Qarth: Daenerys Targaryn goes to The House of the Undying to try to rescue her kidnapped dragons. She sees a series of strange visions, including snow falling on The Iron Throne, The Wall, and Khal Drogo with her son. The warlock Pyat Pree then captures Dany in chains, but she turns her dragons against him, burning the weirdo alive. Dany and Jorah Mormont return to Xaro Xhoan Daxos' palace, imprison him and rob him of all his valuables. (This is his punishment for double-crossing her with the warlocks.) The jewelry should be enough to buy Daenerys a ship, she believes. (Frankly, I was expecting a bit more from this scene, but I encourage viewers to read "A Clash of Kings" to get a fuller feeling for just how weird The House of the Undying is and the prophecies it contains. Unfortunately, there also was no mention of Dany's older brother, Rhaeger, in this scene, even though he factored heavily into it in the books. The story of Rhaeger's life and death is likely pivotal to understanding Westeros' mysteries, but it's yet to be mentioned on the show.)
'Game of Thrones' recap: Season 2 finale, 'Valar Morghulis'
Will any of this Lannister-Stark squabbling matter once The Others attack?
The road from Harrenhal: Arya Stark encounters everyone's favorite new character Jaqen H'ghar, who gives her a special coin and teachers her to say "Valar Morghulis." He reveals to her that he is one of the Faceless Men of the east, some of the most feared assassins in the world, and shows her how he can actually change his face (freaky, I know).
North of the Wall: Legendary ranger Qhorin Halfhand forces a fight with Jon Snow (knowing it's the only way to make the wildings accept Snow as one of their own) and purposefully loses. After Snow kills the Halfhand, wildling captain Rattleshirt cuts the ropes off his arms. "Burn the body," the Lord of Bones says. "You don't want this one coming back for you." Ygritte then leads Jon to a spot where she could see Mance Rayder's camp. "Time to meet The King Beyond The Wall," she says. As the episode ends, the true size of Mance Rayder's army is shown: It's huge. Hundreds of thousands of people, easily. We also get our best view yet of The Others, and they are an ugly bunch to say the least. They appear poised to attack The Fist of the First Men, where members of the Night's Watch were camped.
It wasn't as thrilling an episode as last week's "Blackwater," but the season finale advanced at least seven major plot-lines, including perhaps the two most important. Though most of the events on the show take place in southern Westeros, the action is building in the east and north, and one day (only George R.R. Martin knows, for sure) we may see a battle between The Others and Dany's dragons befitting the name, "A Song of Ice and Fire."
Luke.Broadwater@baltsun.com
Twitter.com/lukebroadwater
