The series finale of Game of Thrones is finally here.
It may not be what many were expecting or even hoping for, but a trail of clues was
laid out over the seasons which pointed to how it would all end.
Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers, I'm Jan, and in this video I'm delving into all the foreshadowing
and hidden symbolism that predicted Daenerys Targaryen's ultimate destiny.
And to mark the ending of this epic saga, I'm kicking off a new Game of Thrones giveaway.
Subscribe, hit the bell, and leave a comment about the show for a chance to win.
Of course, spoilers ahead, so take care if you're not up-to-date.
Game of Thrones fans are used to shocking moments, but some of the most controversial
in the series so far have been the final two episodes of the series when Dany burned King's
Landing to the ground, massacring her enemies and common folk alike, followed by her lover
Jon Snow stabbing and killing her in the throne room.
It was a brutal end for the Mother of Dragons who'd always believed she was destined to
rule on the Iron Throne. "So, my little princess, what is it you want?"
"My birthright. The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros."
She finally touched the throne she'd desired for so long and when she asked Jon to break
the wheel and build a new world together, they passionately kissed but Jon stabbed his
queen in the chest. Dany had actually foreseen her destiny at
the end of the second season when she had a revelation in the House of the Undying.
In that vision, Dany walked through the destroyed throne room in King's Landing, and after reaching
out to touch the Iron Throne she pulled her hand away, a sign of what was to come.
In the finale, she does touch the throne making us think that perhaps reality will be different
to the vision, but just as Dany feels like she's finally achieved what she came for,
Jon Snow ominously appears behind her. Remember that in her vision snow was falling,
and it's Jon Snow who's here to prevent her from ruling over the Seven Kingdoms.
The snow in the vision also resembles the flakes of ash that fell on King's Landing
after Dany burned the city down, a reminder that when Dany said "I am not here to be queen
of the ashes", Jon Snow made sure that he would literally stop her from doing that.
Dany's death was also foretold in her vision when she passed from the throne room, through
a door into another world, signifying her transition from this world to the afterlife.
In the vision, she walks out beyond the Wall, something which also came true in season 7,
and then she enters Drogo's tent to reunite with him and Rhaego, her stillborn child.
"Maybe I am dead and I just don't know it yet.
Maybe I am with you in the Night Lands. Dany's mention of "dark magic" in her vision
is interesting because it's Jon who takes Dany's life, and it was Melisandre and her
magic which brought Jon Snow back to life after he had died.
In the tent with Drogo, Dany also wonders if she's in a dream, which is worth noting
because the Mother of Dragons has a history of making her dreams into a reality:
"How many centuries has it been since dragons roamed the skies?
I dreamt that if I carried those eggs into a great fire, they would hatch.
I'm no ordinary woman. My dreams come true."
So, could Dany's tragic end in the finale mean her vision of being reunited with her
Sun and Stars in the Night Lands has finally come true?
Well, you could interpret it that way, but not if you listen to Jon Snow:
"So is there life after death? Not that I've seen."
The way Dany dies at Jon's hand also relates back to ancient prophecies about the Prince
That Was Promised that were first introduced to the TV show by Melisandre.
The prophecy, which is also known as Azor Ahai in the books, was misinterpreted a few
times by the Red Woman who first assumed the Prince That Was Promised was Stannis.
In the legend of Azor Ahai, the sword that could defeat the Darkness could only be forged
when the hero drove it into the chest of his beloved Nissa Nissa.
After Stannis was defeated in the TV series, Melisandre switched to believing Jon Snow
was the Prince That Was Promised. But the show had also presented Daenerys as
a likely candidate when a different Red Priestess, Kinvara, spoke to Tyrion and Varys:
"Daenerys Stormborn is the one who was promised. From the fire she was reborn to remake the
world." And when Melisandre met with Dany, the Dragon
Queen asked her: "And you believe this prophecy refers to me?
Prophecies are dangerous things. I believe you have a role to play.
As does another... the King in the North, Jon Snow."
As Melisandre learned from her past miscalculations, prophecies aren't necessarily what we assume
them to be and we shouldn't take them too literally.
As it turned out in the end, there were two stages to the prophecy.
Many thought that the threat of an eternal winter had been defeated when Arya killed
the Night King in the final battle of the Great War at Winterfell.
But it was telling that, in the final episode, snow began to fall on King's Landing after
Dany had taken the city, signalling that the threat to humanity had not yet been fully
defeated. For the prophecy to finally be fulfilled,
then, Jon Snow had to kill Daenerys. The story we've been watching is "A Song of
Ice and Fire", and by the end both Ice and Fire have been defeated.
And it's only the combination of Ice and Fire in Jon Snow, with his dual Stark and Targaryen
heritage, that finally brings the prophecy to its conclusion.
And there's proof that winter is finally on its way to being over when Jon Snow and the
wildings open the gate at Castle Black and march north beyond the wall, walking past
a little green shoot emerging from the snow. In fact, that's also likely a nod to the title
of George R R Martin's seventh and apparent final book, A Dream of Spring.
As rushed and problematic as this season has certainly been, the idea that Dany's death
was the way to bring peace to Westeros was foreshadowed back in the first season in Dany's
encounter with Mirri Maz Duur. When Drogo was dying from an infected wound,
Daenerys turned for help to the Lhazareen priestess, who then performed a blood magic
ritual on the dying Khal. During the ceremony, the pregnant Daenerys
also went into labour and Mirri Maz Duur helped deliver her baby.
After Dany recovered from the birth, she discovered that her son Rhaego was stillborn, and that
Drogo had been cursed to never recover. Dany protested to the priestess about what
she'd done, but Mirri's response was that she did it to stop Khal Drogo's son from ever
being born and the destruction that he would have brought on her people and the world.
"My child was innocent. Innocent?
He would have been the Stallion Who Mounts the World.
Now he will burn no cities. Now his khalasar will trampIe no nations into
dust." Jon Snow's murder of Daenerys mirrors what
Mirri Maz Duur did to Dany's son. Each one killed an important figure to save
the rest of the world from the death and destruction they thought they would bring.
When Dany objected to Mirri's actions, the priestess scoffed at the notion:
"I saved you. Saved me?
Three of those riders had aIready raped me before you saved me, girl.
In the streets I saw piles of heads. . . the head of a young boy that l had cured of
fever just three moons past. So. . .tell me again exactly what it was that
you saved?" Even if we feel that Mirri was cruel to Daenerys
who herself was not directly responsible for what the Dothraki did to Mirri's village,
Dany's sense of righteousness about her destiny has often been a blindspot.
And when she burns down King's Landing, Dany clearly doesn't see the irony of her words
last season that she wouldn't be "queen of the ashes".
And after the slaughter her army and dragon have brought on the city, she gives a chilling
speech to her troops, proclaiming them to be liberators.
So, Mirri Maz Duur did have a point when she asked Dany what it was that she thought she
was saving.
And if Dany's visions from the House of the Undying, Azor Ahai prophecies and Mirri Maz
Duur curses weren't enough to warn us about what the Mother of Dragons' eventual fate
would be, then there was also Jon Snow's previous girlfriend.
There was yet another big hint to Dany's eventual death in the first episode of season 8 when,
after arriving in Winterfell, she and Jon went on a dragon ride together, in a moment
that called back to Jon Snow's previous doomed lover, Ygritte.
"We could stay a thousand years... no one would find us."
"Let's not go back. I don't ever want to leave this cave, Jon
Snow." It seems that being Jon's girlfriend means
your love for him will ultimately end up killing you.
Ygritte died when she hesitated to kill Jon Snow during the wildling attack on Castle
Black. "We should have stayed in that cave."
Jon had abandoned Ygritte when he was forced to choose between his duty to the Night's
Watch and loyalty to her. And Tyrion's words to Jon in the finale are
a nod that again he'll sacrifice his love for Dany in favour of what is best for the
realm. "Love is the death of duty.
Sometimes duty is the death of love."
Now, what was your verdict on how Game of Thrones ended?
And how do you feel about Dany's final fate? Leave your thoughts below and subscribe to
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Thanks for watching and see ya next time. Yippee-ki-yay, movie lovers!