(Warning: This post contains spoilers for the series finale of “Game of Thrones” Season 8, titled “The Iron Throne.”)
Welcome back to Westeros and all of its political turmoil and familial problems — for the last time.
HBO treated fans to Seven– sorry, Six Kingdoms’ worth of drama Sunday night with the series finale of “Game of Thrones.” And while Episode 806, titled “The Iron Throne,” revealed a handful of answers, it definitely offered up a few final questions. But you didn’t actually think everything would be fully resolved in the end, did you? No, of course not.
So let’s start with what loose ends were tied up (or at least tightened pretty securely) by the end of the last episode of the show’s eighth and final season.
Here are all the questions we got answers to tonight.
1. Will Tyrion remain Daenerys’ Hand?
This season was a real roller coaster ride for Tyrion when it came to his Tenure as Dany’s hand. He was on thin ice with Dany after Episode 802 revealed to everyone that Cersei had tricked Tyrion into believing she would send the Lannister army north — she completely didn’t. But at least Dany did take steps to ensure that Tyrion survived the battle Winterfell, declaring that if they survive, she’d still need his mind.
Things only got worse once the battle was won, however. Dany pretty much blamed Tyrion for the ills that befell her after Winterfell — especially the death of her best friend Missandei, executed by Cersie. She basically threatened to have Tyrion killed if he failed her again. Then she went and burned down King’s Landing and thousands of its citizens.
That made Tyrion realize that Varys was right about Dany being absolutely the wrong ruler of the seven kingdoms. So he called her out for those war crimes and threw his Hand of the Queen pin on the ground.
2. Is Jon still on Dany’s side after she burned down King’s Landing?
Nope! Watching her burn Kings Landing to the ground did what watching her burn Varys for treason — made him doubt his loyalty. But it was Tyrion who finally convinced him (by reminding him his sisters were probably next on her hit list) that she was not fit to be queen. And so Jon turned on her and killed her.
3. Will Daenerys become pregnant with Jon’s child/is she already?
This was a big fan question that plays into a whole lot of “Game of Thrones” ending theories, but turned out to be false — as far as we know (GRRM might actually finish those books someda-nah we’re just kidding). Jon killed her because she’d become an unhinged war criminal, so it didn’t ultimately matter.
4. If Dany is now truly mad, does Jon or Tyrion or someone else end up killing her?
Yes, Jon does. Knife through the heart. While they were kissing!
5. Where was Arya riding off to on that horse?
We thought back home to Winterfell, but turns out she stayed and was ready to help Jon and everyone else once he killed Dany.
6. How are Sansa, Brienne and Bran doing right now?
We saw none of them last week, but discovered tonight they are all alive and well. Really well in fact. Sansa is the Queen in the newly-independent North, Bran is now Bran the Broken, king of the Six Kingdoms, and Brienne is now commander of the King’s Guard under Bran.
7. Are the White Walkers really and truly gone?
There are a lot of fan theories out there about ways they could have come back before it’s all done, but they didn’t make another appearance so we’re going to assume this is a no. Unless one of the in-development “Game of Thrones” spinoffs delves into what happened after all that stuff in the original series.
8. Will Tyrion ride a dragon?
Viewers have been angling for this particular moment for many seasons, because of the whole “Maybe Tyrion is a Targaryen?” thing. But Tyrion didn’t get a chance to mount Drogon before he flew off with Dany’s dead body.
9. Who will live and who will die?
We knew this one would not have a final answer until the very end and you can find it with our running list here.
10. Who will sit on the Iron Throne?
No one! Drogon melted the Iron Throne down to slag in a fit of rage after Jon killed Dany. Which is fine, because Bran Stark was acclaimed king by a vote of the other noble houses — and he has a pretty nice chair of his own anyway.
And here are the questions we still have after all that.
1. Who is the prince/princess that was promised?
Melisandre’s visions and prophecies didn’t always work out, but she was very confident either Jon or Dany are “The Prince/Princess That Was Promised” — depending on who she is talking to in that particular scene. So who is it, if it’s either of them at this point? Maybe it doesn’t matter, but we didn’t get a real answer to this question.
Though since Arya, an actual princess, ended up killing the Night King, we’ll go with her as the definitive answer. Unless GRRM ever finishes those books and comes up with a different answe- hahah just kidding.
2. Where did Drogon carry Daenerys off to?
We have no idea where the dragon took his queen when Jon stabbed her to death. But Bran hinted he might use his Three Eyed Raven powers to look for him. So even if we never find out, someone in Westeros might?
3. Where was Jon taking the Wildlings?
He and Tormund were leading a group north of The Wall in the closing moments of the finale, but we don’t know where exactly they were going or what they were planning on doing.
4. Will Bran make a good ruler?
It seems he will and that Tyrion has his head on straight as a Hand again — plus Brienne, Samwell and Davos are all on the Small Council. But we don’t know if Westeros will ever truly be war-free.
5. What happens to Hot Pie?
Really, if Hot Pie didn’t live, what has this all even been about? We’re hoping he’s OK!
And here’s what we learned from last week’s penultimate episode, “The Bells.”
1. What happens immediately after Missandei’s death?
With Daenerys, Tyrion, Varys and Grey Worm standing outside King’s Landing, reeling from the execution of Missandei at the very end of last Sunday’s episode, we didn’t know where this one would pick up. Turns out the team went back to Dragonstone to regroup before the giant battle at King’s Landing.
2. Will Daenerys and Jon Snow stay together when she finds out he spilled their secret?
She did beg him not to tell anyone his true identity and swear those who know to permanent secrecy, after all. And then he went and told Arya and Sansa, and Sansa told Tyrion who told Varys. And after she burned Varys, she asked Jon if she was more than his queen and kissed him and, uh, no, seems like just his queen. But post-the Last War at King’s Landing now we’re not sure about that part of the equation.
3. Will there be a Cleganebowl and who will win it?
Sandor “The Hound” Clegane and Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane have a brotherly rivalry that’s been brewing since before the series began, and it deserved a bloody, cathartic on-screen battle now that we’ve hit the final season. And tonight we finally got it, though we now know there was no winner, as The Hound took out The Mountain by pushing him over the wall of the Red Keep and tumbling to his death with him.
4. Will Cersei’s prophecy be fulfilled and, if so, will Jaime or Tyrion be the one to kill her?
The prophecy Cersei was told as a child by Maggy the Frog has, for the most part, come true. She married the king, not the prince, and she had three blonde children who all died. But she also had one baby by Robert, so that’s four, and — spoiler — would have had a fifth if the one she was pregnant with (another one of Jaime’s) came to term. So the prophecy wasn’t been entirely accurate so far and that means the third part that was foretold, which is that Cersei’s little brother will kill her, might have never come to fruition. And during the battle in King’s Landing, we learned it didn’t, as both Jaime and Tyrion actually tried, in their own respective ways, to save her.
Though arguably, since Jaime ultimately convinced Cersei to stay with him, and accept their fates together, he technically killed her.
5. What is Jaime going to King’s Landing for?
He abandoned Brienne and told her that he is a “hateful” person like Cersei — but we didn’t know exactly why he was riding south after hearing what his sister is up to. Then we found out, yes, it was out of love and concern and he was trying to reunite with his sister/lover and save her. And they ended up dying in each other’s arms under the Red Keep.
6. Does Arya kill Cersei?
Nope, Arya leaves to save herself when the Red Keep is going down because The Hound forces her to get out. And then Cersei dies by rubble with Jaime.
7. Who wins the Last War?
The technical answer here is Team Daenerys, but…
8. Does Daenerys go mad?
It seems safe to say “yes” after she decided to burn innocent people in King’s Landing when the bells to signal surrender were loudly ringing.
9. Does Varys betray Dany?
He did, by telling Jon Snow/Aegon Targaryen he thinks he should rule instead of the Mother of Dragons. When that got back to her through Tyrion, she wasn’t thrilled and she executed Varys for the treason. Varys told Tyrion in his final moments he hoped he was wrong and that Dany would be a good and just ruler. You be the judge of that.
And here’s everything we still don’t know after tonight.
1. Will Tyrion remain Daenerys’ Hand?
After Episode 802 revealed to everyone that Cersei tricked Tyrion into believing she would send the Lannister army north, Dany seemed undecided on whether or not she can trust him to advise her further. But she did want him safe and decided he must remain in the crypts of Winterfell during the fight because she still needs his mind. (Though the crypts ended up not actually being that safe.) But now it’s more a question of whether he trusts her, because of her decision to burn down King’s Landing and Varys’ insistence (to his grave, might we add) that Jon Snow would make a better ruler.
2. Is Jon still on Dany’s side after she burned down King’s Landing?
He looked pretty shellshocked by her decisions to ignore the bells, but he had sworn his allegiance to her many times over now and watched her burn Varys for treason.
3. Will Daenerys become pregnant with Jon’s child/is she already?
Big fan question that plays into a whole lot of “Game of Thrones” ending theories, but seeing as it doesn’t seem like they are together anymore, probably not. But there is always a chance she got pregnant earlier.
4. If Dany is now truly mad, does Jon or Tyrion or someone else end up killing her?
And which one of them does it?
5. Where was Arya riding off to on that horse?
We are assuming back home to Winterfell, but unclear right now. And speaking of Winterfell…
6. How are Sansa, Brienne and Bran doing right now?
We saw none of them tonight, so.
7. Are the White Walkers really and truly gone?
There are a lot of fan theories out there about ways they could come back before it’s all done.
8. Will Tyrion ride a dragon?
Viewers have been angling for this particular moment for many seasons, because of the whole “Maybe Tyrion is a Targaryen?” thing. But there is only one dragon left, Drogon, and he’s firmly Team Dany right now.
9. Who is the prince/princess that was promised?
Melisandre’s visions and prophecies didn’t always work out, but she was very confident either Jon or Dany are “The Prince/Princess That Was Promised” — depending on who she is talking to in that particular scene. So who is it, if it’s either of them at this point?
10. Who will live and who will die?
This one will not have a final answer until the very end. (But we are keeping a running tally here.)
11. Who will sit on the Iron Throne?
And it’s safe to say this one will also have to wait for the finale. But also, what happened to the Iron Throne when the Red Keep was destroyed?
12. What happens to Hot Pie?
Really, if Hot Pie doesn’t live, what has this all even been about?
Here’s what we learned on last Sunday’s episode, “The Last of the Starks.”
1. Will Jon and Daenerys stay together now that they know they are related?
The aunt-nephew couple didn’t have much time to discuss the matter of being, well, aunt and nephew, before the second episode of Season 8 came to a close, just as the Battle of Winterfell was set to begin, and they certainly didn’t get time to talk during the great fight. But on Sunday’s episode, they kissed and held each other and tried to make this whole auntcest thing work. However, while Jon swore she is his queen and “nothing will change that,” Dany said she would only believe him if he promised her he wouldn’t tell anyone else he is really Aegon Targaryen, and then swear the few who know about his identity, Sam and Bran, to strict secrecy.
Alas, he quickly went and told Sansa and Arya, and as Varys put it later in the episode after he found out through Tyrion, so many people know about Jon’s true parentage that “it’s not a secret anymore, it’s information.” So…
2. How will everyone else react to Jon’s true identity?
It seems Arya is continuing to do what Arya was already going to do, which is head south to try and kill Cersei, so she missed Sansa immediately telling Tyrion that Jon is really Aegon. Tyrion quickly told Varys, and now Sansa and Varys are both Team Aegon while Tyrion is trying to rationalize some of Danys’ more concerning behaviors so he can continue to support her.
3. Is Rhaegal OK?
Well, he was after taking some hits during the Battle of Winterfell. But then Euron Greyjoy killed him with Qyburn’s scorpion contraption. So now this is a no and now Dany and company have just one remaining dragon to try and win this whole thing with.
4. Is there a love triangle brewing between Brienne, Jaime and Tormund?
No, this is a hard no now, because Brienne and Jaime finally consummated the relationship fans have been shipping for many seasons. Tormund was slightly devastated, but he consoled himself with a Winterfell servant girl, and now is taking the free folk (and Ghost!) north, so it’s all good.
However, just a day after Brienne lost her virginity to the Kingslayer, he decided to go back to King’s Landing because he heard Cersei kidnapped Missandei, and Dany is coming to kill her and take down King’s Landing. What he plans to accomplish by going back down there is currently unknown.
5. Will Arya and Gendry have a relationship?
Dany makes Gendry Lord of Storm’s End and he immediately proposes to Arya, asking her to be his lady. But, as she always puts it, that’s not her, and she turns him down. Looks like House Friendzone has a new knight after poor Ser Jorah’s death.
6. What is the immediate plan after the Battle of Winterfell?
The Stark/Targaryen team headed south and split in two as part of their bigger scheme to take King’s Landing: Dany, Grey Worm, Missandei, Varys, Tyrion and some of the forces sailed to Dragonstone, while Jon and Davos traveled with the remaining Unsullied and Dothraki down the Kingsroad. But the Mother of Dragon’s camp was ambushed by Euron Greyjoy and the Iron Fleet, who killed Rhaegal, destroyed several ships, and kidnapped Missandei and took her back to Cersei at King’s Landing.
Dany then changed the plan (against Varys’ wishes) and brought her surviving forces from Dragonstone to King’s Landing to try and save Missandei by threatening Cersei with the possibility of dragon fire and bloodshed. However, Cersei refused to surrender to Dany and Dany refused to surrender to Cersei, so Missandei was executed by The Mountain, right in front of them.
7. How is Cersei explaining her pregnancy?
She’s officially told Euron she’s pregnant and the baby is his.
And these are the questions that were answered by Episode 803, “The Long Night.”
1. Who survives the Battle of Winterfell?
Since the giant fight at the Starks’ ancestral home ended by the closing moments of last Sunday’s episode, we now know everyone who isn’t on this list lived through the epic 1-hour 22-minute siege.
2. Who kills the Night King?
Arya Stark. In the most unexpected and amazing move in “Game of Thrones” history, Arya came out of nowhere to stab the Night King with the late Littlefinger’s Valyrian steel blade. She dropped it for a second, but grabbed it back in midair — a possibility she’s been readying herself for a long time — and got him right in the stomach. You know what didn’t kill him? The fire from Daenerys’ dragons.
3. What does the Night King actually want?
Now that the Night King is dead, we may never have a solid answer as to why he was marching the other White Walkers and his Army of the Dead south. As best we can tell from tonight’s episode, he was coming for Bran Stark and wanted to wipe out the humans — but that’s probably the clearest answer you’ll get here.
4. Where the heck is Melisandre?
She left Westeros at the beginning of Season 7, but told Varys she’d have to come back to die there and he would die there too… and then that was it. Where did she go? When is she coming back? Who is going to perform all the Lord of Light’s miracles with her gone and Thoros dead?
We finally got the answer to this question at the start of last Sunday’s episode, when the Red Woman arrived at Winterfell just ahead of the battle. She helped everyone out until they won and at dawn, wandered out front, took off her necklace and turned into her true, much-older self, and died.
Also, just in case you need a refresher (for some reason?) here are the questions we got answers to during Episode 802.
1. What will Jon do now that he knows he’s Aegon Targaryen?
After Sam broke the news to him at the end of the Season 8 premiere, Jon finally decided to tell Daenerys in the closing moments of the second episode of the season that he is the son of her brother Prince Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark, and therefore the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. It was very awkward. And then he and Dany had to go fight the Battle of Winterfell in the entire next episode, so we still don’t have an answer to this question
2. How will Daenerys react to learning Jon’s her nephew — and the heir to the Iron Throne?
This one-two punch was a rough one to watch Dany take, as she learned from Jon she no longer has the strongest claim to the throne based on the line of succession. And she did not seem very willing to accept the news. Except we didn’t have that much time to figure out what Jon and Dany plan to do about the revelation, as their conversation in the crypts came at the episode’s end, just before the Night King and his army arrived at Winterfell.
3. How will Bran and Jaime deal with their awkward reunion?
That stare-down at the end of the Season 8 premiere didn’t foreshadow an easy makeup for the Kingslayer and the boy he crippled on the series premiere — who now actually knows he is the one responsible for crippling him on the series premiere. Except Bran didn’t rat out Jaime to Sansa, Dany and Jon, which ultimately led to the Lannister being accepted into the fold to help the crew at Winterfell fight the Night King. Bran told Jaime privately the reason he said nothing was because they need him in the fight — he also alluded to the fact that perhaps the White Walkers win, even if Jaime helps. More about that here.
4. Where is Ghost?!?
We finally spotted Ghost for the first time in many moons on tonight’s episode! Ghost is OK! That is all. If you missed the moment, you can get the lowdown right here.
5. How did Tormund got his last name, Giantsbane?
Apparently he slayed a giant and then climbed into bed with his wife and “suckled” at her breast for months after that. The giant’s milk made him strong and, uh, yeah, that’s where that came from.
6. Are Arya and Gendry more than just friends?
Yes, after that steamy sex scene tonight, we can definitively reply with a solid yes.
7. Will Brienne of Tarth ever be knighted?
This is a question we didn’t even know we had before tonight, but when Jaime knighted his dear friend and she arose as Ser Brienne of Tarth, we decided that yes, this had to make the list.
And the ones we got answers to on the Season 8 premiere:
1. Who tells Jon Snow he’s really Aegon Targareyn?
This task falls to poor Sam in the crypts of Winterfell. In front of a statue of Ned Stark, Sam explains to his best friend how he and Bran discovered Jon is actually Aegon, the son of Lyanna Stark and Daenerys’ older brother, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, who were married in secret before Jon was born. So while Jon is still half Stark, he is definitely not Ned’s bastard and definitely the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. And definitely dating his aunt.
2. Is Cersei really pregnant?
As far as we can tell from what she said (and didn’t say) during her conversations with Euron on Sunday’s premiere, Cersei was not lying about her pregnancy at the end of Season 7 and is actually with child. Jaime’s child, to be specific.
3. Will Jon ride a dragon?
Not only does Jon ride a dragon alongside his new lover, but he rides Rhaegal, the creature Dany named after her brother/Jon’s father. Of course both the naming and the ride came before Jon learned who his father really was.
4. Does Theon save Yara?
He sure does! Theon manages to rescue his big sis from the boat his uncle Euron has her locked away on, but now she’s headed back home to Pyke and he’s going up north to help Jon and Dany fight the Night King and his Army of the Dead.
5. Where are Gendry and Bronn?
The premiere confirmed Bronn is still chilling in King’s Landing (possibly infected with the pox via intercourse with a prostitute and possibly considering killing Tyrion and/or Jaime) and Gendry made it from the Wall to Winterfell. And Gendry arriving at the Starks’ ancestral home answered another question we had — if and when will he reunite with Arya? He did, and it was adorable and kinda flirty. And speaking of reunions…
6. Will Jon finally reunite with Arya and Bran?
This wasn’t so much an answer we got from the premiere as 100% confirmation of a long-awaited moment because the promos had already revealed the remaining Starks would be together again at Winterfell in Season 8. But until we saw the actual reunion happen we would not believe it.
7. How does the North react to Daenerys’ arrival and Jon bending the knee?
Not fantastical? At least not right away. It seems the Northerners aren’t thrilled with Jon at the moment for becoming the Mother of Dragons’ follower instead of remaining King in the North. But maybe this question will eventually have a different answer.
“Game of Thrones” airs Sundays at 9/8c on HBO.