‘Game of Thrones’: Season 7, Episode 4 – ‘The Spoils of War’

Daenerys Targaryen’s conquest over Westeros is off to a rocky start. The Lannister forces have outwitted her multiple times, capturing and killing her allies and leaving armies cornered and without aid. She still has her dragons, but Cersei even has a supposed counter to them too.

How will Daenerys respond to Cersei Lannister’s threats? And can she convince Jon Snow and his Northern forces to aid her against their common foe?

While we wait to see what Daenerys’s next move is, here’s a look back at the season so far, as well as what we can expect in the next episode:

The Targaryen War of Conquest

Cersei Lannister and her forces have spent much of the last couple of episodes picking off Daenerys’s allies one by one. Cersei drew “first blood” in her battle against Daenerys when Euron Greyjoy attacked her fleet and captured Ellaria Sand and Yara Greyjoy. Cersei then had her forces abandon her ancestral home of Casterly Rock in order to invade the Tyrell keep of Highgarden and remove Olenna Tyrell from the “game of thrones.”

The invasion of Highgarden also had a secondary benefit: the Tyrells were perhaps the richest house in Westeros. With the Iron Bank of Braavos demanding repayment of the loans the Lannisters took out, Cersei needs the spoils from Highgarden to make good on her debts to continue paying for her expensive wars. And, as we know, a Lannister always pays their debts. 

The Long Night

Daenerys does have one more potential ally: Jon Snow. The newly crowned King of the North had his long-awaited meeting with Daenerys last episode, but it wasn’t to discuss a possible partnership. Instead, Jon tried to convince Daenerys of a greater threat, a threat lurking beyond the wall.

Jon has seen the Night King and his massive army of the dead and he knows that they’re coming for all of Westeros. Dragonglass is one of the few things that can kill a White Walker and their wights, and Jon met Daenerys largely because her current base of Dragonstone is sitting on top of a mountain of it.

Daenerys agreed to let Jon start mining the dragonglass in the last episode, but she doesn’t seem convinced about the larger threat waiting for them up north. 

A Cure

Daenerys has one other ally that could return to her side soon: her longtime advisor Ser Jorah Mormont. Jorah advised Daenerys for years, but the two had a falling out when she discovered that he initially joined her side to spy on her for King Robert. 

While trying to get back in Daenerys’s good graces, Jorah contracted greyscale, a disease that affects both the body and mind. And while he succeeded in winning back Daenerys’s trust, he couldn’t stay by her side because of how contagious the disease was.

Jorah headed to the Citadel in Oldtown, looking for a cure. While the maesters there claimed there was no way to save him, Sam Tarly (who traveled to the Citadel for training and to help his best friend Jon Snow) found a dangerous procedure buried in a book. 

Jorah’s father Jeor was a former Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and had saved Sam several times during Sam’s time on the Wall. So, Sam disobeyed his superior’s orders and treated Jorah himself…curing him but earning himself extra duties at the Citadel as a punishment. 

The Starks Reunited

No family has suffered more over the last few seasons than the Starks, but it seems that the remaining children are all returning home. With Jon Snow in Dragonstone, Sansa has assumed control of Winterfell and preparing the Northern forces for invasion. 

While Sansa long assumed she was the last Stark, her brother Bran returned home from his long sojourn north of the Wall last episode. However, Bran is still struggling with his new role as the Three-Eyed Raven and was creepy and distant to Sansa in their sole conversation.

Another Stark could also be returning home this episode. Arya Stark recently abandoned her quest to assassinate Cersei Lannister after discovering that Jon Snow is alive and in control of Winterfell. But while she was always close to Jon, her relationship with Sansa is…complicated at best. Will the two sisters be overjoyed to see each other, or will old grudges and wounds come boiling to the surface?

We’ll find out tonight. Game of Thrones airs at 9 p.m. EST / 8 p.m CST on HBO.