game of thrones s08e06 finale recap


Game of Thrones Season 8 Finale: 24 absolutely incredible moments from the last and final episode of GOT

“Duty is the death of love”

Putting an end to Game of Thrones’ successful decade-long run, the finale i.e. the sixth episode of the eighth season aired in India on Monday, May 20, 2019. To say that it was highly anticipated would be quite the understatement as the show has generated the kind of fandom that has created theories, social media accounts and full websites that scrutinises every little detail in the show to even get close to the story of how it all ends. Now for those of you who are yet to see the last episode, we advise you to stop reading right about now. If you’re still here, let us tell you that it would have saved us hours of agony had we known that there would be no Iron Throne to begin with. While Daenerys finally attained her lifelong dream of conquering King’s Landing, her happiness was short-lived, thanks to Jon fulfilling his Azor Ahai prophecy. Sansa stood her ground strong and finally brought independence to the North. As far as Tyrion and Jon are concerned, the former is back to being the Hand once again and Jon is back at Castle Black. While the show put to rest a lot of curiosity among the viewers, a mixed review has been received from the Twitterati, much like most of this season. Now, the time has come for us to bid farewell to some of the beloved characters that have stayed with us in the past ten years, but fear not, its not time to say goodbye to Westeros yet. George RR Martin, the author of A Song of Fire and Ice, the book the show is based on, confirmed on his blog that five more “spin-offs” are in the pipeline, while one has finalised the cast and the story too. But before we jump on to what’s next, let’s take a minute to recap the Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 5, titled 'Iron Throne', and discuss the 24 of our favourite moments.

Game of Thrones finale recap: 24 moments we need to talk about from GoT S08E06 -

1.We open the final episode with the aftermath of Daenerys’ destruction on Kings Landing. Bodies burnt, Ash raining upon them, this scene captured the morbid mood perfectly as the people who until then were considered saviours were now the only evil that was left. Jon and Tyrion survey the city as the latter is visibly dejected by the fate of his own bannermen.

2. One of the many scenes in the episode that literally choked us up, Tyrion goes down to the dungeons to find out if his siblings made it out of the carnage alive. But unfortunately, Tyrion finds Jaime’s golden hand in between the rubble. As he pick up the bricks and clears the debris, he finds the lifeless bodies of his siblings, the last of the Lannisters. Tyrion can’t help but break down and in the process leave us all teary-eyed.

3. Dare we say, this was one of the best scenes to have been shot in the entire series. Daenerys has won the war and is walking towards her army comprising the Unsullied and the Dothraki. And right before she enters, Drogon spreads his wings right behind her and bolts off into the sky, making Dany look like either the Dragon queen or a rebirth of the Devil, depending on whether you like her or not. The extent of her true power is clearly reflected in this beautiful scene.

4. Finally after surveying the city and finding the lifeless bodies of his siblings in the dungeons, Tyrion walks up to Daenerys after her arousing speech and confronts her. When Dany accuses her hand of treason and that he freed his brother, Tyrion swiftly responds saying, you slaughtered a city. And relinquishes himself of Dany’s Hand. A very powerful scene which ultimately kicked off the rest of the episode.

5. This exchange between Tyrion and Jon right before Jon goes and does what he does was very powerful mostly because of the emotion that was attached to the characters. Both of them distraught by whatever that has happened, were still trying to figure out what to do. When Tyrion proposes that Jon should try to dethrone Dany, he says that ‘Love is the death of duty,’ something that Maester Aemon had told Jon before. Tyrion then replies almost reaffirming Jon that it should rather be ‘Duty is the death of Love.’ Something that clearly got through to Jon.

6. Finally, fulfilling the vision Daenerys had in the second season at the House of the Undying, the mother of dragons walks into an empty, broken beyond repair throne room of the Red Keep, where the ash is falling from the sky like snow. She walks across the room and with wide-eyed excitement, she finally touches the Iron Throne unlike her vision. She recollects the words of her brother Viserys, who had told her that the Iron Throne was made by forging together the thousand swords of Aegon The Conqueror’s defeated enemies. Her dream of winning the Iron Throne has finally come true.

7.This one is going to be a bit long, so bear with us. Dany’s happiness is short-lived. She is joined by Jon in the broken throne room, who is visibly upset about the destruction Daenerys has caused. He tries to reason with Dany and demands an explanation as to why Greyworm was still killing the defeated Lannister soldiers. But Daenerys has completed her transition into the Mad Queen by now. She thinks she is right and explains that she did what she did because Cersie used the innocence of the people of King’s Landing as a weapon against her. She tells him that she knows what is right, with the madness, now clearly reflecting in her green eyes. She then walks towards a crying Jon Snow and tries to convince him to stay beside her as she “breaks the wheel” and “liberates” everybody from Winterfell to Dorne. After hearing this, Jon finally knows that nothing besides him is going to stop Dany from burning the whole of Westeros to the ground. He says that she would always remain his queen and mid-kiss, he puts a knife in Dany’s heart.

In a state of shock and betrayal, Dany dies in Jon’s arms and Jon fulfils his Azor Ahai prophecy. The term Azor Ahai translates to the prince/princess who was promised and the followers of the Lord of Light believed that this ancient hero would be reborn to save the world. According to the legend, Azor Ahai sacrificed his love, Nissa Nissa, in order to defeat the darkness. And after eight seasons of speculations, we now know that the the biggest threat to the world was Daenerys and not the Night King. This scene reminded us of when Ygritte also dies in the arms of Jon Snow in season four episode nine, but this one was much more painful.

8. The episode suddenly picked up pace after Jon stabs Daenerys as one WTF moment led to another. Drogon probably knew the moment his mother died that when he flew up and to check what had happened, he sees a lifeless body of Dany as he tried to check for any sign of life. While we all thought that was the end of Jon Snow, Drogon instead of burning Jon alive, turns to the Iron Throne and completely burns it down, melting it as Ramin Djawadi’s epic Game of Thrones theme song played on the background. Drogon then picks Dany’s body and flies away (something that we have seen him do before in the series) bringing an end to the Dance of Dragons.

9. Tyrion Lannister, who is on trial for committing treason against Daenerys for freeing Jamie, is now brought forward to council in the wake of the murder of the Mother of Dragons, who are to decide his fate. The council, which comprises of Bran Stark, Arya Stark, Sansa Stark, Yara Greyjoy, Brienne of Tarth, Ser Davos Seaworth, Robin Arryn, Lord Yohn Royce, Edmurre Tully, Gendry Baratheon, Samwell Tarly and the new prince of Dorne among others, aren’t very keen on killing Tyrion. But together, they must decide the new ruler of the Westeros.

10. Let the world know that it was Samwell Tarly that first proposed Democracy in the Seven Kingdoms. When the time had arrived to choose the successor after Jon was sent back to the Night's watch, Sam explained how they should let the people decide, although everyone in the council ridiculed him, we’re sure every viewer watching that episode would have agreed with Samwell Tarly.

11. Bran doesn’t get to rule over the Seven Kingdoms and only gets six under his rule as Sansa goes Brexit on Westeros. The Queen in the North proclaimed that she wants the North to be an independent Kingdom, something she has always wanted and reaffirmed that before ‘Aye’-ing to Bran the Broken as the next King.

12. Tyrion, who has ample time to think while he was imprisoned, suggests that the only thing that unites the people of Westeros are stories and nobody has a more powerful story than Bran. The true heir of Lord Ned Stark, the Warden of the North, Bran had literally been pushed out of the Tower which left him crippled for life. “When he couldn’t walk, he learned how to fly and became the Three Eyed Raven beyond the wall”, Tyrion says. He then says that there could not be anybody more suitable to take the Seven Kingdoms into the future, because nobody has as strong a knowledge about their past and the fact that Bran the Broken can’t father children gives the people a chance to survive without yet another evil heir (looking at you Joffery and Ramsay). Bran, being the Three Eyed Raven, already knew exactly what was going to happen and accepts the title of King. Everybody on the council agrees, but Sansa puts forth her point of the North not bending the knee any longer. So, with that, Brandon Stark becomes Bran the Broken, first of his name, king of the andals and the first men, lord of the six kingdoms and protector of the realm. However, to us, it seems like Bran always knew, even while he was up against the Night King, that he would be crowned as the King.

13. A clever way to incorporate George RR Martin’s book into the show itself (well, apart from the story), once the King’s council sits to sort out this whole running the Six kingdoms business, Samwell Tarly, now the Grand Maester to King Bran presents a book that Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent) has written on the history of wars following the death of Robert Baratheon. The book was a nod to the creator of the series and was a good way to encapsulate this epic journey of eight seasons.

14. In a way this scene showed that normalcy had indeed come after a long long rollercoaster of a ride. The whole sequence right from the beginning where Tyrion arranges the chairs only for his small council to come and destroy it to the small witty arguments between Master of Coin, Bronn and Master of Ships, Davos, Game of Thrones creators established that the realm was indeed back to normalcy as the Small Council spoke about the more ordinary issues and didn’t discuss treason or war.

15. Because Jon has now become the Queenslayer, he cannot be kept as a free man and nor a prisoner. So, the council decides that it is in his best interest to send him off to the Night’s Watch once again. While imprisoned, he is still mourning Dany and isn’t feeling good about murdering the woman he loved. But he puts on his black cloak and marches down to the port to sail North. Before leaving, he finds Sansa, Arya and Bran waiting for him. Sansa seeks his forgiveness, but Jon isn’t mad, he commends her for finally giving the North the freedom it deserves. His goodbye moment with Arya is even more heartbreaking, because it is reminiscent of when he was taking off to be in the Night’s watch back in season one. She reveals her plans to sail west of Westeros and reassures him that she would always have needle. He then bends the knee to Bran and apologises to him for not coming to his aid sooner during the war against the White Walkers. Bran replies, “You were exactly where you were supposed to be.” And then the Stark pack splits up and all venture into the world as lone wolves on their own destinies.

16. While walking through the port, Jon sees Greyworm once again and the two lock eyes. It becomes apparent that Greyworm would never forgive Jon for killing his Queen. But now, the Unsullied have no more battles to fight. They’re loading their ships and Greyworm orders them to sail to the Island of Naath, Missandei’s birthplace. In the second episode of the eighth season, when everybody was preparing for the war against the White Walkers, Missandei and Greyworm decide that once both the wars are over and Dany has won, they will go to the Island of Naath, as it was Missandei’s wish to see the beaches once again. But then fate intervened and Missandei was captured by Cersie’s forces and beheaded upon Dany’s refusal to surrender. It’s heartwarming to see that the stern Greyworm is still sticking by his promise he made to the love of his life.

18. Brienne is seated in the Red Keep and is going through the book of all the past King’s guards. She turns the pages on past keepers like Ser Barristan Selmy, till she arrives at Ser Jamie Lannister. The incomplete page is left at calling Jamie a Kingslayer. She then feeds in the rest of Jamie’s achievements that she saw with him and ends Jamie’s chapter by writing, “died while protecting his queen”, with tears filling up her eyes.

19. King Bran arrives for his meeting with the new small council and notices that a Master of Whispers and a Master of Laws is still missing. Tyrion assures her that he would find some good options for him soon enough. He then inquires about Drogon and Maester Samwell Tarly tells him that he was last spotted flying east. Bran then says he will warg into Drogon to find out where he is. Brienne then calls out Ser Podrick, who looks handsome as hell in the shiny new golden armour, now that he is no longer a squire and wheels Bran away.

20. Sansa, having gone through literal hell and back with three engagements and two marriages, has finally become the fierce Queen in the North. She brings back freedom to the North after thousands of year, even if it took standing up to the Mad Queen or her own brothers. Her resilience and strength is paid off with a crown fitting for a woman like her.

21. As for the other Stark, Arya stuck by her word of not ever being a lady and is now venturing where “no one” has before. She has set off to sail West and embark on more and more adventures along the way. But thankfully this time, she has a Stark ship and crew at her command and will not be left alone to blindly beg on the streets if she does decide to sign up for something like that once again.

22. The overall theme of the final episode revolved around the Stark children, much like the beginning. Things were finally calm, as the focus bounced between the three Stark children in different parts of Westeros. We saw Arya who was sailing towards uncharted territories while Sansa was crowned the Queen in the North. And finally we see Jon Snow who has in a way come a full circle and has taken up the Black. Jon never wanted anything, the throne, the queen, the riches, nothing and eventually we can’t not argue that in the end, Jon got exactly what he wanted. A peaceful realm.

23. Oh the backlash that Game of Thrones writers received when Jon didn’t pet his werewolf Ghost before leaving for Kings Landing, almost made us wonder if this scene was redone after the airing of the fourth episode. Of course this is not true and the creators indeed meant for this to be there right from the beginning, Ghost was truly the most effective of all the werewolves in the Stark family and this scene was a small tribute to his contributions all throughout the series.

24. The final shot of the episode and with it the series ended when Jon Snow leads the freefolk North of the Wall, the scene holds significance mostly because if you go back to the very first scene of the series, even before we are introduced to Winterfell, we see the same woods and how two men from the Night’s watch spot a White Walker. In the final scene where Jon leads the free folk probably pointed to the same normalcy has been restored theme that we saw all along in the episode.

To help you with your withdrawal symptoms in a world without Game of Thrones, the makers have put together a two-hour documentary to be aired next week which is set to take you behind the scenes of eight season.


Game of Thrones Season 8: There were signs all along that Daenerys would eventually turn into a Mad Queen

Game of Thrones Season 8: No, Jamie Lannister’s hand did not grow back in GoT S08E05


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