When you watch the Game of Thrones, you must understand that no part of the dialogue is there by accident. Remember the time that Tyrion was telling Daenerys that the Mad King hid stashes of wildfire under the streets of King’s Landing to destroy the entire city (leaving Jamie no choice but to kill him)? Well, in an epic twist of fate, Cersei Lannister proves once again that hell hath no fury like a Queen Mother scorned and used this knowledge to her advantage.

After suffering from humiliation at the Hands of the High Sparrow and Margaery Tyrell, Cersei bids her time in devising her revenge against every person who has wronged her. With the help of her loyal aide Qyburn, the Queen Mother exacts her ultimate show of force when she orders the destruction of Sept Baelor which aired as part of the Winds of Winter episode of Season 6, during the trial for Ser Loras Tyrell and herself. This effectively wiped out (in explosive fashion) the Faith of the Seven, Mace Tyrell and his children Queen Margaery and Ser Loras, the entire Small Council and the spectators of the trial who were believed to be against Cersei.

While this was not technically a battle in the classic sense of the word as there was very little fighting involved, it was a brilliant statement of Cersei’s power and how she deals with those who are against her. She has been struggling to regain power for two seasons and finally, at this season’s finale, she finally got to sit on the Iron Throne as the first Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. It was the culmination of Cersei’s battle to prove her worth and her tenacity to sit on the Throne after she spent an entire lifetime on the sidelines under her father’s command.

Goosebumps for the entire sequence and for what came after. Even though I loathe Cersei, I must admit that I was blown away by this development and appreciated her brilliance and her patience in pulling off something so ruthless and so Cersei that even the Mother of Dragons would have to think twice about a sure victory.

The destruction of the Sept of Baelor, along with it the elimination of Cersei’s enemies upped the ante for the Great War to come. It was proof that Cersei was indeed Tywin Lannister’s daughter. No one could have pulled off something so cruel except the Mad King himself.

PS. This episode also revealed Jon Snow’s true parentage, Arya’s massacre of Walder Frey and his sons and saw Dany finally sailing her fleet to Westeros to make her own bid for the Iron Throne.