Game of Thrones Episode 71: The Last of the Starks

The survivors of the Battle of Winterfell burn their dead, gather for a feast, and then prepare to march on King’s Landing while tensions grow between Daenerys, Jon, and the Stark sisters.

At Winterfell, Jon helps lead the funeral pyres for those killed in the battle, including many of the fallen defenders and allies. The dead are burned together on the field outside the castle, and the living watch in mourning before the mood shifts toward celebration inside the Great Hall.

During the feast, Daenerys recognizes Gendry by naming him a Baratheon and granting him Storm’s End, making him lord of the castle. Gendry, overwhelmed by the honor, later proposes to Arya, but she refuses him.

At the same feast, the mood becomes awkward when Tyrion notices Brienne’s inexperience in drinking and she leaves the table embarrassed. Later, Jaime visits Brienne in her room, and the two sleep together after an emotional exchange.

Jon is celebrated by the wildlings, which makes Daenerys increasingly uneasy. In private, she asks him not to reveal the truth about his parentage to anyone else, but Jon says he has to tell Arya and Sansa. He then does so, and both sisters react with suspicion toward Daenerys, even as Jon defends her.

Tyrion, Varys, Davos, and the others discuss the next move against Cersei. Daenerys wants to attack King’s Landing immediately, but Sansa argues that the army needs time to recover. The plan they settle on is for Jon to march south with the remaining northern forces while Daenerys sails with her fleet from Dragonstone.

Bran later speaks with Tyrion, while Sansa and the Hound also have a conversation. Jaime, after hearing that Cersei has taken Missandei prisoner, decides to leave Winterfell and go to King’s Landing, despite Brienne’s emotional plea that he stay. He rides off under cover of night.

At sea, Euron’s fleet ambushes Daenerys’s ships. One of her dragons is struck down, several ships are destroyed, and Missandei is captured.

When Daenerys and her allies reach the gates of King’s Landing, Cersei and Daenerys face one another from opposite sides of the walls. Tyrion tries to persuade Cersei to surrender peacefully, but Cersei refuses. She then has Missandei executed in front of Daenerys, Grey Worm, and the others, ending the episode with shock and fury among Daenerys’s camp.