Daddy's girl: Game of Thrones episode five Kill The Boy revealed that Daenerys might be more like her father The Mad King than she'd like to admit
But after coming within seconds of doing the same to Hizdahr Zo Loraq, the Khaleesi has a stunning change of heart and not only spares him... but informs him she's going to marry him.
Meanwhile, little does she know the man who craves her heart more than any other, Ser Jorah Mormont, is stricken with the terminal condition of Greyscale while trying to defend his captive Tyrion Lannister, meaning the exiled knight is as good as dead.
Sunday's episode brought the sad confirmation we'd feared from last week. It opened with Missandei keeping vigil over Grey Worm and Daenerys doing the same over Ser Barristan, who both fell in battle defending each other from an ambush by the Son's Of The Harpy.
Justice? Furious at the death of Ser Barristan at the hands of the Sons of the Harpy in the last episode, Daenerys has all the leaders of the Meereen houses rounded up
Eeny meeny miny mo: She randomly chooses one and orders him to walk forward
Weddings, executions and main character deaths are probably the most popular pastimes in Westeros.
And Sunday night's episode Kill The Boy had all three.
Daenerys
Targaryen showed more unsettling similarities to her late father Mad
King Aerys as she unjustly executed a Meereenese noble by dragon, calmly
watching as Rhaegal and Viserion burned the man to death before tearing
him in half and eating him.
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Cooked: The terrified noble man is then burned alive by Rhaegal and Viserion
But while the Unsullied captain is just seriously wounded, Barristan The Bold is no more.
A furious Daenerys orders the leaders of the great Meereenese families rounded up and brought to the labyrinth were her remaining two dragons are chained.
Then - in perhaps the most sadistic execution yet in a series filled with pretty sadistic executions - she forces a random one to walk forward where he is summarily cooked alive.
Brotherly love: Like good siblings, the dragons neatly divide up their meal
Sharing is caring: The two tear the still burning victim in half in an execution that would make the Boltons grimace
Who's next? Hizdahr Zo Loraq and the other nobels look on as they prepares to meet the same fate
Like good brothers, the dragons fairly share the meal, tearing him to pieces as the other nobles look on waiting fr their turn. But Daenerys coldly informs them it's not their turn...yet. ‘I don’t want to overfeed them,' she smirks.
In events before the series depict, Daenerys' father Aerys, the so called Mad King, was a big fan of execution by fire - It's how he killed Ned Stark's brother and Catelyn Tully's original bethrothed, Brandon Stark.
Meanwhile we get a reminder that she is not the last Targaryen: her great-great-uncle Aemon, who gave up his entitlement to the throne decades ago to become a man of the Night's Watch, receives a note updating him of her plight.
'A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing,' the frail old maester tells the reporting Samwell Tarly.
Keeping in touch: Maester Aemon is being kept abreast of his great-great-niece Daenerys' exploits
I'm the boy? Jon Snow asks for Aemon's advice, but the old maester tells him to trust his instincts and 'Kill the boy so that the man can be born,' solving the episode's cryptic title
On your own, mate: Jon's plan to gather the remaining Wildlings meets a lot of resistance from the Night's Watch - even his BFF Edd is not on board
Et Tu, Olly? Jon's young steward Olly even voices his opposition - his family were massacred by Wildlings after all
Then the new Lord Commander Jon Snow arrives to ask for his advice, but Maester Aemon tells him to do it without even hearing what 'it' is: ‘Kill the boy, Jon snow,' he says, solving the episode's mysterious title. 'Winter is almost upon us. Kill the boy and let the man be born.’
We then learn the decision Jon is mulling is rounding up the rest of the Wildlings north of the wall before the White Walkers draft them into the army of the dead, as well as who should do it.
With Mance dead, he turns to Tormund Giantsbane, who claims the Wildlings will only follow the late Kind Beyond The Wall (who Stannis toasted two weeks ago), adding that 'the day I ask my people to fight with the crows is the day they cut my guts from my belly and make me eat them'.
Easier sell: Jon seems to succeed with Tormund Giantsbane where he failed with Mance Rayder, convincing him to help round up the remaining Wildlings north of The Wall
Keeping an eye: Brienne of Tarth and Pod have set up shop in an inn withing sight of Winterfell's walls
Green doesn't suit you: Inside those walls, Ramsay Bolton warns his mistress Miranda not to be jealous of Sansa - but she totally is
But Jon frees him nonetheless, and Tormund agrees to go on the mission... but only if Jon comes with him.
However Jon has a much harder time convincing his Black Brothers: even Jon's close fried Dolorous Edd and his young steward Olly are not convinced of siding with the Wildlings who killed so many on The Wall.
Meanwhile the action cuts back to Winterfell where Brienne and Pod have taken up residence in an inn within sight of the former Stark castle, now held by the Boltons. One of the workers reveals he knows Sansa is there, to whom he is still loyal, and agrees to get a message to Ned's daughter for the Maid of Tarth.
I wouldn't trust her: Miranda leads Sansa to a surprise in the kennels: Theon Greyjoy, whom she hasn't seen since he killed her little brothers (or so she thinks)
Pod argues that she may be safer now that she's far away from the Lannisters. but Brienne shuts him down, reminding him Roose killed her brother and mother: ‘Sansa’s in danger even if she doesn’t realise it,' she says.
Inside the castle walls, one of Ramsay's girlfriends - Miranda, the kennel masters daughter - reveals (while completely naked) how jealous she is of Sansa, but Ramsay informs her: 'Jealousy bores me… you know what happens to people who bore me.'
When he kisses her she takes bites a chunk out of his lip, which arouses the unhinged heir of Bolton even more.
Cheers! Ramsay leads a toast in the most awkward family dinner ever, where Sansa has to dine with a selection of people who murdered members of her family. Ramsay also finds out his father and stepmother are expecting - butting his inheritance at risk
The jealous mistress then plays nice to Sansa in the courtyard, admiring her dress, before telling her there's a surprise waithing for her in the kennels. Sansa investigates... and comes face to face with Theon Greyjoy for the first time since he betrayed her family.
What follows is easily the most awkward family dinner in the history of the seven kingdoms. Sansa her groom-to-be Ramsay; her father in law Roose, who killed her brother and mother; Theon AKA Reek, who she thinks killed her little brothers Bran and Rickon (but Roose and Ramsay know different); and Roose's wife Fat Walda, who announces she's pregnant with Roose's child - a boy and true heir - which makes the newly decreed heir Ramsay very uncomfortable indeed.
During dinner, Ramsay also informs Sansa Theon will be giving her away since he is the closest thing she has to kin... which isn't much better than the time the psychotic Joffrey gave her away to his uncle Tyrion.
Here we go: At the Wall, Stannis gives the order to march on Winterfell
Lady in red: Melisandre made sure she was brought along this time, having claimed her absence was the cause of Stannis's defeat on the Blackwater
Loaner: Stannis also lends Jon Snow his fleet to sail to Hardhome and collect the remaining Wildlings, but will not wait for the reinforcements that might bring
The after dinner conversation doesn't get much lighter either as Rose finally informs Ramsay who his mother was: a peasant girl who had married a miller without his consent, who he then raped beneath the tree he had her husband hung from.
But his touching tale of how he couldn't quite throw the bastard baby she bore into the river seemed to convince Ramsay that his father is serious about keeping him as his true heir.
Back at The Wall its revealed that Stannis has lent his fleet to Jon Snow to collect the remaining Wildlings at Hardhome - but he will not wait for the possible recruits and gives the order to march n Winterfell.
Ill-eqipped: In Meereen, Grey Worm finally wakes from his three-day coma and reveals to Missandei that he fears never seeing her again, before kissing her
Surprise! The Khaleesi has another shock in store for Hizdahr Zo Loraq: not only will she reopen the fighting pits...
Cngratulations!... she tells him they are getting married so she can settle the realm
He is clearly the only one worried about the impending invasion from the White Walkers and urges Sam Tarly to continue his research.
Across the Narrow Sea, Grey Worm finally wakes from his three day coma and is dismayed to learn of Barristan's death, who he believes he failed.
When Missandei tries to comfort him, he reveals he reveals he is ashamed to be feeling fear for the first time in his life, 'Afraid, not of death, I fear I never again see Missandei from the island of naath', before he and the queen's scribe finally kiss (and presumably nothing else, since he's short equipment)
Queen bound: Jorah Mormont continues his journey with the captured Tyrion
Doomed: The two sail through old Valyria, the ancient ruined home of the Targaryen ancestors
WTF? The two are suddenly startled to see a fully grown Drogon soaring through the sky above them
OMG: Jorah hasn't seen the dragon since it was young; Tyrion has never seen one
New pad: It appears Old Valyria is where the creature has been hanging our all this time
Then came he big shock of the episode. Daenerys pays a cowering Hizdahr Zo Loraq a visit in prison, and he assumes she has come to feed him to her dragons.
'It takes courage to admit fear… and to admit a mistake,' she tells the shocked noble. 'I came here to tell you I was wrong I was wrong and you were right,' informing him she will acquiesce to his request and reopen the fighting pits for freemen only.
And if he was shocked by that statement, he certainly wasn't ready for the next
'In order to forge a lasting bond with the Myranese people, I will marry leader leader of an ancient family,' she tells the kneeling Zo Loraq. 'Thankfully a suitor is already on his knees.'
Procede with caution: Ser Jorah took the route to avoid pirates, but the ruined city has other dangers
Ambush: The boat is suddenly attacked by stone men, rabid and terminal victims of greyscale
Ew gross! the two men scramble to get rid of them without touching their highly contagios skin
Meanwhile the man who has longed dreamed of such a proposal, Ser Jorah Mormont, is sailing with his captive Tyrion Lannister through Old Valyria: it is the first time we get to see the ruined ancestral homeland of the Targaryens and their dragons, which was destroyed centuries ago in a mysterious cataclysmic event known as the Doom Of Valyria.
It is of this apocalypse Tyrion and Jorah are reciting a poem of when they are both suddenly startled by something in the distance: Their mouths drop open as a fully-grown Drogon soars overhead. The knight of Bear Island hasn't seen the dragon since it was small; Tyrion has never seen a live one.
Nut they don't have long to admire it as they are suddenly ambushed by a group of stone men; rabid zombie-like creatures suffering from advanced Greyscale - the ruined city is where civilisation sends victims of the disease to die.
Man overboard: Tyion is knowcked from the boat during the struggle, and appears to drown
Still with us: But he awakes to find he has been rescued by the knight
The two men scramble desperately to kick the creatures off their little dinghy without being touched and therefore contracting the highly contagious disease, and in the struggle Tyrion is thrown overboard and sinks into the blackness.
Just as it looks as though the episode is about to end, he awakens on shore to discover Jorah has saved him.
But as Jorah stalks off to collect firewood, he stops and privately peels back his sleeve to reveal the telltale scar of the onset of Greyscale... meaning Ser Jorah Mormont of Bear Island is almost certainly doomed.
Everyone ok? The two claim they haven't been touched by the stone men
Thanks: Tyrion thanks Jorah for rescuing him, and Jorah frees him from his bonds, appearing to trust him at last
Uh-oh: But in the closing shot, Jorah privately peels back his sleeve to reveal he has caught the almost certainly fatal condition
source Daily Mail