Game Of Thrones Ending: Predicting What The Books Will (& Won't) Change

6. The Iron Throne Is Destroyed

Iron Throne Game Of Thrones
HBO

In the Game of Thrones finale, the Iron Throne is destroyed by Drogon who, clearing realising that it was a corruptible influence responsible for his mother's untimely death, burned the motherf**ker down. Or he was just an angry dragon who unleashed fire, but dragons are intelligent beings, so it's not totally beyond question that he had some understanding of what he was doing.

It makes for some great imagery in the show, and there's a nice sense of things coming full circle, since the throne was forged with the help of dragonfire as well. But it's difficult to image Martin writing it so that Drogon destroys the Iron Throne immediately after his mother's death in a fit of rage, because while it works for the visual, it's perhaps a little too on-the-nose for the text.

The Iron Throne will be destroyed. It has to be, because it's ASOIAF's version of the One Ring; it's a corrupting influence, and for things to move forward or get better, that symbol of power and Targaryen rule will need to go. It's possible that it does take a dragon to burn it down, albeit more by command than its own sense of what's right, or that the new rulers of Westeros simply find another way of melting it down as a symbolic ushering in of a new era.

Advertisement
Contributor
Contributor

NCTJ-qualified journalist. Most definitely not a racing driver. Drink too much tea; eat too much peanut butter; watch too much TV. Sadly only the latter paying off so far. A mix of wise-old man in a young man's body with a child-like wonder about him and a great otherworldly sensibility.