The Broken Man

"The Broken Man" is the seventh episode of the sixth season of Game of Thrones. It is the fifty-seventh episode of the series overall. It premiered on June 05, 2016. It was written by Bryan Cogman and directed by Mark Mylod.

In the Riverlands
Revealed to have survived his wounds from his battle with Brienne, The Hound lives with a band of villagers. Brother Ray, their leader, is a septon. He talks with Sandor, and recounts how he had saved Sandor's life after having mistaken him for a corpse. When Ray mentions Justice, Sandor remarks that if there was justice in the world, he should have been punished. Ray responds that perhaps he has been punished already.

At a gathering, a trio of men from the Brotherhood Without Banners arrives and attempts to extort the group, but upon finding out that the group has no worthwhile possessions, they leave. Sandor warns the septon that the Brotherhood will return. Later, while he goes out to the forest to chop wood, he returns to find all of the villagers murdered and the septon hanged. Angered, Sandor picks up an axe and heads off.

At King's Landing
Queen Margaery is studying the Seven-Pointed Star at the Sept when the High Sparrow enters and they discuss the passage she's been reading, which is about the Mother's love and mercy. Margaery notes that in the past she pretended to love the poor when in fact she only really pitied them. The High Sparrow asks her why she hasn't joined King Tommen in the marriage bed, and Margaery explains that the desires that one drove her no longer do so. The High Sparrow assures her that desire is not necessary. She has a duty to produce an heir. The High Sparrow then makes a thinly veiled threat against Margaery's grandmother, Olenna Tyrell, stating that while she is a remarkable woman, she is also an unrepentant sinner.

After Margaery returns to the Red Keep, Olenna meets with her under the supervision of Septa Unella. Olenna insults the septa until Margaery comes to Unella's defense. Olenna pulls Margaery into another room in an attempt to gain some privacy, but Unella simply follows them. Olenna threatens to have her guards come in, but Margaery again defends the septa. She states that Unella has been a true friend and teacher, to which Olenna asks with some horror what the Sparrows have done to her. Margaery replies that the gods could have punished Olenna and her allies for marching on the Great Sept, but instead they showed mercy. Olenna retorts that they marched on the Sept for Margaery and Loras' sake, and that Loras is still in prison. She then tries to convince Margaery to leave King's Landing and return to Highgarden. However, Margaery refuses, stating that her duty requires her to be at King Tommen's side.

Margaery instead pleads for Olenna to return to Highgarden instead. As she emphatically tells her grandmother to return home, Margaery secretly slips a piece of paper into Olenna's hand. In doing so, she seems to have successfully communicated to Olenna that she doesn't quite mean what she's been saying in front of Septa Unella, and Olenna's expression changes, realizing this. She plays along and agrees to acquiesce, then walks away.

As soon as she is clear of them, Olenna privately unfolds the piece of paper and finds that there is a rose drawn on it. She seems cheered by the silent message, as the use of the Tyrell sigil indicates that Margaery is merely tricking the Sparrows and that her true loyalty is still to House Tyrell. She also seems to understand that Margaery is urging her to leave for her own safety.

Cersei later confronts Olenna about her plans to leave, telling her to remain for the sake of Margaery and Loras, who is still imprisoned. Olenna retorts that the reason all of this is happening is because of Cersei's stupidity. Cersei admits that she made a mistake with the Sparrows, but insists that an alliance between the Lannisters and Tyrells is more important now than it ever was. Olenna reminds Cersei of the smug smile she gave her when Loras and Margaery were arrested, stating that Cersei is perhaps the most horrible person she's ever met. She notes that Cersei has neither influence nor support anymore and is surrounded by enemies. She tells Cersei that she will be leaving the city as soon as possible, and that Cersei's utter defeat is her only consolation.

In the North
Jon, Sansa, and Davos begin searching for allies to retake Winterfell from Ramsay. First, they secure the allegiance of the Wildlings, who are still indebted to Jon for saving them at Hardhome and are aware that Ramsay and his allies will wipe them out if they do nothing. They also manage to secure the allegiance of House Mormont when Davos warns the young Lyanna Mormont of the dangers the White Walkers pose. She agrees to contribute 62 men and promises that they each fight as well as ten men.

Later, Jon and Sansa travel to Deepwood Motte to secure the allegiance of House Glover. They receive a frosty reception from Robett Glover, who points out that the late King Robb failed to protect his home from the Ironborn. Despite being one of the Starks' most loyal bannermen, Robb did not come to his aid when the Ironborn invaded Deepwood Motte, imprisoned his wife and children, and brutalised his subjects. When Sansa tries to highlight the fact that the Glovers had pledged fealty to House Stark, Robett responds that he received them out of respect for their father Eddard Stark but warns them that they have outstayed their welcome.

In the end, Jon and Sansa are only able to recruit a small number of minor houses, only adding a few hundred extra soldiers to their army. Davos deals with a brawl among the Wildlings. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Jon is adamant that they attack Winterfell as soon as possible before Ramsay rallies more forces and before the weather turns on them. Sansa disagrees, instead opting to try and recruit more houses. When Jon refuses to change his mind, Sansa begins writing a letter to be sent by raven to an unknown party.

At Riverrun
Jaime and Bronn lead the Lannister army to the gates of Riverrun, where the Freys attempt to coerce the Blackfish into surrendering the castle by threatening to execute Edmure Tully. The Blackfish calls their bluff and refuses to surrender. Disgusted with the Freys' incompetence, Jamie takes charge of the siege and attempts to parley with the Blackfish, warning him that the Lannisters will show no mercy to the Tullys, but if he surrenders, the lives of his men will be spared. The Blackfish denies the offer and warns Jaime that he has 2 years worth of food in his stronghold, and that while hundreds of his own men may die defending, thousands of Lannister troops will perish as well.

In Volantis
Theon and Yara take the Iron Fleet to Volantis to hide and rest. Inside a brothel, Theon sits despondently as Yara and the others carouse with naked and semi-naked prostitutes. Yara repeatedly tells Theon to drink some ale and he repeatedly refuses.

Yara is persuading Theon to regain his former identity and self confidence, as she will need his assistance in retaking the Iron Islands from their uncle Euron. When pressed, he says that if justice were served, he would be burnt for his crimes, so she responds, “Fuck justice then. Do it for revenge.” Eventually she convinces him to put his guilt aside and help her because she needs him. He drinks some ale and begins to gain some composure.

She then reveals to Theon that she plans to take the Iron Fleet to Meereen and forge an alliance with Daenerys before Euron does. After the conversation, she goes to have sex with a female prostitute.

In Braavos
Arya secures passage back to Westeros by bribing a Westerosi trader. However, she is attacked and repeatedly stabbed in the stomach by the Waif, and only barely escapes by jumping into the River. She is left stumbling through the streets of Braavos, critically wounded and extremely paranoid.

First

 * Brother Ray
 * Lady Lyanna Mormont
 * Bear Island maester
 * Mormont master-at-arms
 * Lord Robett Glover
 * Lem
 * Morgan
 * Flynn

Deaths

 * Brother Ray
 * Numerous Villagers
 * Maege Mormont (Death confirmed in this episode)

Cast
Starring
 * Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jaime Lannister
 * Lena Headey as Queen Mother Cersei Lannister
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Natalie Dormer as Queen Margaery Tyrell
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
 * Jonathan Pryce as the High Sparrow
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn
 * Alfie Allen as Prince Theon Greyjoy

Guest Starring
 * Ian McShane as Brother Ray
 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell
 * Clive Russell as Ser Brynden Tully
 * Tobias Menzies as Lord Edmure Tully
 * Gemma Whelan as Princess Yara Greyjoy
 * Faye Marsay as the Waif
 * Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson as Lem
 * Tim McInnerny as Lord Robett Glover
 * Ian Whyte as Wun Wun
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane
 * Tim Plester as Walder Rivers
 * Daniel Tuite as Lothar Frey
 * Ricky Champ as Flynn
 * Ian Davies as Morgan
 * Murray McArthur as Dim Dalba
 * Hannah Waddingham as Septa Unella
 * Bella Ramsey as Lady Lyanna Mormont
 * Margaret Jackman as the Waif's disguise
 * Kevin James Horsham as a Westerosi trader
 * Louis Rolston as the Bear Island maester
 * Katie Alexander-Thom as a Volantene whore
 * Jed Murray as a Northman rioter
 * Michael Patrick as a Wildling rioter
 * Matt Faris
 * Neil Keery
 * Heidi Romanova as a Volantene whore
 * Danielle Claire Jenner as a Volantene whore
 * Ella Hughes as a Volantene whore
 * Zoi Gorman as a Volantene whore
 * Billy King

Cast notes

 * 12 of 28 starring cast members appear in this episode.
 * Starring cast members Peter Dinklage (Tyrion Lannister), Emilia Clarke (Daenerys Targaryen), Aidan Gillen (Petyr Baelish), Carice Van Houten (Melisandre), Indira Varma (Ellaria Sand), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), John Bradley (Samwell Tarly), Dean-Charles Chapman (Tommen Baratheon), Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark), Conleth Hill (Varys), Michiel Huisman (Daario Naharis), Hannah Murray (Gilly), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Bolton), Tom Wlaschiha (Jaqen H'ghar), and Iain Glen (Jorah Mormont) are not credited and do not appear in this episode.
 * Rory McCann (Sandor Clegane) is restored as a starring cast member commencing with this episode, having been absent since the season 4 finale.

General

 * The title of this episode appears to refer to the return of Sandor Clegane. He was very nearly killed after his fight with Brienne of Tarth and thus "broken". In the books, "broken men" is a term for conscripts during wartime who desert and turn into bandits, wretched men living from one day to the next. A character named Septon Meribald gives a lengthy speech about broken men, and how they should be pitied for their miserable state (lowering themselves to animals).
 * George R.R. Martin has said that two of the most thematic speeches in the entire book series were Varys's riddle pondering what the nature of power is (given in Season 2), and Septon Meribald's speech about the horrors and suffering in war. Another clergyman known as the Elder Brother is at a monastery dealing with other refugees from the war - and is heavily implied to have saved Sandor Clegane's life and nursed him back to health in his community. The TV series condensed these two thematically similar characters together into Ian McShane's character (who is named "Ray" in the script). Ray's sermon isn't line for line the same but it is thematically similar.
 * The "broken man" name can also apply in a sense to Theon Greyjoy or Jon Snow, still dealing with their trauma.
 * Dorne does not appear in this episode, and has not appeared since the season premiere. The Night's Watch, Bran Stark and his subplot, The Vale, Samwell and Gilly in the Reach, Ramsay Bolton at Winterfell, Daenerys Targaryen and the Dothraki, and Meereen also do not appear. Cersei, Olenna, and Margaery appear in King's Landing but Tommen and the Small Council do not. House Greyjoy appears in the form of Yara and Theon's faction as their fleet arrives in Volantis, but their uncle Euron and the Iron Islands themselves do not.
 * Meereen appears in the title sequence even though it isn't in the actual episode. As the creators explained, it would be very expensive to create an animation for every location that appears on-screen, so they limit them to those that will recur frequently enough that it justifies the expense. No title animation was created for Volantis when it appeared in Season 5 because it only appeared in one episode - thus there wasn't a pre-existing one to use in this episode. The Greyjoy fleet is headed to Meereen, so on the balance it was probably less expensive to just re-use the animation for that location.
 * This is only the sixth episode of the entire TV series that Tyrion Lannister has not appeared in - and given that he didn't appear in the previous episode either, this is officially the first time in the entire run of the TV series to date that Tyrion has been absent for two episodes in a row. If Tyrion misses one more episode, he will slip down to tie with Cersei as the most frequently recurring character in the TV series.
 * Volantis makes its second appearance in this episode. Given that the episode it first appeared in during Season 5 also featured Braavos in it, that makes this the second episode to contain appearances by two of the Free Cities within it.
 * Bear Island appears for the first time on-screen in this episode, the seat of House Mormont. Jorah Mormont introduced himself as coming from Bear Island since Season 1, so it has been mentioned before in similar contexts.
 * Deepwood Motte also briefly appears but it is just a small interior scene.  It too has been previously mentioned in dialogue, as having been taken and held by the Ironborn.
 * The Brotherhood without Banners are featured onscreen for the first time since Season 3 but without any previously established characters.
 * This is the fourth episode to feature a pre-credit sequence, but the first that has not been a season premiere.  The previous episodes were Winter is Coming, Valar Dohaeris and Two Swords.  Co-executive producer and writer Bryan Cogman has explained the cold open was necessary to preserve the impact of revealing Sandor Clegane's survival, in view of actor Rory McCann's name appearing in the credits.

Sandor Clegane

 * Sandor Clegane has not reappeared in the novels since Arya left him for dead by the side of the road, and thus his return in this episode is a major spoiler for the books. That being said it is heavily hinted that he survived: later Brienne and Podrick arrive at an island monastery where refugees from the war are seeking sanctuary. The monastery is led by an Elder Brother, who tells them that the Hound is "dead", even though they see a large horse just like Sandor's and spot a large gravedigger who might be him (they can't tell because he is wearing a large hood and cloak). A third possible hint is that the large gravedigger bends down at one point to pet a dog, i.e. a hound. The whole exchange is framed in such a way that the Elder Brother was apparently speaking figuratively: "the Hound" was dead, his violent and angry past, and "Sandor" had found his peace helping the refugees at the monastery.
 * In the novels, Brienne and Podrick encounter a wandering septon named Meribald who used to be a soldier in his youth, became a bandit at one point and did many things he is ashamed of, and now makes penance for his past by helping the poor and needy. The TV version basically condensed Septon Meribald and the Elder Brother together into one character: they are similar characters in the books. In the "Inside the Episode" featurette, however, the showrunners refer to him as "Ray", not "Meribald" - apparently they made a new name for the condensed character.
 * Meribald's speech about the "broken men" created by the war has been cited by Martin as one of the more thematically important points in the books. The TV adaptation does not use a line for line reading of Meribald's speech, as in the books it talks about conscripts being reduced to banditry and living like animals preying on peasants caught in war zones. This would have been difficult to introduce in this context - in the books Meribald actually gives it to Brienne - but it is one of the most iconic speeches in the novels (there are numerous fan-made audio readings of the speech).
 * The TV version is nonetheless thematically similar: he explains that he used to be a soldier, and instead of glory and honor, it led to him mindlessly obeying orders to burn villages and kill unarmed peasants, but he's tried to make amends with what time he has left alive. As a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, George R.R. Martin was critical of how other High Fantasy literature glorified war, and he wanted to deconstruct this in his own works to show how in real life it is most often horrible and pointless suffering.
 * In the books, the war that Meribald fought in was specifically the War of the Ninepenny Kings, also known as the Fifth Blackfyre Rebellion, which Brynden Tully was actually a major commander in. The TV version doesn't specify what conflict he fought in during his youth.
 * It isn't explicitly stated where the scenes involving Sandor Clegane take place, but given the presence of the Brotherhood Without Banners it is apparently somewhere in the Riverlands - combined with the fact that Brother Ray's book counterpart Septon Meribald also operated in the Riverlands. When Arya abandoned Sandor they were actually leaving the Vale and near the coast where its southern border meets the Riverlands (which is how she was in riding distance of a port at Maidenpool). Also Brother Ray says he picked up Sandor on a wagon, so apparently he took the Hound with him as he journeyed back into the Riverlands.
 * In the prior novels, and before in Season 3, the Brotherhood Without Banners was defending the commoners from random raids and slaughter. That they're killing villagers who won't give them food supplies now is a major shift. In the books they would also take provisions from villagers, but they were at least polite about it and would make the token gesture of giving them an IOU note, promising - maybe even meant to keep their promise - to pay it when the war is over (as they gave Sandor in Season 3, even though like him villagers point out that this is functionally worthless at the moment). Still, this was in contrast to Lannister raiding parties, who killed any who resisted, or just killed villagers to intimidate them, and would not even bother to promise to pay back what they plundered.
 * On the other hand, by the end of the third novel, after the Red Wedding, it is somewhat implied that the Brotherhood has become leaner and meaner in response to the Lannisters and Freys achieving domination in the Riverlands - lynching any Freys they can find. It's possible that the reason for this change in tactics will be more fully addressed in future episodes/novels.
 * Another possibility is that this is an exceptional case and the Brotherhood only massacred this group of villagers specifically because they recognized the Hound among them (he does have quite a distinctive appearance), and thought it meant they were harboring a known Lannister soldier.
 * Although unnamed in dialogue, the HBO Viewer's Guide identifies the lead member of the Brotherhood who appears in this episode, the one with the yellow cloak, as "Lem Lemoncloak", another member of the Brotherhood from the novels.

At Riverrun

 * This episode marks the first time that Brynden "The Blackfish" Tully has reappeared on-screen since the Red Wedding in Season 3's "The Rains of Castamere".
 * The Siege of Riverrun subplot is a holdover from the fourth novel which, like the Greyjoy Kingsmoot subplot, was pushed back to Season 6, because Season 5 condensed the storylines for other major characters (Jon Snow, King's Landing, Tyrion, Daenerys) from both books four and five into a single season. In the books, Brynden Tully never had to retake Riverrun from a light Frey garrison - he wasn't present at the Red Wedding in the book version, instead Robb Stark left him behind at Riverrun with the Tully army to hold their southern flank and to guard his wife Jeyne Westerling. After word came out of the massacre at the Red Wedding, Brynden pulled back his men to the castle and gathered ample food supplies for a lengthy siege. The Siege of Riverrun is ongoing in the background from the middle of the third book to about the middle of the fourth book by the point Jaime arrives with a Lannister army to help the Freys.
 * Jaime Lannister never went to Dorne as he did in Season 5 of the TV series - the Dorne subplot in Season 5 was so heavily condensed or outright changed that it bore little resemblance to that subplot in the novels. Instead, that was the point in time at which Jaime left for the Riverlands to deal with holdout pockets of Robb Stark's Tully allies - and thus he wasn't present when the Faith Militant arrested Cersei, nor for her impending trial by combat. When he received a letter in which Cersei begged him to come back and aid her he burned it in disgust, realizing that her petty plotting against the Tyrells nearly destroyed their family's hold on power and endangered Tommen.
 * This episode is actually the first time that Riverrun castle has appeared as a fully realized exterior location. When it previously appeared in Season 3, it was primarily filmed on interior sets, or a few garden scenes - the castle itself was only vaguely seen as a matte painting in the background of shots for Hoster Tully's funeral down at the pier. The wideshot of the entire area around Riverrun is accurate to the books: the castle is located at a major fork in the river, where the Red Fork of the Trident is joined by its major tributary, the Tumblestone River. In peacetime the castle is located on a triangle of land where the two rivers meet, with water on two sides: in time of war and siege, the Tullys open several levies to flood the remaining third side, essentially turning it into a small island - making it very difficult to besiege, as any attacker has to divide its forces into three portions to cover each water crossing.
 * Other than the time shifting, the presence of Bronn, and some other slight condensations, the Siege of Riverrun subplot plays out fairly similarly in the novels. Notable condensations are of course that the several dozen members of House Frey have been understandably condensed into just Lame Lothar and Black Walder Rivers. No outside help is expected to come help the castle so the Freys aren't keeping a tight watch on the external perimeter, and instead are spending most of their time feasting and whoring in their camps outside the castle.
 * In the books, the Frey who commands the siege and nearly hangs Edmure on a daily basis is Ryman Frey - eldest son of Stevron Frey, who died earlier in the war, thus making him Lord Walder's heir. Incidentally, Ryman also personally killed Lyanna Mormont's eldest sister Dacey Mormont at the Red Wedding (though both Ryman and Dacey were omitted from the TV adaptation).
 * In the books, the Freys actually drag Edmure Tully out and hang him by a noose on a daily basis, to taunt his uncle Brynden to surrender. This has been going on for so long that whatever force the threat may have had at first has long since become empty. In the TV version it isn't mentioned that the Freys have done this before and it may be the first and only time.
 * Brynden Tully accurately points out that it would be ridiculous to trust the Freys with any oath of surrender - given that they unthinkably broke sacred Guest right, killing his own niece and great-nephew while they were guests at the Freys' table. Thus, while not explicitly spelled out in the episode, Brynden doesn't budge when the Freys threaten to kill his nephew Edmure because first, he can sense they're bluffing; but more importantly, he has absolutely no reason to doubt that if he does surrender, the honorless Freys won't just break their word, and kill both Edmure and Brynden anyway.
 * Brynden states that Riverrun has enough food supplies to last for two years. In the books, he similarly managed to gather ample food supplies at the castle before the siege began, right after the Red Wedding. In the TV version, the siege wasn't going on off-screen this whole time but is stated to have only recently begun after Brynden recaptured it in a sneak attack, thus he still has two full years worth of food supplies in this version as well. Sieges can last for many years in Westeros, because castles are built with larger storage space to survive the years-long winters.

In King's Landing

 * The scene of Olenna and Cersei is the opposite of the scene in "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken": in the earlier episode scene, Cersei acted smugly and arrogantly, pretending to write a letter when Olenna was speaking to her chidingly about the arrest of Margaery and Loras. In the episode, Olenna is the one who indifferently writes a letter, while Cersei begs for her assistance.
 * This episode once again raises the issue that Loras Tyrell is being treated as the male heir of House Tyrell. In the novels he had two older brothers, and they were cut from the TV show, but even so it is unclear if they have younger brothers or cousins after Loras if he were to be removed.

In the North

 * Lyanna_Mormont's_letter.pnga Mormont appears for the first time in this episode, the new head of House Mormont of Bear Island. She was first mentioned early in Season 5, when it was explained that she is the young 10 year old niece of Jeor Mormont (and first cousin of Jorah). Stannis sent all the Northern Houses letters asking them to acknowledge him as the rightful king, but despite having no substantial army left and only being a little girl, Lyanna sent back a defiant letter which read "Bear Island knows no king but the King in the North, whose name is Stark." The characters directly recount this incident in the episode.
 * Lyanna Mormont was named directly after Lyanna Stark, Jon and Sansa's aunt who died in Robert's Rebellion, and who appeared in flashbacks earlier this season. The TV episode outright states that she was named after Lyanna Stark (as opposed to "Lyanna" just being a common name in the North). George R.R. Martin made it a point to have multiple characters appear in the story who have the same given name, as it would be unrealistic if "Robert Baratheon" was literally the only person in the entire continent of Westeros named "Robert". Martin explicitly did this due to the freedom of constraints he had when writing a novel - after the heavy restraints on his screenwriting for television, which directly commanded that he never have two characters with the same first name. The TV series, however, reversed this in many cases, because it doesn't have as much time to explain character relations as clearly as a book can, i.e. this season the Karstarks are led by "Harald Karstark", as opposed to his brother from the novels, "Eddard Karstark" - apparently because it was feared viewers would confuse this with "Eddard Stark" himself. Lyanna Mormont is thus one of the few cases of a repeated first name in the TV series (outside of a dynasty) - probably because it's a plot point that her family is so attached to the Starks they named their children after them.
 * In the books, it is unknown if Lyanna's mother Maege Mormont is still alive. Robb has sent her and Galbart Glover on a mission to the north prior to the Red Wedding, and ever since no one heard from them. She has older surviving sisters (the eldest, Dacey Mormont, died at the Red Wedding). Maege did leave young Lyanna as the acting ruler of Bear Island, and she sent the same letter that appears in the TV version. Maege did appear in Season 1 but had no speaking lines and disappeared without explanation from Season 2 onwards: her subsequent status after the Red Wedding was unclear in the TV continuity, but this episode directly states that Maege died at some point in the war "fighting for Robb". Maege in the TV series was apparently simplified to not have any other daughters, making Lyanna Mormont the official new head of the House. In the books, Maege's five daughters in descending age were Dacey, Alysane, Lyra, Jorelle, and Lyanna (and Alysane had two small children of her own).
 * Following the liberation of Deepwood Motte by Stannis, many survivors of northern houses join him. Apparently, Lyanna changed her mind about joining him, since at least one Mormont is in his host during the march to Winterfell - her sister Alysane. The books do not mention how many Mormonts join Stannis's host.
 * The episode implies but doesn't make explicitly clear why House Mormont only has 62 fighting men left: almost all of the Northern Houses's soldiers were massacred at the Red Wedding. Sansa and Jon are just scraping up what little is left from their home garrisons. Most Northern Houses are down to young boys and old men, and roughly one third of all the vassal Houses are now officially headed by widows because all the men died in the war. The very fact that 10 year old Lyanna is now head of her House evidences that many of the adults of fighting age have been killed by this point.
 * It is unclear where the TV version is drawing the exact number of only 62 fighters. In the books, it is mentioned that all of the vassal Houses in the western half of the North can only muster about 1,200 men or so, and as Lyanna Mormont points out, Bear Island isn't very populous and didn't have a large army to begin with (before most of its soldiers got slaughtered in the war).
 * It is pointed out to Lyanna that her uncle Jeor Mormont made Jon Snow his personal steward, because he was grooming him to succeed him one day and thought him trustworthy. It is unclear, however, why Jon didn't take this opportunity to also point out that her uncle outright gave him the House Mormont ancestral sword, Longclaw, made of priceless Valyrian steel, and assuredly Jeor would only have bestowed his blade on a man he thought was trustworthy. Then again, perhaps Jon was worried that if the meeting didn't go well, they might try to take the sword back from him.
 * 607 Glover Preview.png[[Robett Glover]], played by Tim McInnerny, is introduced in this episode, younger brother of Lord Galbart Glover, who briefly made a minor appearance in Season 1. No stranger to medieval television serials, McInnerny previously played Lord Percy in the British sitcom Blackadder.
 * Robett Glover directly mentions that his brother Galbart fought for Robb and hailed him as King in the North: he doesn't quite explicitly state that Galbart is in fact dead, but heavily implies it. Robett does mention that his wife and children were held captive by the ironborn, which did happen in the novels (Yara kept them prisoner but made sure they were well cared for).
 * Robett states that House Glover only recently retook Deepwood Motte from the ironborn - which was first mentioned five episodes ago when Yara received a letter about the Second Battle of Deepwood Motte at Pike. In this episode, Robett says that they needed the Boltons' help to do it - apparently similar to how the Boltons killed the ironborn holding Moat Cailin in Season 4. In the books, it was actually Stannis Baratheon who liberated Deepwood Motte as part of his drive to rally the western parts of the North to attack the Boltons in the center. Of coruse, the Boltons did not assist to liberate Deepwood Motte.
 * Some new Heraldry appears in this episode. House Glover's heraldry has never appeared in the TV series before and is first introduced in this episode: a silver armored fist on a scarlet red background. The other new heraldry is for House Mormont - though curiously, House Mormont's heraldry actually was introduced in the TV show since Season1 . What is introduced in this episode is a significant redesign: instead of a striding (passant) black bear on a white background next to green trees as has been depicted in prior seasons, the sigil in this episode is depicted as a black bear rearing on its hind legs (rampant).

In the Free Cities

 * Arya Stark has officially surpassed all of her current material from the novels as of this episode. She actually regains her eyesight at the end of the fifth novel, and the play she attended in the past two episodes (a stilted reenactment of the War of the Five Kings) actually appeared in a preview chapter that Martin released for the as-yet unpublished sixth novel. At the end of that chapter Arya actually kills a target she wasn't supposed to kill: Raff, one of the Mountain's men, condensed into Meryn Trant for the TV series, whom she killed in the Season 5 finale. It is quite probable that Arya killing Raff will anger the Faceless Men both because she did it without orders and because he was a major enemy of "Arya Stark" - demonstrating that she will never let go of her past and never be "no one". In the previous episode, the Faceless Men decided to kill her for refusing to kill a target - because seeing the play makes her remember who she is and "Arya Stark" would never dishonorably kill someone who she felt didn't deserve it. Now at this point - barring a few bits and pieces which might have been reshuffled to later episodes - Arya is advancing completely beyond her currently known book material.
 * Due to Arya recently surpassing the novels, there is no official guarantee that she will survive her encounter with the Waif - in-universe, at least. From a meta-narrative standpoint it would be odd if Arya spent this much time in Braavos only to die, but then again, it might be said that it was odd for the first three seasons of the TV series to build up Robb Stark's storyline only to suddenly kill him at the Red Wedding.
 * The only subplots which haven't caught up with their materials from the novels at this point are Samwell and Gilly actually arriving in Oldtown itself, a few (condensed) parts of the Greyjoy subplot, parts of the King's Landing storyline, and a few elements from the Slaver's Bay storyline (though Tyrion has caught up). This isn't counting major subplots which were simply abandoned such as the Martell storyline from the books and the Griff storyline in the Free Cities. At the rate these few subplots are advancing, it appears that every subplot will totally catch up with the books by the end of Season 6.
 * There are several obvious hints that "Arya" in this episode is really Jaqen pretending to be Arya:
 * Arya is left handed, but "Arya" in the episode consistently uses her right hand to handle the money bags she gives the sailors. Maisie Williams is actually right-handed in real life but is always careful to play Arya as left-handed because she is in the novels - she wouldn't make such a casual mistake like this (three separate times in the scene).
 * Maisie Williams smirks the same way that Jaqen does, tilting her head with a wry smile.
 * Maisie Williams walks like Jaqen does, with his hands folded behind his back.
 * In the previous episode, Arya was smart enough to know the Faceless Men would try to kill her, so she was hiding in the sewers. In this episode, she brazenly goes into a public market to buy passage on a ship, then simply waits around in public on a bridge instead of hiding again.
 * Knowing the Faceless Men are after her, she should have Needle on her but doesn't.
 * The sailors that Arya hires in Braavos say they heard that the Iron Fleet of the Greyjoys had arrived in Slaver's Bay - even though, in the same episode, we see the Iron Fleet in Volantis, still on its way east to Meereen. Either the scenes were moved around from other episodes, or perhaps the different subplots are being presented out of sequence - or, most probably, rumors about the Iron Fleet heading east are getting distorted and some wild rumors are incorrectly saying they already arrived there.
 * In post-episode interviews, writer Bryan Cogman confirmed that the different subplots are simply being presented out of synch with each other, due to time constraints of individual episodes: Arya spent many weeks or months during her earlier training montage in Braavos, but he said that everything from when she sees the stage play onwards logically only takes a couple of days.  Arya's storyline was back-heavy, but not really connected to the other storylines, so it is simply presented earlier (in contrast with how Littlefinger received a letter about Sansa's escape from Winterfell, which did chronologically link his surprisingly fast journey to the Wall earlier).  Meanwhile, Cogman stated that many days and weeks pass by as Jon and Sansa travel along the west coast of the North from the Mormonts to the Glovers.
 * 607 Greyjoys in Volantis trailer.png Free City of Volantis reappears on-screen for the second time in this episode. Yara and Theon Greyjoy's ironborn fleet stops there for supplies as it heads east to Slaver's Bay. In the books, their other uncle Victarion Greyjoy took the [[Iron Fleet]] east to Slaver's Bay, but the TV series condensed him out and simply gave his storyline to Yara and Theon (they are related plotlines in the books).
 * In the Inside the Episode featurette, the showrunners pointed out that Yara does love and care for her brother Theon, but they made her dialogue with him (which doesn't have a direct counterpart in the novels) to be deliberately blunt, "tough love" advice, because as they put it, Yara isn't a professional psychotherapist. As they explained, moreso than the rest of Westeros, the Ironborn are a very blunt, Viking-like culture of warriors, so they felt this style of advice was more appropriate to their behavior.
 * Notice that the prostitutes at the tavern the Greyjoy crew visits in Volantis have slave tattoos on their cheeks: as Varys pointed out when Volantis was first seen in Season 5, slaves in the city are given different tattoos on their faces to indicate their occupations, and the tattoo for slave-prostitutes is a teardrop under their left eye (stylized as a downwards-pointing triangle).
 * GOT S6 42.png episode depicts [[Yara Greyjoy]] kissing and fondling a female prostitute in Volantis, and at the end of the scene she openly says she's going to have sex with the prostitute. Yara's character is named "Asha Greyjoy" in the books, she was renamed to avoid confusion with Osha the wildling (Asha Greyjoy is a much more prominent character, but was only introduced in Season 2, after Osha was introduced in Season 1). Asha in the books shows no particular hints of being bisexual or experimenting with women: she is very sexually active and unashamed of this, going so far as to learn from a woods witch how to make her own moon tea (an abortion drug). Game of Thrones Wiki reached out to George R.R. Martin himself to inquire about this:
 * Question: "Is Asha Greyjoy (renamed Yara in the TV series) bisexual in the books, or it was implied, and we just didn't catch on to it?"
 * GRRM: "I have a number of lesbian and bisexual women in the novels (and a couple who experiment), but Asha is not one of them. Unless I am forgetting something..."


 * Martin therefore confirmed that Asha in the books is not bisexual, nor does she even experiment with women, and if this is the case in this episode it is an invention of the TV series for Yara, distinct from her book version Asha. On the other hand, as Martin himself pointed out, several female characters in the novels at least "experimented" with having sex with other women, but this was cut from the TV version: Cersei Lannister experimented with having sex with a handmaiden in a drunken fog in the fourth novel, and Daenerys Targaryen experimented with having Irri have sex with her as well. Thus it's possible that making TV-Yara bisexual - or "experimenting" - is the TV series's attempt to make up for cutting out bisexual experiences these other characters had in the novels. That being said, if they were going to make a female character bisexual who wasn't in the novels, Yara/Asha is one of the more probable candidates - given that she is very sexually active and adventurous in the novels, to an unusual degree for a highborn woman in their culture, but just with men. This is in contrast with, for example, if the TV series decided to randomly introduce certain other female characters kissing another woman, such as Sansa Stark, Meera Reed, etc. - compared to them, this change isn't such a drastic difference for TV-Yara from book-Asha.

In the books
See Differences between books and TV series - Season 6
 * The episode is adapted from the following chapter of A Storm of Swords:
 * Chapter 65, Arya XII: The Hound helps villagers with construction works.


 * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Feast for Crows:
 * Chapter 25, Brienne V: A septon tells about the horrors of war and broken men.
 * Chapter 33, Jaime V: Jaime arrives at Riverrun where he finds a Frey tying a noose around Edmure's neck threatening the Blackfish that he means to hang him unless Riverrun surrenders.
 * Chapter 38, Jaime VI: Jaime holds a parley with The Blackfish on the drawbridge to Riverrun, but is unsuccessful in convincing him to give up the castle.


 * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Dance with Dragons:
 * Chapter 19, Davos III: Someone speaks ill about Robb Stark.
 * Chapter 35, Jon VII: The Mormonts, Glovers, Cerwyns and Hornwoods join the campaign against the Boltons.
 * Chapter 56, The Iron Suitor: A Greyjoy stops at Volantis.
 * Chapter 69, Jon XIII: Jon asks for volunteers to go with him and fight the Boltons.

Memorable quotes
Lyanna Mormont: "We are not a large house, but we're a proud one. And every man from Bear Island fights with the strength of 10 mainlanders."

Davos Seaworth: "If they're half as ferocious as their lady, the Boltons are doomed."

Ray: "All I can do with the time i've got left is bring a little goodness into the world. That's all any of us can do isn't it?"