'Game of Thrones' season finale recap: 'The Dragon and the Wolf'

Season 7 came to a shocking end.

ByABC News
August 28, 2017, 9:39 AM

— -- After a thrilling season, Sunday night's "Game of Thrones" season finale didn't disappoint.

MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD!

If you have not seen the episode, click away now!

We found out that Jon Snow's real name is Aegon Targaryen and that he's the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

Also, Jon and Daenerys — who are nephew and aunt — finally got together, and Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger, came to a bloody end, courtesy of his own dagger. And oh, yeah: The zombie dragon, ridden by the Night King, took down a huge chunk of the Wall and let the Army of the Dead march through.

Here's how it all went down:

King's Landing

It's the big face-off for which we've been waiting six seasons: Jon, Tyrion, Jorah, Varys, Theon and the Hound arrive in King's Landing with their wight-in-a-box to meet Cersei, Jamie and Euron Greyjoy. Also present is the contingent from Winterfell, led by Brienne. Dany arrives late — riding one of her dragons, of course — much to the annoyance of Cersei.

Things get heated right away, but Tyrion says up front that, yes, they all hate each other and have done one another wrong. But, he says, "We have something to show you."

Cue the Hound, who opens the box. The wight immediately tries to attack Cersei but is stopped short by a chain. Everyone's terrified, especially after the Hound cuts the wight in two and it keeps on snarling and attacking.

Finally, Jon explains that the wights can be burned or killed with dragonglass and stabs the thing to put an end to it.

"There is only one war that matters. The Great War. And it is here," he declares.

Euron announces that he's taking his fleet back to the Iron Islands because he's terrified. Cersei agrees to a truce while they all fight the Army of the Dead, but she has one condition: After it's over, she insists that Jon and the North remain out of the war between her and Daenerys.

Too late, he says, because he has already bent the knee for Daenerys. A furious Cersei rejects the truce and storms away. But Tyrion goes to talk to her. He realizes his sister is pregnant — or so she lets him think — and talks her into changing her mind and pledging her troops to the cause. Or so he thinks.

It turns out that later, when Jaime is making plans to march north, Cersei says she has no intention of keeping her pledge. She wants to let all the "monsters" kill each other while they stay behind, retake all their lands and rule Westeros.

Jaime rightly points out that at some point, either the dead or Daenerys and Jon will come and kill them all.

Cersei points out that Daenerys showed up with only two dragons and, correctly, surmises that something must have happened to one of them, which means they are vulnerable. She also says that Euron didn't really desert the Lannisters and that he's actually heading to Essos to bring back 20,000 mercenaries to help them.

When Jaime insists that he still plans to ride north, she threatens to kill him. He tells her to go ahead, but she won't do it. We last see Jaime as he rides away and begins to snow in King's Landing.

On Daenerys' fleet

Jon and Dany are heading to White Harbor by sea, where they plan to meet the rest of their troops and march north. On the ship, Jon knocks on Daenerys' door. They exchange a look, and next thing you know, they are in bed together. But this happens right at the moment that we find out, through Bran, Jon's true name.

Winterfell

Sam, who has left the Citadel, arrives at Winterfell and tells Bran he's there to help Jon fight the dead. Bran announces that he has to talk to Jon because he knows something that no one else knows.

Then, apropos of nothing, he spills it all to Sam. He explains that Jon is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen, the late crown prince and Dany's brother, and Lyanna Stark, Ned's sister. But when Bran then goes on to say that, yes, Jon is a bastard but not Ned's bastard, Sam corrects him.

Sam reveals what we learned last week: that the high septon secretly married Rhaegar and Lyanna, which means Jon isn't a bastard.

Bran then quickly travels back in time, witnesses the wedding and hears Lyanna tell Ned, with her dying breath, "His name is Aegon Targaryen, and you must protect him. Promise me, Ned."

Bran then realizes that Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.

Not only does this confirm that Jon and Dany are nephew and aunt, but it also proves that Robert's Rebellion — in which Robert Baratheon teamed up with the Lannisters to overthrow the Targaryens because he believed Rhaegar kidnapped and raped Lyanna — was all based on a lie. And speaking of lies, more of them were uncovered in another part of Winterfell.

The Great Hall

After Sansa ponders whether Arya really wants to kill her and take her place as lady of Winterfell — which Petyr encourages Sansa to believe — Sansa has Arya summoned to the Great Hall, where Sansa and Bran sit behind an imposing table, with armed guards everywhere.

It looks as if Arya's going down, but the entire thing is a set up to put Baelish on trial for ... well, everything.

A shocked Littlefinger sputters and stammers as Sansa announces a litany of his lies and treachery, none of which, presumably, she would have known unless Bran, the all-seeing Three Eyed Raven, told her.

Among Littlefinger's crimes: He persuaded the Stark kids' aunt Lysa to poison her then-husband, Jon Arryn and then tell their mom, Catelyn, that the Lannisters did it. In other words, he's the one who started the whole war between the Starks and Lannisters.

What else? He killed Lysa by pushing her through the Moon Door at the Eyrie. He conspired with Cersei and Joffrey to have Ned accused of treason and murdered. He also provided the dagger that the assassin used to try to kill Bran in his bed and then lied and said it was Tyrion's.

When Littlefinger drops to his knees and declares that he loved their mother, Catelyn, Sansa coldly says, "And yet you betrayed her." When he then declares that he loves her, Sansa says, "And yet you betrayed me."

Then Arya calmly walks up to him and slashes his throat.

At Dragonstone

Theon declares that's he's going to save his sister, Yara, whom his uncle Euron claims to have prisoner. The rest of Theon's men taunt him for being a coward — which he admits — and one of the men beats him up.

But Theon gets a second wind and beat the Iron Islander to death. The rest of the men all fall in behind Theon and set off to save Yara.

The Wall

At Eastwatch, Beric and Tormund are up on the Wall. They see a horde emerge from the forest: It's the Army of the Dead. As if that's not terrifying enough, here comes the Night King riding Viserion — Dany's dragon, which he killed last week and turned into a zombie.

Viserion breathes a blue flame that soon topples a huge chunk of the wall, and the Army of the Dead marches through.

To be continued next season!

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