The Game of Thrones Season 7 finale is almost here, and the teaser promises a truly epic convergence of characters.
First up: Jon Snow. This is the first time he's been in King's Landing, and the farthest he's ever been in the south (since his birth).
He's coming face to face with Cersei and Jaime Lannister, who he has met before – waaay back at the start of Season 1.
He only shared a very brief moment of screentime with Cersei, as he was in the second row, behind his family, when the queen arrived at Winterfell with King Robert and greeted the Starks. This was because of his bastard status – Cersei would have barely noticed him. How far he has come!
Jaime, meanwhile, had one memorable scene with Jon, in which he mocked him for joining the Night's Watch.
He remarks on the fact that Jon has never swung a sword at an actual person, and then says, rather sarcastically, "Let me thank you ahead of time for guarding us all from the perils beyond the Wall. Wildlings and White Walkers and whatnot."
Now, Jon, who has probably swung his sword at more people (living and undead) than anyone in this whole series, will meet Jaime again with proof of the perils beyond the Wall.
As a side note – with Pod and Brienne in King's Landing, this will be Jon's first time seeing anyone from Winterfell since he departed in Episode 2 of this season. It'll be interesting to see if there's any discussion over the drastic changes that have taken place both at home and around Jon in the short period of time since then.
Then there's Tyrion, who will be returning to King's Landing ~officially~ (i.e. not smuggled) for the first time since he escaped in Season 4, after murdering his father and Shae.
He'll be seeing his sister for the first time since she gloated over his death sentence after Oberyn lost his trial by combat to the Mountain.
Since then, Cersei has learned that Tyrion didn't kill Joffrey – but, of course, he DID kill their father. She also blames him for Myrcella being sent to Dorne, and therefore her death. So, you know, there's no love lost between them. But the scenes the two shared in early seasons were always absolutely crackling with tension and brilliant dialogue, so here's hoping we get some good interactions when they meet again.
Tyrion will also be reuniting with his faithful former squire Pod for the first time since leaving Westeros.
Remember, Pod saved Tyrion's life at the Battle of Blackwater Bay. When Tyrion was arrested for Joffrey's murder, he ordered Pod out of King's Landing in order to protect him from whoever had framed him, and the two shared an emotional goodbye. Tyrion asked for Jaime's help in finding a safe place for Pod, which is how Pod ended up with Brienne.
It'll be satisfying to see Pod and Tyrion together again – even more so if they also meet up with Bronn, which it looks like they will judging by the backs of those heads in the trailer.
Pod saw Bronn at Riverrun last season, of course, while Tyrion briefly appeared in a scene with Bronn when he reunited with Jaime in Episode 5. But we were robbed of a proper reunion then, so an interaction with the three of them would make up for it.
This is the first time Pod and Brienne have been in King's Landing since Jaime sent them off in search of the Stark girls in Season 4.
And now both girls are safely back at Winterfell and under Brienne's protection.
The last time Brienne and Jaime actually saw each other, it was at Riverrun, and had the flavour of a final farewell.
So the prospect of them meeting up once again is exciting. Sansa explicitly mentioned Jaime to Brienne in Episode 6 and referred to the honourable way he had treated her, so it seems likely we'll get a good scene between the two. Jaime's relationship with Brienne is implicitly tied to his honour, and his journey towards getting it back. While he is still firmly by Cersei's side at this stage, Brienne has now completed the quest he sent her on and found BOTH Stark girls alive, so perhaps seeing her again after all that will give him a jolt he needs to get back in the right direction.
Then again, Cersei is pregnant now, so...sigh.
But back to Brienne – there's another potential reunion for her that will be very interesting to see. Although he's not in the episode trailer, we know the Hound was headed to King's Landing with the crew and the captured wight at the end of the last episode, and there was a shot in the season trailer that looked a lot like him in this location.
Brienne and the Hound last saw each other when they were fighting to the death over the safety of Arya.
As for the Hound, this will be his first time in King's Landing since he fled the Battle of the Blackwater way back in Season 2.
Meanwhile, if the Mountain is by Cersei's side, as he always is these days, it will be the first time the Clegane brothers have come face-to-face since Season 1.
Over to a more potentially touching reunion – both Missandei and Grey Worm will be in the capital, so there's a good chance we'll get a scene with the two of them.
Grey Worm and the Unsullied apparently made the trek from Casterly Rock to King's Landing unscathed. Did they abandon the Lannister seat altogether, or leave a small crew there? Honestly what was the point of that whole plot?
Anyway, at least Grey Worm is alive, and Missandei will see him again.
Joining the Unsullied are the Dothraki, in a pretty epic show of force around King's Landing.
It recalls Robert Baratheon's panic over the Dothraki back in Season 1. His warning to Cersei over the power of a united army perfectly describes Dany's situation right now.
Of less prominence in the trailer, but still important, are Varys and Theon.
Theon, meanwhile, has never been to King's Landing. His presence at this meeting, and the fact that Euron is allied with Cersei, suggests we'll get some kind of Greyjoy reunion in the episode, too. We still have no idea what happened to Yara after Euron captured her, so it should play out in the finale. But judging from this shot of Theon collapsing at Dragonstone later in the trailer, it's probably not going to be good news.
Conspicuously absent from all of this is Daenerys herself – but with literally all of her allies there, there's no way she won't show up. It seems likely she'll make a grand entrance.
In short – IT'S GOING TO BE EPIC and I can't wait.
