[Iron Throne — Lore]
Meanwhile, back at Winterfell, Sam and Gilly arrive. The former visits Bran and the two of them discuss Jon's origin: he was born to Rhaegar and Lyanna at a Tower in Dorne, and is not a Snow at all, but a Sand. Sam realizes that that isn't true either, recalling the entry from High Septon Maynard's private journal about annulling Rhaegar's marriage. Bran expressed his doubts, but Sam reiterates the private nature of the journal and encourages Bran to use Greensight to confirm it. To his own surprise, Bran easily finds the wedding, where he sees a clearly happy Lyanna wedding Rhaegar in a Faith of the Seven ceremony before a Heart tree. Seeing forward to the Tower of Joy, Bran finally hears Lyanna's dying words. Now piecing the truth together, Bran declares that Rhaegar never raped Lyanna. She loved him and ran off with him, and bore him a son, Aegon Targaryen, making "Jon" not only legitimate but the rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
After the battle, Jon leads a mass cremation for the dead and is hailed by the wildlings during the celebrations of the victory. After the celebrations, Daenerys meets up with Jon in his room. Jon offers his condolences for Jorah's death, and Daenerys affirms that Jorah loved her but she couldn't love him the way he wanted, not the way she loves Jon. She and Jon begin to kiss, preparing to have sex but Jon stops himself. Daenerys laments that Jon told her the truth of his parentage and is fearful people will press his claim against hers for the Iron Throne. Jon is vehement that he does not want the throne. Daenerys tells Jon it doesn't matter what he personally wants, people will press his claim. Jon tells Daenerys he will refuse and on his knee, declares Daenerys will always be his queen. Daenerys insists that he must never reveal his parentage to anyone but Jon tells Daenerys he owes his sisters the truth. He is certain they can all live happily together, but Daenerys says the only way that can happen is if Jon never tells the truth about himself and leaves.
Troubled, Jon walks to the throne room and finds Daenerys standing by the Iron Throne. Jon confronts her about her atrocities during the battle. She displays no remorse, believing it was necessary to achieve her ends. Jon tries to dissuade her from this path, urging forgiveness for Tyrion and those in King's Landing. Daenerys rejects this, saying they can't hide behind mercy and states the world they need can't be built by those loyal to the current one. Jon says they need a world of mercy and Daenerys assures that the new world she has in mind will be a good one and she knows what is good. When Jon asks about others who think they know what is good, she responds they don't get to choose. She tries to convince him to be by her side to build her new world and an anguished Jon reaffirms his allegiance to her. As they share a passionate kiss, Jon reluctantly stabs her . Daenerys collapses and dies in his arms as Jon grieves over her. Drogon approaches them after witnessing this while Jon gently lays her on the ground. Seeing his mother dead on the floor, Drogon becomes enraged and faces Jon. Jon prepares for his death, but the dragon instead melts the Iron Throne and flies away with her corpse.
There were numerous hints since the first novel that Eddard was lying about who Jon's mother was, and that he might even be the son of Eddard's sister Lyanna and Rhaegar, making Jon the secret heir to the Iron Throne. In the twenty years since the first novel was released through Season 6 of the TV series, this theory was popularly known in the books' fandom by the abbreviation " R+L=J " - for "Rhaegar + Lyanna = Jon." The theory was confirmed to be half true in the Season 6 finale when it was revealed that Lyanna was Jon's mother. A few days later HBO released an info graph revealing that Rhaegar is Jon's father, fully confirming the theory to be true.
As a baby, she was taken into exile in the Free Cities with her brother by loyal retainers, among them Ser Willem Darry . After years spent fruitlessly trying to raise support to retake the Iron Throne , Viserys and Daenerys were given sanctuary by Magister Illyrio Mopatis in the Free City of Pentos . During this time, Daenerys lived in constant fear of Viserys, who hit her when his temper was risen (in his words, whenever she "woke the dragon"). Living under Viserys's domination left her meek and malleable.
Daenerys tries to convince Drogo to invade so their son might claim the Iron Throne, but the Dothraki do not trust ships and water their horses cannot drink. Now that Viserys is dead, Drogo does not feel inclined to honor the bargain. A wineseller attempts to poison Daenerys to fulfill Robert's orders. She is rescued by Jorah, who initially intends to drink the wine to prove a point, but then offers it knowingly to the wine-seller himself, and Rakharo. Following the assassination attempt, Drogo reverses his decision and swears that he will lead his forces across the Narrow Sea and seize the Seven Kingdoms in blood and fire.
The next day, Daenerys, accompanied by Jorah and Barristan, walks along a sea wall known as the " Walk of Punishment ." Here, any slave who shows insubordination is strapped to a cross and left to die out in public, as a warning to all other slaves. When Daenerys asks for water to give to a condemned man, Jorah reminds her that this man has been sentenced to death. Nonetheless, Daenerys offers the condemned man water, but he refuses to drink, saying that he just wants to die. Jorah tells her that if she wants to win the Iron Throne, she must take it, "That will mean blood on your hands before the thing is done," but Daenerys responds, "The blood of my enemies. Not the blood of innocents."
In the end, Daenerys reaches an agreement with Kraznys to sell her biggest dragon, Drogon , for all of the Unsullied soldiers. Jorah and Selmy object to this deal on the grounds that her dragons are key to winning the Iron Throne. However, Daenerys appears to brush away their concerns and accepts the transaction, and also takes Missandei as a token of faith. Upon leaving the meeting, she scolds Jorah and Selmy for criticizing her decision in public.
Daenerys meets with the Captains Mero , a Braavosi who is also known as the Titan's Bastard, and Prendahl na Ghezn , a Ghiscari, and Prendahl's underling Daario Naharis . During the proceedings, Mero insults Daenerys by likening her to a whore and touches Missandei inappropriately. Prendahl and Mero refuse Daenerys's offer of an alliance, pointing out they will not get their rewards until she reclaims the Iron Throne. In response, Daenerys replies that she had no army a fortnight ago and that she had no dragons a year ago. Daenerys gives them two days to make up their mind and sends them away with the barrel of wine which Mero had departed.
The next day, Daenerys formally thanks Jorah for saving her life, but still remarks that he has been banished twice and returned both times, so she is left with a dilemma on what to do with him. She is shocked to learn he has greyscale , feeling responsible for his condition. After Jorah confesses his love to her and prepares to leave, Daenerys tells him to find a cure; that she will need him by her side when she sits on the Iron Throne.
Tyrion takes up and urges them to kneel before Daenerys and, after the war against Cersei, their combined forces would defend the North. Jon refuses both because it may take longer to win the Iron Throne from Cersei and, by then, it may already be too late as at that point the Night King's army may have already bypassed The Wall and marched further down south into the Seven Kingdoms. Jon also explains that he doesn't know Daenerys at this point, that her claim to the throne rests on her descent from a king his family helped overthrow and he was chosen by his people to lead, so he must lead them as well as he can. Daenerys concedes that this is fair but counters by saying that if he insists on that view, she will count him as a rebel against her rule.
At the Dragonpit , the various factions meet: Cersei, Jaime, Qyburn and Euron represent the Iron Throne. Jon, Davos, and Brienne represent the North and Daenerys's court. When Cersei demands to know where her rival is, the Dragon Queen makes a suitably dramatic entrance on Drogon's back, with Rhaegal flying overhead.
Later, Daenerys speaks privately with Sansa, addressing some of the thorny political issues involved in their alliance. Sansa is afraid Daenerys has ulterior motives and that because Jon loves her, he will do stupid things for love. Daenerys assures Sansa this is not the case and confesses her love for Jon, explaining she has had only one goal - retaking the Iron Throne - until she met Jon and now she's in the North helping him fight the Night King and the army of the dead. Although a greater understanding appears to develop between the two women, Sansa remains firm in her conviction that the Northerners will never truly accept an outsider as their ruler again, and bluntly asks Daenerys what her plans for the North are once the dead have been defeated. The awkward moment is interrupted by Maester Wolkan announcing the arrival of Theon and his men.
Walking through the charred remains of the throne room, seeing what she saw in her vision in the House of the Undying years ago, with the Iron Throne the only piece completely intact, Daenerys ascends in awe and reaches her hand out to touch one of the snow-covered blades. Before she can sit down, Jon enters and she recounts to him the conquest of her ancestor Aegon and how he had the Iron Throne built. Jon confronts her about the many atrocities she committed during the battle; however, she justifies her actions and, despite Jon's pleas for her do so, she refuses to forgive Tyrion and the people of King's Landing. He begs Daenerys to make the people see that they made a mistake, and to make them understand.
Drogon notices Jon laying Daenerys down on the ground and approaches them. Drawing closer, he snarls at Jon before trying to nudge his mother awake. Upon realizing that she is dead, Drogon, roars in rage and grief at Jon before unleashing a jet of fire that melts the Iron Throne. He then carries off Daenerys's body with his claws, flying far off into the distance, never to be seen again.
Daenerys spent her entire early life living on the sufferance of others, bouncing back and forth between benefactors (like Illyrio Mopatis) with her brother, until whatever dreams those benefactors had of supporting the siblings' claim to the Iron Throne wore off, and they were forced to move on to another patron. As a result, Daenerys never knew a true home, and constantly living under her brother's domination gave her great empathy with the downtrodden of the world: she was deeply sympathetic to those she perceived as oppressed, while at the same time, her pent-up frustration from years of being dominated by her petty would-be-king of a brother made Daenerys capable of utter ruthlessness against those she perceived as oppressing others. This experience caused Daenerys to develop a largely black-and-white worldview, and she could be idealistic to a fault: upon seeing the plight of the slaves in Slaver's Bay, Daenerys became determined to free all the slaves in the region, with little thought devoted to the practical after-effects which would result from such an action and without thinking that between some slaves and their masters could exist respect or even love. A particular example of this is when the Great Masters of Meereen crucified 163 children as she approached the city in an attempt to intimidate her. After she took the city, instead of pardoning the slave-masters, she had 163 of them crucified in retribution, including many who opposed the crucifixion of the children, unconcerned about any negative political fallout which would result.
Other examples of Daenerys's naivety and narrow-mindedness were when Tyrion asked her how she intended to take the Iron Throne, and Daenerys answered that she would simply earn the common people's favor. This demonstrated both her lack of understanding of the real power wielded by the noble houses, and that she didn't have a clear vision of the political situation in Westeros; in Slaver's Bay, she earned the favor of the commoners by abolishing slavery, but in Westeros there were no slaves to free or similarly oppressed people to help. The invasion she ended up launching against Cersei made Daenerys, in the citizens' eyes, a conqueror rather than a liberator. She caused further suffering to those who had already lost so much during the previous war and, in the eyes of Northmen, she was the one who came to deny them the independence they had gained after so many sacrifices. While such an outcome would almost certainly have happened, the fact that Daenerys was genuinely surprised at the lack of accommodation to her rule proves even more the idealistic vision she had of Westeros.
About her family's fame, particularly after her brother's death, Daenerys has always shown a dual and, in some cases, opportunistic if not even hypocritical consideration: Daenerys has always remarked how much different she was from her father, who she was not afraid to call evil to reassure others about the goodness of her intentions, just as both she and her supporters have always remarked that she became queen through her own strength and that they follow her by choice; however, Daenerys kept using her status as the Mad King's daughter as a right to aspire to the Iron Throne, as well as, during her first meeting with the then King in the North, Jon Snow, in the face of the latter's reluctance to bow to her, Daenerys, who a minute earlier had asked him to not judge her on the basis of her father's actions, tried to intimidate him by accusing Jon's (supposed) father, Ned Stark, of conspiring with Robert Baratheon in his attempt to kill her. And even after accepting that her father was maybe the worst ruler in history, she kept considering Jaime Lannister only a traitor. This leaves a big question about how much she cared about her father, if she truly loved him or if she considered him only a tool for reconquer the Iron Throne.
Daenerys's extreme actions could also have been triggered by the destruction of her dreams: While she had accepted the stories of her father's madness were true, she sincerely believed it was her destiny to become Queen of the Seven Kingdoms by virtue of her birthright. Her many accomplishments in Essos, including her dragons' birth, her liberation of slaves, and her persuading the Dothraki to follow her across the sea, only furthered this vision of a grand destiny in her mind. As Tyrion had previously warned her, however, neither her accomplishments nor her birthright were guaranteed to secure support in Westeros, either from the common people or the noble houses. After discovering that Jon was the true heir to the Iron Throne, and that people in Westeros viewed her not as a liberator but as an invader, she realized that her dreams were truly empty. This would have been a great blow to her psyche, and unable to accept a future in which she wouldn't sit on the Iron Throne, she decided that she had to take it by force.
Unbeknownst to Daenerys, her nephew Aegon Targaryen (son of Elia Martell) , the son of Rhaegar and Elia, is alive, as revealed in A Dance with Dragons . They were supposed to meet in Volantis, but Daenerys has decided to remain in Meereen, and Aegon cannot reach her due to the siege . Aegon is initially certain that Daenerys will marry him and give him her armies and dragons for the purpose of conquering Westeros; in contrast to Jon's show character, Aegon does not see anything wrong about marrying his aunt. Tyrion pours cold water on the overconfident youth's hopes, pointing out that his aunt is not some timid little girl who does whatever she is told, but a powerful queen, who has crossed deserts, survived assassins, rallied armies and conquered cities. Tyrion comments that if Aegon appears before her like that (even with the Golden Company ), he'll look like a beggar; he advises Aegon to travel to Westeros instead, raise his banners, rally supporters, and then Daenerys will come and meet him as equals. Aegon follows Tyrion's advice; so far, Daenerys has not heard of him. It has yet to be seen how she will react when she finds out she has a living family relative, whose claim to the Iron Throne is stronger than hers.
Later, Tyrion is reading through the financial records, and explains to Bronn that not all is as Baelish would like the court to think. Bronn asks if he thinks Littlefinger has been stealing to obtain the crown's money, but Tyrion says the problem is more that he's been borrowing all of it. Littlefinger always acted like he was a financial genius who could raise money seemingly out of nowhere, but in reality the Iron Throne is heavily in debt, and Littlefinger procured enough money to balance the books every year by borrowing massive sums of money from foreign banks. In particular, much of their debt is owed to the Iron Bank of Braavos, the largest bank in the Free Cities. Tyrion warns Bronn that when debtors to the Iron Bank cannot repay their loans, the Iron Bank will first refuse to give out new loans, and ultimately support rebellions against them.
After Tyrion had killed Shae and his father, he becomes a broken man; Tyrion had lost the will to live. Traumatized; by killing the woman he had loved and losing his lordship, influence and fabulous wealth, he becomes more cynical and pessimistic, and was content to just drink himself to death instead of helping Varys to aid Daenerys Targaryen in getting the Iron Throne. Tyrion becomes convinced in the futility of everything, gaining a negative and fatalistic outlook on the past, and the future; to the point of suicidal, as well gains a lower view for matters he dealt with high esteem and importance beforehand in the past; such as the Great Houses or the bid for the Iron Throne. Even; when meeting Daenerys face to face, Tyrion had explained thatl he was still content to die. But whilst helping; with the chaos in Meereen and keeping Daenerys from becoming like her father in her ruthlessness, he regains his will to live. He also finally finds something to believe in, as he believes in Daenerys. His sense of humor is more muted and cynical than; before; but this may be the result of his no longer being able to rely on his family title for protection and influence, and having to earn his merits with Daenerys on his brains alone.
Aegon tells Tyrion that he will soon meet and marry Daenerys, she will give him her troops and dragons, and together they will sail to Westeros and conquer it. Tyrion pours cold water on the overconfident youth's hopes, pointing out his aunt is not some timid little girl who does whatever she is told, but a powerful queen, who has crossed deserts, survived assassins, rallied armies and conquered cities, who is unlikely to welcome a boy claiming to have a better claim to the Iron Throne than her own. Tyrion concludes that if Aegon appears before her like that (even with the Golden Company), he'll look like a beggar; he advises Aegon to travel to Westeros instead, raise his banners, rally supporters and take advantage of the chaos left by the War of the Five Kings , and then Daenerys will come and meet him as equals. Aegon accepts Tyrion's advice.
Sure enough, war erupts between the Lannister and Stark armies in the Riverlands and Cersei attempts to secure her son's hold on the Iron Throne. She takes a new lover, her cousin Lancel who was King Robert's squire and gave him the wine that made him too drunk to slay the boar that killed him. She also receives a letter informing her of Jaime's capture by Robb Stark.
Lancel begs Cersei to let him return Joffrey to the front, believing the battle is lost otherwise. Cersei pushes him into a stone pillar, aggravating his injury, and storms out. Convinced the battle is lost, and not wanting her children to die by Stannis's hand, she takes Tommen to the Iron Throne room and prepares to poison him. She is stopped just in time by the unexpected arrival of Tywin, who reports that they have won the battle. Tyrion is betrayed and wounded by Ser Mandon Moore of the Kingsguard during the fighting. Tyrion's role in defending the city is not acknowledged and he is left to recover from his wounds, stripped of his power. Rumors circulate that Cersei ordered the attack on Tyrion. No longer considering Tyrion a threat, Cersei releases Ros.
Following her coronation, Cersei shows Jaime a giant map of Westeros and discusses the multiple foes they now face. While Cersei has dreams of ushering in a long dynasty, Jaime reminds her that they are losing the war, and with all their children dead, there is no Lannister line to inherit the Iron Throne. When Jaime asks Cersei about Tommen, she responds angrily that he betrayed them by committing suicide. Cersei adds that they are the only living Lannisters who count. Jaime tells her that they need allies and reports that House Frey has been exterminated. Cersei angrily reminds him that she has been listening to their father's counsel for the past forty years and has learnt some things.
Euron returns to the capital with Ellaria and Tyene Sand , the women who poisoned her daughter Myrcella. In recognition of Euron's gesture of good faith, Cersei agrees to Euron's marriage proposal, though only after the war is won, and names him commander of the Iron Throne's naval forces. She is cheered by the attendants in the Throne Room following her success, propagandising her defence as being compromised of the "sons and daughters of Westeros."
After the Sack of Highgarden , Cersei meets with Tycho, who is pleased that Cersei will use the captured gold to pay off the Iron Throne's massive debts to the bank, and he engages in open flattery by saying that she is as cunning at military strategy as her father Tywin was, if not more so. Now that the Lannisters' old debts will be mostly paid off, and the Iron Bank's faith in them somewhat reassured by their recent military victories, Cersei wants to take out new loans to strengthen her position in the war, so she can finish securing control over the rest of the continent. They discuss that Cersei wants to use the money to hire foreign sellsword companies to bolster the depleted Lannister military ranks. Specifically, she reveals that she has had Qyburn make overtures to hire the best and largest private mercenary army in all of the Free Cities : the Golden Company . Tycho assures her that the Iron Bank will be delighted to help her with these future endeavors, once it receives the gold she is bringing them.
Later, at the Red Keep, Qyburn is visiting Cersei when Jaime enters her chambers. Jaime tells Cersei that he met with Tyrion. When Cersei asks if Daenerys wants to negotiate a surrender, Jaime tells her that Dany is seeking an armistice due to the threat posed by the Army of the Dead. Cersei knows that Bronn secretly organized the meeting between Tyrion and Jaime. Cersei says that perhaps an alliance with Daenerys may be a wiser move, but she still retains her determination to destroy any force that stands against her. She also asks if Jaime plans to punish Bronn for arranging the clandestine meeting with Tyrion. She also reveals that she is pregnant with another of Jaime's children, one who she believes will someday be the heir to the Iron Throne. After reflecting on their late father's advice that "the lion does not concern himself with the opinions of the sheep", Cersei hugs Jaime and whispers in his ear that he is never to betray her again.
At the Dragonpit, the various factions meet: Cersei, Jaime, Qyburn and Euron representing the Iron Throne, Jon, Davos and Brienne representing the North, and Daenerys' court. When Cersei demands to know where her rival is, the Dragon Queen makes a suitably dramatic entrance on Drogon 's back, with Rhaegal flying overhead. Euron tries to posture, threatening to kill Yara unless Theon yields to him and deriding Tyrion's dwarfism; when Tyrion and Theon retort to his taunts with their own, Euron remarks that Tyrion would have been killed at birth in the Iron Islands.
Despite being sworn by the holiest oaths to protect the king as a member of the Kingsguard, Jaime ultimately turned his own sword on Aerys, slaying him at the foot of the Iron Throne itself. For this infamous act, he is known throughout the Seven Kingdoms as the "Kingslayer", to his irritation.
He says he feared for her safety, but when Doran insists as to why he didn't just send a letter by messenger raven, he explains that they received a threatening message: Myrcella's Lannister lion pendant jammed in the mouth of dead viper. Jaime asks if Doran intends to behead him, but he says that he will not, because he wishes to avoid war. Doran insists that for the alliance between the Iron Throne and Dorne to continue, the engagement of Trystane and Myrcella must stand, and Trystane will simply take his uncle Oberyn's place on the small council. Jaime finds Doran's request entirely reasonable, and Myrcella is ecstatic that she will not be separated from Trystane, so Jaime agrees.
Jaime betrayed his king by murdering him at the foot of the Iron Throne itself. He attacked Aerys on the steps of the Iron Throne, and cut the Mad King's throat rather than stabbing him in the back as in the TV Series. Robert Baratheon forgave Jaime, reasoning that someone had to kill Aerys, and he was just happy that the Lannisters were the ones who got their hands dirty instead of himself. Eddard Stark, Stannis Baratheon and Barristan Selmy all believed that Jaime should have faced justice for killing Aerys, or at least stripped of his position on the Kingsguard and made to take the black, but Robert didn't want to upset his crucial alliance with Jaime's father Tywin, his own new father-in-law. Jaime is stuck in an ironic situation: Targaryen loyalists despise him for personally killing the last Targaryen king, but even those who joined Robert in rebellion (and wished Aerys dead) often question why he didn't kill Aerys sooner , preventing the loss of life that happened in the war. A small number of people don't even mind what Jaime did or when he did it, but place so much respect on honor and justice that they feel his breach of his Kingsguard vows to defend the king are a sacrilege that can never be forgiven. For his part, Jaime points out that Aerys was a madman who roasted women and babies on spits because the voices in his head told him they were plotting against him, and he has no regrets about killing the Mad King.
Sansa later attends a war council in preparation for the continued war against Cersei. She advises giving the armies time to rest before engaging in a new conflict, only to cause a tense moment with Daenerys who insists on attacking Cersei as soon as possible, coolly telling Sansa that it's time for the North to reciprocate. Along with Arya and Bran, Sansa then meets with Jon in the godswood. Jon is angry at his sisters for their treatment of Daenerys, explaining they'd all be dead without her. Sansa protests that Arya is the one who killed the Night King and Jon points out Daenerys's armies gave their lives to defend against the Army of the Dead. Sansa acknowledges this but doesn't think it's reason enough to automatically submit to Daenerys but Jon says he pledged the North to Daenerys. Arya tells Jon she respects his decision, it was the right thing to do, but it's also right for herself and Sansa to distrust his Queen. Jon wants them to get to know Daenerys but Arya doesn't want to either, Daenerys isn't one of them. Jon tells her they won't make many allies if they're only friends with the people she grew up with. Arya is fine with this because all she needs is their family, the four of them. Jon tells them he's not a Stark, but Sansa and Arya both insist he is Ned's son and their brother. Pained, Jon reveals he needs to tell them something and swears them to secrecy. Sansa balks but Jon asks her to do it because they're family. When both sisters swear, Jon asks Bran to reveal his true parentage: the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen, and the subsequent heir to the Iron Throne.
Later, Tyrion finds a shaken Sansa looking at Daenerys's dragons in the sky. She asks why Tyrion would choose to follow Daenerys. Tyrion replies that Daenerys loves Sansa's brother, but Sansa says it doesn't mean she'll be a good queen. Tyrion notes Sansa's dislike of Daenerys; but says that; a good relationship between the North and the capital has been beneficial. Sansa doesn't think this will be a problem; since Jon is the Warden of the North and he loves the Queen. Tyrion realizes something is wrong and asks Sansa to look at him. He urges her to find common ground with Daenerys as Jon won't be spending much time in the North from now on. Sansa wonders what Tyrion is worried about as Daenerys seems to have everything she needs. When Tyrion urges Sansa not to provoke Daenerys, Sansa realizes he is afraid of her. She anxiously tells Tyrion she doesn't want Jon going south, the men in her family never do well there. Tyrion agrees but quips that Jon once told him he's not a Stark. This rattles Sansa, prompting Tyrion to ask if she's alright. He tries to convince her of Daenerys but Sansa is not receptive. As Tyrion leaves, Sansa has a change of heart and goes against her promise to Jon, telling Tyrion that there is somebody better for the Iron Throne.
Despite being restored to the king's favor, Eddard worries that the situation may yet come to war. He orders Sansa and Arya to return to Winterfell. A chance comment by Sansa that golden-haired Joffrey is a lion, not a stag, and is "nothing like" his old drunk of a father, prompts Eddard to realize the truth of Joffrey's parentage. He consults The Lineage book and sees that in every match between a Baratheon and a member of another house, the Baratheon black hair always dominates. Shocked, Eddard realizes that this means that Joffrey and the other royal children are not Robert's and as a result, they have no claim to the Iron Throne .
Robert dies and Joffrey takes the throne. Cersei tears up the letter proclaiming Eddard as Protector of the Realm. Eddard tells Joffrey that he has no right to the Iron Throne and commands the City Watch to take him and his mother into custody. Instead, the City Watch turns on Eddard's men and kills them. Littlefinger holds a knife to Eddard's throat, telling him that he shouldn't have trusted him.
Eddard's head is placed on a spike above the Traitor's Walk in the Red Keep . Joffrey torments Sansa by forcing her to look upon it as well as the other slain members of her household. She overcomes her revulsion and is able to maintain her composure, preventing his satisfaction at seeing her upset. Eddard's death launches the Seven Kingdoms into the devastating War of the Five Kings , with the North and the Riverlands seceding from the authority of the Iron Throne and Robb Stark proclaimed as the King in the North . Tywin calls his execution "madness and stupidity" as the Lannisters - who are also fighting Robert's brothers for the throne - could have used Eddard to end the war with the Starks.
Robb sees a woman battlefield healer treating a wounded Lannister soldier . The prisoner protests when she tells him she has to amputate in order to save his life. Robb helps hold him down as she saws off the leg. Introducing herself as Talisa, she criticizes Robb for the need for this war. Robb doesn't want the Iron Throne, just revenge on Joffrey for his father's death. She is shocked to learn he doesn't care which king takes the throne after they defeat Joffrey (having declared for neither of the Baratheon brothers). He just wants them to leave the north alone afterward. She points out that for all the bloodshed they have caused, he hasn't hurt the ones who killed his father, Joffrey and Tywin Lannister. The men they slaughtered were not Tywin's main army but unwilling boy soldiers and conscripts from the Westerlands . Intrigued by her, she asks where she is from. She answers Volantis . Robb attempts to compliment her, but she once again quips him on his need for revenge.
Since Robb was not involved in the conflict between Stannis and the Lannisters, his death (whether or not was affected by the leech ritual) did not get Stannis any closer to the Iron Throne. However, since Stannis is still alive in the books and has obtained the support of the Mormonts and other Northern houses, it can be argued that Robb's death assisted Stannis indirectly : his death has left a void, and the people of the North wished to settle the score with their oppressors, but needed someone to rally them; by liberating Deepwood Motte , Stannis has proven himself capable for that task.
Sam finds Jon by himself in the crypts of Winterfell. He confronts Jon about the death of his father and brother, asking if he would have done the same thing in Daenerys's position. He then tells Jon about the diary entry he found from High Septon Maynard stating that he annulled the marriage between Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell , that Rhaegar then married Lyanna Stark and that Jon was their true born son, all of which Bran confirmed using the Sight . Jon, visibly shocked at the revelation, says that Ned Stark is the most honorable man he has ever known and cannot believe that Ned would have lied to him his whole life. Sam reminds Jon that Ned lied to protect him from Robert Baratheon , who would have killed him if he ever found out the truth of Jon's parentage. Sam goes on to state that Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, and asks rhetorically whether Daenerys would give up her crown to save her people as he did.
When King Robert Baratheon is grievously wounded in a hunting accident, he talks to Joffrey on his death bed and says he should have been a better father. After his death, Joffrey ascends to the Iron Throne , and orders that preparations be made to crown him within the fortnight. Eddard refuses to recognize Joffrey's claim to the Iron Throne. He presents a proclamation from Robert making him Regent and Protector of the Realm to enforce his authority, but Cersei tears up the document. Eddard expects Lord Petyr Baelish and Commander Janos Slynt of the City Watch to take Cersei and Joffrey prisoner, but is betrayed . Eddard is taken into custody and his remaining guards and household are murdered.
Sansa is taken captive as well, but Arya manages to escape into the city thanks to her dancing teacher Syrio Forel . Influenced by his mother, Joffrey dismisses Ser Barristan Selmy from the Kingsguard and names his "uncle" Jaime as the new Lord Commander. Barristan is shocked, as the Kingsguard are sworn to serve for life, and it is legally impossible to dismiss one of their members. Ser Barristan is further insulted by members of the royal court and draws his sword, sneering that even in his present situation he could still cut his way through all opposition but after a tense moment throws the sword at the foot of the Iron Throne and contemptuously tells the 'boy' to melt it down and add it to the rest before storming out. Joffrey listens to Sansa's pleas for her father, and he agrees to show mercy to Lord Eddard if he admits treason and recants his claim that Joffrey has no right to the throne. Sansa assures him that he will.
Stannis is first mentioned during a conversation between his younger brother Renly and Ser Loras Tyrell , in which Loras suggests that Renly could take the Iron Throne himself. Renly points out that he is fourth in the line of succession, behind his nephews and Stannis. Loras claims that no one would support Stannis for the crown because he "has the personality of a lobster."
With civil war erupting in the Seven Kingdoms, news reaches both the Lannister and Stark camps that Stannis and Renly have made claims on the Iron Throne. Robb Stark considers declaring for Stannis, but his bannermen, having grown weary of the constant squabbling of the southern kingdoms, proclaim Robb King in the North .
The fleet travels north along the coast, where Davos predicts that they are just one day's sail from their destination. Stannis admires Davos's loyalty and the way he copes with the snobbery of the Highborn. He recalls Davos's timely intervention saving many lives in the siege of Storm's End . Stannis asserts his trust for Davos by promising him that he will serve as his Hand of the King when he takes the Iron Throne .
Later, after hearing news of Robb Stark being betrayed and killed at the Twins, Melisandre is able to twist this to her advantage, making it seem that the spell with the leeches that Stannis performed was responsible. It cements, in Stannis's mind, that the red priestesses' black magic is what will win him the Iron Throne. They intend to sacrifice Gendry in order to increase the Lord of Light's influence on Stannis's enemies and, despite Davos's very vocal protests, Stannis decides to have Gendry killed. Before that can happen, Davos frees Gendry, which upsets Stannis greatly, seeing it as an act of betrayal from his friend.
Stannis has moved his remaining forces to the Wall, where he is attempting to rebuild his power base. Using Jon as an intermediary, he demands that Mance Rayder bend the knee and swear fealty to him so that he can recruit the wildlings into his army in order to crush Lord Roose Bolton and take back the North in his new campaign for the Iron Throne, while also trying to sway Jon to his side by claiming he will be avenging his half-brother's killer. When Mance ultimately refuses, Stannis orders him burned alive. Not willing to let Mance suffer, Jon mercy-kills him with an arrow to the heart as he's burned at the stake.
After learning that Robert's children were all bred of incest and had no actual entitlement to the Iron Throne , he recognized his right to be king, but despite his ambitions, Stannis did not appear (or externally appear) megalomaniacal. He admits to Davos Seaworth that although he did not ask to be king, by every rightful law he is and had to accept his duty whether he liked it or not. Stannis, while fundamentally viewed as a good, or at the very least, decent man could easily be swayed due to his religious faith and obsession with fulfilling the prophecy of Azor Ahai which could turn him toward ruthless, regrettable actions, such as burning his daughter alive.
In the battle's aftermath, Baelish approaches Sansa in the Godswood and finally admits that his goal is to sit on the Iron Throne with Sansa as his queen. Despite Baelish having declared for House Stark, Sansa refuses to trust him, due to Baelish's tendency to betray those he declares for his own well-being. Upon Sansa's refusal of him, Baelish attempts to convince Sansa that she should rule the North, calling Jon a "motherless bastard." Baelish is later present at the meeting where Jon is proclaimed the new King in the North by the Northern lords along with the Vale lords. Baelish is the only one who does not cheer, and instead stares at Sansa.
Littlefinger is a cunning, Machiavellian, unpredictable, deceitful, and ruthless opportunist. He is at times capable of putting on a seemingly friendly face with a friendly smile - but his eyes don't smile when his mouth does. Unlike in the books, where the exact inner motivations that drive Littlefinger are unclear, as are his ultimate goals, in the show he has made clear in several occasions that the Iron Throne is what he desires. Behind his smiles and forced mild manners, Littlefinger is shrewd and calculating, willing to dispose of anyone, even those who trust him, as he would an old coat. He is an extremely intelligent man, not only a genius at financial matters but at controlling those around him. As Varys observed, he is a grasper from a minor House, with a very great skill at befriending and ultimately manipulating powerful people.
Whereas in the series Littlefinger's goals are more transparent (sitting on the Iron Throne), this is not the case of the novels. As Littlefinger is only seen through the POV of other characters (Eddard, Catelyn, Sansa, Tyrion), his ultimate objective remains a mystery. Likewise, his rivalry with Varys was developed for the show.
Later that evening, Renly talks with Catelyn in his tent, agreeing to recognize Robb as King in the North, as long as Robb gives him fealty as an overlord and recognizes his claim to the Iron Throne. Brienne is removing his armor when the flap of the tent flutters as if the wind has raised it, and Melisandre 's shadow -creature materializes to stab Renly in the back, running him through. Brienne is devastated at witnessing the death, but recognizes that the Shadow had the likeness of Stannis. She cries out and catches him as he falls, getting his blood all over herself. When two other members of Renly's Kingsguard who were guarding the tent rush in, they blame Brienne for the death and attack her. She is forced to kill Robar Royce and Emmon Cuy , and Catelyn convinces her to flee the camp, as she cannot avenge Renly if she is dead herself.
Gregor is summoned by Cersei to the Red Keep dungeons after the explosion, being introduced to Cersei's newest prisoner, Septa Unella . After removing his helmet, revealing his withered and mangled face, Gregor is left alone with Unella, who screams in terror as the Mountain looms over her, ready to carry out his orders to torture the Septa for imprisoning and humiliating Cersei. Later, when Cersei is crowned as queen, he is seen looming beside the Iron Throne, gazing into the crowd.
Margaery possessed the tact, politeness and - in many respects - political acumen that Cersei lacked. While Cersei was blunt and often rude, Margaery was capable of exuding the courtly behavior and courtesies expected of a queen - while still privately engaging in palace intrigues to increase her family's power. Cersei scorned her status as a woman in a realm dominated by men, though she was willing to use sex as a weapon to seduce those she needs (such as her cousin Lancel). In contrast, Margaery worked within the social standards of "proper" femininity in Westeros, but adeptly turned them to her favor, to orchestrate political machinations from behind the scenes. Like most players in the "game of thrones", Margaery's ultimate goal was to gain power - either by sitting on the Iron Throne or being in close proximity to it - but unlike many others, her machinations were not motivated by devious powerlust or a claim to the succession (as a Tyrell, the latter was irrelevant), but simply a desire to secure her family in a place of influence where they could direct political affairs in their favor.
The city is ruled by the Sealord , though various nobles have a say in the city's affairs. The city has a strong military force, consisting of the largest fleet of ships on the Narrow Sea and the resources necessary to hire large armies of mercenaries and freeriders very quickly. The city also has a powerful banking institution, the Iron Bank , which holds the debts of many other governments (including the Iron Throne of Westeros), furthering Braavosi influence and power. Currently, the Iron Bank of Braavos is bigger than the banks of all the other Free Cities put together, and plays a major role in financial transactions across both Essos and Westeros.
The Iron Throne was the throne upon which the King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men sat, located in the throne room of the Red Keep in the city of King's Landing . Besides the monarchs themselves, only their Hand could sit on the Iron Throne. The Iron Throne was also a metonym, along with "the crown," referring to the monarchy that rules the Seven Kingdoms and the authority of the monarchy (e.g. "rebellion against the Iron Throne").
The Iron Throne was forged at the order of Aegon the Conqueror , the first of the Targaryen Kings , who conquered six of the seven independent kingdoms of Westeros and unified them under his rule - the seventh kingdom of Dorne was later joined through a marriage alliance. The throne was allegedly forged from the 1,000 swords that had been surrendered to Aegon in his conquest by the lords who had offered their fealty, though the actual number of the swords in 300 AC is fewer than two hundred. These were subsequently melted down by the fiery breath of Aegon's dragon, Balerion the Black Dread, then beaten and bent into a throne of imposing appearance, asymmetrical and surrounded by swords protruding from the ground, the steps being decorated with twisted steel. At some point during or prior to the reign of the Mad King , many of the swords that made up the Iron Throne were removed and the throne was given a safer and more symmetrical design.
At the end of Robert's Rebellion , during the Sack of King's Landing , as the Lannister army overran the city outside of the Red Keep, Aerys refused to surrender, and secretly ordered the city to be burned to the ground with hidden caches of wildfire . To prevent this, Jaime killed the Mad King in front of the Iron Throne itself. Greatly disturbed at having killed the king he had taken the most sacred oaths to defend, Jaime then sat down on the Iron Throne and gave no thought to the carnage going on outside. Hours later, the main rebel army arrived in the city, and Eddard Stark came to the throne room, where he found Jaime sitting on the throne. Years later, Cersei chided Eddard that he could have tried to seize the throne then and there, instead of letting Robert take it, but he did nothing. Ned never knew why Jaime really killed Aerys, and seeing him seated on the Iron Throne like that gave Eddard the incorrect belief that Jaime hoped to seize the throne himself some day.
King Viserys I Targaryen confronts Daemon in the throne room, seated upon the Iron Throne, the Targaryen sword Blackfyre in his hand, surrounded by his Kingsguard. Viserys angrily demands to know if Daemon truly mocked his nephew as the "Heir for a Day". Outraged by the insult, Viserys declares his intention to publicly name his heir. When Daemon insists he is his brother's heir, Viserys retorts " Not anymore" and orders Daemon to return to his wife's seat in the Vale. When Daemon steps forward to protest, the Kingsguard draw their swords and block his path, and Daemon grudgingly withdraws.
Four years later, a full courtroom of nobles assemble before the Iron Throne, as Viserys puts on his full regalia to formally receive his wayward younger brother. Daemon jauntily enters the throne room, not only still carrying Dark Sister sheathed at his hip, but playfully tossing the war hammer of Craghas Crabfeeder in his hand - and wearing his own crown, made of bone and driftwood. As he reaches the base of the throne, Lord Commander Harrold Westerling draws his own sword and points it slowly into Daemon's chest plate to ward him off. The tension breaks when Daemon throws the war hammer on the ground in front of the Iron Throne and says to add it to the chair (made from the melted weapons of their defeated enemies). Harrold sheathes his own sword, and Viserys points out that Daemon is wearing a crown, inquiring if he also calls himself king. Daemon says that his men hailed him as " King of the Narrow Sea " after he led them to smash the Triarchy 's forces and conquer the Stepstones , but he quickly adds that he knows that there is only one true king. Daemon then kneels and offers up both his crown and the Stepstones to his older brother. Viserys asks what became of Corlys Velaryon , and Daemon says he sailed back home to Driftmark (not bothering to present himself at the royal court, due to his rift with Viserys). Viserys also asks who now holds the Stepstones, to which Daemon replies the tides, the crabs, and the corpses of 2000 Triarchy corsairs left staked on the shore as a warning to any who might follow Drahar's example. Viserys comes down from the throne, with his sheathed sword Blackfyre in hand, and is at first hesitant about what to do. After a moment, he orders Daemon to rise, and the two brothers embrace. The entire court applauds their reconciliation, save for a displeased Otto Hightower .
Still several hours later, a somewhat more sober Daemon stumbles through the gates of the Red Keep, only to be immediately seized by Harrold Westerling and two other Kingsguard, to bring him to an audience with the king. The guards roughly drop the still semi-coherent Daemon onto the floor of the throne room. The guards leave, then Viserys appears from a side doorway. He accuses that Daemon defiled his daughter and gives him a swift kick in the ribs, asking if he will even attempt to deny it. Viserys bitterly accuses that it's not Rhaenyra that Daemon wants, but the Iron Throne. Viserys rises, and dismissively tells Daemon to go back to the Vale and his lawful wife, and to try to restore what scrap of honor he may have left; or not, it makes no difference to him, as he never wants to see Daemon again.
During an audience in the throne room, with Otto Hightower sitting on the Iron Throne as Hand of the King owing to King Viserys being bedridden, Vaemond makes the case that he is a true Velaryon and the closest kin of Corlys whereas Rhaenyra's sons are not. Before Rhaenyra has time to make her own case, Viserys enters the throne room to the surprise of everyone present and takes charge of the proceedings. Realizing that he has no chance of convincing the king to disinherit his own grandchildren, Vaemond becomes irate and aggressive, shouting that Rhaenyra's children are bastards and calling Rhaenyra herself a "whore." Vaemond's slander of the royal family is deemed to be treason and Viserys threatens to remove Vaemond's tongue himself. Before he is able to, Daemon decapitates him from behind using Dark Sister .
Aegon II formally sits on the Iron Throne to hear the daily petitions from commoners of the city. He is flanked by his cronies Martyn Reyne , Leon Estermont , and Eddard Waters . Aegon is polite and even sympathetic to the petitioners, as he desperately wants approval as a good king, but he is inexperienced at rule and his grandfather Otto keeps correcting him. Later in the evening, Aegon is drinking with his cronies after a stressful day of petitions.
Since the king is out hunting, Eddard sits on the Iron Throne while listening to royal petitioners, in his capacity as Hand of the King. He hears a report from a peasant refugee that the Mountain has been raiding villages in the Riverlands.
Far away on the eastern continent in Vaes Dothrak , Daenerys urges her husband Drogo to help her win back the Iron Throne that her own father once sat upon, for her and Drogo's unborn son that she carries inside her. At first, Drogo is not very interested: Westeros is very far away, across the ocean, and to the Dothraki it seems just like a literal chair (without all of the connotations of authority over the Seven Kingdoms associated with it). After a failed assassination attempt on Daenerys by one of Robert's agents , however, Drogo is deeply offended, and vows to attack Westeros and take the Iron Throne for Daenerys and their son, Rhaego .
Joffrey continues to jauntily sit on the Iron Throne as the War of the Five Kings tears apart the realm. He gets up from the throne to menace the captive Sansa with a crossbow , idly considering shooting her, before relenting that his mother insists she remain alive - so he simply orders his Kingsguard to beat and strip her in front of the entire court.
Littlefinger remarks to Varys that the Iron Throne doesn't literally have thousands of swords in it, he has counted and the real number is under two hundred. He says that this is another inflated legend, part of the pageantry and propaganda that supports kings and dynasties but which is, in fact, illusory.
After the Destruction of the Great Sept of Baelor and the main Tyrell line and the Sparrows are wiped out, Tommen commits suicide. Without a clear line of succession and anyone to oppose her, Cersei is crowned Queen of the Seven Kingdoms by Qyburn before the court and sits on the Iron Throne.
Later, Euron leads his captives Yara , Ellaria , and Tyene into the court of Cersei, who sits on the Iron Throne. Cersei alludes to the Iron Throne's original association when she incredulously declares, "I sit on her father's throne!" in reference to the very remote possibility of peace with Daenerys.
When she learns the truth of Jon's parentage, Daenerys is upset to realize Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, having spent years believing it was her birthright and working toward it. Jon tells Daenerys he doesn't want it and will refuse if anybody tries to press his claim.
After setting fire to most of King's Landing and its people, Daenerys enters the throne room and touches the Iron Throne, after years of seeking to claim it. Jon tries to urge her off her path of destruction. Daenerys is resolved, sincerely believing she is justified in her actions and is certain this is the way they build a better world, by destroying the old one and those loyal to it. Jon pleads with her to be merciful to the people but Daenerys is committed to her way of achieving her vision of a better world. To save Westeros and its people, Jon assassinates Daenerys and weeps as he holds her body in his arms. Following this, Drogon arrives and directs his flames not at Jon, but the Throne, and melts it down. He bellows in grief as he flies away with Daenerys's body. All that remains of the Iron Throne is a mound of melted debris.
In the TV series, the Iron Throne is the size of a very large chair, is reasonably symmetrical, and Littlefinger remarks in Season 3's " The Climb " that it doesn't literally contain thousands of swords, he has counted and there are under two hundred.
Martin explained that the physical proportions of the Iron Throne in the books, as well as the throne room it is set in, are simply unfilmable due to their massive size. The throne room in the books is the size of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, and the Iron Throne itself towers over forty feet in height. The book version of the Iron Throne actually does contain a thousand swords, taken from Aegon the Conqueror's fallen enemies, and the visual symbol of subsequent Targaryen kings who sat atop that many swords of vanquished foes was a truly awesome sight to behold. Even the actual seat where the king sits is located over twenty feet off of the ground, and needs to be reached by an entire flight of stairs.
The Iron Throne is so large that it is physically impossible to move it. Aegon I eventually decided to raze the boomtown that had grown up around the site of his army's landing camp, a ramshackle town of wood and earth called "The Aegonfort", so that he could start over from scratch and construct a more permanent new capital city, King's Landing . The Red Keep itself and the throne room had to be built around the preexisting Iron Throne. The construction took many years and would continue long after his death, so in the meantime, he relocated the royal court to his ancestral castle on Dragonstone . It was impossible to move the Iron Throne, however: when Aegon I died his son and successor Aenys had to travel to the unfinished construction site of King's Landing to be crowned on the Iron Throne, before then moving back to Dragonstone. This is also why no one ever tried to steal the Iron Throne and take it elsewhere during civil wars, i.e. when one side or the other seized the capital during the Dance of the Dragons, or during Robert's Rebellion, no attempt was made by the defenders to sneak the throne out of the capital along with other royal emblems such as the king's crown.
Moreover, Martin made the point that the Iron Throne in the books was hammered together by blacksmiths, not sculptors and artisans, so it does not fit together neatly: rather, it is a sprawling and twisting asymmetrical stack of swords welded together into a vague throne-shape and towering into the air. Aegon the Conqueror did "build" the Iron Throne in that he commissioned it, and more specifically in that he used the fire of his dragon Balerion to melt down the swords and make them malleable, after which the blacksmiths would take them and add them to the growing construct.
Martin was nonetheless entirely sympathetic to the practical necessities faced by the TV production team: the throne room as he envisioned it may be the size of St. Peter's Basilica, but the TV series already films in the largest studio set in all of Europe, the Paint Hall in Belfast. He acknowledged that the book version of the Iron Throne is so massive it would have difficulty fitting in any set, and even if it did, it might visually detract from the drama for the king to be holding conversations with people on the ground a full forty feet away from him. Martin also stated that he actually very much enjoys the design used for the Iron Throne in the TV series - it simply would have been physically impossible to replicate the towering edifice he described in the books.
In 2014, a small replica of the TV series's Iron Throne was given to Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, on a visit to Paint Hall. The Queen declined an invitation to sit upon the actual Iron Throne prop, although she was photographed inspecting it and other props from the series. As David Benioff later explained, she did not sit on the Iron Throne prop because "Apparently the Queen of England is not allowed to sit on a foreign throne - This is an esoteric rule we didn't know about until that moment." D.B. Weiss agreed that this seemed odd because the prop is a fictional throne for a fictional kingdom.
A Season 4 blooper reel revealed that during the trial scene in " The Laws of Gods and Men ", Charles Dance (Tywin) gripped the pommel of one of the swords making up the Iron Throne so hard (because Tywin is angry) that it accidentally snapped off - he then looked down at it in his grip and swore, embarrassed that he had just broken the Iron Throne prop.
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Iron Throne is reportedly uncomfortable to sit upon due to the blades that radiate out from it, occasionally cutting the incumbent. The moral lesson Aegon intended for his heirs was that no ruler should ever sit upon the throne carelessly, just as they must not rule carelessly. The Iron Throne specifically contains the swords of those Aegon defeated in battle, but not of those who had surrendered honorably rather than give battle. As such, no swords from the North or the Vale of Arryn were included in the Iron Throne thanks to Torrhen Stark and Sharra Arryn .
Aerys's increasing insanity over the years led him to absentmindedly sit upon the throne with his full weight, frequently cutting and injuring himself. Ultimately he cut and scraped himself so much upon the Iron Throne that his personal enemies derisively referred to him as "King Scab", besides of his more common epithet, "the Mad King". This was seen by some as a sign of his unworthiness to rule.
At the end of Robert's Rebellion , Aerys was slain by Jaime at the foot of the Iron Throne itself. Jaime proceeded to wait out the rest of the sack of the city by Lannister soldiers, and waited in the throne room for the late arrival of Eddard Stark and the main rebel army. Eddard's most powerful memory of the event was arriving in the throne room to find Jaime sitting on the Iron Throne, his sword at his side still covered in Aerys' blood, with the Mad King's corpse lying in a pool of his own blood in front of the throne. On seeing Eddard, Jaime got off the Iron Throne, joking that he was just keeping it warm for Robert .