And Now His Watch Is Ended

"And Now His Watch is Ended" is the fourth episode of the third season of Game of Thrones. It is the twenty-fourth episode of the series overall. It will premiere on April 21, 2013. It was written by executive producers David Benioff & D.B. Weiss and directed by Alex Graves.

Beyond the Wall
At Craster's Keep, tensions run high among the members of the Night's Watch who sought shelter there after escaping the devastating defeat at the Battle of the Fist of the First Men. Grenn and Dolorous Edd are shoveling pig-shit, but the former raper Rast urges them that they are not safe here and cannot trust Craster: the man sacrifices his own newborn sons to the White Walkers, and there's every probability that if the White Walkers do come, he'll hand over the Night's Watch survivors to his real masters. Grenn and Edd don't want to discuss it.

Samwell Tarly visits Gilly, who is deeply distraught about the fate of her newborn son. She is frantic, and yells at Sam not to draw attention to the fact that it's a boy by calling it a "he" so loud, as Craster will want to offer it up as a sacrifice when he finds out it's a son. He asks her if she's decided on a name, but she responds that there's no point in naming her baby if he's only going to be offered up as a human sacrifice. She gives Sam back his mother's thimble and says she doesn't care about such stupid things, all she's focused on is protecting the life of her baby.

In the main hall, Lord Commander Jeor Mormont is checking a map in his journal, as Craster continues to crassly berate the men of the Night's Watch. Mormont says that they have to stay long enough for their wounded to recover enough to be fit to travel, but Craster waves this off, saying they've recovered as much as they ever will. Craster openly suggests that they should just kill the men who are so severely wounded that they won't be able to travel, and if Mormont is reluctant to do the deed himself, he can just leave and Craster will finish them off. Mormont declines. Another young Night's Watch man, Jarl, comes in to complain that Craster is feeding them nothing but bread cut with sawdust, and he wants to know where Craster keeps his hidden larder. Meanwhile, Craster is sitting there getting quite drunk on the wine they gifted to him when they first come. Rast joins in the accusations, and Craster admits that he has winter stockpiles, but he needs those to feed his women and refuses to share them. Rast calls Craster a bastard - at which Craster becomes enraged and threatens Rast with an axe. Mormont restraints Rast, and Craster shouts that he's throwing them all out to lay down outside in the cold on their empty bellies. Craster says he will chop the hands off the next man who calls him "bastard". A tense moment of silence passes, and Mormont grabs Rast to lead him out the doorway...

...when Jarl, firmly staring directly at Craster, matter-of-factly says that he is a bastard: a daughter-fucking, wildling bastard. Craster lunges forward at Jarl in a blind rage, but he is drunk and clumsy: without flinching, Jarl holds off Craster's axe with his left hand, while using his right hand to ram a dagger through Craster's throat, which goes up into the roof of his mouth. He flings the dying Craster to the ground, then punches one of Craster's wives who is present, demanding to know where the hidden food is kept. Lord Commander Mormont bellows that the gods will curse him for this, as a guest killing a host who has accepted him into his home breaks all the laws of gods and men. Jarl shouts that there are no laws beyond the Wall. Jarl continues to threaten the girl with a knife, so Mormont draws his sword, which makes Jarl drop the girl and begin to face off against Mormont with his dagger. Suddenly, Rast comes up behind Mormont and literally stabs the Lord Commander in the back, which makes Mormont drop his sword. For a brief moment the men stare in shock, then Grenn charges and tackles Jarl. The entire room explodes into pure bedlam.

The desperate Night's Watch recruits like Rast, mostly conscripted criminals exiled to the Wall, turn on officers who are loyal to Mormont, as well as some of the other common recruits like Grenn who stay loyal. Quick flashes of the fight go by as no one can really perceive what's happening, and the mutiny spreads throughout Craster's Keep. In the midst of it, Mormont turns around to fight off Rast. Mormont may have a knife in his back but he is twice Rast's size and completely enraged. Mormont grabs Rast by the throat, one-handed, then spins him around and hurls him against the opposite wall. Still choking Rast, Mormont nearly succeeds in crushing Rast's windpipe with his bare hand - but then Mormont starts to cough up thick red blood. His knife wound is mortal. The injured Mormont then sinks to the ground and continues to cough up blood. Now that Mormont is on the ground unarmed and helpless, Rast grabs a knife and repeatedly pounds it into Mormont's throat until the Old Bear is dead. Meanwhile, Sam rushes to Gilly's hut and orders her that they have to escape now or they never will. Sam runs out of Craster's Keep with Gilly and her baby, as loyal Night's Watch members fall to the mutineers, who also kill or rape Craster's other wives. Gilly leads the way into the night because she knows the woods around her home. Covered in Mormont's blood, Rast shouts into the darkness that "Piggy" can run for now, but he'll soon be cutting Sam's throat too.

Across the Narrow Sea
At the city of Astapor in Slaver's Bay, Daenerys Targaryen arrives before Kraznys mo Nakloz and the other slave-masters of the city, with her Dothraki guards carrying the largest of her dragons, Drogon, in its large cage. Daenerys is accompanied by her Queensgard members, Ser Jorah Mormont and Ser Barristan Selmy. Missandei the translator, gifted to Daenerys at her request, is now dressed in higher-quality clothing which matches Dany's style of dress. All of the thousands of Unsullied warrior-eunuchs are gathered in the city's main square for the transaction. The other upper-class men and women of Astapor crowd around the square, gawking at the dragon while slaves in heavy chains serve them refreshments.

Kraznys tells Daenerys, via Missandei's interpretation in the Low Valyrian language, that many of the Unsullied have not yet seen battle, so she would do well to attack some minor cities and towns here and there on her way to Westeros. The slavers will happily purchase any slaves she captures, so it's a win-win situation. He also wryly notes that any young boys she sells as slaves will be castrated and ready to serve as new Unsullied when their training is over in about ten years' time. Daenerys lets her dragon out of its cage, and leads it on a long leather leash as it hovers about twenty feet in the air. She hands the leash to Kraznys, and in return he gives her a cat-o-nine-tails with a hilt shaped like a Harpy, signifying ownership of the Unsullied. Daenerys asks if it is done, and Kraznys impatiently says that it is, as he struggles to rein in the dragon.

To the surprise of Missandei, Daenerys then calls the Unsullied to attention in Valyrian, and proceeds to order them in Valyrian to march forward and then halt. She smiles as she knows they are now hers. Too distracted to notice, Kraznys complains for Missandei to tell "the bitch" that the dragon won't come when he commands. Daenerys turns to face Kraznys and bluntly says "A dragon is not a slave" in Valyrian. Dumbfounded, Kraznys blurts out "You speak Valyrian?" She declares that she is Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, of the blood of Old Valyria: Valyrian is her mother-tongue. She was simply feigning ignorance this entire time (and putting up with Kraznys' insulting comments) to lull them into a false sense of security.

Daenerys then addresses the thousands of Unsullied, and orders them to kill all of the slave masters in Astapor, along with all of their household soldiers and any man who holds a whip. She cautions them to spare any children, and to strike the chains off any slave they see. The Unsullied obey her commands without question, and instantly begin attacking all of the assembled slave-masters. Kraznys frantically shouts for someone to kill Daenerys. She turns to him and calmly orders "dracarys" (the High Valyrian word for "dragon-fire"). Her dragon breathes fire onto Kraznys, completely engulfing the slaver in flames as he thrashes about in his death-throws. Her dragon then flies across the upper walls where the other high-ranking slave-masters are watching, burning them all to death with a bombing-run of fiery blasts. The Unsullied proceed to sack the entire city, slaughtering the slave-masters and freeing fellow slaves, and supported by the fire of Daenerys' dragons.

After the Sack of Astapor is finished, Daenerys walks past Kraznys' charred remains, mounts a white horse, and addressed her Unsullied. She declares that they have spent their entire lives as slaves, but now she sets them free. If any man wishes to leave, she will not stop him, and no harm will come to him if he goes. She asks the Unsullied to stay and fight for her, not as slaves but as free men. For a moment the Unsullied stare blankly: they have never known what freedom is. Then one starts tapping the end of his spear against the ground in support, and the others join in, until hundreds of Unsullied are triumphantly striking their spears against the ground in praise of Daenerys. She has what her brother dreamed about for seventeen years but could never find: an army to reconquer the Seven Kingdoms with.

Daenerys rides triumphantly out of the smoking wreck of Astapor, and drops the slave-master's whip on the ground. She rides out with her eight thousand strong army of Unsullied marching in formation, as her three dragons fly above them. For the first time in generations, a conquering Targaryen is on the warpath...

Appearances

 * Main: And Now His Watch is Ended/Appearances

First

 * Lord Beric Dondarrion

Deaths

 * Craster
 * Lord Commander Jeor Mormont
 * Kraznys mo Nakloz
 * Greizhen mo Ullhor

Cast
Starring
 * Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Lena Headey as Queen Cersei Lannister
 * Emilia Clarke as Queen Daenerys Targaryen
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
 * Michelle Fairley as Lady Catelyn Stark
 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister
 * Natalie Dormer as Lady Margaery Tyrell
 * Alfie Allen as Prince Theon Greyjoy
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Prince Bran Stark
 * Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Joe Dempsie as Gendry
 * Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey Baratheon
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * Conleth Hill as Lord Varys
 * James Cosmo as Lord Commander Jeor Mormont

Guest starring
 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell
 * Robert Pugh as Craster
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
 * Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr
 * Richard Dormer as Lord Beric Dondarrion
 * Noah Taylor as Locke
 * Iwan Rheon as Boy
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly
 * Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Jojen Reed
 * Burn Gorman as Night's Watch man
 * Mark Stanley as Grenn
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett
 * Luke Barnes as Rast
 * Dan Hildebrand as Kraznys mo Nakloz
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Esme Bianco as Ros
 * Philip McGinley as Anguy
 * Clifford Barry as Greizhen mo Ullhor
 * Sophie Reid
 * Bryan Quinn
 * Harold James McMullan

In the books

 * See Differences between books and TV series - Season 3