The Longest Night — Game of Thrones: ‘The Ghost of Harrenhal (2x05)’
“I have always found [revenge] to be the purest of motivations.”
Writer(s): David Benioff & D.B. Weiss
Director: David Petrarca
Events: In the Stormlands, Renly Baratheon is murdered by a shadow — wrongly accused of his murder, Lady Brienne flees with Catelyn Stark and swears fealty to her; Renly’s death results in much of his army joining Stannis, who plans his invasion of King’s Landing; Tyrion rumbles the plan to catapult wildfire from the city walls during its defence, and delivers new orders to the pyromancer; Theon Greyjoy decides to attack Torrhen Square and Winterfell, just as Bran dreams of the sea flooding the Stark home; Tywin Lannister hosts a war council at Harrenhal with Arya as his cupbearer, and begins to investigate her Northern origins; Jon Snow asks to join the legendary Qhorin Halfhand on a scouting mission beyond the Wall; In Qarth, the warlock Pyat Pree introduces himself to Daenerys, and Jorah expresses his love for her.
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Well, there he goes. Mere moments after he agrees to an alliance with Robb Stark, and mere moments after we dare to think the War of the Five Kings could indeed be “over in a fortnight”, Renly Baratheon is murdered by a shadow assassin, and his forces are scattered to the wind. Hordes of his men immediately flock to his brother Stannis’ side, while a good portion of them are left without anywhere to go or an army to pledge their services to. But it’s the Tyrell contingent whose destiny is perhaps most significantly affected by this sudden tragedy. They’re convinced by Baelish, who’s back on form this week after his flustered encounter with Catelyn Stark, to seek an alliance with the Lannisters.
Margaery Tyrell wants to be the queen, and her brother Loras wants revenge for his deceased lover. Their eventual alliance with the Lannisters is part of a process that will gradually push the War of the Five Kings to its end, but not before thousands of litres of blood are spilled, and a considerable number of lives are wasted. You see, ‘The Ghost of Harrenhal’ might be defined by one of Game of Thrones’ significant early deaths, but it’s an hour driven by impulsivity and pure revenge, and a thirst to repay the darkest of all debts. We learned a simple truth from Yoren in the closing stretch of ‘What is Dead May Never Die’, and the number of characters accepting this simple truth is beginning to rise: the world won’t catch up with those who commit evil doings, you’ve got to do the work yourself.
Loras is devastated by Renly’s death, loudly and immediately declaring his wish to strike his sword through Stannis’ heart, but Baelish teases the desire for vengeance out of him and manipulates it to his own ends. Somehow, by the end of their conversation, Baelish has all but completely secured an alliance between the Tyrells and the Lannisters without doing much legwork. By the time Margaery reveals her desire to not just be queen, but to be the queen, Baelish’s mind is whirring with possibilities.
It’s the sort of tactic Baelish used to excel at: assessing the driving forces behind the people surrounding him, and exploiting their emotional impulses for personal gain. Ned Stark was an honourable, honest man, but his honesty veered dangerously towards naivety, and Baelish took full advantage to leave Ned without a head. I don’t want to dwell too heavily on this point because there’s time to analyse it later in the series, but considering Arya was still vengeance personified with speckles of naivety in season seven, and considering she was initially fooled by an ancient letter written by a child, Baelish should have done more damage at Winterfell in season seven. I suppose being part of the least important plotline is what cost Baelish his life in the end.
Back to the action at hand — Renly’s death also stirs the fury inside Lady Brienne that’s been waiting to be stoked for a while. We’ve only seen her on a couple of occasions thus far, beating Loras in a duel and briefly exchanging words with Catelyn. But on this side of season five, we’re aware of her “origin story”, if you will, and the moment her undying devotion to Renly began. It’s not that she loves him or has romantic intentions necessarily (it’s implied but never really confirmed), it’s that she’s completely and unconditionally devoted to him. His death completely shatters her — she’s ultimately defined by her commitment to upholding oaths she’s sworn and protecting the people she serves.
Her physique is remarkable and impressive to us, but it was once ammunition for “nasty little shits” who played the cruel games that children play. “Nasty little shits” that Renly protected her from during her nameday ball as a child. In that moment she was not only given a reason to devote herself to Renly and, eventually, avenge his death, but she was also shown the importance of protecting the vulnerable. As it is when we lose anyone who means so much to us, losing Renly only reminds of Brienne of the times his actions had profound, positive impacts and shaped her as a person. Serving Catelyn Stark by ensuring the safety of Sansa and Arya won’t exactly take priority over fulfilling her vow to avenge her king from this point, but there’s a beautiful moment of reflection for her in season seven as three Stark children (Arya, Sansa, and Bran) walk through the Winterfell courtyard together. It’s a reminder that while she ached to avenge Renly and murder Stannis for his crimes, she was willing to put her own agendas on the backburner for quite some time to serve the people she believes to be a force of good in this world.
I briefly mentioned her before, but considering she’s now been given the tools to carry out her vengeful thoughts, Arya’s movements in this episode are particularly crucial to its themes. It’s a shame her arc in Braavos didn’t reach a satisfying conclusion, because the intrigue and mystery surrounding Jagen H’gar dominates his presence as soon as he steps into the frame, and having the gift of hindsight with regards to Jaqen’s origins and true intentions would have enriched his introduction significantly (“Only death may pay for life”).
To Arya, and to us for the moment, he’s a man who can switch faces (or bodies?) and kill at will without fear of consequence, and he’s taken something of a shine to Arya since she saved his life while they were both part of Yoren’s travelling band. For now, he’s a conveniently devised vehicle which Arya can utilise to catch up on the villains she’s chasing — but her reactionary nominations expose her naivety. Instead of choosing any of the names on her pre-existing list, or, you know, Tywin Lannister (even if she does remind him during his war council that “Anyone can be killed”), she opts to test Jaqen’s abilities by naming The Tickler, a torturer at Harrenhal. The Tickler is a sadistic freak, but it’s a reactionary choice borne out coping with the power and persona she temporarily has access to: she’s the Ghost of Harrenhal, determining who lives and, more importantly, who feels the fateful stab of revenge.
8.0
Lost ravens:
— And so begins the sequence of events that will eventually land Theon in a Bolton dungeon, having been castrated and tortured. He’s encouraged by shipmate Dagmer (hello, Chris Finch!) to take Winterfell. Initially Dagmer seems like the only person who’d listen to Theon as the rest of his crew ignore his orders and head out on their own. Theon’s embarrassed by his own insecurities and incompetence as a captain, and we sympathise with him briefly, until Dagmer’s alongside him, the devil whispering in his ear almost. Soon, Theon has Torrhen Square under siege, and Winterfell will be next.
— Bran has already seen this happen in his dreams, as the seas arrive at Winterfell and drown each of its residents, including Ser Rodrick. Osha, still fearful of there being some greater power, refuses to interpret Bran’s vision and buries her head from it.
— Davos, freshly fearful of Melisandre due to the events of ‘Garden of Bones’ climax, implores Stannis to see reason in relation to the Red Woman. That, to quote Bronn, “men win wars, not magic tricks”, albeit with much more sensitive delivery. After finally listening to his right-hand man, Stannis agrees that Melisandre shouldn’t lead the fleet into Blackwater Bay during the invasion of King’s Landing. He instead hands the responsibility to Davos, who’s being thrown into this new world of serving kings faster than he could ever have anticipated.
— Beyond the Wall at the Fist of the First Men, we’re introduced to Qhorin Halfhand, and Jon asks to be taken under his wing. Sam’s really coming into his own as a character, too. He’s always been more than comic relief, but his bookish ways are now revealing their true value. He’s now expounding crucial information — Edd and Grenn roll their eyes at him (“I read it in a book”) and Jon still treats him like something of a child, but he’s now Lord Commander Mormont’s stewards in Jon’s absence. We hear you, Sam. Three blasts for White Walkers. We hear you.
— In Qarth (Jesus, this episode really does hop around), Daenerys is taken to a market that’s dripping in gold. It’s an episode that finally kickstarts her plot for the season, and sees many of the people surrounding her attempting to win her favour. Xaro Xhoan Doxos attempts to charm her, even becoming the first character to refer to her as a conqueror; Irri and Doreah fight over her affections; the warlock Pyat Pree shows off some sinister magic tricks as he duplicates himself in her presence; and Jorah, in a fit of passion almost, accidentally reveals his true feelings for her (“There are times when I look at you and I still can’t believe you’re real.”) The events of the episode definitely feed Daenyers’ pomposity, but they also remind her that she has to stay single-minded to get what she wants, as those around her attempt to drain her of all she’s worth.
— And finally, Tyrion procures information from Lancel that Cersei is planning to defend King’s Landing from Stannis’ imminent attack by hurling wildfire from the walls of the city. Tyrion has other ideas, however, and brings the pyromancer under his control. The pyromancer will now make wildfire for Tyrion, who, as we know, is going to use it slightly differently. Earlier in the episode, he discovers that the common people of Flea Bottom and other slums in the city consider him to be a “demon monkey”, whispering commands in Joffrey’s ear, causing the ills that the poor people are suffering with.
