- The penultimate episode of “Game of Thrones” is called “The Bells.” It featured a showdown between Cersei’s and Daenerys’ forces in an epic battle at King’s Landing.
- We break down 17 details you might have missed while watching the episode.
- Warning: this video contains spoilers.
- Visit INSIDER’s homepage for more stories.
Following is a transcript of the video.
Narrator: The penultimate episode of the final season of Game of Thrones involved a major battle at King’s Landing and things took a very dark turn.
Here are 17 details you might have missed.
And warning, spoilers are coming.
1. Scorpions
Once again, in this episode we saw the title sequence change. In this week’s opening credits one major change, we see scorpions, those giant crossbow like weapons that Qyburn created to slay dragons sitting atop the walls at King’s Landing.
2. Varys' letter
The episode opens with Varys writing a letter about John Snow's true parents. It's a mirror of the letter Ned Stark wrote to Stannis Baratheon back in season one, exposing that Jaime Lannister is the true father of Cersei's children not Robert Baratheon.
Ned Stark: You will sail to Dragonstone tonight. You will place this in the hand of Stannis Baratheon.
Narrator: Lord Baelish, like Tyrian Tavares in the last episode, tries to convince Ned to drop it and allow Joffrey to take the throne.
Lord Baelish: You would be wise to deny it to him and to make sure Joffrey succeeds.
Narrator: And like Ned, Varys pays the price for his actions with his life. There appear to be multiple letters Varys is writing. Could he have sent them out already and to whom would he have sent them?
3. Martha
As Varys writes his letters it's interrupted by Martha, a little girl acting as one of his spies. We've actually seen Martha before, she was hiding in the crypt along with Varys during the battle of Winterfell in episode three.
4. Daenerys' promise
Back in season seven, episode two, Danny tells Varys.
Daenerys: If you ever betray me, I'll burn you alive.
Narrator: Well, it's clear Danny made good on that promise.
5. The stupidest Lannister
When Tyrion sets Jaime free to go rescue Cersei, Jaime says Cersei once called me the stupidest Lannister. That's a call back to season seven, episode seven.
Cersei: Expedition North, I always knew you were the stupidest Lannister.
Narrator: Cersei was berating Jaime for heading north to fight against the threat beyond the wall.
6. Jaime and Cersei reunited
This conversation was the last time Jaime and Cersei saw each other and takes place in the exact same spot where they were reunited as the Red Keep crumbled in this episode. More on Jaime's and Cersei's deaths in a bit.
7. Mirror image of the Battle of the Bastards
We get this scene of Danny's armies charging against the remaining Golden Company forces after a large chunk of them are blown away by Drogon's fire. The shot is a mirror image of the Battle of the Bastards when John is faced with an onslaught of men and horses. But unlike John's heroic fighting stance, Harry Strickland, the leader of the Golden Company, runs for his life.
8. Cersei's stance
As Danny burns the outer wall at King's Landing we see Cersei standing in the exact same spot she stood when she burnt down the Sept of Baelor back in season six, only this time she's on the losing side.
9. Bran's vision
That Danny's dragon, Drogon, would fly over King's Landing was foreshadowed in Bran's vision in season four, episode two, as he touches the Weirwood tree. Bran saw the shadow of a dragon above the rooftops.
10. The Hound and the Stark daughters
As the Hound attempts to convince Arya to leave the Red Keep instead of going to kill Cersei, he grabs her and shouts, look at me. The Hound does the same thing during the Battle of Blackwater in season two with Sansa after she refuses to flee King's Landing with him. This shows the Hound's arc with the Stark daughters.
The Hound: Look at me.
11. Cleganebowl
Narrator: Cleganebowl finally happened which certainly comes as no surprise. But what is significant about the showdown is that the Hound dies with a zombified Mountain by falling into the fiery city below. The Hound is deathly afraid of fire because his brother put his face into a fire when they were children. But as the show's producer describes it, the one thing stronger in the Hound than his fear of fire is the hatred for the person who put that fear there in the first place.
12. "Sword through your eye"
In season three, episode nine, as Arya and the Hound travel, Arya tells him.
Arya Stark: Some day I'm gonna put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull.
Narrator: That's exactly what the Hound ends up doing to his brother, the Mountain.
13. Aaron Rodgers cameo
Game of Thrones is no stranger to the occasional celebrity cameo. Here we see Green Bay Packer's quarterback Aaron Rodgers playing the role of a man in King's Landing helping a woman who was injured.
14. The Rains of Castamere
We hear a familiar composition at two different points during the episode. The Rains of Castamere plays once as Cersei realizes she must flee the Red Keep. And when Jaime and Cersei face certain death it's a mix of that song with The Light of the Seven. It's a clue that these characters won't survive the episode.
Season three, episode nine is called The Rains of Castamere and we hear the song during the famous Red Wedding. The Light of the Seven composition though refers back to Cersei's victory in season six.
15. Cersei and Jaime's final embrace
This episode saw the deaths of twins and lovers Cersei and Jaime Lannister experiencing one final embrace before the Red Keep collapses upon them. This moment was foreshadowed back in season five when Bronn asks Jaime how he would want to die and Jaime replies.
Jaime Lannister: In the arms of the woman I love.
Narrator: And it appears he does just that. There are other moments from the book that foreshadow this moment. In the books Jaime says, I cannot die while Cersei lives. We will die together as we were born together. And the show adapted this line from the book back in season one.
Cersei: Jaime and I are more than brother and sister. We shared a womb, came into this world together, we belong together.
16. Daenerys' vision
Narrator: In season two, episode 10, Danny had a vision upon entering the house of the undying. She sees the throne room at King's Landing in shambles with snow falling from above. Though we don't see it in this episode the throne room is most certainly torn apart. But that falling snow looks a lot like the ashes falling from the sky. Could this be what Danny saw in the prophecy way back then? Or is the snow a reference to John Snow sitting on the throne after she wreaks havoc at King's Landing? Bran also sees a similar image of the throne room in his season four vision.
17. White horse
Finally, we see a white horse standing in the middle of the ruins of King's Landing. Arya rides the horse out of the city. White horse as a mythology often symbolized triumph, but in Christianity it can also herald death like in the book of Revelation. Or is this a reference to Shadowfax in Lord of the Rings?
Gandalf: Shadowfax is the lord of all horses.
Narrator: It's also worth noting that the young girl Arya is unable to save is holding onto a little white horse.
Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments.