When Daenerys Targaryen, first of her name and Queen of the Andals, vowed to break the wheel that has governed Westeros for millennia, few predicted that she would do so with such… fury.
During the penultimate episode of HBO’s Game of Thrones, Emilia Clarke’s dragon queen reigned down fire from above, torching the men, women and helpless children of King’s Landing with reckless abandon. It proved to be a heel turn with far-reaching consequences, and frankly, we’re still trying to wrap our heads around what was, essentially, a swift descent into unrelenting tyranny.
Kit Harington sees it differently, though, telling Game of Thrones viewers that Daenerys has always been a ruthless character – even when she was liberating the people of Meereen. Indeed, during his post-finale interview with Entertainment Weekly, the Jon Snow Aegon Targaryen actor conceded that we, as an audience, really should have seen this one coming.
“I think it’s going to divide,” Harington says of the finale’s fan reaction. “But if you track her story all the way back, she does some terrible things. She crucifies people. She burns people alive. This has been building. So, we have to say to the audience: ‘You’re in denial about this woman as well. You knew something was wrong. You’re culpable, you cheered her on.’”
In another cruel twist of fate, during the closing moments of “The Iron Throne,” Harington’s hero holds Daenerys – the woman he loves – in his arms as she falls prey to the God of Death. It’s the second time Jon Snow has endured such a tragedy, given he also held Yrgitte in his arms as she lay dying at Castle Black.
Harington continued:
This is the second woman he’s fallen in love with who dies in his arms and he cradles her in the same way. That’s an awful thing. In some ways, Jon did the same thing to [his Wildling lover] Ygritte by training the boy who kills her. This destroys Jon to do this.
Suffice it to say, Jon Snow has had it pretty rough these past few seasons, and was ultimately sentenced to the Night’s Watch once again, where he reunites with Tormund (and Ghost!) and leads the Wildings north of the Wall. A fitting Game of Thrones send-off for the Prince That Was Promised? We’ll leave that one to you…