A Dream Of Spring

Published April 30, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Shat friends,

I appreciate the shout out on the deep dive. I feel passionately that the resolution to the Battle of Winterfell was subpar to say the least, but I think we’re just going to have to agree to disagree. So rather than rehash, let’s look forward. One major issue that you didn’t cover on the Deep Dive – but that you did allude to – is where we go from here.

To start, let’s take a look at where we are now. Even if you absolutely loved the resolution to the Night King’s plotline and the end of the Long Night, you have to admit that Game of Thrones has its work cut out for it. Since Season 1 Episode 1 the White Walkers have been set up as the “real” danger, while all of the political machinations of the realms of men were, essentially, bitches squabbling over a gaudy metal chair. We’ve been told time and time again – in particular over the last two seasons – that Cersei is not the real threat, that it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits the Iron Throne, and the only war that matters is the Great War. Well, now the Great War is over and we’ve got three episodes left. In terms of keeping the audience invested and keeping the stakes high for an ending worthy of such an epic show, this is a problem. Three episodes is not a lot of runway and, in just over three hours, the show seemingly has to (1) establish Cersei “not the real threat” Lannister as the final boss, (2) make Cersei’s mercenaries and pirates seem like a match against the Northern Army with two Dragons; and (3) convince us that who sits the Iron Throne is, indeed, a result we should care about after having just watching mankind’s demise stopped dead in its tracks. As I said, this is a problem. But I’m not here just to bitch and moan – this is about moving forward. I see, essentially, one path forward where Game of Thrones can have all its detractors eating humble pie by flipping the script and giving us a final battle and a bittersweet ending worthy of HBO’s juggernaut series. Please feel free to summarize as is necessary: Episode 4 – The Battle of King’s Landing. We jump right into the Northern Army regrouping and marching south under Dany as Queen – remember, her ground forces are now totally gone after Winterfell. Time passes (no jetpacks!) and as Winter sets in, we see people starving. The march becomes a slog. Meanwhile Cersei and Euron are smug as ever. Dany and Jon’s troops make it to King’s Landing and battle ensues. The Dragons do some major damage and the battle seems like it will be won easily. Euron dies and no one gives a shit. Tyrion and Jaime then realize that Cersei will use the Wildfire under the city to destroy it if she begins to think she will lose for certain. Thus, Jaime and Tyrion lead a group of soldiers, including Brienne and the Hound, into the capital. Tyrion isn’t just there for kicks – he’s needed because he has intimate knowledge of the tunnel under the Mud Gate (remember – he mentions this and the Battle of the Blackwater last episode) and the tunnels under the Red Keep that he used to sneak out of the castle after killing Tywin. As a distraction, Jon and Dany bring the Dragons in real close. Rhaegal gets hit with a ballista bolt and Jon almost falls, but they keep on flying. Tyrion’s secret force gets in – and starts trying to take down the ballistae, which are firing at Jon and Dany. They nearly succeed, but Qyburn is just about to fire a bolt right at Dany or Jon. And then, in the only ex machina in the whole episode, a bolt comes flying through Qyburn’s head and he drops dead. There stands Bronn, making some joke about a castle or something. With the ballistae down, the Dragons can land. All the while, we’ve been cutting back and forth between this and Cleganebowl, which ultimately the Hound win. The Mountain falls and the team captures Cersei. The Dragons land on the balcony of the Red Keep. Commander Harry Strickland of the Golden Company – who is already shitting himself because of the Dragons – only now learns about Cersei’s Wildfire plan. For the first time in history, the Golden Company breaks a contract and pledges itself to Dany. Dany holds the city and Sansa, Arya, and a contingent of Northmen join Jon and company as Cersei is brought into the Throne Room to answer for her crimes. Dany sits the Iron Throne triumphantly.

Episode 5 – the Dance of the Dragons. We pick up right where we left off. After all these years, Cersei is made to answer for her crimes. Naturally, Dany wants to execute her. Tyrion and Jaime then step in and explain that she is pregnant (or she is obviously pregnant and they’ll bother step up to defend the child). Dany retorts that the child is a child of incest and, besides, she’s not going to make the mistake of underestimating the child of a fallen dynasty like Robert Baratheon did with her. Tyrion continues to protest, explaining that he promised Cersei that he would ensure the child’s safety no matter what, in exchange for her help in the North. Tyrion insists on keeping his word, even if Cersei broke hers. Jon steps in – as a child who was protected by his uncle’s promise to save him from a conquering monarch, this issue is a little sensitive to him. Besides, a queen who would kill a child is not one he’d follow. Others might chime in either way. Dany is all out of patience and commands the Golden Company to bring Cersei out to her Dragons “in the name of the Queen” or some such nonsense. At this point, Jon reveals his parentage and makes claim to the Iron Throne. Shit gets messy. Jon manages to get out, as does Jaimie escorting Cersei. Brienne dies protecting Jaimie’s retreat. Sansa is left behind. Jon summons Rhaegal and he listens.

Now we have an army and a dragon versus an army and a dragon. We have a hero, but we also have a “villain” who is totally understandable. Cersei is spewing venom this entire time and it’s not hard to see why Dany would want to make her answer for her crimes. We have high stakes again – a real fight where main characters can die. We have people desperately wanting Jon and Dany to make peace. We have tension. We care about the Iron Throne all over again.

The Northern Army under Jon is in the field and the scramble to get in position. Epic Dragon Battle ensues. Jon is handicapped by his unwillingness to breathe fire close to Kings Landing because it could set off the Wildfire, killing millions plus Sansa. Ultimately, Drogon and Dany kill Rhaegal and Jon is knocked down. Final moments are directly from Jon’s point of view as he is dragged away by someone.

Episode 6, Series Finale – A Dream of Spring. The battle is clearly moving in favor of Dany, who by the way, is a remorseful victor at this point. She didn’t just turn into a cackling supervillain, but this is her Throne and Jon’s desire to spare someone like Cersei shows he’s not fit to rule, right? No one knows where Jon is but he is presumed dead. The fighting is winding down with one Dragon against none.

We cut to Jon, half unconscious being dragged through the mud. Weird red light filters onto his face…the sun through a Weirwood… then back to the battle and other characters. At some point, Cersei gives birth. She attempts to persuade Jaime to run off with her and the child. He declines. At some point she’ll break free and Jaime will catch her. She’ll threaten the child’s and she says she’ll never let him have her child. Jaime sadly whispers “I know” and manages to kill Cersei, though at the cost of his own life. At some point, the child is handed to Tyrion as Jaime says there’s no one he’d rather have guiding the Lannister’s legacy into the future.

Eventually we cut back to Jon having his armor ripped off as he struggles in vain. Then, just as in the finale of Season 5, we see him get stabbed, but this time in the chest. The camera pans up as he lies there calling back to Season 6 when he was resurrected. Cut back to the battle. Drogon is burning people like mad, Dany makes her way towards the Northern encampment to demand surrender. Jon step onto the battlefield. Dany rides toward him. Undead Rhaegal intercepts her and Drogon as Jon raises his hands the dead reanimate. A closer view shows Jon, newly reborn as a White Walker. Jon makes clear to someone – maybe Sam? – that it’s still him in there. Now, immune to Dragon fire and with a new Army of the Dead and his northerners, Jon’s forces defeat Dany’s. Remember, the people with Dragonglass and Valyrian Steel are all on Jon’s side, making Dany powerless to stop this.

Dany retreats on Dragonback to the Throne Room. Drogon is dying. He crash lands through the top of the Red Keep, knocking roof and parts of the walls off. Jon and Rhaegal fly in, darkening the room as snow falls onto the Iron Throne – just as in Dany’s vision in the House of the Undying. Somberly, Jon explains that Bran showed him what would happen if she won – that she’d be a just Queen, for a time but that her rule would be brutal, and worse, would give rise to generates of tyrants. Bran explained that the only way to stop her was for Jon to take on the mantle of Night King . With his intimate knowledge of the Children and the ritual that created the White Walkers, he offered and Jon agreed – picking duty over life and love for a final time. Dany protests that she is the breaker of chains and so on. Jon explains that even if he believed she could change, her reign would usher in centuries of pain and death for the people of Westeros. Jon asks if she can just walk away – if she can give up her crown to save her people. She admits she cannot or perhaps tries to escape of hurt Jon. Ultimately, Jon kills Dany and uses Rhaegal to shatter the Iron Throne – it was made with Fire, now destroyed with Ice. The battle is over.

The era of the Iron Throne – begun by the Targaryen – is over, with the last dragon (literally and metaphorically) dead. Tyrion and Sansa – Westeros’s new best power couple – are obvious candidates to come up with a new way to govern. Jon warns the living that if another tyrant or madman rises to power again, Winter will come. He releases his grasp on the dead, letting them rest, and flies North taking winter with him and ushering in spring. Baby Lannister was the Prince that was Promised – Tyrion’s promise to protect him/her is what ultimately woke the Dragon (Jon) from Stone (obsidian).

Cheers,

Ken L.

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