At Winterfell, Sansa’s asking the local farmers to help build up the grain stores with regular shipments, planning ahead to feed both the armies of the North and local refugees. “If the entire North has to flee to Winterfell, they won’t have enough time to bring wagon loads of grain with them,” she reasons. At King’s Landing, the Lannisters aren’t asking the farmers for food — they’re stealing it. Part of Cersei and Jaime’s Highgarden scheme was to get the gold to repay the Iron Bank, but also to empty the granaries and collect the harvests from the farms in the Reach. Which in itself is a kind of warfare: The capital hopes to withstand a long siege, but the people in the Reach won’t be able to survive a long winter.
Listen to the background chatter at the Inn at the Crossroads before Arya reunites with Hot Pie. Two men speculate that “prices will triple” and what they mean are the prices of food in King’s Landing. Remember what Bronn explained to Tyrion and Varys in Season 2? “The thieves, they love a siege. Soon as the gates are sealed, they steal all the food. By the time it’s all over, they’re the richest men in town.” Noble women will sell their diamonds for a sack of potatoes. If it gets really bad, Bronn says, the poor will start to eat each other. “Food’s worth more than gold.”
Realizing that she won’t be able to feed her armies “because Cersei has taken all the food,” Dany decides to hit back. Instead of attacking King’s Landing, she attacks the loot train, though Drogon blasts the wagons containing grain and food supplies. Now no one has that precious resource. Starvation is one of the biggest threats to Westeros. This is partly why the farmer that the Hound revisits in Season 7 has killed himself and his daughter. When the Hound robbed them of their silver in Season 4, estimating they would be dead come winter, he ensured their fate. With or without war, food prices are about to skyrocket.
Clear and Present Danger
Jon Snow is trying to recruit allies in the fight against the army of the dead, but he’s having trouble rallying people to his cause. It might be because he’s not great at describing his own White Walker experiences or using other witnesses to corroborate.
Perhaps Jon needs to think back to the Night’s Watch back in Season 1, when they sent Alliser Thorne with a letter and a wight hand to show the Small Council. (The Small Council only saw the letter in Season 2 — no Thorne, no hand.) It’s curious Tyrion doesn’t bring this up, since he was the one who read the letter and tried to vouch for Lord Commander Jeor Mormont’s credibility. But perhaps this incident is what gives Tyrion the idea to go beyond the Wall and capture a wight in the first place.
Tyrion thinks this would provide proof for Cersei, but he should also remember from past dealings with her that she’s not going to care. It’s not Cersei who needs the information anyway — it’s the realm. Sam realizes this when he makes his case at the Citadel, and Archmaester Ebrose, while complacent, believes him. But the maesters aren’t moved to action when Sam tries to convince them to spread the word. His mistake is telling the Citadel maesters that they should ask the various lords to send men to defend the Wall during a time of war.
