How Game of Thrones Should Have Ended

Where it failed: setting up Bran’s arc, diminishing Tyrion’s capabilities

Episode 1 will play out similarly, except for a few key different character beats:

• The episode begins with crows flying over (like the end of season 7) only this time they fly over massive blocks of ice on the ground and giants walking with ice mounds strapped to their backs.

  • We see men hauling ice as well, and eventually, the ravens fly over where they are all walking to, the wall being originally constructed (this not only serves to tell the audience where we are in time but juxtaposes the last scene of season 7 where we see the wall coming down i.e. the start of hope vs the end). It is not too long after the Long Night has occurred, the original fight between man and the Others.

  • We see The Night King making his pact with Man, and then turn his head towards the ravens and smile. This jolts bran awake from greenseeing and for the first time in years we see a slight sense of fear in his eyes, giving tension of what is to come.

• Jon, Dany, and most others’ beats should follow the same path. Truth be told this was a great start to the season and the emotional payoffs/setups to come were well done. Except we get an additional Bran greensight memory

  • This time Bran goes back to see the children of the forest struggling to take down the Night King after creating him: swords, arrows, magic nothing seems to work. In a last flee effort one of the children swings a valerian steel knife of a white walker shattering the being and thrusting Bran out of his dream. The scene ends with Bran staring at his own legs.

• Tyrion and Sansa have their same conversation as in the episode, only when Sansa delivers the same line to Tyrion saying how foolish he is for trusting Cersei will come to aid them, he only responds with, “I knew she wouldn’t come, but her people needed to hear me ask. If Dany is going to gain the trust and respect of the people of king’s landing who have been taught to fear her, they need to open their eyes to the liar Cersei truly is.” Sansa taken back would reply, “An admirable action as a hand, but what good is that going to do against what is coming?” Tyrion with a heavy weight would reply “None, sadly not much will. Especially not me. What use am I am to her against what is coming? The greatest minds in history have nothing to say of what we’re facing as we are writing history now here. What’s going to happen is going to happen. (he pauses and looks at Dany speaking with Jon smiling) All I can do now is prepare for a world where she comes after.”

• This allows us to:

  • still see the strategic mind Sansa had developed as a leader

  • see how Tyrion has learned from his mistakes and won’t let bias or overestimations affect his strategic planning ever again

  • have Tyrion acknowledge his shortcomings and his undying devotion for not only how Dany has saved him, but how she could give that gift to so many who have never known anything besides oppression

When Tyrion asks bran “Just exactly where has your journey taken you?” Bran replies “To you.” This is when we get the much-needed, anticipated scene between Bran and Tyrion, where Bran explains what he knows, what he expects, and what needs to be done.

• We start in the middle of the conversation: Bran explains how since he’s become the three-eyed raven, he has realized his purpose: to protect history. History is not isolated to just past or present, for he is not part of either anymore. History is written by the life that fills it, and he knows that if the Night King wins there will be none left to continue it. Therefore he has been searching the history of Westeros tirelessly for answers to what the night king is, what he wants, and how he is to be defeated. This explains the lack of emotional affect as well as his avoidance of human connection, as he has arguably spent more time in history than he has in the present, and so those around him or a mere speck in the total time he has seen.

• He then begins to describe what he has uncovered:

  • Jon is the rightful heir to the throne. This pulls in Tyrion’s attention as he may have been doubtful of the mystical elements of Bran’s journey (plays on Tyrion’s history of doubting the unseen/unexplained).

  • The children of the forest used the power of the Great Weirwood to create the Night King as a means to protect themselves from the onslaught of mankind ravaging their forests. However, to their detriment, he was uncontrollable and more powerful than they ever intended.

  • How the First Men defeated the Night King in the Long Night: they didn’t. It was a stand-off that led to the pact and creation of the wall (as seen in the first scene of the season). Bran explains the reason the Night King couldn’t just sweep through Man was that his army of the dead wasn’t large enough yet. Man could easily fight back at the time, but that was ages ago. All he has done since then is plan his next moves and more importantly grow his army. This establishes the Night King of being more than a mindless symbol of evil, but rather an intelligent being capable of comprise, decision making, and patience.

  • Tyrion doing his best to maintain his composure asks, “What does he want?” Bran goes on to say he doesn’t know. He has scoured history and watched the Night King for ages but never has he seen any indication for why he’s doing what he’s doing, only that he is relentless unwavering and will be here soon.

  • Tyrion asks, “Why are you telling me all of this? Why not bring in Jon and Dany and the others?” Bran responds, “It is your mind that needs to be concerned with these matters, not theirs. It would only distract them from what they need to do. What you must do, however, is of the utmost importance.”

  • Tyrion in his witty sarcastic manner reiterates, “What does he even want? You say his mind is of a man, yet his heart is of what? Why here, why now, why us?

  • Bran with weight says, “Not us...”

This is when their conversation is interrupted by commotion and horses from outside. Tyrion and bran walk out to see Jaime arriving with a sizeable portion of Lannister men willing to fight. We see a heartfelt glance between Jaime and Tyrion that says “you have no idea what this means to me.”

• This builds trust in the north with Tyrion as his presence has led to reinforcements and hope. Jaime’s eyes fall from Tyrion to Bran sitting beside him, and we get a similar ending shot of Jaime’s face turning from courageous to guilt-ridden.

End of Episode

Where it failed: setting up an intelligent and plausible battle strategy, unimportant Night King motivations, lack of weight pressed on the Jon/Dany dilemma

Episode 2 will play out almost identically except for some elements in the planning process. For the most part, the character moments made and the inter-character tension built before the battle were incredible, especially the final montage with Jenny of Oldstones playing to set the stage of the battle to come.

The episode starts with the same conversation with Jaime confronted by Dany, Jon, and Sansa.

Afterward, Bran says the night king will be there soon and a plan of defense must be made.

• We start with how Tyrion and Bran’s conversation was cut short: what does the Night King want?

  • Bran says, “The three-eyed raven, me. He’ll always want me.”

  • The room will ask why, to which bran will reply, “I do not know. He slew the raven before me, and since then I feel him when I am searching. And I have searched. Throughout our history, I’ve looked for signs of what he’s planning, but nothing is there. He’s been patient for as long as time has stood.”

  • Someone from the night’s watch states, “He’s a monster. (everyone pauses to look). He storms from land to land and wipes out anything in his path, taking babies from their mothers without flinching.” “No” Bran replies, “He was just a man.” And goes on to recount the events of the children of the forest creating him to protect themselves from Man, and how it ran out of control. He looks at Jon. “He made a pact with the first Night’s Watch after the long night. They agreed to let him live beyond the wall as long as he remained there. He didn’t have to agree, let alone give them the opportunity to parlay. He isn’t mindless, he can reason, he can think, and more importantly, he can wait. And he isn’t waiting anymore.”

  • We have Sam interject with the knowledge that he learned from the citadel. What he knows of the children of the forest and their abilities, how they used the great Weirwood to create him, as they had everything else. It was the source of their power, and some believe it is the source of magic itself. The children drew from its power to build and destroy and gave their lives to protect and preserve it for all of time.

  • “So why now?” Bran says “I don’t know. Maybe he’s waited this entire time, gathering up footmen to the point where no army could stand to defend themselves.” To which Tormund would reply something sassy along the lines of, “Well f*#@ing great for us then.”

  • “Bran,” says Jon, quieting the room. “Are we to stop him?” “Bran replies “I can look through history at what has transpired. I cannot see what hasn’t been written. But I believe whatever he is planning involves me, and he will stop at nothing to get me in his grasp again.” The room pauses. “So we should let him”

The Strategy of the Defense of Winterfell: Unlike the episode that aired, we need to see legitimate planning before the battle occurs, both to give us a sense of realistic hope an unstoppable army can be defeated and demonstrate character growth from the start of the series.

• The trench, the Dothraki front, and the unsullied blockage were solid strategies.

• Bran stationed by the weirwood is a good touch. It’s both well protected and makes sense narratively.

• There is absolutely no reason for Dany and Jon to wait for the Night King. They should be perched on either side of the fighting lines and once the army of the dead is in sight will carpet bomb their flanks with sheets of fire, blanketing the army of the dead’s masses throughout the fight and making the number that gets through manageable for the ground forces to defend.

• Someone on the council needs to say “The women and children will be safe in the crypts,” to which Tyrion replies “Where the Starks keep their dead? We might as well place them on the front lines while we’re at it. We’re fighting a force where the rules of life and death don’t apply. No, they shall be far safety kept in the great hall.”

  • This gives Tyrion modest redemption in his strategic prowess as well as creates a sense of safety for the audience prior to the battle. However, this will not hold true in the following episode.

  • Someone could mention how wildfire would be a good thing to have on hand, to which Bran then leaves the room, Tyrion notices and follows (and the rest of the planning occurs)

We need a plan of “last resort” when the battle is all but lost. A “hail marry.”

• Someone could mention how wildfire would be a good thing to have on hand, to which Bran then leaves the room, Tyrion notices and follows (and the rest of the planning occurs)

• Tyrion asks where he is going. Bran makes a comment about how once he able to affect history, unknowingly in Hodor. Then I didn’t understand, now I believe I do. Bran says, “I believe the answers come from what has come.” And greensights back into time searching:

  • We see Bran in King’s Landing, only brandished and untouched by war. He makes his way to the throne room where we reveal The Mad King sitting on the throne. A mother and her child are before him, stating that her husband has just passed and they do not have the means to farm for the upcoming winter now. All they request is enough food to get them through the season. Worried of what he’s heard of the King in response to requests like these, Bran begins to take a step forward and stops as Aerys speaks, “No. I will not grant you this.” He pauses and stands up, walking down the steps. He then to Bran’s surprise kneels down by the mother and says, “I ask that you stay in the red keep until winter has passed. You’ll be given food and shelter and anything else you may need for you and your child.” He strokes the child’s hair and then continues. “And after winter passes, you may stay and work here in the kitchens if you’d wish.” The mother, overcome with joy breaks into tears and holds the King’s hand, thanking him for his generosity. We see Bran’s look of complete shock and confusion as the Mad King smiles and places his hand on hers.

The episode continues pretty much with the same scenes as before. The stories told by the fire, the moments with Arya, Gendry, Beric. Brienne’s knighting scene was absolutely beautiful and shouldn’t be touched.

We then come back to Bran in his greensight state:

• Bran, still taken back by the Mad King’s actions is staring at the king on the throne sitting, seemingly in deep thought. Bran makes his way over to the King, closes his eyes, and places a hand on the king’s shoulder. Both his and the King’s eyes open in a warged state.

• This is when we have bran say “For the good of the realm, a large keep of wildfire must be made and stored. The safety of man depends on it. An enemy is coming that we cannot stop, we cannot shake, but we can burn. We can burn them all and preserve life from death. Only in this way can we save the realm.“ His goal is to retroactively make sure there was a large enough wildfire storage made over the next 30 years to use against the wights.

• We see the Mad King mumble words back in his warged state “the realm…stored…burn…burn them all” upon hearing the phrase Bran breaks from his warging and quickly draws back his hand, only the King is still left in his state. He repeats “the realm…stored…burn…burn them all.” Bran, realizing what is happening places his hand back on the king, and says “the dead, burn the dead, the dead are coming and we will need this weapon to fight them!” The king continues to repeat the phrases, only this intervention makes them more agitated. “Burn them all…the realm…burn.” Bran pulls back again and mutters, “no, no, no” and watches in horror as the King begins convulsing and shouting. “STORE!....THE REALM!....BURN!....THE REALM!...BURN! BURN THEM ALL!!” and Bran awakes from his greensight in a cold sweat.

• Bran speaks with Tyrion, distraught. Tyrion asks “What did you see?” and Bran replies “It’s my fault.” Tyrion looks confused. “But I think it was always my fault. That’s how it happened. Or how it was going to happen.” Tyrion tries to ask for clarity, but Bran stops him. “What is is what will be, what has happened will be told, what is coming has been written in ink.”

• Bran has realized that time is a fixed construct, the Mad King was overthrown by his father, which led to Robert one day coming to Winterfell, which led to Bran being pushed out the tower, becoming the three-eyed raven, and eventually unintentionally making the Mad King go Mad. We cannot change history, we can only protect it.

• Tyrion not fully understanding but trusting asks “How can we use this? Can see you see further ahead as to what is to come so we can play our part.”

• Bran shakes his head and says “That is not history, that is to come.”

• Tyrion asks, “Do you see what the Night King wants?” Bran replies, “No, but I believe I am meant to ask him. And when I do,” he turns to Tyrion “we must act. ”

• This suggests that there is a way in which the Night King doesn’t win, else there would be no need for the three-eyed raven. Their job is not to change history, rather to ensure history continues.

The episode still ends with jenny of oldstones montage and Jon and Dany’s conversation.

End of Episode

Where it failed: lack of consequences, no pay-off for the Night King’s story

This will be the first of many great departures from the season as aired. The episode begins the same. The way the stage was set, the tension built, and the scope of creation fantastic. The Dothraki wipe-out was phenomenal and the start of the ground combat was solid. The only difference is the women and children will be in the great hall, and Jon and Dany won’t be seen perching. Their entrance will be after the first crashing of the dead into the front lines, he and her will soar down and lay waste to rows upon rows of the dead, giving back some hope that was taken away from the Dothraki slaughter.

• Dolorous Edd will have the same death, only Sam will kill the wight that killed Dolorous rather than run away, demonstrating his growth as a man and illustrating how Gilly has made him a more courageous man.

The battle will continue on similarly, Winterfell’s forces being driven back and losing men left and right. Jon and Dany are taking out a considerable portion of the army until suddenly a blue streak of flame shoots down from the darkness and narrowly misses Rhaegal. The Night King soars by and Jon and Dany go after him.

• This makes far more sense for them to divert their attention from the ground forces towards defeating the greater threat, rather than wait and do nothing for the Night King to show up and go searching for him in the skies in the black of night.

• Additionally, this happens as the forces are getting close to the boundaries of Winterfell, so when Davos signals for Dany and Jon to light the trench but now they are too busy to notice the signal.

We cut to Bran and Theon waiting by the weirwood. They don’t see anything, just hear distant screams and fighting off in the background.

• Theon: “I suppose this is our fate. Or at least mine deservingly so.”

• Bran: “You deserve better than this, as they do.”

• Theon: “They certainly do. Those men have spent their lives being true, and good.” Theon turns to bran in tears. “I’m so sorry Bran.”

• Bran: “You’re a good man, Theon.” Theon is overwhelmed by hearing forgiveness for his actions and says:

• Theon: “I plan to be. Until my last breath, Lord Stark, I will stand by you.”

• Bran: “As I will to you. But first I am needed elsewhere”

We see Bran warg away and follow a host of crows flying overhead over the battlefield, occasionally diving down and striking into the heads of the dead (this allows Bran to actually contribute to the fight at hand). We continue to follow the crows as they soar higher into the sky into the black of night. We see nothing but darkness, then a small orange hue pop and disappear, then another, then a blue one erupts as the crows burst through the clouds into a firefight between Dany, Jon and the Night King. The entire hosts converge and fly together straight into the eyes and face of Visceryon and The Night King, only momentarily distracting him but long enough for Drogon to send a jet of flame into the side of Visceryon and for Rhaegal to clench on Visceryons neck from the other side. Visceryon lets out a giant jet of blue flame knocking back Drogon and Rhaegal, and Visceryon dives down into the darkness leaving Dany and Jon alone in the skies.

We cut back to the ground forces fighting off the hoard, getting pushed back closer and closer to the castle. Davos gives the signal for Jon and Dany to light the trenches but they are preoccupied with the Night King to see.

• We see Beric Dondarion fighting alongside Arya, who rushed out from inside Winterfell to fight near the gate, and we get a glimpse of him with a subtle smile as he notices her new prowess as a fighter. We even get a moment where two wights jump on Beric’s back, Arya splits her spear, throws both ends through the heads of the wights, slides by Beric, snaps the pieces back together, and continues to fight. This is when we see Beric noticing Davos waving for Dany and Jon to no avail. Beric looks at the approaching mass of dead, looks down with a solemn glance, then looks up at Arya with gratitude. Arya confused begins to speak but is interrupted as Beric beings rushes towards the trench, wights rushing behind him. He lights his sword on fire. Realizing what he is attempting to do, the men on the walls begin to redirect their arrows towards the wights chasing him. Beric gets closer to the trench and thrusts the sword in the air towards it, but it gets caught on a wight before landing inside. Beric, at full sprint, lights himself on fire and flings himself into the trench, pulling wights clung to his back with him, and lights the trench

  • This not only fulfills his destiny for why the Lord of Light continued to bring him back, is an appropriate death to his faith and character, but also it makes far more sense than Mellissandre slowly walking out to cast a spell. Plus, in this Melisandre is with the women and children.

This is where the episode will take a pause from fighting, but a major change will occur. (The entire sequence of Arya sneaking around the library will be taken out, as it only served to remind the audience of her technical skills for killing the Night King, which will not occur in this version)

• We get an open conversation with Sansa and Tyrion in the great hall, similar to their conversation they had in the crypts. Similar in tone, Sansa thanks Tyrion for treating her differently than the rest and Tyrion says: “I wish I could have done more. Even now, I” he pauses and swallows

  • Sansa: “You helped give us the best shot we have. Without your men, your strategy…even your queen (she struggles to get that last part out)….we would stand no chance.”

  • Tyrion: looking around first “I’m not so sure we do. If they break past our defenses, there will be nothing to save every last person in this room from being slaughtered.”

  • Sansa: “If they break past our defenses there is nothing to save every person from every hall across Westeros.”

  • Tyrion: scoffs and drinks “You might be right. But that doesn’t mean these women and children have to wait to die tonight.” Tyrion thinks to himself, and we see a glimpse of an idea. “Sansa, how sentimental are you?”

We get a conversation with Arya and the Hound in recovery (basically the conversation he had with Beric during the fight only now it’s with Arya), where the Hound is in distress and has given up, yet it is Arya that talks him out of it. He is stubborn to see her point, to which she stands and says, “If you want to sit here and wallow like a child fine, but I’ve lost too many to care to lose any more.” (We do away with the Melisande pep talk, as that was only to direct Arya towards killing the Night King). Arya stares transfixed at the leftovers of a wight on the ground and draws her knife. “Valar Morghulis”

Next we see Brienne and Jaime commanding the walls and preparing men for what comes next, they look at each other and share an endearing glance.

We cut back to Jon and Dany soaring over Winterfell, noticing the army is standing motionless around the trench fire, and they both dive down, landing in Winterfell’s keep. Dany tends to the remainder of her army, both asking if the Night King has appeared beyond the wall. Sansa and Tyrion rush to greet her, as well as Jaime, Brienne and Tormund.

• Tyrion: “My queen. There’s no time and you need to hear what we have to say.”

Cut to Bran and Theon, Theon in the midst of commanding the remains of the Greyjoy men on defensive strategies and placing them around the Weirwood. There is no fear left in Theon’s eyes. He turns to Bran, “Bran, where is he?”

Bran wargs back into ravens, searching the night sky and we find the Night King on Viseryon. He slowly lifts his arm forward with his fist clenched. We then see one of the dead walk into the fire, followed by another, and another. Together they form a bridge over the trench (just as the episode did), and the battle revs up again.

At this we have Brienne shout “Man your stations! Stand strong!” Tyrion takes Sansa’s hand and pulls her back towards inside, not before Dany says “Lady Stark, are you sure?” Sansa just meets her eyes, begins to say something and cannot, so settles for a quick nod and turns to Jon and hugs him tightly.

• Jon: “Sansa….no…” But Sansa pulls away and follows Tyrion towards the hall inside.

• Jon: turns to Dany. “Go. Take Rhaegal, I’ll go to the others.” Dany tries to interject but Jon cries “Now, Dany, go!” Dany takes Drogon into the air with Rhaegal followed behind.

The army of the dead breaks through the trench and the battle continues, similarly to the show. Mounds of the dead climb on top of one another to rise up the wall and seep into Winterfell. We get the same scene of Brienne and Jaime fighting and saving one another while ushering people into the various tunnels underground. Behind them another wall of the dead rises and begins pouring over the sides, only to erupt in flames.

• We see Dany and Drogon with Rhaegal fly along the outside walls dousing the dead in fire, up until a blue crash of light jets by and blows open the main gates, allowing the army of the dead to rush through. Dany turns Drogon towards Visceryon and flies to fight.

We cut to Tyrion and Sansa inside the great hall, commanding the women and children to follow them. They rush throughout the castle hearing cries in the distant, as they make their way to the entrance to the crypts.

• One of the mothers stops: “I thought it wasn’t safe to stay down here.” Hesitant to enter.

  • Tyrion: “We won’t be staying down there for long.”

  • Sansa: “There is an exit to the crypts that lies outside the grounds. From there we can head to White Harbor but we must hurry.” She motions for people to enter and climb down the steps. After the last of them have run through, Sansa takes a long look at the hall behind her, and Tyrion noticing gently grabs her hand “Come, my lady.” And they escape into the night.

    • This serves to give more weight to them having to be in the tombs, that it was a sign of last resort and also not a final destination, but rather a “perilous” bridge of sorts they had to cross to get to safety. Now, almost every character we know of is in immediate mortal danger.

We cut to Jon racing through the grounds of Winterfell, fighting his way through (similar to the one-shot scene from the episode), only this time it’s interjected with him commanding soldiers to retreat to underground. He meets up with Jaime doing the same, we get a moment of them fighting side by side, Jon noticing that Jaime’s strength is weaning with one arm and forces him to go with the others and help protect the retreat. Jaime refuses, and Brienne assures him to go and help protect the retreat while she sends people his way. He makes a half attempt of a joke about the gender reversal occurring here but she interrupts him and says “Knights live to protect, no matter where.” (playing on how Jaime had recently Knighted her, and commenting on how really either one is not necessarily in less danger).

Drogon, Rhaegal, and Visceryon are in an epic air fight exchanging fire parries and slashing at underbellies. Eventually, Rhaegal clutches onto, Visceryon’s neck holding him back and exposing the top for a final blow from Drogon. Dany gets ready to say “Draca…” but stops with chills down her spine when she realized The Night King is not sitting atop him.

Jon has made it to the walls, fighting the wights that are slowly trickling over and commanding more soldiers to retreat. It is here that Jon looks around to see Podrick being ripped apart by wights as Brienne is furiously attempting to slash them off. He looks down to see Tormund and Sam on the grounds fighting a few stray that had spilled over, and redirects himself towards them to tell them to retreat. As he turns to do so, we have Dany land haphazardly on the walls nearby and shout “JON!” Sound cuts away, Jon looks at Dany’s horror-stricken face and follows her hand to see she’s pointing at a Visceryon hovering just over the entrance to Winterfell, with no rider upon his back. Jon’s face goes cold as he realizes. Bran. At that moment a blue flame erupts from Visceryon’s mouth and blows open the doors to Winterfell, with a hoard of the dead rushing in behind.

We get another shot of Jon cutting his way through to make it to the Weirwood. An undead giant throws several soldiers aside as we see Tormund leap into the giant’s chest and gouge his eye to take him down, getting crushed in the process. (Giving Tormund Lyana Mormont’s death, it’s more appropriate with his personal history to be saved and ended by a giant, character development, and finality as a warrior). Jon, visually taken back and beaten down, tries to push down the pain and continues towards Bran when he hears a cry for help.

• “Jon!” cries Sam, being surrounded by wights trying to fend them off.

• Jon steps toward Sam but looks back towards the direction of the Weirwood. He realizes he doesn’t have time, and the Night King could be with Bran any moment now. He has to choose between love and duty once more. He turns back to Sam with tears in his eyes, and meets Sam’s gaze. Sam, now getting overwhelmed looks back at Jon confused. Jon’s lips tremble and he forces himself to break his gaze and turn away into the night. Sam tries to fight off what he can but is no watch and is overwhelmed by the dead.

We cut back to Dany soaring around the sides of Winterfell, laying waste to the army with Drogon, as Rhaegal is keeping Visceryon occupied above. The sheets of flame are sending any remaining wights into the grounds of Winterfell, as it is now encircled in fire.

Meanwhile, we see Tyrion, Sansa, and the others racing through the crypts. As they are, little pockets of dirt and gravel pop out of the walls to reveal hands of the dead. The tombs they pass are slowly opening, and pretty soon the women and children are running from the dead. We see several disappear in the back of the escaping party, pulled back into darkness, and slowly more and more. (remember, this party isn’t completely full of soldiers that can defend themselves). Tyrion and Sansa realize that they will soon be overrun. Mellisandre stops retreating and stands still. Akin to leaf’s sacrifice for Bran in season 6, Melisandre lifts up her arms, begins chanting and erupts into fire, blocking off the rushing army and allowing the others to escape.

• I felt mellisandre deserved a more appropriate end for her character, and I loved the idea of the last two zealots of the Lord of Light dying by fire sacrifice to help end the Long Night.

Back to the grounds, we see Brienne and Jorah getting the remaining soldiers through the tunnels when the army of the dead has now completely overtaken the grounds. Brienne, Jorah, and the remaining soldiers lock eyes across the keep and shut the entrances behind them, standing guard in front.

We finally get back to Theon and the Greyjoy men fending off wights from Bran. Bran returns to warging, in which we cut to Visceryon and Rhaegal in a viscous aerial battle. Visceryon gets the upper hand and is about to come down on Rhaegal’s neck when suddenly he freezes in air. His eyes go white, and we cut back to Bran’s same stare. Visceryon is able to break from Bran’s grasp, but just before Rhaegal bites through his neck and breathes a burst of fire into his stomach, sending Visceryon’s body falling into the night.

We cut back to the battle around Bran. Suddenly, the wights stop fighting and standstill. Similar to the episode, the white walkers walk out towards them with the Night King in front.

• We get the same Theon and Bran conversation. Three white walkers step in front of the Night King and march towards Theon. Theon is able to slay one, however, another slices at Theon’s leg and the the final knocks Theon’s sword away.

• The closest whitewalker raises his sword to bring down upon Theon, but stops when the other cries out with a blade emerging from his chest and crushes into ice on the ground, revealing a wight holding the blade. The remaining whitewalker is stunned and slow to defend as the wight rolls to the ground and slashes at his belly, sending his icy remains crumbling. Theon looks on at the weight, face of mixed shock and relief as the wight pulls away his face to reveal Arya standing clutching the knife.

The Night King progresses towards Bran, Arya, and Theon. We intercut back and forth the walk with Jon rushing through the grounds towards them. Theon stumbles to stand up next to Arya, both with their weapons drawn. Together they attack, to which the Night king easily dodges and evades each swing. He catches Theon’s blade mid-swing and pulls Theon close, driving his sword through his chest.

• This gives Theon a similar death, however, it first allows some payoff of Arya’s character, that she was able to trick the army of the dead through her training, and even the Night King himself. But, in the end, that still wasn’t enough to save Theon.

The Night King swings at Arya, and to his surprise she is able to dodge. He attacks again, her evading once more this time returning as herself. Her spear comes into contact with the Night Kings Blade and shatters. Arya whips out her dagger and cries out running toward the Night King.

We cut back to Jon running, breaking free from Winterfell’s walls and cutting through a group of wights. He looks up and sees Drogon swoop over lighting up a safe path to the weirwood for him to follow, then heads back over winterfell, hovering over crowds of weights and laying down fire.

Cut back to The Night King swinging at Arya and her rolling to evade. She escapes another blow and leaps to plunge the knife but the Night King grabs her midair before she can do so. Jon makes it to the scene, sees the Night King holding Arya and begins wildly thrashing through the wights to get close. The Night King pulls back his blade ready to strike. Jon cries out. “NO!”, tears in his eyes, and looks on as the Night King plunges the blade towards Arya.

We cut to her face wince, then she opens her eyes, and to her surprise looks down and sees the blade stopped an inch before her chest. She looks up at the Night King, who’s eyes are no longer blue but rather are now white as snow, and turns her head towards Bran, his eyes just the same.

• We cut to bran’s greensight: Bran is standing, tied to a tree. He looks up and sees the red leaves of Great Weirwood, and in front of him come the children of the forest, one wielding a dragon glass dagger. He sees again the children of the forest taking a man and pinning him to the tree, gagged and flailing. Bran struggles with the ropes, screaming out, “You have to let me go! I have to stop him!” The child of the forest raises her dagger, and in the reflection bran sees eyes staring back at him not of his own. He is in the body of the man who would become the Night King.

• Back in the present, the Night King unfreezes and his eyes turn blue. He throws Arya to the side and turns toward Bran, still in his warged state. Jon is held back thrashing at the dead and makes his way through just in time for The Night King to plunge the blade through Bran.

  • At the same moment, the dragon glass dagger in the past is thrust through Bran by the children of the forest. We cut back and forth between Bran’s face now and Bran’s face at the ceremony, as well as the Night King’s face. This gets faster and faster until we end on Bran’s face at the ceremony, where we see his eyes turn blue. His head drops, he raises it as the Night King in present-day, and Bran’s body falls limp from the chair into the snow.

  • Explanation: It’s a never-ending loop, beginning and ending on top of itself. Bran was always going to be the Night King because he had always been the Night King. The children created a power to erase mankind from history. They unknowingly created a being that would do so by ending the ability of man to remember, to erase all traces of man from the world. The being, the Night King, is a loop created by himself to end himself, thus keeping humanity from being able to progress forward and stuck left to die. We realize that is why he has been patient, why he has waited ages to make his move. Not only for his army to grow, but for himself to one day be born (as Bran). He needed bran to become the three-eyed raven, to be here at this moment, and to push Bran to the edge to warg into what is essentially himself, causing a contradiction akin to Hodor’s creation that would allow the Night King in the warged state to have Bran’s present consciousness melded with his own, allowing present Bran to become the Night King. Which will one day, 1000s of years later, will lead to the same moment. This also explains The Night King’s warging abilities/greensight, plus his memories of Bran to know what will happen, as it has already happened personally for him.

Jon stands back, staring at Bran’s lifeless body

• Jon is unknowing of what had just occurred, as no one will. That’s part of Bran’s Tragedy and the endless loop, the only one who ever knows what the Night King wants is Bran, just before he’s killed to become him.

He turns towards the Night King and they begin to fight. Arya shakes herself off and joins the fight. The Night King (who we now know is a far older corrupted Bran) dances and slashes between the two of them, and the Battle of the Starks begins.

We cut to Dany who has now driven all of the dead into the walls of Winterfell. We see Brienne, Jorah, and the other soldiers losing ground against the dead but keeping the doors closed. They look up to see Dany hovering high over the grounds. Brienne and Jorah try to pry open the doors but they can’t do so without allowing the dead to follow behind them. Together the Knights look around at each other, and bend to their knee with heads bent down, accepting what is to come.

• With the army entirely contained within the walls of Winterfell, Dany mutters a pained “Dracarys” with tears in her eyes. Drogon sends a host of flames throughout the grounds, licking around the dead and consuming everything in fire. The fire spreads around Winterfell, consuming everything in its path, laying waste to the army of the dead.

We cut back to the fight between the Night King, Arya, and Jon, where the Night King has beaten them back to a standstill but the fighting stops as they look back at Winterfell, consumed by fire. The Night King tries to raise the dead but nothing happens. He turns towards Jon and Arya but Drogon flies by, burning hosts of the dead around the battlements. Some of the flame hits the top of the weirwood and lights up the tree. The Night King suddenly falls to his knees and lets out a scream of agony, writhing in pain. The remaining whitewalkers rush to surround the Night King standing between he and Jon and Arya. Together the last few of the army of the dead walks off toward the direction of the wall, rather than heading south (which Jon makes note of).

Episode ends with gloomy sunrise over the walls of what is left of Winterfell, covered in fire and blood.

What the changes do to the episode:

• The war had stakes, it has successes, and more importantly it held consequences for the characters. This was always built as the war for life itself, a war they were not supposed to win but die doing everything they could to. We lose characters due to sacrifices, tough personal decisions for the greater good, in the midst of chaos, and finally due to not understanding the gravity of what they were facing. And while the army is defeated, and the threat is all but gone, the Night King himself got what he wanted, leaving a true bitter-sweet taste to the end, and a sense of dread for what comes next.

Renamed from “The Last of the Starks”

Episode 4:

We start by seeing the remains of the northern army and Dany’s forces at the edge of the tomb’s opening, from various different exits, in complete silence. We pan across to Sansa and Tyrion walking out, then pan across to another exit to see Jaime stepping out with a soldier leaning on him. They all stare at the smoke rising from the remains of Winterfell.

Eventually, what’s left of everyone makes it back to the Winterfell grounds, scanning the wreckage. Here we have our reunions.

• Dany enters looking for Jon, who enters distraught after losing Bran

• Sansa scans the wreckage of her home, and looks to see Jon and Dany embraced. Sansa has a hint of scorn in her expression but quickly subsides.

  • This sets forth an interesting dynamic with Sansa and Dany after, that Sansa was willing to sacrifice her seat of power for her people, but will Dany do the same?

• Arya finds the Hound, who tries to suppress his joy but Arya goes in for a tender hug and releases quickly

• Jon even sees Gilly, holding child, looking for Sam, and we see without audio Jon giving her the news

• Jaime has a heartfelt reunion with Tyrion

Slowly, we hear a cry of celebration from a soldier here and unsullied there until an eruption of cheers, during which Jaime smiling scans the crowd for Brienne.

We cut to an almost identical celebration scene. The same beats play out: we have Dany speaking of great pride and having the soldiers and women not respond passionately, yet surround Jon. Tyrion sees not only Jon’s support, but Dany’s response to her lack of. We see Jaime unable to enjoy himself at the celebration. He leaves, which Tyrion notices and follows.

• Tyrion asks where Jaime is going. Jaime says he has lived a life without honor, while those around him have died with it. He says it’s time he does something no one with honor can do.

  • Tyrion and Jaime get interrupted by Bronn with a crossbow. It’s the scene as before, only Tyrion agrees to give Bronn Castle Rock (not Highgarden). Serves to ironically demonstrate how Tywin’s philosophies led to his own family’s downfall, gives Jaime a clear yet difficult choice to distance himself from the past and his family, and provides a bonding moment for Tyrion and Jaime to let go and forge on together as brothers.

• Afterward Jaime saddles up. Tyrion, understanding what is to come, says it isn’t worth it. To which Jaime replies, it will be. Jaime rides off.

  • This is where we have Tyrion and Jaime’s goodbye conversation from episode 5, just without Jaime as a prisoner. That was an unnecessary plot point to wring out consequence-free tension.

  • Jaime rides off to King’s Landing, Tyrion’s eyes full of tears.

We transition to the next day where the remaining leaders plan what’s to come:

• Dany leads the conversation, saying it’s time to take King’s Landing and end Cersei

• Sansa interjects harshly, saying the men are tired, need rest, families need to mourn (She has lost almost everything and now Winterfell is ash).

• Dany says there will be time to rest when this is all over.

• Jon talks about the casualties, how they have but a mere fraction of their men left, and it might not be enough to fight Cersei rested or not. But what they can do is go after the Night King while he’s vulnerable. It’s just him and a few white walkers left. They could end him now and prevent this from ever happening again for Westeros.

• Dany, now infuriated, “I lost Visceryon to prove the threat was real, lost territory and advantage to prepare for the threat, and lost most of her soldiers and my dothraki fighting as well. They’ve all lost, they’re all tired, but I stopped my war for yours. Now it’s time to return the favor. It took ages for the Night King to build his army. Once we take the throne we can finish him off.”

• Jon insists by then who knows where he will be or what forces he will have. The time to end him is now. Dany, rightfully so, combats by asking do we know if we can even end him? Maybe it will always be the duty of man to fight him back as his duty is to end humanity. She insists once she is Queen she will begin projects to rebuild the wall and search for the Night King. But first, they must defeat Cersei.

  • Sansa steps in. “I am not about to send my men to their deaths after everything they’ve sacrificed”

  • Dany: “They’re not your men. They’re mine. I am queen of the Seven Kingdoms, and all who live amongst them. They will do as they are commanded.”

  • Sansa enraged, “I gave up Winterfell for you. I let you burn it to the ground in order to save these people. These people have lost their home and many a friend and loved one, I will not let those left lose their lives by you forcing them south before they’re ready. When is it time the queen-”

  • Dany, “I am your queen, and I gave up my child to save your brother, to prove to westeros this threat was real. I rode north and gave up my highground to take back the seven kingdoms while Cersei strengthens her defense. You would have joined the dead if it were not for my grace. Don’t councel me on loss, Lady Stark. You know not what I’ve had taken from me.”

  • Sansa, looks to Jon. “If we leave now, we’ll die. The men need rest.”

  • Jon, torn between his sister and Dany, “It’s a long road to King’s Landing. They’ll have plenty of time to rest. The queen upheld her promise and protected the realm, now it’s time the North follows.

• Sansa and Arya share a look, but agree along with the rest of the commanders.

Now they plan the next moves:

• Jon will lead the ground forces along the Kingsroad and Dany will lead the navy from Dragonstone

  • We will not have the surprise attack from Euron. Instead, we will have extended conversations of Tyrion, Dany, and Varys together as well as Jon, Davos, and Greyworm. We need a denouement after the events of the last episode, plus this will give us a chance to find closure in the character’s losses as well as set up final character motivations before the battle.

• On the Kingsroad:

  • Jon and Davos discuss the tragedy of the battle. They lament the loss of their friends, interjected by greyworm saying they died serving their queen.

  • Davos: “I suppose it wasn’t all for nothing. He’s alone now, only with his old white followers to keep him company.”

  • Jon: “But he got what he wanted. And he got away. He took bran from us, and now we have no way of knowing what he wanted or how…” Jon stops himself and remembers what happened the weirwood burned.

• He describes to Davos about what happened, how the tree burning seemed to affect the Night King. Davos brings up what Sam had said earlier, about how the children had made the Night King using the Great Weirwood.

  • Jon: “My fath…Lord Stark used to bring me to that tree. He would talk about the old Gods there, Lady Catelyn was never too keen of that talk within the walls.” Jon half-smiles. “But he would tell us how he would come there to be with the Old Gods, speak with them, and pray for our futures. He sat and spoke with that damned tree for years, always about family.” Jon turns toward Davos. “He was a lot of things, but a fool was not one of them. He was the most honorable man I have ever known. If he believed in the weirwood, he must have had good reason to.“

  • Davos: “Ya know I never used to believe in this sort of stuff. Gods, magic, it all seemed to be shit lies that people told to each other to win an argument. Then I met Stannis, and his red priestess, who did unspeakable things in the name of their God. Horrible, no good acts that I can’t explain to this day, and in my heart I knew none of this was real. Then I met you. I’ve looked over your corpse and am somehow telling you about it here and now, and it’s all thanks to the red woman herself. She said you were needed to serve a purpose. I don’t know if that’s true, and I don’t know what I believe, but she did something I cannot explain. You’ve done things I can’t explain. And what we just went through, I… (pauses) if Sam, yer brother, yer father. Aye yer father (As Jon makes at attempt to correct) I don’t give a shit about any of that, that man raised you and made the man before me today. If all of them say a tree may be the answer then gods be damned a f*$!ing tree may be the answer. Wilder things have been true.”

  • Jon: “Aye, that they have. Bran told me of the night he became the three-eyed raven, he said that the Night King killed the raven before him, who had been kept under the roots of a great Weirwood.” Jon stops to think. “The Night King and his walkers could have head further south, where the rest of Westeros lies, yet they headed off back towards from where they came. After everything why go back?

  • Davos: “To rebuild? Gain numbers and try again?”

  • Jon: shakes his head “No, any men they could take are south. Nothing is north. Besides that weirwood.”

  • Davos: thinks to himself. “Yer man Sam said the children protected the tree, drew from it. Hell, sounds like not just them do. If it’s really a source, the children, Valyria, the damned Red Woman…” he stopped and looks at Jon’s torso. Jon instinctively guarded his chest from Davos’s gaze and turned forward.

At Dragonstone:

• We get the same conversation between Varys and Tyrion, only it’s flipped. Tyrion makes a comment about how she dealt with the Tarly’s and how she responded to the battle at Winterfell. With remorse, he brings up how people flock to Jon. Varys stops him and says not the same way people flocked to Dany in Essos, give her time and allow them to see her. Tyrion says they have seen her, and they’re afraid of her. Partially because they don’t understand her and what she brings, she’s a foreigner, but Jon is familiar. Varys says Jon Snow doesn’t want the crown, whereas Dany will risk everything for it. Tyrion agrees, but asks what’s more important, a King who doesn’t want the crown or a people who don’t want a King?

• Tyrion then goes to Dany, and talks strategy

  • With their limited manpower, an all-out siege is off the table. However, with two dragons we can take out their armada, and allow our ships to attack from the ashes, forcing Cersei to defend on two fronts.

  • Dany disagrees, she says with two dragons there is no need for any of this. She will take them above burn down the Red keep, with Cersei and her advisors in it, and the city will surrender. Tyrion reminds her there are women and children in the keep, to which she replies “There are women and children in the keep, and in the foregrounds, and at the ports, and behind the gate. Cersei will make sure of this, she’s using them as a shield to make me look the tyrant and invader she paints me to be. I am trying to free the people of Westeros and she is having them believe I am a fearful invader to take away all they hold dear. Any move we make is going to hurt the innocent, Cersei will make sure to see to that! So what have you say we do??”

  • Tyrion: “My Queen, my sister has done terrible damage to your name I do not deny that. But if you use your dragons on the very symbol of their sanctuary you will never be anything other than what Cersei has made you out to be in their eyes. We must act carefully, and cautiously now more than ever. We take the armada, we surround the port side of the city. Jon and the ground forces surrounded the Kingsroad exit.”

  • Dany: “And without numbers for a siege, and with you forbidding the use of my dragons, how say you we take the city then?”

  • Tyrion: “We don’t. Their people are hungry. Their soldiers are mostly mercenaries at this point, and those that aren’t want to feed their hungry families. No one wants this war, no want wants to fight. We starve them out, establish that no resources will be able to get into our out of the city. Tell them of how Cersei refused to protect her people against the dead, and how when you could have easily taken the city risked your men and your own life to protect them. It will be Cersei’s words against yours, all they’ve ever heard are Cersei’s lies. They don’t love her or worship her, they know nothing else. We show them something better, we show them an army standing in devotion to a savior, who’s willing to bring salvation to them as well.”

  • Dany: “You’re asking me to trust people who have been taught to view me as a monster to suddenly trust my words? Did the army of the dead scare the senses from you?”

  • Tyrion: “I’m only asking you to be patient…”

  • Dany: “I’VE BEEN PATIENT! NOTHING BUT! I have risked everything to get here and then everything over for these people once I’ve gotten here! The time has come for them to decide where there allegiance is.”

  • Tyrion: “So give them the chance to choose! They’ll never open the doors to fight you. Those walls are the only thing protecting them from whatever you bring. Give them the chance, let them hear your words, and then ask for Cersei to surrender.”

  • Dany: “Cersei would sooner let her people starve then give up the throne.”

  • Tyrion: “And the people will see that. They’ll see everything that she is. And that’ll be enough. No one needs to die.”

  • Dany: “No one but Cersei.”

Meanwhile, in King’s Landing:

• We see Cersei planning the defense of the city with Qyburn. They discuss fortifications of the walls, placing ballistae along the walls, and atop the ships of the armada. They talk about how they need to let the people know the tyrant invader is coming (stir up fear amongst the people while simultaneously having the people look for safety in the queen’s graces). They discuss their numbers, and we as an audience realize they have approximately double that of Dany and Jon.

  • Qyburn: “My queen, are walls are strong, soldiers well-paid, and people look to you for sanctuary. Our only real threat are the her dragons which should not pose a problem with our forces manning the ballistae. The usurper is fighting with a stripped exhausted army. You have done remarkedly well in this war, and I believe it is all but over.”

  • Cersei: smiles “Once the queen usurper’s forces have been defeated, be sure to pay the golden company double. And send word to Highgarden to have them send half of their grain supply here. We will give it out to the people after as thanks for their steadfast support.”

  • Qyburn: “And what of the queen usurper herself?”

  • Cersei: “I have plans to deal with her. Remind our forces to take her alive if at all possible. If not so be it, but I will give Highgarden to any man who brings her to me alive.”

  • Qyburn: “Very well my queen. If I may, just one more matter, the task you’ve had me pursue…”

  • Cersei: “What of it?”

  • Qyburn: “I only ask, does my Queen believe it necessary? As I’ve said our walls are impenetrable and their forces…”

  • Cersei: “We will let the usurper decide if it is necessary,” Cersei interrupts. “See to it that she has the option.” Qyburn bows and heads out, a sick smile spread across his face.

Episode ends with montage of Jon’s forces arriving at King’s Landing, Dany’s ships arriving close to the ports, and Drogon and Rhaegal soaring through the clouds, with King’s Landing suddenly piercing through Dany’s eyeline, with an expression of pure excitement and joy on her face. Finally, her time has come.

End of Episode

Renamed from “The Bells”

Where it went wrong: Dany’s turn without inciting incident, Jamie’s character arc, lack of Cercei’s strategy, lack of grey area for Jon to fall on moving forward

The episode begins in silence, panning over the soldiers rushing to their posts, shipmen readying the ballistae, and Jon’s ground forces taking shape. Arya and the Hound try sneaking through the gates, and conversely, Jaime is welcomed in and ushered to the Red Keep. We hear random conversations speaking of “the monstrous usurper” and “our queen will protect us as she always has.” People will be praying for Cersei’s strength, showing the audience just how far Cersei’s propaganda against Dany has gone. They truly view her as we did Aerys.

We cut back to the still forces. Then, similarly to the episode, we have a moment of silence before anyone knows who is to act first. Dany breaks through the sky and comes spiraling down to rip open the gates of King’s Landing with Drogon and Rhaegal, allowing a passageway for the ground forces. Jon with the North and the few remaining Dothraki push forward, as their fleet from the coast led by Greyworm emerges upon the horizon, heading straight for Cersei’s Armada led by Euron. King’s Landing is now pinned by land, sea, and sky.

We cut between the three forces, Jon ripping through the streets of King’s Landing, and the unsullied taking on Euron on water. Jon’s forces barrel through the streets, not losing an inch. Greyworm’s ship crashes into Euron’s, and he along with several unsullied jump over to fight. Euron gets a good hit in at greyworm’s side, leaving him mortally wounded, but not before Greyworm spins and slices Euron’s throat. Euron falls to his knees, Greyworm pulls up his head by his hair and cuts out Euron’s tongue. After, he kicks him overboard.

• This change allows us to get the last bit of naval combat from the show, and a more appropriate end for Euron.

Jamie enters the Red Keep to find Qyburn, the Mountain and Queensguard, and Cersei watching over the ongoing fight.

• Cersei: “Jaime,” she runs toward him for an embrace, and Jamie half-heartedly hugs her back. “I thought I lose you.”

• Jamie: “I thought you wanted that.”

• Cersei, taken back: “I never wanted you to leave, I only wanted my brother. Thank the gods you finally got some sense in you.”

• Jamie: “Cersei you’ve lost. You must know that. It’s only a matter of time before the Dragon Queen’s forces push through King’s Landing. Please, let me get you to safety. You can run to Casterly Rock for now and I’ll make plans to get you to Essos from there.”

• Cersei laughs. “I have no intention of going anywhere.” She looks at Qyburn. “The Usurper Queen will not be taking the city today.”

• Jamie, losing his temper. “You can’t be serious?! This is over Cersei! Ring the bells and be done with it! You’ve lost. You don’t have to die too.”

• Cersei pauses and walks to pour a glass of wine. “I have faith in our armies, have you not? We have ballistae lining the walls, needing only one strike to take down her beasts. We have the golden company, and a fleet of greyjoy ships.” She takes a sip. “There is power in this city. And we will show her every inch of it.”

• Jamie. “Open your eyes Cersei! Your fleet is burning, golden company falling. And there are still two dragons hovering over their armies like a shield. The people of King’s Landing are depending on you. Your city will fall. Promise me, promise me you’ll ring the bells when it does.”

• Cersei stops drinking and walks towards Jamie, playing a hand on his face and smiles. “Sweet brother, I promise.”

The fighting continues. Jon pushed on further, eventually running into Harry Strickland, whom he defeats easily. Soon the last of the defending forces are crowded together surrounded by the North. Dany lands with Drogon and Rhaegal beside the encircled army and they let out a loud roar of victory. Jon and Davos share a look, even seem a bit surprised by the ease of which the battle occurred, until the Lannister men start talking. “Please, please,” and toss down their swords. “The Dragon queen is our queen, please we had to-” they look towards Dany. “Save us! Save us!” Jon is utterly shocked.

• he is so used to fighting along men who love him and would gladly die for him. These men are fighting out of fear, not love.

They start shouting, “Ring the bells, ring the bells!” which carries across King’s Landing, citizens joining in.

Jamie and Cersei can hear the chanting from the streets. Cersei, unmoving, says “Clegane, take the queensguard to the Usurper. Reming them who the real queen is.” The mountain takes the guard and leaves Jamie Cersei and Qyburn. Jamie looks at Cersei, confused. Cersei looks to Qyburn, standing by the signaling bell.

• Cersei: “Are we ready?”

• Qyburn: “Yes my, Queen.”

• Jamie: “Cersei, what…”

Back on the ground, Dany, Jon, and their forces await for the sound of defeat. A bell rings in the distance, and cheers erupt from soldiers. Holding each other and letting out sighs of relief. At that moment, Rhaegal lets out a deafening cry as he’s hit by two ballistae, piercing his neck from either side. Small bursts of fire erupt from the holes, and Rhaegal falls over defeated.

Dany is frozen in shock. The battle was one, the enemy had surrendered. And with her guard down, they murdered her child. Jon looks at Dany, horrified as her face turns to pure blistering anger. Her eyes are set on the Red Keep. Jon, realizing what’s about to happen, yells out “DANY NO!” But she is already in the air racing toward the Keep.

The ground unsullied and remaining Dothraki, following their Queen, break formation and begin slaughtering the defenseless Lannisters, screaming “For Rhaegal!” Jon shouts “Stop! Lay down!” But no one will listen. Some soldiers are slaughtering citizens, grabbing women, looting homes. Jon is horrified, and lunges forward and blocks a Dothraki strike about to take down a Lannister soldier. The Northmen join in following Jon’s actions. It’s now a battle between the North defending citizens from the out of control Unsullied and Dothraki.

Jamie has seen this all from the Keep and is speechless.

• Jamie. “But you rang the bell, why…”

• Cersei. “This is our city. I’ll sooner walk my atonement once more than let her have it.”

They both watch as Dany makes her way in the air towards them. Drogon’s mouth opens, preparing to unleash a hellstorm, when a burst of green fire erupts from underneath Dany forcing her to draw back away from the Keep. Dany looks down perplexed at the green explosion. Suddenly a few buildings away, another burst of green fire engulfs a building, sending it collapsing down. Pretty soon, hundreds of wildfire caches are destroying the streets of King’s Landing.

Jamie, can’t look away. He saved the city from the Mad King once. He failed to do it again.

• Jamie: “Thousands, thousands of innocents, burning,”

• Cercei: “More, and they’ll think it’s the dragon queen’s doing.”

• Jamie can’t believe what he’s hearing. “You destroyed a city…”

• Cercei: “No, I destroyed my city.”

• Jamie, the fires alight in his eyes, the screams of so many burning plaguing his ears, turns to face Cersei.

• Jaime: “Why did I have to love a hateful woman?” He plunges a knife into her heart, taking the life away from the woman who ruined his.

Dany, beyond the point of no return, heads straight towards the Red Keep and sets it ablaze, unknowingly burning Jaime holding his sister in his arms.

Meanwhile, Arya and the Hound, making their way to the Keep, dodging debris and fires, come across the Mountain and the Queensguard. In an epic fight, Arya takes on the Guard by herself while the Hound and the Mountain face off. Killing every last one, Arya turns to the Mountain but the Hound says “Leave him! Go get your queen. This one’s mine.” Arya hesitates, but goes off.

The Clegane bowl ensues almost identical to the actual episode. Until near the end, the Mountain gets the upper hand, and prepares to crush the Hound’s skull. This is when the Mountain lets out a roar and turns to see Arya who just sliced and his calves.

• In a similar manner to the episode, Arya realized she didn’t want revenge to consume her life like it had the Hound, but she could at least make sure he finished what he started.

The moment hesitation is all the Hound needs to grab the Mountain off guard and shove him into the nearby burning pile of rubble. The two of them are consumed in fire, and the Hound in a final act drives his flaming sword through the Mountain’s throat.

This image both serves to demonstrate the Hound’s conquer of fear over fire as well as evoke his faith gained from serving with the brotherhood.

Arya comes to the Hound’s side, still alive but burning, and the Hound says “P-Please.” Arya grants him the mercy of a quick death.

Dany has lost control, and flies over the streets of King’s Landing laying waste to any soldiers she can find. She doesn’t mean to kill civilians, but unintentionally does so in the process.

Jon is lost for words. His heart is broken, northmen are attacking unsullied and Dothraki slaying northmen. All the wild, bursts of wildfire and dragon fire rain down from all directions. A little girl screams from a building, collapsing under fire, Jon runs to it but not before Davos beats him to it. Davos grabs the girl along with a wounded Lannister soldier and carries them out to safety. Only to be met with a sheet of dragon fire consuming the three of them.

Jon looks up to see Dany flying by, unknowing of what she has just done. He sheathes his sword, and lays against a wall. The camera slowly closes upon his face and cuts to black.

End of Episode.

Where it went wrong: Jon defending defenseless actions, a lack of reasonable conclusion to the legacy of the throne, a poor end to Jon’s character arc

The start of the episode remains the same with Tyrion and Jon walking around the city upon the wreckage. We here remaining citizens weeping for their lost and saying things like “The Dragon queen is mad, she burned us all.”

• This is Cersei’s last victory. While Dany did burn a portion, she did not nearly do the level of damage the wildfire did. But the people won’t know that. They think it’s all one in the same. Cersei has driven a permanent wedge people Dany and her people.

Jon turns a corner to overhere a few northmen saying Jon should take the throne, he’s got more right to it, and that woman just burned half the city she’s supposed to rule.

From here, the episode will play out the same. Jon and Tyrion’s conversation will be a bit more nuanced now that Jon can use both the killing of Rhaegal and Cercei’s wilfire as a defense for Dany’s actions, that they were fueled in the moment. But ultimately they land on the same points. Jon meets Dany in the throneroom. Only this time a bit of arguing will ensue. Dany will say “They hate me. Cersei made them hate me.” and Jon will say “You did that yourself.” They’ll disagree, but Jon will talk about Davos and all the innocents she killed. Dany, beyond broken from losing Drogo, losing her dragons, her army, and now the love of her people will say “What is done is done. I will pave a new world in these ashes. A world that knows not the pain Westeros has come to be comfortable with. A new world without chaos.”

• This gives a lot more weight to Jon’s decision to murder her. As one can make the argument her actions were justified and/or out of the moment, and arguably she may be what the Kingdom needs. But the people will never love her nor should they, she slaughtered thousands of them out of anger, and someone capable of doing that could do it again. Jon makes the same decision to slay his queen.

• Jon takes Drogon and flies away as he hears men coming to the throneroom.

Everything passes the same up until Tyrion’s conversation with new world rulers. Sansa says the North will remain independent, to which Dorne and the Iron Islands demand the same. Tyrion, noticing the shift, says

• “We were always too big to rule, too many ideologies conflicting with one another likes waves in a storm. We almost lost everything because we were too focused on ourselves to see the real threat to us all, and it was in that selfishness the dead thrived. There is no hope for us if we cannot come together when necessary, but that doesn’t mean we have to always live together. Maybe Aegon made a mistake. Go. Go be with your people. Live your lives, thrive, and let us meet at this spot, at the start of every summer and winter to discuss together what’s best for the realm. Be gone with the kingship of the past, and let us strive forth and rule this land together.”

We cut to Beyond the Wall, where the Great Weirwood stands strong. At the base are the remaining white walkers, surrounding The Night King hand over a dead body bringing it’s eyes to blue. Out of the sky, a crash of fire rains down destroying half the walkers and the newly created wights. Jon leaps from Drogon’s back and begins fighting the white walkers, Drogon taking them from behind. Soon, it’s just Drogon, Jon, and the Night King. Jon points longclaw towards him and says “Dracarys.” The Night King smiles, but Drogon does not set him ablaze, rather the Weirwood behind him that Jon is really pointing to. The Night King cries out in agony, falling to his knees. Flakes of ice break off from his face and body, like plates of armor peeling off. A massive slab of ice over his chest breaks off, and Jon takes the opportunity to drive Longclaw straight through his heart pinning him to the burning Weirwood. The Weirwood, fully ablaze, surrounds the Night King with fire.

Jon looks upon his work, knowing the dead will never walk again. He winces and places a hand on his chest. Jon falls to his knees, finding it hard to breathe. He begins hastily removing his cloak and garb to reveal his once healed scars, now newly torn and seeping blood. A loud shriek sounds as Drogon screams a breath of fire. Fire begins erupting from holes all over his body, until soon encased in fire, Drogon falls over dead. A look of realization falls upon Jon knowing was it about to come, and he struggles to a stand. Behind the tree is an edge overlooking a beautiful, pristine, endless North. Jon stumbles his way towards the edge.

• The Weirwood holds the source of the world’s true magic. It’s what gave the children their power, what created the Night King, what spawned the Religion of the Old Gods. Dragons only exist because of the magic it provides, as does the power of the Lord of Light’s followers. By destroying the source, Jon has ended the Night King, but in doing so he has ended magic everywhere. Not only including Drogon, but including those brought back by the Lord of Light, himself.

The final shot of the show will be the same Starks montage we had, cutting between Sansa becoming the Queen of the North, Arya getting ready to set Sail, and Jon dying struggling to get to the edge of the cliff and look over the vast boundaries of the North. The last shot will be him sitting at the edge, closing his eyes taking in the North, and finally finding peace.

End of Series.