The Longest Night — Game of Thrones: ‘What is Dead May Never Die (2x03)’
“We do not sow.”
Writer(s): Bryan Cogman
Director: Alik Sakharov
Events: After returning home to Pyke, Theon finds that his Greyjoy family aren’t so forgiving of his Stark upbringing, and reject his proposal to ally with Robb; at Craster’s Keep, Jon discovers that Lord Commander Mormont was already fully aware of Craster’s arrangement with the White Walkers; Bran dreams of his direwolves once again, but Maester Luwin remains sceptical; Catelyn arrives in the Stormlands to seek an alliance with Renly Baratheon, who’s having problems providing his queen, Margaery Tyrell, with a baby; in King’s Landing, Tyrion learns which of the people surrounding him can be trusted, as he puts Varys, Baelish and Pycelle to the test; in the Riverlands, the group heading to Castle Black are set upon by Lannister men, and Yoren is killed.
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As a member of his father’s war council, Theon Greyjoy is reminded by Balon that Greyjoys “do not sow”. They’re the house words, representing the Greyjoys’ solidarity, and he will not betray them. In the context of the scene, it’s in response to Theon’s perfectly reasonable suggestion that they ally with the Starks, wait for them to win the war against the Lannisters, and claim Casterly Rock as their prize. Balon rejects this proposal and reveals his plan to invade the North himself. In the context of the episode, “We do not sow” doubles as a statement that’s unfortunately representative of the status of many relationships and personal partnerships in the show, as their bonds are struggling under the weight of the world they’re part of.
Before ‘What is Dead May Never Die’, we dared to think that the good folks in this world would find each other. But now they’re either suffering from immense strain, not quite having the success we were expecting, or being broken apart altogether. Whilst ‘Fire and Blood’, ‘The North Remembers’, and ‘The Night Lands’ gave us three hours of our early favourites forming crucial ties, with their idealistic futures peering slightly over the horizon, ‘What is Dead May Never Die’ delivers something of a blow to our hopes and reminds us that it’s foolish to enter Game of Thrones feeling even slightly reassured that good will out.
Returning to Pyke has opened a serious can of worms for Theon, as his respect and loyalty to the Starks are about to face their greatest test thus far. It was his father who gave him away to Ned all those years ago, and that fact is held against Theon for some indeterminable reason, but he still feels obligated to prove himself a worthy heir to his father. During ‘What is Dead May Never Die’, Theon must show enough courage, willing, and strength to be acknowledged by his father, and remind himself of his relationship with Robb Stark while his father plans to attack him. In the end, he does neither.
His ties to his family remain frayed, despite his efforts, with Balon storming out on Theon as he (justifiably) rants and raves that he was “given away”. And his friendship and brotherhood with Robb literally goes up in flames. Theon writes a letter to Robb, warning him of the imminent Greyjoy attack on the North, but never sends it. Instead he burns the letter and his himself baptised. He might have only been given “the Sea Bitch” to attack the Stoney Shore and its vulnerable fishermen, and I’ll cover his journey in increasing detail as the seasons progress, but this is the beginning of perhaps the second-best redemption arc in the show — second only to Jaime Lannister’s, of course.
In the south, there’s a heart-breaking climax to the episode, as Yoren — a character I’ve appreciated immensely for the first time during this re-watch — is murdered by Amory Lorch while Lorch is on the hunt for Gendry. Moments before his death, however, Yoren does ignite a fire inside Arya that’s still burning strong as we look ahead to season eight. He does it by recounting the tale of how his brother was murdered by a handsome thief named Willem, of how he obsessed over Willem until he repeated Willem’s name every night before he slept, of how he exacted revenge on Willem by “burying an axe so deep into Willem’s skull” that Willem had to be buried with it. It’s the moment Arya is told, in no uncertain terms, that this world doesn’t catch up with thieves and murderers, and that the only way to stop them is to wipe them out yourself.
At Craster’s Keep, there’s a significant moment between Jon Snow and Lord Commander Mormont. Following his beating by Craster in between the climax of ‘The Night Lands’ and the opening seconds of ‘What is Dead May Never Die’, Jon is returned to the Keep and reveals to Mormont that Craster is handing his sons over to the White Walkers. Mormont stands in silence, but there’s a meaningful absence of words: Mormont already knows.
In this moment, Jon’s childhood dreams of the Watch take their first serious knock, and his relationship with his Lord Commander is strained. He’s spent years idolising the notion of the Watch: serving the realm by protecting them from the horrors that lie beyond, glorious. Only, in this moment, Jon discovers what the Watch really are, and that they’re serving those same horrors by allowing Craster’s arrangement to continue. Finding out that Mormont isn’t ignorant of Craster’s plan shakes Jon awake to an ugly reality: that trading infants with White Walkers isn’t necessarily “compromise”, but a sordid, dangerous, and disloyal practise.
8.5
Lost ravens:
— In the south-eastern corner of Westeros, two couples encounter problems for several reasons. Tyrion squabbles with Shae in King’s Landing as she begins to find solitary confinement something of a bore, but Tyrion implores her to remain patient, silent and hidden. His next idea introduces Shae to Sansa as her handmaiden — their relationship is frosty right now, but in an episode where bonds struggle to stay together, the foundation of a new one is formed here.
— In the Stormlands, we’re introduced to Margaery Tyrell, queen to Renly Baratheon. Renly is engaged in a relationship with Margaery’s brother, Loras, and his sexuality means that any attempts to conceive an heir are a source of immense conflict for him. In Westeros, being king isn’t just about sitting on the Iron Throne, it’s about heritage and legacy too, and the lack of an heir will unfortunately create problems for Renly further down the line. Margaery is open-minded about Renly and Loras’ relationship, even suggesting that Loras join in to “get [Renly] started”, but she leans over his shoulder and pressures him to give her a child all the same. She wants to be the queen, no matter what it takes.
— Back at Winterfell, Bran is once again dreaming through the eyes of his direwolf Summer. He informs Maester Luwin of these dreams, but Luwin is sceptical and reminds Bran that while magic was once a force in the world, such things (warging, dragons, demons, etc.) are long gone.
— She was briefly mentioned before, but it’s worth giving Margaery Tyrell a proper introduction. She’s the queen of our hearts, and over the next fifty-or-so episodes we’ll watch her play the game of thrones, and play it well. She becomes the queen, tames Joffrey and works her claws into him, and for a while we think she’s overcome Cersei too, effectively ending the Lannisters’ grip on the throne — at least until the brilliant season six finale, but we’ll get to that later in this series.
— Tyrion still has his tribesmen, and he’s at his cunning best in this episode. In a wonderful scene, he gives false stories to Pycelle, Baelish and Varys, and all to find out who he can trust. The story is that Myrcella will be shipped off somewhere to marry a lord, and whichever specifics Cersei angrily repeats back to him will lead him to the mole. The mole is revealed to be Pycelle, who’s told her that Myrcella is to be shipped off to Dorne. He’s hoisted from his bed, has his beard “trimmed”, and is escorted out of his chambers, presumably to a cell. It doesn’t necessarily prove that Tyrion can trust Littlefinger or Varys, but it means he knows not to repeat anything other than the party line in front of Pycelle. Ned Stark made the mistake of trusting these people when he was Hand, Tyrion won’t.
— Arya will get Polliver back one day. She’ll reclaim Needle from him in season four. Maybe she’ll pick her teeth with it.
— Sansa is still stuck with the Lannisters, with Cersei, Tommen and Myrcella now joining her for awkward dinners. Cersei begins to take Sansa under her wing in this episode — or rather, manipulate her, now that she can no longer doctor Joffrey. It’s the first time we hear Sansa referred to as Cersei’s “little dove”, actually. Elsewhere in the episode, Sansa and Shae are introduced to one another, and now that Shae is her handmaiden, there’s at least somebody on her side during her torrid time in King’s Landing.
— Varys and Tyrion have the best conversation of the entire episode: “Power resides where men believe it resides.”
