‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 5, Finale Recap — ‘Mother’s Mercy’

“Game of Thrones” wrapped up its fifth season with a very big finale, full of game-changing plot twists and surprises.

Sunday’s episode felt a lot like the ninth episodes of the previous four seasons (Ned Stark’s beheading in Season 1, Blackwater in Season 2, the Red Wedding in Season 3 and the battle at The Wall in Season 4) as it packed in major moments, including huge deaths, acts of revenge, penance and some surprise returns.

Here’s our blow by blow recap of Season 5, Episode 10 – “Mother’s Mercy”:

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King Stannis Baratheon

Melisandre is in a good mood. “The Lord of Light has made good on his promise, my King. His fires have melted the snows away,” she tells Stannis, looking smug that her advice (that ended with the death of Shireen Baratheon in last week’s episode) worked. Only, it hasn’t. Moments after Stannis suggests they ride for Winterfell, bad news comes. Nearly half the men deserted before dawn – all the sellswords with all the horses, one of his men tells the king. Melisandre hears the news and sighs. Another soldier has more horrible news. He takes Stannis into a tree-filled area where the king’s wife, Selyse, is dead (by hanging). And, since bad news comes in threes, there’s one more bit. “Your grace, the Lady Melisandre was just seen riding out of camp,” a man tells him. Following that bombshell, Stannis does the only thing he can think of. He tells the soldier to get the men into formation. “On to Winterfell,” he says.

Jon Snow & Samwell Tarly

The battle at Hardhome has got Jon worried. He knows the Night’s King (of the White Walkers) has the biggest army the world has ever seen, and there’s not enough dragonglass to defeat them – or swords made of Valyrian steel. As their chat continues, Jon tells Sam that he’s the first Lord Commander to sacrifice the lives of brothers of the Night’s Watch for Wildlings, and he knows he’s the most hated man at Castle Black. As usual, Sam tries to cheer Jon up, and he does a bit. They share a toast, and then Sam asks for a favor. He wants to go to the Citadel to learn to become a Maester (and bring Gilly and the baby with him). Reluctantly, Jon agrees. After another toast and a little more chatting (Jon finds out Samwell and Gilly consummated their relationship) Samwell, Gilly and the baby head off in a wagon on their new adventure.

Kit Harington as Jon Snow and John Bradley as Samwell Tarly (Helen Sloan/HBO)

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King Stannis Baratheon, The Boltons, Sansa Stark & Brienne of Tarth

It’s time for the battle at Winterfell. Through the snow, what’s left of Stannis’ forces – a sorry sight – march to Winterfell. On a hill, Podrick spots them and runs to Brienne with the details. “M’lady. Stannis! Stannis Baratheon is coming. His whole army,” he tells her.

They’ll strike at sunrise, Stannis tells his men. “There’s not going to be a siege, your grace,” one of his soldiers tells the king as an army on horseback – The Boltons’ army — rides toward Stannis’ troops. Stannis takes out his sword, but it’s a bloodbath and the king’s army is defeated. Stannis appears to be the last man standing (or rather leaning against a tree after he’s attacked and injured by two men). As he looks over his wounds, a woman walks up. She’s not part of the Boltons’ army she tells him. She is Brienne of Tarth, and she is here to deliver justice for Renly Baratheon. “You murdered him, with blood magic?” she asks. “I did,” Stannis confesses. “In the name of Renly of House of Baratheon… I, Brienne of Tarth, sentence you to die,” she says, before asking him for his last words. “Go on, do your duty,” he tells her. And she does.

Stephen Dillane as Stannis Baratheon (Helen Sloan/HBO)

Out on a bloody battlefield, Ramsay Bolton kills one last soldier and prepares to head back. He wants to see his wife, Sansa. Inside Winterfell, Sansa Stark lights that candle in the window as a signal that she needs help. Myranda, though, Ramsay’s girlfriend on the side, has come to confront her. She’s brought a bow and arrow too, and wants to do some damage (except to the bits Sansa needs to make Ramsay’s heirs), Myranda says, as Reek watches the exchange. Myranda pulls her bow string a little tighter and just as she’s about to turn Sansa into her own play toy, Reek, no, make that Theon, acts, shoving Myranda off a ledge and to her death. Then, he and Sansa make their escape.

Arya Stark & Ser Meryn Trant

Ser Meryn is busy beating a trio of young girls at a brothel in Braavos, but one of them won’t scream. Meryn doesn’t like this, so he hits her again and again, but she just responds with silence. She looks up at him. Unhappy that she’s not crying, he hits her in the stomach. The young woman still doesn’t cry, but she hits the ground from the blow – and then she shocks Meryn by changing her face. It’s Arya Stark. While he stands there stunned over what he’s just seen, she uses the moment to attack, stabbing him in one eye, then the other. She puts a rag in his mouth too as she tells him who she really is (Arya) and that he was on her prayers/hit list for killing her water dancing teacher Syrio Forel (in Season 1, the man her father, Ned Stark, hired to teach her to fight). And then she slits his throat.

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Ian Beattie as Ser Meryn Trant (Helen Sloan/HBO)

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Back in the Hall of Faces, Arya puts the young girl’s face she borrowed back in its right place. “A girl has taken a life. The wrong life,” Jaqen says, as he and Waif appear and confront Arya about what she did. “That life was not yours to take. A girl stole from the Many Faced god. Now a debt is owed,” Jaqen says, opening a poison bottle. After drinking it down, he collapses to the ground, dead. “Don’t die,” Arya says, screaming and crying. Behind her though, something happens, Waif becomes Jaqen, and Arya gets reminded of her past lessons. “He was no one,” Jaqen says, referring to the body on the ground. As for Arya, she hasn’t learned how not to be “someone” he tells her. So who is the body on the ground? Arya frantically pulls half a dozen faces off of it until she sees her own. “To someone, the faces are as good as poison,” Jaqen tells her. And with that, the poison changes Arya and she goes blind.

Jaime Lannister, Myrcella Baratheon & The Martells

It’s time to say goodbye to Dorne. Jaime is taking his daughter/niece home with her fiancee, Trystane. Even Ellaria is on the dock to bid them adieu, and she gives Myrcella a parting kiss – on the lips. On the boat, Jaime decides to open up to Myrcella. He’s happy she’s found Trystane and fallen in love with the man she was “assigned” to marry. He stumbles around for more words about how people fall in love with who they fall in love with, but Myrcella stops him. She knows what Jaime is trying to say. “I’m glad that you’re my father,” she tells him, snuggling into her dad’s chest (the first hug from one of his kids who knows who he really is to them). But the happy moment is interrupted. Blood trickles from Myrcella’s nose. Ellaria! She poisoned the princess. Myrcella collapses in her dad’s arms. Back on the dock, Ellaria drinks the antidote as she and the Sand Snakes watch the ship sail away.

DeObia Oparei as Aero Hotah, Alexander Siddig as Doran Martell, Jessica Henwick as Nym Sand, Rosabell Laurenti Sellers as Tyene Sand, Indira Varma as Ellaria Sand and Nell Tiger Free as Myrcella Baratheon (Macall B. Polay/HBO)

Tyrion Lannister, Jorah Mormont & Daario Naharis

“You love her, don’t you?” Tyrion asks, breaking the silence as he sits on the steps in Dany’s Meereen throne room with Jorah and Daario. “Of course, it’s hopeless for the both of you,” he continues. Grey Worm enters the room with Missandei and cuts off their little chat. The leader of the Unsullied doesn’t understand why Jorah’s back. He was banished. Daario explains Jorah saved the queen’s life. With that business sorted, the next step is to deal with finding Dany. Daario and Jorah will go out on that mission, while Tyrion, Grey Worm and Missandei will stay behind and rule Meereen.

As Tyrion watches Daario and Jorah head out, he hears a familiar voice. “Hello old friend…” Varys says, walking over. He’s back and he’s here to help. “I did miss you,” Tyrion tells his old King’s Landing pal.

Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont, Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister and Michiel Huisman as Daario Naharis (Helen Sloan/HBO)

Daenerys Targaryen

“We have to go home,” Dany, in her charred dress, tells her dragon, Drogon. He won’t budge. He’s injured and just wants to curl up and rest. Hungry, dirty and with no idea where she is exactly, Dany heads down the hill and looks around. A sound in the distance makes her stop. There’s a man atop a horse, then three more appear in the distance. They all have long hair and body paint – Dothraki! Quietly, Dany drops her ring on the ground (as a marker) as a khalasr ride up and circle her, shouting and hollering.

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen (HBO)

Cersei Lannister

Cersei can’t stand being in the cell and this horrible treatment any more, so when one of the High Sparrow’s nuns comes in telling her to “confess,” the queen mother gives in. She goes to the High Sparrow and confesses. She admits to sleeping with her cousin, Lancel Lannister, but no others. Digging for more, the High Sparrow asks if her children are “bastards born of incest and adultery,” but Cersei insists that’s just Stannis’ ugly lie. She’ll face a trial to “separate the truths from your falsehoods,” the High Sparrow tells her.

With her confession out of the way, Cersei asks for a kindness – she wants to see her son. The High Sparrow agrees, but there’s a catch. She must perform “atonement.”

Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (Macall B. Polay/HBO)

Cersei’s taken to a cell, stripped naked and scrubbed raw by the nuns, who chop her golden Lannister locks off. In a simple dress, she’s taken outside in front of the masses. “A sinner comes before you – Cersei, of House Lannister… She has committed the acts of falsehood and fornication. She has confessed her sins and begged for forgiveness, she will cast aside all pride, all artifice and present herself as the gods made her, to you, the good people of the city. She comes before you with a solemn heart, shorn of secrets, naked before the eyes of gods and men, to make her walk of atonement,” the High Sparrow tells the people, who have packed the streets to see this woman from one of the most powerful families in the land do her walk of shame. And with her dress removed from her body, she does.

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Naked, and with the nuns behind her ringing bells and saying, “shame, shame, shame,” Cersei walks through King’s Landing. Insults come from every side. Someone spits on her, others throw rocks. A rude man gets out his genitalia and demands she perform a sex act on him. The Sparrows (thankfully) knock him aside. Cersei Lannister’s feet are ripped to shreds as she continues to walk past the people throwing things and shouting insults — until finally, she stumbles. The palace is so far away. But Cersei gets back up, chokes back her tears and continues. It’s not until she reaches the palace’s gate that the tears really flow.

Inside, her Uncle Kevan and Maester Pycelle look at her like she’s disgusting, but Qyburn rushes up and embraces her, throwing a cloak over her nakedness. “It’s good to have you back,” he says genuinely. “Come, we’ll take you inside. I need to have a look at those feet,” he adds. But before he does, he has an introduction to make – the newest member of the Kingsguard (aka the new version of The Mountain). The giant picks her up and carries her away.

Anton Lesser as Qyburn and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister (Macall B. Polay/HBO)

Davos Seaworth & Jon Snow

Stannis needs men, Davos tells Lord Commander Jon Snow. Give him the Wildlings. But Jon Snow can’t. “It’s not their damn fight,” Jon says. A sound at the gate ends their argument. Melisandre rides in on a horse – alone. Davos sand Jon storm over. “Stannis?” Jon asks. She shakes her head a little. “Shireen?” Davos asks. “The Princess?” Melisandre just looks at him and Davos knows, and his heart crumbles.

Jon Snow

Later that night, Jon is reading scrolls when Olly rushes in with good news. “Lord Commander, it’s one of the Wildlings you brought back. Says he knows your Uncle Benjen. Says he’s still alive,” Olly tells Jon. Without a second thought, Jon rushes out into the cold to find out more information about Ned Stark’s missing brother. Ser Alliser Thorne (who lost to Jon for Lord Commander in the vote earlier in the season) greets him when he gets outside, and leads him – not to a Wildling, but to a sign. “Traitor” it reads. “For the Watch,” Alliser says – and he stabs Jon in the chest. One by one, the men stab Jon in a very Julius Caesar-like assassination fashion. “For the watch,” a man in black says. Stab. “For the watch,” says another. Stab. “For the watch,” says a third. Stab. Jon falls to his knees, the blood rushing out of him. And then, Olly approaches. “Olly,” Jon says (et tu, brute). Olly stabs him too. And Jon falls to the ground, dead. The blood drains out of him and stains the snow.

Kit Harington as Jon Snow (HBO)

“Game of Thrones” returns to HBO in 2016.

— Jolie Lash