The judges were more guilty than the accused on Game of Thrones season 4, episode 6. Check out our recap and share your thoughts on “The Laws of Gods and Men.”
Here’s what went down on Game of Thrones season 4, episode 6:
All that is gold
In the Free City of Braavos, Stannis and Davos wait for representatives from the Iron Bank.
When the bankers finally arrive, the central man – Tycho Nestoris – is not impressed by Stannis’s claim to the throne. “Here our books are filled with numbers,” he says. “We prefer the stories they tell.” Davos and Stannis are forced to concede that their numbers and prospects are poor, and Nestoris declines their request for a loan.
But Davos steps up and tells the bankers that the war is not over until Stannis sits the Iron Throne. The Lannisters are strong now, but when Tywin dies, they will have scant hold on power, or strength to repay their monstrous loans to the Bank.
Stannis, on the other hand, is strong, able, and exceptionally good at paying back debts.
Later, Davos joins Sallador Saan in a bathhouse (but doesn’t “join him,” like, in that way.) He offers Salla enough coin to sway him back to Stannis’s side – clearly, the gambit with the Iron Bank proved successful.
Saviors
On her own ship, Yara reads the awful threat from Ramsay Snow to rally the other Ironborn before their attack on the Dreadfort. Their invasion is successful at first, and they quickly find Theon, who is sleeping in a cell near the dogs.
But unfortunately, Theon is too brainwashed and terrified to recognize rescue. He yells that he is Reek, and that he won’t fall for this trick. “I don’t believe her!” he screams, as Yara and the Ironborn attempt to pull him from the cell.
When Ramsay stalks in, Theon races back inside his cell. Yara fights well, but is forced to run when Ramsay unleashes the dogs.
“My brother is dead,” she says grimly, as the Ironborn push away from the shore.
The role of a lifetime
Ramsay “rewards” Reek with a bath for his obedience. As Ramsay gently washes his back, he asks if Reek loves him.
“Yes, of course my lord,” Reek says.
Ramsay smiles, and says that he needs Reek to pretend to be “someone he’s not” to help him get a castle back from bad men. In this new game, Reek will be playing the role of Theon Greyjoy.
Justice
Near Meereen, a goatheard and his son are terrorized by Drogon, who steals a goat.
Dany later receives the man, and gives him three times the value of the goats. He’s pretty chuffed by that.
She is then visited by a dude named Hizdahr zo Loraq, with whom Dany is familiar. He says that his family was awesome, and built the pyramids. Unfortunately, Dany sort of crucified his father along with the other masters of Meereen, in response to the 163 murdered children; too bad Mr. Zo Loraq Senior argued against crucifying the children.
Awkward…
Hizdahr requests permission to bury his father and the other masters, in respect of Meereenese tradition. Dany insists his death was justice, but reluctantly allows it. She is overwhelmed by the meeting – and the reality of what she has begun in Meereen – but she prepares to receive everyone who has come to her.
Eyes on the prize
Before Tyrion’s trial begins, Oberyn Martell attends his first Small Council meeting. Tywin puts a price on the Hound’s head after Varys reports of his bloody path through the Riverlands. Varys also updates the council about Dany’s circumstances – apparently, Jorah is no longer spying for them.
Cersei is not impressed by Dany, though Tywin thinks that she – with her Unsullied and advisors – must be dealt with.
Later, Varys and Oberyn chat in the Great Hall. Oberyn is incredulous when Varys claims that he was never interested in sex with men or women – the eunuch says that he knows how destructive desire can be.
“The absence of desire leaves one free to pursue other things,” Varys adds, and looks meaningfully at the Iron Throne.
Trying
Jaime collects Tyrion from his cell. Manacled, Tyrion is brought into the Great Hall, which serves as the courtroom. Tommen recuses himself from the trial, and leaves Tywin in his place.
Tywin begins the trial by asking straight out if he or Sansa killed Joffrey. He says he did not, and says that he must have choked on his pie.
Meryn Trant testifies against Tyrion, speaking of how poorly he treated Joffrey. Tyrion is not allowed to speak.
Memories
Next, Pycelle testifies that Tyrion stole poisons from his stores. He asserts that Joffrey was definitely poisoned, and pulls out Sansa’s necklace, found on Dontos’s corpse with the residue of the Strangler. This rare and deadly poison “was used to strike down the most noble child the gods ever put on this good earth,” Pycelle proclaims.
Blech.
Then Cersei recounts Tyrion’s speech to her about joy turning to ashes in her mouth. Cersei says Tyrion threatened her after she asked him politely not to keep whores in the Tower of the Hand.
The parade continues when Varys testifies. He suggests that Tyrion may have gained sympathy for the Northern cause after marrying Sansa. Tyrion asks Varys if he has forgotten his promise to remember that Tyrion saved the city from Stannis; Varys says that he never forgets a thing.
Deals with the devil
At the recess, Jaime confronts Tywin over Tyrion’s farcical trial. Tywin is unconcerned, convinced that Tyrion will be punished for his guilt.
Jaime demands to know what will happen to the Lannister legacy if Tyrion dies; desperate, he walks neatly into Tywin’s trap and agrees to leave the kingsguard if Tywin lets Tyrion live.
On cue, Tywin says he will allow Tyrion to take the Black instead of being executed, and then Jaime will live out the perfect life Tywin has planned for him.
Merciless
Jaime relays to Tyrion that he can plead for a merciful exile to the Wall. Tyrion is doubtful that Tywin will keep his word, but Jaime promises that it will be over soon if Tyrion plays his part.
But prudence is forgotten when Tywin calls his next witness. Horrified, Tyrion watches as Shae enters the Great Hall.
Shae says she knows Tyrion in her role as Sansa’s maid. Sansa wanted revenge for her family, she says, and Tyrion hated Joffrey, Cersei, and Tywin so much that he stole poison from the Grand Maester’s chambers to kill the king.
Oberyn Martell asks how she knows all this, and Shae says that she was Tyrion’s whore. Tyrion stole her from a knight, and forced her to do whatever he wanted. Shae says that Tyrion made her call him “My Lion,” to take his face and her hands and promise that “I am yours and you are mine.”
“Shae, please don’t,” Tyrion whispers, but she continues to say that he grew bored of her after his marriage. When Sansa refused to let Tyrion into her bed, he promised to kill Joffrey in order to sleep with her.
Guilty
Broken by this betrayal, Tyrion whispers that he wants to confess. He hisses that he should have let Stannis kill the entire court.
At Tywin’s prompting, Tyrion announces that he is guilty of being a dwarf – a crime for which he has been standing trial his entire life. “I did not kill Joffrey, but I wish that I had,” he says. “I wish I was the monster you think I am.”
“I will not give my life for Joffrey’s murder, and I will get no justice here,” Tyrion hisses to the court. “I demand a trial by combat.”