GoT 7.7 The Wolf And The Dragons - Break Down

Content summary:

Daenerys and Cersei meet in Königsmund to arrange a truce.
Jon Snow presents the lost beast.
Cersei agrees until the Night King is defeated to make common cause
In Winterfell, the machinations of Petyr Baelish are exposed, and he is sentenced by Sansa and executed by Arya
Theon Graufreud defeats the captain of the Iron Fleet
Disagreements between Cersei and Jamie lead to his separation
Daenerys and Jon are very close. Jon is a native Targaryen – sees the three-eyed raven
The Night King’s attack begins. He burns the icy wall with the dragon. The undead are now in the kings land.

In Westeros, winter has come and thus the stable phase is over. Although there have been constant “playful” battles for the Iron Throne, these have been predictable. The players, the Seven Kingdoms, the methods and religion brought a relatively good life for a medieval society. The external threat of the Targaryen is something else. After all, Daenerys still has two dragons, a huge armada and a powerful army. A threat from outside usually leads to an inner unity. Exactly that Cersei has not succeeded. She and Daenerys were focused only on each other. Only since Daenerys lost her dragon Viserion in the north, she believes in the danger of the night king. The actual turning point is not the death of the dragon but its revival into an undead with blue eyes. Now the collapse begins. There are also significant symptoms. (see image)

Partners Leave You: After agreeing to reciprocal non-aggression while pooling their forces against the Nightking, Jamie begins to prepare. He organizes the campaign against the north on the Lannister side. In a vote with his commanders Cersei intervenes and is horrified by what her brother does. She tells him “never to want to fight side by side with Daenerys against the Night King.” This shocked Jamie in so far as they have indeed given the word of honor for it. Cersei: “Should the monsters kill each other? We cannot do anything against the undead army anyway. The only effective weapon, on the other hand, is fire and these are the dragons.” Jamie replies: “If they lose, the undead bring us and if they win, then the dragons burn us. Königsmund is lost in any case.” The two siblings have such different assumptions about the situation that there was no common ground to be found. Jamie leaves Cersei although she is pregnant by him. When riding away you can still see how he covers his golden hand. Jamie has also symbolically broken with his past.

David wins against Goliath: Stable systems are characterized by the fact that they largely live up to expectations. A clear sign of a collapse is given when a weaker wins against the established stronger. Unbearable states release unbelievable energies in individuals. The pressure is sustained for a long time but the “last drop brings the keg to overflow”. Theon Graufreud asks Jon for a short conversation: “You always knew what you wanted. I never mind and did a lot wrong. My sister Asha is still trapped by Cersei. Help me free her” This wish is not fulfilled by Jon. So he has to act himself. Theon faces this challenge and there is a duel between him and his uncle. A completely unequal argument. Actually, the physically weak and mentally ruined Theon could never have won. With overwhelming willpower, he forces his uncle to his knees. David has won.

There is no justice: Once systems have reached the stage of collapse, there is no justice anymore. The two Stark sisters once again argue over the blame for their father’s death. But they agree: “There is no justice in the world unless we create it”.

Seeing games: Petyr Baelish; “Sometimes when I want to understand people then I play a little game and wonder what the worst thing they want is.” Kleinfinger talks to Sansa Stark about this philosophy of life. Sansa wants to know from him what her sister might want as the worst? Peter: “She wants to become Lady of Winterfell”. Sansa trusts her sister a lot but not to become queen. The two sisters stage a show trial in the beginning Arya plays the role as a defendant. But very fast the show turns and Baelish can hardly resist the accusations. Sansa speaks the verdict and Arya is immediately at hand with the knife. The intrigues of little fingers are now past. His games have been leaked.

Real Fear: A collapse can be so violent that people claim to have experienced real fear for the first time. I lived in a farming village during my childhood, where people still knew each other very well. The neighbor, an elderly man, witnessed World War II. He said, “War is a state of constant fear.” At GoT, the Targaryen side presents an undead. This well-staged show has caused great fear among those who have not seen undead so far. Euron Graufreud: “I have seen a lot in the world but that scares me a lot. I withdraw to the iron islands. The undead cannot walk over water.” Fear is a strong emotional state. Rational thinking is reduced as anxiety increases. Cersei is also afraid of the undead: “As soon as the monster opened its mouth, the world disappeared in front of me. I did not think about that anymore “.

Overconfidence: One could also call this a denial of reality. The leaders of just collapsing systems are barely receptive to negative messages. Even Cersei not as she separates from Jamie: “No one escapes me, you and not Euron Graufreud not. He will stand me aside in the fight against Daenerys.” Cersei also relies on the financing of legions (Golden Company) by the Iron Bank.

The lonely wolf dies: In peacetime, loners can realize themselves quite well. But we need to know that this is not their own merit, but rather the socially peaceful framework that makes it possible. If the environment becomes harder, hostile or more belligerent, the survival of the individual is more difficult than the survival of the group. Sansa: “In winter we have to take care of each other. The lonely wolf dies – the pack remains”.

Destruction: The ultimate collapse of a system goes hand in hand with the destruction of realities. Changing an attitude of mind can amount to a collapse, but has no external characteristics for the time being. However, mental upheavals contain so much energy and violence that they cannot be overlooked – even if they start small and secretive. Worth mentioning here are the French Revolution and the Lutheran Wars of Religion. The Night King is now in possession of an undead blue-eyed dragon. He uses this directly in the attack on the ice wall. The blaze, now with blue gas, makes the ice melt like nothing. The undead warriors (the revenants) and white wanderers can now invade the king’s land unhindered. In the headquarters Königsmund and Drachenstein you can feel nothing of it. “The Congress is dancing”. It collapses systems that have been predicted to have a millennial history. Probably the most historically long existing system is the Egyptian antiquity with the most diverse pharaonic dynasties. The GoT world is already several thousand years old. In this sense, the games of the Iron Throne are really just those – whereas the collapse of the North Wall really does usher in a new era.

After a collapse, a new base is formed, either at a slightly higher level than before the rise or even significantly lower. The new base in GoT can be described as follows: