“Game of Thrones” delivered a powerful ending to Season 6 on Sunday night with an extended episode packed with twists, deaths, tearjerker moments and one massive explosion.
Here’s our rundown of some of the biggest moments from the episode — moments that everyone will be talking about at the water cooler on Monday — and all summer long.
(Warning: Spoilers ahead!)
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Cersei Gets Her Revenge!
The High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce) and his little Sparrows humiliated the Queen Regent, Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), last season, parading her through King’s Landing in her birthday suit on a walk of shame, as angry people threw rocks, muck and other disgusting things at her, while Septas walked behind her repeating, “Shame. Shame. Shame.” In the Season 6 finale, Cersei got her revenge, destroying her enemies when she (with the help of Qyburn) set off the wildfire that had been left under the city by Daenerys Targaryen’s late father, the Mad King – King Aerys Targaryen. The explosion killed her enemies – Margaery Tyrell, Mace Tyrell, Cersei’s uncle, Kevan Lannister, Lancel Lannister, and many, many others. Little birds killed Grand Maester Pycelle, stabbing him to death and Cersei left the Septa who tortured her and made her do the walk of shame to Ser Gregor Clegane. But her revenge came at a high price. Widower King Tommen was left devastated and fulfilled Maggy the Frog’s long-ago prophecy to Cersei, when he leapt out of a window to his death.
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Hand Of The Queen
After Daenerys Targaryen broke up with Daario Naharis because she needed to be single to make more alliances in Westeros (and because a lover would be a liability), she walked down the steps and had a heart-to-heart with Tyrion Lannister, who told her that despite being a cynic all his life, she’s someone he believes in. And at the end of it, she put a pin she’d had made on his lapel. “Tyrion Lannister, I name you Hand of the Queen,” she said. He looked her in the eyes and then kneeled before his Queen.
A Stark Gets Her Revenge
Arya Stark pulled a page out of the Faceless Assassins handbook, using another face to get close to a major enemy – Walder Frey. Disguised as a serving girl, she gave him some pie and when he complained about his sons not being around, she revealed they were – she’d killed them and their remains were in his dinner. As he struggled to figure out what the heck was going on, Arya removed the face she’d borrowed, revealing herself. “My name is Arya Stark. I want you to know that. The last thing you’re ever going to see is a Stark smiling down at you as you die,” she said before slicing the throat of the man who helped the Lannisters kill her brother, Robb, sister-in-law Talisa, and mother Catelyn back in Season 3.
READ: ‘Game Of Thrones’ Q&A: Tom Wlaschiha On Jaqen’s Reaction To Arya’s Departure
Bran Stark’s Vision Confirms Fan Theory About Jon Snow’s Mother
“You may not have my name, but you have my blood,” were some of the last words Ned Stark said to son Jon Snow in Season 1, and fans finally got confirmation about what that actually meant. Bran Stark, the new Three Eyed Raven, touched a godswood and finished the vision he started earlier this season, when he went back in time and saw a younger Ned Stark on a quest to find his sister, Lyanna Stark, who was being kept in a tower guarded by Rhaegar Targaryen’s men, including Ser Arthur Dayne.
At the top of the stairs at the Tower of Joy, Ned found Lyanna. She was dying after giving birth to a child and she made her brother, Ned, promise her something. Drawing him close, she whispered something viewers couldn’t hear, and something else they could. “If Robert finds out, he’ll kill him. You know he will,” she said about her little son, who was put in Ned’s arms. The show made the connection that Lyanna’s son is Jon Snow by focusing on the baby’s eyes, before cutting to present day Jon Snow (Kit Harington) looking across a great hall during a gathering at Winterfell. So Jon Snow is officially Ned Stark’s nephew, and Bran knows it. (It’s assumed he’s Rhaegar Targaryen’s son since Rhaegar kidnapped Lyanna, but the show didn’t actually have a character say the late Prince is Jon’s father.)
A New King In The North
The North was reunited in the Season 6 finale after an inspiring speech by a 10-year-old — Lady Lyanna Mormont (Bella Ramsey) at Winterfell. In one of the episode’s most emotional scenes, Lady Mormont gave a speech that rallied the Northern houses back together under the new King In The North, Jon Snow. “But House Mormont remembers. The North remembers. We know no King, but the King in the North whose name is Stark. I don’t care if he’s a bastard. Ned Stark’s blood runs through his veins. He’s my king from this day until his last day,” Lady Mormont said, and the leaders of the houses followed suit. One after the other, they pulled their swords out in the hall and kneeled before Jon, before all shouting “the King in the North.” (But, as Jon looked at them, Littlefinger, who earlier in the episode told Sansa he wants to end up on the Iron Throne, with her at his side, caught Sansa’s eye from the back of the room. And, he had a very unusual expression on his face.
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And The New Ruler Of Westeros Is…
Cersei Lannister, dressed in all black, walked into the Throne Room and took her seat – on the Iron Throne, thus succeeding her son. “I now proclaim Cersei, of the House Lannister, first of her name, Queen of the Andals of the First Men, protector of the Seven Kingdoms,” Pycelle said before crowing her (he had the Hand of the Queen pin on his lapel). Cersei took her seat and looked over at her twin, Jamie Lannister, who’d just arrived.
Daenerys Targaryen Sets Sail For Westeros
The episode ended with Theon and Yara Greyjoy and their crews sailing with Daenerys Targaryen and her armies – Dothraki and Unsullied – toward Westeros. There were no words in the sequence, just the sight of the characters (Dany, Tyrion, Missandei and Varys, who got back from seeing Lady Olenna and striking a deal with her and the women of Dorne to take down the Lannisters, really fast) standing on the bows of various ships headed West, and the three dragons soaring above them.
READ: ‘Game Of Thrones’: Gemma Whelan On Yara’s Interaction With Daenerys, The Greyjoys’ Bond
A few other things happened too: Samwell and Gilly made it to the Citadel (and it looked incredible), Davos Seaworth got to confront “the Red Woman” — Melisandre — about killing Shireen, and Jon sent her packing southward, Lord Varys formed an alliance with the Sands of Dorne and Lady Olenna Tyrell to take down Cersei. Also, Littlefinger told Sansa he wants to sit on the Iron Throne, with her beside him. Sansa also revealed the Citadel sent a raven to Winterfell — a white raven. “Winter is here!”
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