6 Tiny Details You Might Have Missed in the Latest Episode of Game of Thrones

HBO
HBO / HBO

Game of Thrones saw a drop in adrenaline last night in “Eastwatch,” the unlucky episode forced to follow the fighting and flames of the final battle in “The Spoils of War.” Still, “Eastwatch” was chock full of dramatic reveals and twisting intrigue—scintillating stuff, if you remember the six seasons of minutiae subtly referenced in last night’s episode. For viewers who haven’t been keeping as detailed a record of events in Westeros as Maester Maynard, here’s a rundown of six tiny details you might have missed in the latest episode of Game of Thrones.

1. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE LISTEN TO GILLY?

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The biggest reveal in “Eastwatch” came in an easy-to-miss throwaway line—and the only other character onscreen wasn’t even listening. Just before Samwell Tarly burst into his rant about the shortsighted maesters of the Citadel, Gilly stumbled across a possible bombshell regarding Jon Snow’s lineage in Maester Maynard’s records. She discovers that Maynard “issued an annulment for a Prince Rhaegar and remarried him to someone else at the same time in a secret ceremony in Dorne.”

If Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark were married when they conceived Jon Snow, then the King in the North isn’t a bastard after all. He is rightfully Jon Targaryen, and has a legitimate claim to the Iron Throne. (This might also explain the touching moment between Jon and Drogon earlier in the episode.)

2. THE NOT-SO-SECRET RAVEN SCROLL

As Arya and Littlefinger continued their game of Spy vs. Spy last night, Arya found a “hidden” note from Sansa to her brother Robb dating back to the show’s second season. To save you the trouble of deciphering her handwriting, it reads:

“Robb, I write to you with a heavy heart. Our good king Robert is dead, killed from wounds he took in a boar hunt. Father has been charged with treason. He conspired with Robert’s brothers against my beloved Joffrey and tried to steal his throne. The Lannisters are treating me very well and provide me with every comfort. I beg you: come to King’s Landing, swear fealty to King Joffrey and prevent any strife between the great houses of Lannister and Stark.”

Judging from Littlefinger’s self-satisfied smirk, this appears to be part of a scheme to drive a wedge between Sansa and Arya, who will not understand that her sister wrote this under threat from Cersei Lannister.

3. CERSEI’S ILL-FATED PREGNANCY

Cersei and Jaime’s joy over the newest all-Lannister pregnancy may be short-lived. Prophecies aren’t always straightforward in this series, but the fortune teller Maggy the Frog’s prophecies about Cersei have held remarkably true thus far. She predicted that Cersei would have three children and that each one of them would die, before she herself would be killed by her younger brother. If Cersei is pregnant with a fourth child, the only way the prophecy can hold true is if she and/or her unborn child die before Cersei gives birth.

4. DAENERYS REPRISES HER “BREAK THE WHEEL” SPEECH

Daenerys’s appeal to the captured Lannister soldiers and allies after the Battle of the Loot Train centered on her promise to “destroy the wheel that has rolled over rich and poor to the benefit of no one but the Cersei Lannisters of the world.” This was a callback to a Season 5 conversation she had with Tyrion Lannister, when she made the same vow to “break the wheel” of ruling families rotating in and out of power.

5. SAM’S “BETTER MEN” CALLBACK

After making one of the most momentous discoveries in the series thus far, Gilly politely listened while her boyfriend Sam explained his reasons for wanting to sneak out of the Citadel. “I’m tired of reading about the achievements of better men,” Sam said, referencing the stinging words of his recently-roasted father, Randyll Tarly.

During Sam and Gilly’s disastrous meet-the-parents dinner in Season 6, Randyll lamented that his son was still buried in books, “reading about the achievements of better men.” Of course, Sam might do well to pay attention to the research achievements of the better woman sitting by his side.

6. THE SENTIMENTAL SLAVER’S COIN

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As Tyrion bid farewell to Ser Jorah last night, he gave his old friend a gold coin as a keepsake. The coin dates back to Season 5, when Tyrion and Jorah were sold to fight in the slave pits of Meereen. Tyrion suggested that their master free and pay them. The slaver gave Tyrion a coin, but the men remained in chains. With Jorah beyond the wall on a mission to capture a Wight alive—undead?—we’ll see if he manages to return Tyrion’s sentimental gift.