Only Ashes: Game of Thrones S7E4 Recap

MW Assembly
Aug 9, 2017 · 7 min read

The Iron Bank of Braavos has played on various sides of the wars taking place in Game of Thrones. They are the largest financial institution in the known world, and Cersei is smart for working to win them over to her side. There is no better way to do that then with money, and as Tycho points out, this lump sum repayment that Cersei intends to give them is unheard of in his experience. Tycho salivates at the thought of earning even more through their partnership, offering up their financial services for future endeavors. In fact, Cersei already has one in mind, and that is the idea of enlisting the largest and most skilled band of sellswords in Esos, the Golden Company. We come to find out later in the episode that all of the gold intended to be given to the Iron Bank has safely arrived in King’s Landing. The question is, with the destruction of much of the Lannister army, will Cersei repay the Iron Bank? Or, will she move right to enlisting the Golden Company? Cersei leaves us with the quote,

“I, too, would like them to recover some things that belong to me”


Littlefinger is running out of pawns to manipulate in the North. With Sansa shunning him, he attempts to gain a foothold in Bran. Completely unaware of how he has evolved beyond the life and family he was born into, Littlefinger gifts Bran the Valyrian steel dagger that was used in the young Stark’s attempted murder.

“Do you know who this belonged to?”

Bran asks, knowing full well the origin of the dagger with a dragonbone hilt, along with each of its ever changing owners since. Littlefinger claims he doesn’t know and describes the chaos that has ensued from that dagger.

“Chaos is a ladder,”

Bran spits back at him, reciting his own words, letting Littlefinger know that he knows his depth and his role in present history.

We’ve seen varying arrivals and departures this season, the most frustrating consistently involving Bran. Meera sacrificed her brother’s life and her own on several occasions, along with being one of the very few people to survive coming face to face with a White Walker. Bran gives her a proverbial pat on the back in a “thank you” that reads like the typical break up line of “I’m just a different person than I was six months ago.” It’s frustrating to watch, but it further drives home the point the he is no longer Bran, and has developed into the Three-Eyed Raven.

The three remaining children of Ned and Catelyn are all survivors in their own right. Arya and Sansa spare each other the details to avoid reliving the tragedies. Bran’s reservations stem from the knowledge that he’s gathered, and is intentionally holding out on critical details. When Arya asks why a random cutthroat would have such a fine dagger, he tosses out the response

“Someone very wealthy wanted me dead.”

He’s choosing not to tell them (and us the viewers) who wanted him dead. Is he doing this to keep a name off of Arya’s list so she can help fight the White Walkers? Or are they already dead? The tension is building around Bran’s powers, and the smugness he gives off resembles that of a parent who has caught their teenager stealing alcohol, toying with them until they confess.

Our last reunion lays the groundwork for a duo that will inspire a new generation of warriors. Arya has become one of the best assassins in the world, holding her own in their spar and at times besting Brienne, who has defeated men who were known as the top fighters in the realm. Arya has typically been someone who works alone, but the prospect of these two banding together in battle is exhilarating. Sorry Pod, next time you end up horizontal, you should probably stay there. We’ve learned it’s where your skills best suit you anyway. Some of us are lovers not fighters.


Daenerys and Jon enter the cave containing a trove of dragonglass which builds up to be one of the most powerful non-battle scenes in the show’s history. He takes her past it all, deeper into the cave, where the walls are lined with hieroglyphics painted by the Children of the Forest. They depict the moment of “The Pact” which brought an end to generations of war between the First Men and the Children in order to come together to defeat the White Walkers. It is historical proof of what the majority of the world considers to be a myth.

“The enemy is real, it’s always been real”

The present is no different in that it will take families and armies, who were raised to hate each other, putting their arguments aside in order to survive. The Wildlings and Northmen were a start, but it will take much more.

It’s a humbling moment for Daenerys as she imagines what it was like when the Children carved these drawings thousands and thousands of years ago. It’s a monumental turning point for our heroine and hero, and the preface for what could be a union that saves the realm.

They exit the cave and Daenerys learns of “victory” at Casterly Rock, where Tyrion’s double duty as chief political and military strategist finally reaches its apparent demise. She chastises him in front of her other advisors for his string of miscalculations. She even goes so far as to question whether Tyrion actually seeks to defeat his family’s army, a move that not only speaks volumes to the degree of tactical failure Team Targaryen has experienced thus far, but brings Tyrion’s bitter Westerosi exile back into focus. Incredulous over her sudden losing position, Daenerys turns to Jon, perhaps the only other leader who can rally a coalition to fight for what exceeds the personal gain of one man or woman. Fresh off his conversation with Missandei in which she further detailed Daenerys’s propensity for liberation, Jon advises the Khaleesi to remain the queen who brought world’s together to join her fight, instead of risking civilian casualties in the vein of Cersei Lannister and her father before her telling her,

“The people that follow you know that you made something impossible happen. Maybe that helps them believe that you can make other impossible things happen. Build a world that’s different from the shit one they’ve always known.”

Conveniently there’s a way to satisfy her need for retaliation while avoiding the deaths of innocent men and women, but first we ask


The loot train attack (That’s seriously the best the show creators could come up with for a revival that brings forth world altering destruction?) marks the beginning of a new era. Entire generations were born and died believing that dragons were extinct. They are the ultimate killing machines with the fear they impose, the ability to upend a battlefield, and most importantly incinerate scores of men, erasing their physical existence. The Dothraki horde fighting in an open field is something characters have mentioned time and again as an unbeatable foe. Anyone who is smart would wait them out from their castles, and that is probably what all of those they passed on their way there did. This battle is over before it begins, and its the most one sided battle in the show’s history.

Jaime in the midst of it ignores several opportunities to try and minimize losses and escape as the commander of the army. He remains in the field as everything and everyone around him is burned to ashes. He goes on to charge his horse at a full grown dragon, a move that only a fool blinded by love would make. Tyrion looks on at his brother whispering,

“Flee, you idiot”

Jaime continues his charge,

“You idiot. You fucking idiot.”

Bronn tackles Jaime off of his horse, sending both of them into the water, just before Drogon can engulf them in flame and turn Jaime’s right hand into a boiling golden puddle. We’ll have to wait to find out their fate, but what we have learned is that Tyrion still maintains a bond for his brother, who has always been one of the few to stick up for him.

Daenerys will salvage what she can of the spoils of this battle and has also gained the knowledge about the scorpions, Cersei’s current chief defense against the dragons. If there is one takeaway from the entire episode though it’s this.

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