Game Of Thrones Season 8: 8 Ups And 1 Down From 'A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms'

5. War Stories

The aforementioned convergence of characters at Winterfell leads us into some of the episode's very best moments, as a variety of characters gather round the fire for a warm, and end up drinking, laughing, and sharing some war stories.

Featuring at least one character who is bound to be among your favourites - Jaime! Brienne! Tormund! Davos! - it's a lovely coming together of people from all sorts of backgrounds, with various histories with one another. Whether they've never met or they've fought against each other, what matters is that they're here now, united as the living against the dead.

We get some absolutely SENSATIONAL character moments here, from Tormund and Jaime's 'Kingkiller' exchange (and general oneupmanship over Brienne), to a reminder of just how great Peter Dinklage is when given the right dialogue, it's exactly what Game of Thrones should be.

Even better is Podrick singing Jenny's song (or Jenny of Oldstones); a touching, tender moment. There's greater significance in that song's meaning, relating to Rhaegar, Lyanna, and The Prince That Was Promised, but it also speaks to a great tradition of pre-battle songs, from Bronn at Blackwater to Pippin in Return of the King. It's moving, superbly sung by Daniel Portman, and nicely encapsulates so many themes ahead of the big battle. The entire sequence, however, of war stories and wine by the fire is just perfect character work, leading into the episode's best scene.