Game of Thrones Screencap Breakdown: “Stormborn”
By Corey Smith
Jaime closes out his pitch to Randyll by saying he “can think of no better man for the job than Randyll Tarly.” Immediately, we cut to the above shot of Samwell, Randyll’s son. Foreshadowing?
Sam is examining Jorah Mormont’s greyscale alongside Archmaester Ebrose. It looks very, very bad. The makeup department went all out making Jorah look unsalvageable.
The streak of light through the middle of the shot above is great.
Anyway, Sam attempts to argue on Jorah’s behalf. As Sam does not yet know Jorah’s identity, it’s especially sweet.
Jorah looking even worse up close. Gah.
Ebrose gently suggests that if Jorah would rather kill himself than be shipped to Valyria, he has a day. Not a great choice.
Finally, Sam realizes who Jorah is, and you can see the determination wash across his face.
Back in King’s Landing, we head to the dungeons that Arya stumbled into back in season 1, when she was chasing cats. Targaryen banners are heaped in a pile.
I’m not sure why these weren’t destroyed — like the dragon skulls, perhaps Robert wanted to keep them to remind him of a time when he was young and vital and vanquishing his rivals. He wasn’t really made for the sedentary life.
This small dragon skull is probably one of the skulls Viserys was talking about way back in season 1 — the ones belonging to the final, stunted dragons the Targaryens were able to hatch.
Another dragon skull, this one about the size of Drogon in season 5.
This is just a wonderfully lit shot — it’s nice to see the more forgotten, mysterious corners of King’s Landing filled out.
This shot of Cersei squaring off with Balerion the Black Dread is probably my favorite shot of the episode. More foreshadowing?
And here is Qyburn’s solution to fighting the dragons: a giant crossbow. What an invention. Someone just watched The Hobbit.
But the ballista does its job and punches right through the skull of Balerion. Not sure we approve of damaging the skull, but whatever.
Cersei is quite pleased. Neither really considers the fact that dragons don’t stand still.