content: "'''The Lion and the Rose'''" is the second episode of the fourth season of HBO's fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'', and the 32nd overall. The episode was written by George R. R. Martin, the author of the ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' novels of which the series is an adaptation, and directed by Alex Graves. It aired on April 13, 2014.
  The episode focuses principally on the long-awaited royal wedding between Joffrey Baratheon and Margaery Tyrell, which ends tragically as Joffrey dies after drinking poisoned wine at the reception, a plot development that despite being in the books came as a shock to viewers since it abruptly killed the show's principal villain just a few episodes after the Red Wedding had violently killed off several of the show's protagonists. Other storylines include House Bolton's quest to retake the North, and Bran's continued journey north of The Wall. The title refers to the sigils of the wedding couple's respective houses – a lion for Joffrey Baratheon, who is in truth an illegitimate bastard, and a rose for Margaery Tyrell.
  Off-camera, "The Lion and the Rose" is notable as the last episode Martin wrote for the series. Unlike his previous three episodes, his draft of the screenplay has some major differences from the episode as produced, with more minor characters and detail at the wedding feast. Most significantly, it sets up some plotlines from the books that the series would ultimately not use, such as Ramsay marrying an impostor woman posing as Arya instead of Sansa. It would have also resolved the unanswered question from the show's first season of who had been behind the attempted assassination of Bran Stark by implying more strongly than the books did that it was Joffrey, rather than Littlefinger as the series would suggest several seasons later.