Not all things in Game of Thrones’ visions or flashbacks are necessarily just metaphors, and these new spoilers suggest one aspect that may not be.
This may be the biggest spoiler yet that we’ve gotten for Game of Thrones season 8, and while it’s not to the same level as off-seasons of the past (as in, it’s not pretty much every single plot point months ahead of time), it’s a good time to remember that production is still very young.
So, here it is. Consider yourself warned. Per our sister site, Winter is Coming, and ultimately Watchers on the Wall, a dragon or dragons will burn at least parts of King’s Landing down. While WiC suspects that this might come from Daenerys, presumably because of WOTW’s plural usage, WiC does also point out that it’s possible that the Night King will assault King’s Landing.
And although we shouldn’t trust entirely in visions, the idea that it’s all the Night King’s fault becomes more compelling when you recall that we’ve seen King’s Landing in ruin before. Bring it all the way back to season 2 and Daenerys’ trip to the House of the Undying.
Although everybody mostly remembers that that’s the time the show got Jason Momoa to show up again, the vision actually starts with her walking through the throne room in the Red Keep as snow falls through the destroyed ceiling. While it’s not made clear how the destruction happened (Daenerys doesn’t get a helpful vision guide, sorry, that’s not how that works), the snow falling suddenly takes on a new and very portentous meaning when we consider the reports from WiC and WOTW.
Will Daenerys necessarily be alone if she walks through the Red Keep after an assault that leaves it destroyed? That might not be so. After all, she gets up and leaves the vision of Drogo and a living Rhaego behind, and, since then, she’s moved forward in terms of romance, first with Daario and now with Jon Snow.
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The other major question we have is when this takes place. Is this going to be one of the battles that wraps the season up, leaving whoever survives to “rule” over what’s left? That seems like a downer, but this is Game of Thrones, and we wouldn’t put it past the show to go there.