Breaker of Chains

"Breaker of Chains" is the third episode of the fourth season of Game of Thrones. It is the thirty-third episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 20, 2014. It was written by executive producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by Alex Graves.

At King's Landing
With King Joffrey dead, Cersei mourns the death of her elder son with the heir apparent, Prince Tommen Baratheon, in the Great Sept of Baelor. Tywin Lannister, also present, immediately begins instructing the young prince on the qualities of a good king. As Tywin and Tommen leave, Jaime enters to see Cersei calling for the death of the accused Tyrion and his wife, Sansa Stark. Jaime sends the septon and septas away so he can be alone with Cersei. He tries to comfort her through his affections. She refuses initially, but Jaime is aggressive. Cersei insists that the sept during a private viewing of their son's corpse is a highly inappropriate place for sex, and asks Jaime to stop, saying "It isn't right, it isn't right..." and Jaime refuses to stop, saying, "I don't care, I don't care...". They then have sex next to their dead son's corpse.

A flashback to the wedding reveals Sansa Stark escaping with Ser Dontos Hollard from King's Landing to a ship off the coast. As Sansa is taken aboard, she is greeted by Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish. He remembers that he still owes Dontos his fee, but Baelish has two men kill him with crossbows. He explains to Sansa that Ser Dontos was a drunken fool and an unreliable ally who only helped Sansa for money and would turn her in for money. To prove his point, he shows that the priceless necklace Dontos gave her was actually made a few weeks ago on Baelish's orders. Sansa is confused and horrified, but Baelish promises to keep her safe.

Tywin interrupts Oberyn Martell and his group sex act with Ellaria Sand and Olyvar to discuss Tyrion's up-coming trial for the murder of Joffrey. Tywin brings up Oberyn's knowledge of poisons and the link between that and Joffrey's death – as some say the King was poisoned – and wonders whether Oberyn had helped Tyrion. The topic changes to the murder of Oberyn's sister Elia by Tywin's "pet," the Mountain, during the Sack of King's Landing. Tywin denies ordering her death, but promises to arrange a meeting between Oberyn and the Mountain so he can have his justice. He also offers Oberyn a position on the Small Council, if Oberyn agrees to be the third judge at Tyrion's trial. He explains that he is eager to bring Dorne back into the fold, wanting to unite the Seven Kingdoms against more obvious threats; the Greyjoys are in rebellion, a Wildling army is advancing on the Wall, and there is a Targaryen girl in the East with a powerful army and three dragons, who will eventually threaten Westeros. Tywin observes that only the Dornish successfully resisted Aegon Targaryen's dragons during his invasion of Westeros three centuries ago; Oberyn dryly notes it must be hard for Tywin to admit he needs the Dornish for help.

Tyrion is in a cell in King's Landing. He is visited by his squire, Podrick Payne, who has smuggled in some food and other items for him. Pod has been asked to compile a list of Tyrion's witnesses. He names his wife, Sansa, but Pod informs him that she disappeared moments after Joffrey's death. He cannot speak to Bronn either because, as a close associate of Tyrion, he is also under investigation. Pod confirms that there has been no word of Shae, which Tyrion takes as good news. Tyrion then asks to speak with Jaime. He also warns Pod to be aware of his surroundings and watch out for "They," "They" being the spies of Tywin, Cersei, Varys or more or less anyone else. He opines that many people had a motive for killing Joffrey. Cersei is the only person he rules out. He urges Pod to get out of King's Landing as he would be in much danger due to his close relations with Tyrion, especially after refusing to testify against Tyrion, despite the offer of a knighthood. As Pod is about to leave, Tyrion calls him back and tells him that " there has never lived a more loyal squire."

In the Riverlands
Meanwhile, Arya Stark and the Hound, crossing the Riverlands, are spotted by a farmer and his young daughter while making their way to the Vale where Arya can be ransomed to her "rich" aunt, Lysa Tully. Arya quickly fabricates a story that the Hound and she are father and daughter, with Clegane as a knight in service of House Tully. The farmer believes it and allows the pair to stay the night in his home and share a meal. Famished, Arya and the Hound scarf the food down hastily. Arya wakes the following morning to hear the farmer's daughter screaming. Clegane has assaulted the farmer and taken his silver. Confused and horrified, Arya demands to know why Clegane did that. He simply states, "a dead man doesn't need his silver," claiming the farmer is weak and he and his daughter will not survive the upcoming winter.

At Dragonstone
On Dragonstone Isle, Stannis Baratheon learns of Joffrey's death and warns Ser Davos that their time to lay claim to the Iron throne dwindles if no army can be secured to wage war again. Shortly after, when Ser Davos begins his reading lessons with princess Shireen Baratheon, he realizes a possible ally across the Narrow Sea, the Iron Bank of Braavos.

At the Wall and the North
At Castle Black, Samwell Tarly fears for the safety of Gilly and moves her to a vassal town that frequently services the Nights Watch brothers in bodily vices. Sam is resolute in keeping Gilly safe from all harm however and pledges to visit Gilly as much as possible, instructing the inn at which he leaves her, that she will not be touched. Meanwhile, a village south of the wall is attacked by raiding wildlings under Tormund and the cannibalistic Thenns. While the village is massacred, a lone boy is sent by the Styr as a messenger to Castle Black to relay an account of the massacre and also a warning that more would follow. The Lord Commander states that they do not have the manpower to afford venturing away from the Wall. They are interrupted when two rangers, Edd and Grenn, arrive back at Castle Black after escaping Craster's Keep. Jon reveals he told Mance Rayder that a thousand men armed Castle Black and therefore points out that when Mance reaches Craster's Keep, Rast and Karl will not hesitate in revealing the truth. Jon then insists the Night's Watch send a party to Craster's Keep to kill their traitor brothers before Mance gets to them first.

​Across the Narrow Sea
In Slaver's Bay, Daenerys Targaryen marches on the city of Meereen as she begins her siege of the slave city. She is faced with a champion's duel where a riding knight of Meereen challenges her to choose a champion that will fight for her. Grey Worm, Jorah and Barristan all volunteer to stand as her champion; she refuses all three as too valuable to her. Daario Naharis, commander of the Second Sons, then volunteers to be Dany's champion, and she accepts. As Naharis quickly dispatches the Meereen champion, Dany begins her siege of the city by speaking of freedom to the gathered slaves and then catapulting the broken chains of those she has freed across the city walls, demonstrating her previous successes. As the slaves examine the broken chains, the Great Masters look on, perhaps in fear.

Appearances

 * Main: Breaker of Chains/Appearances

First

 * Farmer
 * Sally
 * Mole's Town whore
 * Mole's Town madam
 * Whore
 * Olly
 * Guymon
 * Olly's mother
 * Oznak zo Pahl
 * Hizdahr zo Loraq
 * Hizdahr zo Loraq's manservant
 * Slave master
 * Slave master
 * Slave
 * Slave master

Deaths

 * Ser Dontos Hollard
 * Guymon
 * Olly's mother
 * Oznak zo Pahl

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
 * Kit Harington as Jon Snow
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish
 * Charles Dance as Lord Tywin Lannister
 * Natalie Dormer as Lady Margaery Tyrell
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Stephen Dillane as King Stannis Baratheon
 * Jack Gleeson as King Joffrey Baratheon
 * Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Rose Leslie as Ygritte
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Conleth Hill as Lord Varys
 * with Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont

Guest starring
 * Diana Rigg as Lady Olenna Tyrell
 * Pedro Pascal as Prince Oberyn Martell
 * Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand
 * Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis
 * Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon
 * Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
 * Julian Glover as Grand Maester Pycelle
 * Owen Teale as Ser Alliser Thorne
 * Yuri Kolokolnikov as Styr, the Magnar of Thenn
 * Dominic Carter as Lord Janos Slynt
 * Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Mark Stanley as Grenn
 * Ben Crompton as Eddison Tollett
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Tony Way as Dontos Hollard
 * Will Tudor as Olyvar
 * Dean-Charles Chapman as Prince Tommen Baratheon
 * Josef Altin as Pypar
 * Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant
 * Joel Fry as Hizdahr zo Loraq
 * Finbar Lynch as Farmer Hamlet
 * Kerry Ingram as Princess Shireen Baratheon
 * Brenock O'Connor as Olly
 * Jem Wall as Guymon
 * Raewyn Lippert as Olly's mother
 * Lois Winstone as a Mole's Town whore
 * Lu Corfield as a Mole's Town madam
 * Joseph Gatt as a Thenn warg
 * Brian Fortune as Othell Yarwyck
 * Paul Bentley as the High Septon
 * Patrick Molloy as a Night's Watch man
 * Emilio Doorgasingh as a slave master
 * Trixiebelle Harrowell as Sally
 * Josephine Gillan as Marei
 * Xena Avramidis as a whore
 * Derek Horsham as a slave master
 * Joshua Sher as a slave
 * Conor Watters as a Hizdahr zo Loraq's manservant

Uncredited
 * Daniel Naprous as Oznak zo Pahl (credited as Stunt Performer)
 * James Bleakney as Mole's Town Brothel Patron
 * Michael Stuart as Night's Watch Officer
 * Laurence Doherty as slave master

Cast notes

 * 21 of 27 cast members for the fourth season appear in this episode.
 * Starring cast members Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), Jerome Flynn (Bronn), Isaac Hempstead-Wright (Bran Stark), Sibel Kekilli (Shae), Iwan Rheon (Ramsay Snow), and Carice van Houten (Melisandre) are not credited and do not appear in this episode. Conleth Hill (Varys) and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) very briefly appear among the wedding crowd in the background of the first scene.
 * Ian McElhinney is, mistakenly, not credited for his role as Barristan Selmy in this episode. This was later corrected on the DVD and Blu-Ray release.
 * This episode is the final appearance of starring cast member Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) due to the death of his character at the end of the previous episode.
 * Hannah Murray is added to the main cast and her name appears in the opening credits starting with this episode. She previously recurred in the second and third season.

The Jaime/Cersei sex scene in the Great Sept

 * See full sub-article Breaker of Chains/Jaime-Cersei sex scene

Multiple reviewers and websites were very confused and upset by the sex scene between Jaime Lannister and Cersei Lannister in the Great Sept of Baelor in this episode - saying that it was apparently portraying Jaime raping Cersei. This allegation/interpretation was near-universal – not simply "on messageboards" but in every measurable manner, as a reaction seen on almost every major critic or review website. These ranged from io9 and the A.V. club,, to the front page of Yahoo News, , Entertainment Weekly and Time magazine,  , and even the front page of The New York Times itself.

What made this all the more baffling is that the sexual encounter between Jaime and Cersei in this scene in the books is presented as consensual.

TV-first viewers were offended, while book-first readers didn't understand why the TV show was, apparently, changing it into a rape scene – particularly because it simply didn't fit with Jaime's overall storyarc of redemption and trying to be a better person after losing his sword-hand. Moreover, Jaime in particular is a character who as a result of his backstory is horrified by rape: at King Aerys II Targaryen's court, he was forced to stand guard outside the doors as the Mad King raped his wife Queen Rhaella; later on and in the show itself, he saves Brienne of Tarth from being raped by Locke's men even though she was his captor and he could easily have just let it happen.

The TV writers were slow to respond to such massive outcry, and what few statements they did make were very vague, leaving reviewers and critics even more confused and to draw their own conclusions. As the premiere of Season 5 neared, it became obvious that the implication that Jaime was raping Cersei was never intended by the writers, not in the script, and purely the result of bad camerawork and bad editing. Both the actors and director have publicly stated that they were never told this was intended as a rape scene nor did they play it as such. This is confirmed by closer freeze-frame analysis of the footage. Even George R.R. Martin wasn't informed that the scriptwriters ever intended such a massive change.

It is unknown why HBO did not simply re-edit and re-release the episode as soon as possible, as has been done in the past in Season 1. Apparently, one of two scenarios occurred: the first is that Benioff and Weiss were embarrassed by the bad editing, and somehow felt it was more embarrassing to admit the mistake happened on their watch, then to simply pretend that it was a controversial artistic choice they made on purpose - then they avoided making any further comment on the controversy, just hoping that with the passage of time it would fade from public memory without the need to give a clear answer. The second scenario is that Benioff and Weiss simply became honestly frightened that anything they said in response, i.e. "we never intended it as a rape scene", would be taken out of context and they would be accused of rape denial - in which case, apparently it didn't occur to them that while merely saying an explanation was no longer sufficient, re-editing and re-releasing the episode was still an option. Many critics were outright more upset and bewildered that the episode was not re-edited and re-released, and few if any said that re-editing it would be rape denial.

It is tacitly assumed that the executive producers or HBO will eventually realize that their silence only inflamed this controversy, which would not have happened if they had addressing it immediately as simply a technical error. It is assumed (or at least hoped) that at some point they will re-edit and re-release the scene and episode, just as they would for any other technical error.


 * For a longer explanation of all of the evidence indicating that the scriptwriters could not possibly have intended this as a rape scene, and it only appears to be so due to bad camerawork and editing, see the longer sub-page: "The Jaime/Cersei sex scene in "Breaker of Chains"

In the books

 * See: Differences between books and TV series - Season 4#Breaker of Chains 


 * The episode is adapted from the following chapters of A Storm of Swords:
 * Chapter 48, Jon VI: Jon learns that Jeor Mormont was betrayed and killed by the mutineers at Craster's Keep.
 * Chapter 55, Jon VII: Jon and the Night's Watch prepare for the wildling attack by Styr, Ygritte and the other raiders.
 * Chapter 57, Daenerys V: Daenerys arrives at Meereen with Jorah Mormont, Barristan Selmy, Missandei, Daario Naharis, Grey Worm and the Unsullied. Meereen sends out Oznak zo Pahl as their hero, but he is promptly dispatched by Daenerys's champion.
 * Chapter 61, Sansa V: Sansa escapes from King's Landing in a small boat with Dontos Hollard's help. She arrives to a ship, where Littlefinger reveals that he was the one who saved her. When Dontos asks for his reward of ten thousand gold dragons, Littlefinger commands him to be killed.
 * Chapter 62, Jaime VII: Jaime and Cersei meet at Joffrey's funeral in the Sept. Cersei asks him to kill Tyrion for murdering their son, and they have sex in front of Joffrey's corpse​.
 * Chapter 65: Arya XII: Arya and the Hound find temporary refuge in a small village, in exchange for work.
 * Chapter 66, Tyrion IX: Imprisoned, Tyrion learns who his judges will be for his upcoming trial: his father Tywin, Mace Tyrell and Oberyn Martell.

Memorable Quotes
Tyrion Lannister: "Pod.... there has never lived a more loyal squire."

Tywin Lannister: "So, we have a man who starves himself to death, a man who lets his own brother murder him, and a man who thinks that winning and ruling are the same thing. What do they all lack?"

Tommen Baratheon: "Wisdom?"

Tywin: "Yes!"

Tommen: "Wisdom is what makes a good king.

Tywin: "Yes. But what is wisdom? Hmm? A house with great wealth and fertile lands asks you for your protection against another house with a strong navy that could one day oppose you. How do you know which choice is wise and which isn't? You've any experience of treasuries and granaries or shipyards and soldiers?"

Tommen: "No."

Tywin: "No, of course not. A wise king knows what he knows and what he doesn't. You're young. A wise young king listens to his counselors and heeds their advice until he comes of age. And the wisest kings continue to listen to them long afterwards. Your brother was not a wise king. Your brother was not a good king. If he had been, perhaps he'd still be alive."

Jaime Lannister: "You're a hateful woman. Why have the gods made me love a hateful woman?"

Petyr Baelish: "Money buys a man's silence for a time. A bolt in the heart buys it forever."

Tywin: "We are not Seven Kingdoms until Dorne returns to the fold. The king is dead, the Greyjoys are in open rebellion, a wildling army marches on the Wall and in the East, a Targaryen girl has three dragons. Before long, she will turn her eyes to Westeros. Only the Dornish managed to resist Aegon Targaryen and his dragons."

Oberyn Martell: "You're saying you need us? That must be hard for you to admit."

Tywin: "We need each other. You help me serve justice to the King's assassins, and I will help you serve justice to Elia's."

[The Hound has just stolen silver from a farmer with a child.] Arya Stark: "You are the worst shit in the Seven Kingdoms!"

The Hound: "There's plenty worse than me. I just understand the way things are. How many Starks they got to behead before you figure it out?"

Olenna Tyrell: "Our alliance with the Lannisters remains every bit as necessary to them as it is unpleasant for us. You did wonderful work on Joffrey. The next one should be easier."