Game Of Thrones Season 7 Finale: Dragonpit Explained
This is (hopefully) going to be epic, but what is that meeting place all about?
Game of Thrones is about to enter the Dragonpit.
After the 'Frozen Lake Battle' (seriously, who is coming up with these names?) of Beyond The Wall, the Season 7 finale is taking the action back to the South and King's Landing, where we'll get a showdown of epic proportions.
With the newly captured wight in tow, Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are going to make their case to Cersei Lannister, attempting to convince her of the real threat she needs to be facing.
It's going to be the biggest assembly of major characters we've seen on the show, with the likes of Tyrion, Jaime, the Hound, the Mountain, Davos, Varys, Brienne, Jorah, and more joining those mentioned above, and should be incredible to witness.
Such a big scene needs a suitable setting, and the finale certainly has that: the Dragonpit. It has been mentioned on the show previously, but never actually seen before, so what exactly is it?
The Dragonpit is a huge structure that sits atop Rhaenys Hill in King's Landing, a spot that once upon a time housed the Sept of Remembrance.
Maegor I Targaryen, aka Maegor the Cruel, rode on the back of Balerion the Black Dread and, without warning, burned the Sept to the ground. In its place he had built a large stable, which was to serve as a place for the Targaryens to keep their dragons. However, keeping the dragons in such captivity did stunt their growth.
Around 85 later, during the Targaryen Civil War - The Dance of the Dragons - there occurred an event known as the Storming of the Dragonpit. With riots across the city after it was captured by Queen Rhaenyra, the smallfolk stormed the Dragonpit to kill the four dragons inside.
They succeeded in killing them, since the dragons were chained and couldn't fly away or use their wings to attack, but thousands of the smallfolk died too. The dragons who perished were Shrykos, Morghul, Tyraxes, Dreamfyre, while a fifth - Rhaenyra's own dragon, Syrax - swooped down from above, reducing the Dragonpit to ruins before eventually being slain as well.
Another 80 or so years later, during the Great Spring Sickness - which killed off King Daeron II Targaryen - people were dying so quickly that the bodies were piled in the Dragonpit, and eventually burned with wildfire.
The gates have been closed since the, and the place a ruin, though in A Clash of Kings it's used by whores to entertain some guests, and stores of wildfire are found underneath.
Funnily enough, the show itself is currently set around 304 AC, making it almost 80 years since the Dragonpit was last significantly used, making this a fitting time for the gates to reopen.
That goes double when you consider that it'll mark the first place Daenerys goes in King's Landing, and comes the episode after she lost one of her dragons. It'd also make for a great episode title, and while it's not confirmed yet, it wouldn't be a surprise if this is the case.
Are you excited for the Dragonpit? What do you expect to go down there? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.