8 Things Everyone’s Getting Wrong About Game Of Thrones

3. “Dany Snaps When She Hears The Bells”

This one really was difficult to take after the show aired. Thousands, literally thousands, of people loudly proclaiming that the moment Dany snapped was right there as the bells were ringing. That somehow she sat atop Drogon and, with the Lannisters throwing down their swords, decided in that exact moment that she was going to flip the switch. No. Wrong.

Where the exact moment Dany changes is open to interpretation, but the point of no return for her is earlier in the episode with Jon. She’s lost Jorah, she’s lost Missandei, she’s lost Rheghal and Viserion, she no longer trusts Tyrion, Varys has out and out betrayed her, she realises that the people of Westeros will never love her and all she has left is Jon. Who promptly rejects her as a person.

Having lost every tie she had to the people of this land, she says herself “it’ll have to be fear then”. In that moment she decides, whatever happens, she is going to burn King’s Landing to the ground. She’s dismissive of the possibility her enemies will surrender, because it’s not something she really wants to consider.

Then, with the day won and the city surrendering, she finally has to face up to the reality of what she’s about to do. Those shots are of her clearly wrestling with something terrible but it’s not her breaking, it’s her steeling herself for what she’s truly believes she has to do.