Game of Thrones: 5 details you missed in “The Last of the Starks”

Game of Thrones went big and dramatic in this week’s episode, but small and subtle things might have a bigger impact down the line. Here’s what you missed.

Warning: For the big things of this week’s Game of Thrones episode, Culturess has you covered, but we’re here to go into the deep cuts.

“The Last of the Starks” didn’t actually kill any of the last Starks, but it did semi-technically add one to the number, even if that one was dead when he was added. In between all of the moments that had you yelling “OMG,” Game of Thrones actually dropped some tiny things for careful listeners in particular.

That’s what we’re here to break down, starting with perhaps the biggest one…

Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson as The Mountain and Nathalie Emmanuel as Missandei. Photo: Courtesy of HBO

Missandei’s last word

Cersei gives Missandei the opportunity for “last words,” but Missandei only lets one ring out so that her queen and Grey Worm can hear it: “Dracarys.” It’s not only High Valyrian, it’s the word that means “dragonfire.”

For someone who has served the Dragon Queen loyally for years, it’s fitting, but this goes beyond that. Missandei dies with her head held high, calling for fire to rain down on her executioner. Expect Daenerys to use that as justification to let King’s Landing — or at least parts of it — burn.

Kristofer Hivju as Tormund, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, and Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen. Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Jon’s Night’s Watch shout-out

During Jon’s speech in the opening scene of the episode, he actually makes a reference to some vows that he once swore, calling the dead “the shields that guarded the realms of men.” It’s not only part of what brothers of the Night’s Watch must say to truly become brothers, it’s also the last thing they say before they pledge to keep watch “for this night and all the nights to come.”

Considering that so much of Jon’s speech is dedicated to saying that the living still have work to be done, it’s fitting that he uses the line that precedes one about what the Night’s Watch swears to do as long as they live.

(L to R) Maisie Williams as Arya Stark and Joe Dempsie as Gendry – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Daenerys’ ability to just make people lords

Daenerys Targaryen pretty quickly dubs Gendry not just Gendry Rivers, but Gendry Baratheon. (Technically, his surname should be Waters, as far as we know, since he was born in the Crownlands.) Can a queen actually do that?

Well, the short answer is yes. Throw your mind back to Stannis Baratheon’s offer to Jon way back in season 5. Stannis claims to be king, and he believes Jon’s price for loyalty is simply being made legitimate.

Of course, it’s all academic, because Jon doesn’t work with Stannis and Stannis dies, but yes, this appears to be something that rulers can in fact do for other people’s children, not just their own. As with Stannis, though, Daenerys making Gendry lord of Storm’s End only counts if she sits on the Iron Throne on the end; if it’s Jon, he’ll likely have to do that himself to honor Daenerys’ promise.

If it’s Cersei, Gendry’s dead, sorry.

Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm, Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen, and Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister. Photo: Courtesy of HBO

A Tyrion callback

Speaking of using speeches to make references, Tyrion is not to be outdone when he gets to yell/speechify at Cersei at the end of the episode. Jon goes for something that many men have said before him, and thus something that’s well-known.

Tyrion goes for something he says to Cersei in a conversation that they had years ago when he tells her, “You love your children.” He does not follow it up with the backhanded compliment that he did last time, though, probably because he’s basically pleading for Cersei to have a conscience this time around. (He probably couldn’t see her cheekbones to see if they’d lost any definition, either.)

Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Sansa gives Theon a family in death

Well, Sansa and Theon aren’t getting together, but she does honor the sacrifices he’s made by tucking a Stark hairpin into his breastplate. There’s a lingering shot of it just so that we make sure we see it, but there’s a greater reason that it matters.

Theon, after all, grew up in Winterfell, not the Iron Islands, with the Stark kids and not his sister, Yara. It’s an internal conflict he fought with (and referred to) throughout the entire series, and you can even see the Kraken etched into his armor beneath the Stark pin.

But Theon made his choice at the end to stay with the Starks, and Sansa recognizes that. He may never have had the name, but he was a Stark to her. Since she’s the Lady of Winterfell, Jon’s current position be damned, that means plenty.

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