‘Game Of Thrones’ is over, here’s what happened

WARNING: There are SPOILERS ahead for The Iron Throne. So if you’re yet to watch the sixth episode of Game Of Thrones’ eighth season, which just so happens to be its final ever episode, then please don’t read ahead.

Game Of Thrones is over. And we actually have a winner, too. In fact, make that multiple winners. Because while the Throne may be no more, it was the remaining Starks that were left in control of most of Westeros.

But the ruler of King’s Landing might come as quite a shock, because by the end of The Iron Throne none other than Brandon Stark was anointed the leader of Westeros. Although he did have the rather troublesome nickname of “Bran The Broken” to contend with.

Quite a lot unfolded in The Iron Throne for Bran to end up in charge. Having destroyed most of King’s Landing with the fire of Drogon, Daenerys then imprisoned Tyrion and vowed to carry on fighting across the Seven Kingdoms until everyone was under her command.

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Tyrion convinced Jon Snow to stop her, though, and the rightful heir to the Iron Throne lulled his auntie/lover in for a kiss before stabbing her dead and becoming a Queenslayer. This provoked Drogon to go berserk and blast the Iron Throne with fire, melting it down, before he then flew away with Daenerys’ corpse in his claws.

Fast forward a few weeks and Greyworm and the Unsullied have Tyrion and Jon Snow imprisoned, while Sansa and Arya have marched all the Northern troops to King’s Landing to get their brother released. In order to avoid another war, a small council of the most powerful people left in Westeros, which includes Yara Greyjoy, Brienne, Ser Davos, Samwell Tarly, Gendry, and Edmure Tully, come together to try to sort out the mess.

After dismissing Sam’s idea of democracy, Tyrion convinces everyone that Bran should be King, insisting that the Three Eyed Raven is “our memory. The keeper of all our stories … of the past. Who better to lead us into the future?”

Bran quickly accepts, saying it was the only reason he came down to Westeros in the first place, before making a very reluctant Tyrion his Hand, basically as punishment.

What about everyone else, though? Sansa tells Bran that she will keep the North independent, Arya decides to try and find the answer to what is west of Westeros, which has never been explored before, while Jon is banished to the Nights Watch.

All of which suggests that those Game Of Thrones spin-offs might stay much closer to home than most people predicted. Especially as the episode concluded with Jon going beyond the Wall with the Wildlings and Arya heading off on a ship, teasing the numerous adventures that they still have to confront.

But what about this adventure? Was The Iron Throne a worthy conclusion to Game Of Thrones?

Considering how divisive the final season has been and how many viewers have been left disappointed by what has happened to its characters, The Iron Throne managed to provide a definitive enough ending while not wrapping things up too cleanly, and threw up enough surprises, too.

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Plus, watching Tyrion, Ser Davos, Brienne, Bronn, Podrick, Bran and Samwell as the Small Council in charge of rebuilding King’s Landing will have made even the most cynical of viewer pine for just one more episode so we could see them all together for longer.

But, like all of this season, and most of season seven, too, it still felt too rushed. It was undeniably enjoyable, but short of being impactful and iconic.

Time will likely to be much kinder to these final episodes than the instant reaction of the internet has been, though. That is until the eventual release of George R.R. Martin’s books, which will reveal exactly how Game Of Thrones could and should have roared its way to conclusion, and leave fans even more incensed at its showrunners.