11 details you might have missed on the latest 'Game of Thrones' episode
Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Game of Thrones" season seven.
The seventh season of "Game of Thrones" charged ahead with a jam-packed episode, but as usual there were smaller moments and callbacks fans might have missed. From added subtext in Olenna's mic-drop death scene to the teasing of the mysterious catspaw blade, we're breaking down every scene.
Keep reading for a look at 11 details in "The Queen's Justice" you might have missed.
Jon Snow was startled by a dragon right after proclaiming he wasn't a Stark — foreshadowing much?
Most of the fandom knows by now that Jon Snow is actually half Targaryen. His father was Rhaegar Targaryen (Daenerys' brother) and his mother was Lyanna Stark (Ned Stark's sister). The shock of his first encounter with a dragon felt like a nod towards audience members in the know.
His blood relation to Daenerys is part of the reason fans are against the idea of a romance blossoming between Jon and Daenerys, but Targaryens are known for their incestuous relations.
The Dothraki man overseeing Jon and Davos' arrival is the same one who first brought Daenerys to his khal as a captive.
Qhono (played by Staz Nair) is the Dothraki character who took Longclaw from Jon Snow when Missandei requested the Stark emissary relinquish their weapons.
If he looked vaguely familiar, Qhono was a prominent part of Daenerys' time as a Dothraki captive on the sixth season.
Qhono has come a long way since threatening to rape Daenerys Targaryen on the sixth season — now he's one of her most trusted Dothraki soldiers. The Mother of Dragons had him on the beach when Jon and Davos arrived, and then later ordered him to show the "guests" to their chambers.
We also got more exposition about Daenerys dragons and how their names relate to important men in her life.
Non-book readers may not have realized the meaning behind Daenerys' choices for her dragons' names. Her three dragons actually each have distinct coloring that relate to their names.
Their distinctive coloring were more noticeable when the dragons were smaller.
Drogon — the biggest and most fierce of her dragons — is black and red. He's named after Daenerys' first love, Khal Drogo.
Rhaegal is green, named after her brother Rhaegar — and Jon Snow's father (though neither of them know that bit yet).
Last, Viserion is described as cream and gold colored. He's named after Viserys, Daenerys other brother who was killed by Drogo with molten gold.
Also in that scene, Jon made an accidental connection between himself and Rhaegar.
When Daenerys and Jon discussed Tyrion and his love to talking, Daenerys said, "We all enjoy what we're good at."
"I don't," Jon replied.
This was likely a reference to his skills with a sword — we've watched as Jon has cut down many foes. But as Redditor King_Will_Wedge pointed out, this was also an accidental parallel to Jon's real father, Rhaegar.
On the fifth season, Ser Barristan told Daenerys about her brother Rhaegar's love of singing.
"He liked to walk among the people, he liked to sing to them," Barristan said.
Daenerys was surprised to hear about this side of her late brother. "[Viserys] told me Rhaegar was good at killing people," she said.
"Rhaegar never liked killing," Barristan replied. "He loved singing."
Seems like Jon and Rhaegar have something in common.
Melisandre told Varys she plans on returning to Volantis, which is where the High Priestess of R'hllor, Kinvara, should be.
Melisandre continued the streak of unsettling Varys with her red priestess magic, telling him that she would go to Volantis but eventually return.
"I have to die in this strange country — just like you," Melisandre told Varys.
Kinvara, the High Priestess of the Lord of Light, was also vaguely threatening towards Varys on the sixth season.
Kinvara traveled to Meereen to meet with Tyrion and Varys on season six. She told them that Daenerys was the "one who was promised" — an allusion to the complicated Azor Ahai/Prince(ss) That Was Promised prophecy. Kinvara also seemed keen on the idea of Daenerys burning "non-believers" with her dragonfire.
She left after telling Varys that she knew all about his castration as a child, and told him he had nothing to fear from her if he was truly Daenerys' ally. Will we see Melisadre speak with Kinvara in Volantis? Will both of the red priestesses come to Westeros in the future?
Tyrion's dialogue was full of callbacks to previous episodes.
While Tyrion was trying to convince Daenerys that allying with Jon was in their best interest, he said: "A wise man once said that you should never believe a thing just because you want to believe it."
"Are you trying to present your own statements as ancient wisdom?" Daenerys asked him.
"I would never do that ... to you," Tyrion replied.
He did it to Missandei and Grey Worm on the fifth season, and wasn't even shy about it.
When trying to bond with Missandei and Grey Worm, Tyrion claimed, "A wise man once said a true history of the world is a history of great conversations in elegant rooms."
Missandei asked who said that, and Tyrion cheekily replied: "Me. Just now."
Clearly both Daenerys and Missandei are quick to pick up on Tyrion's self-promotion. But later in the episode, Tyrion credited a saying to a real person.
While narrating the battle between the Unsullied and Casterly Rock, Tyrion repeated a crude line from Bronn spoken on the first season.
When Tyrion was explaining how difficult it was to storm Casterly Rock, he said: "As a good friend of mine once said, give me 10 good men and I'll impregnate the b----."
When Tyrion and Bronn first met, the two men bonded almost immediately. Tyrion was Catelyn Stark's captive and he was being taken to the Eyrie — a towering castle that sits on a mountaintop.
"They say it's impregnable," Tyrion said.
"Give me 10 good men and some climbing spikes," Bronn replied. "I'll impregnate the b----."
The scene with Sansa ruling in Winterfell made a point to remind the audience that Maester Luwin kept records of every scroll.
This was an intriguing moment, and while we can't be sure of what it will lead to, we believe it's worth sticking a pin in. A lot of fans noticed Littlefinger give Maester Wolkan some serious side eye when he said there are records of every message sent to Winterfell by raven.
"I'll check Maester Luwin's records — he kept a copy of every raven's scroll," Maester Wolkan said when Sansa asked about the previous winter lengths.
We aren't sure what Littlefinger was thinking about, but the moment stuck out.
Some people have guessed that he's worried about the message Lysa Arryn sent to Catelyn in the pilot episode (the one where she warned her sister about the Lannisters), but that message came by a rider and Catelyn burned it right away.
For now, keep a sharp ear out in coming episodes for Littlefinger scheming over old raven scrolls.
Ellaria and Tyene's planned death was yet another callback to the murder of Jon Snow's uncle and grandfather.
There are a lot of parallels between Cersei and the Mad King Aerys (Daenerys' father), but her choice of torture for Ellaria and Tyene just added to the list.
As Vanity Fair's Joanna Robinson pointed out, the set up between Ellaria and Tyene — chained just out of reach from one another as Tyene dies slowly — mirrors the way Aerys Targaryen killed Jon's ancestors.
Aerys' murder of Rickard and Brandon Stark (Ned's father and brother) was part of what sparked Robert's Rebellion.
The Mad King Aerys had Rickard Stark dressed in a suit of armor and suspended from the ceiling in the throne room. He had a noose tied around Brandon's neck and placed a sword just out of his reach, then ordered a fire lit underneath Rickard.
Rickard was burned while inside the suit of armor and Brandon strangled himself in the effort to reach the sword and save his father.
Ellaria straining to reach her daughter slowly dying from poison brought back echoes of this uniquely horrifying death. This might bolster the theory that Cersei will die at the hands of Jaime — just as Aerys did.
The Lannister song, "The Rains of Castamere," played while Jaime's army sacked Highgarden, and then Olenna repeated a line from the ballad.
When Jaime entered Olenna's room, she conceded defeat by repeating a line from "The Rains of Castamere."
"And now the rains weep o'er our halls," she said.
This song has a significant meaning to the Lannisters, and while show-watchers will recognize the tune by now (it was played at the Red Wedding), you might not know the lyrics:
And who are you, the proud lord said, that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat, that's all the truth I know.
In a coat of gold or a coat of red, a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my lord, as long and sharp as yours.
And so he spoke, and so he spoke, that lord of Castamere,
But now the rains weep o'er his hall, with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,and not a soul to hear.
For the full story of how "The Rains of Castamere" was adapted for the show, read our interview with composer Ramin Djawadi.
Olenna pointed out that Jaime has Joffrey's old sword — which happens to be Valyrian steel, forged from the remains of Ned Stark's sword.
Valyrian steel is a rare enough metal in "Game of Thrones" that fans closely track the whereabouts of each known sword. For several seasons now, we've wondered what happened to Joffrey's sword — Widow's Wail.
Now we know that Jaime has it. This is interesting, since Widow's Wail and Oathkeeper (the sword Jaime gave to Brienne) were both made from the melted down Valyrian steel of Ned Stark's old greatsword, Ice.
Valyrian steel is one of the few substances that can kill a White Walker, so perhaps we'll see Widow's Wail in action against the coming army of dead.
BONUS: Speaking of Valyrian blades, the preview for next week's episode teased the return of this important dagger.
In the trailer for the upcoming fourth episode, there's a shot of a man unsheathing a distinctive dagger.
This is the "catspaw blade" — the Valyrian steel dagger used in Bran's assassination attempt on the first season. The blade was last seen on Ned Stark's desk on season one, but now we know it's in Littlefinger's possession.
If you look at the sleeve and rings of the person holding the dagger in the promo, and compare it to Littlefinger, it's a perfect match.
We're very curious to see why the blade is cropping up again on season seven. Why would Littlefinger show it to anyone? Wouldn't that implicate him in the attempted murder against Bran?
In the books, it's made somewhat clear that Joffrey was the one who ordered the assassin — not Littlefinger. Is the show making a change to this? We'll have to wait until next week to see. In the meantime, read everything we know about the catspaw blade and why it's important.
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