Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 7 episode 4, which airs on Sky Atlantic in the UK at 9pm tonight (7 August).
'The Spoils of War' may have taken us just past the halfway point of Game of Thrones' much shorter and penultimate seventh season. Nevertheless, it was to series past that a lot of references were made during last night's (6 August) thrilling fourth episode.
After Daenerys Targaryen unwittingly namechecked a classic Jon Snow line to the King in the North himself and Bran Stark more wittingly echoed Littlefinger's 'chaos is a ladder' line right back to him, there was even more throwback references made.
Yes, as the younger Stark children reunited back at their home of Winterfell (with the exception of Rickon RIP) , there were a lot of subtle references to the Winterfell of seasons past.
So, while Eddard Stark may be beheaded and long gone, at least he's still there in spirit.
First up is what Arya is wearing when she enters Winterfell for the first time in absolutely ages.
Eagle-eyed fans will notice she is wearing armour that is almost identical to that worn by her late father Ned Stark the last time she saw him. Aww.
And while it was just about the most awesome thing we've ever seen in its own right, Arya's joust with Brienne also included a few subtle throwbacks to the Winterfell we used to know.
Now, that's more like it.
The fight ends with Brienne and Arya equally matched with their swords pointed towards one another, which is a direct mirror of how things ended up between much younger Arya and her former sword master Syrio Forel the last time she was in Winterfell.
While fun trivia, the references may be an important key to the rest of Arya's story arc going forward.
Now she's back in Winterfell, does this mean Arya is ready to return to the girl she was before she wore many faces and dedicated her life to offing those on her kill list?
Only time will tell (but for the latter part, we hope not).
