‘Game Of Thrones’ Recap: Drogon Returns & Shireen Is Sacrificed

Game of Thrones returned Sunday with its penultimate season 5 episode, “The Dance of Dragons,” which delivered one of the most horrifying scenes of the season followed by one of the most triumphant.

Game Of Thrones Recap

Castleblack: Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) returns to the wall with hundreds of Wildlings in tow, looking up at Alliser Thorne (Owen Teale) at the top of the wall, clearly fearing that he will not let them through. Jon’s tensed face immediately relaxes with relief as he sees the gate begin to open. Once inside, Jon confesses to Sam (John Bradley) that he feels as though Hardhome was more failure than victory, as they’d lost so many of the Wildlings – a reality of numbers that won’t be lost on their new allies. Looking up at one of the walkways, Jon makes eye contact with Olly (Brenock O’Connor) and smiles, but the boy turns away in disgust, paining Jon. As for Alliser, he acknowledges that Jon has a good heart, but he fears it’s liable to get them all killed.

Braavos: Arya (Maisie Williams) continues her shadow job as an oyster girl, selling her wares down by the docks with the intention of killing the “thin man.” He calls for her, but she ignores him when she spots Lord Tyrell (Roger Ashton-Griffiths) and his entourage disembarking from their ship. It is not, however, Tyrell in whom she’s interested, but rather kingsguardman Ser Meryn Trant (Ian Beattie). Following Trant, Arya ends up trying to sell her oysters at a local brothel. A contrarian Trant turns down one prostitute after the other, wanting someone younger. Before the madame brings out a young girl, Arya is pulled into the room to offer him some oysters. Though recognition flickers upon his face, he’s preoccupied with the girl he’s been offered, telling the madame, “You’ll have a fresh one for me tomorrow.” After getting booted by the madame, Arya returns to the House of Black and White and lies to Jaqen (Rom Wlaschiha) about why she didn’t kill the “thin man,” and says she’ll return to him the following day to do the job.

Dorne: Jamie (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) meets with Prince Doran (Alexander Siddig), Prince Trystane (Toby Sebastian), Ellaria (Indira Varma) and his niece/daughter Myrcella (Nell Tiger Free) at Sunspear. Doran desperately wants peace, which Ellaria, still reeling from Oberyn’s death, finds despicable. When Doran raises a glass to Tommen’s good health, she dumps out her wine. Ignoring Elliaria, Doran makes a deal with Jamie, agreeing to allow both Myrcella and Tristane to return with him to King’s Landing. But, he wants Tristane to take his brother’s place on the small council, which Jamie has no issue with. He does, however, want Bronn’s (Jerome Flynn) freedom. Doran delegates the decision to Tristane, who is willing to grant him his freedom on one condition – a knock to the face by his biggest guard.

The North: At Stannis’ (Stephen Dillane) camp, a fires break out among the tents. And, surprisingly, it wasn’t the work of Melisandra (Carice van Houten), but that of Ramsay’s band of 20 men. As a result, Stannis’ army has no more food or siege weapons, and hundreds are dead. Davos (Liam Cunningham) advises Stannis to head back to Castleblack and stay there until fairer weather, but Stannis, ignoring him, goes to talk to Melisandra. He then asks Davos to return to Castleblack for supplies. Stannis reminds Davos that he didn’t hire him as hand of the king for his military prowess. Davos, wise to what Stannis might be planning, asks if he can take his wife and daughter with him, or at the very least, just his daughter Shireen (Kerry Ingram), but Stannis refuses him. Davos then goes to see Shireen and gives her a wood carving of a stag, the sigil of the House Baratheon, and thanks her for teaching him to read.

After Davos had taken off north, Stannis visits with Shireen, who is reading A Dance of Dragons. Shireen tells him of the story of war in which two brothers divided a kingdom. Stannis, contextualizing what she’s read, attempts to absolve himself of the great crime he intends to commit in order to help himself get to the throne. Unknowingly, Shireen volunteers herself to help him succeed in anyway she can. “Forgive me,” he whispers into her ear. Shortly thereafter, Shireen is walked through throngs of soldiers to the stake on which she’s to be affixed and burned. Stannis and Selyse (Tara Fitzgerald) watch on. Although Selyse initially reassures Stannis that it was the right decision, she makes a last ditch effort to save her only child that proves futile.

Mereen: Dany (Emilia Clarke), fulfilling her duties as Queen, takes in the fighting pits with her husband Hizdahr (Joel Fry) at her side, as well as her lover and advisor Daario (Michiel Huisman), Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel). In the first battle, to Daario’s surprise, the larger man kills the quicker man. Tyrion admits that he does not see the bloodsport as a matter of pleasure, and blithely insults Hizdahr by telling him that his father would have liked him.

Things take a more serious turn when Dany sees Jorah (Iain Glen) in the pit. When it looked as though certain death was upon Jorah, Tyrion urges Dany to end the fight. Dany lets the scene play out and is ultimately relieved when Jorah ends up winning the battle. As the crowd boos his victory, Jorah notices a Son of the Harpy behind Dany and throws a spear up into her platform to kill him. When Daario turns around, he realizes that their enemies are everywhere. Jorah and Daario try to steal Dany away to safety, as Tyrion saves Missandei. All of them end up trapped in the center of the stadium, surrounded by Sons of the Harpy. Just as it seems that all is lost, Dany’s dragon Drogon, swoops in to breathe fire on the mutineers. In the end, Dany mounts her dragon and takes off out of the pit.