A Sad Callback to Sansa and Brienne on House of The Dragon Nobody Noticed
It would have been easy to miss this Game of Thrones callback, but it's definitely there in House of the Dragon episode 9 – and it makes the Sansa and Brienne attempt to communicate by a candle in season 5 of Game of Thrones even more heartbreaking.
Back in Game of Thrones ( or later if we're talking chronologically), you may remember Sansa lighting a candle to inform Brienne that she was in need of help. The next step was supposed to be for Brienne and Podrick to come and rescue her from Winterfell.
Sadly, Sansa's candle message came at the most inopportune moment. Brienne had sworn to kill Stannis Baratheon – and at the moment Sansa was expecting her to be receiving the signal, Brienne was off doing just that. Typical, when Brienne had been in post for days waiting for the signal to come.
Subsequently, Sansa and Theon were forced to leap to their escape from the walls of Winterfell, risking death – but somehow getting away with it. In the end, it was an opportunity for Sansa to stop relying on others to save her, and finally find her own way to freedom. But she didn't know that at the time – and neither did we.
In House of the Dragon, we see another example of this method of communication – only this time it is used to good effect.
With the Red Keep staff locked up by Otto Hightower, news of the death of King Viserys is prevented from spreading. Clearly, though, this eventuality had been planned for. Alicent's handmaiden, Talya, used the very same candle signal that had failed for Sansa, to communicate the news to Mysaria. This message gave Mysaria the advantage as it enabled her to use the still prince Aegon as leverage.
This is an interesting callback that suggests candle signals had been used in Westeros for around 200 years, to greater or lesser success. It also shows how effective this secretive method of communication can be.
But did you even spot it?
Of course, once you know, thoughts immediately turn to how things might have been different for Sansa had her attempt been a success. But, as previously stated, the failed attempt to call for help was possibly the pivotal moment in Sansa's life that gave her belief in herself – or perhaps just reminded her for one last time, that she seemed destined to be let down by others and was left with no real choice but to take matters into her own hands.
And, yes, I know that their escape was more of a joint effort. But that's the point. It took both of them. Sansa was no passive escapee – she became a real queen in waiting.