Game of Thrones season 8 episode 6 recap: A bittersweet farewell to Westeros, and a hope of new beginnings

For a recap of Game of Thrones season 8 episode 5, click here ; and here for the review .

SPOILERS AHEAD.

Tyrion walks through the rubble of King’s Landing, followed by Jon and Ser Davos. It’s a surreal landscape of ash and death.

Tyrion proceeds to the Red Keep, where he climbs down into the dungeons and finds Jaime and Cersei buried under a pile of rubble, dead in each other’s arms.

Jon and Davos see Grey Worm and the Unsullied about to execute a few surviving Lannister soldiers. They try to stop the executions, but Grey Worm says he has the queen’s orders to kill anyone who followed Cersei Lannister. The Northmen and the Unsullied nearly cross swords, but Davos gets Jon to back down, and suggests that he speak directly to Daenerys instead.

Jon makes his way to the entrance of what’s left of the Red Keep. The Dothraki and Unsullied wait for their Queen there and cheer her as she flies in on Drogon’s back. Daenerys names Grey Worm the Commander of her Armed Forces. She thanks the Dothraki for “killing (her) enemies in their iron suits and tearing down their stone houses”. She tells her men that they will not rest, but continue to liberate all the people of the world of tyrants. Jon, standing beside her, now joined by Tyrion, grows increasingly aghast.

Daenerys confronts Tyrion about betraying her by freeing Jaime, and he accuses her of slaughtering innocents. He throws away the badge of the Hand and is taken into custody by Grey Worm’s men. As Jon prepares to follow, Arya comes up to him and warns him that his own life could be in danger too; with Daenerys knowing his true identity, she would always consider Jon a threat.

Jon visits Tyrion in his prison, and they talk of Daenerys’ actions. Tyrion says everywhere Daenerys went, she killed evil men and was cheered for it. And the more she was cheered for it, the more convinced she became that she was good and right. Tyrion regrets his role in bringing Daenerys to power and admits that Varys was right. They speak of duty, and what Jon must do, and Jon remembers Maester Aemon’s words: “Love is the death of duty”. Tyrion replies, “Sometimes duty is the death of love.”

Daenerys walks through the destroyed Throne Room and reaches the Iron Throne. She touches it, is about to seat herself when Jon enters. She tells Jon of the stories Viserys would tell her about the Iron Throne, how it was made with the 1000 swords of Aegon’s enemies. She remembers wondering what a throne made of 1000 swords looked like, as a little girl who could only count up to 20. She asks Jon to rule beside her, to help liberate the world by her side. He embraces her, promising that she is and will always be his Queen. Then he stabs her.

Daenerys lies dying in Jon’s arms and Drogon rises into the air. Jon faces the dragon, readying for death, but Drogon roars fire at the Iron Throne instead, melting it down to nothing. He picks Dany up in his claws and flies away with her.

Some time elapses and Tyrion is taken from his prison by Grey Worm to face trial. At the Dragonpit, the lords and ladies of the last surviving noble houses await: Sansa, Arya and Bran, Edmure Tully, Robyn Arryn and Yohan Royce, Ser Davos, Yara Greyjoy, Samwell Tarly, Gendry Baratheon, Brienne of Tarth.

Before justice is pronounced for Tyrion (and Jon), however, there is the small matter of choosing a ruler. Edmure Tully proposes himself and is asked to sit back down by Sansa. Sam suggests a democracy — having the people choose who they wish to have as a king or queen. The others laugh at his recommendation. Tyrion then recommends that they choose a ruler with a story that will unite people: Bran the Broken — the boy who fell off a tower and lived, who learned to fly because he could not walk, who travelled beyond the Wall to become the Three-Eyed Raven. As a repository of the entire history of the Seven Kingdoms, its past, who better than Bran to guide the continent through the future? And because Bran cannot have children, the next ruler will be chosen once again by the noted personages of the land — this, Tyrion says, is the wheel Daenerys was trying to break.

Everyone assents to Bran as the King of Westeros, but for Sansa — who says the North will remain a free territory. Bran names Tyrion his Hand, which doesn’t please Grey Worm.

Tyrion visits Jon in his prison. Jon wonders if he did the right thing and Tyrion says he must ask the same question in 10 years. Jon must join the Night’s Watch (restart it) and never marry, never bear children as his punishment for assassinating Daenerys.

The Unsullied sail for Naath. Jon prepares to sail for the North. He says his goodbyes to Sansa, to Arya – who informs them that she won’t be going back to Winterfell, but to the west of Westeros, where the maps end, to Bran.

At King’s Landing, Tyrion presides over a small council meeting. Bronn is the new master of coin (and Lord of Highgarden), Brienne is the commander of the Kingsguard (she writes out Jaime’s story in the book that details all its members’ deeds), Davos is master of ships, and Sam is the maester and liaison for the Citadel. Bran tasks Tyrion with appointing a master of whisperers, and says he himself will try to find Drogon. Ser Podrick Payne then wheels him away as the others continue their meeting.

Arya sails west, the Stark sigil on her masts.

Sansa is crowned the Queen in the North.

Jon meets Tormund and Ghost at Castle Black. He rides out beyond the Wall with them and the Wildlings, and the gates close behind him. A blade of grass rises up from under the snow.

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