'Game of Thrones' Season 8, Episode 5 - "The Bells" My Thoughts

Late to the party, but better late than never. Sunday’s episode of Game of Thrones titled “The Bells” left almost an entire fanbase floored when Daenerys Targaryen, Queen of the Unsullied, laid waste to King’s Landing. Most knew Khaleesi as the even-tempered queen who expected to march her army peacefully into the kingdom and set up shop; this, however, was not the case.

Death and carnage rained upon King’s Landing in the form of Drogon, Daenerys’s last surviving dragon child with the Mad Queen mounted atop of him. Viewers will remember that the week prior, Euron Greyjoy shot down Rhaegal, Dany’s other dragon, out of the sky with one of Cersei’s scorpions, leaving Dany with just one Dragon at her disposal.

It begs to ask the question—What is going to happen this Sunday when the Series Finale airs? Cersei and Jaime are most likely dead after the room they were trapped in collapsed around them. Jon is finally realizing that maybe it wasn’t a good idea to follow and pledge loyalty to the Targaryen Queen after he bore witness to the destruction she laid out in the city which if I’m being completely honest was unnecessary if Cersei is out of the picture. Why not just claim the Iron Throne and be done with it? There was no need for all that bloodshed, millions of lives did not have to come to an abrupt end to prove a point; yes, Dany won the Great War and potentially the Iron Throne, but it was at a great cost that she did so.

We also saw Varys meet his end at the business end of Drogon. He was found out as trying to poison Dany and overthrow her, only to be ratted out by his trusted friend Tyrion. For just a moment, my heart broke to see Varys die by burning to death for his crimes… but that feeling was just for a moment after I realized the guy was just a sleazy parasite who had his own agenda for the Seven Kingdoms.

Let’s also not forget the main event in my eyes—Cleganebowl. It finally happened! Fans have been waiting years for this—Sandor and Gregor Clegane finally came face to face for the first time since the Hound was afflicted with all those scars as a child from Gregor and which instilled in him the fear of fire. Being accompanied by Arya who was promptly told to get the hell out or die, the Clegane brothers had a free-for-all in the ruins of the Red Keep. What’s really neat about this particular scene was the backdrop of King’s Landing on fire and Drogon spewing fire everywhere. It was very beautifully done cinematically. We all knew that main characters were going to die this last season, and the Hound and the Mountain did not disappoint, both falling into a pit of endless fire.

Arya Stark, the Girl with No Name. The force to be reckoned with. She’s survived witnessing the beheading of her father, going blind, finding herself, taking out House Frey, Assassinating Petyr Baelish for treason, the list goes on. We saw her take out the Night King and his cronies in Episode 3; this girl is unstoppable in my eyes. She single-handedly attempted to save as many people she could when King’s Landing was burning, many times we thought she was going to die, having been knocked down and pushed aside by falling debris. If it’s not common knowledge now, Arya is a survivor. She knows how to protect herself.

So where do we go from here? Will Dany succeed and rule as a tyrant, even though she promised to eradicate tyrants from the seven kingdoms? Will Jon finally accept his heritage and take the Iron Throne from Dany, finally wiping out the Targaryen bloodline once and for all? It all comes to a close this Sunday when we find out how it all ends.