Dancing with Dragons
This is the official account for the Dancing With Dragons podcast!
Follow along as we dive deep into the epic fantasy world of Westeros, discussing the intricate stories from George RR Martin, our memorable characters, the ever-changing power dynamics, and episode breakdowns, among many other insightful and fun discussions. Whether you're a devoted GoT nerd like us or new to the books or series and its spin-off, House of the Dragon, this podcast is your ultimate companion in exploring the Seven Kingdoms.Tune in and subscribe on your go-to listening platform.
Valar Morghulis
Dancing with Dragons
Game of Thrones: S3 | EP4 "And Now His Watch is Ended"
In episode 64 of the Dancing with Dragons podcast, we dissect and review Daenerys Stormborn's arrival as she reveals her master plan in Astapor. In one breathtaking sequence, she demonstrates why she's a revolutionary force to be reckoned with—commanding her dragon with a single word and transforming from a woman seeking an army into a liberator who inspires willing followers. The iconic "Dracarys" scene represents everything that makes Game of Thrones exceptional storytelling: shocking twists that somehow feel inevitable in retrospect. Tony & Minwa also unpack Olenna's discussions with Varys and Cersei. Cersei stands up to Tywin. We see a mutiny unfold in the Night's Watch, the return of Beric Dondarrion, and Jamie wallows in pity.
Follow Dancing with Dragons on Instagram
Follow Tony on IG: Sirtone_Reviews
Follow Minwa on IG: TheArabKhaleesi
https://dancingwithdragons.buzzsprout.com
Email us @DancewithDragons62@gmail.com
You want to cut my throat Get on with it, but don't call me murderer and pretend that you're not. You murdered Micah the butcher's boy, my friend. He was 12 years old. He was unarmed and you rode him down. You slung him over your horse like he was some deer. Aye, he was a bleeder. You don't deny killing this boy. I was Joffrey's sworn shield. The boy attacked the prince. That's a lie. I hit Joffrey, micah just ran away. Then I should have killed you, not my place to question princes. You stand accused of murder, but no one here knows the truth of the charge, so it is not for us to judge you, only the Lord of Light. We do that now. I sentence you to trial by combat. So who will it be? Should we find out if your fire God really loves you? Priest? Are you Archer or you worth with a sword in your hand, or is the little girl the bravest one here?
Speaker 2:I.
Speaker 1:She might be, but it's me, you'll find.
Speaker 2:Welcome back to Dancing with Dragons, your podcast guide to the world of Westeros and beyond. I'm Tony, and with me is my always insightful co-host, minwa. Today, we're diving into one of the most pivotal episodes of Game of Thrones, season 3, episode 4, and now his watch is ended. This is the episode where loyalty shifts, power is seized and one watch truly does come to an end. We'll unpack the themes of betrayal, power and liberation and break down this episode that sets the stage of some of the series' most iconic arcs. Whether you're a first-time watcher or a seasoned veteran of the Seven Kingdoms, you're in for a rich conversation. Okay, manuela, it feels like ages since I've talked to you. How are you?
Speaker 3:I'm good, Tony. How are you? It does feel like longer than a month since we last recorded, I think.
Speaker 2:Yes, it's been. You know, a lot of things has happened the last month. We usually we're trying to record every two weeks, but life is happening work, other personal stuff and we had to kind of take a little break, which is fine, it's. We're not under some deadline to release these episodes, but people are enjoying it. So I kind of feel bad that it's taking so long for this episode to come out, because this is the one episode that we've been clamoring for or so excited to cover, and it's just, man, it's almost four and a half weeks, but we're here and I finally want to say congratulations, and I'll let you say why.
Speaker 2:I'm saying congratulations.
Speaker 3:Okay, so don't get your hopes up too much, because it was kind of like homework for me. But drum roll, I finished reading Storm of Swords and I wanted to keep it until we recorded so that I could surprise Tony and get his like authentic reaction. But I just I couldn't help myself because I wanted to post about some of my story. I wanted to, I don't know, I was just too excited because at that point, when I had messaged him and told him that I finished reading Storm of Swords, and when I posted it on my story, it's already been a few days and I was like I can't take it any longer. I will have to share with everyone that I'm making progress and I'm done with book three and I far uh, I don't think that I did predict that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I remember you said predicting that, and I remember you said once you start reading this this is a really like a binge read, because there's so much stuff and you realize when you're reading it's like wow, this is all season four yeah, exactly.
Speaker 3:So I was thinking like, wow, they really like I don't know. I was watching, re-watching this episode, episode um four of season three, and already I was like this is so close to the events of season four in the books and how did they like fill up those episodes? You know, now I'm more curious to see like the journey from here to the red wedding to the purple wedding, because it's so so fast in the book. But I did already start, like the first two chapters of A Feast for crows. So I'm making progress, because I had that one nightmare once.
Speaker 2:No, really I read I read two chapters I was going to say that the feast for crows is one of those that people are. It's a big debate on like it's the least favorite of people, but it's still good. Like there's so many different povs that you're gonna come off from. You're like who's this, who's that, who's this?
Speaker 3:you know so already in the beginning. It started with like the captain of the guards and then you find out it's like a random captain of the guards and door and I'm like, oh, this is random but I like it. So I'll keep you guys updated uh, but let's get.
Speaker 2:Let's get rolling with this episode. It premiered april 13, 2013. Directed by alex graves, written by db weiss and david benioff. Episode is titled and now his watch is ended. It refers to a phrase commonly used at the end of a eulogy in a funeral for the member of the Night's Watch. Symbolically, it signifies Lord Commander Jor-Mormon's death in this episode, which for me, was a shocker when I first read it, and I'm sure it was a shocker for many people for the show. One quick note is that Rob Catelyn Stannis, jon Ygritte, does not appear in this episode. Catelyn does appear momentarily, but it's in Bran's dream. She's telling him not to climb, which is a callback to the first episode of the series, so I don't really count that as her being in the episode.
Speaker 3:Okay. So the last episode ended with Jaime's hand being cut off. That was another shocker of the season, and the episode I'm pretty sure it opens opens right with um, the shot of his hand hanging around his neck, around jamie's neck, and it's just, oh, it's like a harsh reminder because we almost still can't believe it. You know what I mean. Like I'm sure it's kind of gave off, that feeling of like, is this, like, did this really happen? You know it's like then they won't start the next episode with yes, it did, and this is who he is now, and they're still prisoners and he's tortured and beat up, and it's another shock, I think. And I think this is where we begin to feel bad for him. This is when Jamie's character kind of takes a turn, momentarily, unfortunately.
Speaker 2:No, I'm glad this episode kicked off with this because it's a continuation of the last one and it's a pivotal scene and moment. It's an immediate follow-up and we get to check in with the now mutilated Kingslayer, who went from bad to worse in this episode and now he's forced to wear his rotting hand around his neck like a grotesque ornament. From there it's just more disgusting events Mud like horse urine, he's drinking. He's so thirsty that he doesn't realize he's drinking that and he's vomiting.
Speaker 2:And the worst possible condition I think, brienne, she first tells him that she's grateful that I don't know she's telling that, but insinuates that she's grateful that he lied about, you know, her home island being filled with riches, which is something being sympathetic towards him. But then she turns and just is like stop being a little bitch, basically saying, but here's one thing that I was going to ask you. She says, and I said, oh, meanwhile I probably didn't like that line.
Speaker 3:He goes you're being such a woman, or something like that you're being such a woman or acting like a woman, because he was like upset about his hand. Yeah, he's like wallowing in pity.
Speaker 2:And now you know we get her point. I still think that anyone who gets their hand chopped off, noble or peasant, should be allowed to be sad about it.
Speaker 3:Still, I know it's been a while since I've seen the episode and I had time to think it's over, but I still don't know how I feel about that line. Even like I re-watched a bit of it again, like for the second or third time today, and when she said that I just kind of went. I don't really know how I feel about it, because a part of me doesn't like it, because it's like, oh, this is tapping into brian's um, you know, like she always wants to feel masculine and like you know, like I don't know, like, is this actually Brienne? But then another part of me is saying is this just her trying to, like, snap Jaime out of it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:For Jaime's sake. I think that she said that. Yeah, but at least they have each other for now. I think they're both thinking that.
Speaker 2:I do want to credit D&D here that they actually devote some time to Jamie and Brienne. Many of the non-King's Landing storylines, you know, have been relegated to quick one-scene check-ins. You know, during the first few episodes, treatment would have robbed their arc of that crucial like momentum, and instead this episode deepens our understanding you know we hate to admit it at first of jamie's true character, I hit the iron price for him to fall.
Speaker 1:Murdered those boys? The star boys never found them, just some poor orphans living with the farmer. I let Dagmar slit their throats and I let him burn the bodies so I could keep Winterfell and make my father proud. Maybe it's not too late.
Speaker 2:It is my real father lost his head at King's Landing.
Speaker 3:I made a choice and I chose wrong, and now I've burned everything down not everything, my lord that audio clip you heard was from the interaction we hear between Theon and Ramsey in this scene and it's almost like sorry to our audience and our listeners for doing this, but we're starting with like one kind of cruel and an easy thing or like topic and plot line to another, because it's in this episode where we kind of actually see who Ramsey is and how he's kind of just the creepy, psychotic villain that he is. I know that that's not what we hear in the audio, but I just have to start there because I wanted to continue that cruelty talk that we had, but at the time I'm sorry, at the moment we still don't know.
Speaker 2:that's Ramsay. He's like an unknown hero. He's like we don't know that the audience still doesn't know. That's Ramsay To Dion. He's somebody who's helping him out, Sorry, yeah.
Speaker 3:He's a hero. He's like a hero to Theon. I just jumped a little because that's how I wrote it in my notes, just that you know, it's the topics I wrote under the Jaime scene and I connected that theme of it being like to us that all of this, everything that we've seen Theon go through so far, is a ruse conducted by Ramsay. Theon's entire escape, you know, like when Ramsay was acting as this noble hero, is just like a prank and it's just like another form of torture and toying with him and playing with his mind. So and I kind of feel that maybe at first we don't feel that bad for Dion which is interesting because he starts out as a good guy, whereas Jamie starts out as a bad guy but then we feel for Jamie and we don't feel.
Speaker 2:He was a good guy. Yeah, we were still annoyed with him because he was arrogant and brash and not, you know, not a humble person. We didn't realize he was going to betray Rob, but before that he was just like shut up. Why are you talking?
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You're on our side. You're a good guy, I guess because you're with us.
Speaker 3:But shut up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but going back to what you said and the audio clip itself, I do that, I think, kind of makes us feel for theon, which is when he is vulnerable for the first time, the entire show, and expresses his regrets. We in part feel for him, but we also, in part, be like, yeah, like you just now realize that you, idiot, you know, like your true father was the one that that you, you know, lived with your entire life, and not the one that you barely knew. Um, so it's a mix of both of those things. Yeah, I kind of like that they included that scene, though, or like that moment, just because, um, it's not in the books, and I like that theon acknowledges that one of the things this show did so brilliantly is invoke our sympathy for even the villains.
Speaker 2:Are there no villains? Or really just deeply damaged people who make bad decisions like he did? And at the back of your mind, like, do should I feel for him? And then going for you're like okay, okay, I do feel for you okay.
Speaker 3:So I can't believe I talked about the honest a bit because if you've been listening to our season three coverage so far, then you'll know that I kind of didn't want to talk about him this season just because his scenes would make me uncomfortable. But I think that I had to this episode. But I will say that. But I will skip over another scene in this episode and that's the Tyrion and Varys scene. It's a very brief scene that we see in this episode between the two gossipy characters, and the reason I'm not going to talk about it is because we already covered this scene in another episode. And the reason I'm not going to talk about it is because we already covered this scene in another episode.
Speaker 3:So in this scene, varys basically, just to give you a very quick summary of it Varys reveals his backstory. It's very dramatic, shows us a new side to his character that we've never been introduced to before, adds layers to his character because we just see him in a new, darker light. Yeah, it's really creepy and really interesting. So if you want to know all about that, go to our page and listen to our episode Whispers of Power, varys Unveiled. It's a very interesting, fun episode and you'll enjoy learning a lot about Varys if you go and listen to that, so I'm going to skip over it and direct you there and we're ready to talk about the next scene.
Speaker 2:Actually, before we go to the next scene, I do want to say that originally varus was intended to recount that story of his past to tyrian at the eve of the battle of black water, which he does in the novels, uh. However, for the showrunners they admitted due to time constraints they pushed it. They considered having a short scene that varus was going to explain to him, but then tyrian interrupts him that Varys was going to explain to him, but then Tyrion interrupts him and says we're going to have to postpone it for another time, since the battle was going to commence and we don't have time to chit-chat about your origin story. We're here for season three and they actually added a new detail from the book that did not exist. The capture of the sorcerer who was responsible for his castration was not a part of that, so they added that for the show.
Speaker 3:So, though I skimmed over that Varys scene, I'm jumping straight into another one, and that's a scene that Varys has in this episode with Olenna Tyrell. The first thing that I wrote down is my thoughts up until today about this moment, which is I am so glad we got to scene with these two divas, because first of all, you get like a scene of just Olenna in the garden with her, with her granddaughter, and she talks about house words, and I'm pretty sure we've included that audio clip when we did our house words. She kind of pokes fun at their own housewards which is growing strong and how dull it is. And then she ends that and says look, little loves, a spider in the garden, which I love. It's just so simple but it's so powerful.
Speaker 3:And I get goosebumps when I rewatch that scene just because it's so good. And what I love, too, is that Varys kind of greets her by telling her that King's Landing is made brighter by her presence, and that's something that he already told Shae in another episode Dark Wings and Dark Words. And Olenna, like you, can't get anything past this, riva. She clocks him, she says is this your usual line when talking to women? She sees right through everything.
Speaker 3:This queen Varys is there to warn Olenna that Littlefinger is plotting something using Sansa Stark. How does he know that? Well, in that scene that you kind of skimmed over between Varys and Ross, she actually points out to Varys something that Littlefinger wrote down or like booked basically, and it shows in his records, his files, his transactions that he booked like a cabin in a boat. That's only something that he would book for someone as as important as Sansa yeah, like two feathered beds
Speaker 3:like who would need another feathered bed yes, two feathered beds, it wouldn't be for anyone that is working with Roz or any other person in King's Landing.
Speaker 3:So that's how she puts two and two together and warns that to Varys and he relays that message to Olenna. I guess you can kind of see a rare instance of Varys kind of forming a behind the scenes alliance with somebody and, as I said, he warns her about Littlefinger and said that Littlefinger would rather see this country burn if he could be king of ashes, which is interesting. And he immediately sees like the connecting thread. He says if Robb Stark falls, sansa Stark is the key to the north and if he marries her he'll have the key in his pocket. So Varys doesn't want that to happen. He doesn't want Littlefinger to have all that power, even though, as Varys said, he enjoys him and enjoys bantering with him. So that's when Varys puts the idea in the Tyrell's head or in Olenna's head that they should form an alliance with Sansa and get Sansa to marry Loras. We don't really see the scene where they say that outright, but that's what Margaery proposes to Sansa later on in this episode.
Speaker 2:Which I thought was kind of a silly suggestion, because Loras is the Kingsguard, he cannot marry, oh yeah, true.
Speaker 2:So he would have to get approval from the king and the hand of the king to release him. Like Jaime says, I'm a Kingsguard, I have an oath to the king, and then Tywin says well, we can work with that, we can have you, there's a clause or something that the king could release you from your oath and you can go to Castle of Iraq and be my heir. So that's the only way. Loras would do that and Taiwan is not going to allow that.
Speaker 2:No, no, I think it's just them wanting to stir shit up. Excuse my language.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I like that you pointed that out because that feels like george level uh plot hole, like issue with the show, because uh, in the books uh they kind of plot for santa to marry another one of marjorie's brothers yes um, who is in high garden, so and then we never meet that brother.
Speaker 3:They just talk about him. Yeah, uh, and how you know, he's like a, like a sweet soul, you know, and like he's, he's gentle, and I think he has a disability, if I can remember correctly, they, they mentioned that and um, he's not as handsome as loris, though I know that yeah, he's not as handsome as loris, but sansa was up for it because of course she she wanted us at that point.
Speaker 3:She wanted to skip king's landing. That was like ticket out and I kind of wish that they just did that. You know what I mean. It would have been. They wouldn't have lost anything. And, as you said, like they just added a plot to it, I guess now by making it Loras. But I think they just wanted it to be Loras, maybe because we know him and we know that Sansa hole exists. But I want to just say something about Elena.
Speaker 2:She's like a true gem. Her ability to instantly dominate any conversation she answers is so entertaining Like this episode. You can add Cersei and Varys to her list of conquest when she comes to conversating or kind of conversating like conversing, to conversating or kind of conversating like conversing. But Varys was used to being the smartest person in the room Seems like shock to encounter somebody sharper than himself, and I liked all the scenes in King's Landing. Let me just go ahead and start talking about Joffrey and Margaery, Because I think again, Margaery is one of those characters that you don't realize how good she is and how good the character is, because joffrey's just said something and he he spoils house of the dragon. So if you have not big time being house of the dragon.
Speaker 2:I I'm sorry, but, um, the highlight of the whole that whole scene is cersei and olenna, and I think this is the first time they're actually together.
Speaker 1:You were married here, your Grace. Yes, must seem like only yesterday. Seems like a lifetime ago. Your husband was he buried here as well? No, he wanted his remains returned to Storm's End. Such a tragedy, a fairly predictable tragedy. Hunting and drinking don't mix. I should say not. My son's a hunter. It helps him forget. He's never been within a mile of a real battle. I seem to recall he laid siege to Storm's End for the better part of a year. All he laid siege to was the banquet table in the command tent. I told him to stay out of Robert's rebellion. He had no business fighting an actual warrior. We mothers do what we can to keep our sons from the grave. They do seem to yearn for it. We shower them with good sense and it slides right off like rain of a wing, and yet the world belongs to them. A ridiculous arrangement, in my mind. The gods have seen fit to make it so.
Speaker 2:And yet the world belongs to them, and I love what she said. That's a ridiculous arrangement.
Speaker 3:She feels like you know, I'm already here and I'm equal, and this is this. But I think in this scene is when she finally takes it, actually it's not an even playing ground and she will likely never be able to play the game with the same power-ups, I guess, or the same advantages that a man has, that a man can, even though you know she ends up later on becoming the it's under different circumstances. She realizes the unfair nature of the world here for the first time.
Speaker 2:The one thing I wanted to I was questioning is how did Marjorie know that the crowd outside was going to react to this Joffrey in a positive way? That was a gamble in my estimation on Margaery's part, which it paid off for her.
Speaker 3:She knew that they were going to react to her positively, not Joffrey.
Speaker 2:Yeah, gotcha. Yeah, that makes more sense, like they see her and she's like vouching for him. She's she's basically has been saving the city with food and supplies and all that showering them with, you know, gifts of all this stuff that's needed. I think that's a turning point for Joffrey for real, and Cersei right there sees that she's lost.
Speaker 3:She has control of him.
Speaker 2:Let's stick with Margaery. We have a brief scene which we mentioned with her and Sansa. Her charm can win anybody over. Sansa has always been very close to the chest when it comes to trusting people. But with Marjorie, within like a couple of conversations with her, she's already like oh, that's my sister, and Marjorie is just playing pranks with her and all that stuff about how she put a curse on somebody and sansa's so like innocent. She's like, oh my god, you did that for real.
Speaker 2:And then you know, you know like she's so innocent. You know what I mean. But right there she can see that.
Speaker 3:Oh okay, this person is is a true, she could be my friend yeah, I think it's like a rare moment for Sansa in King's Landing where she feels like there's hope.
Speaker 2:And then, obviously, when she hears that information of well, we can be sisters if you marry Loras, and the smile that you get from Sansa is like oh my God, it just lit up the whole sky. She's thinking about leaving Loras the prospect of living in that beautiful high garden For that second, she was truly happy.
Speaker 3:You know Sansa being so naive and at the same time being very religious. You know like she's trusting, you know like her religion and what she believes in and stuff like that. And then you have Margaery who just says, like, when Sansa tells her I don't think the queen would let me leave King's Landing, margaery says the queen regents. You mean, once I marry Joffrey, I'll be queen, like she fully believes in herself. You know, we've never seen Margaery as like this religious woman. She doesn't say like, oh, if fate plays out as it should, you know she doesn't like, do that? She's like I will be queen, obviously, and I will get you this for this future. That that's I want for you and that you want for yourself. Um, and I just thought that that was like a nice contrast. You know her being so sure of herself versus sansa being naive and you know innocence.
Speaker 3:I think this is only like the second scene that we've gotten between sansa and marjorie, but it feels like the most significant. There was another one with Olenna in the garden, but just seeing those two together is something special, I think. And there's actually another very special interaction in this episode that you kind of can't believe is a rarity in Game of Thrones and that's we got the first scene, the first proper scene of these two characters sharing a scene together, and that's Cersei and Tywin. I mean we're in season three. This is the first time that we get the proper scene of just the two of them and I mean I guess there was like a hidden blessing in making us wait this long, because it's epic.
Speaker 3:This scene comes right after kind of the visit to the Sept where where Circe has that conversation with Olenna and kind of sparks everything that goes down in the scene, because now Circe is talking to her father with that thought in her mind, which is that, oh, I've never been as privileged as I always thought I was.
Speaker 3:I am always going to be limited by my gender. And she's angry, she's not going in there for a normal conversation with her father. Something has changed within her. You know what I mean to quote wicked, but I think that when we see them interacting, when they talk, it's actually us seeing that. You know, cersei never had the privilege that she thought she had like that ultimate power. For seasons one and two she always thought she had that ultimate power, but it's not that case, not that extreme, even though it might have seemed like that to us. Just because he has such a strange relationship with Tyrion, does that make sense, like because we've only seen Tyrion's point of view With Tywin, we think, oh, you know, he favors Cersei and she thinks that too.
Speaker 2:But now we that? No, it's not really that it's. But if he favored cersei, he would have made her hand of the king and, uh, the lecherous stump of a person, as he refers to, tyrian and that's all about. He would rather have this person he despises because he's a man and the king, rather than just say, hey, you're, you're already there dealing with all the stuff here, you're going to be handed the king to cersei.
Speaker 3:She thinks that she's more equipped. So there's actually I don't want to with all the stuff here You're going to be Hand of the King to Cersei she thinks that she's more equipped, so there's actually I don't want to jump to the end here, but it's one of my favorite moments in the show, or, like I guess, in the season, because he kind of roasts her. He tells her the most brutal thing that she could have heard at that time, which is that he tells her I don't distrust you because you're a woman. I distrust you because you're not as smart as you think you are. Oh, my God, I think when the camera pans back to Lena Headey, we see her crumble. We see Cersei feel and look so small because she thinks that she has this ultimate power, that she's so smart, she's the mastermind of everything. But this is her realization.
Speaker 2:I think what was worse was he's doing his letters and then he looks up. You're still here Like what do you want? You're bothering me. I have true work I have to get done. I actually listened to the Blu-ray commentary and during this scene I guess Lena Headey had her microphone fall off and it was in the shot. I guess other crew members said they couldn't use the footage. They were so impressed with the performances that they just had the computer effects, like a CGI, digitally remove the microphone, so they didn't have to reshoot the scene, so I thought that was kind of funny.
Speaker 3:That's actually really interesting and really funny. I'll keep an eye out for it the next time I watch the episode. I just want to go back and say something about cersei, which is that I think that from this episode on, we actually see cersei as like lacking something you know what I mean. Like we see this realization in her, because everything that she does kind of after it's, you know, even like blowing blowing up the SEP, which she's going to do later on it comes from this. It comes from her. Her need for power grows because at this point she thinks she's all that, she thinks that she has. As I said, like nobody can touch her.
Speaker 3:And then like that's what she's going to be doing later on, like everything changes because of that conversation with Olenna, and I think that that shows the power of Olenna Tyrell and also like who Cersei really is. So I just wanted to make that note, because everything changes after this. So that was King's Landing for this episode. A lot of very interesting character moments there that are always nice to rewatch. But I guess there's a bit of an unpleasant setting and unpleasant moments in the episode that we have to move on to, which is the Night's Watch. Beyond the Wall. It's Craster's Keep. Of course.
Speaker 3:You know we've been following the Night's Watch and their journey, of course minus John, after escaping the devastation of the fight at the Fists.
Speaker 3:So they lost a lot of their members. They're just there for shelter and obviously with Craster something he's rude, rude. Something has to happen. There has to be some sort of tension, um, and what's going on here is just another form of his cruelty and how sick he is because he has, um, like a stockpile of goods that keep him and his daughters and wives safe, um, and he refused to share that with anybody from the Night's Watch. So they're I think they're dying, they're sickly. He's not helping them and that causes a lot of tension between the Night's Watch and Craster and eventually it breaks into a chaotic fight. The turning point happens, which is that they kill Craster and Lord Mormont, who is a very honorable man as we know in the show, doesn't stand for it, even though he knows that Craster hasn't been treating them properly. They said they're killing a host and they think that it's like a curse. That's something that they say about Walder Frey later on.
Speaker 2:I think it's so ridiculous to treat him with any kind of honor later on. But, um, I think it's so ridiculous to treat him with any kind of honor. But you're define every sin and god by having children, your own daughters, and I get the resentment I get. Let's, let's start a mutiny here. We're dying here. He has all this food. He's not even the women part, it's just just the freezing. What's going to happen? Have 30 guys, 40 guys left against one guy. We forget that these people are the Night's Watch where they came from. Not all of them are honorable men who came from honorable houses. That was in the past. We've talked about that many times. Now we're talking about people who are murderers, rapists, thieves. It's in their DNA. That's what's going to happen. And you have Sam, who was probably the only one from an honorable house. He goes oh, we're not thieves. What are you talking about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, they are. I guess Mormons shouldn't have done that, but I guess for him, someone else being dishonorable doesn't mean that you have to be dishonorable, so you should stick to your own code of conduct and that's why he didn't stand for that.
Speaker 3:Um, but yeah, like it's not like any of those very unhonorable men were gonna think the same. So that's why what happens happens and they turn against him and unfortunately eventually kill him. Um, when I was reading it too, I kind of felt sad, just because, um, the night's watch, uh, storyline, especially in the book, really revolves around him. Even though he's from john and sam's point of view, I just feel like he's, he's just always there. It's like grounding central force in that setting. So I kind of felt like a bit disoriented, I guess, when, when he died in the books, I I was like, oh, I'm going to miss him. Um, but at least Sam escapes with Giddy and her baby son.
Speaker 2:Uh, let's go back South. We're going to go to the Riverlands and it's uh with Aria. It's a brief moment. Yet Now it's clear why producers wouldn't cut this. Uh, beric returns, but with this more prominent role, ber, but with a more prominent role. Beric does show up in the first season I think it's episode six but it's a different actor. So now we have a new actor who I think looks better for the role In this scene.
Speaker 2:Arya is there to kind of add the voice of what? Is it condemnation to the Hound, reminding or letting the Brotherhood know that the Hound killed her friend Micah, like Beric said he said she said reminding or letting the brotherhood know that the hound killed her friend micah, like barrack said. Is he said she said so it which leads to a trial by combat. It's a reminder of tyrian in the area, but this time we have the, the lord of light, involved. So that's going to be an interesting little thing which will happen, I think, in the next episode. I don't remember, but that's all of aria's little story. Um, I like the whole setting of it and it's kind of in a cave in the next episode. I don't remember, but that's all of Arya's little story. I like the whole setting of it and it's kind of in a cave.
Speaker 2:In the beginning of our episode here we do hear the audio of the Hound not pleading for his life, because he's like you know what, go ahead. If you're going to do it, go ahead, do it, or try to do it, and maybe I can get out of it. Okay, now we're going to get to the portion of this episode that we've been waiting for. I know Minwa has been really excited to talk about this scene. It's one of the best scenes of the whole series and sure you know characters secretly understanding a foreign language is a trope. That's kind of been done many times, been done many times, but I don't know it's never landed this satisfying when it comes to, uh, denarius, stormborn of house targaryen, the queen of the andros and the roina and the first man, the lady of the seven kingdoms, calicia, the great seas, mother of dragons, break your chains. All that good stuff.
Speaker 1:I Betrayed, I betrothed, as per the veto, magic Sad Rizzo's boost our East Coast, our Jivali Me gay diner is gel mass more in Targaryen and blood. And the narrator with the one again, sam Valeria moon, you English new, he's no, I gave you Valerio Muniwengos knew he's ESA Govacade. Axio ozentas, metio ozentas Killoni Pilos lue vale Tolvi ozenetas Ininio tricatas urne lue tolede prishatas Dracarys you know, before House of the Dragon she's the only character to ever say those words, dracarys.
Speaker 2:And now we've had maybe four people have said it with the house of the dragon crew and nobody can say it like her.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry no, no, no, I agree, I agree. Like I have goosebumps, I can't remember if I ever got goosebumps from like bathroom house of the dragon and I watched the scene. How many times I watched the scene? A hundred times probably.
Speaker 2:Yeah before you go I do want to just a little quick note is that for this season amelia clark was nominated for, I think, supporting actress for emmy. This is the episode she submitted for the uh to get the nomination. There's something I found with the wiki for game of thrones.
Speaker 2:It says that daenerys is not being poetic when she says lo, valerian is her mother tongue. She was raised in the free city since she was an infant, and the people of the free city speak different dialects of valerian. Viserys was a boy when they fled westeros, so he already knew the comment on westeros and insisted that the neris learned the language of the homeland they needed to take back. But otherwise most people Daenerys interacted with during her entire life in exile in the free cities would have spoke Valyrian. In spite of this, in Pentoshi we don't hear her speak it, probably just to make things simpler for the audience and because linguist David J Peterson hadn't given the massive task of inventing Valyrian yet and we don't get to see it until season three. So that's a little note that I wanted to throw out there.
Speaker 3:You know it's her most iconic scene in all of Game of Thrones. When people think of Game of Thrones of Dany, this is the scene that they think of Because this is when, like that's it. She shows everyone who she is and what I mean by that is. She shows the audience that have been doubting her for seasons one and two. You know the people that maybe they didn't really get her journey or her vision, or they didn't have faith in her. You know, when she was going through Carth and all of that hardship, they were like, I don't know, like is she? Does she really have it in her? She talks about her being her right. Can she actually be the queen? You know, despite everything, is it just her dragons that make her you know what I mean think that she has this claim or is it just her birth? No, no, the people closest to her.
Speaker 3:You know in the last episode I've talked about how annoyed I am with Jorah this season, how I hate him. Okay, he gets on my nerves Him, barristan Selmy. They didn't see the vision. They didn't believe in her and she believed in herself. She knew and I believed in her and sorry, I'm just, oh, I can talk about her for ages. I have to stop myself a bit.
Speaker 3:But like this is when she shows you who she really is, what she's capable of, how smart she is, that she thinks 10 steps ahead, even when supposedly one of the best nights in the world bear, since I made it and see it's coming, and she didn't want to reveal it to them because she wanted to show them and, like in person, see who I am. You know, I'm not just going to tell you that, oh, it's so epic, I love it, like there's a reason. All of this is why it's her most iconic scene, because this is the moment. That that's it. That's who she is. She is Daenerys Stormborn of the House Targaryen, the first of her name, the Unburnt Queen of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea, breaker of Chains and Mother of Dragons. That's it. That's when she becomes this. I love her. I can't continue this one girl, but let me pause. Let me pass the mic to you.
Speaker 2:This is going to be the clip I share on Instagram, so that's great.
Speaker 3:No, no, please don't.
Speaker 2:It's the moment like this that makes the time spent in Qarth in season two bearable and ultimately worth it. If nothing else, the show is content to put us through the necessary like how do you say grunt work. So future plot lines can flourish like this. But her playing the long game does work out beautifully, and I think what's great about Daenerys is that she preserves her humanity throughout her journey to this point. Like, she has that deep sense of compassion and she also has that sense of justice. So she remains determined not to become the monster that her family or everybody thinks she's going to become.
Speaker 2:You know the fact that she doesn't hesitate in defining the kind of leader she wants to be like right after she gets the unsullied. Through this risky but brilliant maneuver, she immediately accepts it free. She's echoing the moment where she liberated her khalasar at the end of season one. Uh, dropping the whip obviously is a symbol of the tyrant she could have become. She doesn't command them, but instead invites them to join her, and her gamble again pays off in a resounding gesture of 8 000 spears banging, banging against the ground. In agreement, I will say, though, that you just read this so you remember that the Unsullied start pounding their spears, but they also start saying Jarkaras. They say Jarkaras to say okay, we're going to do this. And also in the novel, she doesn't drop the whip. She throws the whip to Krasnus in his face and then she releases Drogon on him with the commands of Dracarys.
Speaker 3:I love that detail too, because I forgot. Now, if she says it in the speech or if she says it later on, by her doing that, that's her erasing, or like telling them that they have their freedom now. Do you know what I mean and you can follow me if you want to, and they all want to. I love when there are scenes where there's something that's said without any dialogue, without any explicit words. It's through an action, and that's the meaning behind Danny getting rid of that whip. And I like that detail just because it's nice.
Speaker 2:So that's going to be all for our coverage of Season 3, episode 4. And now his watch is ended. What do you have the rating for this episode?
Speaker 3:Minhwa Can you answer that first.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'm going to give it 9.5 out of 10.
Speaker 3:Wow, wow really.
Speaker 2:And I'm not doing that because that's what it's currently rated on IMDb.
Speaker 3:I wonder why too, I think it's currently rated on imdb, but I wonder why too?
Speaker 2:yeah, I think it's just a brilliant episode that that last part alone is worth nine points yes, yep, I can't, I can't like disagree.
Speaker 3:I was gonna say a nine, but you might have convinced me to give it a 9.52, because if I don't give this a 9.5, what on earth am I gonna have a 9.5? I mean, on earth am I going?
Speaker 2:to have a 9.5? I mean, it's so good. I've seen it, like you said, a thousand times. I love seeing people reacting to it for the first time. I'm assuming that your favorite scene of the episode was the last one with Daenerys. That's one of the easiest picks we're going to get.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I was going to make a sarcastic joke and be like no, actually it was like Cersei and Tywin, which is also a good scene, but no, no one can say anything but Dany's scene, and if you choose something else, you're lying to yourself.
Speaker 2:So our next episode, we'll be covering episode five of season three, called Kissed by Fire. It's going to be it's going to have a lot of great scenes of dialogue.
Speaker 3:The end. It's going to probably be a lannister highlight episode, because there's also a really great scene with jamie, if I'm not mistaken, when he talks about his backstory for the first time, and that continues the arc, or like the journey, of feeling bad for jamie, and I can't wait, uh, to see it unfold and I hope you guys listen along with the next episode as well. Thank you so much for listening to this episode of dancing with dragons. Be sure to follow us on instagram at dancing with underscore dragons, keep up to date with other episodes and game of thrones and song of ice and fire, house of dragon content, and be sure to add, listen and download our episodes on your preferred listening platforms and give us a rating and review our comments so that, if you get the chance, we'd really appreciate it. Thank you guys so much.
