Game Of Thrones Season 8 Breakdown: What 'The Bells' REALLY Means

5. (This Version Of) The Prophecy Came True

At times with this show, it's hard to keep track of when you're supposed to believe in the power of prophecies and when you're supposed to cast them off as frivolous nonsense. We've been presented with some prophecies that were obviously dangerous nonsense - such as Melisandre's to Stannis - where the message seemed to be that it was all about how the information was interpreted, and yet at the same time there were others - like Dany's vision or Maggy the Frog's proclamation to Cersei that were basically irrefutable facts.

The shows ideas of defying destiny come down to looking into the face of Death and accepting it or saying "not today". Remember, in the TV show, Maggy the Frog never mentioned the Valonqar element of the prophecy from the books. She said merely that Cersei would marry the king, would be cast down with a younger, more beautiful queen who would take everything she loved and that she would have three children, who would all wear golden crowns but who would all die before her.

She did marry the king: Robert Baratheon. She did have three children who all died before her and now she has been cast down by a Queen more beautiful and younger than she. And for good measure she took everything she loved - her unborn child, her kingdom and Jaime - in one fell swoop. In a continuation of the show's greatest irony, the prophecy came true because Cersei marched towards it ceaselessly. There was as much choice about her fate as there was fate.

That's all important because now Jon Snow has to face up to his own destiny: either to live out the same cycle as Ned Stark - the valiant but naive hero destined to die - or become the "Chosen One" by slaying Dany. Neither necessarily has to end with him on the Iron Throne, of course, but we're being led to the point that he has a choice in this. As Varys said "each of us has a choice, I pray we choose wisely."