07x00 - The Story So Far

[bunniefuu]

Welcome to Westeros, where the fight for the kingdom is on.

- Anyone can die.

- Which is fine.

Where great families live and die for the Iron Throne.

They're all weaving these tangled webs.

Some are noble.

Jon Snow's everybody's hero.

Some are not.

- If you're gonna be bad, be really bad.

- I want my crown!

So many kings and queens in waiting.

It's about power and greed.

But an icy foe may well end them all.

When's it start?

Season seven is coming and so are the dragons.

So let's burn through the epic saga to date.

This is what Game of Thrones does, it...

- it sucks you in.

- With Game of Thrones: The Story So Far.

When you play the Game of Thrones you win or you die.

There is no middle ground.

As season one opens, it's the calm before the storm.

King Robert Baratheon rules from the capital King's Landing but his days are numbered.

To be king in Westeros, you sit on the Iron Throne in King's Landing and you're ruling over the Seven Kingdoms.

Start the damn joust before I piss myself!

He's locked in a loveless marriage and only chose his queen for her family's name to hold his kingdom together.

I'm very sympathetic to Cersei.

She was completely in love with him.

She... she was in awe of him almost, and he turned into this almost semi abusive drunk.

Sometimes I don't know what holds it together.

Our marriage.

This unhappy couple have three golden haired children to their name but Cersei keeps a deadly secret from Robert.

The children are not his.

The truth will be discovered on a royal trip north and it's here that our story really begins.

The King has asked his old ally Ned Stark to help him rule.

Ned and his wife Catelyn govern the north.

Fiercely loyal to the crown.

The Starks stand for loyalty, integrity bravery.

They are really the moral compass of the show.

They're the good guys and they're the ones that you find yourself rooting for from the start.

The couple have five children: three sons and two daughters and the decimation of this happy family will reverberate throughout our tale.

They're almost too innocent for that world.

King Robert arrives with his Queen Cersei and with them is the whole Lannister clan.

That's Jamie Lannister.

The Queen's twin brother.

Oh, the Lannisters.

They're blonde they're beautiful they're arrogant, so f*ck them.

And it's really the Lannisters who were going to introduce a lot of trouble into the lives of the Starks from this point.

The arrival of the Lannisters into that world totally sends shock waves through the whole family.

Bran Stark goes climbing one day, gets to the top of the tower and discovers the Lannister's deepest, dark secret.

The secret is that Cersei the queen is actually sleeping with her brother Jaime.

The Lannisters, oh god!

They are...

I have never seen a family... I mean talk about dysfunctional.

Stop! Stop.

It's incest which even in Westeros is generally frowned upon.

It also means that King Robert's children are not actually his children.

- It's alright, it's alright.

- He saw us!

I heard you the first time.

He knows what it means too, and he knows that if the incest is discovered, not only will he and his sister be put to death but their three children may very well too.

And so for Jaime Lannister, the greatest swordsman in Westeros, there's only one solution.

The things I do for love.

Here's a convenient way.

The kid'll die, it'll look like he fell and our kids will be safe.

First in a coma, Bran will later awake with no memory of how he fell or what he saw.

The Royal secret is safe for now and only the viewer has seen what the Lannisters will do to keep it.

Everything went pear shaped after that and really that's the whole chain of events starting.

King Robert still wants Ned down in the capital, so this will be the last ever time we see the Stark family all together.

A family which includes Ned's son out of wedlock, the bastard Jon Snow.

Ned must now leave his family and follow King Robert south taking his daughters Sansa and Arya with him.

The reason I think that the first season of Game of Thrones works, is it's essentially about this good family that just wants to essentially be left alone and serve their king and their country.

This good family is ripped apart and thrown into situations that they never anticipated.

They are bound for the capital, King's Landing where Ned's new task will be to protect King Robert from those who would unseat him.

And in season one, viewers learned the greatest enemies live in exile overseas.

The Targaryens.

They were dethroned by King Robert in the last w*r.

The only surviving members of the family are a brother and sister called Viserys and Daenerys.

The siblings are the children of the Mad King who was k*lled in w*r.

Viserys dominates his younger sister.

Viserys has more than a touch of the Targaryen madness and you know sometimes he's protecting her but he's also trying to treat her as a,

- as a bargaining chip.

- Come forward my dear.

In search of an army, Viserys makes a pact with a savage tribe, the Dothraki.

Offering his beautiful young sister in marriage to their leader, Khal Drogo.

She's the only bargaining chip he has; he doesn't have any wealth anymore; he doesn't have any armies, but he has her who he can trade to this horse lord.

I would let his whole tribe f*ck you, all , men, and their horses too, if that's what it took.

He's power-hungry but to a nasty degree.

He doesn't really care how or by what means, he just wants to be important and looked up to.

But his plans backfire.

Daenerys and Khal Drogo fall in love and become quite the power couple.

Suddenly she finds herself with Khal Drogo empowered.

People are obeying her.

Tell him I want what was bargained for or I'm taking you back.

He completely underestimates not only Danny but Khal Drogo.

What's he saying?

He says yes.

You shall have a golden crown.

It's a real coming-of-age story throughout the first season.

She really grows into herself.

- Look away Khaleesi.

- No.

This is one of the turning points for Daenerys.

I think this is when you realize that she's prepared to sacrifice anything for the greater good.

Crown for king.

He was revolting.

He was utterly, utterly revolting, and that was the moment that she escaped from her shell. When she became the woman and not the kowtowed girl.

And as the Targaryens grow in power, we learn that King Robert faces another challenge to his northernmost borders.

Threats which led past rulers to build this giant wall of ice to keep out wild things beyond.

It's protected by the legendary Night's Watch.

The Night's Watch are a small army who guard the northern border of the country.

In season one, there's lots of fighting for the throne but actually in the background there are these creatures appearing north of the Wall that nobody has seen for thousands of years and no one quite wants to believe that they're there but they certainly are.

We hear the characters saying that this is all folklore or that this is all made up, but for the viewer we see that basically these characters do exist. They are there.

I think the White Walkers are really terrifying mostly because you're not % sure, you know what they're capable of doing or what their motives are.

They are a serious thr*at.

In season one, in search of a purpose, Jon Snow ventures to the Wall and joins the Night's Watch, a leader in the making.

Jon Snow's everybody's hero, Jon Snow's one of my favorite characters. He's the dude.

He's also in search of answers.

The question of Jon...

Jon Snow's parentage has been one of the burning topics amongst not only the show's fansbut book fans for many decades.

Jon Snow is Ned Stark's bastard son.

He brought him back from a w*r and we never really learned who the mother is.

Understandably Catelyn, Ned's wife, isn't too fond of Jon for that reason.

Try as she may she could never make peace with that, with the fact that Ned was, unfaithful.

But down in the capital King's Landing, Ned Stark has a much greater challenge to face.

His daughter has fallen for Prince Joffrey.

She's presented with marrying the future king, live in a beautiful castle, go to banquets, have beautiful dresses to wear. A fairy tale story.

Ned has discovered the Queen and her brother are lovers and this will be his family's undoing.

When the King returns from his hunt I'll tell him the truth.

You must be gone by then, you and your children.

I will not have their blood on my hands.

But before he gets the chance to talk to King Robert, King Robert gets himself k*lled on a hunting trip.

Joffrey is now king, and without Robert to protect him Ned is tried for treason.

He confesses, believing it will save his daughter, but misjudges the new ruler.

He's been stuck up in the north too long and has no idea how the real world operates, how to really deal with the kind of... the politics of Westeros.

Bring me his head!

That's when you realize nobody is safe in this world at all.

When I saw Sean Bean pushed down that was the only scene that really has brought a tear to my eye.

It's cruel, it's heartbreaking, but there's a point to the children witnessing this.

If they want to survive they have to start to be resilient.

They have to learn from this.

It was at that moment you realize what Game of Thrones was really about.

It's here that the Stark family splinters.

Arya is whisked away by a Night's Watch brother loyal to Ned, leaving Sansa at the mercy of Joffrey.

Robb Stark reacts with murderous rage to the news that his father has been beheaded.

Robb's the heir and he's not only picking up his father's mantle as Lord of Winterfell, but he's picking up a much older mantle.

The crown that no one has worn for years, the kingdom of the north.

It will lead to all-out w*r between the Starks and the Lannisters who were led by its patriarch Tywin Lannister.

Tywin Lannister is one of the great warriors and battle strategists of the age.

As well as his twins, Cersei and Jaime, he has a son he despises, Tyrion, known as the Imp.

You're wounded.

- Good of you to notice.

- Tyrion obviously is just brilliant.

- I hear we won.

- Stereotypes of what a hero should be or should look like in Game of Thrones are just completely blown out the window, because we've got Tyrion who, you know, doesn't look like your archetypal hero, but he is.

As w*r rages in Westeros, over the Narrow Sea, Daenerys loses a husband but gains astonishing new powers.

She walks into Khal Drogo's funeral pyre with fossilized dragon's eggs.

What an epic scene.

Season one ends with the sight of Daenerys emerging from a fire, unscathed with her dragons hatched.

These creatures are extraordinary creatures the likes of which have not been seen in hundreds of years.

'Blood of my blood... '

You see these, these three dragons around her and you're, just, like, they're gonna be awesome when they're grown.

The innocence is gone, she's it.

She's the force now.

As the dragons are born she comes more and more into her own

- until the power becomes innate to her.

- It's about a new era.

The whole first season is essentially the old era dying out; the new era beginning and by the end she has a sense that she knows that she's bound for greatness.

And after the break, watch those dragons grow in season two.

Welcome back to Game of Thrones: The Story So Far, where season two marks a new reign of tyranny in the capital, King's Landing.

Joffrey is brutalizing his subjects as well as his bride-to-be Sansa Stark.

You can't!

What did you say?

Sansa has learned some painful lessons along the way.

The chivalrous knights and gallant princes that she dreamed of, she... she got a gallant prince and he turned out to be Joffrey.

k*lling you would send your brother a message.

She's a prisoner in the worst place imaginable, enduring all kinds of psychological and sometimes physical abuse from these captors.

Leave her face.

I like her pretty.

He's a bully, and we don't like bullies.

I heard a disgusting lie about Uncle Jaime.

And you.

He's the product of a brother and sister shagging, so like you know this might be why he isn't all there mentally.

Cersei's smart enough to realize that Joffrey is perhaps not what she might have hoped for and he's getting out of her control now and he's a danger in part even to her and even to other members of the family.

What you just did, is punishable by death.

Joffrey's enemies are everywhere.

Chief amongst them and just across the bay at Dragonstone is Stannis, brother of the late King Robert, who believes the throne should be his.

Stannis has learned that Robert's children are Lannister bastards which means that it is Stannis who is next in line.

So Stannis Baratheon, who knows that King Joffrey is the product of incest, decides to send ravens out to all the corners of the Seven Kingdoms letting them know the Lannister secret.

In order to claim the throne, Stannis enlists the red priestess, Melisandre, who was on her own mission to find the right ruler for Westeros.

She believes Stannis is the savior of the world, basically.

He's supposed to be on the Iron Throne and her magical powers have no limits, I think.

There's there's so much that we don't know that she can do.

However, Stannis isn't the only one after the throne.

His younger brother, Renly also believes he has a claim and so w*r is inevitable.

The Iron Throne is mine by right.

All those that deny that are my foes.

The whole realm denies it, from Dorne to the Wall.

They both think they should be king but I'm on Stannis' side, so screw Renly.

Rather than fight it out on the b*ttlefield, Stannis finds another way to k*ll his brother.

I guess family ties don't mean an awful lot in Westeros.

The powerful sorcery of the red priestess is revealed when she gives birth to a sinister w*apon.

The shadow baby is basically just a way to k*ll Renly and it comes out of me in a great way.

I think Melisandre, she's always lived by this religion.

If she's got something to do she's gonna do it and she's not gonna let other people stand in her way.

What I think's brilliant about Game of Thrones, he lives in a fantasy world, it's a completely realistic depiction of how power works.

What power does to people, what people do to get power and what happens when they fall short, when they miss the mark.

That's why it's so brilliant.

When Renly is m*rder*d, he leaves behind his widow, Margaery Tyrell who belongs to the Tyrell family who are very rich and powerful in their own right.

Calling yourself king doesn't make you one and if Renly wasn't a king I wasn't a queen.

Margaery is an absolute piece of work.

You know she wants power.

Do you want to be a queen?

No.

I want to be the queen.

Across the Narrow Sea, Daenerys Targaryen is learning valuable lessons in her quest to return to Westeros and seize the throne.

She's desperate to be a good ruler.

That she can, you know, go to bed at night saying I think I'm doing things the right way.

As Daenerys' power grows, so do her dragons but as news of their existence spreads, they become highly sought after.

When she's in Qarth, everybody's kind of think "Who are you?

We'll just take your dragons.

We'll take your dragons and you're not powerful anymore."

Dracarys!

People have underestimated her, the whole way.

And it is in season two, that we finally see the dragons k*ll for Daenerys.

As Daenerys gets stronger in exile, Jon Snow and the Night's Watch are on a mission beyond the Wall where the true scale of the thr*at to the kingdom is revealed.

... Blown the horn. When will he come?

The army of the dead is on its way and it's gonna kick off sooner or later and really you know they've got to get out of there

- as fast as they possibly can.

- One blast for friends, two for foes.

And three for White Walkers.

The thr*at of winter coming is very much a myth to the people of the south.

They're not really taking it seriously.

They don't know about the undead and all the horrors that are coming towards them.

So what we learn in season two is that the White Walkers are very much real.

They're nothing like we've ever seen before in television.

They're not just zombies, they're not just statues, they're walking... ice cubes, basically.

They're, they're really bad and they're, really scary and it's literally, I think it's got to be a fight of Ice and Fire.

We have all these kingdoms wanting to fight for the throne and they think that that is what ultimately the battle is about but really at the end of the day, they're not looking at what's the real problem here and it's the White Walkers.

And it's in season two in King's Landing, where we see that Tyrion may just be an asset to the w*r when Stannis launches an att*ck on the city.

I'll lead the att*ck!

Battle of Blackwater was his moment.

He was the best person to speak to the people of King's Landing and to get them to protect their, their... their... their city because he knows what it's like to fight, he knows what it's like to have your back up against the wall.

Those are brave men knocking at our door.

Let's go k*ll them!

Tyrion manages to get the troops fired up by giving a good speech and fired up then heads out with them to fight Stannis on the bay.

He doesn't last very long, he gets knocked out after a couple of minutes.

Tyrion is upstaged by his father Tywin who arrives with his own massive army bolstered by the Tyrells

who've now firmly joined the cause.

It's that moment where you really see where power lies.

It's not in the king, it's in the person behind the king.

The battle is over.

We have won!

And so season ends with the Lannisters victorious.

After the break, season brings more terrible losses for the Starks when they attend a cataclysmic wedding.

Welcome back to The Story So Far.

Where as season three begins, Daenerys has set sail on a mission.

She and her dragons may have grown in power and stature but securing an army still eludes her.

So she ventures to a place where she can buy one.

She knows she needs an army, a powerful army too, if she ever wants to reclaim the Westerosi throne and the best bet for that are the Unsullied.

I have dragons.

- I'll give you one.

- She appears to want to trade the dragon for slaves.

She seems to have made this daft agreement to give away her best dragon.

She hands over the dragon.

Next thing you know once she's got control of the Unsullied...

Then it's very easy to say to the dragon who still will listen to her and not to him,

- burn him.

- Dracarys!

Because you would take power if you have the force of a dragon.

They're pretty impressive creatures.

She's been the mother of dragons and knew she was destined for greatness but now she really is a queen with an army.

To then see that she has thousands of people on her team and then you get like this swoop past.

She's got these, like fire-breathing mythical creatures that are just gonna tear sh*t up.

As this young Targaryen gains followers, in King's Landing a young Tyrell is gaining influence.

Margaery has replaced Sansa in Joffrey's affections, a reward for her family's m*llitary support at Blackwater.

I imagine it must be so exciting to squeeze your finger here and watch something die over there.

Marjorie is a woman who's on top of the game, she's controlling where she's going, she's a proper feminist icon.

But the Tyrell's ambitions are not going down well with Cersei Lannister.

Alana is a matriarch of the family and she advises her granddaughter on how best to play the political game so that she might take power in King's Landing.

To make matters worse, her soul mate Jaime is a prisoner of w*r.

He is held first by Brienne of Tarth, then both are captured by a northern faction.

Looks like your woman's getting the better of you.

This is all bundled up in when Jaime begins to start thinking about other people.

His efforts to stop Brienne being r*ped are the beginning of that.

You know who she is, don't you?

It's good when those little bits of goodness come in those characters that are so devilish, as well just give you a little light in there.

Lord Selwyn would pay his daughter's weight in sapphires if she's returned to him.

I mean of course it being Game of Thrones it doesn't get him anywhere.

Another one of those Game of Thrones moments which has so much more going on in it than just him losing his hand.

He's the greatest swordsman in Westeros we're told, so he can't do that anymore.

He's now made a good friend in her and he's seen a lot of things and I'm sure he's questioning what being a Lannister is about as well.

Yet without his hand, we see Jaime Lannister at his most heroic.

The heartless knight who pushed Bran Stark from the tower finds new honor in Season .

He's left, he's left her behind, he's abandoned her and he's on his way to King's Landing and then, then his captors mentioned that, what's gonna happen to her.

Nice bear!

And then he decides to return and save her.

And it is in season three that we witness the fearsome work of another powerful family, the Bolton's,

who are scheming to take control of the north.

I think the Bolton's want pretty much what everyone else seems to want.

It's power and status.

k*ll me!

You're no good to me dead.

We need you.

Ramsay, a bastard son of the family, enjoys torturing his enemies

including Theon Greyjoy who he took prisoner when sacking Winterfell after Ned's demise.

Historically, the Bolton's have always been just... just under the Starks, kind of the Starks have always been on top of them, so I think they feel that now is their time to rise.

You don't look like a Theon Greyjoy anymore.

It's unbelievable what Ramsay is capable of doing to people.

Reek!

He's just all about the mind, he's all about making you doubt yourself, he's all about getting in there and making you insecure and making you feel like you can't go up against him.

Another hostage at large in season three is Arya Stark, kidnapped by the Hound.

The disgraced knight plans to find Arya's family and trade her for cash.

Remember what happens to children who run.

One of the great double acts of Game of Thrones is the Hound and Arya.

Don't!

- Don't k*ll him.

- There's something so perversely magical about that pairing, sort of warped mentor-protégé
relationship that develops.

In his desire to claim a ransom, the Hound heads for the Twins where he knows Arya's mother and brother, Catelyn and Robb Stark, are attending a wedding.

The Twins is a strategic river crossing controlled by the Frey family and the Starks need them onside for their w*r effort.

Walder Frey is a very bitter nasty old man who controls a small but significant area in the kingdom.

I was pledged to marry one of you and I broke that vow.

If he's been let down by Robb Stark after this promise, if he shows any kind of forgiveness or, just let it go, we didn't want to marry my daughters, marry someone else, he would lose face, in that world, it's a vicious world he's operating in.

The Stark family offer Robb's uncle to make amends and are here for that wedding, a terrible mistake.

Catelyn in her heart knew that you do not break a promise if you are the king of the north and also you certainly don't break it to Walder Frey.

Your grace...

He's probably laid awake for nights just planning it and timing it and working out just how it's gonna work out.

The moment when Cat sees that Roose Bolton is wearing chainmail is a powerful moment.

Why would you wear chain mail to a wedding, and what is the purpose of chain mail, it's to prevent you getting k*lled.

- Robb!

- Even though I'd read the scripts, the Red Wedding still completely, was shocking and I was still screaming at the TV,

"Don't do it, no don't, don't", you just don't want it to happen.

The Red Wedding is the event that pretty much decimates an entire generation of the Stark family.

Within the Game of Thrones, Walder Frey's not playing the Game of Thrones.

He's not attempting to be the king.

He's actually perfectly happy with what he's got.

He has his own little fiefdom and he's all sitting in the chair watching terrible things.

He's a rotter isn't he.

He's absolutely rotten.

Grim.

The Lannisters send their regards.

It is an ambush backed by Tywin Lannister.

Robb was such an amazing character and you kind of want him to be the king and to win.

It's the cruelty of it and it's the relishing of it.

Everything goes to hell at the Red Wedding.

Arya stark arrives at the Twins to witness her brother's desecrated body and loses any last shred of innocence.

She's there. She's there at the Red Wedding, she's outside and she was so close, you know she was so close to seeing them again, she was so close.

The path that she goes on, she learns to become stronger and fight and also she is after revenge.

And when she comes across her family's K*llers later...

You little sh*t.

... she matches their brutality.

She's had to go over to the dark side, that's what makes her interesting.

In order to survive in that world, you've got to match what is given you.

And so by the end of season , all the elder Starks have gone from the Game of Thrones.

Only the children remain,orphaned and scattered across Westeros, including Bran Stark, still paralyzed from his fall.

He's fled Winterfell with a loyal band of followers heading north.

So Hodor we know as

- a very loyal character.

- It's all right, Hodor.

He lost the use of his legs and Hodor's the person that carries him around and takes him everywhere.

Being the big giant of a man that he is.

It's all right.

The wolves will protect him.

Him and his brother Rickon are the two last male heirs to, to the, to the Stark household and yet it's fast depleting.

We're running out of Starks.

Bran Stark is very much on his own journey to discover the roots of this ancient magic that's reappearing in the kingdom throughout the seasons.

And yet amid this loss comes a small victory.

Unlikely hero Samwell Tarly stumbles on a weakness of the White Walkers.

Samwell reaches for all he has to hand, an old dragonglass spear he once found in the ground.

To his astonishment it, it works.

The spells are shattered and it's melting before him.

And stay with us to see wedded bliss vanish, after the break.

He's choking!

Welcome back to Game of Thrones: The Story So Far.

We're in season four, a Royal Wedding in King's Landing unites two great houses of Westeros, the Tyrells and the Lannisters. Margaery and Joffrey's wedding is one of those weddings that we all have to go to where there's no love in the room.

The wedding brings another great family into the game.

The Martel's, represented by Prince Oberyn.

We're the hottest couple at the wedding

What else is there to say?

- Ellaria Sand.

- My lord. My lady.

- Charming.

- He has a zest for life, and all the beautiful things that the world has to offer.

None of it is as beautiful as his own rage and taste for revenge.

Oberyn is seeking vengeance for his sister's brutal death

- at the hands of the Lannisters.

- r*pe and m*rder of women and children is considered distasteful. Joffrey really uses the wedding as an excuse

- to be as horrible as he can.

- Uncle, he can be my cup bearer.

He sees it as an opportunity to wield his power because he can.

And you're dying for something to happen to him.

And so an unseen hand poisons the newly wed King.

- Idiots, help your king.

- Move away!

It's the moment of retribution that the whole of the Seven Kingdoms

- have been waiting for.

- Geoffrey!

I think everybody who watches Game of Thrones was hoping this day would come.

I wanted to k*ll him in such a way that the viewers were reminded that here's a year old boy who's dying.

Though it is actually the Tyrells that have poisoned Joffrey, it is Tyrion who is blamed.

This is really the point where Tyrion's fragile bonds with his family begin to unravel.

Take him!

Take Him!

Take Him!

In plot terms, the death of Joffrey is another shaking of the board where the pieces are scattered and also it's one of those things that elevate the whole series from merely a story into a saga.

As the royal family grows weaker, news from Westeros reaches Meereen where Daenerys has conquered the city, but she is not yet ready to capitalize on her enemy's weakness.

King Joffrey Baratheon is dead.

m*rder*d at his own wedding.

This would appear to be a really good time for her to finally make her play for the Iron Throne.

She has the dragons and she has the army, and she has the strength of character.

But actually she has new responsibilities now, when she has unfinished business where she is, and she's still trying to learn how to rule.

And to compound matters, her dragons have grown so big that Daenerys has started to lose control of them.

No!

As they get bigger, as her power increases, the harder it is for her to manage.

And that's where the story then has to go.

All they're going to bring is complexity.

And when one of the dragons kills a child and abandons her, Daenerys is left with no other choice but to chain the other two.

She's just locked up her dragons, so can she unleash them again, and will they forgive her?

Without the mighty force of her dragons, Daenerys is faced with a dilemma as to what to do next.

She's definitely going through a sort of a dark night of the soul, I think, where she's trying to determine, have I got what it takes.

And so in season four, as Daenerys remains in exile, across the Narrow Sea, Sansa Stark has fled the capital and taken refuge with her aunt Lysa, who has been seduced by an arch schemer.

Littlefinger is playing a very chaotic game and he thrives on that.

Oh, my sweet wife.

For Littlefinger, it's all about getting power I think, and using Lysa as a pawn along the way.

Sansa has witnessed Lysa's m*rder, and covers for Littlefinger.

Sansa's one of these pure characters who's been mistreated all through the series.

She's seen a lot of horrible, horrible things happen and she's never been able to take control and this is the first time. Actually, she's got nothing else to lose.

When Sansa lied to protect Littlefinger, I cheered. I thought thank God girl.

He tried to reason with her, promised her she was the only one he'd ever loved but... she stepped through those doors...

What you discover, is that she's been learning this entire time.

She's been listening,

she's been watching.

She's been taking Littlefinger's lessons to heart.

So from one Stark protégé to another, Sansa's sister Arya is still the Hound's hostage but they're now on an equal footing.

Who would pass the bloody gate?

The bloody Hound, Sandor Clegane.

He's her captor but he's also her protector and you know she's seen his own pain and his own fear at times and they've shared some dangerous situations.

But when The Hound is gravely injured in battle, Arya is forced to strike out on her own.

f*ck it. I'm ready.

Now he's wounded and he's dying and she's remembering all he said about mercy and he's asking for mercy and by mercy he means, you know, a quick thrust to k*ll him.

And she doesn't give it to him.

k*ll me.

She won't put him out of his misery, she won't give him the easy way out, she's going to leave him there to suffer.

Another wandering Stark is Arya's crippled brother, Bran, who has made it north of the Wall in search of the three-eyed Raven who he believes will help him walk again.

All the time aided by his loyal traveling companion, Hodor.

I think Hodor's more than just Bran's legs.

I think he means a lot to Bran, you know, someone... he's always been there through absolutely everything, you know, even though he can't speak, he can only say one word, he's always someone that's looking after them.

You know, in a world of evil, he's probably one of the only good ones.

Clearly Bran is very important because he's trekked all the way up north to a cave where this, this raven has been summoning him for the past couple of seasons, and now he's in this cave with the three-eyed raven.

Really we're gonna find out what, what the grand scheme of things is for Bran.

You'll never walk again.

But you will fly.

His powers, he's getting stronger and there's gonna be some really exciting things happening and we're gonna find out more and more about him.

At the Wall, the Night's Watch suffers a huge wildling att*ck at Castle Black, but in season four they get a powerful new ally.

Stannis Baratheon, who's been away licking his wounds after the Blackwater defeat, joins them with his vast army.

The Battle of the Blackwater was a huge and crushing defeat at the end of season two and it's taken them basically two seasons to sort of rebuild from that, and his arrival means that Jon Snow could have a new ally in the battle against the White Walkers beyond the Wall.

If my father had seen the things that I've seen, he'd also tell you to burn the dead before nightfall.

All of them.

Season four draws to a mighty climax in King's Landing when the ultimate father-and-son showdown comes to a head.

Tyrion is tried for m*rder.

I'm guilty... of being a dwarf.

- You're not on trial for being a dwarf.

- Oh, yes I am.

I've been on trial for that my entire life.

He's put on trial for a m*rder he doesn't commit.

His father deserts him and betrays him.

I demand a trial by combat!

I mean, trial by combat, you can get someone to fight for your honor, so whether you're wrong or not, as long as they win the fight that's what matters.

He names Oberyn Martell as his champion.

The one thing that he's ever lived for, is to avenge his sister's death and he knows that now that the opportunity is presenting itself, there is no question that he will get what he wants.

You k*lled her children!

And he does get what he wants by forcing a confession out of him.

It's not exactly how he expected it.

I k*lled her children.

He still technically got what he wanted, you know.

Then I r*ped her.

Then I smashed her head in like this!

But when Oberyn is defeated, Tyrion is sentenced to death.

In Westeros the pursuit of justice is as futile as anything else.

Oh, get on with it, you son of a whore.

Is that any way to speak about our mother?

Tyrion is released from jail by his brother Jaime and told to go and board a ship and run away.

Instead he decides to check in on his father.

But it's his former lover Shae that he discovers in Tywin's bed.

Tyrion then kills Shae in a sort of fit of jealousy and then takes a crossbow and goes to find his father.

Tyrion.

Put down the crossbow.

It's so tightly wound, this scene.

This is someone who spent his whole life trying to win his approbation, as much as he hated him, he really wanted that, you know.

Obviously that's never gonna happen now because he put a crossbow bolt in his groin.

What it means, is when a big character like that goes, there's gonna be a power vacuum and there's gonna be hustling and jostling to get into his place.

I am the queen!

I am the queen! Have you lost your mind?

Join us after the break, we're in season five and new power rises in King's Landing.

Welcome back to the Story So Far.

Where in season five, a Royal Wedding unsettles Cersei.

Her son Tommen is now king and has fallen under the spell of his new Queen, Margaery, much to Cersei's dismay.

When Margaery come in his life, I think he was just enjoying life so much.

Judging from the King's enthusiasm, the Queen Mother will be a queen grandmother soon.

- Wouldn't that be a lovely day.

- Him being King was just a whole new excitement, a whole new life.

Cersei empowers religious fanatics to help her topple her rival, Queen Margaery.

You can't do this. I am The Queen!

She brings back the faith militant because she's, like, well hopefully I can clear the board with these guys and regain some of my power.

But Cersei's engineered her own downfall.

Royalty is no longer above the law and fanatics come for her next.

There's another contender to power in Westeros and it's... it's religion.

It's the power of the faith.

They want to remove all the excesses, to strip Cersei of all her finery, and encourage her, in inverted commas, to become clean.

A sinner comes before you.

Watching Cersei do the walk of atonement... something happened that I thought would never happen and that is I felt compassion.

No matter what she'd done previously, she didn't deserve this.

And so season sees her left naked before her subjects to atone for her infidelities.

The walk of shame was tough was very, very tough for her.

Very, very few women could have done what she did, complete that walk.

And you see her trying to maintain this regal presence but she can't.

Stripped down to her literally, physically and emotionally and psychologically stripped down to her most vulnerable, and then swept up into the arms of the Beast that she, that she invited into the world.

The strange creation that is her new knight.

It's just a brilliant twist.

Also getting a new ally in season five is Daenerys, in the form of Tyrion.

After k*lling his father, he's fled across the Narrow Sea, a fugitive on the run.

He was a Lannister and he had all the money in the world and a noble name and a big bag of gold can buy you a lot. All that's gone now.

He's totally at the mercy of the people he's traveling with.

- Who're you?

- And then the unthinkable happens.

- I am the gift.

- He's captured and handed over to his family's greatest enemy, the Targaryen Queen in Waiting, Daenerys.

My name is Tyrion Lannister.

And between them they are an extraordinary force.

Protect your queen!

She appoints him as her political adviser but when a civil rebellion begins,

Tyrion gets to witness Daenerys transform into a true Targaryen.

The symbol of the Targaryen's coming to claim their power is on the back of a dragon. 'Cos I mean, it's not much you can do when you're standing on the ground and a dragon's coming at you.

She's had the dragons now for quite a long time but her actually becoming a dragon rider, that's her claiming her birthright more than I think anything else we've seen her do because that is how the Targaryan's wielded their power.

Vlar!

Everybody painted that picture of Daenerys flying her dragon, had never really happened, and I've waited so many years to see that and she finally does and she does it in a wicked way where she's escaping death.

Daenerys, she's got the greatest name ever.

Stormborn, Mother of Dragons.

Daenerys Stormborn Targaryen, I love that name.

She's got these dragons as backup and then she's got Tyrion, who knows King's Landing, who knows the political side of things, and he's been through battles as well.

Yet as season five ends, Daenerys' dragon delivers her to an uncertain fate.

The last thing we see of Daenerys in season five, she's surrounded by Dothraki, back where she bloody started.

In season five is one of vengeance for Arya.

The young Stark follows her mentor to Braavos

- to become an assassin.

- To serve well, a girl must become no-one.

Arya's relationship with Jaqen is fascinating.

He is utterly mysterious and she is seduced by his power.

I didn't come here to sweep floors.

No?

Why come then?

- You said I could be your apprentice.

- The power of death, the power to choose who dies.

And Arya uses her new skills to slaughter Meryn Trant, a name on her k*ll list of people who've destroyed her world.

Arya, I think has crossed a line, and if you look back to season one, what would Ned Stark think of Arya's actions.

Is that what he would want for his daughter?

There is a sense of vengeance rather than a sense of justice.

As Arya explores vengeance, back home the battle is on for the Stark family home. Stannis Baratheon is marching on Winterfell, now held by the Bolton's.

But sometimes sacrifices must be made to ensure victory.

He's going after something and it is, it's increasingly futile.

In a desperate move, Stannis follows the advice of the red priestess who promises him victory if he makes an unspeakable offering to the Lord of Light.

She managed to convince him to burn his own daughter.

That's one of the most chilling scenes, I think, of season five, when, when he burns his child.

She's believed in this god for so many years I think that if it's not to do with the god she kind of just blocks everything out and I think that's what happened as she blocked out the fact that she was going to be sacrificing a child.

She was sacrificing the King's blood.

Melisandre really thought that Stannis would be the one and you know she's put a lot of her heart and soul and everything else into, into helping him.

But it proves to be his undoing.

His men desert him, and Melisandre, realizing all is lost,

- flees to Castle Black,

- Your Grace. leaving Stannis to advance to Winterfell on his own.

Speak up.

Can't be worse than mutiny.

He's had a rough old time, Stannis, hasn't he.

Because really he should be the king from after Robert Baratheon dies, but every battle he loses he becomes further and further involved with this kind of fantasy.

And awaiting Stannis at Winterfell are the Bolton's who tried to cement their position in the north with a tactical marriage to Sansa Stark, orchestrated by master manipulator Petyr Baelish.

She shouldn't trust Littlefinger, I mean why are you gonna trust Littlefinger, I mean, geez!

He is the dodgy car salesman in Game of Thrones, offers you everything and gives you nothing.

May I introduce my son, Ramsay Bolton.

Now that the Bolton's have kind of established themselves at Winterfell, bringing in a Stark will really solidify their position in the north.

But it's a huge miscalculation that traps her in another brutal relationship.

Ramsay is a horrible, cruel, evil, power-hungry man.

He took psychotic nature to another level.

I mean he went there, and he went some.

Oh, no no no.

You stay here Reek.

You watch.

Fellow-prisoner Theon Greyjoy aka Reek is too terrified to help.

I think we all thought he should have stepped in on the wedding night.

Let's be frank.

With Ramsay distracted by battle,

- You're leaving it to me?

- Sansa is caught attempting to escape, and it's only then that Reek finds the courage to become Theon again.

Stop! Stop!

I think that was a moment that we all needed to see, Theon again had been so much at the mercy of Ramsey, that finally he had a moment where he could do good.

And so by the end of season five, Sansa has jumped either to her death or to her freedom.

It's someone being pushed in every way to the absolute limit of their will to live and having come through that, she's obviously gonna be quite a different person.

As Sansa and Theon leap from the walls of Winterfell, nearby Stannis is facing defeat by the vast Bolton army.

I think Stannis had given up.

I think even before they'd gone into battle, I think he was going there to die.

Fate finally catches up with Stannis when he comes face-to-face with Brienne of Tarth who sought vengeance for

Renly's death since season two.

She is probably the toughest person going about, about Westeros.

But as Stannis bows out, Jon Snow comes up against a greater foe when he ventures to Hardhome to make peace with the Wildlings.

This alliance is sacrilege, but when the White Walkers launch a full att*ck, Jon sees his hunch is right.

All humans must unite to fight them.

What's so great about the whole White Walker mythology is the way it has been building throughout the series.

Who knows what they want. They would bring death and destruction to absolutely everything.

Up until this point they've been semi-mythical characters. It's been the White Walkers in those cold lands that no one ever goes to and here they are in front of the heroes, then they're very real and it's a very real danger.

I don't think the White Walkers are afraid of anything.

I think fear is just not in their vocabulary.

And then Jon and the viewers see the Night's King reveal that he has a greater power.

He can raise and recruit the dead.

It's a challenge to Jon, and 'look what I can do'.

Forget all the other battles that are going on, you know, battles for castles and, and kingship, you know, he's got to focus his army.

But on Jon's return to Castle Black in the final minutes of season , viewers witness the cruelest blow of all in a gut churning finale.

When I saw the cross with traitor written on it, I thought oh no, they're not gonna k*ll him and then they did!

For the Watch.

You root for him but the great thing about Game of Thrones is your heroes can die any second.

For The Watch.

They're all members of the Night's Watch and no matter what one of their brothers has done, what they did was worse than what he did.

And so season ends on betrayal and death.

Is this really the end for Jon Snow?

Only season six holds the answer, after the break.

Welcome back to the Story So Far, where season six begins at the scene of a crime.

Jon snow lies slain at Castle Black and all hopes are pinned on the red priestess and her magic to bring him back. Game of Thrones needs Jon Snow.

We do, we need him to finish what he started.

As viewers hope for Jon's resurrection, we learn that Melisandre harbors a great secret.

The reveal of ancient Melisandre was definitely one of the most stunning surprises in season six of Game of Thrones.

It shows how much older she actually is and how much longer she's been believing in this god for.

Then we see her use this power for Jon.

She tries to bring him back to us, to resurrect him, it doesn't work.

When the wolf started to sort of make some noise that's when I thought, I think everyone thought, Jon Snow's alive.

And then he's just like that moment of... Jon Snow has returned and all the Westeros rejoices.

And after the miracle of Jon's rebirth, comes a partial reunion of scattered Starks when Sansa arrives at Castle Black, and together they'll gather forces in a bid to retake the north.

Sansa's become majestic but she's also become savvy.

She's lost that naivety.

A monster has taken our home and our brother.

We have to go back to Winterfell and save them both.

She's a queen, really.

In terms of being from a powerful family and being able to make decisions and tell other people to do stuff,

I think she's gonna tell other people to do stuff.

And across the sea in season six, another young royal's in similar mood.

Daenerys, who's been a hostage of the Dothraki, burns their leaders and converts the tribe.

The huge Dothraki horde.

We're gonna finally get a lot of different power factions coming together in a very scary expl*sive way.

And she also gets a navy, forging an alliance with the Ironborn who bring ships.

But as Great Houses unite for w*r, beyond the Wall we learn more about the deathly foe which threatens them all.

While time training with a three-eyed Raven, Bran Stark uncovers a great secret.

White Walkers were created from the first men.

The children of forest invented the White Walkers to help protect their own race.

It was an innocent defense to do that.

But clearly it has gone out of control.

And when the White Walkers come for Bran, there are terrible casualties.

Hodor is a goner.

Hold the door!

A completely pure act of protection.

There was nothing, there was no greater goal to what he did other than protect Bran.

Everyone who's basically just given in order to give way for Bran and there must be a reason, right?

We know he's become the three-eyed Raven.

But how's he going to use those powers.

And as the three-eyed Raven, Bran resolves a great Stark secret when he sees Jon Snow's mother is Ned's sister, Lyanna.

You understand what Ned has been going through the whole time.

He made out that it was his son, his bastard son, but it was really his nephew.

But it confirms Jon Snow is still half Stark and in season six, he and Sansa march on their family seat of Winterfell to fight Ramsay Bolton, in what goes down in history as the Battle of the Bastards.

Ramsay's now top dog, having m*rder*d his father and newborn brother.

Now, if you want to save...

You're going to die tomorrow, Lord Bolton.

When you play the Game of Thrones, you either win or you die, you know, and she knows it's about winning now; she's had enough of all the rest; it's time to win.

She offers her insight.

You think he's going to fall into your trap, he won't.

He's the one who lays traps.

She's lived with this man for a long time and she knows that, he is cruel to the core.

- Sansa's words go unheeded.

- Let's play a game.

Ramsay baits Jon with his hostage Rickon.

Run to your brother.

It shows a lot about how Ramsay's mind works.

He's calculating; he's always thinking about the next move, you know it's very interesting how Machiavellian he can be as well.

Ramsay Bolton's, like, yes

I've got you now boy, just in the middle of no man's land.

That's what Game of Thrones does so brilliantly is, it, it's constantly pitting good moral forces against bad ones, and you don't just win because you're good.

They were surrounded by the entire army; they were being driven into the mud.

Ramsay should have won, he was much more conniving, much more cunning, and if it hadn't have been for Sansa coming in at the last minute, then he probably would have won.

Now that Sansa has brought the cavalry, the Knights of the Vale, it's a done deal that the Starks are going home.

This was probably the first major victory in, in six years.

They're suddenly inside the castle.

Winterfell.

It seems Jon will k*ll Ramsay, but he then leaves Sansa to take the scalp.

There was only one way to k*ll him and Sansa found the right way to do it.

She knows what she's gonna do, and she knows he deserves it.

All memory of you will disappear.

If you were face to face with your nemesis and you had the opportunity, you'd take it.

She's hardcore.

She has the makings of a Cersei.

But it's Jon Snow who becomes king as the season ends with the Starks controlling the north and for now Sansa is by his side.

She's a character that will surprise people because she's not what she seems.

And neither is Sansa's sister Arya.

Blinded and stabbed in her training as a faceless man she's now back in Westeros to deal with Walder Frey.

She's gone on this mad journey.

Arya comes in disguise, having chopped up Walder's sons.

They weren't easy to carve.

She wanted him to see who she was.

The face comes off and there's a Kn*fe.

The last thing you're ever going to see is a Stark smiling down at you as you die.

She's been caught up in it so young that she's turning into this child soldier.

Revenge is a dish best taken cold.

I literally cannot wait now for her and Cersei to face off.

In fact Cersei elevates revenge to an art form in season six as the Lannisters fight for their family's very survival.

These royal lovers are united in grief after the Sand Snakes k*lled their daughter.

The Lannisters are all about power.

They're all about revenge.

We're the only ones who matter, the only ones in this world, and everything they've taken from us we're going to take back and more.

It doesn't matter how long it takes, they will get you back.

With Jamie sent away to fight revolt,

Cersei is left alone to face judgment by the faith militant.

We are told that Cersei is going to turn up for a trial but we know perfectly well she's not going to.

But it's now she plays a game-changing hand.

She was always going to have a dastardly plan.

The man who was sent by Cersei to hold Tommen in that room...

There's something wrong.

Marjorie knows what's up in an instant.

The High Scept is packed with those who've wronged Cersei.

The Tyrells, High Sparrow and faith militant.

The amazing thing about Game of Thrones is the spectacle is always incredible and you never know it's coming.

This isn't gonna end well.

Cersei has, of course, unleashed wildfire.

She's wiped out this fantastic building; she's destroyed all her enemies.

That's what makes Cersei so brilliant; she's been to the absolute lowest place that you could possibly go and she still comes out on top.

In the moment where she gets her revenge on everyone else, she loses the only thing that she has left that matters to her.

Knowing that his mum's the one that's pretty much m*rder*d his wife, what has he got to live for.

Tommen's death leaves the Iron Throne empty, so a new reign begins.

A witch told her that she, she was cursed and that all of her children would die.

It didn't stop her from loving her kids and trying to protect them at any cost, but she accepts very swiftly her fate.

And so Jamie returns to a new world order, courtesy of his sister.

She's devastated the Tyrells.

Now the Lannisters are once more a force to be reckoned with.

Queen Cersei, sitting on the Iron Throne.

I think it's good to see her on the throne, because it really has been her who's been pushing the men, and so she should be there, right there or wrongly.

As one Queen takes the throne, another sets sail to challenge her for it.

Finally Daenerys, the Targaryen Queen is on her way to Westeros, with a vast alliance she spent six seasons amassing.

We're now getting to crunch time.

As she comes to conquer, the burning question for season seven: who might join her now?

Absolutely everybody against the Lannisters, everyone against Cersei.

Like, Cersei doesn't have a chance.

But they'll f*ck with us.

I do have this theory that the White Walkers will sit on the Iron Throne.

Just leave those dragons alone.