The Great War Has Begun: Summing Up Game of Thrones’ S7 Premiere Episode

The Seventh season of Game of Thrones is here: alliances are formed, wars are waged, people are dead and many more shall die. For, Winter is here.

By Ajinkya Ranade

The time has come, when alliances are formed, wars are waged and torrents are downloaded. It is still the month of July, but Winter is Here.

Game of Thrones, the biggest show on TV right now, has come back with the 7^th season, which is the penultimate of the series. The season premiered with the episode “Dragonstone”. The eight episode long season commenced with the first one being almost an hour long in length, and had many people throw away their work and run to their internet before someone could spoil it.

Usually, a review or a summary is to be spoiler – free, which is very tough to do in Game of Thrones, but this episode was one such instance where you could narrate the entire episode without giving away anything. It was just what people wanted, what they expected and what the season pilot is supposed to do.

We pick up exactly where we left off – Jon Snow being crowned the King in the North, Cersie becoming the ruler of the Iron Throne and Daenerys sailing towards Dragonstone. The episode very well sets up the scene for the remainder of the season without progressing the story much.

To summarise, here are the points that caught our attention in the first episode:

1. Is a reunion on the cards? Arya has left the Twins after ruthlessly killing Walder Frey and his clan, and for some reason, instead of heading to Winterfell, where Jon and Sansa are, she is headed to King’s Landing, to murder the queen. Bran and Meera have finally returned from the North of the Wall. With all surviving Stark children now in the Westeros, it is still to be seen if they ever reunite, with Arya heading off south. Speaking of the Stark children..
2. It is not Sugar and Spice: The reunion of Jon and Sansa was one of the key points of the 6^th season, and their alliance is what helped them bring down Ramsey Bolton. However, the relationship doesn’t appear to be so smooth, and cracks are visible in the sibling relationship, with the method of ruling of Jon and Sansa heading in opposite directions. The North has reunited not too long ago, and there is already the possibility of a rift again. With the threat of the Lannisters from the South and the Army of the Dead from the North, their trust on each other has become even more important than ever.
3. Jorah ‘The Rock’ Mormont: During the second half of the episode, Samwell Tarly is questioned by a person, with arms looking like they were made out of stone, “Is Daenerys Targaryen here yet?” Undoubtedly, Jorah has survived but hasn’t found a cure to his illness yet, and is very far off from where Daenerys is.
4. The Eargasms: Game of Thrones has one of the best musical scores in the history of entertainment, and the background scores during the first episode bring goosebumps along. The show runners surely have apt knowledge of the musical layout of the episode, and it comes along in a very powerful manner.
5. A new alliance: Cersie initially rejects the proposal of Euron Greyjoy, but he goes back saying that he has a precious gift for the queen, which he shall bring back shortly. Cersie knows she is not at all in a position to negotiate, with her enemies getting stronger, but she still wants to hold the power. Also, Euron shows a very despicable character, irking out Jamie quite a lot. It will be interesting to see how the Lannisters pair up with the King of the Iron Islands.
6. Tyrion, the world’s most famous dwarf, has a very tiny, almost insignificant role here. During the first half, we get to see Ed Sheeran in a cameo, where he is presumably a Lannister soldier and also sings very well (no surprises there). You choose for yourself how you feel about both.
7. The Brothers are Back: We see the Hound, Sandor Clegane, moving in a pack with none other than the Brotherhood Without Banners, and here we get to see Berric Donadarrion and Thoras of Myr as well. We have already seen them fight against the Army of the Dead in the trailers, and the episode builds up their story very well. How they meet each other isn’t revealed yet, and we don’t know if it will be.

There it is; the main talking points about the first episode of Game of Thrones Season 7. There are more episodes to follow, so we are prepared for a lot more – Daenerys invading the Westeros, fight against the Army of the Night King – and many more to name.

The season has just started. Many men have already died, and many more will follow. Watch the premiere episode on Hotstar! Valar Morghulis!!

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