly and his permafrown, however, are not game. He and son, Dickon, stand defiantly. Tyrion attempts to sway them, and whey they refuse, he tries to get Dany to lessen the punishment by taking them as prisoners instead. Denied. “Tyrion, my catchphrase is ‘Dracarys’, not ‘Hey, let’s handle everything reasonably on a case-by-case basis, filling up my entire week as I dole out fair and just verdicts against my enemies’. It just doesn’t roll off the tongue, damnit!” And so, Randyll and Dickon are flambéed in front of all their fellow soldiers, who quickly bend the knee to their new queen. 

 At the Red Keep, Jaime is once again conveying terrible news to Cersei, which seems to be the only other thing he does when he’s not banging his sister. He lays out Daenerys’ awesome and terrifying strength, what with her dragons and insane Dothraki posse. He concludes they are totally screwed and should just give up the Iron Throne. Oh and btw, Lady Olenna was responsible for killing Joffrey. Cersei’s all “I knew you should have let me make her suffer!!!!” You half-expect her to ask Qyburn to resurrect the old lady just so Cersei can kill her the right way. 

As for Queen Dany, Cersei counters they have the money to hire new soldiers and they can either fight and die, or submit and die…and we all know Cersei subscribes to the “Take down as many enemies as you can on your way out” school of thought. She throws in a little barb at Jaime for good measure: “I know which decision a REAL soldier would make.” Zing! What’s it gonna be, Jaime? 

Say Hello To My Little Friend

At Dragonstone, Jon Snow is taking a walk outside and looks like he’s about to break out into glorious song (“The hiiiiiiills are alive, with a stash of Dragonglass, la-la-la-LAAAA!”) when Drogon and Dany fly up and the dragon gracefully lands right in front of Jon. Warily, Dany watches as Drogon roars and bares his teeth at Jon…and lets him pet his snout. “Yup, yup, just a little to the right - ahhhh, that’s the sweet spot!” It seems clear that Drogon recognizes a Targaryen is standing before him. 

 While Dany engages Jon in some dragon appreciation chit chat, one of her Dothraki guards arrives and presents a man who claims he’s a friend of hers: It’s Ser Jorah! Daenerys’ face lights up and I expect her to run over to him and give him a huge hug, but no. She just gleefully introduces him to Jon Snow - who served his father, Lord Commander Mormont, at the Wall. When Dany asks Jorah if he found a cure to his greyscale, he’s all “Gurl, I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t.” At this point I totally want him to drop Samwell Tarly’s name - he doesn’t. Daenerys finally gives him a warm hug…now that she knows he doesn’t have cooties anymore - that’s right, we all noticed, Dany! 

 We cut to a great sequence of a flock of ravens as they fly near Eastwatch and cross North of the wall. Their eyes intermittently go white for the briefest of seconds as they continue to fly - Bran Stark is using his warging abilities to do a little Night King reconnaissance. As the birds continue to fly north, they suddenly come upon an enormous mass of snow zombies which are slowly advancing southward. The birds circle overhead and we catch a glimpse of some Whitewalkers below. The Night King is among them and he looks sharply at the flock as though he knows Bran is spying on him. The birds disperse and a very startled Bran is jerked back to consciousness. He tells the maester they need to send out some ravens, stat. 

 In Oldtown at the Citadel, upon receiving the news from Winterfell, a group of archmaesters are gathered to discuss the scroll they received about the Army of Dead. Samwell Tarly is in the room performing whatever menial duties he’s been assigned that day, but he listens in. The majority of the maesters scoff at the idea of Whitewalkers, while archmaester Marwyn concedes it could be true…or it could be a trick by Daenerys to get Queen Cersei to move resources to the Wall, leaving the realm defenseless against the foreign invader. Sam can’t bite his tongue and admonishes them for their cavalier attitude.  He tells them he’s seen Whitewalkers in the (rotting) flesh and they are, in fact, a real and horrifying threat. He implores them to spread the word to the realm. Since everybody trusts the Citadel, it’s in their power to sound the alarms and get all of Westeros on board. But the men laugh him out of the room. One maester asks Marwyn if that’s the Tarly whose father and brother were killed by Daenerys Targaryen and Marwyn confirms it, but says he hasn’t had the heart to tell Sam of their deaths just yet. I mean, is there ever really a good time? RIP, Tarleys!

Back at Dragonstone, Tyrion and Varys are chatting. Tyrion is like, “Dude, it was really gnarly when Dany nonchalantly torched the Tarlys because of their loyalty to Cersei, but I couldn’t talk her out of it. She kinda freaked me out with that move.” Varys cautions him that he really needs to find a way to get through to Dany, because there’s a thin line between commanding respect and turning into a merciless ruler. Varys recalls, regretfully, the many times he simply wrung his hands and did nothing while serving the Mad King during his brutal regime. Tyrion changes the subject and points to the scroll Varys is holding - it’s the news from Winterfell, and of course Varys took a sneak peek.  He tells Tyrion it’s not good. 

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? 

In the war room, Jon and Dany have gathered with their respective advisors and Jon tells them he has to head home since Whitewalkers are practically knocking on their door up North. Collectively everybody wonders what can be done to stop the Whitewalkers while they’re in the middle of a war with Cersei. They all agree that Cersei won’t simply believe the news - she’ll need living (dead) proof that the threat of the Army of Dead is real. So they decide they need to get her a soil sample, if you will - that is, they gotta bring a snow zombie to Cersei, no big deal. 

But once they have the zombie, they still have to actually get it in front of Queen Cersei. Tyrion points out that the only person Cersei trusts or listens to is Jaime, and maybe Jaime will hear what Tyrion has to say. Ty will just need Ser Davos to smuggle him into King’s Landing for a meet-up. 

 Jorah steps up to go snow zombie poaching - probably because he knows that the only way to keep impressing Dany is by constantly putting his life in danger. Plus, distance makes the heart grow fonder��maybe. 

Not to be outdone in the hero department, Jon says he’ll head to Eastwatch, too. He’s the only one familiar with Whitewalkers and their army, after all, and he can convince his Wildling pals to help in the snow zombie retrieval efforts. It all seems like a weird Ocean’s Eleven plot. Frankly, I’m baffled that nobody suggests they simply send a dragon out to airlift a snow zombie and drop it at the Red Keep during Cersei’s daily outdoor yoga sessions. But what do I know? 

 At Winterfell, the Northern Lords are getting cranky about their absentee King, hinting they should have chosen Sansa to lead them. Sansa gives a measured reply, “Jon’s our king and he’s doing what he thinks is best” while Arya watches on, glowering. Later, the two sisters are walking the hallways. Sansa vents that she knew the Lords would start to turn on Jon for abandoning them all. Arya is ticked that Sansa didn’t say more to defend their brother. Sansa counters she needs to make sure they keep their alliances strong by listening to what the other Northern houses have to say, but Arya thinks what’s really in play is that Sansa is preparing for a scenario where Jon doesn’t return. Her big sis denies it, but Arya creepily says “You’re thinking it right now, you don’t want to, but the thought just won’t go away.” You can tell Sansa is kinda wondering, “Did Arya pick up novice psychic skills now, too?” At this point, nothing about her siblings would surprise Sansa. 

 At the shores of Kings Landing, Ser Davos and Tyrion arrive to attend to their respective business - they sync their watches and agree to meet back at the boat in a few hours. 

 Bronn and Jaime are walking through the dragon skull basement of the Red Keep, where Bronn plans to train with Jaime - but guess what? Psych! It’s really a set-up for Tyrion to covertly chat with Jaime. Seems a bit unlikely, considering the last time Tyrion saw Bronn, the latter had unceremoniously betrayed him. Jaime meanwhile is kinda pissed, ya know, because Tyrion killed their pops. But Tywin was an a-hole trying to have his own son killed when he knew he was innocent…so really Tyrion can be forgiven, right? Considering Jaime always liked his little bro, and he’s stuck with the only other living Lannister who is kinda psycho, Jaime grants Tyrion a moment of his time. Tyrion tells him Dany will win the war, but there may be a way to put all the bloodshed on hold. 

 While Tyrion is busy convincing his bro of the existence of snow zombies, Ser Davos walks the alleys of Flea Bottom and he comes upon a blacksmith’s shop where lo and behold, Gendry is working! Davos is all “Yo, so I figured you’d come back here, because nobody would expect it. How do you feel about joining me on –” and “Gendry grabs his bugout bag and a big ol’ hammer staff and goes “Yup, let’s go!” I’m torn. I mean, I really like Gendry and all, but I don’t totally see where he fits in here or why Davos felt the need to recruit him for Team Jon, but I guess we just go with this? Yay, more Gendry!

 Back at the boat, Davos and Gendry wait for Tyrion and there’s a little trouble with some King’s Landing guards, which just turns out to be an excuse to see Gendry in action with his hammer staff thing - turns out, it’s really great for bashing brains. Who knew? The three men hurry away into their boat to head back to Queen Dany. 

 Jaime, post-chat with Tyrion, visits Cersei’s chambers to tell her of his meeting: Dany wants a ceasefire on account of dead people heading towards Westeros. Cersei is amused at the suggestion of zombies, but is surprisingly open to a truce with Dany, because they need to regroup, rebuild their army and come up with a better winning strategy - oh, and also: she’s pregnant. And this time around, she DGAF about hiding the fact that Jaime is the dad. Ahhh, it’s so liberating to be Queen and do whatever you want without fear of judgment or consequences! Nobody even stops to consider what this might mean for the Lannister/Greyjoy alliance. I can’t imagine it’ll go over well with Euron.

The Short Goodbye

Moving right along, the next few scenes are all quite brief - man, a LOT is happening in this episode! Davos, Tyrion and Gendry have returned to Dragonstone, where Jon and team are on the beach, prepping to sail to Eastwatch. 

Davos wants to keep Gendry’s identity under wraps when he introduces him to Jon Snow, and intends to send Gendry to Winterfell. But the first words from Gendry’s mouth are “Hey, I’m Robert Baratheon’s bastard. You’re Ned Starks bastard. Our dads were buddies. Let’s jam!” The two exchange some short “I met your dad this one time!” niceties and it appears Gendry is now coming along to catch a zombie with Team Jon. 

 Tyrion and Jorah have a pleasant farewell and Tyrion gives Jorah a talisman - the coin he was going to use to buy his and Jorah’s freedom, back when they were captured in Slaver’s Bay two seasons ago. He offers the words “Don’t die, Dude. I want that back.” Next Dany approaches to say goodbye to Jorah. They grasp each other’s hands and share a soulful look, but before Jorah can utter any unforgettable words of farewell, Jon pops up to say goodbye. Poor Jorah walks away, likely stewing in the boat screaming silently “Khaleesi, I love you soooo bad, please just LOVE ME BACK!!!!!“ 

 In Oldtown, Samwell Tarly and Gilly are sitting at the table, and Sam is busy with clerical gruntwork, making copies of old books. Gilly is throwing out various trivia facts that from one of the tomes she's reading - it’s by a High Septon who meticulously documented every single thing in his life. Sam is still wound up from his earlier chat with the maesters that he barely even notices when Gilly drops some key info from the book she is reading: Apparently some Prince Rhaegar dude got an annulment from his wife and married another chick in a secret ceremony. Yah. Let that sink in. Pretty sure the other chick is Lyanna Stark, which makes Jon Snow the legit heir to the Targaryen throne. Ooh, move over, Auntie Daenerys! 

Sam is fed up with the uppity maesters. His talents seem wasted at the Citadel, and the scholars, whom he admired so much, neither believe in nor care about the imminent Whitewalker threat. He breaks into the super secret Citadel library once again to swipe some scrolls (presumably containing pertinent info for defeating Whitewalkers). Next, he packs up Gilly and Little Sam and they peace out. He tells Gilly he’s tired of reading about the achievements of better men. I assume they are on their way to Winterfell, but who knows, really. 

My Shadow and Me 

Speaking of Winterfell, Arya has decided to pass the time by secretly following Littlefinger. I mean, what else are you gonna do as a highly skilled assassin at your childhood home? As she clandestinely stalks him around the grounds, snooping on all his interactions, I get the sense that Littlefinger must know he is being watched. At one point, the maester of Winterfell knocks on Littlefinger’s chamber door and Arya overhears him say he’s found a scroll from the archives - the only copy of its kind. Arya waits for Littlefinger to leave his room and then she goes a'snooping and finds the scroll. We don’t see the full text but "steal his throne” and “swear fealty to King Joffrey” stand out, and it’s signed “Your faithful sister Sansa.” As Arya leaves Littlefinger’s room, we see him lurking around the corner, watching her re-lock his door. Hmm, what’s he up to? 

Snow Zombie Safari! 

Jon and his team have arrived at Eastwatch. They sit down with Tormund Giantsbane and fill him in on their mission. Tormund thinks it’s crazy, and Jon tells him they need some help from Tormund and his men. Davos says he’ll stay behind so as not to be a liability. #survivalstrategies. Tormund informs them a few others have arrived at Eastwatch and want to go north of the wall as well. 

He leads Team Snow to the prison cells at Eastwatch. Inside are Beric Dondarrion, Thoros of Myr and the Hound. It’s like the Dream Team only where various members have a beef with one another: Gendry doesn’t trust the men of the Brotherhood, seeing how they sold him to Melisandre for some good old fashioned blood magic fun. Tormund hates Mormonts on account of the late Lord Commander who had the Night’s Watch hunt and kill Wildlings. And the Hound just likes to call everybody the C-word. But for better or worse, Jon points out they are all on the same side, because, ya know…they’re not snow zombies. Well, I mean…technically Dondarrion and Jon both sort of are zombies, but we probably don’t have time to get into that. The North-facing gates of Eastwatch open and the men head out into a blinding snowstorm. Roll credits.

 For an episode called Eastwatch, there was surpisingly little Eastwatch action, I’m just sayin’. This episode sure was jam-packed with info and lots of set-ups, though. I feel like people were just teleporting back and forth between locations. I suppose this is what the showrunners meant when they said things move fast this season. 

Time for my post-Game two cents:

 Not entirely sure what is going on at Winterfell and what tricks Littlefinger is up to. Is he looking to pit the Stark sisters against each other? 

 The Cersei pregnancy seems all too convenient, which bugs me just a little. Suddenly she has a new Lannister baby to look forward to and a reason to work so hard for the Lannister dynasty? Ugh, please. But if we do have a preggers Cersei, I hope the next two episodes just show her taking naps and enduring all-day morning sickness. 

 I still don’t totally get why Gendry is back in the picture. I think he’s great and all, but it seems like a contrived “let’s please the fans” plot more than something that makes sense. Like, why did Davos want to initially send him to Winterfell in the first place? Just to be nice? 

 And I feel like nobody knows what to do with Jorah so they just keep sending him away. Poor Jorah. 

Sam doesn’t know it yet, but with his dad and bro gone, I’m pretty sure this makes him the rightful heir to his family home.  Unless his dad really screwed him in the will.  So, nice to know that he and Gilly potentially have a nice manor to go to once/if all the Whitewalker madness dies down.

 There have been so many “Jon is a Targaryen” references in this season, which after the big revelation of Season 6 kinda makes it a bit meh every time they allude to it. Please, let Bran finally get word to Jon to clue him in already! Seriously, Bran couldn’t have included that tidbit in his scroll about the Army of Dead? But it’s an interesting reveal that Jon’s not just Rhaegar’s bastard. Again, though, that info works out pretty nicely for Jon. 

 The disconnect between Jaime sinking into the abyss during last week’s cliffhanger only to see him and Bronn pop up a few miles from where they entered the water at the top of the show was disappointing. It totally cheapens the ending from the previous episode, imo. It would’ve been interesting for Jaime to go missing for a bit after the battle, and to see how Cersei would react to her twin possibly being dead. But hey, now he gets to focus on being a new dad again and practicing one-handed diaper changes.

 I do enjoy the coming together of so many characters. Especially the group heading north of the wall. Oh, the adventures they’ve all had! I feel like everybody needs to sit down over a round of drinks so they can share their stories and see how many mutual acquaintances they have - everybody besides Tormund seems to know Arya! 

 All in all, this episode wasn’t terribly thrilling. It wasn’t bad, but more like a hurried data dump. It definitely paved the way for some big things, and knowing that the last two episodes are going to be super-sized, I’m pretty stoked to see what happens next. I’m a tad concerned that now that they are off of the books, the writers are hastily tying up loose ends willy-nilly in a way that doesn’t always feel like Game of Thrones. We haven’t had any big character deaths of consequence, which on the one hand is great, because who wants to lose a favorite? But it also lowers the stakes when you feel like your fave key players will always be safe. Maybe that will all change next week. We’ll just have to wait with baited breath.