Game of Thrones ENDING EXPLAINED! Final Scene Imagery Analysis!

[00:00] Hi, I'm Eric Voss, and Game of Thrones' final episode ended in ways parallel to the series' origin, but in other ways, vastly different. And literally, 100% of viewers were pleased. Well done, HBO. Oh wait, lots of fans were disappointed, huh?

[00:12] Well, there's actually a lot of deeper meaning hidden in the series closing imagery, hinting at big mysteries for the characters' futures, and key symbolism for how the finale provides closure to the events of the past eight seasons. So I'm gonna explain what it all means.

[00:26] Okay, the final montage depicts epilogues for three characters. Jon Snow, Arya Stark, and Sansa Stark. The editing that sync would synch their action. The close-ups of their primary weapons, Jon's hand on Lonclaw, Arya's hand on the dagger she killed the Night King with,

[00:39] and Sansa's hand slipping through her new queen garment, embroidered with red weirwood leaves. Her steadfast defense of Northern traditions won Sansa this victory. Sansa becomes Queen of the North, which isn't Queen of all of Westeros!

[00:53] But Queen of the only part of Westeros she ever cared about, Brand allowed the North to regain its independence, bringing it full circle with its historical sovereignty. The North was only annexed to the other kingdoms by the threat of Targaryen Dragon Fire.

[01:05] Now that the dragons have left Westeros, the North can go back to its true status. Brand may have been awarded the monarchy at the end of this series, but these final minutes never show this kind of crowning ceremony for him.

[01:17] Brand's reign only really exists as a solution that the warring factions of Westeros could live with, whereas Sansa's crowning is the symbolic victory that really matters in this finale. Brand leaves the ruling of the kingdom in the hands of Tyrion in the small council.

[01:31] He plans to use his wargain abilities to track down Drogon, who was last seen flying east. East to Old Valyria, where dragons and Targaryens once resided, or east to the mysterious Shadowlands, east of a shy,

[01:44] where Danny's eggs came from. It's not certain which, but Brand's focus is shifting eastward with Drogon. Like Drogon, John, and Arya, this supernatural force is leaving the drama of Westeros behind.

[01:56] Arya sheaths her dagger, her fighting is done, and instead she fiddles with a telescope and maps, reflecting her future as an explorer, sailing west of Westeros. This was a dream she brought up in season 6, when she feared that she would always be hunted by enemies in Westeros and Essos.

[02:11] Arya is following in the footsteps of legendary Westeros figures like Alissa Farman, who sailed west across the Sunset Sea on her ship the Sun Chaser, discovered three islands and some believed circumnavigated this globe,

[02:24] to the far east, to the city of a shy. Westeros has been compared geographically to Britain, Essos to Eurasia, and Sothros to Africa, so perhaps west of Westeros are other continents similar to the Americas.

[02:36] Arya sailing into the Sunset also parallels the epilogue of Frodo Baggins and the Lord of the Rings of the Return of the King. Frodo was no longer capable of finding purpose in this land, haunted by wounds that never heal, just like Arya has outgrown this land,

[02:49] still bearing the scar on her forehead, seeking new shores and new adventures. Her final shot echoes the midpoint of this HBO series, the season 4 finale, when Arya last left Westeros, hopefully gazing eastward from the bow of a bravo seaship.

[03:03] The Stark sisters are separated geographically, but they maintain family unity by both bearing the sigils of how stark. Arya's bow and sails show the direwolf, the back of Sansa's throne shows direwolf heads as well, and overall this, the music composed by Rami and Jawadi

[03:17] is called The Last of the Starks, and it blends the House Stark theme with the main Game of Thrones title theme, as if to say this game music that we've heard at the start of all 73 episodes now marches to the beat of the wolves.

[03:30] John joins the sisters in that pack pride, the montage opens with the hilt of long claw, the white wolf head. This hilt was actually in focus the moment John killed Danny, staring down Danny's dragon head pin, the dragon and the wolf united one last time.

[03:44] John's choice brings him back to where he belongs, the north, with his direwolf spirit animal ghost. But looking forward, what is John's future? Where does he go? More on John in a bit, but first, thanks to our sponsor Skillshare for helping us make this episode.

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[04:10] Its premium membership gives you unlimited access to high quality classes from experts working in their fields to help you gain new skills and live your best life. To help me sharpen my eye to analyze the amazing cinematography of Game of Thrones,

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[04:34] especially when compared to pricey in-person classes and workshops. An annual subscription is less than $10 a month. And because Skillshare is sponsoring this episode, the first 500 people to sign up with the link in the description will get a free trial.

[04:47] Okay, back to John. John appears to be Lord Commander of the Night's Watch once more. And if so, after dollar is said as 999th Lord Commander, this might make John the 1000th Lord Commander,

[04:59] depending on whether they're counting by a number of 10 years or a number of people. Either way, according to Tyrion, the Night's Watch now functions as a kind of penal colony, a place for bastards and broken men to find redemption. This echoes a key theme of George R. Martin's works,

[05:12] the tender spot for cripples, bastards, and broken things. And Tyrion's early wisdom to John. Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Where it's like armor. And it can never be used to hurt you.

[05:25] Tyrion applies this logic to Bran by naming him Bran the Broken, repeating that title over and over again. And John lives on as John Snow, not his true identity, Aegon Targaryen, because his status as John Snow,

[05:37] a Night's Watch bastard, was always his armor. But despite John's apparent Lord Commander status, he marches north of the wall with torment in the wildlings. He may be leading an expedition or going off to live with these wildlings,

[05:49] leading them like Moses, leading an Exodus. The final shots show the gate closing behind him. And John fading into the darkness of the forest as if to never return. John's epilogue is by far the most mysterious.

[06:02] He remains a resurrected soul by the power of the Lord of Light, one who has survived miraculously over and over since that resurrection. That first shot of Lancelot in the sequence matches the framing of Lancelot during John's most insane recovery from the icy water north of the wall in season seven.

[06:17] So can John ever die? Is he still even human? And normally seasons, John was obsessed with finding his uncle Benjen, who later was revealed to have been saved by the children of the forest, who stabbed his heart with a dragonglass dagger,

[06:30] turning him into this half alive, half dead status. Kind of like a half measure of what they did to create the Night King. Benjen's fate was similar to that of the Night's King, from George or Martin's books. That was the legendary 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch,

[06:43] who fell in love with a woman with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. This man married her at the night fort, declared himself the Night's King, and committed various atrocities like making sacrifices to the others,

[06:56] similar to the human sacrifice's craster made. This Night's King was believed to be half dead, half alive. So this could be John's future. Remember, a part of his punishment was that he would father no children. So maybe his final journey north is his way of starting a new bloodline.

[07:11] Replacing the show's version of the Night King as a kind of undead supernatural link between life and death, maintaining his vows to serve as a shield that guards the realms of men, but north of the wall, with descendants that stay north of the wall.

[07:24] Whatever dark future may await John, the camera does not follow him. Again, John, Arya, Drogon, Brand, these magical forces exit our world, and we do not go with them. Instead, staying on the game board with us is Sansa,

[07:37] Tyrion, Davos, Sam, Brienne, the others. Individuals most focused on the long-term health of society and reconstruction. The closing scene parallels the opening scene of the series, with many of the shots framed exactly the same.

[07:49] It was the prologue that introduced the supernatural threat. Winter is coming to Westeros. This finale suggests the opposite, that those supernatural elements in Winter is leaving Westeros, like a sickness being cleansed out of a body.

[08:02] This resurgence of hope and new life in Westeros is symbolized by a close-up of a tiny green plant poking out of the snow. The title of George R. Martin's final book is a dream of spring, and with this plant, the dream of spring lives on in Westeros.

[08:15] What do you think John's future will be? Well, comment down below with your thoughts, follow me on Instagram, and on Twitter at EAVos. And subscribe to new rock stars! Thank you for joining me, and to those of you who are tweeting me clearly, parodying criticisms like, bad writing and rushed,

[08:28] and foreshadowing is not character development. Oh my god, you sound so smart.