Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8, episode 4. If you don't want to have it ruined for you, TURN BACK! We have major news: Rhaegal the dragon died in the fourth episode of Game of Thrones eighth and final season. As a bunch of our heroes from the North sailed toward King's Landing, they were met by Euron Greyjoy, the gross pirate who "put a prince in Cersei's belly." As Daenerys and her dragons Drogon and Rhaegal flew over the water, an arrow came out of nowhere and speared Rhaegal's body. Then another came hurtling into his neck. There was a lot of blood — a sign of bad things to come for Rhaegal. The dragon tumbled out of the sky and plummeted into the water, and did not come to the surface. So is Rhaegal the dragon officially dead? Sadly, yes. Rhaegal is dead. Brienne confirms the dragon's death when she relays the news to Sansa and Jaime at Winterfell toward the end of the episode. "One of the dragons was killed," she says. This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site. This is the second of Dany's three dragons/children to die on this season of Game of Thrones. Viserion, who was turned into a wight at the end of season 7, died at the Battle of Winterfell after Arya killed the Night King. With Viserion and Rhaegal both dead, Drogon is Dany's only remaining dragon. RIP Rhaegal. May you and your ice zombie sibling make happy memories in dragon heaven. This content is created and maintained by a third party, and imported onto this page to help users provide their email addresses. You may be able to find more information about this and similar content at piano.io<doc-sep>From Men's Health Warning: The following post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8 episode 5. If you don't want to know what happens, stop reading! The penultimate episode of Game of Thrones-"The Bells"-saw Daenerys Targaryen finally transforming into the Mad Queen that many viewers have predicted she would eventually become, burning King's Landing to the ground as her father Aerys tried to do years earlier. While this twist has been hinted at as early as the show's first season, the accelerated timeline of this truncated final season left fans disappointed and angry at how quickly Dany turned. despite how upset most of us are with daenerys’ outcome this season. my heart goes out to emilia clarke. couldn’t imagine falling in love with portraying a character for over ten years only to witness them ruin her without being able to do a single thing #GameofThronespic.twitter.com/VoGBdJvY57 - ‘ﾟ･𝑗𝑒𝑛 (@muertres) May 13, 2019 Why Dany's "Mad Queen" twist was so disappointing: The idea of a woman whose unstable mental state leads to her lash out with fatal consequences is one that appears many times in the sci-fi and fantasy genre. Earlier this year, Ellen Page's character Vanya embodied the trope in Netflix's The Umbrella Academy, and this summer Game of Thrones' own Sophie Turner will play perhaps the archetypal version of the cliché, Jean Grey, in X-Men: Dark Phoenix. On the surface, this trope provides some shallow "girl power" platitudes, positioning women as more powerful than other characters, but it can also be interpreted as a genre-infused twist on the age-old "hysterical woman," a prevailing and sexist argument that woman are too inherently emotional to be able to properly wield power. Story continues Photo credit: HBO Melissa Leon at Slate wrote that "The Bells" essentially reduces Dany's character to a crazy ex-girlfriend, whose murderous rampage is motivated not by losing Rhaegal, Missandei, or Jorah, but by Jon Snow's romantic rejection: "We know she’s lost two of her dragons and her most loyal friends and advisors; she’s realized she’ll never be loved as much as Jon as a ruler, and she’s fresh off a breakup. Why does this translate into mass murder, and not every tragedy she’s experienced before? If she’s always had violent instincts, why do they manifest this way now, with victory in hand? We never get inside Dany’s head and for a moment like this to work, we needed to." It's hard to argue with that take; the episode rushes Dany's transformation so much, encapsulating what should have been months of depression into a single scene in her chambers, that her actions in this episode don't track with everything else we know about her. We've accompanied the character on every step of her journey, from being abused by her brother and used as a bargaining chip to learning to exert influence and agency herself. It's not that fans don't want their fave to end up a villain; such a drastic about-face just didn't feel earned. Photo credit: HBO Dany has always defined herself as a liberator (leading some fans to criticize her savior complex and call her a "white feminist"), and so her snap decision to murder thousands of innocent people, including children, after their surrender, feels like something that happened simply because the plot required it. There was no catharsis to her slaughter in the way there was when we watched Cersei blow up the Sept of Baelor, no logical reason for it at all, beyond the writers having limited time left to cram in as much story as possible. This entire season has been gearing up to a showdown between Jon and Dany, and after this, it is clear that we as an audience are supposed to side with Jon. It's just a shame that the show sacrificed multiple seasons' worth of characterization to get us there. ('You Might Also Like',)<doc-sep>T he second to last episode of the final season of Game of Thrones brought fire, fury and bloodshed aplenty. As any GoT fan would have noticed over the last few episodes, Daenerys Targaryen has not been coping well, convinced that Jon Snow has betrayed her by revealing their family bond. In the latest dramatic episode, the Dragon Queen finally snapped and turned King’s Landing into a fireball, leaving death and destruction in her wake. As we all collectively recover from the drama, here’s a list of last night’s catastrophic death toll. And, as always, spoilers are coming… Game of Thrones: First look at Season 8, Episode 5 1 /60 Game of Thrones: First look at Season 8, Episode 5 Liam Cunnigham as Davos Seaworth with Kit Harington as Jon Snow HBO Maisie Williams as Ayra Stark HBO Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister and Conleth Hill as Lord Varys Kit Harington as Jon Snow & Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen Lena Headley as Cersei Lannister HBO Kit Harington as Jon Snow & Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm & Liam Cunningham as Davos Seaworth HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister Maisie Williams as Ayra Stark Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenrys Targaryen HBO HBO Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm HBO HBO Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland HBO Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO Lena Headley as Cersei Lannister HBO Kit Harington as Jon Snow HBO Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy HBO HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO HBO Jacob Anderson as Grey Worm HBO HBO Maisie Williams as Ayra Stark HBO Maisie Williams as Ayra Stark HBO Liam Cunnigham as Davos Seaworth with Kit Harington as Jon Snow HBO HBO HBO Rory McCann as Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane HBO Lena Headley as Cersei Lannister HBO HBO Anton Lesser as Qyburn HBO HBO HBO HBO Rory McCann as Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane HBO Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy HBO Rory McCann as Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane HBO Lena Headley as Cersei Lannister HBO HBO Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland HBO HBO HBO Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister HBO Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland HBO HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenrys Targaryen HBO Liam Cunnigham as Davos Seaworth HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenrys Targaryen HBO Conleth Hill as Lord Varys HBO Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister HBO HBO Emilia Clarke as Daenrys Targaryen HBO Conleth Hill as Lord Varys HBO King’s Landing Burned down: Emilia Clarke's character Daenerys Targaryen wreaked havoc / HBO Once Dany set her sights on this GoT stronghold, it was clear that none of its inhabitants would be salvaged. While many tried to flee her fiery path, they all but perished in the flames, leaving a once picturesque land an image of ash and rubble. Varys ​ Executed: Conleth Hill as Varys Known for his loyalty to anyone in power, the penultimate episode of GoT spelled trouble for Varys. After revealing Jon to be the true heir to the Iron Throne, Dany instructed her last remaining dragon to execute Varys for treason. Some fans were sad to see him go, others believed his death to be a long-time-coming. “Varys finally getting what he deserves after being a snake for eight straight seasons,” wrote one fan on Twitter. Harry Strickland Skewered: Marc Rissmann as Harry Strickland / HBO Drogon’s firepower proved no match for the Golden Company’s Harry Strickland. After the flames engulfed the city’s walls, the captain of the sellswords army attempted to make a hasty retreat back to the city but was skewered through the back by Grey Worm. Qyburn Crused: Anton Lesser as Qyburn / HBO After Cersei Lannister is convinced by Qyburn to flee Red Keep, she asks Mountain to continue his job as her bodyguard, a proposal he refuses. Qyburn’s meddling leads to Mountain throwing his creator down a set of stairs, his skull being crushed on impact. Euron Greyjoy ​ All over: Pilou Asbæk as Euron Greyjoy / HBO Euron kind of knew what he signed up to when he challenged Jaime Lannister to a swordfight (which was, FYI, definitely not a good idea). Credit where it’s due to Euron, though, as he manages to badly wound his rival before meeting his own grisly end. Sandor and Gregor Clegane (aka the Hound and the Mountain) Dead: Rory McCann as Sandor 'The Hound' Clegane / HBO The rivalling brothers battle it out against the backdrop of a collapsing Red Keep. During their fight, the Hound lunges at the Mountain, pushing them both into the fiery pit below, resolving the Cleganebowl fans had been waiting for. Jaime and Cersei Lannister Death: Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister / HBO/Helen Sloan The penultimate episode saw two fatal losses – the formidable Jaime and Cersei Lannister. Jaime tries his best to save Cersei from the Red Keep but to no avail, realising too late that their exit routes had been blocked by fallen rubble. With no hope left for the pair, they cling on to each other as the walls collapse around them, dying in each other’s arms. The survivors Survivor: Maisie Williams as Arya Stark / HBO Everyone else lucky enough not to be burnt to death by Dany, or poked in the back with a sword, is presumably still alive, including the likes of Arya Stark, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister.<doc-sep>
Following the massive and bloody Battle of Winterfell, it would make sense for the next episode of Game of Thrones to be lighter on action and heavier on expositional chess-piece moving. For a good portion of its hour-plus runtime, that's what "The Last of the Starks" primarily was, but the urgency demanded by Season 8's shortened length means that even the transitional episodes are packed with important revelations and powerful surprises. And Missandei's brutal beheading at the hands of The Mountain was easily the most shocking twist of the night. Having defeated the Night King, you'd think Daenerys might have wanted to take a little time to recuperate, lick her wounds, and enjoy having bested the biggest existential threat to her kingdom. Her armies deserved a victory lap -- or at least a long nap -- but instead they settled for a night of drinking. Despite Sansa's reasonable requests for patience, Daenerys wanted to continue her campaign to King's Landing, where Queen Cersei, her horny pirate boyfriend, and the Golden Company awaited their arrival. Things did not go smoothly: Armed with some powerful ground-to-air spears, Euron Greyjoy made short work of a dragon and destroyed a few ships. Those mighty arrows sent men scrambling into the sea, including Tyrion, and they mostly made it safely to shore. Of course, there was one notable exception: Missandei wasn't on the beach with Grey Worm and was instead captured by Cersei. How exactly did she end up getting taken in? That's one of a few details David Benioff and D.B. Weiss's script yada-yada'ed in an efficient, though perhaps frustrating, fashion. Mostly, her capture was a way to set up the episode's final confrontation outside of King's Landing. With Dany, Tyrion, and Grey Worm looking on, Missandei was publicly executed in a manner that should remind viewers of Ned Stark's death way back in Season 1. Despite Tyrion's best efforts to plead with his sister, literally begging with her at one point by saying "it doesn't mean your baby has to die," Cersei was unmoved. She did give Missandei a chance to say some last words. She chose one word -- "dracarys," the High Valyrian command Daenerys uses to order dragonfire -- essentially an invitation for Dany to drown King's Landing in a lake of fire next episode. It's exactly the type of dread-soaked, stomach-churning moment of terror the show has become known for over the last eight seasons, and it gave us a bracing final image: Daenerys looking very, very mad.