Season seven of Game of Thrones wrapped up Sunday, and I must say it was the best season yet.
Season six saw the return of Sansa to Winterfell, and this season continued the Starks homecoming with the returns of Bran and Arya to their home.
However, Sansa found both of her siblings were very different people from the ones she once knew. Bran was now the all-seeing Three-Eyed Raven bound to a wheel chair, and Arya was “no one,” capable of getting the best of the all-mighty Brienne in a sparring session.
Both would eventually play major roles in finally opening Sansa’s eyes to the deviousness of Littlefinger.
Littlefinger tried to play Arya and Sansa against each other in the past couple episodes, but his plan backfired and they came together, along with Bran, to expose him for his present and past transgressions, ultimately sentencing him to death.
Unfortunately, their reunion with Jon had to wait, as the newly crowned King of the North had bigger matters to attend to.
Due to the impending battle with the army of the dead, Jon headed south for Dragonstone to seek the help of Daenerys Targaryen in battling the White Walkers.
Daenerys was unwilling to help Jon initially, unless he bent the knee and acknowledged her as the queen and rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Jon was unwilling to meet this request at first but eventually came around after Daenerys saved Jon and his men beyond the wall.
Season seven finally gave the fans what they patiently waited for since dragons were first introduced: a few serious demonstrations of their power.
The first was in the critically acclaimed episode “The Spoils of War” when Daenerys rode one of her dragons into battle alongside the Dothraki army to attack a Lannister caravan, with Jamie himself at the helm.
With just one dragon Daenerys sent a message to the Lannister army by burning all of their supplies, food and some of their soldiers.
The battle ultimately ended with Jamie trying to attack and kill Daenerys while she was attending to her dragon, which was wounded by the Scorpion weapon.
The dragon almost burnt Jamie to a crisp before he was saved at the last minute by Bronn.
The next show of the dragons’ power was when Daenerys went beyond the wall to save Jon.
The White Walkers had Jon and his men stranded and on the brink of death when dragons arrived, soaring down from the heavens destroying the white walkers with ease.
Unfortunately, the dragons are not invincible. During this battle, one was killed by the Night King, who launched an ice javelin as if he were Jan Zelenzy in the Olympics to strike one of the dragons. It sent the dragon crashing down into an icy, watery grave.
However, in the biggest plot twist of all, the Night King had his army retrieve the dragon’s corpse from the watery abyss so he could turn the once fire breathing dragon into a ice breathing dragon of the dead.
In the climax of the season finally, he used the ice dragon to tear down the wall and officially begin the war on the world of the living.
Earlier in the episode, Jon and Daenerys and Cersei Lannister met and, after proving to Cersei and her advisors the army of the dead is real, the two sides agreed to a truce, which Cersei, of course, has no intention of honoring.
Jon and Daenerys ultimately agree to form an alliance and decide to sail to Winterfell together.
Meanwhile Sam Tarly arrives at Winterfell and talks with Bran.
It is revealed Jon is not the bastard of Ned Stark. Instead, his parents where Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, who were secretly married. This makes him the rightful heir to the Iron Throne—not Daenerys.
This was quite the revelation, considering how the episode showed the two getting romantically (and biblically) involved, unbeknownst to either of them that they are aunt and nephew.
All of this sets up what could be the most epic and anticipated season of television in history: the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones, which, as of now, has no release date.