Hardhome

"Hardhome" is the eighth episode of the fifth season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 48th overall.

Arya takes the identity of Lanna, an oyster seller, and is sent by Jaqen to assassinate the "Thin Man," a dishonest insurance salesman.

Qyburn visits her and informs her that she is being charged for incest and Robert's murder and that Pycelle has summoned Kevan to serve as Hand.

Tormund summons the elders and Jon offers to let the wildlings settle south of the Wall if they help the Night's Watch against the White Walkers.

This includes the battle scene in which the Wildlings and Night's Watch are ambushed by the White Walkers and army of the undead,[2] as well as the meeting of Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister.

[5] Zachary Baharov appeared as Loboda, a Thenn leader,[6] and Ross O'Hennessy replaced Edward Dogliani as the Lord Of Bones in this episode.

[17] Erik Kain of Forbes called this "one of the best, most exciting episodes I've seen in the entire show's run, let alone this season," citing "High action and a series of pretty crazy revelations.

[20][21] Bridle Roman of SFX gave the episode a perfect five stars, and highlighted the character of Karsi, played by Birgitte Hjort Sørensen, as a great addition and "her death hits hard" even if "we have only seen her for a few scenes".

[22] The episode received praise even from some of its usual critics: Madeline Davies of Jezebel wrote, "I feel like I haven't said this in a long time, but last night's Game of Thrones was ...cool?"

Davies cited the quality of the battle scene and unifying theme of hope in desperate situations as the episode's key strengths, specifically that the abused and tormented Sansa learns that her brothers may still be alive and that though Jon faces "the seemingly impossible task of defeating a constantly growing army of White Walkers, he at least possesses a sword that can kill them.

"[2] Kirsten Acuna of Business Insider reports that this is the single most popular episode to date as rated by fans, noting that the "tremendous reaction is in complete juxtaposition with reactions to an episode that aired two weeks ago," which received one of the series' lowest fan ratings.

Acuna credits this response to the quality of the battle scene, which featured "a fighting army of the walking dead which would easily give the AMC series of the same name a run for its money.