The fourth episode of Game of Thrones season 4 is full of things fans desperately need. There’s the return of the White Walkers, a somewhat definitive answer to the mystery of who killed Joffrey (it turns out I was right) and we get to see a group of truly awesome characters coming together.
“Oathkeeper” has all of that, plus the arrival of am amazing pet cat to rival Glee‘s Lord Tubbington, Sir Pounce. Seriously, that’s the cutest cat name I’ve ever heard.
The Kingslayer Brothers
Jaime is still training to fight left-handed with Bronn, who convinces him to see his brother. Jaime finally visits Tyrion, who jokes that they are now the “Kingslayer Brothers,” before ultimately convincing Jaime that he’s innocent.
Cersei, however, refuses to accept this answer. Not only does she want Tyrion dead, but she also wants Sansa dead. That’s when Jaime turns into a hero (well, a hero who brutally raped his sister last week, so I guess it’s all relative).
Jaime bestows one of the two Valyrian steel swords to Brienne and asks her to find and protect Sansa Stark. Brienne agrees, naming her sword Oathkeeper because that’s what she does best. Jaime also enlists Podrick to go with Brienne as her squire.
In the end, Jaime and Bronn help send Brienne and Podrick off to protect Sansa. It’s great to see that particular foursome working together. Tyrion has his own little army of loyal followers, so it’s nice to have people to root for on this show.
Who Really Killed King Joffrey?
Littlefinger explains his conspiracy to Sansa and we get some real answers about the murder of Joffrey. He did it to cause confusion and because he didn’t think Joffrey was a stable ruler. However, Littlefinger’s plot involved several co-conspirators.
Obviously there was Dontos, who not only helped Sansa escaped, but inadvertently provided the murder weapon. The fake necklace that Dontos gave to Sansa included one fake gem that held the poison. But who actually did it?
Littlefinger explains that he has new friends who are more trustworthy and reasonable than the Lannisters. Cut to the Tyrells! Olenna makes it clear to Margaery that she knows for a fact that Tyrion didn’t kill Joffrey, which is all the proof I need to confirm my theory that she did it.
Looking back, it makes sense. Olenna chatted with Sansa briefly about the horror of killing someone at a wedding, and she no doubt used that opportunity to take the poison gem. Later at the wedding reception we saw Olenna right next to Joffrey’s goblet, so she could easily have pulled it off to ensure that her granddaughter didn’t marry a monster.
Margaery Seduces a Little Boy
Speaking of royal marriages, Margaery is already hard at work on her third royal husband. Late at night she sneaks into the bedroom of Tommen, who is barely a tween. The scene is hilarious and uncomfortable, because Tommen is clearly awkward since having a hot older woman come into your bedroom is like the start of a Penthouse letter.
They chat about how they will eventually become man and wife and they will have secrets of their own. Tommen’s pet cat, Sir Pounce, jumps up and we learn that Joffrey threatened to skin it and feed it to Tommen. Joffrey’s kid brother is a lot nicer and Margaery clearly understands how to seduce tween boys.
Jon Snow’s Enemies
At Castle Black, Jon Snow is facing two enemies, neither of which he knows about. The acting Lord Commander is worried that Jon’s popularity will make him the new Lord Commander at the upcoming election, so he agrees to let Jon go up to Craster’s Keep to kill the Night’s Watch rebels, secretly hoping they will kill Jon instead.
The other enemy is a new recruit to the Night’s Watch: Locke, aka the loyal follower of Roose Bolton who chopped off Jaime’s hand. He’s there on orders to find out if Jon knows where Bran and Rickon are. When he overhears that Bran might be at Craster’s Keep, Locke agrees to go on Jon’s mission.
Bran Gets Captured
Indeed, Bran IS at Craster’s Keep. He wargs out to see that Jon’s direwolf, Ghost, is being held in a cage. He doesn’t have time to save him, however, because Bran is captured by the revels.
The rebels are led by Karl, a man who is obviously evil because he drinks wine out of Jeor Mormont’s skull. He’s also evil because he takes Bran and the Reeds hostage while tying up Hodor and letting his men stab him repeatedly. Poor Hodor.
The White Walkers
Karl finds Craster’s final baby and learns about the tradition of sacrificing the babies to the White Walkers. He does so, and we finally get to see that creepy old, blue-eyed skeleton White Walker again. He picks up the baby and takes it back to the White Walker camp where the baby is turned into a White Walker with an evil magic touch. It’s super creepy.
The Queen of Meereen
Finally, Grey Worm learns to read and helps the slaves of Meereen kill their masters by providing them with a ton of swords. Within no time, Daenerys strides into her newest kingdom, cheered by all the freed slaves.
However, Dany believes in justice, not mercy. On the way into Meereen there were children nailed to crosses all along the route. Dany decides to do the same thing with the masters, nailing one to a cross for every child who had the same thing done to them. I love how Dany can simultaneously free slaves as a hero and then exact bad-ass revenge at the same time.
(Image courtesy of HBO)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
