S08.E06: The Iron Throne

[whyamiwatchingthis]

4 hours ago, TVbitch said:

Bran accepting the throne: "Why do you think I came all this way?!" Oh you, how cheeky, but um, if you knew in advance, maybe you could have given everyone a heads up about the massacre. Just saying.

lol, indeed my friend. But you know what Bran would say, what with his end-justifies-the-means-no-matter-how-horrific philosophy. [in unfeeling, monotone Bran voice] "Those innocent women and children were exactly where they were supposed to be to get us to this moment."

[Jack Shaftoe]

1 minute ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Well, she only starting "liberating" by burning alive in the next to last episode.  Prior to that, she just liberated people by liberating them. 

You burn one city and people remember you for that for the rest of your life. What a world!

Seriously, considering that Daenerys was an aristocrat with magical powers (which came from her aristocratic lineage) who decided decided to conquer a whole continent for no reason other than "My family used to rule it" and got the help of many local aristocrats, I don't really put a lot of stock in her liberator credentials anyway. Liberator of slaves? Sure. Of serfs? Not so much.

[byrd]

I felt the same way also, when Dragon looked at him, I want to believe he realized this throne was the reason for Dani's death and that it had to be done. Dani had gone a little mad anyway in my opinion.  My imagination wonders what he did with her body, did he bury her or did he drop her in the ocean , or did he just lay her down and he died beside her.  

[Giselle]

1 hour ago, proserpina65 said:

It wasn't that Bran had that great of a story so much as he knew the stories of everyone who'd ever lived.  At least that's what I took away from it.  Ymmv of course.

Bran the Storyteller is also Bran the Boring. 

Who would listen to him drone on and on and on and on and on and on and on in monotone?

[Lady S.]

10 minutes ago, DarkRaichu said:

They were there to close the tunnel door as Jon left the Wall ???

Was Jon supposed to create a New Watch or was Bran/Sansa's actual plan to release Jon to the North of the Wall ?  

I do kinda assume Jon's going to stay with the wildlings but there were other NWmen and that in itself annoys me. (I don't think Edd was ever meant to be the last earlier, though, he had other men with him at Last Hearth and on arrival at Winterfell. He and Sam were just the last of the named characters.)

[VCRTracking]

[Constantinople]

42 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

Was she?  I was a huge Dany fan, but was she really going to give power to all the people, including the common people?  Maybe, but I saw her more as a benevolent monarch, before her heel turn.  She passionately opposed slavery.  Her views on feudalism were less clear.  

Dany never said she would give power to all the people, only that he would protect them from being abused

Quote

Daenerys: Lannister, Targaryen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell. They’re all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that ones on top and on and on it spins, crushing the people on the ground.

Tyrion: It’s a beautiful dream. Stopping the wheel. You’re not the first person to have dreamt it.

Daenerys: I’m not going to stop the wheel. I’m going to break the wheel.

[MarySNJ]

1 hour ago, MadameKillerB said:

Did I misunderstand? I thought there really isn't a Night Watch. That was just a way to get Grey Worm off the warpath for Jon's head. So if there's no Night Watch, breaking an oath to the Night Watch wouldn't matter anymore...so Sam is off the hook on that one, according to what I understood happening. As for being a Maester and having a wife and children, perhaps they've changed the rules about that? Another spoke of the wheel "broken?" 

I'm honestly confused about this. Yes, I think that Bran sentenced Jon to a life sentence in the Nights Watch as a way of keeping the Unsullied from executing Jon or making war over Jon being let off without punishment. But, there were 2 Nights Watch guards/escorts/ whatever with Jon from Kings Landing to Castle Black and someone at Castle Black opened the gates to let the wildlings go North... was it other wildlings manning the castle or the few NW that were sentenced there for some crime or other? Jon was wearing his Lord Commander IKEA rug cloak, so maybe he's the Lord Commander and elected King beyond the Wall. The Freefolk seemed to like him well enough. But I digress.

The Sam thing makes no sense. Maybe King Brandon absolved him from his NW oath as well as his duty to complete his training at the Citadel so that he could serve on the King's council. That's my headcanon. That still doesn't answer what happens to Gilly and their baby.   

[Tallulah7606]

Loved the last episode, Jon’s story came so beautifully full circle-I honestly don’t see where else he would fit in as well as he does north of the wall. My one big gripe with this episode is Sansas story. Queen of the north?? She’s proven herself to be nothing other than a spoiled, sullen brat-with zero leadership qualities. 

Following on from her guff of “the north shall never bend the knee to anyone ever again” she then proceeded to have the entire room bend the knee to her!  

[LittleIggy]

“Bran the Broken” is about as inspirational a king’s title as “Aethelred the Unready.”

[Lady S.]

[Constantinople]

27 minutes ago, Giselle said:

Bran the Storyteller is also Bran the Boring. 

Who would listen to him drone on and on and on and on and on and on and on in monotone?

No one's buying his audio books

[Bannon]

7 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

It was. It's just that the target of the joke was the audience. 

It really is kind of funny....

[Constantinople]

27 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

I do kinda assume Jon's going to stay with the wildlings but there were other NWmen and that in itself annoys me. (I don't think Edd was ever meant to be the last earlier, though, he had other men with him at Last Hearth and on arrival at Winterfell. He and Sam were just the last of the named characters.)

They should have left one named character alive from the Night's Watch to greet him with Tormund

RIP Edd, Pyp & Grenn

[Bannon]

44 minutes ago, whyamiwatchingthis said:

lol, indeed my friend. But you know what Bran would say, what with his end-justifies-the-means-no-matter-how-horrific philosophy. [in unfeeling, monotone Bran voice] "Those innocent women and children were exactly where they were supposed to be to get us to this moment."

Hmmmm.....Bran as the writers' alter ego really explains this dumpster fire as well as anything...."Dany forgot about Euron so we could get the plot to the destination....."

[Lady S.]

And I hate that the only time Aemon Targaryen was remembered since Dany's return to Westeros was to set up Targ kinslaying.

[Growsonwalls]

I think that many of the actors hinted they were not enthusiastic about the finale. We should have taken their word for it, as this cast does seem extremely close and they all seem to value their time on the show. So when Emilia Clarke said she was unhappy, I should have believed her 😞 

[blackwing]

Such a terrible ending... I've disliked the Bran character for years, and then the past few seasons he went ultra weirdo when he became the Three Eyed Raven. "I'm so zen, I speak in this bored monotone and none of you matter at all."

I would have preferred anyone else to be king/queen (well, maybe anyone except that incompetent blowhard Edmure Tully) but I was most rooting for Gendry.  I wanted Gendry to become king and was so sure that his being made legitimate was going to play a factor in the finale.  He could have married Arya, she would be a reluctant queen and he would agree to just let her do her own thing.

Or Sansa and Tyrion marry and co-rule.  Anyone but Bran.

I guess the "Arya kills someone with green eyes" prophecy of Melisandre's doesn't come to pass either.  It's like the writers were like, oh crap, we have one episode to wrap everything up.  Ugh.

[Dobian]

8 hours ago, tv-talk said:

Love how their was suddenly a massive Northern army outside KL waiting to dispatch the Unsullied and Dothraki...guess more people hid in crypts under WF than we realized.

Well, there should have been zero Dothraki and only a small number of Unsullied.  An accurate portrayal of the remaining forces should have been an army of ten versus an army of eight.

[Lady S.]

Just now, blackwing said:

I guess the "Arya kills someone with green eyes" prophecy of Melisandre's doesn't come to pass either. 

She's killed a fair number of people, odds are one of the Freys had green eyes. 

[Constantinople]

6 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I guess the "Arya kills someone with green eyes" prophecy of Melisandre's doesn't come to pass either.  It's like the writers were like, oh crap, we have one episode to wrap everything up.  Ugh.

Remember the stable boy that Arya killed near the end of Season 1?

If they can CGI out the Starbucks coffee cup, they can give retroactively give him green eyes

[MarySNJ]

2 hours ago, Heckler52317 said:

If this were one of the first few seasons with a few more to come, there would be a lot of Yara extracting the Iron Price from the north and Bran's new fleet, and Dorne not having any of it either. Would make good television

This is a good point. Yara made a promise to Daenerys to not allow any more raping and plundering. Dany's dead so I can see Yara being off the hook, and if she's pissed off enough about how things ended up, just letting her fleet go back to their pre-Dany ways. Plus, her brother died at Winterfell and what did that give to the Iron Islands? Not a damn thing, except maybe some platitudes from the QitN. 

[Conotocarious]

34 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

The fact that he genuinely thought it was a joke should be a tell to the writers that it’s unearned and totally absurd. 

[VCRTracking]

[Traveller519]

1 hour ago, Lady S. said:

I do kinda assume Jon's going to stay with the wildlings but there were other NWmen and that in itself annoys me. (I don't think Edd was ever meant to be the last earlier, though, he had other men with him at Last Hearth and on arrival at Winterfell. He and Sam were just the last of the named characters.)

I think Sansa would have enjoyed having him in her orbit, at the wall instead of dead, but I think Jon found, with his Stark-based sense of Duty exhausted, his Targareyan-based ascent ended by his own choice, to take up with the family he adopted himself into. The Free-folk were the family he found, and he was truly at his happiest among them.

I think the remaining Night's Watch will be more of a general police force of the far north, as Tyrion says, a place for the bastards and broken things to go.

[Scarlett45]

4 hours ago, Lady S. said:

Speaking of Gilly, with Sam actually becoming a maester, they can never be married and Jon's namesake will be a bastard truly born a bastard. And where is she, back at Horn Hill with the Ladys Tarly or does Sam have her and Sam Jr. stashed somewhere in the wasteland of King's Landing?

I think Sam is changing the rules of the game. He and Gilly (along with Missandei & Grey Worm) were the healthiest romantic relationship on this show. I say he’s married Gilly and they live in King’s Landing, but he’s still Lord of Hornhill and keeping a house there as well. Little Sam or Little Jon will inherit it. Sam could’ve created a new class of Maesters that can choose to marry if they like. I see him encouraging a new intellectual elite, based on interest/merit, while not having to give up a family life. 

[Constantinople]

It all makes sense now

King Bran will bore his enemies to death

[Bryce Lynch]

28 minutes ago, Lady S. said:

She's killed a fair number of people, odds are one of the Freys had green eyes. 

I'm sure that would be the writers' explanation.  

[Raachel2008]

32 minutes ago, blackwing said:

I guess the "Arya kills someone with green eyes" prophecy of Melisandre's doesn't come to pass either.  It's like the writers were like, oh crap, we have one episode to wrap everything up.  Ugh.

Arya has killed a lot of people. Some, for sure, had green eyes. Also, the point was not about brown eyes or green eyes, but the NK’s blue eyes.

[Dobian]

5 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

The Seinfeld finale was sub par, but it was a masterpiece compared to GOT's.  

Well they actually righted the wrong by doing an episode-within-an-episode several years ago where the Seinfeld cast did a reunion episode within the Larry David Show.  And aside from being very well done, it pretty much supplanted the original Seinfeld finale as the finale.  So I would just watch that episode.

So lesson learned for GoT....just do an episode of Larry David where the cast reunites for a do-over of the season 8 finale!

Edited May 20, 2019 by Dobian

[Lady S.]

4 minutes ago, Raachel2008 said:

Arya has killed a lot of people. Some, for sure, had green eyes. Also, the point was not about brown eyes or green eyes, but the NK’s blue eyes.

Yeah, the brown eyed guys (Meryn Trant and Rorge, I believe) she killed were not particularly important either. I never thought the line was supposed to be 3 or more specific big kills. 

[Constantinople]

And who has a better story than Bran the Broken? - Tyrion

Everyone in Season 5 since they were in it and Bran wasn't.

[Beachdreamer]

It really is beyond belief that Greyworm has control of the city at the point that Jon kills Dany, and that what he does is put him in jail for several weeks so that people he's never met and knows and cares nothing about can come and he can ask them for the right to kill Jon.

I'm really hung up on the absurdity of that.  I like Jon, but based on the way the story was playing out, I think it was his time to die.

[mxc90]

18 hours ago, AD35 said:

If Dany (R.I.P.) was able to find a Starbucks in Winterfell, maybe Home Depot and/or Lowe's can set up shop in King's Landing and do big business there.

Two items she won't need: throne polish and a megaphone.

[chrisvee]

2 minutes ago, Beachdreamer said:

It really is beyond belief that Greyworm has control of the city at the point that Jon kills Dany, and that what he does is put him in jail for several weeks so that people he's never met and knows and cares nothing about can come and he can ask them for the right to kill Jon.

I'm really hung up on the absurdity of that.  I like Jon, but based on the way the story was playing out, I think it was his time to die.

that Davos is a smooth talker 

[Francie]

14 minutes ago, Bryce Lynch said:

I'm sure that would be the writers' explanation.  

We kinda forgot that Arya was to kill someone with green eyes. 

[Scarlett45]

1 hour ago, Constantinople said:

They should have left one named character alive from the Night's Watch to greet him with Tormund

RIP Edd, Pyp & Grenn

Yes. That would’ve been a really great way to show that “life goes on” even in the Night’s Watch. A character that WANTED to join the black should’ve been left alive to welcome Jon. Samwell as a Maester makes sense, with Gilly and the kids being the life he really wants, so I wouldn’t expect it to be him. But they killed off every other named character- poor choice. 

[seacliffsal]

Regarding why other Lords/regions did not declare their independence-it may be that after the wars and losses not all of the Lords/Ladies/regions may have the resources for complete independence and are more dependent on the resources of the entire realm.  Yara and the Iron Islands have NO resources outside of fish, Dorne has always had a semblance of independence so they may not really care, etc.  Gendry, Brienne, Sam, and Bronn are all new to ruling their Houses, so may want the support of other houses/regions/etc.

  Sansa and the North still have a sizable army (per mentions in this episode) and with spring arriving, they will be able to grow their crops, etc., and Sansa already has experience storing food and supplies.  The Northern houses lost a lot of their leaders/Lords/Ladies and may have a new respect for Sansa's skill sets and advocacy for the North.   I think Sansa will have a political marriage/alliance and therefore have a prince consort (like Elizabeth II-her consort is Prince Phillip so his position is subservient to hers [i.e. not named/crowned a king]), and will have children to ensure that there's always a Stark in Winterfell.  

And, I think those children will get to go and spend a couple of weeks during the summer with their Uncle Jon and get to go camping, hunting, and listen to their Uncle Tormund's stories...

[Scarlett45]

1 minute ago, seacliffsal said:

The Northern houses lost a lot of their leaders/Lords/Ladies and may have a new respect for Sansa's skill sets and advocacy for the North.   I think Sansa will have a political marriage/alliance and therefore have a prince consort (like Elizabeth II-her consort is Prince Phillip so his position is subservient to hers [i.e. not named/crowned a king]), and will have children to ensure that there's always a Stark in Winterfell.  

And, I think those children will get to go and spend a couple of weeks during the summer with their Uncle Jon and get to go camping, hunting, and listen to their Uncle Tormund's stories...

Love this. 

[Bannon]

12 minutes ago, Beachdreamer said:

It really is beyond belief that Greyworm has control of the city at the point that Jon kills Dany, and that what he does is put him in jail for several weeks so that people he's never met and knows and cares nothing about can come and he can ask them for the right to kill Jon.

I'm really hung up on the absurdity of that.  I like Jon, but based on the way the story was playing out, I think it was his time to die.

Greyworm k

7 minutes ago, Scarlett45 said:

Love this. 

They'll also be forced to have the Winter Solstice celebration in King's Landing at least once every few years, when they'll dread being made to listen to tedious stories from bore-ass Uncle Bran, before being allowed to open presents. Decades later, they'll wonder how their creepy Uncle managed to make tales about illicit sex and mass murder seem as attention-grabbing as humming "The Rains of Castemere".

[Beachdreamer]

Jon Snow would have been executed on sight by Greyworm and the unsullied, not jailed.  Or the dragon. I don't know.  Somebody.  It's weird that after a bloodthirsty massacre for their beloved queen they all suddenly reign themselves in and start jailing people.  Whatever. 

I think if they wanted to make Bran the king, it should have been more in keeping with the "game" of thrones.  At the point he is suggested for the throne, he is an utterly flat, personality- free but magical being staring off into space.  It should have been like, the throne still exists and is on the platform with all of them at the end.  They make him king, and he looks at Tyrion and says (with focused eyes and newfound personality and nuance and evil gleam and everything) "Why do you think I came all this way?"  And then he needed to stand up and saunter over to that Iron Throne like an evil genius king who knew the whole goddamned  time how all this would end and was just waiting for his turn on that Iron Throne.  End show.

[ParadoxLost]

5 hours ago, Bryce Lynch said:

The Seinfeld finale was sub par, but it was a masterpiece compared to GOT's.  

The Seinfeld finale is the GOT finale.

The Seinfeld finale was aimed at showing that the series famously about nothing was actually about something.  Hence, going on trial for not being good Samaritans and everyone they wronged testifying against them.  And in the end they didn't learn a thing and started it all over again.

The GOT finale showed that the series that was supposed to be about something was in fact about nothing.  It was just a eight year bloody detour before the surviving Starks got the lives they wanted in the pilot.  And Westeros has another disinterested King and another ruling council.  And they are talking about all the same stupid shit they did before this all started and haven't learned a thing.

This wasn't the ending I wanted after an eight year viewing investment.  But had it been executed better, I probably could have gotten behind it as a finale as having a POV and something to say.

[Sparger Springs]

19 hours ago, Francie said:

You know, this is all Jorah Mormont’s fault. If he hadn’t stopped that wine merchant ... 

his niece and the rest of Westeros would still be alive. 

Niece would still be dead. She was killed by White Walkers. They were coming Dani or no Dani.

18 hours ago, MVFrostsMyPie said:

How does Sansa know Bran can't father children, by the way? His 🍆 isn't paralyzed as well, is it?

I was waiting for him to say "that's not true."

[LadyChaos]

Honestly, I don't think Jon made the decision to abandon his duty at the Night's Watch until he saw Turmond and Ghost waiting for him.  I also think, a deciding factor was the realization that he would never see his family again, and everyone else he cared about was dead.  Sansa would never leave Winterfell to see him, Bran would not be able to travel to see him, and Arya told him that she never intended to go North again, strongly hinting that she never intended to come to Westeros again.  

Which to me, is kind of another knife in the heart as the reason he ultimately decided to kill Dany, was Tyrion telling Jon that because Sansa and Arya knew the truth, they were a risk from Dany.  He didn't kill Dany to save Westeros, he killed Dany to protect his family, and they basically abandoned him.  

If Grey Worm and the unsullied and Dothraki were leaving Westeros, and Winterfell was thousands of miles away, and now their Kingdom again......who could have stopped them from sheltering Jon?  No one.... especially since I doubt the 6 Kingdoms would demand to go to war with the North, for 1 man, who ultimately saved their lives.

[mxc90]

20 hours ago, TigerLynx said:

 I call complete BS on Drogon not killing Jon.  If he didn't kill him when he destroyed the Iron Throne, then there should have been a final scene of Drogon chasing Jon down and lighting him up.

A scene of Drogon chasing Jon while the Benny Hill chase music "Yakety Sax" was playing as the credits roll would have been appropriate to cap this episode and season.

20 hours ago, LongDistanceClara said:

Am I the only one who is annoyed they never came across Ellaria Sands?

I'm not sure of the time frame from when she got locked up but I think she might still be alive.

Yes, I know she became annoying but it still bothered me.

You're not. Sadly, there wasn't enough time. It was more important to squeeze in the scene of Tyrion arranging chairs.

[Sparger Springs]

17 hours ago, Hana Chan said:

And it also looks like the end of the Starks as well. Sansa just announced to the whole world that Bran's dick doesn't work and she's setting herself up to be a Maiden Queen for her entire life. Arya is off adventuring and won't have time for no babies.

The only one potentially to have any kids would be Jon once he finds a nice Wildling girl, but the child won't be a Stark. Two more major houses down the tubes.

Sansa will marry someone suitable. She is all about the Starks being in control in the north. No council will be voting on the Monarch in the north.

[Conotocarious]

I still am a bit stunned over how Jon’s Targ parentage meant basically nothing.

[millennium]

Was that a green shoot poking up through the snow as the Wildlings trudged north from the wall?   Was it a sign of spring?  Or just a stray piece of watercress left there by the same idiot who put a waterbottle in the council scene?

[Bannon]

7 minutes ago, mxc90 said:

A scene of Drogon chasing Jon while the Benny Hill chase music "Yakety Sax" was playing as the credits roll would have been appropriate to cap this episode and season.

I'll re-up my HBO subscription for a year if this scene is added to the episode.

[whoknowswho]

53 minutes ago, Affogato said:

They just need a strong presence in winterfell. Anyone remember which houses are left?

By the looks of it, only Winterfell is represented at the meeting. Thus The Last Hearth (Umbers), The Carhold (Karstarks), House Cerwyn, The Dreadfort (Boltons), Deepwood Mott(Glover), Bear Island (Mormont), aren't represented at all. There are a bunch more other houses that were never shown in the show.  We know what happened to The Last Hearth, Bear Island and the Dreadfort--all were killed off in the show, but the other houses...Lord Glover's house should technically still be on the hook for refusing the call.