*WARNING SPOILERS*
Religion makes a strong play in this episode. We get to see bits and pieces of each diverse gods worshipped throughout Essos. nside the House of Black and White there are statues dedicated to the Drowned Gods, the Lord of Light, The Maiden and the Stranger. The Greyjoys worships the Drowned God, the Red Woman worships the Lord of Light while the Maiden and the Stranger are part of the Seven worshipped by the majority of Westerosi.
So why are the Faceless Men paying homage to so many different gods? According to Jaqen H’ghar as he explained to Arya “They are all one god, and he has only one gift.” The camera pans to a dead man by the drinking pool: We are led to believe the gift is Death. Here we can deduce that the lord of light, the seven, and the drowned gods are all one god: Death himself.
A meticulous viewer will notice that there is one god missing from this pantheon. The Old Gods through the Weirwood tree. The signature white tree with red leaves and a sad face where Ned Stark used to rest, Jon Snow swore his oath and Bran Stark hid near away from the Iron Islanders. The Old gods were worshipped by the First Men, the Children of the Forest and the Starks. Basically all those dudes whose homes are found in the cold north.
Back in King’s Landing we finally have a wedding where nobody died: Tommen’s and Margaery. Afterwards they had sex; lots and lots of sex. The show, nor Margaery, makes any attempt to hide this fact, especially from her new mother-in-law, Cersei. A playful bitchfight begins to formulate between the new queen and the old queen. It starts with Margaery putting ideas into Tommen’s head that his mother would be better off in Casterly Rock. We quickly cut to a scene where Cersei downplays Margaery’s intellectual qualities. It’s the typical gossip game you’d normally see in a high school teen drama movie except the stakes are much higher.
Tommen appears to have taken up Margaery’s side: One reason is because she’s his wife, but really, the most important reason is because of all the sex. In an attempt to earn favor with the common folk and bolster her own support, Cersei recruits the Sparrows. The Sparrows is a group of religious fanatics of whom Lancel Lannister is a member. They have been seen inflicting their own brand of justice on so-called sinners, having raided the brothel and shaming the High Septon. We’d also need to remember that Lancel used to have sex with Cersei and he did in fact admitted that it was his action that caused Robert Baratheon’s death. If Cersei is not careful with Lancel, all the skeletons could fall out of her closet. There would be so many bones, the ones beneath would shatter beneath all that weight.
In the north we learn of Littlefinger’s true plan for Sansa. She is to wed Ramsay Bolton at Moat Cailin, their current base of operation. For a brief moment she turned back into the Sansa of Season 1-3.The whiney, annoying girl with more daydreams and tantrums than common sense. The same girl fans grew to hate in the earlier seasons. With a little encouragement from Littlefinger she decided to play along, knowing well enough this is the best opportunity she have in avenging her family. After all, it was Ramsay’s father who delivered the final death blow to Robb Stark. Littlefinger is given the best lines in every season, this episode was no exception: “There is no justice in this world, to have justice, you have to make Justice.” As an old maid told Sansa after escorting her through the castle, “The North Remembers.” She may have more allies than she thought.
Back up at the Wall, Jon Snow is acting like a Lord Commander elect, dealing with the everyday task of building latrines and promoting his fellow brother. As a sign of peace, he promotes Alister Thorne to First Ranger and sent Janos Slynt to be in charge of a rundown castle. Janos Slynt, being a sleazy, bald-headed jerk that he is, outright refuses. Jon offers him one more chance to make amends and he calls Snow a bastard and son of a traitor. Of course, Jon Snow being Jon Snow, wouldn’t take this shit from the man who assisted in causing the death of Ned Stark. So he sentenced him to death and beheaded him. The by far was the most satisfying scene in the episode.
Finally we visit Tyrion in Volantis on his way to see Danaerys. Angry over being cooped up in a box for so long he finally muscled his way out, to the dismay of Varys, to explore the city. We sees tattooed slaves. Each tattoo indicates a profession: Hammer for a builder and tears for whores so they won’t forget. Tyrion caught the eye of a red priestess with a tear tattooed below her eye proselytizing about the Red God’s champion: the mother of Dragon. The priestess caught a glimpse of Tyrion and gave him the evil eye. A bit unnerved, Tyrion heads over to the one place where he finds comfort: a brothel. He soon discovers that Danaerys is not only famous amongst the red priesthood, but the whores themselves. On a side note:This episode is surprisingly chockfull of cosplaying prostitutes. Unfortunately Tyrion runs into someone who recognizes him and is happy to package him up for a certain Queen: Jorah Mormont.
What we gather here is that religion will soon start to play a bigger role in the series. The people of King’s landing has suffered enough and have turned to the Sparrows to see injustice and sinners punished. Cersei has committed to arming them, creating her own religious militia. The red woman Melisandre mentioned that Azor Azhai reborn, the hero of the Lord of LIght, was born of salt and storm – namely the island where Stannis rules, Dragonstone. Storms and sea water is abundant on this island. Dragonstone also happens to be where Danaerys’ was born.
There is a possibility that Melisandre may have mistaken the hero of The Lord of Light to be Stannis when in actuality it’s Danaerys Stormborn. One can surmise that this whole series is slowly setting up to pit the Gods against Gods. We have the Old Gods in their icy caverns and the God of Light and his fiery dragon. It beggars the question: Is the Song of Ice and Fire about the Old Gods clashing with the Fire God? If this is the case, get ready for the Starks to go up against Danaerys in the future. No matter what side you root for, you will never know what they will do until the end. George R. R. Martin once, “In real life, the hardest aspect of the battle between good and evil is determining which is which.”
