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 will premiere on June 05, 2016. It was written by Bryan Cogman and directed by Jack Bender.

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. However, they are unable to secure the allegiance of House Glover, with Robett Glover pointing out how Robb failed to protect his home from the Ironborn.

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. 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 King's Landing
Olenna Tyrell meets with Margaery and attempts to convince her 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. Seeing that she cannot change Margaery's mind, Olenna reluctantly agrees, and Margaery slips her a note with their house sigil on it - which means that Margaery could just be tricking the Sparrows. Cersei then confronts Olenna, and tries to convince her to stay and fight the Sparrows. Olenna, seemingly resigned to the fate of her grandson and granddaughter, points out the hopeless situation and blames the Sparrows' rise to power on Cersei's lack of foresight.

At Riverrun
Jamie 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 parlay 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, Yara convinces Theon to regain his former identity and self confidence, as she will need his assistance in retaking the Iron Islands from their uncle Euron. 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.

In the Vale
Revealed to have survived his wounds from his battle with Brienne, The Hound lives with a band of villagers. Their leader, a septon, talks with Sandor, and recounts how he saved his life. However, when the septon mentions justice, Sandor remarks that if there was justice in the world, he should have been punished. 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 gather some water, he returns to find all of the villagers murdered and the septon hung. Angered, Sandor picks up an axe and heads off to presumably take revenge for the deaths of the villagers.

First

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

Deaths

 * Brother Ray

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 Princess 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
 * 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
 * Louis Rolston
 * Kaite Alexander-Thom
 * Jed Murray
 * Michael Patrick
 * Matt Faris
 * Neil Keery
 * Heidi Romanova
 * Danielle Claire Jenner
 * Ella Hughes
 * Zoi Gorman
 * 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 as thus "broken". In the books, "broken men" is a term for conscripts during wartime to 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 apparently named "Ray" in the script). Ray's sermon isn't line for line the same but it is thematically similar.
 * The theme of "broken man" is also reflected in the storylines of Theon, and arguably Robett Glover.
 * 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.  Depending on whether Brother Ray's community is based in the Vale or he moved the injured Hound to the Riverlands, this could indicate an expansion of operations for the Brotherhood.
 * This episode, much like the first episode of season one, begins with a cold open wherein a scene is played before the theme song.

In the Riverlands

 * 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. 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 length siege. The Siege of Riverrun is ongoing in the background from the middle of the third book to about the middle of the third 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.
 * Bronn appears in this episode for the first time in Season 6. Actor Jerome Flynn was unavailable in the early part of the season due to working on another project, but it didn’t really significantly affect anything because he was only going to become heavily involved in the plot starting with Jaime’s trip to the Riverlands anyway. The only difference is that as a result the TV show didn’t insert Bronn into the background in various minor scenes, just to establish that he is still in the storyline (as done in past seasons before a character’s main storyline picks up). Overall the TV show was able to work around his schedule without any major difficulty.
 * 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 Fivers. 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 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 may years in Westeros, because castles are built with larger storage space to survive the years-long winters.

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."
 * Lyanna Mormont was apparently named directly after Lyanna Stark, Jon and Sansa's aunt who died in Robert's Rebellion, and who appeared in flashbacks earlier this season.
 * In the books, Lyanna's mother Maege Mormont is still alive, and 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: it is unclear if the TV version is officially condensing this so that TV-Maege simply died "off screen" and didn't have any other daughters, making Lyanna the official new head of the House.
 * 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.

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 he 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.
 * 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).
 * GOT S6 42.pngers for this episode show [[Yara Greyjoy]] kissing a female prostitute in a tavern in Volantis. The context is unclear - given that Yara has a wry sense of humor, and let her own brother Theon unknowingly feel her up in Season 2 so she could later taunt him about it, it's possible she's doing this just to taunt the men in her crew who think it's exciting, etc. 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.