When we first meet Gilly from Game of Thrones, she is terrified. She’s huddled in a corner of Craster’s Keep, a place of nightmares where the air feels heavy with the stench of woodsmoke and old blood. She’s one of many "daughter-wives," a concept so stomach-turning it immediately established the Free Folk’s world as a brutal, lawless vacuum. Most viewers saw her as a plot device. A victim to be rescued. A way to give Samwell Tarly a spine.
They were wrong.
Gilly wasn't just a side character. Honestly, if you look at the trajectory of the entire series, she’s the one who bridges the gap between the ancient, mystical terror of the White Walkers and the bureaucratic mess of King’s Landing. She didn't have a Valyrian steel sword or a dragon. She had a baby and an iron-clad will to keep him breathing. That's it.
The Horror of Craster’s Keep and Gilly’s True Strength
Craster was a monster. Let's not mince words here. He survived beyond the Wall by sacrificing his sons to the White Walkers—a dark pact that turned his own flesh and blood into the Night King's generals. Gilly grew up in this environment. Think about that for a second. Every boy she ever knew was taken into the woods and never seen again. She lived in a cycle of generational abuse that would break anyone.
But Gilly didn't break.
When the Night’s Watch arrived during the Great Ranger, she saw an opening. It wasn't about romance with Sam; it was about survival. She realized that the old world was dying and her son—Little Sam—was next on the chopping block. Her bravery isn't the flashy kind. It’s the quiet, desperate kind. She stepped out of the only home she’d ever known into a frozen wasteland because the alternative was certain death.
Samwell Tarly often gets the credit for "saving" her, but Gilly saved herself. She chose to trust a stranger. She chose to flee into a blizzard. Most of the high-born lords in Westeros couldn't handle a week in the haunted forest, yet Gilly navigated it with a newborn strapped to her chest.
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Why Gilly from Game of Thrones Changed Everything in Oldtown
For seasons, Gilly was just there. She was the girl following Sam around, learning to read, and providing a bit of warmth in a cold show. Then came Season 7.
People like to complain about the later seasons, and sure, the pacing got weird. But Gilly’s discovery in the Citadel is arguably the most underrated moment in the entire franchise. While Sam is busy complaining about cleaning chamber pots and being ignored by the Archmaesters, Gilly is actually doing the work. She’s reading. She’s learning.
She stumbles upon the records of High Septon Maynard.
"Maynard says here that he issued an annulment for a Prince 'Ragger' and remarried him to someone else at the same time in a secret ceremony in Dorne," she says. She mispronounces Rhaegar's name because she’s still new to reading. Sam initially brushes her off. It’s infuriating to watch. Here is the literal key to the entire central mystery of the show—the truth about Jon Snow’s parentage—and it’s discovered by a girl who didn't even know what a book was three years prior.
Without Gilly from Game of Thrones, does Jon ever find out he's Aegon Targaryen? Maybe. But Gilly provided the legal proof. She found the "marriage certificate" that proved Jon wasn't a bastard. He was the true heir. This changed the political landscape of the final two seasons entirely. It drove a wedge between Jon and Daenerys. It set the stage for the ending. All because a Wildling girl was curious about a dusty old diary.
The Evolution of Hannah Murray’s Performance
Hannah Murray brought something specific to this role. She had this wide-eyed, breathless quality that made Gilly feel perpetually overwhelmed but never weak. It would have been easy to play Gilly as "dumb" because she was uneducated. Murray didn't do that. She played her as someone who was hyper-observant.
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When Gilly arrives at Castle Black, she’s an outsider. When she goes to Horn Hill and meets Sam’s judgmental father, Randyll Tarly, she stands her ground. Watching her defend Sam against the man who raised him was one of the most satisfying moments in the show’s history. She saw Sam’s worth when his own father saw him as a disappointment.
A Journey of Literacy and Identity
- Craster’s Keep: No education, purely instinctual survival.
- The Wall: Learning the alphabet with Princess Shireen Baratheon (a heartbreaking friendship).
- Oldtown: Reading complex maester records and uncovering the Rhaegar/Lyanna secret.
- Winterfell: Surviving the Long Night in the crypts (which, honestly, was a terrible hiding spot, but she made it).
She’s one of the few characters who actually ends the show in a better place than she started. She survives the White Walkers. She survives the Boltons. She survives the literal end of the world. By the time the series wraps, she’s pregnant again, living in a world that is—hopefully—a little less cruel than the one Craster built.
Addressing the "Sam and Gilly" Criticism
Some fans felt their storyline dragged. They wanted more dragons and less domesticity. But Sam and Gilly represented the "small folk" that George R.R. Martin always talks about. The people who are caught in the gears of the Great Game.
If the show was only about kings and queens, it would lose its stakes. We need Gilly because she represents what is being fought for. She’s the human element. When she’s hiding in the crypts of Winterfell during the battle against the dead, the fear is real. She isn't a warrior. She can't fight a wight. She can only hold her child and hope the heroes win. That's the reality for 99% of the people in Westeros.
What Most People Get Wrong About Her Arc
The biggest misconception is that Gilly is a passive character.
Passivity is staying at Craster's and hoping you don't get killed. Passivity is letting the Maesters ignore you. Gilly was an agitator. She pushed Sam to be better. She pushed him to steal the books from the Citadel. She pushed him to leave when he wasn't being respected. She was the engine behind Samwell Tarly’s growth. Without her, Sam stays at the Wall, probably dies during the mutiny, or remains a depressed steward forever.
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She turned a coward into a man who eventually became Grand Maester.
How to Analyze Gilly’s Legacy
If you’re rewatching the series, pay attention to the silence. Gilly says a lot when she isn't speaking. Look at her reaction to the different environments she enters. She’s a fish out of water that somehow learns to breathe air every single time.
- Watch the Shireen scenes again. They are the most "human" moments in a show filled with gore. Gilly’s wonder at learning that "S" makes a "sss" sound is a reminder of the power of knowledge.
- Observe her at the Citadel. She is the only person in that entire city of "wise men" who is actually looking for answers that matter.
- Analyze the Horn Hill dinner. Notice how she uses the truth as a weapon. She doesn't understand the social "rules" of the nobility, so she just says what happened. She tells Randyll Tarly that Sam killed a White Walker. She doesn't care about decorum. She cares about the truth.
Gilly from Game of Thrones started as a girl with no name and no future. She ended as a mother, a scholar in her own right, and a survivor of the greatest war in history. She didn't need a throne to be relevant. She just needed to keep moving forward.
Next time you think about the power players of Westeros, don't just look at the ones wearing crowns. Look at the one who read the book they all ignored.
To truly understand the depth of Gilly's impact, you should re-examine the High Septon's diary scene in Season 7, Episode 5 ("Eastwatch"). It’s the moment the show's biggest secret is finally revealed, and it happens not through a vision or a prophecy, but through the literacy of a woman who was never supposed to learn how to read. That is the ultimate subversion of the fantasy genre.
Actionable Insight: If you're diving back into the lore, focus on the "small" characters like Gilly to see how George R.R. Martin and the showrunners used them to anchor the high-fantasy elements in grounded, human stakes. Read the A Song of Ice and Fire chapters from Sam's perspective to see how Gilly's internal strength is described even more vividly than it appeared on screen.