How Game of Thrones Season 8 Should Have Ended - Episode 7: The Iron Throne
How Game of Thrones Season 8 Should Have Ended - Episode 7: The Iron Throne
"In King’s Landing, Daenerys emerges from the ruins of the Red Keep..."
This is a 4-episode treatment I wrote [very quickly] straight after watching the much-disputed finale to Game of Thrones in 2019.
It picks up at episode four, because the opening three episodes were fine — more than fine, in the case of The Long Night, which was stunning.
Here’s how I pictured Game of Thrones ending…
The Iron Throne
From a hill at sundown, Varys and two servants looks down on Storm’s End. He tells one servant to go ahead of him and inform Lord Gendry of his arrival, saying he has an urgent message from Queen Daenerys. After she leaves, he tells the other to continue on the road to Dorne and rally support there. As the second servant leaves, dozens of ravens begin to gather on the trees around Varys, squawking incessantly. He hears the servant scream in the distance and his horse throws him off in fear, galloping away. The ravens all go quiet at once. Alone in the dark, Varys watches as Nymeria and her wolf pack emerge from the trees, surrounding him. Nymeria’s eyes are glazed white. From some distance away, we hear Varys scream.
At Winterfell, a raven arrives with a message for Sansa that Dany has conquered Westeros. Brienne goes to tell Bran and finds him warging at the window. He is unsurprised to hear the outcome of the battle.
In King’s Landing, Daenerys emerges from the ruins of the Red Keep with Drogon behind her, wings spreading. The remainder of her Unsullied Army, a handful of Dothraki, the Northerners and the combined forces from the Bay of Dragons kneel before her. Jon and Grey Worm stand by her side as she delivers a victory speech in which she admits she believes Cersei escaped — she offers Highgarden to whoever can find her.
Elsewhere in the remains of the Red Keep, Tyrion finds Jaime’s body and weeps over him.
That night, in the ruins of the throne room, the leaders of every remaining house and army are gathered. Daenerys ascends the steps to the Iron Throne and touches the ash-covered arm of the great chair but announces she cannot take the crown as she’s not the true heir to the throne, revealing that Jon is actually a Targaryen, the son of Rhaegaer. Before everyone, she bends the knee to him.
Jon raises her back to her feet and says he will never be King while she lives. Tyrion suggests they rule together as equals, with neither taking the Iron Throne.
Outside the Red Keep, the people of King’s Landing gather to watch Jon and Dany declared rulers of Westeros. As an act of finality, Drogon melts the Iron Throne and the remains of the throne room, leaving the Red Keep to crumble. Dany announces they will rebuild King’s Landing with help from her people across the Narrow Sea, who have also sworn allegiance to the new Targaryen dynasty. Dany declares the North a separate kingdom under Queen Sansa.
In their chambers some days later, Dany tells Jon that she’s pregnant. Brienne is named Commander of the Kingsguard and writes about Jaime in the history book. Tyrion remains as Hand of the King and Queen. Sam is made the Grand Maester. Grey Worm leaves for Naath. Drogon flies away.
Some time later, King Jon arrives at Winterfell with Ghost, where he names Tormund the Warden beyond the Wall. Arya arrives and reveals to Sansa that she had Cersei killed, showing her a lock of her blonde hair. In the Godswood, Jon, Sansa, Arya and Bran talk about Ned, Catelyn, Robb and Rickon. Arya announces she’s going to explore what’s west of Westeros, after which she might take Gendry up on his offer of marriage, if it still stands. Bran reveals that The Wall is melting now the magic holding it together has been broken by the demise of the Night King.
Later, in the crypts, Jon stands before Ned’s tomb and says he’ll always be his father. Sansa is crowned Queen in the North. Arya leaves on a ship. Bran sits in the Godswood looking at the face in the tree, which is no longer weeping.
Dany and Tyrion look out over King’s Landing, where the sun is rising and the rebuilding work is already underway. Tyrion asks if she thinks Drogon will ever come back. Dany says he’s gone home.
The story ends with a very, very old Sam closing a book entitled ‘A Song of Fire of Ice’, which he has been reading to a group of children.
SAM: And that is the Song of Ice and Fire. Now, who wants to hear another one?
CHILD 1: What happened to the king and queen?
SAM: Oh. Well, they lived a long and happy life, ruling over all of Westeros together. It wasn’t without it’s trouble, mind you. There’s always trouble when you’re trying to keep the people of six kingdoms happy. But in all the years of King Jon and Queen Daenerys of House Targeryen, there has never been a war. A few skirmishes, mind you –
CHILD 1: But what about the dragons? Where are they now?
CHILD 2: And the Three-Eyed Raven?
SAM: Ah yes, the dragons. Well, no-one really knows where the mighty Drogon went, in all honesty. After Dany… ahem, I mean, Queen Daenerys… took the Iron Throne, he just flew away. Some think he went to Old Valyria, others say the Shadowlands. Either way, he’s never been seen again. And Rhaegal, well, he still guards Dragonstone, though he can no longer fly. As for Bran the Broken, that remains a mystery…
During Sam’s last line, we see Bran sitting by the water in the Godswood at Winterfell. His looks to the sky with white eyes. In a flashback scene, Bran follows a hooded man down a path in the woods. The path ends at a hill overlooking a valley. In the centre of the valley is a red-leafed Godswood tree, around which the Children of the Forest are standing. The man removes his hood, revealing he’s the Night King in his formerly human form. The man doesn’t understand what he’s looking at. He turns to leave, and as he does so, Bran wargs into him. The man turns around and walks towards the Children of the Forest, with Bran following.
In the Winterfell Godswood, Bran’s chair is now empty.
Share your thoughts in the comments below!
Love your version. Such a haphazard disappointing ending to an amazing series. There are periods of stability in history after great wars and strife. Your ending is believable.
I like it, especially the detail of Sam telling the story. Though I admit that it feels much more like a happy ending, which was not the tone of the series in any of the seasons. Nevertheless, according to the events before the first book, there were times when good things happened and considering the writers already changed plenty of things, why couldn't they do something like that? Now, there's something I always imagined, and since the first season I was "sure" that the white walkers were going to be the final incident, not the fight with the Lannisters and their allies. All the events since the beginning pointed to this, according to my interpretation, that while all the kingdoms were in battles with each other, the white walkers came as a force of nature, leaving all those affairs in a second place.