One of the most common complaints from fans of A Song of Ice and Fire, the book series Game of Thrones is based on, is that recent seasons of the show have deviated too far from its source material. While the first three seasons followed the books nearly perfectly, later seasons have made big alterations. Several character arcs have been changed or written out entirely (sorry, Arianne Martell, Jon Connington or Victarion Greyjoy) and, for obvious reasons, some plotlines have been simplified or removed altogether.
But Sunday night’s Season 7 premiere, “Dragonstone,” contained a few nods to the books as it set the season into motion and placed the game’s players on the board.
To book readers, one of the most glaring omissions in the show was the removal of Lady Stoneheart. For the unindoctrinated, Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley), after her death at the infamous Red Wedding, is resurrected by Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) at the end of the series’ third book, A Storm of Swords. Under the name Lady Stoneheart, she sets out for vengeance on anyone associated with the Freys and Lannisters, the two families responsible for the wedding slaughter.
While Lady Stoneheart didn’t appear Sunday night, it seems her mantle has been taken up by someone else: her daughter Arya. The show’s cold open begins with wizened Walder Frey (David Bradley) toasting his entire family with wine. That’s the first sign that something’s up — Walder was killed by Arya (Maisie Williams) at the end of last season. It’s soon revealed that Arya is wearing Walder’s face and has poisoned all of the Freys. After telling Walder’s now-widowed child wife (Lucy Hayes), “When people ask you what happened here, tell them the North remembers,” she walks off with a smirk on her face.
Sandor Clegane (Rory McCann), better known as the Hound, returned last season after being defeated by Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and left for dead by Arya in the Season 4 finale. He’s traveling north with the Brotherhood without Banners, led by Beric and Thoros of Myr (Paul Kaye). The Brotherhood comes across a home in the Riverlands where the Hound and Arya stayed with a peasant farmer and his daughter during the fourth season. The Hound finds their decomposed corpses and, apparently saddened at their deaths, digs a grave and buries them.
This is a nod to a book theory about a character known as the Gravedigger. In the books, the Hound is still presumed dead after his duel with Brienne. However, in the fourth book, A Feast for Crows, Brienne notices a novice monk digging graves who fits the Hound’s description: tall, large and nursing a severe injury. Among other evidence, the Gravedigger also pets a dog, which leads many readers to believe this alludes that he is the Hound.
A Feast for Crows also deals with the struggles of the everyday people of Westeros. While most of the story focuses on the aristocracy — the kings and queens, lords and ladies, knights and maesters — Feast makes clear the horrors a nationwide civil war inflict on everyone. The acknowledgement of the deaths of the two peasants adds a taste of one of Feast’s main themes to Game of Thrones.
Outside of things that made book readers giggle, much of “Dragonstone” picked up where last season’s mind-blowing finale, “The Winds of Winter,” left off. Newly appointed King in the North Jon Snow (Kit Harington) — it’s so incredibly bizarre to hear him called Your Grace — is rallying the remaining houses of the North to prepare for the army of the dead, while local sleazeball Petyr “Littlefinger” Baelish (Aiden Gillen) is sowing seeds of tension between Jon and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner).
In King’s Landing, Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asboek) promises his fleet of a thousand ships to Queen Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) if she’ll marry him. She declines, calling him untrustworthy — rich from a woman who has betrayed and murdered countless enemies — so he promises to bring her a priceless gift.
In Oldtown, Samwell Tarly (John Bradley) cleans bedpans, weighs livers and finds Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), whose entire arm has now been consumed by greyscale. It appears Jorah, in his quest to find a cure for the flesh-eating disease, has made his way to Oldtown. Sam also discovers that there is a mountain of dragonglass, which kills White Walkers, underneath Dragonstone.
At Dragonstone, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) arrives at her ancestral home at long last, accompanied by two eunuchs, a dwarf and a servant girl — Varys (Conleth Hill) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson), Hand of the Queen Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) and Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel). Just like her ancestor Aegon the Conqueror, who set up the Targaryen dynasty, Dany is starting at Dragonstone; from there, she can begin her invasion of the Seven Kingdoms.
An exposition-heavy episode, “Dragonstone” leaves viewers with numerous questions. What “priceless gift” will Euron bring Cersei? Will Jon attempt to ally with Dany in order to defeat Cersei and mine the dragonglass mountain? Will Jorah cure his greyscale? And — as viewers learned at the end of Season 6 — how will Jon learn that he is the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen? More than likely, we only have six more episodes for these plotlines to unfold before all focus turns to the White Walkers and the army of the dead and winter truly comes.
Rating: 4/5
Game of Thrones airs Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
