And then there was one.
Game of Thrones has always been a fantasy series in which the fantasy elements take a back seat to the very human maneuvering of the characters. If the toll of this final season on main characters has so far been surprisingly light, at least in GOT terms, the fantasy elements have been dropping like flies. After the destruction of the Night King and the entire army of the undead, the set of strange things was down to a pair of dragons and a brooding adolescent. And now one of those dragons is gone. This clearly means that Dany and Jon will no longer engage in side-by-side dragonback thrill rides against scenic backdrops and soaring music. It would also seem to put some real concerns around the idea of there being any more dragon eggs in the near future.
Oh, and one would also seem to be the number of people of color in speaking roles that are still surviving in the series. Apparently magic and diversity are about equally rare in Westeros. But let’s start over …
The biggest sign that the living were going to win last week’s Battle of Winterfell was how much effort had been put into opening a schism between Jon and Daenerys in the previous two episodes. Clearly the show wasn’t going out of its way to give all those “maybe Dany would not be the best queen after all” hints so someone would have mixed things to say at her funeral. As the story picks up with television’s biggest battle being followed by television’s biggest funeral pyre, it’s not surprising that the pry bars go into those cracks in Dany’s marble very quickly.
At a decidedly awkward and downbeat celebration marked mostly by people trying to figure out what to say other than “Hey! We’re not dead,” Daenerys creates what at first seems to be a moment of tension by stopping Gendry in his tracks and recounting all the sins of the Baratheon family against her own. Then she flips that moment around, declaring Gendry dead King Robert’s legitimate son and the heir to the Baratheon family home at Storm’s End.
It’s a nice move, one that shows Dany thinking politically and one that elevates Gendry to a position where he feels that he can immediately go out, track down Arya, and propose. There are only a bunch of things wrong with it. First, Dany’s actions are way too pat. Both her lordifying of Gendry and the toast she passes along to the not-present-at-this-party Arya would be nice gestures, if Daenerys didn’t immediately and obviously pat herself on the back for her political “cleverness.” By so obviously showing that she’s taking these actions to earn points, she removes any appearance of sincerity for those who are watching her closely. Which is pretty much everyone.
As Dany sees that Jon is getting praised for his bravery, and for having the guts to climb onto a dragon, she’s clearly hurt that the northerners are not lining up to praise her for the same action. After all, she might not have flown that dragon backward and in high heels, but she did it without wearing a stack of heavy armor, without swinging a Valryian steel blade, and without getting her dragon badly injured in what seemed from the beginning like a pointless squabble. Much of this has to do with—as Tyrion and Varys discuss at length later—Dany’s singular lack of a penis. But both Sansa and the sadly lost Lady Mormont gathered much more appreciation that Dany, and not just because they’re of the North. Daenerys is just not managing things very well, creating more fear than respect. The fact that none of the backslaps are coming her way may have to do with the icy attitude she’s adopted that makes talking to her seem just about as inviting as resuming the battle with the Night King.
Tormund in particular delivers a point-by-point homage to Jon that mirrors a lot of moments in Dany’s life, but leaves her completely out of the story. Unsatisfied both that she’s not getting praise and other people are, Daenerys leaves the celebration. That’s noticed, too.
With Dany gone, the pairing up occurs. After, a medieval version of Truth or Dare results in Jaime and Brienne going off together while Tormund moans on the sidelines—until a extremely convenient Serving Lass Number Two comes along to help him with his sorrows. The scene between Brienne and Jaime, despite being kicked into gear by a painfully awkward statement from a drunk Tyrion, delivers on just about every note that fans who have been trying to push these two together for seasons has wanted. It’s particularly nice that as the action picks up, notable lady’s man Jaime is clearly the more nervous of the two … all of which serves to make scenes later on more painful.
Gendry runs off to find Arya and comes across her at her perpetual archery practice. The potential Lord of Storm’s End delivers a rather sweet proposal declaring that Arya is beautiful, he loves her, and he wants her to be his lady. And of course Arya turns him down, repeating the words she said to her father in the first season when he told her that one day she would marry a lord and be the lady of a great house. “No,” she says. “That’s not me,” It really isn’t.
But there are at least two more interesting pairings for the evening. First, Sansa comes to sit with the semi-drunken Sandor Clegane. The Hound thinks back to the time that he tried to get her out of the Red Keep and away to safety, and tells his “Little Bird” that he could have saved her a lot of torment, both physical and mental. But Sansa’s response, “Without Littlefinger and Ramsey and the rest, I would have stayed a little bird all my life,” is further evidence that she may be the only person still standing who would be a good fit for the Iron Throne. (Other than Ser Davos, of course, I’m pulling for the Onion Knight.) Sansa has turned her experiences into wisdom.
And then comes the meeting between Dany and Jon—the meeting that seems to indicate once and for all that there can be no traditional happy ending, and that the big romance that seemed to be implicit from the beginning of the series has come … and gone. Both Daenerys and Jon profess their love for each other, but they are also both made uncomfortable by their discovered relationship, no matter what traditions Dany’s family may have kept. But that’s not the important break.
The big break is Dany’s absolute inability to think of anyone else on the throne. Or anyone else sharing a part of that throne. Her solution for Jon is simple—he swears Sam to silence, and he never, ever tells anyone the truth about his parents. It’s not as cruel as it could be; Dany doesn’t have Sam murdered but it shows that she’s completely blind to any solution that doesn’t end up with Daenerys Stormborn, and Daenerys Stormborn alone, ruling the Seven Kingdoms. She wishes for everything to “be the way it was between us” which sounds romantic … except that what Dany wants is Jon to go back to being completely subservient to her and not a threat to her throne. Other people may bring up the idea of co-rulers. Dany never does. She isn’t just unwilling to cut him in on a modicum of power, it never seems to cross her mind.
As Jon’s secret inevitably spreads, there are more and more of these scenes where people are forced to confront an A or B choice. But it’s Dany who really takes option C off the table before anyone else gets a chance.
Dany’s idea of how things must be is only confirmed at the next day’s battle council scene. Down at King’s Landing, Cersei is supported by the un-decimated Lannister Army, the Golden Company, and Euron Greyjoy’s fleet. But she has an option—the North supports her. Yara has taken the Iron Islands. Dorne has announced its support. Dany can camp on Winterfell, allow her army to recover from a huge battle and huger losses, coordinate with the rest of Westeros, and leave Cersei surrounded and starving. Sansa suggests exactly this strategy.
But Daenerys won’t hear of it. She can’t see anything but that Cersei Lannister is sitting in her chair. Jon, still eager to prove his loyalty and that of the North, backs her play, and everyone heads out on a why-are-we-dividing-our-forces questionable scheme backed by the least convincing send off ever from Dany. “In all seven kingdoms, men will live without fear and cruelty, under their rightful queen.”
Yeah. Those “breaking the wheel” speeches from earlier seasons now come down to owning the whole wheel.
Before Jon heads out, the remaining Starks gather in the Godswood, which is a formula for disaster that explodes in about two minutes flat. Confronted by Arya’s embrace as “You’re my brother, not my half brother or my bastard brother” Jon just can’t keep quiet. The secret of his birth spreads to Arya and Sansa … and that’s it. If Dany’s inability to conceive of any end but her butt on that cold iron, this moment inevitably rips the world apart.
The reason that Jon’s secret, soon spread from the Godswood via Sansa talking to Tyrion, is so immediately impactful is that it provides an alternative. Until Tyrion and Varys get the Jon Snow bug in their ear, they may be uncomfortable with Dany, but she’s the only horse, or dragon, in town. It’s particularly interesting that Varys likes the Jon option not just because he feels that the Warden of the North might be more concerned about the little people, but because he feels that Jon is weaker. He dismisses the idea of Jon and Dany as co-rulers saying that she is “too strong” and would “bend him to her will.” Left unsaid is that this leaves little room for Varys to bend people to his will.
In a pair of one on one discussions, one onboard ship, the second at Dragonstone, Tyrion and Varys move past wondering if they are going to need an alternative to Dany to—on Varys’ part at least—an open threat. There seems little doubt that the Spider intends to deliver the gift of poison to the Dragon Queen at the earliest possible opportunity. Tyrion may not be ready to go there, but he also does not move to stop Varys.
Back at Winterfell, there are a series of farewell scenes as Jon waves to friends before heading south. Considering the timeline that remains, it’s likely these farewells are there for all of us. Goodbye Sam, Gilly, and Little Sam II. Goodbye Tormund and the Wildlings. Goodbye Ghost. Wait … goodbye Ghost? In giving his final bro-hug to Tormund, Jon confesses how much he wishes he were going North with Tormund rather than South with Daenerys, and he asks Tormund to take the dire wolf with him. None of this, none of this, seems like good news for Jon Snow. Along with Sansa’s reminder that men in her family don’t do well when they head for King’s Landing, this seems like foreshadowing with a shadow so dark it would support Barnabas Collins.
Jon isn’t the only one riding south. As the Hound is slouching along the road, he is joined by Arya. Both of them say they have unfinished business in King’s Landing. Neither expects to return to Winterfell. Foreshadowing is the biggest special effect in this episode.
And then there are the painful losses. aAs Dany’s small fleet pulls up to her ancestral home at Dragonstone, a flurry of massive arrows streak through the sky. Poor Rhaegal (this week, I actually looked up the name of the dragon), still suffering wounds from the fight with its undead sibling, ends up with one arrow jutting from his chest and then another slicing through his neck. The shot is immediately and obviously fatal. It’s a moment that generates a genuine gasp as the beast tumbles from the sky to crash into the sea.
Emerging from a convenient fjord is the fleet of Euron Greyjoy, now equipped with many of the scorpions designed a couple of seasons ago by Cersei’s own Dr. Frankenstein, Maester Qyburn. Evidently they’ve spent plenty of time at target practice, because Euron’s boys are good with these things. Even at long range, their bolts are terribly accurate, and terribly powerful. Dany turns her last dragon toward the ships and engages Euron in a head to head contest as another bolt is loaded and cranked into position. But in this game of chicken, Dany blinks. She turns away before getting her dragon into range to attack the Greyjoy fleet.
It’s another defining moment. By withdrawing, Dany doesn’t just leave her small fleet of ships subject to a devastating attack from these new large ship-to-ship ranged weapons, she effectively removes her dragon from the position of being the most valuable piece on the field. Ten more seconds would have risked the dragon, and Dany could have removed the Greyjoy fleet, removed Euron, and left clear sailing to King’s Landing. But the loss of Rhaegal leaves Daenerys so protective of her sole remaining dragon that she’s willing to sacrifice everything else.
The destruction of her fleet, and the capture of Missandei, happens directly because Dany chooses to keep her dragon—and herself—safe, instead of her people. At a critical moment, she flinched.
Following this horrific defeat, Dany’s reaction isn’t to wait for the Northern armies to reach her, or to look for alternative means of attacking Cersei, who is behind a barrier of both a massive castle and a 10,000 person human shield. Instead Dany marches to King’s Landing with a force of Unsullied so reduced that it’s amazing Cersei doesn’t just send forth the Golden Company to wipe them out in place.
Dany, who has just suffered a major loss, whose single large asset has been massively devalued, and whose field position sucks, begins this confrontation by making demands for absolute surrender. Which only makes her look weaker. Despite desperate, and potentially suicidal efforts by Tyrion to salvage the situation, the confrontation with Cersei produces nothing but one of the most emotionally painful executions of the series as the Mountain lops off Missandei’s head with his massive sword. Despite a nation filled with crossed fingers, neither Arya nor the Hound arrives to intervene.
The march on King’s Landing was another huge mistake, doing nothing but providing Cersei an opportunity to humiliate Daenerys and leave her in a position where she’s likely to take even more desperate action. The odds that Cersei Lannister will stay on the Iron Throne have never looked better.
Dammit. It never seemed likely that Missandei and Grey Worm were going to get that little island hideaway they talked about at the start of the season. But … damn. Oh, and news of Cersei’s victories caused Jaime to saddle up and ride away from a heartbroken Brienne. He leaves her crushed and convinced that he is going to help Cersei, though it seems more likely that Jaime is off to make an attempt at taking part in a certain prophecy. Still it’s easily the episode’s second-most painful scene. Or third. Or … honestly, there are quite a few painful scenes.
Notes
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Jon’s speech at the funeral pyre is brief, solid, and likely the best he’s given. A little bit of Henry the Fifth, a dash of In Flander’s Field. … It’s genuinely moving.
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A special note to people in the North: Since you’re apparently very good at hanging on to sayings and traditions for thousands of years, why not adopt the idea that all bodies should be burned and stick with that from now on? You know. Just in case.
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When Dany toasts Arya Stark as “the hero of Winterfell” it’s nice to know that everyone isn’t scratching their heads, wondering just what happened to the Night King … though there seems to be little awe directed Arya’s way for this world-saving action.
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While nephew and aunt action may require the sanction of being members of a notably incestuous royal family, first cousins can legally marry in twenty six states and the District of Columbia …. just saying that the revelation of Jon’s true heritage opens up some possibilities.
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In a very disconnected scene, Bronn threatens Tyrion and Jaime, extracting a promise of Highgarden, one of the wealthiest of the kingdoms. Bronn gets to deliver some fun lines about the nature of inherited rule, but … it’s not at all clear how he expects anyone to pay off on this promise. Bronn then steps offstage behind threats that he’ll “find them when the war is done” which … again, exactly how is this supposed to work?
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In listing the fantastical elements still alive on the show, I left out Frankenstein’s monster aka The Mountain. I’m kind of hoping we never see what’s under that helmet.
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Book readers will know that Varys has dedicated a good deal of time to making his own Dany-alternative in that version. Apparently book-Varys had doubts about Dany’s ability to take and hold the throne for a long time.
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Varys talk about tyranny and the realm is great. But a lot of what he’s saying ultimately boils down to his own desire to keep pulling all the strings. He also thinks he’s the savior of the realm, just like Dany.
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Don’t be surprised if Varys doesn’t survive a hit attempt on the dragon queen.
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If Qyburn doesn’t get killed, he’s going to kick off an industrial revolution. He’s already introduced technology that the rest of Westeros apparently couldn’t invent in 8,000 years of doing the same things the same ways.
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Jon gave up the ghost. Just saying. Considering that Rickon, whose story ultimately went nowhere, had a wolf named Shaggy Dog, don’t put it past George to have named that dire wolf expressly for this ultra-long in-joke.
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While the preview makes it appear as if yet another major battle is on hand … I wouldn’t count on it.