Game of Thrones season 3 recap: Everything that matters for season 8

A full recap of the third season of Game of Thrones focused on the moments and revelations that will tie in to the final season, set to begin on Apr. 14.

Warning: The following post is full of Game of Thrones spoilers. There might still be time to watch the full series, if you haven’t already. If you have, read on. 

Week 3 of a seven week series. ICYMI, you can read recaps of season 1 and season 2 through those links.

The third season of Game of Thrones is where we start to learn some key characters’ true colors. Jaime Lannister, who up until this point was a clear-cut villain, slowly builds our trust. The Starks are all on the move and Catelyn continues to live in the presence of Robb’s bad luck.

Though the bulk of this season focuses on Robb, Joffrey and Daenerys’ taking of Slaver’s Bay, there are a couple of key moments in season 3 that will most likely have direct impacts on Thrones‘ final season. Let’s dive right in and see if we can conjure up some correct predictions.

Keep in mind: The following points should serve as reminders as to what happened in the season, but are focused in relation to season 8. Some key points will be glanced over in favor of what will come to be important this season.

What happened in Game of Thrones season 3

Daenerys’ story line probably progresses the most in season 3. She works her way from Qarth to Astapor to Yunkai and finally, Meereen (season 4). The latter three make up “Slaver’s Bay.” Dany is set on freeing every slave in the big three cities of Essos’ southern inlet and she does a hell of a job accomplishing this.

Dany’s taking of Astapor has to be one of the most satisfying scenes in Game of Thrones history. After being trashed constantly in Low Valyrian by the slaver in negotiations with Dany over the Unsullied Army, she provides one of the show’s greatest moments. For days, Kraznys mo Nakloz hurls insults at Dany to Missandei, his slave who is working as a translator. Dany holds her cards close and plays along, speaking back in the common tongue. To the shock and dismay of her confidants Jorah and Ser Barristan Selmy (who joined Dany in season 3 after getting the boot from King Joffrey), Dany agrees to trade her biggest dragon for the Unsullied army. Kraznys agrees — I mean, it’s a dragon. You can’t put a price on that.

Once the Unsullied are in her power, Dany, standing in front of her 8,000+ new soldiers, shocks everyone and gives an order in Valyrian for the Unsullied to kill all of the slavers and free all of the slaves in Astapor. With a quick “Dracarys” she has Drogon burn Kraznys to a crisp. If you didn’t stand up and cheer for this moment, you probably weren’t paying attention.

Season 3 was about highs and lows. It was a rough season for the Starks. Robb Stark loses the Karstarks then his failed alliance with the Freys ends up resulting in possibly the most shocking moment in Game of Thrones history: the Red Wedding. Unfortunately for Arya, she shows up right in time to see Robb’s direwolf’s head sewn onto his dead body. It’s yet another unfortunate family death she witnesses. Sansa is forced into a marriage with Tyrion, which is pretty upsetting at first. Eventually, though, they begin to enjoy each other’s company. As we know, this wedding is strategic and part of Tywin Lannister’s master plan (and will soon be over). Finally, Bran’s warg visions intensify after he meets up with Jojen and Meera Reed, the son and daughter of his father Ned’s best friend Howland Reed. Jojen and Meera are tasked with helping Bran discover his true calling as the Three-Eyed Raven.

North of the wall, Jon meets Ygritte (his first love) and Tormund Giantsbane (one of ours). While Ygritte dies in a very sad season 4 scene, Tormund is alive and well, fighting alongside Jon and the crew at Winterfell. Tormund was thought to be dead as Viserion destroyed the wall at the end of season 7, but the recent season 8 trailer shows that he and Beric Dondarrion made it out alive. Thank the Gods.

What’s relevant for season 8

Arya and The Hound: One of the most unlikely relationships between Arya and one of her sworn enemies, Sandor Clegane (The Hound) started in season 3. While Clegane swore he was only helping her get to her family for the money, the two developed a bond. Both being as bloodthirsty as they are, they were bound to get along at some points of their trip — even if neither party admitted it. The two will meet again in Winterfell during season 8 and there will most likely be a few quick “How are you still alive” moments before they finally admit that they like each other… kind of. After witnessing the end of the Red Wedding, Arya pulls out her Braavosi coin — a symbolic gesture insinuating that she has chosen to pay her friend Jaqen a visit.

Jaime and Brienne: Aside from two unlikely best friends reuniting to go to war at Winterfell, there’s something else of importance that happens between Jaime and Brienne in Game of Thrones‘ third season: Jaime rediscovers his moral compass. Assumed to be a prick since the moment he pushed Bran out of a tower at Winterfell (admittedly a dick move), Jaime had spent the better part of two seasons as one of the show’s villains. In season 3, as he builds his relationship with Brienne, we learn more of his history. Most importantly, that he murdered the Mad King (earning him the nickname “Kingslayer”) for a very good reason.

King Aerys II Targaryen probably should have taken a stress leave during his time on the throne. After Aerys II went mad, Jaime, a member of his kingsguard who was sworn to protect him, stabbed him in the back. In season 3, we learned why. The Mad King lost his mind and was planning on blowing the entirety of King’s Landing to pieces. He strategically placed wildfire throughout the city and planned on triggering all of it, killing rich, poor, women, children and anyone in between. Jaime saved hundreds of thousands from a gruesome death and was rewarded by having his name dragged through the mud throughout the rest of Westeros.

Here’s why that matters in season 8: Aside from the stash of wildfire that was used in the Battle of Blackwater and to blow up the Sept of Baelor (more on this in season 6), most of what the Mad King planted is still scattered throughout King’s Landing. Cersei knows this and I’m 95 percent sure it crossed her mind as she made the decision to stack her own deck in KL as opposed to sending troops North to fight with the rest of the free world in Winterfell. Is Cersei’s plan for those in the north to fail? Nothing melts ice (and white walkers, wights) like a massive stock of highly explosive wildfire. Cersei could be planning on letting the army of the dead stroll on down to King’s Landing before blowing them all to hell and taking off for Dorne, one of Westeros’ prime vacation spots.

She has nothing left to live for and that makes her the most dangerous enemy (or hero?) in Game of Thrones‘ final season.

It’s a win-win for her. If the folks at Westeros defend the land and destroy the army of the dead, she is once again sitting alone on the Iron Throne. If they lose, all of her competition is dead and she has a fool-proof plan to win the war on her own. Cersei is a damn genius.

Dany: Aside from proving that she is a great conqueror, Dany gained an army in season 3. The Unsullied are with her in Winterfell today, as well as two of her three full-grown dragons. In season 3, she proved she had a mind for war. She’ll need it when they fight the greatest army yet.

Bran: Meeting the Reeds is a key moment in Bran’s journey to becoming the Three-Eyed Raven. Jojen guides Bran through his own visions and without the two of them, there’s no way Bran gets to where he needs to be. While Jojen doesn’t make it to season 8, Meera is still around. We last saw her leaving Winterfell after a very rude “thank you” from Bran, who has seemed to lose all emotion since becoming the all-seeing Three-Eyed Raven. Bran also wargs into Hodor for the first time in this season, making him possibly the most powerful warg/greenseer in history. Given this unique ability and how strong it is, it seems inevitable that Bran will warg into a dragon in season 8.

Arya/The Freys: After finding shelter in Nightfort Bran recalls a story about “the rat cook.” The moral of the story was not that it was wrong to murder a king’s sons and feed them to him baked into a pie, it was that the gods could not forgive the killing of a guest under your roof. After Bran tells the story, we cut to Walder Frey, boasting about how he killed the Starks at Robb’s wedding. Arya must have heard this story growing up as well, because she killed both of Frey’s sons and fed them to him in a pie before slitting his throat at the end of season 6. She then goes on to destroy the rest of the Freys in a dramatic and very satisfying fashion. The Red Wedding was huge in season 3, but as Arya says in season 7, “leave one wolf alive and the sheep are never safe.” The Freys are long dead by season 8, but Arya’s abilities as an expert assassin are in full force. She’s such a badass.

Other season 3 takeaways

This is going to be somewhat irrelevant now, but it’s worth pointing out: Robb Stark was two very unlucky moves away from possibly winning the game of thrones. In season 3, he made it known that he had no interest in sitting on the Iron Throne. His sole purpose for fighting in the war was to avenge his father’s death. He sent his mother Catelyn to Renly Baratheon’s camp (shortly after Renly decided he wanted to rule King’s Landing) to broker a deal with the Baratheon/Tyrell army.

In exchange for their help, Robb would support Renly’s claim to the throne then go back to living in Winterfell and ruling the North. This plan went awry when Stannis and Melisandre’s shadow baby stabbed Renly, killing him in front of Catelyn and Brienne of Tarth.

The second and final nail in Robb’s coffin also involved his mother, yet this time she was more directly at fault. Catelyn set Jaime Lannister free after he murdered one of Rickard Karstark’s sons. Catelyn did this without Robb’s permission and it set off a fury of anger within Robb’s bannermen, especially Lord Karstark, who wanted revenge.

Karstark murdered two Lannister captives, both young boys, who were being held as trade pieces by Robb. Robb was furious that Rickard betrayed him and killed the innocent boys, so he executed Rickard, losing about half of his army in the process. With the Karstarks gone, Robb was forced to broker a deal with Walder Frey to gain access to his forces instead. Then, well…you already know what happened at the Red Wedding. Way to go, mom.

There are a couple more key moments from season 3 that we can list off in point form:

• Jon Snow knows nothing, but is a generous lover (according to Ygritte).
• Robb, Catelyn and everyone in their inner circle were murdered at the Red Wedding.
• Theon is tortured by Ramsey and becomes “Reek.”
• Qyburn, the crazy ex-Maester, makes his way back to King’s Landing.
• Lord Baelish first utters his infamous “chaos is a ladder” speech.
• Bran and Sam, Westeros’ two great minds, first meet in season 3.

There’s one last forgotten quote from season 3 of Game of Thrones. During a conversation between Tywin and Tyrion Lannister, Tywin throws out this gem: “Do you really think a crown gives you power?” While it was being used to discuss how idiotic Joffrey was at the time, the quote could be used countless times throughout the early seasons of Game of Thrones. In season 8, more than ever, a crown is meaningless. It’s taken everyone this long to realize it.

Game of Thrones returns to HBO on Apr. 14, 2019.