Why Did Drogon Burn the Iron Throne in Game of Thrones?

After eight seasons and 73 episodes, Game of Thrones came to an end Sunday night.

One of the longest-running questions in the series has been which character would ultimately sit on the Iron Throne.

Drogon, the only remaining dragon on the series, took care of that in a very permanent way by burning the throne in the series finale.

This post contains spoilers for Game of Thrones' series finale.

Throughout Game of Thrones' eight seasons, characters have been fighting for the Iron Throne. In the show's highly-anticipated finale, however, Drogon (the last of Daenerys' dragons) rendered the entire point moot when he straight-up burned the Throne down. Here's why he did what he did and what it means for the future of Westeros.

Did Drogon burn the Iron Throne because Daenerys was killed?

Kind of. In a heartbreaking scene, Drogon realized Dany was dead, screamed like the world was ending, and then burned the throne to the ground. He could have absolutely killed Jon, who had just murdered Dany, but instead he chose to destroy the real problem: the throne itself. In a way, the throne (and the quest for it) is what led Dany to become just as tyrannical as other previous rulers, so Drogon knows what really killed Dany. He could have chosen loyalty to his owner, but instead he chose loyalty to the realm. Or, he could have just been having a temper tantrum and didn't want to burn the half-Targaryen (and the last Targaryen ever!) Jon Snow.

What does the burned Iron Throne symbolize?

This is the breaking of the wheel that Dany has been talking about for seasons. In her speech to her troops in the finale, she asked, "Will you break the wheel with me?" Burning down the Iron Throne represents the breaking of the wheel—even though Dany would never have planned to die to obtain true equality.

HBO

What does the destruction of the Iron Throne mean for Westeros?

Ultimately, it meant that all the remaining houses had to decide who should be the king or queen. The ruler was ultimately elected from the representatives of their various lands. And the selection—Bran—is the representative of all of humankind and human history, so he represents all people in the realm. Tyrion even says, "That is the wheel our queen wanted to break—from now on, our rulers...will be chosen." So democracy (of a sort) is enacted in her memory.

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