Callbacks and Easter Eggs in “No One”

This week, as we sift through Game of Thrones Episode 608, “No One,” for  Easter eggs and callbacks to earlier episodes, we must face the fact that two major fan theories may have been squashed in one fell swoop. Tommen, serving as the High Sparrow’s meat puppet, outlawed trials by combat, which means that CLEGANEBOWL is more than likely not going to happen. And, with Beric Dondarrion being alive-ish and well, the appearance of Lady Stoneheart seems an impossibility.

Let’s dig right in. With Arya quitting her job with the Faceless Men in “No One” and with Jon leaving the Night’s Watch earlier this season in “Oathbreaker,” it would appear as if the theme for Game of Thrones Season 6 is: the Starks quit their jobs.

In fact, Redditor singh_sahil24 put this little photo montage together, further expounding on the similarities between Jon and Arya’s story-arcs this season:

"View post on imgur.com"

Continuing with the Stark family similarities, Twitter pointed out a parallel between Arya’s dialogue in this episode and Sansa’s last season.

Arya’s former companion Sandor Clegane had a few fun callbacks in “No One”:

• The Hound to a member of the Brotherhood Without Banners: “Tougher girls than you have tried to kill me.” That’s a reference to Brienne besting him back in Season 4, and Arya leaving him for dead.

• The Hound on his meal: “I prefer chicken.” That’s is a direct reference to the infamous chicken scene from “Two Swords.”

• The Hound telling Beric Dondarrion he’d beaten him before was in reference to Season 3, Episode 5, “Kissed by Fire,” where the two fought in a trial by combat.

• In the books, Lem Lemoncloak takes the Hound’s helmet off of a character named Rorge the Biter, who himself took it from a grave marker a brother from the Quiet Isle made. On the show, the Hound takes Lem’s boots after hanging him.

• Then there’s this: the Hound peed into a river while talking with to Beric Dondarrion. In the books, the body of the woman who would become Lady Stoneheart is found in a river. Was this an example of the showrunners trolling the Stoneheart truthers?

In Meereen, Tyrion was on the verge of finishing that joke he started to make in the Eyrie back in Season 1, but he was again cut off.

The GIF is from Vanity Fair. In that same article, writer Joanna Robinson points out Jaime and Brienne’s penchant for big longing goodbyes:

Speaking of these two, when talking about Sansa, Jaime tells Brienne: “In my experience, girls like her don’t live very long.” Redditor pignuke sheds light on what he may have meant:

"Girls like her"

When talking to Edmure, Jaime mentioned “the things we do for love.” Remember this romantic scene from Season 1?

Finally, King_Abdul, one of those fantastic non-kneelers at /r/Freefolk, found a deleted fight scene between Arya and the Waif:

When you realize you’re staring at a black square, the joke really hits home…damn these off-screen deaths.

That’s all the Easter Eggs and callbacks we found in “No One.” Let us know what we missed, and tune in next week as we try and recover from Game of Thrones Episode 609, “Battle of the Bastards.”