Game of Thrones: Who Will Sit on the Iron Throne?
The series finale of Game of Thrones airs tonight.
Season eight has been, to say the least, a rollercoaster. A quality rollercoaster. A big, thrilling ride of disappointment and excitement.
There has never been such a storytelling endeavour on television. On film, too, with the exception of the MCU franchise. And we loved it, for the most part.
Did Dan & Dave screw up? Yes. Are we disappointed? Yes. But are we still excited? Hell yes. Because even though many things didn’t turn out as they should have, it’s still Game of Thrones. And we’re still hyped to talk about it and watch this epic story get wrapped-up. No matter if said wrapping-up is actually good.
(Read our analysis on what Dan & Dave did wrong here.)
We take this opportunity to make one final prediction: who will sit on the Iron Throne?
Before we get into this, some historical theory.
So, currently Dany sits on the Iron Throne. However, the rightful ruler is Jon. If they both die, the Targaryen line dies as well. That would mean that next line for the Iron Throne are the Baratheons. Dany legitimized Gendry as such, so that would make him next for king. If he dies as well, it gets a little tricky. There are two options. One, the legal line for the Iron Throne is over and that position is basically up for grabs. Two, next in line are the Lannisters, since Cersei won the throne last. Let’s say we go with this option, then the only living Lannister is Tyrion, so he’d be fourth in line. If he dies as well though (we’re just killing everyone, aren’t we?), then Sansa should be queen because she is currently still legally married to Tyrion. If she dies (somehow?), then it’s Bran, the only living male sibling to Sansa. After him, it would be Arya. And there it stops.
To sum up the current legal queue for the Iron Throne: Jon, Dany, Gendry, Tyrion, Sansa, Bran, Arya.
Now, we need to state this: the information above is purely to get the legal claims out of the way. There is no way anyone actually addresses these. Gendry probably doesn’t know about this, Tyrion wouldn’t assume the throne just because he’s in line, neither would Sansa, etc. We’re going to be looking at it from the story perspective from now on.
Let’s look at it logically.
(Yes, we know logic has been thrown out the window this season, but we’re still doing this the proper way.)
Who CAN’T sit on the Iron Throne?
Dany: She will be taken care of. The Mad Queen will not sit on the Iron Throne at the end. It doesn’t seem like that’s what they are going for. Dany is set up as ‘the final villain’ and will probably die. (Although we think that if they actually go with the Mad Queen winning the throne it would be very cool.)
Jon: It’s too sweet for Game of Thrones. Too expected. Dan & Dave are obviously trying to go against expectation (annoyingly so) and it seems unlikely they’ll put the most honorable person on the throne.
Arya: She doesn’t want it. She is not a queen in any way. And there’s absolutely no way to build a story around Arya sitting on the throne.
Bran: There is no Bran. He is The Three-Eyed Raven, a most holy plot device, and there is no logical solution as to how and why he would be king.
(Read our initial prediction on who lives and who dies this season here. We’ve been insanely wrong so far.)
Now, who COULD sit on the Iron Throne?
Tyrion: Theoretically, it could make sense. If Tyrion lives (although it seems he won’t) he could be forced onto the Iron Throne as the only possible and sensible ruler.
Sansa: It’s a possibility, sure, but a very slight one. Many people would have to die for this to happen and many other people would have to figure out why Sansa should sit on the Throne. She’s back in Winterfell and will probably stay there for a long time.
Davos: In the case that Jon, Dany, Tyrion, Gendry, and maybe even Sansa die, we can actually see this happening. Dan & Dave are the kind of writers that would pull this ‘unexpected’ ending and give us something completely out of the blue. But honestly, we’d be okay with this.
Gendry: And finally: our PREDICTION. It makes the most sense. Gendry is in line for the throne, although he doesn’t know it. We believe this is what’s coming up: Jon and Dany both die in the upcoming episode. Davos and Tyrion (if both alive) then sit down and figure out who should sit on the Iron Throne. They realize that Dany legitimized Gendry and that he’s a kind man and a relatively wise one. Also, this would bring the story to a complete circle: the Starks are back in the north with Sansa as Warden, the Targaryens are dead, and on the throne sits a Baratheon who loves a Stark woman who doesn’t love him back. It’s poetic. And it seems logical.
But we’re done hoping. We’re done predicting. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: this is the series finale of Game of Thrones. No matter how it ends, we’ll enjoy watching. It’s the conclusion to an epic ten year journey and we can’t wait until tonight.
We’ve found a silver lining for ourselves. You should find it, too.
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If you’re like us and know you’ll rewatch the whole show immediately after its over, get the Game of Thrones Blu-Ray here. And what better way to enjoy that than with a nice glass of scotch? Get your Tyrion Lannister whiskey glass here.
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