Eastwatch


 * This article is about the fifth episode of the seventh season. For the castle and port, see Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

"Eastwatch" is the fifth episode of the seventh season of Game of Thrones. It is the sixty-fifth episode of the series overall. It premiered on August 13, 2017. It was written by Dave Hill and directed by Matt Shakman.

Plot
Daenerys demands loyalty from the surviving Lannister soldiers. Jon heeds Bran's warning about White Walkers on the move. Cersei vows to vanquish anyone or anything that stands in her way.

In the Reach
In the aftermath from the Battle of the Goldroad, Ser Bronn pulls Jaime Lannister from the depths of the water, and onto the shore, after Jaime's failed attempt to slay Daenerys and end the war. Bronn tells Jaime that the only reason he rescued him is so he may be the one to ever finish him off, until he gets what he wants from him. Jaime remarks on the power of the dragons and realizes they are in great peril if Daenerys chooses to use all three in future battles. Bronn assures that he won't be around for such an assault, as Jaime laments his duty to report what happened to Cersei. Bronn thinks it would be safer for him to jump back into the river than deal with Cersei's wrath.

Meanwhile on the Goldroad, Tyrion Lannister grimly assesses the carnage caused by the battle, seeing the ashes of wagons, horses and Lannister soldiers. The prisoners of war are being herded by the Dothraki to Daenerys and Drogon behind her, waiting menacingly. Daenerys appeals to them, bringing up the rumours spread about her by Queen Cersei, and warnings of brutality that the dragon Queen would bring - burning down homes, and murdering families. She assures she is not here to murder, but to destroy the wheel of power that rolls over the rich and poor alike, to no one's benefit but people like Cersei Lannister. She offers them a choice - bend the knee and join her in her quest to make the world a better place than ever before, or refuse and die. Tyrion looks at her apprehensively upon hearing this, most of the soldiers kneel immediately, intimidated by Drogon. Most- except for Randyll Tarly, his son Dickon, and well as a handful of men. Daenerys summons Randyll forward, but his insists he already has a Queen. Tyrion recalls he didn't pledge to Cersei until recently, and that she murdered the rightful Queen, destroying House Tyrell for good. He observes Randyll's allegiances are questionable to which Randyll answers there are no easy choices. He reminds Tyrion that Cersei is at least a true Westerosi, and that Tyrion is a kinslayer, having killed his father, as well as supporting a foreigner; bringing savages to their continent. Daenerys accepts his answer, and prepares to carry out a sentence, but Tyrion intervenes with the possibility of sending Randyll to The Wall, instead of death. Randyll affirms Daenerys cannot send him to the Wall as she is not his Queen.

Daenerys signals for three Dorthraki men to apprehend him, but Dickon suddenly speaks up insisting he will have to be killed too. Randyll, horrified, tells his son to shut up. Tyrion reminds Dickon that he is the future of House Tarly, and insists that he better bend the knee, reminding him how what happened to House Tyrell, which Randyll silently nods in agreement so his son may be spared. Dickon refuses to relent his decision, thereby Tyrion proposes to Daenerys about having them committed to the cells instead, but Daenerys, being ruthless but pragmatic, does not wish to grant the reputation of putting traitors in chains, or many would take advantage. She resumes to carry out the sentence for them both, as they hold hands. Drogon unleashes his dragonfire, roasting Randyll and Dickon alive and reducing them both to flame and ash in seconds, killing them instantly. Terrified, the remaining soldiers kneel as Tyrion reflects uneasily over the execution.

In King's Landing
Jaime returns to King's Landing to inform Cersei of the defeat. He flatly insists that the Lannisters have no chance of defeating Daenerys; Qyburn's scorpion did little more than anger Drogon, and the Lannister soldiers will not stand against Dothraki, who Jaime notes killed their men as if it were sport to them, not war. Cersei snidely asks Jaime if they are expected to surrender to a Queen whose throne Cersei occupies and whose father Jaime betrayed and murdered, mockingly remarking that Tyrion could intercede for them with Daenerys. Jaime reveals to Cersei Tyrion is innocent of Joffrey's murder, telling her Olenna Tyrell confessed to it. Cersei is dismissive, until Jaime points out Olenna had far more to gain from it than Tyrion; by removing Joffrey, she left Margaery free to marry the more pliable and easily controlled Tommen. Effectively, Olenna would have ended up becoming the true ruler of the Seven kingdoms - in the same vein Tywin became the ultimate ruler as a mouthpiece through his grandsons. Cersei cannot contain her fury as she laments listening to Jaime, saying Olenna ought to have died screaming. Jaime says shes dead, nonetheless, along with the rest of their family, and that they will go the same way unless they are careful.



At Oldtown
Gilly reads High Septon Maynard's diary. Gilly tells Samwell the High Septon wrote that he issued an annulment for "Ragger" (prince Rhaegar), and then married him to another woman in Dorne. However, Samwell doesn't 'catch on' that this means that Rhaegar's children might be illegitimate, because he is too absorbed in his own misery at the Citadel. Sam dismisses Gilly's discovery, and thus she doesn't discuss the annulment and marriage further with him. Sam stalks out of the room and goes to the library. He grabs several books and other items and after a contemplative look at the atrium of the room, meets Gilly in the courtyard of the Citadel where she awaits him in a carriage. She asks him if leaving is what he really wants and he replies that he's "tired of reading about the achievements of better men." They leave in the middle of the night.

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 King Jon Snow
 * Aidan Gillen as Lord Petyr Baelish
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Sophie Turner as Princess Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Princess Arya Stark
 * Conleth Hill as Varys
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Prince Bran Stark
 * Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Hannah Murray as Gilly
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund Giantsbane
 * Joe Dempsie as Gendry
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont

Guest Starring
 * Jim Broadbent as Archmaester Ebrose
 * Richard Dormer as Lord Beric Dondarrion
 * Paul Kaye as Thoros of Myr
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn
 * James Faulkner as Lord Randyll Tarly
 * Tom Hopper as Dickon Tarly
 * Tim McInnerny as Lord Robett Glover
 * Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce
 * Richard Rycroft as Maester Wolkan
 * Kevin Eldon as a Goldcloak
 * Julian Firth as Citadel archmaester
 * Philip O'Sullivan as Citadel archmaester
 * Laurence Spellman as a Goldcloak
 * Staz Nair as Qhono
 * William Nevan Wilson as Baby Sam
 * James Robert Wilson as Baby Sam
 * Adele Smyth-Kennedy as

Cast notes

 * 18 of 22 starring cast members appear in this episode.
 * Starring cast members Carice van Houten (Melisandre), Nathalie Emmanuel (Missandei), Alfie Allen (Theon Greyjoy), and Gwendoline Christie (Brienne of Tarth) are not credited and do not appear in this episode.

Deaths

 * Randyll Tarly
 * Dickon Tarly
 * Goldcloak 1
 * Goldcloak 2

General

 * The episode title is a reference to the castle and port of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, one of only three manned castles left on the Wall. As the only castle on the Wall located on the sea and the closest to Hardhome, it is the most likely place that the White Walkers would attack.
 * The Title sequence has been updated from last episode, replacing Pyke with a new animation for Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

In the Reach

 * Daenerys Targaryen once again uses her speech (from Season 5's "Hardhome") that she's going to "break the wheel" of one conqueror replacing another in wars like a wheel going around, but society never advances because each ruler is as bad as he last and keeps oppressing everyone under them. This metaphor hasn't been used in the novels, and indeed, the idea that Daenerys has some grand hope of reforming all of society is an invention of the TV series - she does want to stop things like slavery and overthrow bad rulers, but fundamentally, she does want to be the hereditary monarch over everyone else.
 * Daenerys’s speech is similiar to the speech she made to the slaves at Meereen before launching the broken slave collars into the city (“Breaker of Chains”). She was not responding to the lies and half-truths, instead she relied on evidence of her power.
 * Tyrion's own dialogue specifically questions why Randyll Tarly won't submit to Daenerys Targaryen, given that he fought for her own father during Robert's Rebellion (famously winning the only Targaryen victory of the war, at the Battle of Ashford), and that Cersei hasn't even been his queen for long, in fact she got the throne by killing his rightful queen (Margaery Tyrell). Randyll does have a coherent response, that Daenerys might be the Mad King's daughter but to him she's just a foreigner who never spent any of her life in Westeros before, and who brought the Dothraki ("foreign savages") to Westeros. He also makes it clear that he hates Cersei and only served her grudgingly as what he perceived as the lesser of two evils.
 * In the books, such attitudes are not entirely without precedent, specifically during the later Blackfyre Rebellions. The first rebellion was a civil war fought by internal factions in Westeros, but after House Blackfyre lost its survivors fled into exile in the Free Cities, and for the next 50 years they sporadically launched four subsequent rebellions. While there they founded the Golden Company to be their core fighting force (which Cersei actually mentioned in the previous episode). By the fourth rebellion, forty years after the first, they were surprised to have very little support from within Westeros itself - even noble Houses who had supported the Blackfyres in the earlier rebellions did not come out to fight for them: by that point, they weren't actually fighting for Daemon Blackfyre, but for his grandson they had never heard of, who wasn't born in Westeros, nor had he ever spent a day of his life in Westeros, and the Blackfyres were leading an army of foreign mercenaries.
 * Randyll Tarly also makes it clear that he won't submit to Daenerys because he is disgusted with Tyrion - a man who, admittedly, killed his own father Tywin Lannister. Kinslaying carries a heavy stigma in Westeros, and a son killing his own father (with premeditation) is officially the absolute worst kind of kinslaying, regardless of what his father did to provoke it.
 * Randyll brings up Tywin's death, and his own death is in notable contrast with it. When Tyrion confronted Tywin with a crossbow while he was on the privy, he started trying to explain his way out of the situation, then daring Tyrion on, thinking Tyrion couldn't possibly kill him, despite all of the abuse he had heaped upon him. Randyll, meanwhile, faces death with dignity, and would rather die than accept Tyrion's offer to try to have his life spared by taking the black. Moreover, Tywin mistreated his son so badly his entire life that it ultimately drove his son to kill him, while when Randyll is executed, his son Dickon voluntarily asks to be executed with him, even though Randyll tells him not to, thinking it would be dishonorable to outlive his father.
 * Randyll reveals himself to be a hypocrite in his disgust for Tyrion's kinslaying, given his own murderous intentions towards Samwell, had he refused to take the black.
 * House Tarly wouldn't be extinct even if Samwell Tarly doesn't take up its rule due to his vows as a member of the Night's Watch. In Season 6's "Blood of My Blood", when the rest of House Tarly was introduced at Horn Hill, Samwell's older sister Talla Tarly was also introduced into the TV continuity (he has more sisters in the books, but Talla is the only named one). Daughters do inherit if they have no eligible surviving brothers, i.e. excluding brothers who gave up their right to inheritance by joining orders such as the maesters, Night's Watch, or Kingsguard.
 * Samwell never actually took a maester's vows. He studied for a time but then left without actually joining - Oberyn Martell was stated to have done the same thing back in Season 4. Nonetheless, he is still bound by his vows in the Night's Watch. As already explained in Season 5, however, a monarch has the power to release a man from his vows to the Night's Watch - typically in just these situations, when all of the man's male relatives died, and he needed to leave the Watch to keep his family's male line alive. Stannis Baratheon offered to simply decree that Jon Snow was released from his vows to the Night's Watch so he could legally lead House Stark (later, Jon leaves the Watch after his death and resurrection, saying that he fulfilled his vows as he served the Watch until his death). This has only happened a few times over the centuries, and while technically legal, has always been controversial - Jon actually declined Stannis's offer because he thought no one would take him seriously as head of House Stark if he would so easily set aside his vows to the Watch.
 * Tyrion and Varys express their concern that burning the Tarlys will make Daenerys seem like her father, the Mad King, who burned his enemies alive in the throne room. In the Inside the Episode video, showrunner David Benioff said that Daenerys isn't supposed to be outright vindictive or crazy, but ruthlessly rational, and it's supposed to be unclear if she or Tyrion are correct. In her view, she gave Tarly a fair choice about whether to surrender or not, and he refused knowing what would happen, and his execution helped convince other wavering Lannister survivors to bend the knee.
 * Tyrion begs Daenerys to give Randyll the option of taking the black and joining the Night's Watch - which has always been customary for defeated lords in Westeros for centuries. It's unknown if Daenerys would have given him the option or not, but it's a moot point, because Randyll then interjected that he wouldn't join the NIght's Watch even if she did extend the offer.
 * This episode doesn't give any new insights into where exactly the battle in the preceding episode took place. Jaime and Bronn are washed by the current farther down the river, yet are still not within sight of King's Landing - which seem to indicate that it wasn't the Roseroad/Kingsroad crossing (which has no fords or even a bridge). Other materials state the river is indeed the Blackwater Rush, so the battle seems to have taken place farther up it to the west, apparently at the Goldroad crossing.
 * The beginning of the episode reveals that Jaime and Bronn somehow survived drowning, despite wearing armor, and were washed downriver before pulling themselves up to shore. Reports from early episode outlines vaguely seem to indicate that the idea is they nearly drowned, but the current was strong enough that it washed them farther downstream into a shallower stretch of the river.
 * Bronn's exact reasons for continuing to serve the Lannisters despite the fact that they still hadn't given him the full reward they'd promised were brought up in the preceding episode - that they'd given him gold, but not a marriage into the nobility and a castle - but he directly explains his position in this episode. He's already done a lot of work for the Lannisters, they admit that in theory they owe him, but no one else will give him a reward for past things he already did for the Lannisters. Moreover, he was willing to help them when they were winning, but he bluntly tells Jaime that if Daenerys uses her dragons again, that will be the limit at which he simply abandons them. Later in the episode, he's actually falling back into helping Tyrion set up a meeting with Jaime, so he might already be sending out feelers to end up on the winning side.

At Dragonstone

 * Drogon approaches Jon Snow inquisitively and sniffs his hand, even letting Jon touch his nose - in the novels, it is thought that only those of the Targaryen bloodline can successfully bond with dragons, and Jon is unknowingly Daenerys's own nephew. Drogon's friendly reaction to him is a major confirmation of his real parentage.
 * Incidentally, through intermarriage, Gendry also has some Targaryen blood - Robert Baratheon was actually Rhaegar Targaryen's second cousin, as his grandmother was a younger Targaryen princess. Thus Gendry is a cousin of both Daenerys and Jon. Gendry only briefly stops on Dragonstone, however, and doesn't interact with Daenerys - as a queen, she does have the power to legitimize him, in order to resurrect House Baratheon.
 * Jon accurately recalls that he saw Gendry's father Robert during the feast at Winterfell in the Season 1 premiere "Winter is Coming", and Gendry in turn mentions that he met Jon's father Eddard Stark at his shop, in Season 1's "Cripples, Bastards, and Broken Things".
 * With continued irony, Gendry says to Jon that "our father fought together", referring to Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark fighting together as allies. Jon's secret biological father, however, was actually Rhaegar Targaryen: Robert and Rhaegar "fought together" during an hours-long duel at the Battle of the Trident that ended with Robert killing Rhaegar: Gendry's father literally killed Jon's father.
 * Jon lightly mocks Robert by saying that he was a lot heavier (fatter) than Gendry, and Gendry responds by playfully saying Jon is shorter than Eddard, to Jon's chagrin. Kit Harington is actually 5'8" in height, and thus not relatively tall, while Jon in the books is somewhat tall and lean (though he is just a teenager). Ironically, Joe Dempsie (Gendry) is taller at 5'10", yet himself felt self-conscious that he was too short to play Gendry - who, as Robert's son, is very tall and muscular in the novels.
 * Davos Seaworth brought along some contraband as part of his cover story that he's a smuggler, in the even that the Gold Cloaks stopped them: fermented crab, which he claims is an aphrodisiac.  This may be a reference to the fact that, as Davos has explained before, his own father was a poor crabber.
 * Davos comes up with the fake name "Clovis" to call Gendry - this actually isn't a name used by any characters in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. It is a medieval name, however:  Clovis I was the first king of the united Franks in the late fifth century, founder of the Merovingian dynasty (the first kings of what would later become France).
 * Jorah Mormont goes through no less than three costume changes during the course of this single episode - unusual for a character who sometimes goes through entire seasons in the same traveling outfit.
 * Tyrion gives Jorah a coin for good luck, explaining it is the one coin that the slaver "paid" to both of them in Season 5's "The Gift", when he bought them at a slave-auction in Meereen, which would be the only payment either of them would receive for life (cynically trying to avoid Daenerys's ban on slavery).

In King's Landing

 * Cersei repeats that she will defeat whatever enemy she encounters (“Dragonstone (episode)”).
 * Cersei Lannister reveals that she is now pregnant with her fourth child fathered by her own twin brother, Jaime Lannister. A note to wiki editors: pregnancies don't have character articles or entries in family trees - the child/children must be born first.
 * There are actually some hints as of the fifth and most recent novel that Cersei might be pregnant, but hasn't realized it yet. This book ends with her walk of shame (which happened at the end of Season 5 of the TV series, but events could be delayed). Throughout the fourth and fifth novels (which are intercut) there are points when she complains that her washerwomen must have shrunk her dresses, because they don't fit well anymore. The assumed implication was that she was putting on weight due to her heavy alcoholism by that point, but she could be pregnant. Moreover, besides Jaime, she was also manipulating men by having sex with cousin Lancel Lannister, the Kettleblack brothers, and indeed, possibly the court fool Moon Boy (for all anyone knows). Raising the question that Jaime might not even be the father.
 * Curiously, the first hint that Cersei might be pregnant now is that Qyburn is seen with her in private offering to give her medication for unspecified "symptoms" - and Qyburn did the same thing back in the Season 4 premiere, "Two Swords". Jaime was in the room and asked what symptoms he could be talking about, and Cersei responded that it wasn't his concern, leaving the question unanswered.  Jaime and Cersei hadn't had sex before that, because he only just recently returned to King's Landing after almost two years.  The TV writers later confirmed that when George R.R. Martin realized he wouldn't finish the next book before the TV series outpaced it, he had one big final meeting with the showrunners in which he explained the broad outline of what is going to happen in future novels (some things they changed, and some things even he didn't know yet).  The TV writers later confirmed that this meeting was after they had finished filming Season 3 (right before it aired) but before they started writing Season 4 - and they were also worried going into Season 5 that they would only get seven seasons instead of the planned eight (which is why storylines began to rush in Season 5).  Thus it is possible that the earlier scene in the Season 4 premiere of Qyburn talking with Cersei about unspecified "symptoms" may be some sort of relic about hinting that Cersei would become pregnant again (though given that Jaime only just arrived, it's possible that it was filmed out of order).  The parallels between the two scenes are intriguing, but little more can be definitively said.  In the final version, it somewhat seems that Qyburn is talking to Cersei about symptoms from her heavy drinking, which Jaime also comments on in the same scene.
 * Cersei mentions again that she intends to take out loans from the Iron Bank of Braavos to hire new mercenary armies from the Free Cities. She explained in the preceding episode that Qyburn has already been negotiating to hire the Golden Company, the best and largest sellsword company in Essos. Of course, just because Qyburn is negotiating with them does not mean they'll accept the offer. As a company from Essos they know what they'll be facing and might decide it's not worth it (especially now that it seem like they'll make most of the Cersei's army). Not to mention that with current situation, a loan from Iron Bank is also not certain.
 * Cersei's suggestion to Jamie that they should think like their father to defeat Daenerys and actually meet with Daenerys seems to indicate that Cersei may be planning her own version of the Red Wedding.
 * Jaime recalls that he once told Bronn that he'd cut Tyrion in half if he ever saw him again, for murdering their own father (regardless of the context), which he did back in Season 5's "Sons of the Harpy". This is a bit of nuance from the books that is difficult to convey on-screen: in their own POV narration chapters, both Jaime and Tyrion remark aloud that they will kill their brother if they ever see them again, for their mutual betrayals, but then in their inner mental narration wonder if they really will, or if there were enough mitigating circumstances that they shouldn't).
 * Cersei apparently found out that Tyrion had contacted Bronn to arrange a meeting using Qyburn's network of "little birds" - or any of the other numerous spies in the city.
 * Cersei reminds Jaime that their father Tywin always said that "The lion doesn't concern himself with the opinions of the sheep" - Tywin actually said this to Jaime during his first scene in the TV series, back in Season 1's "You Win or You Die" in the Lannister army camp.
 * In the novels, Jaime has no idea who killed Joffrey, and he does not really care (because Joffrey meant nothing to him, and he thinks that Joffrey deserved to die). He hardly makes any inquiries about the murder; he decides to leave the murder mystery unsolved, and make sure no harm happens to Tommen too.
 * Cersei, on the other hand, figures out in the novels that the Tyrells are responsible. Annoyed at Margaery's growing influence over Tommen, Cersei suddenly realizes the Tyrells had a strong motive to kill Joffrey: he was too stubborn to be influenced, in sharp contrast to his sweet gentle brother, so the Tyrells had him replaced with Tommen, whom Margaery could easily control as a puppet king. Cersei's additional conclusions, however, are entirely wrong: she believes that Tyrion - not Littlefinger - was the Tyrells' co-conspirator; that the Tyrells helped him escape from prison by bribing the gaolers (that explains, in Cersei's mind, the Tyrell coin which Qyburn found in one of the gaolers' cell); that Tyrion and Sansa are hiding in Highgarden; and maybe the Tyrells were involved in Tywin's murder too. Those conclusions, combined with Cersei's paranoid delusions, drive her to execute her scheme against Margaery, which eventually backfires at her.
 * Cersei has reached a point where she doesn't care what the commoners or nobles think, and not only doesn't care if rumor gets out that she's having sex with her brother, but now openly wants to announce that Jaime is the father of her child - basically living like Targaryens, who practiced brother-sister incest for generations. In the novels, they discuss trying to do this, but then say they can't because they're not Targaryens and can't force people to accept their incest using dragons.
 * Gendry returns in this episode, after being absent since the Season 3 finale "Mhysa."
 * Davos's line about wondering if Gendry was "still rowing" is of course a reference to the widespread internet meme joke when fans asked where Gendry was during the past 3 seasons - the response being that he's "still rowing", after last being seen sent away in a rowing boat. The joke was so popular that much of the cast including Joe Dempsie (Gendry) have repeated it over their social media at one point or another.
 * Gendry wields a warhammer in combat - an auspicious trait because his father Robert, who he never met, also famously wielded a warhammer in combat (he actually killed Rhaegar Targaryen with a mighty blow from his hammer that caved in his breastplate).
 * Notice that color scheme that Gendry uses to decorate his Warhammer: not just a stag sigil for House Baratheon, but a gold stag on a black hammer. This is the reverse of the normal Baratheon heraldry, a black stag on gold. bastards in Westeros are forbidden to use their parents' heraldry if they have not been legitimized, so a frequent custom is for bastards to reverse the colors of their parent's heraldry (which is permissible). The TV show hasn't directly established that the same is true in the TV continuity, but this seems to be a nod at the custom.
 * Gendry didn't leave the Brotherhood Without Banners in the novels, but stayed with them after Arya left. The TV show condensed Gendry with another one of Robert's bastards (Edric Storm), who Stannis Baratheon acquired and then considered sacrificing in a blood ritual conducted by Melisandre. Instead this was given to Gendry in Season 3. Thus he never went to Dragonstone, was never saved by Davos (who saves Edric), and didn't have reason to be angry at the Brotherhood for "selling" him to Melisandre, as happened in "The Climb" (though they didn't know she intended to kill him).
 * Thus, in the book version, after Arya left, Gendry continued to work as a blacksmith for the Brotherhood, operating in or around the Inn at the Crossroads. He later encountered Brienne of Tarth in the fourth novel, as she searched for Sansa Stark, and saved her from Biter, a member of the Brave Companions (the sellswords who cut off Jaime's hands, condensed in the TV series). Thus he hasn't had much of a major role since the third novel... yet.
 * The TV version explains that Gendry hid from the Lannisters by going right back where he started, to the Street of Steel in King's Landing (the blacksmiths' quarter) - Davos's reasoning was that hiding right under Cersei's nose would be the last place she'd look. Actually, such a plan is not without precedent in the novels: in the books, Varys simply disappears after Tyrion kills Tywin at the end of the third novel, and only reappears at the end of the fifth novel to kill Pycelle and Kevan Lannister within their chambers in the Red Keep. It is unknown if he left for the Free Cities but then returned, but it is entirely possible that he never left King's Landing in that entire time, but was just hiding in the secret tunnel network (or using disguises). Aegon II Targaryen performed a similar trick during the Dance of the Dragons, hiding on Dragonstone island itself after Rhaenyra Targaryen seized King's Landing - because Dragonstone was Rhaenyra's own home base, and the humble fishing villages on her own island were the last place she would look.
 * When they reach King's Landing, Tyrion mentions that the last time he was there, he killed his father; Davos says the last time he was there, Tyrion killed his son with wildfire, referring to the battle of the Blackwater. It seems Davos does not resent Tyrion, though.
 * A few notes on the geography of King's Landing, as internal maps have been provided in the published books: Davos says that he's going to check for Gendry in Flea Bottom, the slum district where they both grew up (and which is a good place for people to hide that don't want to be found) - though Davos later notes in dialogue that he didn't find him where he started looking (Flea Bottom), but back at the Street of Steel. Flea Bottom is at the bottom of Rhaenys's Hill, below the Dragonpit which is atop the hill, on the northeast side of the city. The Street of Steel is on the back side of Visenya's Hill, on the opposite southwestside of the city, near the Great Sept of Baelor on top (or now, that is, near the ruins of the Great Sept). The Red Keep is in the southeast corner of the city, on Aegon's Hill.
 * The Street of Steel actually appeared in Season 1, in Gendry's own first scene, when Eddard Stark first found him working at Tobho Mott's smithy. Thus Gendry's reintroduction mirrors his first appearance.
 * Tyrion is easily spotted by the Gold Cloaks on patrol - though other characters do remark that there's a good chance he will be spotted, he says he most risk it because only he can get through to Jaime in person. In the novels, when Tyrion goes on the run in the Free Cities (corresponding to Season 5), others suggest that he try to hide his identity - this seems rather futile, so he sarcastically quips that he'll just claim he's one of the other dwarfs who have a horrific and distinctive facial injury.

In Oldtown

 * This episode seems to imply that Rhaegar Targaryen annulled his marriage to Elia Martell in secret, and married Lyanna Stark in Dorne. If this is true, it means that Jon is actually a legitimate Targaryen and not a bastard, and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, ahead of Daenerys. His true name remains a mystery.
 * The journal that Gilly reads claims that Rhaegar sought an annulment from his wife Elia Martell - with whom he already had two small children, including a son. "Marriage" does not work like that in Westeros. "Divorce" does not exist, only "annulment" of a marriage for specific reasons: such as if the marriage was never consummated, if one of them was already married to someone else, or if the spouse was unable to conceive an heir, etc. What is being described here is divorce, not "annulment", which it would be impossible for Rhaegar to obtain for a wife who already bore him two small children (one of them a boy, so he couldn't even have been setting her aside to seek a male heir).
 * No one knows exactly what will be revealed about Rhaegar in future novels, but a major theory is that Rhaegar simply intended to polygamously marry Lyanna Stark as his second wife. The Valyrians were known to practice polygamy, and in the original Conquest-generation of the Targaryens, Aegon the Conqueror was simultaneously married to both of his sisters. The Faith Militant later warred with his son Maegor the Cruel over this, and while never giving up their incestuous marriages (they already had an incestuous bloodline), the Targaryens promised to never practice polygamy again. However, a significant hint in The World of Ice and Fire was a potential explanation for why Daemon Blackfyre went to war with his brother out of love for his half-sister, even though he was already married to someone else. An in-universe theory that several historians have is that Daemon simply intended to revive the Targaryen custom of polygamy - or somehow, thought he could get away with it despite it being banned for nearly 200 years. It's possible that Rhaegar, like Daemon Blackfyre, thought he could get away with polygamy in secret. In which case, Rhaegar's "annulment" of his marriage to Elia would be a drastic oversimplification (annulling his marriage would delegitimize his first two children).
 * In the novels, Elia Martel is believed to be barren after the difficult births of her two children. Rhaegar could possibly use this as an argument despite the fact that his wife already gave him a suitable heir. Rhaegar believed that "the Prince that was promised" prophecy was in fact refering to a triarchy of Targaryens and needed another child.
 * Moreover, the annulment was also a poor political move as the Martells were staunch allies of House Targaryen during Robert's Rebellion due to one of their own being part of House Targaryen through marriage. Repudiating his wife and consequently disowning his Targaryen/Martell children would have enraged the Martells if they discovered it. The fact of almost certainly loosing the allegiance of a key ally in a time of war, could explain why Rhaegar kept it secret.
 * High Septons do not have names. As the leader of the Faith of the Seven, each High Septon gives up their original name, and is referred to as simply "the High Septon". For that matter, it is forbidden to refer to their original name, even retroactively. This episode claims that Rhaegar's annulment, at the start of Robert's Rebellion, was "High Septon Maynard". There is no septon named "Maynard" in the novels. This "Maynard" will instead be referred to as "High Septon (Robert's Rebellion)".
 * Gilly's mention that this High Septon kept a detailed journal of his entire life, including his bowel movements, actually appears to be a reference to a joke from the novels: when Samwell is reading through books in the Castle Black library looking for information, and notes that a book by Septon Jorquen about Lord Commander Orbert Caswell consists of entry after entry of dull reporting about his bowel movements (AFFC, Samwell I).

At Eastwatch

 * In the Inside the Episode video, showrunner D.B. Weiss admits that the wight-hunt that Jon is going on is an invention of the TV series, an idea "we came up with" which isn't based on events in a future novel.
 * For that matter, he says that it's loosely inspired by how Alliser Thorne was sent to King's Landing with the severed hand of one of the two wights (Othor and Jafer) that tried to kill Lord Commander Mormont, to present it as proof their claims were real, but it rotted away to nothing by the time he was granted an audience. This did not happen in the TV version - it happened in the books, but was omitted from the TV series (though the way the video is edited, it seems that Weiss was explaining that this drew inspiration from that section of the books, not specifically claiming he thought they did it that way in the TV series as well).

In the books
[This section will be updated with comparisons after the sixth novel is released.]

The episode contains influences from the following chapters of A Feast for Crows:

The episode contains influences from the following chapter of A Dance with Dragons:
 * Chapter 27, Jaime III: Jaime and his sparring partner practice secretly.
 * Chapter 28, Cersei VI: A Lannister realizes that the Tyrells had a motive to kill Joffrey.
 * Chapter 69, Jon XIII: At Jon's request, Tormund agrees to lead an expedition north of the Wall from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

Memorable quotes
Daenerys Targaryen: "I'm not here to murder. Bend the knee and join me, or refuse and die."

Varys: "You need to find a way to make her listen."

Cersei Lannister: "Whatever stands in our way, we will defeat it."

Jon Snow: "Bran saw the Night King and his army marching towards Eastwatch."

Davos Seaworth: "Bad things are coming."

Jon Snow: "If I don't return, at least you won't have to deal with the King in the North anymore."

Daenerys Targaryen: "I've grown used to him."