The Children

"The Children" is the tenth episode of the fourth season of Game of Thrones. It is the fortieth episode of the series overall. It will air on June 15, 2014. It was written by producers David Benioff and D.B. Weiss and directed by Alex Graves.

Plot
Tywin learns that a Lannister always pays his debts.

At the Wall, and Beyond
The outer gate of Castle Black closes behind Jon Snow, and he walks north through the wreckage of the last night's battle, as Dolorous Edd watches from atop the Wall. Jon reaches the treeline and quickly arrives at the main camp of Mance Rayder's wildling horde. Jon holds up his hands to show he is unarmed, and is brought before the King-Beyond-the-Wall, who notes that he is wearing the black of the Night's Watch] again. Mance brings Jon inside his tent, and questions his status as a traitor. Jon explains that he has always been loyal - to [[Qhorin Halfhand, whose plan was to have Jon infiltrate Mance's camp, and that Qhorin tricked Mance into trusting Jon by allowing Jon to kill Qhorin himself in a fight. Mance asks about Ygritte and Jon reveals that she is dead. Saddened, Mance proposes that they drink a toast to her memory (which Jon accepts after Mance explains that if he'd wanted to kill Jon he wouldn't need to poison his drink). Mance then asks about the giant who got through the gate, but never came out, and Jon says that he died, killing Jon's friend Grenn. Mance ruefully notes that the giant was named Mag the Mighty, and he was "king" of the giants - last of a bloodline stretching back thousands of years, before the First Men entered Westeros.

Jon continues to insist that there are 1,000 men defending Castle Black, as he previously told Tormund, but Mance points out that he can tell he's lying: when he sent his full force against the Wall the Night's Watch threw everything they had at him to repel the attack, and he guesses that there might be as few as 50 men left in the garrison after the losses they took last night. They are also running low on arrows and oil to drop on them. While Jon has lied, Mance offers him the truth: after seeing how few men were defending Castle Black, he sent 400 men about five miles west to climb an unmanned section of the Wall, and they will attack Castle Black's weak southern side as soon as he gives the order. Mance cares about his followers, however, and the Night's Watch will kill as many of them as they can if they attack again. Mance explains to Jon that the wildlings will die if they stay north of the Wall when winter truly begins, when the White Walkers spread with the cold. They're attacking the Wall because they want to hide behind it, just as Jon and his friends are. Mance therefore honestly gives Jon an offer of peace: if the Night's Watch will let the wildlings pass through the Wall, he promises that not one of them will be harmed. Mance then sees that Jon is eyeing a cooking knife, and quickly realizes three things: Jon came to parley with Mance simply so he could assassinate him, that at that moment Mance's guards are far enough across the room that Jon might actually be able to kill him, and that Jon must have known he would die assassinating Mance but came anyway. Mance is shocked, and questions Jon if this is what the Night's Watch has sunk to: killing a man who let him into his own tent, accepting a parley in good faith, and who even offered him fairly reasonable peace terms. Jon hesitates, but before anyone can make a move, war horns are heard from outside. Mance's guards safely grab Jon during the distraction, and he demands to know if the Night's Watch is attacking them, but Jon admits that just as Mance said, the Night's Watch doesn't have remotely enough numbers to leave the safety of the Wall and attack...

Columns of heavy horse carrying hundreds of mounted knights are charging into the wildling camp: they carry the flaming stag banners of House Baratheon of Dragonstone, and are lead by none other than King Stannis Baratheon. The wildlings are caught in their own camp, resting from the battle the night before, and moreover they only expected attacks from the Wall, so their eastern flank is completely undefended. Moreover the wildlings are undisciplined and have no experience fighting heavy horse. While the wildlings have little in the way of tactical knowledge, Stannis's cavalry are deployed into two columns which act as pincers to catch the wildlings in a perfect double envelopment. Victorious, Stannis and Ser Davos Seaworth ride up to Mance, who throws down his weapons in surrender. The Battle of Castle Black has ended in victory for the Night's Watch and King Stannis.

Davos introduces Stannis as the true king of the Seven Kingdoms, but Mance points out that they are not in the Seven Kingdoms at the moment. Stannis demands that it is customary to kneel when surrendering to a king. Resignedly, Mance says that the Free Folk do not kneel, knowing that Stannis will kill him if he does not. Davos, however, asks what a man of the Night's Watch is doing in the camp, and Jon explains that he came to treat with the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Jon says that he knows that Stannis is the true king, as his own father died supporting his claim: he is the bastard son of Eddard Stark. Remembering his debt to Ned, this makes Stannis take Jon more seriously, and he asks him what his father would do. Jon responds that Mance could have killed him or tortured him when he was his prisoner but he spared his life, so his father would in turn spare Mance. Jon also urges Stannis that they should burn the dead (lest they later be turned into Wights).

​Appearances
To be added.

Production
To be added.