The ‘Game Of Thrones’ Finale Was Much Darker Than It Seemed

In the game of thrones, you win or you die … or you just live happily ever after, apparently.

For the final episode of “Game of Thrones,” the show brought several characters’ storylines to an abrupt end: Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) becomes King Bran the Broken, Arya (Maisie Williams) sails away on a ship, Sansa (Sophie Turner) is crowned Queen in the North and Jon Snow (Kit Harington), who’s rejoined the Night’s Watch, goes North with the wildlings. 

It’s an ending that will supposedly somewhat happen in George R.R. Martin’s yet-to-come novels. (Wright confirmed in a recent interview that Martin told the “Game of Thrones” showrunners that Bran would be king). But with an abbreviated series of only six episodes, the final season came off feeling a bit like Martin’s CliffsNotes as the show rushed through big moments and completely omitted other, more interesting, aspects of its saga. 

Are people actually going to be happy with Bran as king? What will Arya find on her adventures? And where did Drogon take Dany (Emilia Clarke)? If the season wasn’t so rushed, maybe we could’ve seen that the overlooked storylines were actually dark and full of terrors.

Though the show is noticeably cagey when it comes to exploring the magical elements in the world of Westeros (or everything that has anything to do with Bran), there are some poignant moments that suggest the Three-Eyed Raven is able to see the future.

In as early as Season 4, Bran sees a vision of what we now know is Drogon flying over King’s Landing in Season 8, ready to “burn them all.”

Then, in the Season 8 finale, Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), who, by the way, was getting strange “knowing” stares from Bran all season, asks him if he would wear the crown. The Three-Eyed Raven replies, “Why do you think I came all this way?”

The math adds up: Bran probably knew he would be king, meaning he also likely knew Daenerys would murder thousands upon thousands of people. Despite that — and this can’t be stressed enough — he did nothing about it.

If that’s the case, Bran has more blood on his hands than anyone, allowing atrocities to happen while he scrolled through #TBT pics in his mind to concoct cool wheelchair plans.

In Season 6, the previous Three-Eyed Raven said he had been waiting in the tree a thousand years for Bran. That means Bran, as the new Three-Eyed Raven, could have just positioned himself to be ruler of Westeros for centuries to come.

In Martin’s books, it’s strongly suggested that the Three-Eyed Raven (called the Three-Eyed Crow in the novels) is Brynden Rivers, aka Lord Bloodraven, who was a Targaryen bastard and spymaster. The show is less clear on whether the former Three-Eyed Raven is Brynden, but it hints that that’s the case in the character’s first appearance in Season 4, where he says a quote from Martin’s books associated with Bloodraven: that he’s been watching Bran with “a thousand eyes and one.”

If the Three-Eyed Raven on the show is the same Brynden Rivers from Martin’s books, when he dies in Season 6, he’d likely be somewhere around 130 years old, meaning he wasn’t being literal when he said “1,000 years.” 

That being said, the Night King killed the former Three-Eyed Raven, not old age, so he very well could have lived past 1,000. Plus, Bran said there had been other Three-Eyed Ravens before.

Even if Bran himself doesn’t live thousands of years, the Three-Eyed Raven can live on through some other body on the throne, possibly indefinitely.

Hot take: It’s not Bran that’s Broken, it’s the kingdom.

Please hold your applause.

The events of the Dragonpit in Season 8 are almost unfathomable: Not only is Bran made king by Tyrion, a prisoner, but Yara (Gemma Whelan), who seemed to have an independent kingdom with Dany, is apparently OK with the Iron Islands being a part of the realm again. And Dorne, a nation that’s historically been resistant to join the kingdom, is now all for King Bran ruling over them?

Plus, all the lords and ladies of Westeros are really going to ignore those letters that Varys (Conleth Hill) supposedly sent saying Jon’s the rightful heir?

The show would apparently like us to believe that the people of Westeros (sans Sansa) totally understand this Three-Eyed Raven stuff and are cool with an all-knowing, all-powerful human Google Search ruling over them as part of the Six Kingdoms.

Counterpoint: What if they don’t and they’re not?

If some rebellious lords have a problem with Big Brother Bran watching them all the time, all signs point to things going to crap faster than Euron’s (Pilou Asbaek) aim with a scorpion between Episodes 4 and 5 of the final season.

The only way shiz isn’t hitting the fan is if Bran is able to thwart rebels before they rebel, which is probably actually doable for someone who can see the future.

People of Westeros, if you want a preview of King Bran, Tom Cruise made a movie about it in 2002:

In the series finale, Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) decides to honor the wish of his lost love Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and sail to the beaches of Naath … and basically signs his death warrant.

Besides beautiful beaches, Naath has something called butterfly fever (in Martin’s books anyway), which HuffPost has brought up a couple times before in our coverage. It’s an illness supposedly spread through butterflies, and it’s deadly to foreigners.

Being that Naath is also called the “Isle of Butterflies,” things aren’t looking good for Grey Worm, his Unsullied and possibly the Dothraki who are apparently over their fear of water and sailing with him.

Arya, do you know why no one knows what’s west of Westeros? Because anyone who goes west dies.

Martin’s books tell of numerous explorers, including Arya’s ancestor Brandon the Shipwright, who had tried to sail the Sunset Sea to discover what’s west of Westeros, and most of them were never heard from again. So when Arya sets sail in the finale, it’s probably the last time anyone in Westeros will see her.

So, if there was ever an Arya spinoff, it’d probably be an extremely limited series.

In the show’s finale, after melting the Iron Throne, Drogon picks up Dany with his claws and flies out of sight … probably looking for the nearest grill.

R.I.P, Daenerys Targaryen, first of her Nom Nom Nom.

Before you write this off, let’s think about what we know about Drogon in Season 8. One, he’s malnourished, and two, dragons eat … well … Khaleesi, you got this one?

Look, if Drogon really had the sociopolitical wherewithal to melt the Iron Throne following Daenerys’ death, then perhaps he also has an intimate knowledge of Westerosi burial customs and will build a funeral pyre ― sending his mom off with a nice cremation that totally won’t involve barbecue sauce.

In the other case, we’ll just leave this article about pets eating their dead owners here:

And that’s how to go from Mother of Dragons to mother of dragon snacks.