History Recap / GameOfThronesS8E6TheIronThrone

* CaptainObvious: Arya tells Jon that Dany is a killer because she knows one when she sees one. Gee, what gave it away Arya? Was it the city full of ashes and thousands of charred corpses?

* IShouldWriteABookAboutThis: Archmaester Ebrose is revealed to have written a book on their experiences, "The Song of Ice and Fire". Sam suggested the title. Tyrion is disappointed to learn he was written out of events.[[labelnote:From the books...]] One of the curious things that emerged from the Dance of the Dragons civil war was ''The Testimony of Mushroom'', which was an unofficial, raunchy, and sex-filled account of the courts of Queen Rhaenyra and King Aegon II by the dwarf jester Mushroom, who was part of those courts. The book was so disparaging of the Targaryens that King Baelor I ordered all copies to be burned, unsuccessfully. One of the reasons the book is reluctantly taken into account by the Maesters of the Citadel as a historical document even with its crass inaccuracies and fabrications is because, unlike the official accounts, Mushroom's book is impartial and does not pander to either side of the conflict. One has to consider how much ass-kissing took place in the official Targaryen-sanctioned accounts for the Maesters to have to rely on Mushroom's book. So, dwarves get no respect, but their input is very important nevertheless. It's also a nod to the fact that Tyrion has the most viewpoint chapters by a large margin and that Creator/PeterDinklage appears in more episodes of the show than any other actor -- including the ones who were submitted for Best Lead Actor Emmy nominations, Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington.[[/labelnote]]

** The Seven Kingdoms began with Aegon the Conqueror forging the Iron Throne out of the swords of his enemies with his black dragon, Balerion. In this episode, Drogon melts the Iron Throne, symbolically putting an end to the Seven Kingdoms as Aegon Targaryen conceived them. [[labelnote:''From the books'']] Daenerys believes that Drogon is Balerion reincarnated. She christens him with a new name for his new life.[[/labelnote]]

* RootingForTheEmpire: {{Discussed|Trope}} between Tyrion and Jon before the latter has a final confrontation with Daenerys. Tyrion argues that it was a lot easier to forgive Dany for [[PayEvilUntoEvil the horrible things that she did because the people she was doing it to, like the slavers and Dothraki khals, had it coming]]. It's much harder to justify those sorts of actions when innocents are in her crossfire, and when her plans of conquest involve taking over kingdoms that don't utilize slavery.[[invoked]]

** Tyrion's conversation with Jon when he tells him how it was easy to root for Daenerys when she was doing [[KickTheSonOfABitch horrible things to bad people]], and then being shocked that she would be capable of doing something reprehensible while taking actions that she's consistently done previously, reflects a ''lot'' of the real-world criticism that Dany's FaceHeelTurn received, and likely anticipated by the showrunners.

* RootingForTheEmpire: {{Discussed|Trope}} between Tyrion and Jon before the latter has a final confrontation with Daenerys. Tyrion argues that it was a lot easier to forgive Dany for [[PayEvilUntoEvil the horrible things that she did]] [[KickTheSonOfABitch because the people she was doing it to, like the slavers and Dothraki khals, had it coming]]. It's much harder to justify those sorts of actions when innocents are in her crossfire, and when her plans of conquest involve taking over kingdoms that don't utilize slavery.[[invoked]]

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Jaime and Cersei make some good looking corpses, even after having a ton of bricks fall on them.

** When he firsts sees her, Jon is shocked by Arya's injuries and checks her over, asking if she's alright.

** Grey Worm ultimately agrees to the terms of Jon's exile and opts not to go to war with the North over revenge for Daenerys. Instead, he takes the remaining of her troops to set sail to Naath in order to fulfill his promise to Missandei of protecting her people.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Naath is known not only due to the docility of its people, but also due to the butterflies that carry a mortal disease that afflicts outsiders. The native Naathi are said to be immune to the butterflies, but the ominous reputation of the island leaves open the possibility that they may be withholding treatment and/or the cure for the disease because the outsiders that visit Naath never quite come to the island with the best intentions.[[/labelnote]]

* ReassignedToAntarctica: Jon is forced to take the Black once again because the Unsullied will not accept him not being punished at all, and his political position is too contentious to assume any position of authority, so his claim to the throne becomes a moot point due to the magnicide he committed. Ironically even being forced to take the Black is technically moot as with the Night King and his wights destroyed the Night Guard’s been dissolved.

** Tyrion starts to talk about what he got up to with his NoodleImplements (the jackass and the honeycomb) in a brothel, but as usual [[OrphanedSetup we never hear the end]].

* StupidestThingIveEverHeard: At the delegation where the surviving lords and ladies of Westeros are deciding how Westeros' new ruler will be selected, Sam states that since the new ruler will oversee everyone in the land, then everyone from all walks of life, from noble to peasant, should be given the opportunity to help (democratically) select the next ruler. The Starks scoff and roll their eyes while everyone else mockingly laughs at Sam's idea with Tully even saying: "Maybe we should give the dogs a vote as well!"

** In a more fantastical story, Jon would have revealed his true heritage after killing Daenerys and been crowned King Aegon VI Targaryen, ruling wisely and justly for the rest of his life. Instead - well, see above. It turns out being a HiddenBackupPrince doesn't really matter if half the population wants to cut your head off. Adding to this, Daenerys just massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians, making it highly unlikely the people of the Seven Kingdoms would want a Targaryen as their ruler again after that.

* TakeThatAudience: Part of Tyrion's lament while imprisoned can be implied to be directed at us, the viewers. We were all perfectly happy to see Dany kill and brutalize terrible people by the score, because they were terrible people. It's not so satisfying to see her do the same to people we know are innocent, or at least are not as terrible.

* TautologicalTemplar: Tyrion {{discusse|dTrope}}s with Jon how Daenerys has ultimately become this. Thanks to spending so long [[PayEvilUntoEvil paying evil unto evil]] by killing {{Asshole Victim}}s such as the Astaporians, Meereenese and Dothraki khals, Dany has grown more and more powerful, and in the process, more and more sure that she is righteous and good. Since she truly believes she's destined to make the world a better place, she sees anyone that stands in her way as being in the wrong and is willing to kill them.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Bronn is the only member of Bran's court that doesn't have anyone's best intentions in mind except his own. Tyrion doesn't seem to mind having to deal with them while Samwell Tarly and Brienne are incredulous and bemused by his SkewedPriorities.

* TryingNotToCry: Sansa, Arya, and Jon when saying good-bye to each other. Arya, especially, can barely hold back the tears and starts to cry when he asks her if she has her [[CoolSword Needle]].

** Jon is punished for killing Daenerys by being sent to the Night's Watch again. On the one hand, he's ReassignedToAntarctica -- ''again'' -- and this time for an even more useless purpose, as the BigBad the Night's Watch was built to guard against (the Night King) is verifiably dead and gone. There is also no one to absolve his guilt over kingslaying (and we saw how well that worked with Jaime) and he must live with the pain of killing Dany, his love and his kin. But he is away from Westeros's conflicts, can leave unwanted titles behind, and possibly find a semblance of peace with the wildlings.

-->'''Daenerys Targaryen:''' Be with me. Build the new world with me! ''This is our reason''! It has been from the beginning, since you were a little boy with a bastard's name and I was a little girl who couldn't count to twenty! We do it together! We break the wheel... ''together''.

** It's not at all clear what happens to the Dothraki, and it was still never established what happened to their noncombatants when they sailed to war. For a brief moment before Jon sails North, there are some Dothraki walking around the port area. This could imply they are adjusting to life in a big city, or that they're planning to set sail back to the Grass Sea that's their natural home.

** Nothing is said about the fate of Daenerys' empire in Essos. Even the Unsullied, for as much as they talk up her liberation of those cities, don't even pretend to care.
** Gilly, Young Sam, and her unborn child with Maester Sam are not accounted for. This is a particular oversight as Maesters are, like the Kingsguard and the Night's Watch, supposed to be sworn to celibacy and bachelordom. What Bran -- and what ''Sam'' -- thinks about the fact that, according to custom, he must abandon his family, is not discussed.

** It's not shown what ever happened to Edmure's wife Roslin Frey, or their child after Jaime lifted the Siege of Riverrun. Although it's unclear whether she was part of the fall of House Frey by Arya's hand, it's implied that due to Jaime's terms of the surrender of Riverrun, she might have avoided the gruesome fate of her family.[[labelnote:From the books...]]Roslin and Edmure are sent to Casterly Rock by Jaime in order to become wards and political prisoners after the Siege of Riverrun is lifted, and are taken off House Frey's confinement because Roslin fears that if she bears a boy by Edmure, Edmure himself would be killed. In spite of the horrible events that transpired on their wedding, Roslin and Edmure become fond of each other.[[/labelnote]]

* WhatTheHellHero: Tyrion invokes this when Jon states that with King's Landing having fallen to her and the Iron Throne in Daenerys's grasp, the fighting and bloodshed is over. Tyrion points out that they both heard her [[NewEraSpeech proselytising to her troops]] about [[TakeOverTheWorld her plans to "liberate" the world]]: Daenerys isn't done fighting by any stretch of the imagination.

Tyrion leads the first meeting of the small council of King Bran the Broken, with Bronn of Blackwater (now the new Lord of Highgarden) as Master of Coin, Samwell Tarly, now elevated to Grand Maester, Brienne as Commander of the Kingsguard, and Ser Davos as Master of Ships. Before the council convenes, Sam presents Tyrion with Archmaester Ebrose's new history of the struggles in Westeros, starting with the War of the Five Kings - it is titled "A Song of Ice and Fire." Tyrion is curious to hear how he is depicted in the events - and looks quite put out to discover Ebrose left him out, entirely. Bran stops by briefly, to confirm that they still have three roles to fill for the council, including Master of Whispers, Varys' old position, and that Drogon was last sighted flying east. He muses about looking for Drogon himself before leaving the small council to debate building new ships, feeding the population, and whether or not it's worthwhile to rebuild the brothels at this moment.

'''On a ship somewhere in the West,''' Arya dons her armor and her weapons, including the same Valryian steel dagger that almost killed Bran as a boy, and destroyed the Night King. She then leaves her cabin and up to the bow of the ship, revealing a Stark Wolf decoration at the front of the bow -- off to the Far West and her next adventure.

Jon Snow once more dons the black of the Night's Watch, and then arrives at '''Castle Black.''' There he finds it filled with not Watchmen but the Free Folk; among them, Tormund and Ghost are there, both waiting for Jon to arrive. Jon walks through the group of waiting Free Folk and reunites with Ghost. Alongside Tormund and his loyal dire wolf, Jon ventures with the Free Folk through the gates of Castle Black and into the Far North. As the gates fall behind them, Jon looks back for a moment but then looks ahead again. Jon, Tormund, Ghost, and the Free Folk set off into the forests, vanishing into the wilderness once again -- behind them, the first blades of green grass poke through the snow, promising the beginning of spring.