Spoiler warning: major spoilers for the Game of Thrones finale ahead.
Daenerys actress Emilia Clarke and Jon Snow actor Kit Harington have reacted to Daenerys’ descent into madness, and her death at the hands of Jon.
In an interview with EW, Clarke revealed that, upon reading the final season’s script, she cried and went for a walk. “I walked out of the house and took my keys and phone and walked back with blisters on my feet. I didn’t come back for five hours. I’m like, ‘How am I going to do this?’” Of Daenerys’ decision to torch King’s Landing, she said she “Absolutely never saw that coming.”
Full spoilers ahead for “The iron Throne,” the series finale of Game of Thrones!
Game of Thrones ended with the Starks all going their separate ways following the election of Bran the Broken as the king of the Six Kingdoms (yes, now six), the Iron Throne getting melted down, and Daenerys Targaryen dead. Arya Stark surprised her siblings as they were saying their goodbyes by revealing that she would not return North to Winterfell. Instead, she will venture west of Westeros — a Game of Thrones spinoff we’d all love to see. But what’s west of Westeros anyway? Short answer: no one knows.
Warning: full spoilers for the Game of Thrones series finale episode titled “The Iron Throne”!
The final episode of Game of Thrones has come and gone, finally answering many big questions and showing us who lived, who died, and who got a promotion. Here’s a breakdown of all the big events in “The Iron Throne” and where everyone wound up.
The Death of Daenerys Targaryen
With Daenerys going full-on murderous dictator and delivering a passionate speech to her army about how they would continue to “liberate” the entire world, Jon Snow was eventually convinced by an imprisoned Tyrion to end her life. Just as Daenerys was about to sit on the Iron Throne, Jon joined her in the throne room to give her one last kiss and stab her in the heart, killing her almost instantly. Jon was clearly in anguish, showing that he did truly love Daenerys despite what she had become.
The end was in plain sight from the beginning – as long as you believe that this picture was a premonition and not just some young cast members mucking about at a party.
As pointed out by DreamyArk on Reddit, a picture from 2012 shows Bran sitting on the Iron Throne, flanked by his Stark sisters:
SPOILERS AHEAD for Game of Thrones’ Season 8, Episode 6, “The Iron Throne.”
Game of Thrones’ final episode, “The Iron Throne,” aired tonight and there were a ton of callbacks to previous episodes and Easter Eggs to be found.
We’ve gathered what we’ve found below, and we will continue to add them as more are discovered!
Also, be sure to check out our review of “The Iron Throne,” where we said it was “a bittersweet if underwhelming climax to a show that’s been a true cultural obsession. We’ll never see its like again.”
The final episode of Game of Thrones saw the conclusion of eight seasons of stories, some ending tragically while others came out pretty well, all things considered. “The Iron Throne” also saw the return of a few characters who’ve been missing from the show for a while, giving us a look at what happened to them since their last appearance.
A word of warning: there are spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 6, beyond this point!
After Daenerys Targaryen’s sack of King’s Landing, Tyrion Lannister tries to convince Jon Snow that something has to be done about the queen. Jon is finally convinced and when he finds himself alone with Dany, he pledges his loyalty to her one last time–before stabbing her with a dagger, killing her.
Without a monarch to lead the Seven Kingdoms, the surviving lords and ladies of Westeros meet at the dragon pit in King’s Landing to decide who should rule. There are a lot of familiar faces in attendance, including Yara Greyjoy of the Iron Islands, Edmure Tully of Riverrun, Ser Davos, Ser Brienne of Tarth, and Yohn Royce, who led the Knights of the Vale in the Battle of the Bastards. You might have caught sight of another familiar face with Lord Royce: the grown-up Robin Arryn, Lord of the Vale.
We first met Robin in Season 1 when Catelyn Stark took the captured Tyrion Lannister to the Eyrie to get the help of her sister, Lysa Arryn. Robin was the son of Lysa and Jon Arryn, the former Hand of the King who died before the start of the series. With his father’s death, the young boy became the new Lord of the Vale. When Robin first appeared on the show, his mother was breastfeeding him (despite the fact that he was definitely about eight or 10 years old at the time). He went on to demonstrate how spoiled and awful he was as he demanded that Tyrion be tossed out the Moon Door.
Robin showed up again in Season 4, when Littlefinger brought Sansa Stark to the Eyrie after spiriting her away from King’s Landing in the wake of Joffrey Baratheon’s death. At that point, he was still spoiled and awful–you might remember the temper tantrum he threw while talking to Sansa, stomping on her snow castle.
According to Lysa, the plan was that Robin was to marry Sansa, but that obviously never happened. Littlefinger threw Lysa out the Moon Door instead, and eventually, he married Sansa to Ramsay Bolton. We last saw Robin in Season 6, being absolutely miserable with a sword. That was when Littlefinger sent Robin to live with Lord Royce, who was charged with training the young lord and turning him into a man.
Who knows if Robin ever learned anything, but he’s definitely come a long way since Season 6. At the council meeting, we see an adult Robin (actor Lino Facioli, who plays Robin, is 18) who looks a lot less sickly than he did as a kid. One wonders if Sansa thinks she made a mistake bailing on Robin; then again, it’s hard to separate the good-looking young man from the way-too-old-to-be-breastfeeding boy.
Warning: Full spoilers follow for Game of Thrones’ series finale, “The Iron Throne.”
Even if we may have been anticipating Daenerys’ inevitable downfall, Game of Thrones’ path forward hasn’t exactly been paved with the most nuanced trajectory, and fans have noticed. Dany may have made a few missteps of judgment in her time, but it certainly still felt like 0 to 100 (read: genocide) in Game of Thrones’ penultimate episode. And now that the show has had its final chance for a wrap-up, many fans have come away feeling dissatisfied. I mean, Bran, really? Let’s take a look at what folks are saying!
IGN’s Readers
“The storytelling just didn’t hold up at the end at all,” IGN reader tariq319 said. “I’m okay with how the story ended, but the way it was being told just left me completely disappointed.” Reader HillAustinD sees the silver lining of it all: “I feel like after last week’s travesty, this was as good as we could have hoped for.”
Game of Thrones no doubt has one of the biggest production budgets in all of TV, but production mistakes continue to happen in its final season. Eagle-eyed fans noticed a plastic water bottle that can be seen behind Sam Tarley’s leg in one scene of the episode, “The Iron Throne.” This was noticed by fans on Twitter, and we’ve confirmed it.
You can see the water bottle just behind Tarley’s left leg. Take a look for yourself in the image below. A second water bottle was also seen next to Ser Davos, and you can check out a screencap below.
This is just the latest mishap for Game of Thrones season 8, as an earlier episode–The Last of the Starks–showed a coffee up on a table in front of Daenerys. HBO digitally removed the cup, but the internet never forgets. It seems likely that HBO will also erase the water bottle.
