Winterfell (episode)

"Winterfell" is the first episode of the eighth season of Game of Thrones. It is the sixty-eighth episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 14, 2019. It was written by Dave Hill and directed by David Nutter.

Plot
The Great War has come, the Wall that has protected the Seven Kingdoms has fallen and the Night King's army of the dead marches towards Winterfell.

At Winterfell
Jon Snow, Daenerys Targaryen, and the Targaryen army pass through winter town as its inhabitants watch the dragons above in awe. Inside the walls of Winterfell, Sansa Stark swears allegiance to Queen Daenerys.

Appearances

 * Main: Winterfell (episode)/Appearances

First

 * Lannister guard 1
 * Lannister guard 2
 * Wight
 * Bannerman

Deaths

 * Ned Umber

Cast
Starring
 * Peter Dinklage as Lord 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
 * Liam Cunningham as Ser Davos Seaworth
 * Sophie Turner as Lady Sansa Stark
 * Maisie Williams as Arya Stark
 * Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei
 * Alfie Allen as Prince Theon Greyjoy
 * John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
 * Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
 * Conleth Hill as Lord Varys
 * Jerome Flynn as Ser Bronn of the Blackwater
 * Gwendoline Christie as Brienne of Tarth
 * Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane
 * Kristofer Hivju as Tormund
 * Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
 * Joe Dempsie as Gendry

Guest Starring
 * Pilou Asbæk as King Euron Greyjoy
 * Anton Lesser as Qyburn
 * Richard Dormer as Lord Beric Dondarrion
 * Gemma Whelan as Princess Yara Greyjoy
 * Ben Crompton as Lord Commander Eddison Tollett
 * Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as Ser Gregor Clegane
 * Daniel Portman as Podrick Payne
 * Rupert Vansittart as Lord Yohn Royce
 * Bella Ramsey as Lady Lyanna Mormont
 * Marc Rissmann as Captain Harry Strickland
 * Richard Rycroft as Maester Wolkan
 * Harry Grasby as Ned Umber
 * Lucy Aarden as Craya
 * Marina Lawrence-Mahrra as Dirah
 * Josephine Gillan as Marei
 * Staz Nair as Qhono
 * Felix Jamieson as Winter town boy
 * Syd Ralph
 * Eileen McCloskey as Village woman
 * Katie Tumelty

Uncredited
 * Rob McElhenney as Ironborn 1
 * Martin Starr as Ironborn 2
 * Dave Hill as Ironborn 3
 * Alee Fauzi as Lannister guard 1
 * Adam Quigley-Nixon as Lannister guard 2
 * Jack Hudson as Wight
 * Mark Quigley as Bannerman

Cast notes

 * 21 of 22 starring cast members appear in this episode.
 * Vladimir Furdik as the Night King is not credited in this episode.

General

 * Due to concerns about spoilers, HBO is only releasing the titles of Season 8 episodes the moment they start airing - meaning that Game of Thrones Wiki can only make up accurate episode titles for each one as they are revealed.
 * This is the first season premiere that began without a cold open - a prologue scene before the main credits roll. Instead it just began with the opening credits like a regular episode.  Showrunners Benioff and Weiss have said that they see the combined 13 episodes of Seasons 7 and 8 was one big season, split in half across two airing cycles.
 * The Title sequence has been drastically updated, more than in the past seven seasons. As the production team has explained, in prior seasons, as a rule the camera had to show at least four locations:  King's Landing, Winterfell, The Wall, and then "wherever Daenerys is now" in the eastern continent - even in episodes which Daenerys's storyline does not appear in, in order to illustrate the full scale of their fantasy world.  When Daenerys arrived in Westeros in Season 7, the map thus didn't travel beyond Westeros.  Also due to time constraints, the map sequence has never shown more than six locations in one episode  The new opening sequence plays out like an invasion map for the White Walkers, with the entire map upside down, to show the view of the White Walkers as they advance south.  With so few locations this season due to characters being grouped together again, the only locations shown are the Wall - now breached - Last Hearth, Winterfell, and King's Landing.  The individual animations for Winterfell and King's Landing are also now far more extensive, showing the interiors of the fortresses for the first time.
 * Even the astrolabe the map is set within has been updated. The idea is that the map sequence is the astrolabe of a maester in the Citadel, with illustrations on the bars which in prior seasons depicted the Doom of Valyria and Robert's Rebellion.  The new astrolabe contains artistic depictions of more recent events from within the TV show itself, such as the Red Wedding.
 * Star Wars creator George Lucas visited the Winterfell set during filming of this episode, specifically during the opening arrival of Jon and Daenerys with her army. Benioff and Weiss have been contracted to write new movies set in the Star Wars universe, and they were surprised to hear that Lucas was interested in a set visit.  Lucas even sat in the director's booth with David Nutter while filming (Lucas didn't give any directions himself, but would compliment the cast between takes).
 * Brienne of Tarth does not appear in this episode. Gilly does not appear, though she is referred to by name.

At Winterfell

 * As noted in the inside-the-episode featurette, Queen Daenerys's arrival at Winterfell includes several parallels to King Robert Baratheon's arrival in the first episode of the TV series. The same music soundtrack plays throughout.  Moreover, in the first episode Arya was a little girl scrambling up a cart to get a better view of the royal party arriving:  in this episode, Arya steps aside to let a little boy climb up a tree to get a better look at Daenerys's royal party, as she once did.
 * Consternated, Sansa asks how they will provision Daenerys's large army and what Dragons even eat - setting up Daenerys's response that "they eat whatever they want". Dragons only eat meat - and only cooked meat, which Daenerys had to figure out in Season 2.  Beyond that, in the books dragons have been seen eating pretty much any kind of meat - cattle, fish, horses, even men in battle - though many of them seem to prefer mutton (apparently a reference to the myth of St. George and the dragon).
 * Notice that the Dothraki warriors in Daenerys's army are wearing their normal garb intermixed with Lannister-style coats. This was introduced towards the end of Season 7:  the idea was that the Dothraki hadn't brought any warm winter clothing with them when they came to Westeros, so after destroying the Lannister army returning from Highgarden, they were explicitly seen looting the dead for warm winter gear.  By the Season 7 finale during the parley at the Dragonpit, they were then shown wearing dirty, looted Lannister long-coats mixed with their regular riding gear.
 * Alys Karstark and Ned Umber were introduced at the beginning of Season 7, as the new heads of their Houses after their parents were killed in the Battle of the Bastards and they bent the knee to the Starks again. Alys Karstark is a somewhat prominent character in the fifth novel, but her storyline was cut - as the Karstarks are a Cadet branch of House Stark, she is a distant cousin of the main Stark family.  "Ned Umber" isn't explicitly a character in the books, but seems to be a condensation (Greatjon Umber is mentioned to have several younger sons and younger relatives through them, but a full listing has not been given).
 * Mounting a dragon is not remotely as easy as the lighthearted scene of Jon Snow suddenly mounting Rhaegal in this episode. Even within the TV show itself, it was stressed in Season 6 that they are dangerous around people they don't know - outright mounting a dragon is extremely dangerous in the books, and there are numerous examples of people with at least some Targaryen blood in their lineage being burned alive when attempting to claim new dragons - notably the search for new Dragonseeds  during the Dance of the Dragons.  It is safe to ride a dragon as a passenger of the current rider, but mounting and flying a dragon is some sort of magical bond believed to be tied to the bloodline of old Valyria.
 * More accurately, it is physically possible for someone to instantly bond with a dragon the way that Jon Snow does with Rhaegal - provided that they are a member of the Targaryen bloodline (some candidates were roasted alive, others quickly bonded - dragons are fickle). However, such a quick bonding would be seen as instant and obvious indication that they must have Targaryen blood, even if they were unaware of it.  The real issue with the scene is that neither Jon Snow, or more importantly Daenerys, even bothers to remark on the implausibility of a stranger suddenly being accepted by a dragon as a rider.
 * In the Inside the Episode featurette, showrunners Benioff and Weiss discuss their ideas for this subplot at some length, and apparently they had a lot more ideas for it than actually appear in the episode. They wanted Jon and Daenerys's romance to have some connection to dragon-riding, and state that the waterfall they land near was actually Jon showing off his childhood hunting grounds to her (though how they came to his hunting grounds if she was the one leading their flight is not addressed).  They do remark that Jon is somewhat oblivious about how significant it is that he can ride a dragon - though in fairness, even in the books, Jon Snow hasn't been exposed to dragons and might simply be unaware of bonding with one means he must be of Targaryen blood.  Daenerys, however, should be aware of how significant this is.
 * The dragon that Jon Snow rides, and now appears to be bonded with, is Rhaegal - whom Daenerys named after her dead brother Rhaegar, and thus of course, this means Jon Snow has bonded with a dragon named after his biological father.
 * Daenerys cheerfully tells Jon to just hold on to any part of the dragon he can, and ride it as best he can. Daenerys's dragons aren't big enough to ride yet in the current novels - except at the very end of the fifth novel, when she unexpectedly rides Drogon out of Meereen.  Otherwise, it is a commonly known historical detail that the Targaryens rode dragons using custom-made saddles, big enough to fit them.  Additionally, the riders were chained down to these saddles - so if the dragon banked too quickly or flew in a loop they wouldn't just fall off.  It is bizarre that by this point in the TV series, Daenerys hasn't attempted to have more permanent saddles made for her dragons.
 * As for how to ride a dragon, the historical Targaryens used riding whips much like used on a horse - but made of steel chains, as anything less wouldn't really get their attention. When Daenerys rides Drogon at the end of book five, she quickly notices a basic difference between riding a dragon and riding a horse:  horses are prey animals, but dragons are predators, and thus their reactions are different.  Horse-riders must strike their mount on the opposite side from the direction they want it to turn:  if the rider wants a horse to turn right, they need to strike it on the left side, and as a prey animal it will turn away from the perceived threat.  In contrast, dragons are aggressive predators, so if the rider strikes them on the left side, they will turn left - towards the perceived threat, instinctively wanting to fight it off.
 * We actually have no idea what Jon Snow's real name is in the novels. Though there is prominent evidence that he is indeed the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, exactly what they might have named him is unknown. Elio Garcia and Linda Antonsson of Westeros.org, who co-write The World of Ice & Fire with George R.R. Martin, have openly expressed their doubt that he was named "Aegon Targaryen, Sixth of His Name"...given that Rhaegar's first son, with Elia Martell, was also named "Aegon Targaryen".  Confirmation will need to wait for the next novel.
 * Gendry and other armorers are seen outright reforging Dragonglass into new weapons: dragonglass is stated to be their name for "obsidian", and obsidian does not behave like that.  Obsidian is a volcanic rock, not "glass", and thus melting it down - only possible at intense heat - would actually make it more brittle.  One of the major reasons that the First Men overwhelmed the Children of the Forest during their migrations is that the First Men used bronze weapons and armor, which are much more durable than obsidian.  Dragonglass is razor-sharp and very effective as an arrow-head or for slashing daggers, but it is already so brittle that it shatters under force (thus dragonglass arrowheads actually cannot penetrate metal armor).  In Season 7 production interviews, writer Dave Hill admitted that they made an outright change from the novels when they established that wights are vulnerable to dragonglass weapons, just like the White Walkers.  In the novels, only fire can kill wights, and dragonglass has no special effect on them.  Apparently this change was made in order to make practical fight scenes (dozens of flaming stunt men in fire-suits would be too much of a safety risk).  Thus Gendry "forging" Sandor an entirely new battle-axe made of obsidian (as opposed to even an axe with obsidian edges attached to it) probably won't happen in a future novel.
 * Gendry has not seen Arya since Season 3, and of course makes a nod to their earlier banter by formally referring to her as "Lady Stark" and "My Lady", as he was shocked when he first found out she was a highborn.
 * Last Hearth has been mentioned in dialogue since Season 1, but appears on-screen for the first time briefly in this episode. It is famously the closest castle-seat to the Wall - that is, the most northerly "normal" castle of a lordship, not including the castles of the Night's Watch at the Wall itself.
 * What little remains of the Night's Watch may no longer exist as a formal organization by this point. Their numbers were gutted after Thorne's rebellion at the beginning of Season 6, and Jon Snow re-garrisoned their castles using wildlings (who did not "join" the Watch).  Dolorous Edd was simply left in charge as Acting Lord Commander because so few men were left.  For years beforehand, the declining numbers of the Watch meant they only manned three out of the nineteen castles on the Wall anymore:  Castle Black, Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the Shadow Tower at the western end.  In this episode, Jon cites that there isn't really a reason to defend the other castles after the massive breach at the eastern end of the Wall, so he sends messages to the remaining garrisons to abandon them and fall back to Winterfell.  The few survivors of the attack on Eastwatch then run into Dolorous Edd and the retreating garrison from Castle Black when they both reach Last Hearth.  Presumably the garrison from the Shadow Tower, and any others Jon recently stationed men at, retreated south as well.

In King's Landing

 * In Season 7, after Cersei Lannister got pregnant with another child by her brother Jaime, she noticeably stopped drinking wine - which she'd been heavily self-medicating with since the war began. In this episode, however, she is shown drinking a glass of wine after having sex with Euron - this may possibly be a hint by the writers that Cersei had a miscarriage and isn't pregnant anymore.  It's unclear if in the books, people understand that drinking alcohol while pregnant can potentially damage an unborn child - but the TV writers may have just decided that maesters do know about it, in order to include a visual hint.
 * The storyline of the Golden Company is actually a major subplot introduced in the fifth novel, which will feature prominently in the sixth novel. Virtually all of this seems to have been cut, beyond the simple fact that the Golden Company are a large sellsword company.  In the books, they are a large sellsword company composed of Westerosi exiles who fought for the traitorous House Blackfyre during the Blackfyre Rebellion.
 * The Season 7 Histories & Lore animated featurettes included one specifically on "The Golden Company" which explains their background from the novels.
 * Contrast the uniformed costumes of the Golden Company with the more hodge-podge look of other sellsword companies seen in the past, such as the Second Sons. The Golden Company is the largest and most refined sellsword company in all of the Free Cities, and at this very high end of the spectrum, they are organized as a formally structured and will-disciplined private army, with their own officers and commanders.  Their more uniform appearance on-screen helps to quickly contrast them with the more rough-and-tumble mercenary companies.
 * The Golden Company actually has 10,000 men in the novels. When they were first briefly mentioned in Season 4, this number was actually given on-screen.  When they were reintroduced again prominently in Season 7, however, Cersei said that they had 20,000 men.  At the time it wasn't clear if this was a mistake or a retcon, but given that this is now the number that has consistently been given through Season 8, the TV-version is now officially retconned to 20,000 men.  Moreover, in the books, they have 10,000 men including 1,000 cavalry.  In this episode, Harry Strickland's dialogue is vague, saying they have 2,000 cavalry - perhaps in addition to their 20,000 infantry.
 * The Golden Company indeed fields several dozen war-elephants in the novels. From the way Harry Strickland says it in this episode, that they do not do well on long sea voyages, it is unclear if it is meant that he left them behind, or that they were among those who he said died in transit across the sea.
 * It is vaguely implied in sample chapters from the sixth novel that Euron Greyjoy will try to seize the Iron Throne by making a marriage-alliance with Cersei Lannister - but in a vague prophetic vision, in which Euron is seated on the Iron Throne with a woman next to him - but whether the woman is actually Cersei is unconfirmed.
 * When Euron was first introduced in Season 6, his brother Balon Greyjoy did remark that Euron had torn the tongues out from every member of his crew - a detail from the books, and why his ship is named the Silence. Euron brings up their mute status again in this episode.  Actually, script notes for Euron's attack on Yara's fleet in Season 7 did reiterate that his crew are all mutes.
 * Ironborn 1 Winterfell.png first of Euron's crew to be killed in the sneak attack, impaled through the head from behind with an arrow coming out his left eye, is a cameo appearance by comedian [[Rob McElhenney]] - best known for playing Ronald "Mac" McDonald in It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. One of the other guards was also a cameo, by comedian Martin Starr of Freaks and Geeks, Knocked Up, and Silicon Valley.
 * Theon Greyjoy's men sneak onto Euron's ship using bows and arrows to quietly kill the crew, but Theon himself uses an axe. In the books, Ramsay Snow actually cut off his index and middle finger from one hand, and his pinky from the other, making it impossible for him to use a bow well again (as he used to be an expert shot).  The TV show only depicted him losing his pinky finger - probably because it would have been difficult to digitally remove the actor's fingers from many shots.  Whatever the case, his use of an axe instead of a bow may be a nod towards this.
 * Yara Greyjoy says that with the bulk of the ironborn forces loyal to Euron deployed east at King's Landing, it will be easier for her to retake the Iron Islands themselves. This doesn't take into account that most of the Iron Fleet loyal to her were destroyed in Euron's surprise attack last season, but is still plausible:  in the books, the Drowned Men priests of the ironborn loathe Euron for being an "ungodly" and dishonorable man even by ironborn standards, and it is implied that they may lead a general uprising against him in the home islands while he is leading his offensive in the east.  Yara is still in the North as of the most current novel, but develops hopes that she can ally with the Drowned Men to have Euron's Kingsmoot election declared invalid.
 * Joffrey Baratheon's crossbow returns in this episode - the new crossbow he received at his wedding, which is a very intricate and detailed prop in real-life. Tyrion later re-used it to kill Tywin, and the reason is given that Cersei thinks it would be poetic justice to kill Tyrion with it.
 * Marei returns in this episode, the lead prostitute who mounts Bronn. She is actually the longest-recurring prostitute character in the TV series, as she was first introduced in the Season 2 premiere (and was later part of the trio of prostitutes Tyrion gifted to Podrick in Season 3).  She recurred in Seasons 2 through 6, though she missed Season 7.  Either way, this makes her the longest recurring prostitute - by season, not in most episodes overall, as Ros was in many more episodes starting in Season 1 but died in Season 3.
 * In terms of "non-starring cast members, who thus could have randomly died from one episode to the next", only three remain from Season 1: Hot Pie, Sweetrobin Arryn, and Ilyn Payne (whose actor left due to medical crisis). Gregor Clegane is still technically around, but was recast twice.  From Season 2, the only surviving non-starring but recurring roles by this point are Marei, Cersei's handmaid Bernadette, and a few characters from the Free Cities storylines that simply fell out of the narrative (Jaqen H'ghar, Salladhor Saan, etc.).
 * There may be a visual continuity error when the prostitutes are disrobing and approaching Bronn: as they approach, Marei is still unpinning one shoulder of her gown, but in the very next shot she is completely naked (as she shoves Bronn down) - unless this was just implied action off-screen.
 * The other two prostitutes who appear with Marei also have speaking lines: the brunette played by Marina Lawrence-Mahrra is credited as "Dirah", while the blonde one played by Lucy Aarden is credited as "Craya". Neither of them has a counterpart in the books (in contrast, there is a background prostitute named "Marei" in King's Landing in the novels).
 * Bronn directly brings up that, back in Season 4, Cersei promised him gold and a castle, via marriage into the minor nobility - engaging him to the younger daughter of House Stokeworth, in return for not fighting as Tyrion's champion during his trial (though Bronn also took the bribe because he doubted he could defeat Gregor Clegane). In the books, Bronn actually married Lollys, and went on to have a running subplot in which his steady rise in fortunes throughout the books continued:  after a clumsy plot, he indeed killed the husband of Lollys's older sister during another trial by combat, causing her to flee (and later be killed in Cersei's dungeons).  Bronn started out as a random wandering sellsword that Tyrion met at an inn in the first book - but by the end of the fifth novel, he has become the acting Lord of House Stokeworth, with several hundred swords at his command.  The TV show cut all of this out, and instead sent Bronn with Jaime to Dorne in Season 5.  Now, in this episode, it is said that Cersei will follow through on her old bribe to entice Bronn to kill her brothers.  Whether this means that the plot point of Bronn becoming the acting Lord of Stokeworth will be reintroduced again remains to be seen.

Image Gallery

 * Main - Gallery: Winterfell (episode)

There is a range of promotional images and screen captures featuring the episode of Winterfell in the gallery.

In the books
[This section will be updated with comparisons when the sixth and seventh novels are released.]

Memorable quotes
Sansa Stark: "Winterfell is yours, Your Grace."

Tyrion: “You should consider yourself lucky. At least your balls won’t freeze off.” Varys:“You take great offense to dwarf jokes, but love telling eunuch jokes. Why is that?”  Tyrion: “Because I have balls, and you don’t.”

Sansa: “How are we meant to feed the greatest army the world has ever seen? While I ensured our stores would last through Winter, I didn’t account for Dothraki, Unsullied, and two full-grown dragons. What do dragons eat, anyway?” Daenerys: “Whatever they want.”

Arya: “How did you survive a knife through the heart?” Jon Snow: "I didn't."

Davos, to Tyrion and Varys: “A proposal is what I’m proposing. On the off-chance that we survive the Night King, what if the Seven Kingdoms for once in their whole shit history we ruled by a just woman and an honorable man?”

Jon after riding Rhaegal: “You’ve completely ruined horses for me.”

Samwell Tarly: “Your mother was Lyanna Stark and your father, your real father, was Rhaegar Targaryen. You’ve never been a bastard. You’re Aegon Targaryen, true heir to the Iron Throne. I’m sorry, I know it’s a lot to take in.” Jon: “My father was the most honorable man I ever met. You saying he lied to me all my life?” Samwell: “Your father, Ned Stark, he promised your mother he’d always protect you. And he did. King Robert would have murdered you if he knew. You’re the true king.”

Eddison Tollett: "He's got blue eyes!" Tormund: "I've always had blue eyes!"

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