Many of us sunk 8 years of our life into Game Of Thrones and were thanked with one of the worst conclusions of any TV series. But how did the fans really want it to end? This is our thoughts on the Game of Thrones ending.

If there’s one thing that managed to unite people more than the World Cup or another royal sprog, it was the unprecedented furore of Game of Thrones. No other series has triggered the same kind of buzz. The anticipation. The suspense. The office dramas about who was the biggest Thrones fan because they read all the fan theory pages… (we all know at least one of those psychopaths).

But it’s because of this unparalleled adoration that the concluding season /s hit so hard. To say it ended badly would be generous (cue the horse meme…).

But George R. R. Martin has yet to finish the series’ literary counterpart – and in an interview, he gave after Season 8’s finale aired, he confirmed that the books would have a different ending (probably because the backlash was heavier than one of Gregor Clegane’s thighs).

And it’s not necessarily the actual GOT conclusion that was so disappointing: it’s the speed with which

Benioff and Weiss rushed us there. Everything else in seasons 1-5 was a slow build. Scenarios were constructed carefully and precisely; character transitions were slow and believable. But trying to convince us that Daenerys – the people’s champion and defender of the downtrodden – went entirely mad and killed thousands of innocents in one season after no previous hints of insanity? I don’t think so.

So if we could have our time over with a director /s who didn’t halfheartedly rush the ending to go and film a Star Wars movie, what would be the ideal closure for true GoT fans?

The best script suggestion I’ve read is from longtime fan and screenwriter, Daniel Whidden. To check out his unedited version, head over to the ThinkStory YouTube channel where you can watch it in full.

Here though, I’ve taken his original concept but injected a few major alterations into the Game of Thrones ending. The result is arguably the best GoT conclusion I’ve ever read.

We begin our overhaul in episode 3 of season 8: The Long Night. Much of the action at
Winterfell remains the same, with the combined forces of the Unsullied, Dothraki, Northmen,
and wildlings warring against the Night King’s army of the undead. But despite Jon taking on the icy psycho himself in a sword battle to end all sword battles, it isn’t the living who come off victorious.

Instead of falling from Rhaegal, Jon dives from the sky to join the conflict, fighting alongside the men who chose him as their leader. He runs to the godswood just in time to see Theon stabbed by the Night King (cue aforementioned epic sword battle).

But when Jon stabs the Night King with dragonglass, it doesn’t kill him. Nor does Bran warging into Viserion (the undead dragon) and breathing fire onto him.

Instead, Whidden’s ending sees Viserion’s flames turn the Night King’s spear into dragonglass, which he uses to kill Viserion and trap Bran into his warg state.

This is where my first major Game of Thrones ending deviation with Whidden comes into play. Instead of the Night King killing Viserion with his dragonglass spear, his stabbing the dragon has another effect. Just as the Night King didn’t die when Jon stabbed him, nor does the dragon: instead, it turns Viserion into an ice dragon, the polar opposite of Drogon. Before Jon can escape, Viserion torches Jon with his new icy breath, and Jon falls lifelessly to the ground.

The undead win the battle of Winterfell, and a heartbroken Daenerys is forced to retreat to
King’s Landing with the rest of the survivors, where Cersei now holds all the cards. As they flee, Dany takes to the sky with Drogon, torching the earth and creating fiery walls to slow the march of the undead. Eventually, she allows herself one final look back. None of the undead remains in Winterfell. In fact, she sees only two things: the body of the man she loved, and Rhaegal.

As a distraught Daenerys disappears over the horizon, we cut to Jon’s icy body lying in the
snow. The camera pans out, and Rhaegal is now standing on his hind legs, wings outstretched. He sends a torrent of fire over Jon, and the last thing we see is a tower of flames where Jon’s body lies.

As the survivors finally reach King’s Landing, Cersei agrees to offer the refugees sanctuary in the capitol on one condition: Daenerys bends the knee and pledges fealty to her.

Fueled by the knowledge of the danger that’s hot on their heels, as well as her grief over losing Jon, Daenerys puts the lives of others before her own pride and agrees.

As her knee hits the ground and the people of King’s Landing cheer in relief (not knowing about the unkillable horror that’s soon to arrive), we cut back to Winterfell. With the cheers of King’s Landing still echoing in the background, Rhaegal rises up before the singed patch of earth that still smoulders from his fire. And there, sat on his back…Jon.

The Song of Ice and Fire; killable by neither. And just like a dragon is born in fire, so
half-Targaryen Jon was revived by Rhaegal.

When in our Game of Thrones ending we next return to King’s Landing, so too has the Night King and his army.

Instead of a lousy clash between Daenerys and Cersei, we get what all fans really wanted: an epic battle between the living and the sort-of-dead. Oh and not forgetting the showdown
between the Clegane brothers.

But as the fight rages on into the night and dawn is about to break, the Night King and his army overpower them again, and the castle falls.

However, just as all seems lost, Bran emerges from one of his warg-like trances and delivers
information that holds the key to their survival…The God’s Eye.

In George R. R. Martin’s novels, there’s a great lake in Westeros called the God’s Eye. It has a mysterious island in the centre known as the Isle of Faces. There, the magic of the Children of the Forest is strong, as this was where the pact between the Children of the Forest and the First Men was made. It’s hidden by mist and has such an ominous reputation that few people have ever been there. But one thing we do know is that it’s filled with Wierwood trees.

During Bran’s trance-like state, he saw that, on the island, stands a supreme Weirwood – like a ‘Grand Weirwood’ – that supplies Westeros with magic. If this tree were torched, the Night King would die. He suggests that Daenerys fly there with Drogon and set it alight.

This is where my second major Game of Thrones ending deviation occurs.

At this point, Whidden believes that burning the Weirwood would also kill Jon, as his
resurrection was as a result of magic. Daenerys continues with the plan to burn the tree,
sacrificing her beloved Jon in order to save mankind. This is how – in Whidden’s version – Jon dies.

But Melisandre resurrected Jon with powers from the Lord of Light – which seem to have no
correlation with the magic connected to the Children of the Forest.

Instead of Daenerys sacrificing her beloved Jon in order to save mankind (Whidden’s Game of Thrones ending proposal), here’s how I see the conclusion unfolding.

As Daenerys leaves to turn the Weirwood tree into one almighty bonfire, the Night King flies with Viserion to protect it. Meanwhile, Jon arrives at King’s Landing and, after tearful reunions with all who thought he was dead, Bran asks to speak to him alone.

Bran tells Jon about his vision and Dany’s mission to burn the tree. As Jon turns to leave and follow Dany, Bran has one final revelation:

Daenerys is pregnant with Jon’s child.

After Jon’s departure, we see Cersei go back on her word and demand the deaths of every
single person who had been loyal to Daenerys. Jaime hears this as an echo of the Mad King
Aerys. Trying to reason with her only fuels her madness, and Cersei screams that she’d never really been pregnant, but said she was to manipulate him. Jaime stabs Cersei, completing his arc as a Kingslayer and a Queenslayer.

Fast-forwarding to the God’s Eye, we see an echo of another aerial duel that took place in that very spot between two of the most powerful dragons, Vhagar and Caraxes, and their riders, Prince Aemond Targaryen and Prince Daemon Targaryen, during the civil war called the Dance of the Dragons. After a climactic battle between the three dragons and their riders, it’s Jon who winds up face-to-face with the Night King by the tree. While he distracts the Night King, Dany swoops down and unleashes a torrent of dragon fire onto the tree. As realisation hits, Jon drives his Valyrian steel sword, Longclaw, into the Night King’s chest, sealing his fate.

Dany drops to the ground and Jon turns to meet her. She runs to be reunited with him but, as she gets closer, his smile turns to a grimace, as the Night King throws his spear in one last act of defiance and pierces Jon through the heart. As she cradles his head on her lap, he places his hand on her stomach and with his last breath, whispers, “I love you both”. This concludes Jon’s arc as ‘The Prince That Was Promised’ and affirms that his resurrection was solely to fulfil his destiny of killing the Night King.

Daenerys returns to King’s Landing on Drogon, with Jon’s body secured in the gentle grip of
Rhaegal’s talons. After she mourns the death of the man she loved, she finally ascends the Iron Throne on shaky legs and assumes her place as ruler.

GoT Conclusion Epilogue

Ten years later, Sansa is the new Lady of Winterfell, which has been completely rebuilt. In an
echo back to the first series when King Robert makes the journey, we see another royal
carriage pulling into the courtyard – this time with Targaryen banners.

We follow Jon’s direwolf, Ghost, down to the crypts, where Jon’s grave sits beside his father’s.

He stops at Jon’s statue, along with Daenerys and her ten-year-old son. After a while, she
kisses the statue, and they turn to leave.

“My father was a great man, wasn’t he ?”

“The greatest,” says Daenerys.

“Do you think I’ll be like him when I’m older?”

“You already are Jon,” she smiles. “You already are.”

“I’ll never be like him if I can’t swing a sword.”

“Well,” Daenerys says, realising they’re not alone. “I know someone who could teach you.”

As in the aired ending, Arya has been away exploring the unmapped world but has returned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of her brother’s death. She steps sheepishly out of the shadows, apologising for intruding on a private moment, but Dany waves her hand in the air and dismisses it. “You have nothing to apologise for. Unless you’re saying you won’t teach him. In which case, I have a hungry dragon outside.” They all smile.

“I’d love to,” Arya says.

“But I don’t even have a sword,” Jon sighs.

Arya kneels down in front of him and pulls out a small but familiar smallsword.

“A great man once gave me this weapon. A man who believed I could be anything I wanted to be,” Arya says, placing it gently in Jon’s hands. “I call it Needle. But it’s yours now. And you can call it anything you like.”

As they emerge from the crypts, the courtyard is brimming with people – spilling out all across the surrounding countryside. At the front are Sansa, Bran, Tyrion, Jaime, Tormund Giantsbane, Brienne of Tarth and Samwell Tarly.

“To Jon!” shouts Tormund. “A madman, and a King!”

As he takes the knee, ripples of “to Jon!” start echoing through the courtyard and beyond. One after the other, they all kneel.

“To Jon,” whispers Daenerys. And walking in front of her child, for the only meaningful time in
her life, she kneels and bows her head low to their son; future King of the Seven Kingdoms, and Jon’s heir.

“My King.”

ROLL CREDITS

Is this a Game of Thrones ending you would’ve liked to have seen, how would you improve on the GoT conclusion to the show, how do you think George R. R. Martin will wrap things up? Leave us a comment below.

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