Season 8 of Game of Thrones: The Army of the Golden Company of Cersei, Explained

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At the end of Game of thronesFor her seventh season, Cersei Lannister revealed to her brother and lover, Jaime, that she had obtained a huge loan from the Iron Bank to hire the Golden Company, a huge army to rent in Essos.

In the eighth season, it is becoming increasingly clear that Cersei literally bet all she had on this legion of mercenaries to help her keep the iron throne. But what did the Golden Company really worth to rely on the ability of the Lannister family – and the lives of the citizens of King's Landing – to defeat Daenerys and his allies?

The short answer is: Yes, because the fighters of the Golden Company are legitimate. But this agreement is not without risks.

The Golden Company may not have elephants, but it's still great

The Golden Company is made up of 20,000 trained swordsmen, 2,000 horses and a few elephants. However, to the disappointment of Cersei, when she sent Euron Greyjoy to pick up the army in season 7 and bring her back to King's Landing, he could not equip the elephants with his boats for the crossing of the Narrow Sea .

Per George R.R. Martin's A song of ice and fire novels, the Golden Company was founded about a century before its birth. Game of thrones& # 39; aujourd & # 39; hui. After a rebellion that degenerated into a civil war and sent many Westorosi fighters fleeing east through the narrow sea, they regrouped and put forward their collective fighting experience. We heard about it for the first time in the fourth season of the series, when Ser Davos suggested that Stannis hire them to help him in his invasion of Joffrey. But that did not materialize, Stannis hesitating to let the committed combatants mingle with his loyal army.

The current commander of the Golden Company is Harry Strickland, "Homeless". As you can see, he is very different in books: he is described as corpulent and bald, "not much like a warrior" and "his[ing] like an old woman "- what he does in the series:

The photo above of Harry comes from recently released promotional photos for the fifth episode of season eight, which show the company lined up outside the gates of King's Landing. Jon and his northern allies, along with the remnants of Dany Unsullied and Dothraki's forces, appear to be at least equitably equal – if not more numerous:

Cersei does not rely solely on the Golden Company for his combat skills. One of the reasons they are well regarded is that they are famous for never breaking a contract. This principle is written in the name of the army and in its motto: "Our word is worth gold". This means that you must not change sides in the middle of a fight.

But in this particular battle, Cersei's choice to align with the Golden Company is not totally risk free. After all, Golden Company fighters have never faced a dragon before. In addition, it is composed of individual keywords like Bronn.

And as we saw in the last episode of season eight, "The Last of the Starks," the allegiance of a swellsword can quickly change color if a more advantageous offer comes along. Although the Golden Company has the reputation of never breaking a contract, since it is an engaged army, it is not loyal to one cause or even to another. In fact, in Martin's A dance with dragonsit is pointed out that they are "armed foreigners".

We would not blame them if they saw Drogon and immediately rethought their priorities.

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