Game of Thrones ending remains one of the most infamous finales in television history with a lot of debate and controversy about how the eight seasons concluded. The Game of Thrones ending saw the Iron Throne destroyed, the old system of choosing Kings and Queens eradicated, Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) elected as the new King of Westeros, and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) ruling the North as an independent kingdom. Meanwhile, Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) is exiled beyond the Wall once more with the Wildlings, and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) sailed west in search of new horizons.
There were fantasies about Jon and Daenerys as royal heirs ruling side-by-side as a wise and benevolent king and queen, but that wouldn’t quite fit with the description of the finale as “bittersweet.” Instead, almost all the fan-favorite characters made it to the end, albeit some in controversial ways. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss faced a considerable challenge in wrapping up Game of Thrones’ story, from the defeat of the White Walkers to the question of who would rule Westeros in just six episodes. Despite several years passing since it aired there’s still debate over what went wrong with the Game of Thrones ending, and which aspects worked well.
Daenerys Dies The Same Way Her Father Did
Daenerys’ Downfall And Jon Snow’s Exile End The Targaryen Line
The Game of Thrones ending tied into the past history of Westeros in some interesting ways. Game of Thrones may have begun seventeen years after Robert’s Rebellion, but the show’s story really began with Jaime earning his title of “Kingslayer” by stabbing Aerys II in the back, after the Mad King gave orders to burn down the city with wildfire. All the events of the series were set in motion by that act — from Robert Baratheon ascending to the Iron Throne, to Daenerys and Viserys’ exile in Essos, and the Lannisters claiming a position of power in King’s Landing.
Daenerys Targaryen’s death brought this story full circle. Like her father, she was betrayed by her Hand — a Lannister, in both cases. Tywin Lannister led his army into King’s Landing, while Tyrion Lannister smuggled his brother into King’s Landing. Also, like her father, Daenerys’ madness was her downfall: her burning of King’s Landing (which even triggered the wildfire caches Aerys had hidden all those years ago) is what ultimately led to people turning away from her.
Daenerys was killed by one of her most trusted allies, Jon Snow, who used that trust to get close enough to stab her (like Aerys before her). It was a decision that didn’t necessarily sit right with every fan, especially considering Daenerys’ half-baked journey toward becoming the Mad Queen.
Shortly after Daenerys’ death came a symbolic breaking of the wheel, when Drogon unleashed his grief by melting the Iron Throne into a puddle of molten steel. The throne had been built 300 years earlier by Daenerys’ ancestor, Aegon I, who conquered Westeros, with the help of his sister-wives, and established himself as the first Targaryen king. It was appropriate that Daenerys’ death in the Game of Thrones ending also heralded the destruction of the Iron Throne, since she and Jon were the last of the Targaryen line. Jon’s punishment for her murder is to join the Night’s Watch again — taking no wife and fathering no children. The reign of the Targaryen family was truly over.
Ned’s Children Rule Westeros (& Beyond)
The Game Of Thrones Ending Saw House Stark Rise Again
Many assumed that if Jon were to kill Daenerys, he would be crowned King at the end of Game of Thrones. Instead, he was taken prisoner by the Unsullied, and it was left to the lords and ladies of the Seven Kingdoms to choose a new ruler, no longer beholden to any rules of bloodline or inheritance. Tyrion suggested that “Bran the Broken” would be the best choice since his story of being crippled as a child and then going on a great journey north of the Wall to become the Three-Eyed Raven was powerful enough to make people believe in him as a ruler. Moreover, as the Three-Eyed Raven, Bran is the keeper of all of Westeros’ stories and memories.
Though Bran didn’t particularly want to be king, he had already seen that it was his destiny, and the assembled Westeros council election saw Bran Stark become the new ruler of the Six Kingdoms. There are now only six (rather than seven) Kingdoms under Bran’s rule, as Sansa’s condition for giving Bran her vote was that the North would remain independent — as its people had already chosen independence when they selected Robb Stark to be the King in the North and Jon Snow to succeed him.
Game of Thrones ended with Sansa being hailed as the Queen in the North, an event that was foreshadowed when Daenerys’ attack on King’s Landing split the map in the Red Keep down the middle, dividing the North from the Southern kingdoms. As with Daenerys’ death, this ending brought the story full circle. Game of Thrones season 1 was about the fall of the Stark family: Bran being thrown out of a window, Ned being executed, the Stark household in King’s Landing slaughtered, Sansa taken prisoner by a monster, and Arya forced to flee in the guise of a peasant boy called Arry.
The Starks had suffered tragedy after tragedy, losing family members and at one point having their ancestral home razed to the ground. Fans had been waiting a long time to see them finally get back on top, so having a Stark ruling in both the North and the Six Kingdoms felt like just desserts.
Jon Snow Returns To The North As Spring Arrives
Jon Found His Place With The Wildlings
The final book in George R.R. Martin’sA Song of Ice and Fire series will be titled A Dream of Spring, and viewers saw that dream in the form of the green plant protruding from the snow as Jon heads north with the Wildlings. Much of Game of Thrones had been building up to the worst and longest winter in a while — the characters had previously been enjoying a seven-year summer, and the seasons tend to balance themselves out. However, it seemed as though the defeat of the Night King and the White Walkers may have given Westeros its shortest winter yet.
Ever since the long-standing “R+L=J” fan theory was confirmed, and Jon was revealed to be the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, it was speculated that he would end up on the Iron Throne — since, after all, he had a stronger claim to it than Daenerys. Some fans argued that the reveal of Jon’s heritage was pointless because it never amounted to anything, and he ended up banished from Westeros to the Night’s Watch after killing Daenerys during the ending of Game of Thrones.
Jon Snow would never become king, and only a handful of people knew the truth about him by the end of Game of Thrones. However, the discovery that Daenerys had a rival for the throne is ultimately part of what tipped her over into madness, leading to her murder at Jon’s hands. Moreover, Westeros finally rejecting the system of kings and queens inheriting the throne wouldn’t carry as much weight if there wasn’t a “rightful” king who sacrificed his birthright.
Of course, Jon never wanted to become king anyway, and his return to the Night’s Watch also brought his story full circle — and not just because Jon venturing beyond the Wall of Westeros mirrors the very first scene of the show. In Game of Thrones season 1, all Jon wanted to do was take the black and man the Wall with his fellow brothers of the Night’s Watch. During his time with the Night’s Watch, he realized that the Wildlings weren’t the real enemy, and eventually, both the Night’s Watch and the Wall itself crumbled.
However, as Tormund observed, Jon has the North in him, and there’s a definite sense as he heads beyond the Wall that he’s where he’s supposed to be after feeling like an outsider for so long. Despite leaving the remaining Starks behind, Jon Snow finally seemed like he was at peace. Plus, staying behind in Westeros after the ending of Game of Thrones would have reminded him of all the trauma he endured, including his decision to kill Daenerys.
The Last Of The Lannisters Leads A New Small Council
Tyrion Seeks Redemption As Hand Of The King Once Again
When Game of Thrones began, the Lannisters were the real power players in King’s Landing, with King Robert Baratheon observing angrily at one point that he was surrounded by them no matter where he turned. The crown owed a massive debt to Casterly Rock, Queen Cersei had birthed a trio of Lannister children with a false claim to the Baratheon throne, and Jaime Lannister was a member of the Kingsguard. Even King Robert’s squire was a Lannister, a fact that would ultimately lead to the king’s death after Lancel Lannister plied him with too much wine while on a boar hunt.
The Game of Thrones finale started with Tyrion seeking out his siblings in the ruined Red Keep and finding them dead in each other’s arms; his escape plan for them had failed. This left Tyrion as the last of Tywin Lannister’s children and the Lord of Casterly Rock, and he is once again appointed to serve as Hand of the King (this time, for Bran). While Grey Worm objected to this, saying that Tyrion needs to be punished, Bran argued that being Hand of the King is his punishment, as he will have to work to undo the damage inflicted during his previous tenure as Hand of the King (and later, Hand of the Queen).
Ultimately, Tyrion’s hands weren’t clean despite being the better of the three Lannister siblings. His actions also led to much discord, and he had to make up for that in his own way. With Tyrion at its head, King Bran’s small council was thankfully free of backstabbers like Littlefinger and Pycelle. The plain-talking but reliable Bronn became Master of Coin, Ser Davos was made Master of Ships, Sam Tarly was Grand Maester, and Brienne held the role of Commander of the Kingsguard (a position she rightly deserves after serving with so much loyalty and dignity over the course of Game of Thrones).
While these characters certainly had their flaws, this was the best small council assembled so far, even though it was missing a Master of Whisperers, a Master of Laws, and a Master of War. Bran probably didn’t need a Master of Whisperers, and with any luck, he wouldn’t need a Master of War after the violence seen in the Game of Thrones ending either.
Arya Stark And What’s West Of Westeros
Arya Continues To Embrace Her Life Of Adventure And Rejecting Societal Conventions
When she left Winterfell with Sandor Clegane, Arya said that she had no intention of returning home from King’s Landing. It was not the first time that Arya rejected safety in favor of adventure. When Brienne tried to “rescue” her early on in Game of Thrones, Arya spurned the offer and instead ended up heading to Essos to study with the Faceless Men.
Arya changed more than any of the Stark children except perhaps Bran, and now that she was a lethal, face-changing assassin who killed the Night King, stabbing him with a swift trick of the hand, it was hard to imagine her ever going back to a simple life as a Lady of Winterfell. Gendry even offered her a life as his wife, joining the Stark and Baratheon houses, though she rejected it and claimed she was no lady. The fact that Arya was last seen sailing into the sunset at the ending of Game of Thrones actually had massive implications, since there may be other Starks waiting for her when she hit land.
King Brandon the Shipwright, an ancient ancestor of the Stark family who lived thousands of years before the start of Game of Thrones’ story (according to the books), once sailed west across the Sunset Sea and was never seen again. While it was possible that his voyage was ill-fated, it was also possible that Arya would reach land and find distant relatives waiting for her there. More than that, her journey, like Jon’s, represented hope for the future.
