Game of Thrones Episode 36: The Laws of Gods and Men

Stannis and Davos travel to **Braavos** to seek money from the Iron Bank, **Yara Greyjoy** leads an assault on the **Dreadfort** to rescue Theon, Daenerys handles petitions in **Meereen**, and Tyrion’s long-awaited trial begins in King’s Landing.

At the start, Stannis and Davos meet with **Tycho Nestoris** at the Iron Bank. The banker initially refuses to help, but Davos argues that backing Stannis is the best way for the bank to recover the huge debt owed by the Lannisters, and the meeting ends with the Iron Bank agreeing to support Stannis’s cause.

In Meereen, Daenerys receives a series of complaints from her new subjects. One man says her dragons burned his goats, and she compensates him for the loss; another asks permission to take down and bury his father, who had been one of the men she crucified outside the city, and she allows it.

At the Dreadfort, Yara and her Ironborn men launch their rescue attempt. They break into the castle and reach the kennels, where they find Theon living in a broken state and insisting that his name is **Reek**. He is so frightened and conditioned that he refuses to leave with Yara, and when the rescue turns violent and the Bolton forces counterattack, Yara is forced to retreat without him.

The episode’s major centerpiece is Tyrion’s trial for Joffrey’s murder. Jaime visits him beforehand, but the visit is tense and controlled, with Jaime bringing him to the courtroom in chains. In the throne room, King Tommen presides while the judges are named, and a parade of witnesses delivers accusations against Tyrion. The testimony is largely circumstantial and deeply hostile, but it steadily builds a picture of guilt in the court’s eyes.

When **Shae** is called to testify, she delivers the most devastating evidence yet, accusing Tyrion and describing their relationship in a way that humiliates and condemns him. Tyrion is visibly shattered by her betrayal, and the trial ends with the sense that the verdict has already been decided against him.