monition : This station contains spoilers about “ The Spoils of War , ” the fourth sequence inGame of Thrones ’s 7th season . If you ’re not caught up , stop reading now .
Game of Thronesis an immaculately elaborated television series , but the up-to-the-minute episode , “ The Spoils of War , ” really outdid itself with its insidious callbacks to earlier episodes . Here are seven reference to retiring sequence you might have missed while yelling at your screen during the firedrake - filled battle of the dough power train .
1. WHERE HAVE I SEEN THOSE SPIRAL PATTERNS BEFORE?
Oh , that ’s right : In a accumulation of murder corpses half - buried in snow in the show ’s first - ever scene . The cave drawings Jon Snow prove Daenerys were etch by the Children of the Forest and culminate in a motion picture of human being and humanoid forest creatures uniting to fight down the White Walkers . But they were also a reminder that the Children of the Forest created the White Walkers in the first post as a weapon to loose on the First Men — and apparently , they imparted their mystical beloved of swirls on their atrocious offspring .
2. “CHAOS IS A LADDER”
early on on in “ The Spoils of War , ” Petyr “ Littlefinger ” Baelish goes to work endeavor to weasel his fashion into Bran Stark ’s confidence . But Bran , who is now the all - seeing Three - Eyed Raven , see correctly through Littlefinger ’s schemes . He cut him off with four shortsighted words that rattle Baelish : “ Chaos is a ravel . ” What was it about that seemingly unobjectionable phrase that took Littlefinger aback ? They reference a address Littlefinger gave to Varys in season three , while laying out his architectural plan to sow pandemonium throughout Westeros and use it to pile up power ( and presumably pursue his creepy compulsion with Stark women ) .
3. THE GOLDEN COMPANY
While Cersei and Tycho Nestoris were chit-chat last night , the iron banker namedropped theGolden Company , a fabled freelance US Army only ever mentioned twice before on the show . In Season 4 , Davos suggests to Stannis that they employ 10,000 Golden Company soldier to bolster their forces , but Stannis balks at the idea of using sellswords to take the Iron Throne . Later in the season , Jorah Mormont reveals that he spent some time with the Golden Company before pledging himself to Daenerys ’s brother , Viserys . In the books they are one of the orotund and most skilled mercenary bands in the Free Cities .
4. ANOTHER LANNISTER AMBIGUOUSLY FELL INTO SOME WATER
Last night ’s full-grown cliffhanger smother the fate of Jaime Lannister , last go out sinking to the bottom of a river wearing cloggy plate armour . thing do n’t look outstanding for him , until you remember a similar cliffhanger in time of year 5 , when Tyrion was get out sinking through the water supply with his deal tied after Jorah fended off an assaulter infected with greyscale . Things move around out ok for Tyrion and it ’s likely that they probably will for Jaime , too .
5. JON SNOW STUMBLED OVER HIS OWN GUILT TRIP
In season 5 , when Mance Rayder decline to bow the human knee to Stannis Baratheon to debar being burned at the stake , Jon Snow tried to conclude with him . Mance said his the great unwashed would never accept a rule who kneel to a southerly king — to which Jon replied , “ Is n’t their natural selection more important than your pridefulness ? ” Last night , Jon and Daenerys had an almost identical exchange , with Jon debate that his people ca n’t accept a southerly fairy and Daenerys throw his strain back in his brass .
6. THE GUARDS WOULDN’T LET ARYA THROUGH THE GATES (AGAIN)
Last night was n’t the first prison term a pair of falter guards refused to allow Arya through a gate . In the first season , when the Starks were in King ’s Landing and Ned ’s mind was still attached to his soundbox , Arya wandered out of the Red Keep chase after cats . When she come back , a duet of skeptical guard refused to let her pass . She was a little smart in the first time of year , but gave the same reply she used last dark when the Winterfell guards take what she was doing there : “ I live here . ”
7. DAVOS LEARNED—AND TAUGHT—A GRAMMAR LESSON
you could be forgiven for not remember this obscure running trick stretch back to Season 2 . One of Stannis Baratheon ’s pet peeves was when multitude incorrectly used the Word of God “ less ” instead of “ few . ” In the second time of year , Ser Davos says he did n’t mind that Stannis had chopped off most of his hand . “ It ’s four less fingernail to clean , ” he quipped . “ Fewer , ” Stannis retorted . Then in Season 5 , in a Night ’s Watch meeting about letting the Wildlings south of the wall , one human says they should permit them die because it would be “ less enemies for us . ” Stannis mutters under his breath , “ Fewer . ” Davos has apparently learned his object lesson , and last night corrected Jon for asking how many fighting men he has in the North—“10,000 ? Less ? ”
For the record , when you ’re talking about a quantity you may depend — like the number of pretermit fingernails , northerly enemies , or humankind ready to square up off against the Night King — the word you want is “ fewer . ” In every other situation , you should say “ less . ”
