The Old Gods and the New (TV)

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The Old Gods and the New
Game of Thrones
Episode # Season 2, Episode 6
Airdate May 6, 2012
Director David Nutter
Episode chronology
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"The Ghost of Harrenhal" "A Man Without Honor"
List of Game of Thrones episodes

"The Old Gods and the New" is the name of the sixth episode of the second season of the HBO medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones. It was written by Vanessa Taylor and directed by David Nutter. It will air on May 6, 2012.


Plot

At Winterfell

Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen) has taken Winterfell following his prior gambit at Torrhen's Square. Declaring himself prince and Lord of Winterfell, Theon convinces the current lord, Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), to yield after promising not to harm the castle's inhabitants. However, when Ser Rodrik (Ron Donachie) is later captured outside of Winterfell and brought to Theon, the knight contemptuously spits on him, forcing Theon to renege on his promise and personally execute Ser Rodrik to save face. Later, the wildling servant Osha (Natalia Tena) seduces Theon, offering herself in exchange for her freedom; unbeknownst to Theon, Osha's seduction is a ruse to allow her and Hodor to spirit Bran and his brother Rickon safely out of Winterfell, which succeeds.

In the Westerlands

Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) has reunited with her son Robb, King in the North (Richard Madden), at his camp. Robb meets again with the neutral field nurse, Talisa, who he deduces is actually of nobility; Talisa declines to reveal her identity. Robb later learns that Catelyn's prior warnings of the Greyjoys have proved true; Theon has betrayed Robb and taken Winterfell. Robb moves to return to Winterfell to reclaim it, but Lord Roose Bolton urges council, suggesting that his son may instead recapture Winterfell in his stead while Robb continues his campaign against the Lannisters. Robb agrees, but demands that Theon be captured alive so that he may understand his treachery before personally killing him.

Beyond the Wall

The Night's Watch Ranger expedition lead by Ranger Qhorin Halfhand (Simon Armstrong) reach and capture a wildling watchpost. The wildlings are all eliminated save for a single female prisoner captured by Steward Jon Snow (Kit Harington) named "Ygritte" (Rose Leslie) . After Ygritte boasts of their growing army, Qhorin orders Jon to execute the prisoner before rejoining the rest of the group. Jon however finds himself unable to execute Ygritte; the resulting hesitation allows her to escape. After pursuing her for leagues, Jon recaptures Ygritte, but now finds himself stranded from the main party. With the night fast approaching, and refusing to set any fires or allow Ygritte to find shelter, Jon forces them both to sleep out in the open. Ygritte convinces Jon to at least huddle next to her to share body warmth, after which she begins to make sexual advances towards Jon, much to his frustration.

At King's Landing

Myrcella Baratheon departs for Dorne as part of her arranged marriage with the Martell family and to keep her safe. Civil unrest in the royal city reaches a breaking point; while King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and his entourage travel through the city, the king is struck in the face with manure hurled by the crowd. Furious, Joffrey orders his guards to "kill them all", resulting in a riot where the Lannisters are forced to flee for safety. Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) slaps Joffrey for his foolishness and tries to take control himself, but except for City Watch and Lannister soldiers, the Kingsguard refuse to obey him. Several noblemen become trapped outside with the savage mobs and are literally torn to pieces, including Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) who is nearly raped by several men before being rescued by Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann).

At Harrenhal

Lord Tywin Lannister (Charles Dance) continues to be frustrated by his incompetent war council, but finds himself growing more impressed with his cupbearer, who he is unaware is actually Arya Stark (Maisie Williams). After discovering her ability to read, Arya and Tywin talk of their fathers, with Tywin holding his responsible for the decline of the Lannisters. Meanwhile, Arya is nearly discovered after Petyr Baelish (Aidan Gillen) unexpectedly arrives into Tywin's chambers for a meeting; Baelish very nearly recognizes Arya, but is too focused on scheming with Tywin to fully make the realisation. Later, Arya is caught stealing a parchment containing war orders by one of Tywin's inner circle, Ser Amory Lorch (Fintan McKeown). She manages to escape and seek out the assassin Jaqen H'ghar (Tom Wlaschiha), who is still masquerading as a Lannister guardsman and still owes her two "lives" in exchange for her past help. Arya begs him to kill Ser Amory before he can alert Tywin, and although Jaqen chafes at being hurried into a killing, he relents and murders Ser Amory with a poison dart right on the doorstep of Tywin's chambers.

At Qarth

Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) meets with The Spice King, one of Qarth's ruling Thirteen. Daenerys' entreaties to The Spice King for a ship are rebuffed as he is not moved by her passion alone; similar meetings with other members of the Thirteen end in failure. Later, Daenerys and her entourage suddenly discover the dead bodies of Qarth guards and her own khalasar strewn about the streets of the city; the trail of bodies lead to her antechamber, where she discovers to her horror that her dragons have been stolen and her handmaiden and friend, Irri, murdered. Ser Jorah is nowhere to be seen. The dragons are then seen being ferried to a tower within Qarth by a mysterious hooded figure, crying out for freedom.

Critical reception

IGN's Matt Fowler awarded the episode a perfect 10/10, noting that "Book purists will certainly have their gripes, but I found "The Old Gods and the New" to be nothing short of an intense triumph; filled with tons of cruelty and shock".[1]

External Links

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at The Old Gods and the New. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of The Old Gods and the New. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at The Old Gods and the New. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of The Old Gods and the New. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.