Game of Thrones Episode 72: The Bells

Varys is executed after Tyrion exposes his treason, and Jaime is briefly detained before Tyrion secretly frees him so he can try to save Cersei and persuade her to surrender. Daenerys then launches a devastating attack on King’s Landing, ignores the city’s surrender bells, and orders Drogon to burn the city, turning the battle into a massacre.

At Dragonstone, Varys has been writing letters about Jon Snow’s true parentage and Daenerys’s growing instability, while Tyrion visits Daenerys and realizes she has become deeply suspicious and isolated. When Daenerys concludes that someone has betrayed her, Tyrion admits that Varys was the one spreading the truth, and Varys is soon taken to be burned alive by Drogon.

As the assault on King’s Landing begins, Daenerys destroys Euron Greyjoy’s fleet, the anti-dragon scorpions on the walls, the city gates, and the Golden Company’s forces outside the city. Jon Snow leads the ground troops as the Lannister defenders are quickly overwhelmed, and the city eventually rings its bells in surrender.

Inside the city, Arya Stark and Sandor Clegane push toward the Red Keep, each pursuing a personal vendetta, while the chaos of the battle spreads through the streets. Jaime makes his way back into King’s Landing and runs into Euron, fighting him in a brutal duel that leaves both men badly wounded.

Arya and Sandor enter the Red Keep as Cersei prepares to flee, and Sandor’s pursuit of his brother the Mountain draws him away from Arya’s revenge against Cersei. The Mountain kills Qyburn, Sandor confronts his brother, and the two Cleganes fight to the death before plunging into flames below.

Jaime reaches Cersei in the Red Keep as the castle begins to collapse around them, and the episode ends with the destruction of King’s Landing still unfolding outside.