White Watchers GoT Recap: 6.3 “Oathbreaker”

This is a recap of Game of Thrones season 6 episode 3, “Oathbreaker.”

********Show and Book SPOILERS below**********

This episode opened right where the story left off with Jon Snow. (Again). It’s clear that they are prioritizing his story over the others, which is just fine with me. Give me all the Jon Snow! Not just half a butt, I want it ALL!

(…I’m kidding.)

Seriously though, Jon’s story was by far the most dynamic in this episode. He made some big changes and is going through some big stuff.

I think Jon’s just done dealing with the White Walkers for now. And I personally think it’s mostly because of self-doubt and fear, which is kind of sad. I also think there’s a healthy dose of rage in there. Either way, it looks like Jon Snow is officially off the Night’s Watch bandwagon. “My watch has ended.” YES IT HAS. This line was the highlight of the episode for me.

So the question is still, what is Jon going to do now? I think he’s probably going south (since the alternative would be going over the wall…) and I think it most likely he’s headed for Winterfell. But the question is not just about him, his choice could affect a lot of other characters as well.

What is Davos going to do? Will he follow Jon? That could bring him closer to his book storyline… Plus I really like them together. I loved the scene they had together at the beginning of the episode.

Will the Wildlings follow Jon south? I hope so. He could use an army to take back Winterfell, although I think it would be out of character for Jon to ask them to fight for him. It would be more likely in my mind for some of the Wildlings to ask Jon if they could come with him.

Also, I’m terrified that Sansa will arrive too late to meet Jon and that something terrible will happen to her and/or Brienne. I WANT TO SEE HOUSE STARK REUNITED. GIVE IT TO ME, SHOW! Let Jon find Sansa and rescue Rickon. JUST LET IT HAPPEN.

Either way there’s probably going to be an altercation between Ramsay and Jon; Jon has every incentive to take back Winterfell, especially because Rickon’s there. Who knows if/how he’ll find that out… but even if he doesn’t I think he’ll go anyway. I’m sure he has a lot of pent up rage about how his family has been treated, and he has to take it out on someone. And if he doesn’t go to Winterfell, Winterfell might go to him—Ramsay went on record last episode saying he thought they should get rid of Jon to solidify their claim—and then he killed Roose right after he shot down that idea. So one of them will go after the other, or they’ll meet in the middle. Either way, if Ramsay doesn’t die and Jon doesn’t live, I WILL RIOT.

Speaking of all that good stuff, the episode’s biggest reveal was that one of the Umbers (Hother?) brought Rickon (and Osha) to Ramsay in return for promised help in defending against Jon Snow’s Wildlings. So it looks like the Umbers are semi-officially on Ramsay’s side. Ramsay said last episode that he only needed the Karstarks, the Umbers, and the Manderlys to win the North. And, Northerners realllllly hate Wildlings. So good luck Jon Snow. And good luck Rickon… Ramsay could probably use Rickon to lure Sansa back, although if word gets out that Rickon’s alive, that may complicate things. Ramsay would probably want to kill Rickon immediately, because people already think he’s dead and because Rickon has the claim to Warden of the North over Sansa. And it will not look good if it gets out that Ramsay killed a Stark, because most of the North is still loyal to the Stark family. (Hence why Roose didn’t want to go after Jon Snow).

Also, R.I.P. Shaggy Dog. Saddest death of the episode for me. I'm still hoping that this is an elaborate trick to unseat Ramsay from the inside, which I suppose is totally possible. Guess we'll find out eventually.

And, as usual, other stuff happened too:

Thorne is finally dead after six seasons of being the Wall’s worst. And so is Olly. I never hated Olly like some people did; I mean, he’s a child, and in our justice system we recognize at least some lessened capacity and responsibility for children. So it was sad but… oh well. I would have liked to see Thorne get owned by Jon in a fight, but really this death makes so much more sense. It was good, and carried a lot of narrative and symbolic weight.

What I am mad about is that Tower of Joy crap they pulled. First of all, though the sword fight was awesome (action- and story-wise)… Arthur Dayne has two swords now? Okay I guess… BUT THEN! THEN! They wouldn’t show us the rest of it. I CAN’T BELIEVE they just cut off the scene like that. What are they playing at?! Not only did they not show it to us, but they sat there and had the characters draw out the discussion about whether we could see it. They had better show us what’s in the tower next episode. I’m pretty sure I heard a scream coming from the tower—a scream of childbirth? I NEED TO KNOW.

SO anyway, besides the angst over that, Bran’s doing fine. The tree man keeps saying that Bran won’t be there forever, which leaves us wondering what in the world is Bran going to do once he gets learned and leaves?

And speaking of Starks: Arya got her sight back. (But BOOK SPOILER she doesn’t have her wolf sight, so boo. In the book the reason she is able to fight so well blind is because she is cheating by looking through the eyes of animals around her. This shows the reader that she is actually holding on to her Stark self even though she says she is no one. So in the show, it really looks like she is devoted, whereas in the book we know that she really isn’t even though she wants to be. I’m not sure at this point whether the show is just leading us on with this, or if she really will lose her Stark.

We didn’t see a whole lot from the south, but I think it was enough. The scene with the Spider and the whore was one of my favorite of this episode. Some good old fashioned tense conversation and manipulation. And then I also appreciated the jump to Qyburn right after, taking over the Spider’s “little birds” (AKA children) back in King’s Landing.

Besides that scene, King’s Landing just showed us more of the same this episode; Tommen went to see the High Sparrow and by the looks of it was taken in by his religious dogma. Jaime and Cersei tried to Strongman their way onto the Small Council, but Kevan Lannister and the Queen of Thorns were having none of it. But also, they could have just followed them out the door? Like, there’s nowhere the council could have gone to get away. Sure it would look childish, but it would be effective…

And in other news: we finally got to see Sam, who is on a boat to Oldtown with Gilly. They are taking their time with his story, and it looks like they may even be stopping off at Horn Hill to dispose of Gilly and baby Sam before finally getting to Oldtown.

We got nothing from Pike, but it looks like we’ll get to see some of that next episode. It looks like Theon IS going to make it in time for the moot after all, which is surprising because that’s not exactly a short journey to make. The show is making some time jumps here, which leads me to believe that they are making room for big stuff happening towards the end of the season. Fingers crossed. Sansa/Brienne/Pod are also making their journey in incredible time since it looks like they will be at the wall by next episode as well. Same with Dany, who’s in Vaes Dothrak already and waiting for her fate to be decided by men. (Gross.)

Also nothing from Jorah/Daario, although it looks like they will be in next episode. Same with Littlefinger. Nothing from Dorne either (fine with me).

Conclusion:

I liked this episode (as usual). There were some great lines, and some humor (dick jokes!) but overall not much really changed. I tend to favor episodes with bigger reveals, I think, but I enjoyed the little reveals we got too. I totally called Rickon being Ramsay’s “gift,” but I’m not happy about it. Also not happy about Dany’s situation. (Really, show?) But I loved all of Jon Snow’s scenes and I couldn’t imagine a better way to have done them. I cannot wait to see what he does now.

I give this episode 3.5 out of 5 kings.