Dark and Full Of Spoilers (GOT Season 8 Spoiler Thread Part 2)

[johnbragg]

Yeah, the show kind of threw the baby out with the bathwater when they crowned Cersei. There's no logical reason why ANY of the lords would support her. She has precisely zero legitimacy, and is a woman besides. It makes all of the problems Daenerys has with getting them to accept a female queen seem contradictory - they've already accepted Cersei as queen. In reality, Cersei would have been out on her ass the instant Tommen decided to take a walk out the window. There would be yet another succession crisis and the south would be in civil war again. House Lannister might have retained control of King's Landing, but it certainly wouldn't be Cersei calling the shots.

Well, at that point, the North has just fallen to the Stark rebels, joined by the knights of the Vale. So that's two of the Seven Kingdoms. Dorne is still in open revolt, Highgarden and the Reach are held by Oleanna Tyrell. That's four kingdoms in open opposition to the Iron Throne. The Lannisters hold the west, King's Landing still commands the Riverlands. And depending on how you count, the Iron Islands do not recognize Cersei's authority, no one in particular is in charge of the Stormlands (if that's your Seventh Kingdom).

As for Cersei calling the shots in House Lannister, she has an important asset--the title of Queen. Tywin and Kevan Lannister are dead (as are Kevan's sons), Tyrion is not in a position to challenge her leadership of the House, Jaime is not inclined to. I'm sure there are distant Lannister cousins rattling around somewhere, but I have no idea who.

She has "earned" her position, at least in House Lannister, by A) surviving and B) killing off her possible competitors. Bearistotle rules apply--there are weaknesses in her claim to leadership of the house, but those arguments are refuted by the zombie Mountain crushing your skull.

[Saintheart]

I agree with pretty much everything else you said, but I'm afraid that's nothing but headcanon. The showrunners have made it clear that Daenerys decided to burn the city while perched on the walls, after she had burnt the fleet, the walls, and the golden company with zero civilian casualties, after the city had surrender. I'm not gonna quote pendel again, the post is right above. But I am going to quote D.B. Weiss, from the behind the scenes segment after episode 5.

"I don't think she decided ahead of time that she was going to do what she did. And then she sees the Red Keep, which is to her the home that her family built when they first came over to this country 300 years ago. It's in that moment, on the walls of King's Landing, where she's looking at that symbol of everything that was taken from her, when she makes the decision to - to make this personal."

Fair enough and as I said it is the way I rationalise what otherwise really looks like a left-field decision to me, but then you've got Miguel Sapochnik coming in sort of implying that Daenerys does it because a bloodless coup just isn't satisfying enough or something:

In a new behind the scenes video they address how the episode turned from achieving the seemingly impossible feat of a "bloodless coup" to the war the ensued anyway. "She feels empty, it wasn't what she thought it was, it's not enough," Sapochnik says about the emotions that she feels while surveying the city and the prospect of peace.

"It's in that moment that she makes the decision to make this personal," adds D. B Weiss on her decision to take what is hers with fire and blood, as she had long promised. Sapochnik, who also directed the 'Battle of the Bastards' and record-breaking battle episode 'The Long Night', says that this moment is addressing the audience and saying, "You wanted a battle, well here you go."

(Thought I'd provide the whole quote for context.)

There's any number of implications you can take from Sapochnik's statement, but I'd say it seems to imply that she wanted some sort of abject surrender or something. Maybe she wanted everyone literally bowing and scraping to her like they did twice before in the series - once when she was acclaimed 'Mhysa', and once when she burned every khal alive in their meeting hall. If so, well, hey, it was foreshadowed, but it makes even less sense to me now.

[johnbragg]

There's any number of implications you can take from Sapochnik's statement, but I'd say it seems to imply that she wanted some sort of abject surrender or something.

It has nothing to do with what the character wants. It's the showrunners confessing that they're not very interested in the story, they just want to make Michael Bay-style spectacle, whether it makes sense or not.

[Dr.Samurai]

Prediction:

Jon Snow stands by Dany and they rule the Seven Kingdoms together. Despite the atrocity she committed, she is his queen. He has been saying this since season 7, and Jon Snow is a man of his word. You all expect him to disapprove of her, but this has been foreshadowed. Also... subversion and stuff...

[Mechalich]

Yeah, the show kind of threw the baby out with the bathwater when they crowned Cersei. There's no logical reason why ANY of the lords would support her. She has precisely zero legitimacy, and is a woman besides. It makes all of the problems Daenerys has with getting them to accept a female queen seem contradictory - they've already accepted Cersei as queen. In reality, Cersei would have been out on her ass the instant Tommen decided to take a walk out the window. There would be yet another succession crisis and the south would be in civil war again. House Lannister might have retained control of King's Landing, but it certainly wouldn't be Cersei calling the shots.

Crowning Cersei was probably an unfortunate consequence of up-aging the kids in the show compared to the books. In the books Tommen is, during Dance of Dragons, nine years old. He's far too young to kill himself due to the death of his wife. Therefore he probably survives Cersei's destruction of the Sept and Cersei takes power using her former title of Queen Regent prior to her likely death at the hands of Young Griff's forces. In the show, however, Tommen is old enough and independent enough that Cersei can't reliably control him so he had to go (and had he not killed himself, Dany could have just married him and wrapped everything up with a nice bow tie). Unfortunately, this created a snag and they brute forced past it by simply putting Cersei on the Throne in her own right.

[deuterio12]

Crowning Cersei was probably an unfortunate consequence of up-aging the kids in the show compared to the books. In the books Tommen is, during Dance of Dragons, nine years old. He's far too young to kill himself due to the death of his wife. Therefore he probably survives Cersei's destruction of the Sept and Cersei takes power using her former title of Queen Regent prior to her likely death at the hands of Young Griff's forces. In the show, however, Tommen is old enough and independent enough that Cersei can't reliably control him so he had to go (and had he not killed himself, Dany could have just married him and wrapped everything up with a nice bow tie). Unfortunately, this created a snag and they brute forced past it by simply putting Cersei on the Throne in her own right.

Cersei was ready to force her children to suicide when Stannis the Mannis was kicking at the door.

What makes you think that Cersei wouldn't take Tommen down with her when Daenerys is cleansing King's Landing?

TV Tommen decided to off himself because he realized that he would die at his mad mother's hands sooner or even sooner, and a short flight off the Red Keep would certainly be less painful and faster than anything Cersei could come up with (in this case slowly suffocating to death under a ton of debris).

[Dienekes]

So that's the end

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So yeah, TvTyrant and Lemmy, I legitimately hate you guys.

[Saintheart]

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Man, don't you hate kikyu grass? You can even dump the coldest winter in a thousand years on it and the little swine of a plant still won't die.

[pendell]

Show's in the can.

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Jaime and Cersei are confirmed dead by Tyrion.

Tyrion's actor was excellent. He confronts Cersei and throws away his hand's badge in front of her, and is taken away for treason.

Daenerys, meanwhile, demonstrates megalomania along with all her troubles. It's not enough for her to rule the seven kingdoms; she intends to break the wheel all around the world.

This is clearly insane; invading the seven kingdoms cost her two of her three dragons. If she pushes hard enough and long enough, the rest of the world will push back. It's happened just that way, in other times and other places.


Jon Snow comes to see Tyrion , and Tyrion does all he can to convince him to murder Danerys. A beautiful scene. Tyrion takes a moment to break the fourth wall and it's like he's spelling out, in detail, Danerys' intended arc throughout the show. She did more and more horrible things and we cheered her on, and every time she did she grew more and more sure of herself and her own rightness, until this happened.

At last, at the end, the showrunners give Tyrion's brain back to him. He lays out their case as forthrightly as possible.

Jon Snow plays the part of foil, good little soldier who just obeys orders. But he's thinking ...

He approaches Danerys in the Red Keep. Drogon allows him to pass, possibly the only human in the world who could pass that dread guardian. Even Arya couldn't have pulled it off, I think. She can disguise her face ... but perhaps not her smell?

Jon Snow appeals to Dany, but she is utterly confident of herself and her own rightness. She knows what's right.

Jon begs her to forgive her enemies, but what he's really begging is for her to live -- the forgiveness she gives, or withholds, will be granted to her as well.

She refuses. She is utterly confident in her own righteousness.

So Jon Snow kills her. Treacherously. He and Jaime have much in common -- they are both regicides now.

And so Danerys dies just as her father did, from the exact same causes.

I feel great pity for her. She did love the good and want the good, but she wasn't willing to learn humility and wisdom. Perhaps with age she would have. But she wasn't given the choice. And she never did actually sit the throne she wished for.

Drogon is enraged but instead of killing Jon, Dragon melts the iron throne. No one will sit on it ever again.

Tyrion is brought before the council for judgement. Despite being a prisoner he takes control of it. Many changes happen in the space of a few minutes.

1) Brann is made king of the seven kingdoms, because of his memory and his ability to tell stories. When asked if he will accept, he responds , "Why do you think I came all this way?"
2) The North receives its independence and the seven kingdoms become the six kingdoms. Brann accedes. I believe this is a mistake, because Westeros will always be economically dominated by the southlands and multiple kingdoms is a set-up for future war, but Brann graciously agrees. Seemingly he is determined to make peace.
3) Jon Snow, traitor and murderer, is sentenced to the Night's Watch. The unsullied want his head, the northmen want him free, and so to make peace he is exiled instead.
4) Tyrion is made the new hand of the king. He tries to refuse, saying all the things Danerys said but didn't. He admits he's made many mistakes (good foreshadowing and callback to his horrible showing this season). This speech is the lesson our showrunners and GRR Martin want to take home , I think -- that we shouldn't be so confident in ourselves but should be humble, especially if we control weapons of mass destruction.

In one final joke the new Grand Maester presents Tyrion with the book "A song of ice and fire", being a history of the wars since the death of Robert Baratheon. Tyrion is quite surprised to find his name isn't in it anywhere. Heh.

We wrap up the various plotlines. Arya sails to the west to bring smallpox and colonialism to the western world. Sansa is crowned Queen of the North, long may she reign. Bronn (our favorite sellsword!) sits on the small council as master of war. And our last shot is of Jon Snow setting off beyond the wall with the wildlings.

I was half-expecting a wight to leap out at him, but no such luck.


Roll credits.

I appreciated this episode. It doesn't really make up for the mis-steps in previous one, but I think it was as good an ending as we could have hoped for.

And it seems the leak was dead-on.

ETA: Oh , yes, the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT DEVELOPMENT on everyone's mind:

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Hot Pie lives. Or at least he didn't die on camera.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Kornaki]

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at first I was like, why didn't the dragon kill John when he found the dead body? Then I realized it's because even the dragon knows there has been enough bloodshed. It's bad when even the dragon has decided enough people have died.

The rest of the episode... Bran as king?? The only explanation over heard for why he had been so passive is he feels his job is to record history, not make it. Now I guess it's just because he was lazy.
He literally spent the whole season telling everyone his empathy and humanity has been stolen as part of his transformation, what is going to make him different than danaerys?

[pendell]

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at first I was like, why didn't the dragon kill John when he found the dead body? Then I realized it's because even the dragon knows there has been enough bloodshed. It's bad when even the dragon has decided enough people have died.

The rest of the episode... Bran as king?? The only explanation over heard for why he had been so passive is he feels his job is to record history, not make it. Now I guess it's just because he was lazy.
He literally spent the whole season telling everyone his empathy and humanity has been stolen as part of his transformation, what is going to make him different than danaerys?

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He gave the North its independence. He exiled Jon. His small council is speaking of plans for peace and rebuilding, not continued war. He has been making peace in every shot we see him in. If he is without empathy and emotion, then maybe he's a Spock character.

[druid91]

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Honestly sad we didn't get to see Jon turn into the Snow King with Brans help and Duke it out with Drogon/Daenarys using icy necromancy nonsense. "People of Kings Landing, Rise and take your Revenge."

[Spacewolf]

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So when Sansa takes the north I wonder how much that means exactly, considering she has a pretty decent claim on the river lands if Edmure is dead and in the book on the eyrie does that mean she's taking them with her as well?

Considering Bran explicitly can't have children and his semi immortal status I wonder if he's going to become a fisher king type ruler due to his relationship with Westeros, I would also bet the books will have a mention about the fossilised weirwoods coming back to life considering all the time they've been mentioned.

I think it's pretty clear that the writers of the TV series were told where everyone needed to be for this final episode and didn't know how to get them there satisfactorily.

[Dr.Samurai]

Spoiler: I thought this was a spoiler thread...

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The scene of Tyrion in the dungeons finding Jaime and Cersei was great.

The scene of Jon walking to meet Dany at the steps was great imagery as well.

I didn't think this episode was terrible, but man... wtf?

Dany has gone full on megalomaniacal. It seems her decision to massacre all of those people was pretty irrational and now she plans on doing this all around the world. Her ambitions have changed in the blink of an eye, and she says she's liberated King's Landing, and will "liberate" all other places. If liberating a place means she is going to incinerate it, we can only expect more massacres. This character has gone full on crazy out of nowhere.

Tyrion transforms into a mouthpiece for D&D, having to explain to the audience how the showrunners brought the show to this point, since it clearly doesn't make sense. He even refers to the double-crossing of the masters in Astapor, and the crucifixions at Meereen, two events he didn't witness. He even brings up the Khals, as if she sought them out to kill them lol. For me, the scene was undercut by how obvious the writers were being.

Dany leaves Drogon to guard her, which is unfortunate because the guards take Jon's sword even when he's going to see a prisoner (Tyrion). But as a Targaryen, Drogon lets Jon right through, weapons and all. Too bad for Dany. For a moment we see the old Dany, but then she goes full on villain again and Jon kills her. Drogon destroys the throne, which for me is more evidence that she does have control over the dragons and they do share a connection. I'm imagining this was her last wish (not Drogon's). If she can't sit on the throne, no one can. If this show was what it was in the beginning, Drogon would have incinerated Jon on the spot, or the Unsullied would have executed Jon immediately. The show obviously glosses over how Jon ended up in captivity, because Grayworm would have had him killed right then and there.

Then things get even stranger. For some reason... Tyrion is allowed to choose a monarch. And he starts talking about stories and memories. I'm sure the books will actually make this a thing with the 3 Eyed Raven or something, the show has mostly ignored this except to give the Night King a motivation suddenly and now to pretend Bran is the best choice for King. Speaking of which... wtf?

Bran could hardly have a conversation for the last two seasons. He has been sidelined hard, because he's no longer a normal person, by his own admission. But now he's going to be king? Last time we see him he's practically Dr. Manhattan as far as relating to people. But now he will be the best king. Sure.

But even further... since when was Dany's vision of a broken wheel everyone else's vision for Westeros? Why would the Lords and Ladies agree to this? Yara wants Jon to pay for murdering her Queen, but she votes to put his brother on the throne? Uh... sure. At this point, practically anyone can make a move for the throne, but they all just agree to make sweeping changes to succession in Westeros and not even attempt to take power for themselves. Bizarre.

Jon taking the Black... well, okay. Seems pointless. Grayworm leaves King's Landing before Jon does. So why exile the man? If Dany was truly a villain, then Jon is a hero. But because Grayworm wants vengeance they exile Jon. The true heir and the hero of Westeros? And then Grayworm leaves before Jon does? Lol.

I like Bronn but he needs to be removed from the Small Council.

[Chen]

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Jon only got caught because he’s Jon. He coulda been all like “Man, where’d Dany go? I got to the throne room and the throne was melted and no one was there. Whats up with that?” I kinda wanted to see how that conversation went though. Like do they just take him at his word or something? And not kill him on the spot?

[gomipile]

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So... Jon and Dany's last conversation goes as though she did what many in this thread and elsewhere said she should have done last episode instead of what she actually did. She mentions the human shields that Cersei brought into the Red Keep even though they weren't shown or mentioned at all in Episode 5.

So... Is the implication that she saw all the civilians in Kings Landing as Cersei's human shields and just... felt justified killing them because of that instead of ging straight for the Red Keep? Or is the implication that she was delusional and saw what she did very differently than the reality of what she was doing?

[Requizen]

It was an exceedingly ok episode... which is trash for a series that's been running for a decade and built up two dozen plotlines that just decided not to pay off.

"Fine" is not fine for the ending of GoT.

[Psyren]

My final verdict is a resounding meh. I don't have the energy to be worked up about any of it anymore.

In case it matters, my Likes:

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Sansa as Queen in the North.

Robin appearing to grow into his role as Lord of the Vale.

Jon being exiled to the Wall and reuniting with Ghost.

The current council makeup (Grand Maester Samwell, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Brienne, Bronn as Master of Coin, Davos as Master of Ships, and Tyrion as Hand.)

Kingsguard Podrick Payne.

Drogon not roasting Jon (not that it would have done anything, Targaryen and all that.)

Grey Worm and the Unsullied p*ssing off.

Dislikes:

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No timelines for anything, even vague ones. Just poof, rubble to bustling city with no aftermath. A statue to... someone would have been a nice touch.

Sam proposing bringing democracy to Westeros, getting laughed down by the landed gentry, and nobody ever bringing it up again.

Just about everything with Arya. She just decides to go sailing off to nowhere... nothing about mourning the Hound, no attempt to find Nymeria, nothing related to the House of Black and White, she just decides to be an explorer. I feel like that's not the best use of her talents.

No other kingdoms wanting to strike out on their own, really? Dorne? Iron Isles? The Vale?

The Disappearing Dothraki.

No inclination of how much of this Bran knew or guessed would happen.

And the meh:

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Bran as king... yeah okay. (Do they know how long-lived 3ERs are? Would they still have voted him in if they did?)

Tormund not getting a single line of dialogue... sure.

Is it still Winter or not? Shouldn't Winter last longer/have more impact than just "we need a new sewer system and some ships? Is there truly no threat left beyond the Wall?

Anyway, I guess I'll wait for the books...

[Lvl45DM!]

I thought it was a really really great episode.

[Saintheart]

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So when Sansa takes the north I wonder how much that means exactly, considering she has a pretty decent claim on the river lands if Edmure is dead and in the book on the eyrie does that mean she's taking them with her as well?

Considering Bran explicitly can't have children and his semi immortal status I wonder if he's going to become a fisher king type ruler due to his relationship with Westeros, I would also bet the books will have a mention about the fossilised weirwoods coming back to life considering all the time they've been mentioned.

I think it's pretty clear that the writers of the TV series were told where everyone needed to be for this final episode and didn't know how to get them there satisfactorily.

Stuff it, this is a no-spoilertags thread.

Edmure Tully was the guy putting himself forward as king at the start of the conference, so odds are on she's not claiming that throne any time soon.

I'd say Sansa declaring outright secession from the seven kingdoms also puts paid to any claim she has on the riverlands; the North ends at the Neck, and it otherwise remains independent.

There's obviously nothing in the TV show to support this, but I'm guessing Bran would need to be inside a weirwood to achieve that semi-immortal status, from memory the books suggest that Bloodraven was barely still human and then only hanging on in order to train Bran.

The weird part is that, if Tyrion's speech is well-reasoned, then he's installed a monarchy just as hereditary as the one they got rid of. On the TV show's weak cosmology, the title of Three-Eyed Raven has to be passed on so the memory of the world remains intact -- which means eventually Bran is going to have to take an apprentice just as Bloodraven (if it was indeed Bloodraven) took Bran on. If the next Three-Eyed Raven is just as impassive, just as detached as Bran is about ruling, then the logical course would simply be to elect Bran's apprentice as the next king.


I will say this much about the finale: it does leave interesting tensions in place for anyone who wanted to construct (as I do, if only for interest's sake) a post-TV series RPG campaign.

The North is independent of the Iron Throne and there will doubtless be border disputes with the Iron Islands at least, which - at least right now - seem to have bent the knee to Bran, unless of course the Ironborn take up the offer of open lands in the Reach that the Unsullied/Dothraki knocked back. (Lots of chances for scuffles between Queen Yara and Bronn Of The Crossbow, Lord Paramount And Holder Of Lofty Titles, I've no doubt).

Bran, meanwhile, is still learning to use his powers as the Three Eyed Raven and he has every chance of becoming an all-seeing surveillance state in his own person, able to see threats against himself in real time if not outright predict them; a good DM could take that any number of ways, one of which could be the slow descent of the Six Kingdoms into stagnation as Bran anticipates and kills conflicts everywhere he goes. Another - which was summed up in one image on r/freefolk - I also found really amusing: "Men fought thousands of years ago to free themselves from something. They built a Wall to keep it out, imprisoned it below a tree, and set a king to guard it ..." i.e. that the Three Eyed Raven has been a puppetmaster through the whole thing and now has achieved exactly what he wants: dominion over most of a continent.

And then there's beyond the wall. Yes, Arya has killed this Night King, but especially with the "baby White Walkers" plotline left dangling, I don't think it'd take a lot of DMing to suggest another one can be generated. Maybe the Wildlings go messing around in the White Walkers' home. Maybe Jon Snow accidentally becomes one himself, and thus we have a new Night King and a new cycle begins.


But my God they really didn't know what to do with Arya, did they? Where the hell did they get the idea she wanted to be Dora the Explorer? The Starks were brought up on the idea that they don't sail the seas in general, Brandon the Shipwright and his son Brandon the Burner are the very reason the Starks don't have a navy - because the Shipwright vanished across the very sea that Arya is now going to try and sail over.

[tomaO2]

I love Arya, but she should have either died or rejoined the faceless men, not gone sailing into the unknown. Where the heck does that come from? It was always my assumption that she would be able to live to see her list completed, and then have a faceless man come up to her and give her a final choice on being killed or rejoining the organization. She never actually escaped, she was just allowed to finish her revenge and to deal with lingering regrets so that she would be able to fully commit to being a Faceless.

By this point, I feel she could be ready to rejoin. Her experiences have marked her. She's seen death and how it kills the good and bad on massive scales. Everyone on her list is now dead. She's had her reunions with the few remaining she cares about and even got to be with the guy she likes for a night. She's gotten all she could have possibly hoped for and I feel like it was time to just move on.

On another note, if this is supposed to be the canon ending, does that mean that the Night King is also always supposed to go out like a little bitch? Cause that whole story arc was beyond disappointing.

[gomipile]

Another - which was summed up in one image on r/freefolk - I also found really amusing: "Men fought thousands of years ago to free themselves from something. They built a Wall to keep it out, imprisoned it below a tree, and set a king to guard it ..." i.e. that the Three Eyed Raven has been a puppetmaster through the whole thing and now has achieved exactly what he wants: dominion over most of a continent.

Except that the Children of the Forest created the Night King in the past and were allied with the Three-Eyed Raven in current times. Also, Bran as the 3ER was able to cross the Wall before it was broken.

[Devonix]

Guys this isn't the first time Arya has mentioned wanting to explore the lands beyond Westros. It was always her " Retirement Plan. "

[oudeis]

Loved the symbolism of the dragon melting the Iron Throne. Loved it. Subtle. Insightful. Profound.

So the Unsullied were angry enough to threaten war if Jon wasn't punished- when they had no logistical support, no less- but the Dothraki blood riders had no problem letting him live, and even let him walk right past them on his way to the ship? And while we're on the topic, why the **** did Jon actually have to go to the Night's Watch when the Unsullied are leaving? Put him on a ship, send him up north, he gets off south of the Wall and becomes King in the North again. And what was going to happen with the Doth? Were they going to settle down and open up Pony Express franchises across Westeros?

You don't just get to impose the ending you want. You have to earn it. Happy endings more than tragic ones, but neither are free. Bittersweet ones may be the hardest, since they can so easily become both pretentious and maudlin. Good thing the show runners were such adroit writers. Would have been a terrible waste if they had come all this way just to choke. Just terrible.

Such poetry in the ending. The circle closes and the end rejoins with the beginning. Jon is back at the Wall, and the last scene echoes the first. This is quality dramaturgy. The Star Wars movies are in good hands, no doubt.

[Saintheart]

Except that the Children of the Forest created the Night King in the past and were allied with the Three-Eyed Raven in current times. Also, Bran as the 3ER was able to cross the Wall before it was broken.

Ah, but don't you find it convenient that the very same Forest Child who created the Night King just happens to be hanging around the Three-Eyed Raven? What precise comparisons have we got for who the COTF that Bran encountered are the "real" ones?
Isn't it convenient that Bran only sees the creation of the Night King while under the current 3ER's supervision?
Bran only recrosses the Wall once he's been marked ... with the Night King's touch.
#DragonfireCan'tMeltSteelBeams #IForOneWelcomeOurNewPlantOverlords

[Ramza00]

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Considering Bran explicitly can't have children and his semi immortal status I wonder if he's going to become a fisher king type ruler due to his relationship with Westeros, I would also bet the books will have a mention about the fossilised weirwoods coming back to life considering all the time they've been mentioned.

About Bran in Earth Myth

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Yes Bran is a Fisher King type figure, but that is because he is based of Bran the Blessed from Welsh mythology. Before the Angles, the Saxons, and the Jutes invaded the UK about 500 AD there were various Celtic people. Tribes that after the invasion we would call the Cornish, Welsh, Scott's, Irish, etc.

Well in Welsh mythology there are 4 main stories called the Four Branches of the Mabinogi, the 2nd branch deals with Bran the Blessed with Bran meaning crow / raven. The store of the 2nd branch deals with the civil war of the Irish and the Welsh and how their battles littlerally depopulate the UK island. It involves the Black Cauldron bringing people back from the dead and the cause of the war was the union of the Irish and Welsh by the marriage of Bran's sister Branwen. I am going to skip the details of the saga but at the end only 7 people are alive and Bran is dying so he orders for his head to be cut off and it is done and Bran still is alive just as a head and he can communicate and give advice.

He states to eventually to be buried at a white bill facing mainland Europe and he will protect the UK isles as long as this is done.

This is believed to be by scholars to be part of the inspiration of the Fisher King. The Fisher King first appearing in the 1100s AD with Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, the Story of the Grail (French: Perceval ou le Conte du Graal.)

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Now the 4 Branches of the Mabinogi were not written down till about 1000 AD existing as Oral tales.

Now Bran the Blessed is also important to King Arthur more besides the Fisher King in a more direct way. In King Arthur more as long as Bran head was buried in that hill the UK was protected by the Fates from foreign invasion. King Arthur (a Welsh King) unburied Bran's head to force the people to unite to his banners for he trusted himself more than legends of whatever reason. But since Bran was no longer protecting the land the Welsh Kings could be suspectible to Invaders from the sea (what we would call the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes people who spoke a Germanic language and came from what would be more day France, Denmark, and parts of some of West Germany.)

Well King Arthur a Welsh King beat back the Invaders but his kingdom did fall due to internal bickering.

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Now the 7 kingdoms in the UK were 7 different tribes / kingdoms around 800 AD in the UK which will eventually become England. This name for this period is known as the Heptarchy, Hepta for 7, Archy for rule / reign.

Now of course all of this is stylized and not literally what happens historically on Earth but instead oral stories that eventually got written down. Much like the story of Joffrey's Wedding at 300 AC did not accurately explain the 2 years prior with the War of the 5 Kings the Heptarchy is a narrative fiction that is sort of true but also very stylized. The concept of 7 kingdoms was first written in the 1100s and the Heptarchy name in the 1500s, there were far more than 7 kingdoms of Germanic speaking people even if 7 main territories exist. But this is a mythological story of how these 7 kingdoms become the English and how the Angles become the English. People who sometimes fought the Welsh and sometimes had an uneasy alliance. Aka more King Arthur and related myths of the Red Dragon (Welsh) and the White Dragon (Angles and Saxons) fighting underneath a castle. But that is a story for another time.

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But yeah bringing back to Martin and to Bran. Yes the Fisher King symbolism is relevant and purposeful.

What I am not sure is purposeful is if Martin meant to invoke the various Dune books with Dany and Bran or is this an instance of convergent storytelling without intention. Regardless we have Dany as Paul with her almost Jihad and Bran as the book of the world with the memories of his ancestors. The story ends with a theme of be careful to trust messiahs specifically but also have doubts about yourself for keeping this type of skeptical faith in one self prevents worse things even if it does not stop it always.

[deuterio12]

Bronn as the Master of the Coin? What could possibly go wrong?

Seriously shouldn't he have been named the master of war or something?

In the other hand with omniscient Brand as King it's kinda pointless to have a Master of Whispers.

So Jon's "punishment" is to return to the North he loves that's now free of zombies and party hard with the wildlings and his pet dire wolf for the rest of his life? Man Grey Worm was completely swindled in that one.

~ i.e. that the Three Eyed Raven has been a puppetmaster through the whole thing and now has achieved exactly what he wants: dominion over most of a continent.

Indeed, Bran turned out to be a 6D chess player all along, subtly manipulating everything to set himself as king. If Daenerys went mad, it was due to Bran messing with her mind so he could be king (and Sansa Queen).

And Tyrion didn't recover his brain this episode. It was Brand talking through the imp's mouth.

And then there's beyond the wall. Yes, Arya has killed this Night King, but especially with the "baby White Walkers" plotline left dangling, I don't think it'd take a lot of DMing to suggest another one can be generated. Maybe the Wildlings go messing around in the White Walkers' home. Maybe Jon Snow accidentally becomes one himself, and thus we have a new Night King and a new cycle begins.

Drogon took Daenerys corpse.

Flying towards the necromancer area.

One day Drogon shall bring the Night Queen back to Westeros.

But my God they really didn't know what to do with Arya, did they? Where the hell did they get the idea she wanted to be Dora the Explorer? The Starks were brought up on the idea that they don't sail the seas in general, Brandon the Shipwright and his son Brandon the Burner are the very reason the Starks don't have a navy - because the Shipwright vanished across the very sea that Arya is now going to try and sail over.

That's no longer Arya. It's just another of Brand's puppets, sailing west to break and conquer more lands in his name.

[Eldan]

Good sequel hook: Drogon brings Daenerys' body to a red priest.

[Malifice]

She's not really old enough to be his mother, not even in teh series, where she's older. THat said, it's not the worst idea. If she's sterile and can't have children anyway, just make him Heir Apparent.

One thing I was wondering. Between them, who has the first claim? Was Jon born before or after Rhaegar died? If Jon was born before Rhaegar died, he's the heir. But if he was born after, the crown might legally have gone to Viserys and then Dany first.

Thats not how male preference primogeniture works.

Its the Kings Sons in order, then if there are none of them around (or simply none) then it defaults to the eldest male son of his offspring, in order of offspring. Only when there are no living male heirs does a woman inherit the throne.

So the line went: Aerys>Rhaegar>Aegon>Viserion>Aegon(Jon)>Danerys>Rh yella.

Viserion was the 'rightful' King by law once his older brother Rhaegar, Father Aerys and Rhaegars eldest son Aegon died (unless Jon was already born at that time, and the Show indicates he wasnt, he was born a month or so later at the Tower of Joy in Dorne).

In any event, when Viserion was killed by Khal Drogo, Jon was well and truly alive, so the Crown lawfully passed to (Aegon - Jon Snow) as the oldest surviving male heir.

[Mechalich]

So, the show chooses to end with a muddled whimper and, as has been a constant throughout this season, no ability to grapple with the implications of events. This is often blatant - as in choosing to pretend the Dothraki simply don't exist even though they significantly outnumber the Unsullied and have actual motive. Maybe they would have liked to settle the nice, grass-filled Reach, no? It's sometimes a bit more subtle, like completely failing to ignore that if Bran is unwilling to enforce the solidarity of the Seven Kingdoms when Sansa asks for independence his ability to hold the remaining six together would be nearly nil. The Prince of Dorne of no lines would declare independence within a year. The Night's Watch still exists, for some reason, even though there were maybe six people left alive in it post Winterfell and no reason to restore it thereafter (also there's big gaping hole in the Wall).

There's also the generally oblivious oversights. They show Sam as Grandmaester at the end, but Maesters can't marry. So he chose to put Gilly aside and disinherit his son(s) for a Maester's chain? Yeah, no, Sam's not that much of a jerk. Grey Worm declares the Unsullied will sail for Naath, all 4000 or however many of them there are. Naath, for the record, is a little squiggly island off the coast of Sothoryos (the continent south of Essos). There's no way it could possibly support them. It's fine that Grey Worm, personally wants to go there, but sending the entire Unsullied there is ridiculous.

And of course, it hardly bears mentioning all the dropped plots. Nice to know the legendary order of assassins doesn't care at all about someone defecting from their sacred trust, or that the wrathful god of fire brought Jon Snow back from the dead for a lark. So much bleh.