The internet has broken out with arguments over the 'The Iron Throne', the finale of 'Game Of Thrones', with over a million people signing a petition asking for Season 8 to be shot again. What do I think? Find out in the recap below, but be warned, SPOILERS ARE COMING.
Given what happened in 8.03 'The Long Night' and 8.05 'The Bells' in particular, this was a satisfactory ending. It may not have been what we wanted when we finished Season 7, but after Dany destroyed Kings Landing in the previous episode, I could not be happier to see Bran as King.
Danaerys greets the Dothrakis and Unsullied at her Victory speech. Her entrance is stunning as Drogon’s wings are behind her, making her look like a blonde Maleficent. The speech is similar to others she has made - it made the heart pound but after Episode 5, we now see the other truth behind her words. She has destroyed cities and slaughtered people before, but we were cheering for her then. Now she wants to “liberate” places like Winterfell from “tyrants”.
In the throne room, Jon sees Dany in private - he knows he has no choice but to kill her. He didn’t have to kiss her before stabbing her, but he did...Drogon was able to feel his Mother departing and flew into the throne room. There was a really sentimental scene with Drogon pawing (or clawing?) at his Mother, to see if she was really dead. As we saw the fire building up in his throat, we thought Jon was toast - but he decided to burn down the Iron Throne, as he knew ultimately that is what killed his Mother.
It would have been popular for Drogon to let loose on Jon, but for Jon to survive as he is a Targaryen. However we know fire does burn him, as he was burnt by the lantern when he saved The Old Bear, in the early parts of the TV series.
Anyway, Drogon flies off with Daenarys clutched in his claws. We later learn that Jon had been arrested by the Unsullied - I’m sure his sense of honour would not have allowed him to lie, but without a body as evidence, he really could have just said Drogon attacked Daenarys and flew off...
TYRION
The episode actually started with Tyrion walking through Kings Landing looking at the destruction and wondering to himself “WTF have I enabled?”. He makes it into the Red Keep, and goes down to the basement and finds his brother and sister dead, under rubble, in each others arms. It was great to see both of them actually dead, drawing a line under those characters - not that it matters really as it’s the final episode.
Tyrion confronted Daenarys after her victory speech, threw away his Queen’s Hand pin, and was promptly arrested.
THE ENDING
'The Iron Throne' then flies forward a few weeks, with the most important Lords and Ladies of Westeros sitting in the Dragon Pit. They had to decide what to do going forward, with no King or Queen, and Sansa pushing for Jon to be released. After some debate, and waffling from Tyrion, it was decided that Bran should be King - leaders will be made, not born.
I can’t think of a better ruler out of the remaining bunch, so I’m fairly happy with the ending. Bran will never father children, so they’d never have to worry about nepotism - even if he agrees at first that leaders will be made and not born, it could be very different if he had a son.
As Aemon Targaryen said to Jon: “Love is the bane of honor, the death of duty. What is honor compared to a woman's love? What is duty against the feel of a newborn son in your arms ... or the memory of a brother's smile? Wind and words. Wind and words. We are only human, and the gods have fashioned us for love. That is our great glory, and our great tragedy.”
A lot of fans think Bran is undeserving and that Jon should be on the throne. But Jon would have been a rubbish King during a time of peace and rebuilding. Jon never wanted to be leader - only when pushed for the role, he takes it and performs admittedly well. Most of the time it’s because he can fight and lead others to fight.
If Jon was made King, the Unsullied would not have left Westeros (for Isle of Naarth, where Missandei was from), and the Iron Islands would have revolted. He would have been called the Queenslayer and people would have sneered at him forever more - just look at how they treated Jamie.
Of course at the beginning of Season 8, we were all gunning for Daenarys or Jon to sit on the Iron Throne. But given what had happened in the lead-up to 'The Iron Throne', I am satisfied with the ending. And perhaps that’s all we can ask for. If you thought there was going to be a happy ending to 'Game Of Thrones', maybe you weren’t paying enough attention.
Having Bran as King has really broken the wheel, as Daenarys put it. Perhaps ironic for a boy in a wheelchair. And now to tie up some loose ends...
SANSA
Sansa ends up being Queen of the North. This was also satisfying, but if we had any more episodes left then there would definitely be trouble as the Iron Islanders would surely want to be separate from the Kingdom of Westeros, as it had been previously. Yara didn’t make a pip though, so we can ignore that.
ARYA
Arya sails off as she wants to find out what’s West of Westeros, which she had mentioned when talking to the theatre performer she was meant to kill in Braavos.
BRIENNE
Brienne fills in Jamie’s pages in the Kings Guard book, which is a fitting tribute to a flawed Knight, who performed some great acts.
BRONN
He becomes Lord of Highgarden and Master of Coin, as Tyrion had promised him. I think I would have been happier with that outcome if he hadn’t attacked the Lannister brothers earlier in the season - surely it would be easier for Tyrion to pay someone to murder him?
SAM
Sam becomes Grand Maester within a short time period, which seems a gross injustice to the other Maesters, but never mind.
ROBIN ARRYN
Robin Arryn straight up longbottomed us #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/hhFQYGq5Ir— coopaloop (@mcoops_) May 20, 2019
Robin Arryn straight up longbottomed us #GameOfThrones pic.twitter.com/hhFQYGq5Ir
— coopaloop (@mcoops_) May 20, 2019JON
He is sent off to the Nights Watch. We see him say farewell to his siblings and Tyrion in a bittersweet ending. We see him arrive at Castle Black to many smiles from the Wildlings and Tormund. AND WE SEE GHOST! I think the Internet might have broken some more had he gone up North and we didn’t see Ghost and Jon reunited - it was definitely worth the cost of the CGI. We then see them heading North of the wall - I guess with the Night King dead they aren’t going to bother to rebuild the wall, and Jon will just go and make lots of wildling babies and spread his Targaryen genes a bit more.
'Game Of Thrones' Season Eight Recaps: Episode One | Episode Two (no review) | Episode Three | Episode Four | Episode Five
Diana works as a freelance photographer and lives in North London with her 2 children and husband. Find more info at dianavonr.com.
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