‘Game Of Thrones’ Season 6: Recap Of Episode 7, ‘The Broken Man’

Here’s the recap for Season 6, Episode 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones entitled “The Broken Man.”

SPOILER ALERT: This article contains information on Episode 7 of HBO’s Game of Thrones. Please proceed with caution if you wish to avoid spoilers.

Remember when Ian McShane dropped a heap of Season 6 Spoilers for Game of Thrones? Well, Episode 7 was his debut. But before you can even work out who he is, he’s dead at the hand of the Brotherhood Without Banners. Don’t know who they are? Well, that’s okay, let me fill you in.

The Brotherhood Without Banners were formed under Ned Stark’s rule and have gone on to become a group of exiles whose main aim is to annoy the Lannisters and protect the small folk. As for Ian McShane, his name is Brother Ray according to Entertainment Weekly, or Septon Meribald, the man who gave an epic speech called the “Broken Man” according to the books the TV show is based on. Either way, he is the leader of a small religious group on the Quiet Isle. But just before you think his storyline is boring, up pops the Hound (Rory McCann) who is very much alive.

The Hound also gets a little nervous when the Brotherhood Without Banners turns up because he has been captured by them before. But, thanks to the fact the Hound is obsessive about chopping wood, he isn’t slaughtered by this group when they return to murder Brother Ray’s small religious group.

Speaking of religious groups, Margaery (Natalie Dormer) is still playing the game of thrones, but hiding it from the High Sparrow (Jonathan Pryce). When the High Sparrow lets slip it is time to truly convert Margaery’s grandmother, Olenna Tyrell (Dame Diana Rigg), Margaery has to be convert about letting Olenna know she needs to leave King’s Landing and return home before she is arrested and called to atone for her sins like Margaery had to. Margaery manages to slip a note into the hand of her grandmother, which makes everything clear to Olenna, and she prepares to leave immediately. I suspect the nun watching over the whole conversation between Margaery and Olenna was suspicious of what was going on though.

Cersei (Lena Headey) confronts Olenna as she prepares to return home. To make a long story short, Cersei thinks they should be a united front against the High Sparrow and Olenna thinks all their woes began as a result of Cersei and her incestuous love. Needless to say, Olenna just might have to watch her back against the High Sparrow and Cersei Lannister in subsequent episodes of Game of Thrones now.

In the North, Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) are trying to unify the North against Ramsay Bolton. In Episode 7 of Game of Thrones, they manage to get the wildlings and Lord Mormont (Bella Ramsey) on their side. This sounds impressive, but Lady Mormont is only ten and has a mere 62 warriors on her side and the wildlings can do nothing but cause a ruckus among themselves. This causes Jon to want to attack Winterfell early rather than gather a larger army. Sansa disagrees and sends off ravens to everyone else on their list to save time.

As for her sister, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), in Episode 7 of Game of Thrones she is busy trying to escape before she is killed by the House of Black and White. She manages to secure travel to Westeros, but it leaves at dawn. In the mean time she gets attacked by the Waif (Faye Marsay) disguised as an old woman. Arya gets stabbed quite badly before ending up in the river. Thanks to a pool of blood, the Waif seems to assume Arya is dead. But Arya isn’t dead. Instead she drags herself out of the river and staggers through the marketplace, paranoid of everyone around her.

Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) is doing as he is told and has arrived at Riverrun. The siege between Brynden “Blackfish” Tully (Clive Russell) is underway and, in what seems like a matter of minutes, Jaime has taken over the siege from Lothar Frey (Daniel Tuite) and confronted Blackfish. But Blackfish has two years worth of supplies and no real urge to surrender his birthplace back to the Freys, so Jaime could be here for quite some time.

Finally, in Episode 7 of Game of Thrones, we get to see what Theon (Alfie Allen) and his sister, Yara Greyjoy (Gemma Whelan) have been up to since they escaped the Iron Islands with their uncle’s fleet. Yara plans to join forces with Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) at some stage, but in this episode of Game of Thrones, she manages to get the old Theon back.

What did you think of Episode 7 of Game of Thrones? Let us know by commenting below!

Season 6 of Game of Thrones returns to HBO with Episode 8, entitled “No One” on Sunday, June 12, at 9 p.m. ET.

[Image via Helen Sloan/HBO]