Links to Previous Parts
- My Ending to Game of Thrones: Part 1 – Rewriting Season 7
- My Ending to Game of Thrones: Part 2 – Rewriting The Mission up North
- My Ending to Game of Thrones: Part 3 – Rewriting The White Walker Invasion
Episode 10 – The Rightful Heir to The Seven Kingdoms
Yara’s fleet are long past Deepwood Motte and are currently sailing for Casterly Rock. Gendry and Davos are catching up when Yara interrupts them with a message from Daenerys. It says Gendry has been legitimised as the rightful heir to Storm’s End. Gendry won’t believe her so she shows him the letter. ‘Once we’re done at Casterly Rock, I’m supposed to take you to Storm’s End.’ Gendry looks at Davos and they celebrate. Arya is with the Hound talking about running off to King’s Landing. Gendry rushes over to Arya and announces he’s a lord now and he wants her to be his wife. Arya looks back at The Hound and apologetically declines Gendry’s proposal. The scene ends with Yara spying some smoke in the distance.
The snow continues to drift down onto the small force of Unsullied and Dothraki as they continue to watch the city walls. The gates finally open when Qyburn slowly paces over to meet The commander of Unsullied. Grey Worm demands to know what he wants and Qyburn answered ‘Only what my queen desires and what she desires is the land that was taken from her and for all of you to return home.’ Grey Worm refuses to budge and Qyburn replied ‘If you won’t leave willingly you will be forced out.’ The small army is quickly surrounded by The Golden Company and captive soldiers from within the walls join Grey Worm’s forces. Grey Worm doesn’t know what to think until he looks up to see Euron laughing while leaning Missandei over the edge of the city gates. Harry Strickland is up there too with Edmure. Grey Worm is mad, but Qyburn calmly tells him ‘Run back to your queen and tell her she has two nights to pack up and leave Westeros or her armies die.’
Wyman Manderly welcomes the refugees into his home. Jaime and Brienne find some time to catch up and in my version they won’t admit any sort of romantic feelings for each other. Tyrion catches up with Daario just as two giant dragons arrive. Jon informs everyone what happened at Winterfell and that they need to leave soon as more Wights are on their way. Dany and Daario reunite and he immediately catches onto Jon and Dany’s relationship, but won’t reveal any personal thoughts on the matter. Jon tells Sam about Bran and The Night King. ‘Bran’s still alive in another body somewhere up North and I need to go and find him Sam.’ ‘Not without me you’re not.’ Sam confidently replies.
Jon asks Dany for one of her dragons so he can quickly scout out the entire North. Dany isn’t sure as they just beat the dead. They’re interrupted when Daario comes in with Grey Worm. A raven from Yara confirms The Golden Company sacked Casterly Rock and they presume The Ironborn also raided Dragonstone. Grey Worm is upset that he didn’t have enough support down south. Sansa tells Dany she should accept Cersei’s demands so her uncle can live. Tyrion isn’t sure as there is a chance his sister might deceive them again. Jon tries to change the focus back to the White Walkers. Daenerys demands everyone to be quiet! ‘The Night King is dead! I lost my baby and most dearest friend to your brother’s army. They’re not a threat anymore, but Cersei is and I don’t intend to lose anyone else.’
After the meeting Jon get into a fight Dany about their two different goals. Dany admits it hasn’t been easy since she learned about his heritage and Jon tells her he’s not interested in the throne. The argument ends with the two going their own separates ways. Sam got Tormund and Beric to help them on their expedition. Sansa catches Jon as she’s concerned about Daenerys as she isn’t the same person from as the one that arrived in Winterfell. Jon tells Sansa about his heritage and he assures her that Dany is just under a lot of pressure.
Later on they discover the smoky ruins of Dragonstone. Tyrion tries to tell Dany that turning away Jon isn’t a good idea. ‘Jon has always been focused on The White Walkers while I’ve always been destined to sit on the Iron Throne.‘ They’re not leaving Westeros so if things go south Jaime and Sansa will make great hostages. Tyrion is appalled by this, but Dany assures him they won’t be harmed. It’s just a small sacrifice if they’re going to get Cersei to cooperate.
Meanwhile Sam looks on the positive sides of going to The White Walker lair, like having the chance to learn more about their culture. Tormund doesn’t understand why Sam wants to know how undead monsters take a shit. After a long boat trip Jon and the gang stroll through the big hole in the wall. Jon and Sam are surprised to find Ghost on the other side. Using the dagger that killed The Night King, Jon gives it to Ghost to find Bran.
The Golden Company guard the outer walls of King’s Landing with the captured Unsullied, Dothraki and Riverrun soldiers secured and visible behind them. Cersei is looking down on them from atop the city gates. Sansa isn’t happy about being bait and Jaime shares her concerns. Tyrion reassures them their queen has it all under control. Same as the show Qyburn greets Tyrion. He asks if Daenerys has agreed to his queen’s demands and Tyrion begrudgingly says his queen’s demands. It takes a couple of minutes for Qyburn to return to Cersei and tell her what Tyrion told him. Cersei stares down at Dany for a while until she orders Euron to slit Edmure’s throat. His corpse falls from the city gates, Sansa is devastated, Dany holds back her anger and Cersei shouts ‘That was for taking my father’s home you little dragon whore!’
Dany grabs a knife and holds it to Jaime’s throat ‘Let my people go and leave Westeros for good or I’ll kill your brother.’ Cersei continues to stare down at her, then Jaime, Tyrion, Sansa and finally back to Dany and smiles at her. Cersei grabs Missandei and pushes her off the gates. Strickland orders his men to kill all of their captive. The grin gets wider as she looks upon Daenerys defeated face ‘The Castle is yours if you’re willingly to shed some blood for it.’ Cersei walks away and all her armies head back inside. The front gate is littered with corpses and Daenerys finally releases her inner dragon.
Episode 11 – The Things We Do For Love
The episode starts with a small quiet village been attacked by Wights. At the ruins of Dragonstone Tyrion goes down to visit Sansa and Jaime who have been locked up on Daenerys’ orders. Sansa knew this would happen as Dany is just like her father, which Tyrion blandly denies. Jaime needs to get to Cersei and Tyrion isn’t sure about that as she was perfectly fine with putting his life on the line. Jaime confidently says ‘That’s because she saw through her bluffs. Look it’s a long shot, she’s probably still mad at me, but I’m going to try and get her out of there.’ Tyrion releases them both and they have their final goodbyes. Brienne and Pod help Sansa escape. Jaime tells Brienne this might be it and he tells her if he didn’t have a twin sister then they could have had a chance. He kisses her, before sailing off into the night.
The Golden Company control the land around the castle while the Iron Born control the sea. Yara and Daario will deal with Euron, while the Unsullied and the remaining Northern armies help on land. The Dothraki and the older Northern Lords will lead the two caravans to the front of King’s Landing. Once Cersei surrenders they’ll open the gates for them to get inside. Daario mentions reports of an army of Wights have been spotted just past Harrenhal so they better move fast. Grey Worm points out taking out the ballistas so the dragons can come in and finish off Cersei. Dany reassures him Cersei will suffer for what she did. Daario has a worried look.
Jon and the gang have been riding for hours and they have past their 48th Wight who hasn’t attacked them. Beric points out the lion’s den must be near. They’ll have a bit of banter and Jon tells Sam that he should be the one to talk to Bran.
The next day Cersei and Qyburn admire all of the civilians gathered around the Red Keep. Cersei clenches her dagger as Qyburn mentions their armies are in place and the bad gossip about The Targaryen girl has spread across the city. Within the crowd The Hound and Arya are seen sneaking into the Red Keep and Jaime isn’t far behind. The Golden Company see the Unsullied and Northern Armies coming after them. Yara and Daario’s ships meet Euron’s. The men on the wall keep a watchful eye for any dragon sightings. The caravans reunite just past the treeline. Tyrion meets up with Davos and Varys. He mentions he let Sansa and Jaime go against his queen’s commands.
The King’s Landing forces outnumber their enemies forces. Cersei pleasurably sips her glass of wine. Suddenly behind the Red Keep Drogon attacks the wall where the ballistas are lined up. Rhaegal comes around and goes after Euron’s fleet. Cersei orders the Red Keep to close its doors and Jaime is locked out. The two dragons completely destroy Euron’s fleet. Euron catches fire and dives into the sea. A ballista hits Rhaegal’s wing so he can no longer fly. Drogon flies back to the walls and shortly after he completely destroys the main gate. The Northern and Unsullied armies charge for the breached gates. The Dothraki join the fight forcing The Golden Company to fall back. Strickland is charged down by the Dothraki horde. The ballistas are been abandoned as Drogon perches on the wall. The enemy forces begin throwing away their arms. Qyburn finally convinces Cersei to surrender.
Big white banners are raised all over The Red Keep and Tyrion is relived. Jaime is relived too and he just found another entrance into The Red Keep. Arya is annoyed as she just got into the main garden. Daenerys takes a breather, but then Rhaegal screams in pain as he’s barraged with spears and falls into the sea below. Dany is horrified to see some civilians piloting three of the abandoned ballistas. Daenerys listens to the civilians rejecting her and calling her a foreign whore. This is the moment where my Daenerys cracks and angrily shouts Dracarys! They slaughtered her child so with no second thought she starts burning innocent people. The Unsullied and Dothraki start killing surrendered soldiers. The innocent people outside the city are confused. The screams get louder when undead Wights start hacking at defenseless people. Yohn Royce gets Robin Arryn out of the way, but has his face torn off by a Wight. Yara pulls an unconscious half burned Euron from the water. Both Yara and Gendry are in complete shock. Tyrion is on his knees with his jaw on the floor.
Daario orders his men to go and help the innocents outside the walls and Yara follows after him. Cersei watches Daenerys massacre her city. Qyburn convinces her they should leave. Jaime finally finds a way into the castle, but is forced to fight two Lannister guards. The city is on fire and Daenerys finally decides to focus on The Red Keep. The castle starts crumpling giving Jaime the advantage over the guards, but is wounded in the progress. The Hound and Arya reach the throne room. Arya reminisces that this is where it all began. The Hound leaves her to it. Arya calls for Sandor as this is goodbye pretty much. He wishes her the best.
Meanwhile Jon and the gang finally reach the White Walker lair. They walk through an ancient old arch way which leads to a massive Weirwood tree where the White Walkers are congregated. Near the tree there are some old monuments and at the top on a hill is an old temple. Bran is lying on the tree and he looks like he’s recouping his strength. It’s not a surprise that Bran already knew they were coming. Jon asks how is he still alive? Sam replies with ‘Once The Night King realised he was Bran just in case he died he transferred most of himself into another body.’ Bran congratulates him on figuring it out. ‘I may be to weak to put myself in another body as of now, but don’t get any bright ideas as I still control all these men around you.’
Bran tells Jon he should be focusing on the Dragon Queen as she’s the biggest threat in Westeros. ‘She’s burning King’s Landing as we speak.’ Jon doesn’t believe him and Bran just sighs. He slowly limbs over to Jon to grab his forehead. Bran shows Jon a vision of Daenerys’ horrific actions. ‘You’re meant to sit on the throne Jon. I don’t care about the throne all I want is this world. Help me kill The Dragon Queen and the Iron Throne is yours.’ Jon is conflicted. ‘You love her, don’t you? It’s okay my dear brother you don’t have to kill her if you don’t want too. I’ll kill her myself and you after. You win or you die, Jon!’
Sam steps in ‘Bran wait, You’ve been fighting under the Children’s orders for thousands of years and after all of that fighting, wouldn’t you want a break? Instead of killing Daenerys send her back to Slaver’s Bay, you can have The North and Jon can have King’s Landing. No more fighting, everyone wins.’ Tormund thinks that’s really stupid and Bran agrees. Bran comes to Sam thanking him for being so hopeful, but there is no such thing as destiny. He turns to Beric. ‘Dondarrion. You believe you were brought back seven odd times to do something special, right? You’re wrong, really you’re just very unlucky. Stannis Baratheon and the Red Woman all believed they had a purpose, The Dragon Queen believes she’s almost completed her destiny. I was told I had some sort of greater purpose and my dear brother doesn’t even want to accept the path people say he’s meant to follow. It’s clear to me now that destiny is a lie and all there is death.’ He stabs Beric Dondarrion in the gut to let his words really sink in. ‘The Targaryen Girl is currently destroying the castle that holds her precious throne you have until she sits on it to make a final decision Jon Snow.’
Cersei is descending down the stairs when Sandor Clegane blocks their path. All he wants is his brother, but Ser Gregor ignores him. Sandor goes for Qyburn stabbing him in the chest. Gregor doesn’t pay him any notice until he tries to kill Cersei. Qyburn will try to tell Gregor to worry about the Queen, but just smashes him into a rock. I’m not touching Cleganebowl as it’s just some dumb fan service. Then again bringing these characters back is dumb fan service.
Cersei escapes into the dragon cellar and here she is blocked by Arya Stark. Cersei taunts her and Arya monologues about everyone she’s killed to get to her. Cersei is the final person on her list and Cersei just laughs. Arya will put Needle up to her throat and that’s when Jaime arrives. A wounded Jaime tries to reason with Arya that killing Cersei isn’t worth it. Arya argues back at him saying she was meant to do this. Arya is distracted long enough to be stabbed in the back by Cersei. Arya drops Needle and Cersei prepares for another jab, but suddenly Jaime comes in with Widow’s Wail. The sword enters straight through the future Lannister line. Jaime holds Cersei as she slips away.
At full strength Bran calls the Wights to return home. Over half of the innocents have boarded the ships. Jaime carries his dead sister while he helps a wounded Arya through the debris. Jaime begins to struggle to walk and he places himself onto The Iron Throne. He tells Arya to get out of here she has her whole life ahead of her and only now Arya realises she just wasted it. The episode ends with Tyrion and many others walking to the main gates in horror, Dany watching over the destruction of King’s Landing and Grey Worm finishing off The Lannister armies. The Red Keep lays in ruin as Jaime dies peacefully on the throne with Cersei in his arms. Arya struggles to walk down the steps leading to The Red Keep and then collapses on the stairs.
Link to the final part: My Ending to Game of Thrones: Part 5 – Rewriting The Ending
