GAME OF THRONES SEASON 8?

First few moments of Thrones’ final season mirror the series premiere: The Starks prepare to receive a royal caravan, anxious about what will be asked of them.

Tensions between Daenerys and Sansa are palpable as soon as they meet. While Daenerys shows her strength in the North, Sansa and Arya worry about the hold that the dragon queen has over their brother, Jon Snow.

Only, he’s not their brother. After years of theorizing, Game of Thrones finally confirmed Jon’s parentage last season. He’s not a bastard — he’s the son of Ned Stark’s sister, Lyanna, and Daenerys’ brother Rhaegar, who married in a secret ceremony before Jon was born. Sam lets Jon in on the secret at the end of episode 1, “Winterfell”, and Jon tells Dany in episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms”.

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This revelation is a bombshell, but before the implications can be reckoned with, the army of the dead attacks in episode 3, “The Long Night”. It’s a brutal assault but, when all hope seems lost, Arya appears out of nowhere to assassinate the Night King.

The back half of the season 8 deals with the fallout from Jon’s revelation. Daenerys begs him not to tell anyone but, of course, he does. Soon the information spreads from Sansa to Tyrion to Varys. The Spider starts to consider betraying his queen, who he’s concerned is too volatile for the throne.

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In the midst of this internal turmoil, Euron Greyjoy’s fleet cuts off the forces returning to Dragonstone in episode 4, “The Last of the Starks”. Qyburn’s scorpion takes out a wounded Rhaegal, leaving Daenerys with one remaining dragon. And Missandei, her closest advisor and friend, is captured during the attack. She’s later killed by the Mountain during a parlay.

In “The Bells”, the penultimate episode and one of the show’s most controversial, a betrayed and grieving Daenerys decides to rule with fear, since she’s lost everyone she loves. She commands Drogon to lay waste to King’s Landing, even after the capitol surrenders. Jaime and Cersei are killed in the assault, along with most of the Lannister army and a huge population of civilians.

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WHAT ELSE DO I NEED TO REMEMBER?

Game of Thrones is a dense show, packed with lore and subtext and random celebrity cameos. All season we’ve been wading through the story, answering questions and breaking down theories about the final six episodes in this epic saga. Here are some of the most important themes still left on the board.

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THE MAD QUEEN

Daenerys evolution from exiled orphan married off in exchange for political favors to Mad Queen burning a city to the ground is a long, complicated road. Many fans were frustrated by what seemed like an unearned heel turn during the battle at King’s Landing, but Game of Thrones has been setting this stage for years. Whether or not the showrunners did justice to her arc, which is rife with sensitivities around women and power and “madness”, is of course up to interpretation. (And Game of Thrones certainly doesn’t have a great track record when it comes to portraying women’s growth.)

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JON SNOW’S HONOR

While Ned Stark is not actually Jon Snow’s father, the Warden of the North raised him as his own. Jon studied at the feet of a man whose relentless dedication to honor and truth literally got him killed. That dedication is complicated by the fact that Ned lied to Jon about his identity for his whole life, albeit for honorable reasons. Still, Jon’s constant quoting of the Stark patriarch indicates that he took those lessons to heart all the same. That will surely affect how Jon reckons with the fact that Daenerys just massacred an entire city.

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ARYA AND THE GREEN EYES

Prophecy plays a big role in Game of Thrones. Stannis’ belief that he was the Prince that Was Promised informed his military choices; Cersei’s paranoia about her children’s foretold deaths caused her to shut everyone else out.

Arya Stark, on the other hand, has never set much store by Melissandre’s prediction that she would permanently shut “brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes.” As a skilled assassin, Arya has shut many a brown eye. And the Night King’s blue eyes also closed permanently at the hands of the young Stark. But what about those green eyes? Most people assumed the green eyes referred to Cersei, but when Arya had the chance to kill the Lannister queen, she backed away. However, there’s another powerful blonde queen with green eyes in Westeros — one who may very well have recently moved to the top of Arya’s list.

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WHAT TO EXPECT IN THE GAME OF THRONES FINALE

Despite Daenerys’ insistence that she didn’t want to be “Queen of the ashes”, that’s exactly what the episode 6 teaser teases. The preview is even shorter on details than usual, with Tyrion and Arya slowly treading the razed streets of King’s Landing. Shots of Daenerys’ remaining loyal armies, the Dothraki and the Unsullied, once an inspiring sight, now hit us with an overwhelming sense of dread.

What’s more notable here, though, is what we don’t see — Jon Snow is missing from the trailer, as are Sansa and Bran. Most significantly, we never see Dany’s face. Is she going to lean into the Mad Queen title and truly rule with fear? And will anyone be able to stop her?

WHERE TO WATCH THE GAME OF THRONES FINALE

The final episode of Game of Thrones will air on HBO and (drop onto streaming services) at 9 p.m. ET on Sunday, May 19. Here’s all the ways to watch Game of Thrones, whether directly from HBO or as a streaming service add-on.

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Game Of Thrones’: Finale Plot May Have Leaked In Text, Disturbing Some Fans

One of the most eagerly-awaited episodes in television history is about to unfold, but many fans are already bummed at its outcome, even without seeing any clips.

The final episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones has apparently been spoiled for many by the leak of a text message circulating on the internet that contained several legitimate spoilers for last week’s show and an equal number of previews of the finale.

The spoilers first emerged on Reddit in a lengthy post that gave a detailed summation of Episode 5 and next week’s finale. It was later deleted by moderators, but not before it was copied and widely circulated. The fact that the post mostly got last week’s show plot points correct in advance of the episode airing has many convinced that it is totally accurate.

Who’s Left to Take the Iron Throne?

Who’s Left to Take the Iron Throne?

Despite having arguably the largest cast in television history, there is only a limited amount of players left for the final episode. After Dany’s vengeful attack on King’s Landing, Cersei (Lena Headey), Jaime (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), The Hound (Rory McCann), The Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson), Qyburn (Anton Lesser), Euron Greyjoy (Pilou Asbæk) and Varys (Conleth Hill) all failed to make it out of the chaos alive.

Having survived the King’s Landing massacre, Jon Snow (Kit Harington), Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage), and Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) will have to come to terms with Dany’s destruction. Will Jon be able to forgive his Queen (and lover) for her actions?

Liam Cunningham and Kit Harington

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Meanwhile, in the North, Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright) await reuniting with their allies — and Sansa will surely have choice words for her rival Dany, especially after the events of last episode.