This Overlooked Game of Thrones Storyline Quietly Spoiled Daenerys’ Fate in Season 2 (& Everyone Missed It)

Game of Thrones found itself riddled with foreshadowing. Despite an ending that felt like it came out of nowhere, the hit eight-season HBO fantasy series, based on George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire novels, scattered clues throughout every episode. Through visions of the future, often from the perspective of Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright), clever dialogue that contains secret second meanings further along in the show’s run, and clues that didn’t pay off until many seasons later, eagle-eyed Game of Thrones fans could piece together many key plot points years before they came to fruition. For many audience members, theorizing and speculating about future seasons and episodes of Game of Thrones was just as much fun as watching the show itself. Unfortunately, most fans felt unsatisfied with the ending of Game of Thrones. All the foreshadowing that the show had brilliantly used throughout its run resulted in a finale that felt way too rushed: Fan favorite hero Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) snapped during her long-awaited conquest of King’s Landing, burning innocent civilians from atop her dragon, Drogon.

Despite heavy foreshadowing, including a vision of the shadow of a dragon looming over King’s Landing and the oft-repeated mantra that Targaryens either achieve greatness or succumb to madness, the final season’s pacing felt too fast for Daenerys’ turn to feel earned. Perhaps if the series devoted more time to Daenerys’ building resentment towards Jon Snow (Kit Harrington), the ending would have felt more natural, but as it stands, her character takes a deep dive way too suddenly, ruining the final season, Daenerys’ character arc, and, in the eyes of some of the ending’s harshest critics, the entire show in one fell swoop. As jarring as this ending is, Game of Thrones could pull off a somewhat similar story several seasons earlier. One key plotline from the second season of Game of Thrones, which aired back in 2012, seven years before the series ended, plays out similarly to Daenerys’ arc from Season 8. As such, one early foil for Season 8 Daenerys is none other than Theon Greyjoy (Alfie Allen). Theon’s Season 2 story subtly spoils Daenerys’ ending, serving as some of the strongest foreshadowing in all of Game of Thrones.

Theon Greyjoy’s Story is More Important Than Fans Realized

Though Theon emerges as a surprising lead in Game of Thrones Season 2, he plays a relatively small role in the first season, echoing his trajectory in George R.R. Martin’s source material, where he appears in a limited capacity in the first book, A Game of Thrones, before becoming a point-of-view character in time for book two, A Clash of Kings. Theon is the last surviving son of Balon Greyjoy (Patrick Malahide), the Lord of the Iron Islands. Theon lives at Winterfell as a ward to Eddard “Ned” Stark (Sean Bean). Though the Starks treat Theon well, his father knows that if he rises up in rebellion once again, or misbehaves in any other significant way, his son is as good as dead.

Theon is crude, rough, and prone to teasing, but ultimately does care for the Starks. He especially gets along with the oldest of the Stark children, Robb (Richard Madden), who he considers a brother. Theon will kill for the Starks, as shown when he saves Bran from a wildling attack, killing the leader of the Free Folk group who threatened Bran. After the execution of Ned Stark at the hands of King Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) and the Lannisters, Theon swears fealty to Robb, supporting his claim as King in the North.

Theon’s Return to the Iron Islands

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In Season 2, Theon advises Robb to seek an alliance with his father in order to gain access to the Greyjoys’ powerful Iron Fleet. Although Robb’s mother, Catelyn (Michelle Fairley), advises against it, Robb sends Theon home to Pyke to seek Balon’s aid. Theon has not been to the Iron Islands since he was ten years old, and early anticipates his long-awaited homecoming. Upon his arrival at Pyke, Theon expects a royal welcome. After all, he is the last living son of Lord Balon, and believes that entitles him to respect.

However, Theon has been gone from home for so long that he’s forgotten important customs and cultural elements of the Iron Islands. For example, in the Iron Islands, traditionally, warriors only wear ornate jewelry that they acquire from the corpses of the enemies they kill in battle. This is called “paying the iron price.” Upon Theon’s arrival, his decadent dress shows that he paid the gold price for his clothing, rather than the iron.

Theon has been gone for so long that he barely remembers his own family back on the Iron Islands. On his way to meet with his father, he flirts with a woman who turns out to be his sister, Yara (Gemma Whelan), who plays along to humiliate her brother. Theon’s inability to read his family is evident when Balon instantly scoffs at supporting Robb Stark, saying that he plans to attack the North himself while its forces are busy fighting Robb’s war. Balon can easily manipulate Theon into joining his side, causing Theon to quickly turn on his true family.

Balon gives Theon command of a ship, instructing him to raid fishing villages, a far less honorable mission than Yara’s. Theon feels slighted, but stands by his decision to remain loyal to House Greyjoy. However, he still struggles to command his men, despite his Iron Islands nobility, because of his status as an outsider. Feeling the need to prove himself to the men at his command, as well as his father, Theon changes plans and attacks Winterfell instead, taking the Starks’ ancestral home in his father’s name.

Theon’s conquest of his childhood home becomes far more brutal and bloody than he anticipated. He ends up butchering people he’s known for most of his life, even botching the beheading of Ser Rodrik Cassel (Ron Donachie), the master-at-arms at Winterfell, all to command respect. After attempting to give an inspiring speech, Theon’s first mate Dagmer (Ralph Inneson) knocks him out, ending his short-lived reign as the Prince of Winterfell.

How Does Theon’s Story Connect to Daenerys?

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Much like Theon, Daenerys arrives in Westeros expecting a warm welcome. She and her brother Viserys (Harry Lloyd) fled the continent shortly after Robert’s Rebellion, spending most of their lives across the Narrow Sea in various cities throughout Essos. Viserys believed that the common folk of Westeros eagerly anticipated his return, the return of the one true King of the Seven Kingdoms, and after Viserys’ death at the hands of Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), Daenerys, allegedly the last Targaryen, became the rightful queen.

However, much like Theon when he arrived back on the Iron Islands, Daenerys’ long-awaited return to Westeros did not turn out the way she had hoped. With the Seven Kingdoms still at war, Dany found herself unable to immediately pull support from common folk and lords alike. When she meets with the newly crowned King in the North, Jon Snow, he refuses to bend the knee to her, much to her dismay.

However, Jon eventually aligns himself with Dany after she rescues him and his team of explorers from the forces of the undead Beyond the Wall, with Daenerys proving that she recognizes the threat that the white walkers pose. Shortly after forming their alliance, Jon and Daenerys fall in love. Jon, Dany, and the army of the living defeat the undead army at the Battle of Winterfell (the same battle where Theon is killed), but Daenerys suffers heavy losses, including her dragon Viserion, several of her loyal Dothraki and Unsullied soldiers, and her best friend and closest confidant, Ser Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen).

However, despite sacrificing so much for the people of Westeros before even taking the Iron Throne, Daenerys feels slighted, unvalued, and unappreciated, with Jon receiving all the praise. Much like Theon, Daenerys is too much of an outsider to command the loyalty she thinks her noble birth entitles her to. This budding resentment of Jon, who also turns out to be her nephew, the son of her brother Rhaegar and technically ahead of her in the Targaryen line of succession, leads Daenerys to snap. Her unnecessarily harsh burning of King’s Landing is similar to Theon’s capture of Winterfell: She is motivated in her brutality by the need to command respect. However, while Theon’s resentment and insecurity are given proper focus, Daenerys’s similar emotional trajectory is not. If the Game of Thrones creative team treated Season 8 Daenerys as well as they treated Season 2 Theon, the ending would likely not come across as so rushed and messy.