Winterfell (episode)

"Winterfell" is the first episode of the eighth season of Game of Thrones. It is the sixty-eighth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 14, 2019. It was written by Dave Hill and directed by David Nutter.

Plot
Daenerys arrives at Winterfell and Jon Snow gets some big news.

At Winterfell
Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and the Targaryen army pass through the winter town outside Winterfell, as its inhabitants warily watch Daenerys's foreign army of Unsullied and Dothraki. Arya smiles when she spots Jon, but appears confused and worried when she sees the Hound with them. Jon tells Daenerys he had warned her Northerners are wary of outsiders. When Daenerys's dragons fly above them, the people flee in fear while Arya looks up in awe and Daenerys smiles at her dragons overhead. Sansa warily watches from Winterfell's battlements as Drogon and Rhaegal circle above the castle.

Once inside the walls of Winterfell, Jon sees his younger brother Bran, whom he last saw in a coma, and quickly dismounts. He kisses Bran's forehead. He then embraces Sansa, who keeps a wary eye on his queen. Jon asks about Arya's whereabouts, Sansa replies that she's lurking. Jon introduces Daenerys and Sansa to one another. Sansa formally welcomes Daenerys to Winterfell and Daenerys thanks her, remarking that Jon told her about the beauty of the North and Sansa. Bran interrupts that there is no time for this and informs them that the Night King has Daenerys's dragon, Viserion and that the Army of the Dead has breached the Wall and is marching south.

As Jon tries to organize the defence against the undead in the Great Hall, Lyanna Mormont voices the anger that many lords have toward Jon bending the knee to Daenerys since they named Jon their King in the North. Jon gravely answers that he said he would protect the North, and the only way they could do that is with allies. Tyrion speaks up to insist that they'd all be dead already without Jon - and that the remaining Lannister army will soon arrive to reinforce them as well, upon which the lords resume their objections. Tyrion insists they must fight together in the face of the onslaught of the White Walkers and their undead army. Sansa asks how they are meant to feed Daenerys's army, "While I ensured our stores would last through winter, I didn't account for Dothraki, Unsullied and two full-grown dragons." She scoffs, "What do dragons eat, anyway?" to which Daenerys quips, "Whatever they want".

Later, Jon visits Winterfell's godswood, and while standing in front of the heart tree, Arya appears seemingly out of nowhere and startles Jon. She says that he used to be taller (when she was younger). Jon turns and asks how she was able to sneak up on him, prompting Arya to ask how he survived a knife to the heart. Jon responds, "I didn't". Arya runs to Jon and they embrace, Jon lifting Arya in his arms. Jon asks Arya if she still has Needle and Arya unsheathes it. He asks if she's ever had to use it and Arya quietly responds, "Once or twice." After a silence, Jon shows her Longclaw. Arya admires it but remarks it's too heavy for her. Jon confides that he could have used her help with Sansa in the Great Hall and Arya surmises that Sansa doesn't like Daenerys. Jon says that Sansa thinks she's smarter than everyone but, to Jon's confusion, Arya defends her sister and tells Sansa is the smartest person she knows and is defending her family. Arya tells him not to forget he's family too and hugs him. Their reunion is interrupted by a horn heralding the arrival of riders.

Jon and Arya enter into the courtyard as Gendry, Edric and Devan ride through the gates. Gendry and Devan immediately dismount, and Devan goes over to meet his father Davos, who was talking to Yohn Royce in the courtyard. Gendry rushes over to Jon, frantically informing him about what he saw at Eastwatch. Jon tells Gendry that they already know, and that they are preparing Winterfell defences to face the full might of the Army of the Dead, before Gendry notices Arya standing behind Jon. Gendry and Arya move to embrace one another, having both believed the other to be long dead. Jon, puzzled by their interaction, asks how they know each other, to which Arya replies that it's a long story.

Tyrion encounters Sansa in the courtyard, whom he hasn't seen since Joffrey's wedding, during which Joffrey was assassinated and she was whisked away by Littlefinger during the chaos. He notes that it made it look more incriminating for him that his wife, Sansa, fled right after the assassination. After discussing the soon to arrive Lannister Army, Sansa points out that she used to think he was the most clever man she'd ever met, but he is foolish to put his trust in his sister Cersei.

Viewing Jon and Daenerys happily talking, Tyrion, Varys, and Davos observe them from a distance, remarking that a marriage-alliance might help cement their alliance. As Daenerys and Jon inspect Winterfell's defenses, they discuss Sansa. Daenerys mentions that Sansa doesn't like her but Jon assures Daenerys that Sansa just doesn't know her yet and Sansa used to dislike him while growing up. They are interrupted when Dothraki scouts ride up to tell Daenerys that her dragons are not eating much (compared to normal). Jon and Daenerys ride out to see them, and she says they are upset to be in the North. Daenerys mounts her black dragon Drogon, but then on a whim, asks Jon if he'd like to ride her green dragon, Rhaegal. Hesitant, Jon climbs on top and the dragon accepts him, ignorant of the fact that only members of the royal Targaryen bloodline can so easily bond with dragons. They go on a lengthy, romantic flight over the surrounding countryside, though Jon initially struggles to fly on Rhaegal. Jon and Daenerys land at a waterfall and share an intimate moment.

Arya then visits the castle forge, where Gendry has finished making a new dragonglass-axe for Sandor. Arya and the Hound are surprised to see each other and exchange some gruff-but-toying insults before he departs on good terms. Arya then follows Gendry to the back of the forge, where he is building a large scorpion with dragonglass tipped bolts (based off Qyburn's design that he had been given prior to his unexpected departure from King's Landing), and Arya correctly assumes that Gendry intends to use the weapon against Viserion. Arya then gives Gendry her own design for a weapon, asking if he can build it. Gendry asks why she can't use her other weapons, and when Arya shows him the catspaw dagger, Gendry jokingly remarks that he always new that Arya was just another rich girl. Arya flirtatiously responds that Gendry doesn't know any other rich girls, before leaving the forge.

That evening, Sansa informs Jon that Lord Glover, rather than join the muster at Winterfell, has chosen to remain at his seat of Deepwood Motte and hold off the Army of the Dead there, in protest at Jon bending the knee to Daenerys. Jon is furious, but Sansa admits Glover's anger at his decision is shared by a lot of northern nobles, including herself. Jon bluntly tells Sansa that defeating the Army of the Dead is impossible without allies and that Daenerys will be a better ruler than her father, but he can't answer when Sansa asks him "Did you bend the knee to save the north, or because you love her?"

At the same time, Daenerys goes to the library with Jorah Mormont to thank Samwell Tarly for saving Jorah's life by treating his greyscale. Sam brings up that he stole his father's Valyrian steel sword Heartsbane, at which Daenerys awkwardly explains that she defeated his father Randyll in a battle, and when he refused to bend the knee, she executed him. Despite Randyll's threats to Samwell his entire life, he has a mixed reaction at this, and says the sword would then pass to his younger brother Dickon, who is a good and honourable man - but Daenerys has to explain that Dickon refused to leave his father's side, so he was executed as well. Samwell, stunned and devastated by this, rushes out of the room in tears.

He stumbles into Bran Stark, who is waiting in the courtyard "for an old friend". Bran urges that he must tell Jon of his real parentage - as he trusts Samwell more than anyone. Samwell finds Jon in the crypts, where he is visiting the tomb of his father Eddard Stark. He tells Jon of what Daenerys did, though Jon defends that he himself has also had to execute people who disobeyed him, and so must she as queen.

At this, Samwell reveals that she isn't really the rightful heir to the Iron Throne: he is. His mother was actually Eddard's sister Lyanna Stark, and his father was none other than Rhaegar Targaryen - crown prince, and Daenerys's older brother. Jon is stunned and refuses to believe this: his "father" Eddard was the most honourable man he ever knew and wouldn't lie like this. Samwell counters that Eddard (really, his uncle) was honorable, he promised Lyanna that he would keep him safe and hide his identity, as if Robert Baratheon knew that Rhaegar's heir lived he would have killed him. Samwell and Bran discovered that Jon should in fact be "Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of his Name" and the true ruler of the Seven Kingdoms.

Unbeknownst to both Jon and Samwell, one of Lord Varys's little birds emerges from behind one of the Stark statues, before silently sprinting out of the crypts, having overheard the entire exchange between the two.

The following day, a hooded stranger rides into the Winterfell courtyard - revealed to be none other than Jaime Lannister, fulfilling his promise to fight the White Walkers even though his sister decided to abandon her enemies to the mercy of the undead. Looking around, Jaime is surprised to see none other than Bran waiting for him - the boy he shoved out a window and crippled in this very castle years ago.

In King's Landing
See Winterfell (episode)/At King's Landing on Game of Thrones Wiki

At Last Hearth
See Winterfell (episode)/At Last Hearth on Game of Thrones Wiki

First

 * Harry Strickland
 * Dirah
 * Craya

Deaths

 * Ned Umber
 * 3 ironborn

Events

 * Fall of Last Hearth (late phase)