13 details you might have missed in Game of Thrones season 7 episode 4: The Spoils of War

August 9th, 2:50am August 12th, 1:32am Rahul JadhavFounder at Wiki of Thrones and a full-time Game of Thrones fan who does other work when he has finished reading and writing about Game of Thrones and also dreams about playing a role in the show.

We had a spectacular battle scene during the latest Game Of Thrones episode, The Spoils of War and the fans were left stunned when they witnessed the carnage caused by Drogon and the Dothraki. Even the scenes involving the other characters were really good and as usual, the show had many details that referenced to events in the past and as usual, we are going to dive deep into these details. You can also check our detailed posts about episodes one, two and three. Without any further delay, let’s talk about the details that you might have missed in the fourth episode of Game Of Thrones.

1. Reference to the Golden Company

Cersei tells Tycho Nestoris that she’s looking to expand her army and Qyburn has made overtures to the Golden Company. Previously, we have heard about the Golden Company in season 4, when Ser Davos suggested to Stannis that they hire the Golden Company but Stannis shot down the idea as he didn’t want to hire foreign sellswords.

The Golden Company is the largest and the most famous sellsword company in the Free Cities of Essos and they have a really interesting backstory and it might play an important role in this season. The Golden Company was founded by the Targaryen Great Bastard, Aegor Rivers, who was also known as the Bittersteel. Bittersteel had fought on Daemon Blackfyre‘s side during the Blackfyre rebellion and he escaped to Essos with Daemon’s sons at the end of the First Blackfyre Rebellion.

The Blackfyre Rebellion was a civil war that was fought between King Daeron II Targaryen and his half-brother Daemon Blackfyre, who claimed the Iron Throne over Daeron, who was the rightful king. The Golden Company was also involved in three of the four Blackfyre Rebellions that followed the first rebellion. On his deathbed, Bittersteel instructed his men to remove all the flesh from his skull once he was dead and asked them to dip it in gold and carry it with them when they finally crossed the Narrow Sea to retake Westeros.

Now Daenerys Targaryen has returned to Westeros and she wants to overthrow Queen Cersei and sit on the Iron Throne and the Golden Company will be more than happy to aid Cersei in the war against a Targaryen.

2. Chaos is a ladder

During the latest episode, Bran Stark stunned Petyr Baelish, when he repeated Littlefinger’s iconic line, “Chaos is a ladder.”

Littlefinger tried to score some brownie points when he gave Bran Stark the Valyrian Steel dagger that was used by the assassin when he attempted to take Bran’s life and tried to show that he cared a lot about him and his mother, but he has no idea that Bran is now the Three-Eyed Raven and he knows everything and he gave Littlefinger a small demonstration when Littlefinger talked about Bran’s journey once he left home.

“To go through all of that and make your way home again only to find so much chaos in the world. I can only imagine…” said Littlefinger and Bran calmly replied, “Chaos is a ladder.”

Littlefinger had said the same thing to Lord Varys in season 3, in his famous monologue.

“Chaos isn’t a pit. Chaos is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fail, and never get to try again — the fall breaks them. And some are given a chance to climb, but they refuse. They cling to the realm, or the gods, or love … illusions. Only the ladder is real, the climb is all there is.”

3. The guards never recognize Arya

Arya finally reached Winterfell in the episode, but she had to wait for some time before she could get inside the Castle and she also had to warn the guards that keeping her outside wouldn’t be in their best interests. This is the second thing such a thing is happening with her.

In the first season, Arya got lost in the dungeons of the Red Keep while trying to catch a cat and she finally managed to find a way out, but it ended in the sewers outside the Red Keep and when she tried to get inside gates, the guards refused to let her in, thinking that she was some low-born child, who was trying to enter the castle.

4. Cave drawings by Children of the Forest

Jon took Daenerys with him inside the Dragonsglass caves and he had a surprise waiting for her inside. Jon showed her the cave paintings that were done by the Children of the Forest, which showed that the Children and the First Men came together to fight against the White Walkers and we could see many symbols on the walls that appeared to be very familiar.

We have seen some of these symbols in the previous seasons and most of the times, the White Walkers used human body parts to create these symbols. In the last season, we came to know for the first time that even the Children of the Forest used these symbols and we also found out that they were the ones who had created the White Walkers. Now we have come across the same symbols created by the Children and they definitely have some important and it would be wonderful to find out what they actually mean and why the White Walkers are using the same symbols that were used by the Children.

5. Callback to the discussion between Jon and Mance Rayder.

During the scene inside the cave, Jon manages to convince Daenerys that the threat posed by the White Walkers is real and she agrees to fight with him but she makes it clear that she will help him only if he bends the knee. Jon tells her that his people won’t accept a Southern ruler, but Daenerys tells him that they will if he accepts her. She then says, “Isn’t their survival more important than your pride,” and that’s when Jon keeps quiet and he seems to be at loss of words and there’s a reason for it. Jon Snow had said the same words to Mance Rayder.

In the 5th season, Stannis asks Mance to bend the knee pledge fealty to him or else he will kill Mance. Jon visits Mance and tries to convince him to bend the knee and save the Wildlings. Mance refuses to do so and Jon Snow tells him, “Isn’t their survival more important than your pride.” Take a look at the video below:

6. Daenerys thinks just like Jon

In the last season, when Jon Snow and his allies met Ramsay Bolton a day before the battle, Jon suggested that there was no need to fight using their armies and they could save a lot of lives by fighting one on one, like the old way but Ramsay refused the offer. That’s when Jon said, “Will your men want to fight for you, when they hear you wouldn’t fight or them.”

Daenerys had something similar to say in the latest episode, when she said, “What kind of Queen am I if I am not willing to risk my life to fight them.”

7. Arya receives another gift from her brother

In season 1, before Jon Snow left for the Wall, to join the Night’s Watch, he presented Arya, “the Needle“. The Needle means a lot to Arya and while joining the Faceless Men she was asked to get rid of all her belongings from her past life, but she couldn’t let go of Needle.

In the latest episode, she has received another gift from Bran Stark and this time it’s a Valyrian Steel dagger. I am sure that the dagger will play an important role in the series and we also know that Valyrian Steel kills the White Walkers. So it’s an object of immense value.

8. Callback to Stannis Baratheon

While Jon Snow and Davos are walking down the steps at Dragonstone and discussing Daenerys’ good heart, Jon asks Davos, “How many men do we have in the north to fight [the Night King]? 10,000? Less?”

“Fewer,” replies Ser Davos and Jon doesn’t understand what he wanted to say.

This is a wonderful callback to Stannis Baratheon and it shows that Ser Davos has finally learned something from Stannis. Stannis is also known as a Grammar Nazi by the fans as he had the habit of correcting peoples grammar, especially when people incorrectly used the word, “less” instead of “fewer“.

9. Robert Baratheon’s first kill

The latest episode has multiple callbacks to the scene from the first season when Robert Baratheon and Barristn Selmy discuss their first kills. Robert reveals that his first kill was a Tarly boy at the battle of Summerhall.

“Mine was some Tarly boy at the Battle of Summerhall. My horse took an arrow so I was on foot, slogging through the mud. He came running at me, this dumb high-born lad, thinking he could end the rebellion with single swing of his sword. I knocked him down with the hammer. Gods, I was strong then. Caved in his breastplate. Probably shattered every rib he had. Stood over him, hammer in the air. Right before I brought it down he shouted, “Wait! Wait.” They never tell you how they all shit themselves. They don’t put that part in the songs. Stupid boy.”

During the battle, Drogon took an arrow and Daenerys had to get down because of that and something similar happened with Robert and at both the times, someone came charging at them, thinking that they could end the war but things didn’t end well for them.

The second callback is when Dickon tells that when he killed people during the battle, they stunk and Bronn interrupted by saying, “Men shit themselves when they die. Didn’t they teach you that at fancy lad school.” Robert referred to the Tarly boy as a dumb high-born lad, which is closer to what Bronn thought about Dickon.

And the third callback is about Robert talking about how people shit themselves when they are about to die and as we know, Bronn educated us about what happens, when men die.

10. A celebrity cameo

We had a celebrity cameo during the episode and we didn’t even realize because it happened in a fraction of a second. New York Mets star Noah Syndergaard had a blink and miss role as a Lannister soldier, who takes down a Dothraki by hurling a spear and hitting the horse. Noah also tweeted about his cameo once the episode was over.

11. Robert warned us about the Dothraki

In the first season, Robert warned Cersei that, “Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field.” In this case, Jaime didn’t have any option as they were ambushed by the Dothraki but it showed us why Robert was warning Cersei about the Dothraki.

12. Jaime sinking in the end

We saw Jaime heroically charging at Daenerys Targaryen, knowing that it could be fatal for him and it turned out to be true. Thankfully, Bronn was there to save him once again and Jaime just missed Drogon’s flames but he fell in the water and started sinking because of the armour and the golden hand. This is a callback to the scene from season 5, where Tyrion was also sinking in a similar manner.

It can also be compared to Bran Stark’s fall at Winterfell, when Jaime pushed him from the window and now he is in a similar situation, just that it’s happening under water.

13. Aegon’s Field of Fire

Daenerys Targaryen recreated Aegon Targaryen’s Field of Fire, which was a battle that involved the Lannister and Gardener armies. House Gardener used to rule the Reach from highgarden, before they were wiped out during the Field of Fire and their steward Harlen Tyrell handed over Highgarden to Aegon and was made the Lord of Highgarden. You can read our detailed article which talks about the parallels between the Field of Fire and Daenerys attack during the latestst episode.

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