Games Of Thrones Season 7: What 'Beyond The Wall' Really Means

15. Tormund Convinces Jon

The opening of the episode was pure A-grade action movie exposition, with a delicious slathering of cheesy dialogue iced on top. As a sort of refresher, we got a potted history of every character's links and issues with each other - Gendry hates the brotherhood, The Hound hates everyone, Jorah and Beric seem to like Jon Snow... And it all turns out nicely.

The two most interesting conversations involve Jon: first he attempts to give Longclaw back to Jorah (since it's a Mormont family heirloom), but Jorah turns it down, saying it deserves to go with the King In The North. This was red herring number one of who was going to die, as Jorah made a Heroic Symbolic Gesture and would usually have been killed off immediately afterwards.

Then Jon and Tormund shared a moment in which the Wildling MVP talked up pride and the value of bending the knee (that old chestnut again), calling his hero Mance Rayder an idiot for not swallowing his pride and doing the same to Stannis when offered the chance. After everything he's been told so far, this endorsement of Dany will have been the one that finally pushes him over the edge.

Because as everyone knows, Tormund is the best. And deserves to be loved and cherished just as much as he deserves to be listened to.