Endgame of Thrones: Season 8, Episode 5
By: Trishna Rikhy
Tags: Entertainment, Game of Thrones, Game Of Thrones Season 8, Endgame Of Thrones, TV

Endgame of Thrones: Season 8, Episode 5

Winter has arrived, and it’s in the form of the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones. Fans have been guessing, wondering, speculating at how the iconic show will end for years. Theories from Daenerys and Jon having a baby to Bran actually being the Night King have been in circulation on the internet for some time, and as each week of the six-episode final season passes, we get closer and closer to finding out which theories might be true, and which one’s we’re going to have to throw away.

If the Lannisters and Starks, the Targaryens and Tyrells, the White Walkers and the Crows are all too much for you to keep up with, don’t worry — we have you covered. As each episode passes and more and more plot is revealed, we’ll be able to cross certain theories off our list and narrow down how the final episode will unravel. This is Endgame of Thrones, where all men must die, but not all theories have to.

Season 8, Episode 5: “The Bells”

The Recap

Last week, Daenerys and her armies turned to the threat to the south—Cersei—with the Battle of Winterfell having been won. Cersei’s armies killed Rhaegal almost immediately, however, and executed Missandei; in the final shot, we saw Daenerys, furious and traumatized, walking away from King’s Landing.

This week, we witnessed the aftermath of the beginning of the showdown for the Iron Throne. A very down-in-the-dumps Daenerys executed Varys for plotting to put Jon Snow on the Iron Throne, and threatened to do the same to Tyrion if he let her down again. She then confessed to Jon Snow that she didn’t have any love in Westeros, only fear; but if she had to, she would play on that fear.

In making plans to attack King’s Landing, Tyrion makes a few sneaky side deals. He coaxes Daenerys into agreeing that, if the city surrenders and rings the bells, she will call off her troops; it is absolutely crucial to Tyrion, who wants to avoid the slaughter of innocents, that this be done, and he reminds Grey Worm, Jon, and Daenerys of it more than once. He also pays a visit to Jaime, who had been caught trying to get past Daenerys’ troops, and convinces him to try to go to King’s Landing and get Cersei to surrender. If all else fails, Tyrion tells Jaime to escape with Cersei on a ship Ser Davos will smuggle them out on, and to start a new life in Pentos.

Later, Daenerys’ armies make their moves. She and Drogon destroy the Iron Fleet, and the walls of the city, allowing Grey Worm, Jon, and the Northern armies to enter. While Cersei is in the Red Keep, convinced her troops will fight for their queen, her troops are surrendering to Daenerys’s armies to avoid being killed.

After Drogon wreaks a few minutes of havoc and Cersei’s troops surrender, the city falls—the bells are rung, and it seems all will be well. As always in Game of Thrones, however, all is decidedly not well. Daenerys ignores the bells and continues to fly Drogon over the city and destroy absolutely everything. No time is wasted in showing the suffering of innocents in the city, the crumbling of the Red Keep, the deaths on the streets.

Euron, who jumped overboard when the Iron Fleet burned and swam to King’s Landing, encounters Jaime trying to break into the city. The two battle, and Euron injures Jaime badly before being killed by Jaime himself. His last words: “I’m the man who killed Jaime Lannister.” Yikes.

Meanwhile, Arya and Clegane continue their quest to get to Cersei and kill her. When the Red Keep starts crumbling around them, Clegane convinces Arya to flee, telling her that revenge does to a person what has happened to him, and she doesn’t want that life for herself. Cersei is ushered by Qyburn and the Mountain to safety, where the Hound stops them. The Mountain kills Qyburn, and as he and his brother begin to battle, Cersei runs away, alone.

The Cleganes endure a rough battle, which ends in Sandor pushing himself and his brother over a crumbling wall of the Red Keep and plunging into the fire below, killing them both. Jon attempts to get the soldiers to fall back; Arya tries to usher innocents to safety, but is knocked out by Drogon’s fire; and Jaime and Cersei find each other and look for a way to escape, with Cersei begging Jaime not to let her and their baby die. In the dungeons of the Red Keep, however, they are holed in, unable to flee; they embrace, and the ceiling crumbles above them.

Elsewhere, Arya wakes up to death all around her. The city is crumbled and in ruins, and hundreds lay dead around her thanks to Daenerys and her soldiers. All that remains is herself, and a white horse; shocked, alone, and injured, she rides into the distance.

The Theories

A lot was covered in this episode, but a lot still remains for the series finale next week.

We can effectively rule out that Jaime will kill Cersei, because he wasn’t planning on it in this episode as he came to save her and be with her, and after she begged him to save her and the baby, they died in each others’ arms in the rubble of the palace crypts. We can then also rule out that Tyrion will kill Cersei.

After seven seasons of wanting nothing but revenge against Cersei Lannister, a few harsh words from Clegane put Arya off the path of vengeance, so we can also rule out Arya killing Cersei as well.

We can also dispose of the theory that Cersei will become the Mad Queen—with her dead, it seems far more likely that Daenerys will become the Mad Queen, if she hasn’t already with yesterday’s events.

And because we can’t leave the Iron Throne in the hands of someone mad, it’s looking more and more likely that Jon Snow may end up on the Iron Throne himself. He’s said time and time again that he doesn’t want it, and that Daenerys is his queen, but we saw the look of horror in his eyes when he realized she was on the warpath, destroying the city even after it surrendered.

But what would become of Daenerys then, you ask? It turns out we might just see Jon fulfill the prophecy of Azor Ahai and kill Daenerys, his beloved, to become the Prince Who Was Promised. I mean, all of Melisandre’s fire magic worked during the Battle of Winterfell, so who is to say the rest of her Lord of Light talk isn’t real?

With only one episode—one!—left of Game of Thrones, there is still a lot to be said. What will the fates of all of our favorite heroes and villains be? Who will get the Iron Throne? Who will live, and who will die? And, of course, the question we all have to ask ourselves—is or is not the entire Game of Thrones series a story being told by Samwell Tarly?

We’ll see you next week, for one last recap. All men must die, and all Game of Thrones theory columns must too.