Game Of Thrones series finale finally aired and it had many scenes that shocked and surprised the fans. As usual the episode was filled with a lot details and callbacks. So let’s take a look at the details that you might have missed in Game Of Thrones Season 8 Episode 6: The Iron Throne
1. Changes in the opening credits
This season the opening credits have been changing to reflect the important events that have happened and we got to see that one last time in the series finale. In the previous episode the scorpions made an appearance on the gates and Daenerys destroyed them along with most of King’s Landing and that was reflected in the latest opening credits. The scorpions were gone and we could see a destroyed King’s Landing.
We saw the cracks on the map floor in the last episode floor and we could see the same in the opening credits and the best part was that the crack patterns were exactly the same.
In addition to that, the Lannister sigil was missing from the Throne Room as Daenerys successfully overthrew Cersei Lannister.
2. Daenerys made a reference to her season 6 speech to the Dothraki
After capturing King’s Landing, Daenerys spoke with her army and she told the Dothraki that they killed her enemies in iron suits, tore down their houses and gave her the Seven Kingdoms.
Back in season 6, she gave a speech to the Dothraki and here’s what she said:
“Every Khal who ever lived chose 3 blood riders to fight beside him and guard his way. But I am not a Khal. I will not choose three blood riders. I choose you all. I will ask more of you than any Khal has asked his Khalassar. Will you ride the wooden horses across the black salt sea? Will you kill my enemies in their Iron suits and tear down their stone houses? Will you give me the Seven Kingdoms, the gift Khal Drogo promised me before the Mother of Mountains?”
3. Break the Wheel
Daenerys asked her soldiers if they would break the wheel with her. This was a reference to her season 5 scene with Tyrion where she told him, “I am not going to stop the wheel. I am going to break the wheel.”
4. Did you bring any wine?
When Jon Snow came to visit Tyrion in his prison cell, his first question was, “Did you bring any wine?”
This is a callback to the scene in season 4 where Tyrion was thrown in the dungeon after being accused of poisoning King Joffrey. When Podrick came to visit him, he said that he had brought wine for Tyrion, but the soldiers took it from him. However, he managed to smuggle in some candles, quills, parchment, Duck sausage and some hard cheese.
It appears that he expected Jon to smuggle some food and wine for him.
5. Love is the death of duty
While speaking with Jon, Tyrion mentioned that love is more powerful than reason, while giving the example of his brother and Jon responded by saying, “Love is the death of duty.” A visibly impressed Tyrion Lannister asked Jon if he came up with those lines on his own and Jon clarified that it was Maester Aemon who had said this a long time ago.
Tyrion then said, “Duty is the death of love,” and it’s an important statement as Jon went on and killed Daenerys later in the episode and he had done the same thing with Ygritte, when he abandoned her so that he could reach Castle Black and inform everyone what the Wildlings were planning.
6. The parallel between Jon Snow and Ned Stark
Tyrion tried his best to explain why it was important for Jon to eliminate the biggest threat to the people. However, Jon wasn’t in the mood to listen as he was loyal to his queen and he started leaving. That’s when Tyrion mentioned Jon’s sisters. He told Jon that his sisters didn’t bend the knee and Daenerys would execute them in the future and that’s when Jon had a change of heart. That’s when he realized that he would have to kill Daenerys if he wanted to see his sisters alive.
This scene was similar to the scene between Varys and Ned Stark. Ned was rotting in the dungeons and he didn’t care about his life. Varys suggested that if he kept the information about Joffrey’s parentage a secret, he would be given a chance to take the Black and join the Night’s Watch but the honourable Ned Stark said no. That’s when Varys asked Ned, “What of your daughters’ life my lord?”
Both Ned and Jon took tough decisions to make sure that their family survived.
7. Daenerys’ vision
Back in season 2, Daenerys had a vision where she was inside the destroyed Throne Room in the Red Keep and she started walking towards the Iron Throne and before she could touch it, she turned away after hearing the sounds made by her Dragons.
In the latest episode we finally saw it happening and the scene was framed exactly in the same way as it was framed in her vision. However, there was one small change as she did touch the Iron Throne but at that moment Jon Snow entered the room and she walked away from the Iron Throne.
8. Daenerys made a reference to George R. R. Martin’s version of the Iron Throne
While speaking with Jon in the Throne Room, Daenerys spoke with Jon about the Iron Throne and how she imagined it to be when she was a kid. “I imagined a mountain of swords too high to climb.”
This was a reference to George R. R. Martin’s Iron Throne as he had a completely different image of it while writing the books. He even wrote a blog post about this topic, which was titled, The Real Iron Throne.
“It’s not the Iron Throne I see when I’m working on THE WINDS OF WINTER. It’s not the Iron Throne I want my readers to see. The way the throne is described in the books… HUGE, hulking, black and twisted, with the steep iron stairs in front, the high seat from which the king looks DOWN on everyone in the court… my throne is a hunched beast looming over the throne room, ugly and assymetric…”
Take a look at Martin’s version of the Iron Throne that was painted by Marc Simonetti.
9. The Azor Ahai prophecy
According to legends, Azor Ahai drove his sword through his wife, Nissa Nissa’s heart to create the Lightbringer, which was the Red Sword of Heroes. Many fans were expecting this to happen as they considered Jon Snow to be Azor Ahai and that would make Daenerys Targaryen Nissa Nissa.
However, the scene didn’t perfectly match the prophecy as Nissa Nissa’s death resulted in the creation of Lightbringer, which was used to defeat the darkness, while Daenerys’ death ended the darkness that would’ve spread across the world if Daenerys continued doing what she did in King’s Landing.
10. Howland Reed?
Tyrion’s trial was attended by lords and ladies from all over Westeros and there were a few unknown faces that we got to see. There’s speculation that one of those people might be Howland Reed.
We saw Howland Reed for the first time in Bran Stark’s vision at the Tower of Joy. Since then we haven’t seen him in in the show. Howland Reed is Jojen and Meera’s father and also the head of House Reed and he was one of the few people who knew the truth of Jon Snow’s parentage.
In the latest episode, one of the lords who was present at the meeting, wore a distinctive piece of cloth over his shoulder and it’s similar to the one that was worn by Howland Reed in Bran’s vision and even their swords seemed to be similar. However, there’s no confirmation about this and we can just hope that a cast or crew member from the Game Of Thrones team talks about this.
11. Piss off the edge of the World
Bran was chosen as the new King of Westeros and he decided that it would be best for Jon Snow to join the Night’s Watch. Tyrion, who was now the new Hand of the King, came to give this news to Jon and while he was leaving the prison cell, Jon said, “I don’t expect we’ll ever see each other again.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure. A few years as Hand of the King would make anyone want to piss off the edge of the world,” replied Tyrion.
In the second episode of season 1, a cheerful Tyrion told Cersei and Jaime that he wanted to stand on top of the Wall and piss off the edge of the World.
After he reached the Wall, he did piss from the top, while Jon was standing behind him.
12. What’s West of Westeros?
When Jon was saying goodbye to Sansa, Arya and Bran, he told Arya that she could come and visit him at Castle Black but Arya revealed that she wasn’t going back North. When Sansa asked her about her plans, she asked them, “What’s West of Westeros?”
When Jon said that he didn’t know, Arya replied, “No one knows. It’s where all the maps stop. That’s where I am going.”
In season 6 Arya was recovering at Lady Crane’s house after being stabbed by the Waif. When Lady Crane asked her where would she go next, she replied, “Essos is East and Westeros is West but what’s West of Westeros?” When Lady Crane said she didn’t know, Arya responded by saying, “Nobody does. It’s where all the maps stop.”
13. Ser Brienne of Tarth becomes the Lord Commander of the King’s Guard just like her ancestor Ser Duncan the Tall
Towards the end, we saw that Brienne had become the Lord Commander of the King’s Guard. A few years back George R. R. Martin had revealed that Ser Duncan the Tall was Brienne’s ancestor and it’s wonderful to see that just like her ancestor even she became the Lord Commander.
Another interesting thing is that Ser Duncan was the Lord Commander during the reign of King Aegon V Targaryen and Ser Brienne became the Lord Commander during the reign of Bran Stark, who’s related to another Aegon Targaryen.
14. A Song of Ice and Fire
Samwell presented Tyrion with a book on the War of the Five Kings and it was titled, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which is the name of book series on which Game Of Thrones is based. Archmaester Ebrose wrote the book and we first found out about it in season 7, when the Archmaester told Samwell that he was working on a book that was titled, “A Chronicle of the Wars Following the Death of King Robert I”
When Ebrose asked Samwell, what name would he have given to the book, Sam replied by saying, “Possibly something a bit more poetic.”
It turns out the Archmaester listened to Sam and gave the book a poetic title or maybe it was Samwell who suggested the title.
15. Jackass and Honeycomb
Over the years Tyrion has tried to complete his Jackass and Honeycomb joke a number of times and not once did he get a chance to finish it. He first mentioned it in season 1, when he was in the Vale.
He was in Meereen when he mentioned it the 2nd time.
In the latest episode, he started the joke for the third time and the scene cut away immediately and now we will never find out about the joke.
16. Arya sailing West mirrors her scene from season 4
Towards the end, we saw Arya sailing West and the scene perfectly mirrors her scene from season 4 finale, where she’s sailing to the East.
17. Sansa’s crown
Throughout the series we have seen Sansa trying to replicate Cersei’s style and it represented how she was learning from Cersei and we got one last example of it as the crown that was placed on Sansa’s head was similar to the crown we saw after Cersei became the Queen.
18. Parallels between the first and last scene of the series
The show ends with Jon going North of the Wall with Tormund and other Wildlings. The scene was shot in the same way the pilot episode was shot.
Even the part where they went past the Wall was filmed in the same way.
19. The parallel between Jon Snow and Frodo Baggins
George R. R. Martin has said many times that he has been influenced by The Lord of the Rings and we can those influences in the show as well. In The Lord of the Rings, Frodo, who’s the main character decides to sail away to the Undying Lands in the end and we saw Jon Snow doing something similar when he went past the Wall, leaving his home behind.
What are your thoughts about these details? Please let me know in the comments section if I have missed anything.
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