There were so many circular themes to the series, with scenes and incidents coming full circle from the first episode to the last, that it was fitting that the Iron Throne, which was created by a dragon was ultimately destroyed by one.
I kinda had the same reaction at first but then I recalled his conversation at crossbow point with Jaime and Tyrion. What struck me was when he expressed (to horribly paraphrase) that it was so he could then marry and sire children and his future generations will no longer be viewed as a sell-sword. I could be wrong since it’s been a long 12 seasons but it seemed to me this was a forward thinking view he had never expressed caring about before. In the past titles, land, etc., were all about enriching himself for his own desires. That conversation revealed to me he was seeing the world differently now and he had an opportunity to move beyond his past through his children/dynasty.
You are talking about the same armies that twiddled their thumbs in Kings Landing for several weeks against all reason and logic, yes? The Unsullied that executed prisoners who opposed their queen, but kept the guy who killed their queen alive? The Dothraki who, having been named Dany’s bloodriders in their entirety, were bound by their cultural obligation to kill Jon and then themselves? If they weren’t going to kill anyone before the council, why would they decide to go rogue afterwards?
There was no in-universe reason for the whole of Westeros to sit in suspended animation for however long it took to round up some nobles to have a council. With both competing monarchs dead, and their closest advisors either dead or imprisoned by hostile forces, their was a power vacuum that should have collapsed into chaos in hours.
It’s probably useful to have someone to at least advise him on what to look into. The goings on of everyone since forever is a lot of data to comb through. MOW would be able to throw him a bone regarding what seems to be particularly important.
Sorry if this has already been mentioned. Danaerys gives her we-will-now-conquer-the-world speech in High Valeryan which neither Tyrion nor Jon speak. Yet when Tyrion is talking with Jon in his prison cell, he refers to what she said as if both he and Jon understood it.
I think it was more just a sense of wanting to know exactly where it is and what it’s up to. All of the armies in Westeros have stood down, so there’s “peace”, in the short term at least.
The one thing that could seriously throw a wrench in the works is a pissed off dragon rampaging across the countryside burning things indiscriminately. So it’s advantageous to know if he’s still flying around the countryside with Daenaerys still gripped in his claw, or if he’s decided to head back “home” to Essos, where he’s “somebody else’s problem”.
I agree, and I think giving the Golden Company elephants would have been extremely on the nose, which is why they didn’t.
I’m not complaining though because I like Tolkienish endings. The true GoT ending, I think, would be Dany winning the throne, immediately offing Jon and Tyrion, and then going up and nuking Winterfell. I guess GRRM got soft.
Tyrion speaks some Valyrian; he was shown in a number of scenes butchering the language to various people. It wouldn’t surprise me that he can understand it better than he can speak it…so I can accept that he got the gist of the speech even if he didn’t catch every word.
But he says to Jon something like “did she sound like someone who was done with war?” Jon also looks deeply disturbed as she’s speaking, as if he understood what she was saying.
It wasn’t expressed in dialog in the show, but I am trying to think up reasons why Bran gets to be King:
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Bran is one of the few Lords of Westeros remaining that no one hates on a personal level;
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The other Lords possibly felt that Bran was a Noob, and easy enough to outwit or ignore. Or, alternatively, the six realms may go ahead and treat Bran as a figurehead king, pay a little lip service, and imagine that they can gain a little more autonomy.
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Any future “High King” can be from any of the houses, giving these Lords hope that their offspring may have a turn at the job. Or, if necessary, they can elect another “empty suit”, while maintaining the status quo.
With Bran seeming to be at ease with the North declaring it’s independence, maybe this reinforces the assumption by the Lords to think he will be fine with the overall decentralizing of power in Westeros.
I think the bloodlust was apparent in the reaction of the Dothraki to her speech. It was not the reaction to being told that this was the time to settle down, make peace and rebuild.
With this entire season, the problem hasn’t been where they ended up, simply how they got there.
Bran is king? I can see GRRM making a case for that. I know there are other players in the books that didn’t make it into the TV show, but you get the sense that this is a war of attrition, and book Bran may have spent time building a coalition to make his rise to power believable in a world where all of the powerhouses have bludgeoned themselves out of the picture. What’s not believable is the idea that a small council of lords can just up and decide who’s king in Westeros. That’s not the world we’ve seen – remember “Anyone who says ‘I am the King’ is no King”, and Cersei’s “Power is power” lines. Bran might make a great king, and everyone there could agree on that, but Ned Stark would have also made a great king and his head ended up on a stick. Because that’s what happens to good men in Westeros who aren’t willing to play the game. Bran has not played the game, he doesn’t get to win.
I have other examples but this show is getting me too riled up, I gotta step away.
Considering the show starts shortly after one civil war and just before another one, it’s never quite clear to me how much power the King actually has. If the kingdom needs something like money, food, or soldiers, it seems like all they can do is ask the Great Houses nicely.
I think Drogon took her back to Old Valyria. Since no one goes there anymore, it would be a safe place to put her. And we saw him flying around there when Tyrion and Jorah were passing by in the boat so it might be like home for him.
Tarly is a House. And they also have a castle and hereditary Valyrian sword. And they were lords of The Reach until Bronn got the title
Highgarden was an empty castle like Stormreach. Dorne is a huge country. Winterfell is a city with a castle.
I think that’s a testament to Grey Worm/Torgo Nudho’s administrative abilities. And his iron grip on Dany’s remaining forces.
I assume Tyrion understands some High Valyrian. There are mentions early in the series about it being a sort of Latin or Greek that educated lordlings are taught. Jon probably got some lessons on it, but was too focused on training as a soldier to care much about ancient languages. But it seemed Tyrion had to explain Dany’s speech to Jon, because he didn’t get it. “Did she sound like someone who was done fighting?”
What I didn’t understand is why the Dothraki understood her speech. I guess they’ve spent enough time in the company of Unsullied to pick up some Valyrian?
Tyrion said “did that sound like she was done with war”, he didn’t need to understand the tone and reaction said everything.
I don’t have the context for this. Why did Sansa feel entitled to order her uncle like that?
Was it just me, or did they make Greyworm much less sympathetic this episode than in all previous seasons?
Because she didn’t like him and knew nobody else did either. He was set up from the beginning to be an incompetent blowhard.