Review: Game of Thrones: We Finally Know Who Sits On The Iron Throne

[00:00:01] Game of Thrones We Finally Know Who Sits On The Iron Throne, Paap Ridas I suppose there's a crude kind of justice. This one line by Tyrion Lannister sums up the general feeling towards the finale. Before we move on, spoiler alert. The 10-year-old saga has come to an end

[00:00:22] with the ultimate episode of Game of Thrones getting aired on Monday 20th May. The show, which entertained fans with unpredictable plot twists, irrational but relatable characters and fascinating world of magic, dragons and zombies, concluded its narrative with Season 8 Episode 6 which is most aptly titled The Iron Throne.

[00:00:44] So who gets to sit on it? Well, no one. As predicted, poetic justice is served. I just died in your arms tonight. Must have been some kind of kiss. These words from a song by Cutting Crew would have been an apt background theme to Daenerys Targaryen's character arc

[00:01:02] if HBO's so considered. While the showmakers have tried their best at sidestepping fan theories and expectations to make it more unpredictable which is often backfired massively as we have seen from the reception of the last few episodes

[00:01:16] for the finale they managed to deliver exactly what the fans had in mind at least for Daenerys' character. She breathes her last with a knife to her heart, murdered by the man she loved, Jon Snow. Unpleasant, cruel but with a pinch of poetic justice.

[00:01:32] That's how the mother of dragons went out. Can't say we didn't see this coming. No amount of theorizing and prediction however should have prepared you for what happens next. A distraught, angry and heartbroken drogon melting down the Iron Throne and flying into oblivion with Dany's body.

[00:01:50] If you didn't shed a drop of tear in this scene, you probably have an emotional capacity of a teaspoon. Irony of the Iron Throne. Pedantic fans would probably ask why didn't Drogon blow up Jon Snow?

[00:02:03] There is no right answer to it as we haven't figured out how dragon psychology works but what we can infer from the scene is that somehow the beast sensed that its patron and mother's untimely demise was the result of the Iron Throne.

[00:02:17] The series of unfortunate events that transpired from wanting that throne was what led us here. Ironically the throne was built by Aegon the Conqueror, a Targaryen. We are reminded of its bloody history as Daenerys narrates her childlike aspirations for it to Jon Snow right before he murders her.

[00:02:36] So it's fitting that the throne ceases to exist after a Targaryen briefly claims it back. Breaking the Wheel. Its business as usual at King's Landing where the most powerful laws of Westeros have gathered to pick a new king.

[00:02:51] After several disagreements and a weak attempt by Samwell Tali to push for democracy the Raktag team of Westerosi rulers did manage to pick a king. And yes, unfortunately they don't even consider the possibility of a queen ruling them all.

[00:03:07] Guess Cersei and Daenerys have sealed that deal for us. If you come from the school of thought that Jon Snow would reluctantly become the new ruler of the Seven Kingdoms after Daenerys was out of the way well, you thought wrong.

[00:03:22] The writers have managed to sidestep this prediction with a rather strange pick for the title of the ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. Oops! My bad! It's six kingdoms now with Sansa Stark claiming autonomy of the North and becoming the queen in the North.

[00:03:38] That crown she does at the end definitely suits her. So who sits on this figurative iron throne? Someone who has been practicing sitting on a chair for the last few seasons. Brandon, I am no longer Bran Stark. If you wanted the Wheel broken just like Daenerys did

[00:03:57] you have to be satisfied with the fact that Westeros just vetoed heritity as a way to pick future rulers. No more dynasties for you but hey, nepotism still exists. The King of the Six Kingdoms.

[00:04:12] Upon processing this for a few minutes choosing Bran as the next king does make sense. Being a cripple he doesn't look threatening enough, seems to not care for power as Tyrion kindly points out and is apparently a walking talking human psychopedia of the whole world.

[00:04:30] Cherry on the cake? He can walk into now rogue Drogon, the deadliest weapon alive as we learn from episode 5. But it is this all-seeing but doing nothing nature of his character that leaves you uncomfortable somewhere in the gut.

[00:04:44] Did he see this coming? Did he wait and watch thousands of people die? Armies kill each other and lovers betray each other just to sit on the throne? And finally did the show just tell us that a ruler's job is to see and know everything but do nothing?

[00:04:59] His omniscience is also a fitting representation of powerful rulers that keep an eye on every nitty gritty of their subjects. Team Stark for the win. Finally, fans of Team Stark can pop the confetti and start celebrating for it's not only a Stark on

[00:05:17] wheelchair throne at King's Landing, a Stark Queen in the North but a Stark beyond the Wall and a Stark exploring what's west of Westeros. Arya Stark, as she had earlier hinted, does not return to Winterfell.

[00:05:32] Instead, she sets off sailing to the Uncharted territories. A girl has no home, I guess. All considered, Arya's character has the best arc in the entire series with some extremely fulfilling moments and a befitting close-ro.

[00:05:47] Can HBO commission a spin-off series where we follow her adventures in the Wild Wild West? Jon Snow is sentenced to life imprisonment. Again, a healthy compromise between killing him off and angering the entire North, not to mention Arya the assassin Stark

[00:06:04] and letting him Scott Free and having the Unsullied and Dothraki go on another butchering spree. But he doesn't stay there long. From what we gather from the last scene, he leaves Casterly Rock to lead a band of free folk beyond the Wall.

[00:06:18] Whether you accept this conclusion to Jon Snow's arc or not, knowing Ghost the Diabove is part of his journey will give Snowlover immense satisfaction. We also get the much awaited petting seed. Internet you can rest in peace now. Ghost caught the screen time he so deserved.

[00:06:36] In some ways, the last eight seasons of the show was a journey of the Stark kids starting off with an unfortunate beginning in the pilot episode. Therefore, it only makes sense the kids we had grown to root for ended up in pretty good shape in the finale.

[00:06:51] They are not only alive, well except for Rickon, but each have a meaningful purpose now. Valar Murgulis. Having followed after The Bells, which was greatly disliked by the fans across the world, the last episode does manage to salvage the franchise.

[00:07:10] Or at least, the showmakers couldn't have done any better after having butchered some character arcs and leaving giant gaping plot holes throughout this season. One could argue that they tried to wrap things up way too nicely. For example, Tyrion Lannister, a fan favourite,

[00:07:28] going scot-free after humiliating the Mad Queen in public doesn't sit well. That he managed to stall Daenerys, influence Jon Snow into killing Daenerys, surviving Grey Worm and ending up picking the next king is what we would call OP in gaming language.

[00:07:46] His plot armor protected him through and through, ultimately restoring him as the hand of King Bran Stark. Grey Worm and the Unsullied leaving for Nath after refusing the land offered in Westeros may sound a romantic closure to his character arc.

[00:08:01] But have you thought what a war-hungry troop would do in a place that Miss Sunday once described as peaceful? Protected? Well, we saw how their protecting went in King's Landing. And what about the long list of unanswered questions that the showmakers have conveniently forgotten and moved on?

[00:08:20] We still don't know what was up with the Night King and his army of the dead and on what level was Bran involved with it? If the showmakers plan to delve into that in the so-called prequels that HBO has announced,

[00:08:33] it's too presumptuous of them to think that the fans would stick around and wait for their answers that long. Finally, Game of Thrones Episode 6 is definitely better written episode in this final season. After the second last episode, fans should be glad that David Benioff and D.B. Ways

[00:08:51] haven't given them another reason to ask for a remake of the final. This is an ending we must accept but was it right? To quote Jon Snow, it doesn't feel right.