"Garden of Bones" is the fourth episode of the second season of HBO's medieval fantasy television series Game of Thrones, and the 14th overall. The episode was directed by David Petrarca, his directorial debut for the series, and was written by Vanessa Taylor. It first aired on April 22, 2012.
The episode's title comes from a phrase used by Ser Jorah Mormont to describe the desert surrounding the city of Qarth to Daenerys. At the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards, the episode won the award for Outstanding Art Direction for a Single-Camera Series, sharing the distinction with "The Ghost of Harrenhal" and "A Man Without Honor".
Plot
At Oxcross
Robb defeats Lannister reinforcements in a night-time attack on the town of Oxcross in the Westerlands. His bannerman Lord Roose Bolton suggests flaying and interrogating the prisoners, but Robb insists on fair treatment. Robb encounters field nurse Talisa, and is impressed by her.
In King's Landing
After hearing of Robb's victory, Joffrey orders Sansa be publicly beaten, but Tyrion and Bronn defuse the situation. At Bronn's suggestion, Tyrion sends prostitutes Ros and Daisy to Joffrey, who forces Ros to beat Daisy as a message to Tyrion.
Lancel informs Tyrion that Cersei has ordered Pycelle's release. Tyrion tells Lancel that he is aware of his affair with Cersei, but will keep the truth from Joffrey in exchange for Lancel spying on Cersei.
At Harrenhal
Arya, Gendry, and Hot Pie are brought to the ruined castle Harrenhal, where the Lannister garrison, commanded by Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane, tortures and kills prisoners for information concerning "the Brotherhood". Tywin arrives, ending the brutality and ordering the prisoners be put to work. Polliver threatens Arya but she is spared by Tywin, who recognizes she is a girl and makes her his cupbearer.
Outside Qarth
Daenerys receives word from Kovarro that the nearby city of Qarth welcomes the "Mother of Dragons". Daenerys asked Ser Jorah what he knows of Qarth but he only knows that it is surrounded by a desert known as the "Garden of Bones" and that every time they shut the gates on a traveler, "the garden grows".
Daenerys and her khalasar meet with Qarth's rulers, the Thirteen, outside the city. The Thirteen ask to see Daenerys's dragons in exchange for shelter. She asks that her people are attended to first, and the Thirteen abandon them to the desert. Daenerys swears vengeance should they not grant them shelter, and one of the Thirteen, Xaro Xhoan Daxos, vouches for Daenerys's people through a blood oath, and they are reluctantly allowed inside.
In the Stormlands
Littlefinger discusses the siege of King's Landing with Renly, and Margaery rebuffs Littlefinger's questions. Littlefinger meets with Catelyn, who is enraged at the sight of him, and tells her the Lannisters want to trade Sansa and Arya for Jaime. As a gesture of goodwill, he brings her Ned Stark's remains.
Renly and Catelyn parley with Stannis and Melisandre. Renly refuses Stannis's offer to surrender in exchange for becoming his heir, and is given until sunrise to reconsider or be destroyed.
At night, Stannis orders Davos to take Melisandre ashore in secret. Once ashore, Melisandre reveals she is, impossibly, in late-stage pregnancy and gives birth to a horrific, shadowy figure, which disappears in a cloud of smoke.
Production
Writing
"Garden of Bones" was the first of two episodes written by Vanessa Taylor, the season's addition to the writing staff. The teleplay adapted material from chapters 27, 30, 32, 33 and 43 (Arya VI, Tyrion VII, Catelyn III, Sansa III, and Davos II) of George R. R. Martin's novel A Clash of Kings.
The episode introduced many significant deviations from the original material. One of the most significant affects the character of Talisa, who is based on the novel's Jeyne Westerling, but is given a very different background and motivations (in the books she is the daughter of a minor noble sworn to the Lannisters, while the show has her a foreign lady from the Free City of Volantis). The producers acknowledge that Robb's storyline is "one of the places where novels diverge pretty drastically from television." They felt that the book's approach of having him off-scene most of the time and portraying his deeds in the battlefield only from second-hand reports was not going to work in a visual medium. Also, the talent and magnetism that Richard Madden demonstrated during the first season convinced them to expand his presence and portray his love story onscreen.