[Editor's Note: With Euron having fetched Harry Strickland and The Golden Company for Cersei as her new fighting force, we're bringing back our explainer on what, exactly, the company is all about.]

It’s almost hard to remember now what can feel like a throwaway line in the midst of the explosive Game of Thrones’ Season 7 finale, “The Dragon and The Wolf," but there was an important reference Cersei makes to Jaime about the Golden Company. Though Jon’s "Operation Zombie Drop" did seemingly convince Cersei to uphold a truce while they all go and battle the Night King, if you believed that for even one second then you don’t know Cersei. The queen of lies assured everyone she would not only go along with their plan for a truce, but she would help them — the rubes!

As Jaime points out soon afterwards, though, the Lannister army (and what’s left of the Highgarden troops) are no match for dragons, Dothraki, and the Unsullied. But it appears that Cersei has other plans in place. In one of the few plot lines this season that seems leftover from George R. R. Martin’s books (as far as subtle machinations go), we’ve seen Cersei meeting with a representative from the Iron Bank (Tycho Nestoris), and assuring him that (as Lannisters) debts will be paid. The Lannister power has come squarely from their amassed fortune, and as cunning a tactician as Tywin Lannister was, it was his gold that truly gave him power. It wins wars, and it secures kingdoms.

Cersei, learning from this, has put paying her debts at the forefront of her schemes. It was important that we clocked Jaime assuring her several episodes ago that the gold they moved from Casterly Rock made it to King’s Landing. That was a hint to us that it mattered, and in “The Dragon and The Wolf” we were told why. Cersei, knowing the limitations of her Westerosi army, is buying the help of The Golden Company, currently stationed in Essos. And she’s sent Euron (in a fake-out that didn’t make a lot of sense as far as his reasoning at the time, if it was pre-planned) and his Greyjoy fleet to fetch them. Why is this so important?

Who Are the Golden Company?

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The Golden Company are massive group of sellswords, 10,000 strong, located in Essos. They are famous, expensive, and are known by their motto: “our word is as good as gold.” The company is made up of exiles and sons of exiles, having been founded by Aegor Rivers (known as “Bittersteel”), a legitimized bastard of then-King Aegon IV Targaryen. In events that pre-date the Game of Thrones timeline by quite some time, during a period known as the First Blackfyre Rebellion, The Golden Company started to become a major force among mercenary armies under Aegor’s leadership. They also earned a reputation for always upholding their contracts — and sacking any cities that refuse to pay them for services rendered.

The Golden Company has several connections to our current story, including Jorah Mormont, who pledged himself with the group before becoming an agent of Varys (to spy on Dany). It’s also worth noting that Ser Barristan Selmy, one of the most badass fighters Westeros has ever seen, once “cut a bloody path” through the Golden Company to fight their leader in single combat (which of course he won).

So the Golden Company are not invincible, but they are renowned for their skills, have thousands of horses, use elephants as part of their battle plan (though not in Westeros, evidently, as elephants do not travel well in sea voyages Cersei is told), and are definitely on par with speciality armies like the Dothraki and the Unsullied.

In the Books

Image via HBO

The Golden Company, like so much history and lore, has a much more pivotal role in the Song of Ice and Fire book series than it has on the show. The Company has taken up a lot of space on the pages of the later books of the series, and has made notable appearances in the Winds of Winter chapters that have been released. Thus, it feels like that the Company could actually have important ramifications to the overall story. Right now, it's closely tied with the Young Griff storyline, which the show has not touched on:

Young Griff, a character in the books, is possibly Aegon Targaryen, the son of Rheagar Targaryen and Elia Martell who was spirited away by the Hand of the King as a child before the slaughter by the Mountain. In the books, this is something Varys is aware of, and Aegon is the leader who he backs to rule Westeros, as Aegon's claim to the throne would be more secure than Dany’s.

Because the TV show has ignored Young Griff completely, many think that he could just be an elaborate red herring. This gains some ground since many elements of his story have been transferred over to Jon Snow instead, with that name being given to him now officially. How Jon’s story could connect to The Golden Company moving forward, though, is uncertain.

What we do know is that the company continues to be led -- as in the books -- by Harry Strickland, except this version looks a lot like Jaime Lannister rather than his book description of "portly, with a big round head, mild grey eyes and thinning grey hair that he brushes sideways to cover up a bald spot." Will Cersei be tempted by him...?

In the Show

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Image via HBO

The TV series referenced Cersei’s plan fleetingly in “The Spoils of War,” but again there were other, more interesting things seemingly happening in that hour to pay much attention to Cersei’s dealings with her Iron Bank debt. Before that, we heard about the Golden Company in Season 4, when Davos suggested Stannis hire them to fight for him. Stannis, an idealist (and therefore in Game of Thrones terms, a fool) refused. He wanted his armies to fight for him out of love and loyalty, the way we've seen the Dothraki and the Unsullied fight for Dany. But Dany also had several seasons worth of plot, and a very twisted and harrowing path, to secure the loyalty of those two armies. Stannis made the wrong choice, of course, but Cersei has no interest in an army who loves her — just one who will fight.

It’s interesting to note, though, that one of the rallying cries against Daenerys among the homegrown of Westeros is their reticence over her bringing in foreigners and foreign fighters to win her war. If Cersei does the same, her “Make Westeros Great Again” campaign will have lost one of its key components. Still, the Golden Company are often made up of sundries that come from Westeros, so it’s still not as foreign as horse warriors and gelded infantrymen.

There’s not a lot of time to build up the history of The Golden Company on the series, though now that Euron has returned with them to Westeros, they will likely just be as another highly trained force to fight on Cersei’s side against Dany and her dragons.

There are a ton of potential outcomes for how the Golden Company could prove relevant, though. The Night King’s power could force everyone to band together whether Cersei likes it or not, or the Night King could be defeated early in the season. If the latter happens, Dany and Jon will then turn South and meet a fresh, highly trained army, which could certainly change the possibly outcome of that war. Dany’s remaining dragons could be killed, or they could live and defeat the Lannisters once and for all. Plus, we don’t know the terms of Tyrion and Cersei’s deal — and I assume there was one after he found out she was pregnant (promising that child as the heir since Dany can’t naturally have children?) All of this could play into the final machinations regarding the Iron Throne. One thing we can bet on, though, is that The Golden Company will have an important role to play. https://www.youtube.com/embed/45P2mIJz3Yk

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