Like a cheap, drunken night at a Braavosi brothel, Game of Thrones usually leaves us with far more questions than answers. Each week, we’re going to take a deeper look into every single Q HBO’s fantasy mega-hit needs to A. 

As predicted, Jon Snow’s suicide mission in “Beyond The Wall” went horribly; Thoros of Myr is dead, Gendry Baratheon was exposed as this show’s most awkward runner, and The Night King slew Viserion and resurrected the dragon as his own personal undead nuclear bomb. Luckily, amid the chaos, our heroes did manage to nab a wight, and now we’re headed to King’s Landing for the most important business meeting in Westeros history.

Who Is at This Meeting?

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Image via HBO

It’s fair to say that this is set to be the largest gathering of main Game of Thrones characters since Robert Baratheon’s rotund ass was carted into Winterfell in the very first episode. Jon Snow—who recently bent the knee to Daenerys Targaryen so lustily my HBO GO window burst into flame—has arrived in King’s Landing for the first time, flanked by Tyrion Lannister, Varys, Theon Greyjoy, Jorah Mormont, Davos Seaworth, Sandor Clegane, and a combined force of Dothraki and Unsullied. Joining them from the North is Brienne of Tarth, who brought along Podrick Payne I assume as a personal favor to every prostitute in Flea Bottom.

Cersei Lannister has graciously agreed to take a break from drinking three times the recommended dose of wine a pregnant woman should consume to host this crew of fan-favorites. This means we’ll also be seeing Jaime, Bronn, and the ever-present lumbering meatsack formerly known as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane.

And though HBO has chosen not to show her in the episode preview, one has to assume Daenerys is around somewhere—most likely trying to remember the name of the non-Drogon dragon that just died—considering this peaceful meeting is only happening in lieu of Dany simply flying in and turning the Red Keep into a towering inferno.

What’s on the Agenda?

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Image via HBO

Ostensibly, this summit is so that Jon can point to the zombie he found beyond the Wall in an attempt to convince Cersei to momentarily point her throne-obsessed desire to kill literally anyone not named Lannister at the encroaching army of the undead. But, woo boy, there is enough personal vendettas, long-standing histories, and prior run-ins among those assembled to keep this thing going longer than that one meeting you had where Carol from HR wouldn’t stop asking unnecessary questions.

More than anything, it’s important to keep in mind that Cersei is a very insane person who once blew up an entire church and casually watched it happen from her bedroom window like she was bird watching. She would have Snapchatted that shit if she could, put a funny filter on it and everything. Here, she is coming face-to-face with three people she hasn’t just wished death upon, but actively dreamed of what it would look like: Jon, for the audacity of calling himself King of The North, Daenerys, for the twin crimes of declaring herself Queen and having blonder hair, and Tyrion, for murdering Tywin Lannister and pretty much just being born.

There is also a distinct chance Cersei takes one look at Jon’s wight and scoffs. The queen already has her own undead monster on the payroll, courtesy of whatever ungodly things Qyburn does in his Doctor Frankenstein-ass broom closet beneath the castle. Of course, Cersei’s soulless husk also happens to be brothers with Sandor Clegane—who is very much in attendance—and it’s fair to say this will be the most direct line to a Clegane v. Clegane confrontation Game of Thrones has ever seen. It is also fair to say that I want these two brothers to interact more than I’ve ever wanted something from my actual, real-life family.

Bonus points if low-key best friends Jaime and Brienne spend the entire time making “can you believe this?” eyebrows at each other from across the room.

What’s the Significance if the Meeting Turns Ugly?

While not 100-percent confirmed, that sure looks a lot like the ruins of the Targaryen Dragonpit, one of the most depressing landmarks in all of King’s Landing. The Dragonpit was once a massive domed structure up on Rhaenys’ Hill, in which the Targaryen lords housed their monstrous dragons when they weren’t using them to turn their enemies into ash piles. During the Targaryen civil war known as The Dance of The Dragons, a mob of rabid townsfolk stormed the Dragonpit and managed to kill five dragons, but turned the entire area into an uncontrollable bonfire in the process. Later, during a plague that swept across Westeros, the smoldering remains of the Dragonpit were used to house the ever-increasing number of diseased corpses.

So...yeah, Cersei chose a former mass grave that may or may not be haunted by five supremely pissed off dragon ghosts as a neutral zone. But physical unpleasantness aside, the symbolism of inviting the Mother of Dragons to the spot where the reign of dragons imploded is obvious. I mean, Cersei almost definitely has an elaborate trap planned that somehow ends with Daenerys’ head literally imploding, but the symbolism is definitely something to keep in mind, too.

What Happens if the Meeting Goes South?

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Image via HBO

Grey Worm has assembled the Unsullied outside the walls of King’s Landing, and made sure to bring back-up in the form of the Dothraki’s deadly horse gymnastics. Across from them, sitting in Blackwater Bay, is Euron Greyjoy’s entire fleet, which is smaller and bound to the water but has the benefit of being led by an insane pirate who is definitely super into hallucinogens. Basically, if this cordial summit suddenly turns violent, the fireworks outside have the possibility of going nuclear, and that’s not even taking Drogon and Rhaegal into account. Unless Qyburn built like, 600 more of those giant crossbows and/or engineered an entire helicopter from scrap parts, the dragons are the ace in the hole for this scenario.

But just in terms of pure strategy, convincingly painting The Night King as the true enemy of the Seven Kingdoms is vital. The time for Dickon-ing around is long over; that pointy-headed demon from Beyond the Wall has a goddamn dragon now—along with a handful of giants and a couple thousand axe-wielding skeletons—and the goal at the end of his terrifying yet leisurely stroll south is the destruction of every living person on the planet. If Jon and Co. can’t convince Cersei that this issue is slightly more pressing than that uncomfortable-ass chair you wouldn’t even buy if it was half off at Ikea, then she either needs to be convinced by force, or moved out of the way.

What Part Does Sansa Play in all of This?

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Image via HBO

Maybe none? Sansa Stark has a lot on her mind. She could have attended the King’s Landing council, but chose instead to stay at Winterfell to deal with, in no particular order,

1) Littlefinger’s increasingly uncomfortable gaze

2) Arya’s not-so-subtle threats to cut her face off, and

3) Bran, who isn’t really a problem, per se, but who has been staring at a tree for several weeks now.

The most interesting note centers on Sansa’s line we all got excited about, not from an episode preview but from the second season 7 trailer: “When the snows fall, and the white winds blow, the lone wolf dies but the pack survives.”

It’s a line we haven’t heard yet, and it certainly sounds like something Sansa would say if she was trying to keep her family together. But it is also delivered in the same cadence of a teenage sociopath assassin who happens to be wearing her sister’s face like a Halloween mask. I don’t know. Could go either way.