Sunday night’s Game of Thrones season finale tidied up a number of storylines, including Jon’s parentage and whatever that whole Winterfell thing was, but it also raised numerous questions that won’t be answered until the final season.
“The Dragon and the Wolf” had some of the most highly-anticipated scenes in the series: basically all the main characters got together for a not-so-friendly chat, Littlefinger got some long-awaited justice, Jon’s parentage was finally fully confirmed and one incestuous couple got together while the other had a massive falling-out.
Having captured a wight as part of the world’s dumbest plan — which cost Viserion, Thoros of Myr and a few redshirt wildlings their lives — and transported it all the way to King’s Landing, Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and their group of all-stars attempted to convince Cersei (Lena Headey) and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) of the threat of the army of the dead.
It didn’t take much convincing for Cersei to acknowledge the existence and danger of an army of zombies (after all, she has a pet killer zombie of her own), but getting her to ally with her human enemies proved difficult for Team Daenerys. Cersei was ready to ride north and battle the Night King until Jon, who continues to be the most painstakingly honest man in Westeros, admitted he bent the knee to Daenerys and can’t do so for Cersei.
Tyrion went to plead with his sister one-on-on, and actor Peter Dinklage gave another of his award-winning performances, one reminiscent of the wily Tyrion of past seasons, whose sole purpose wasn’t trying to convince Daenerys to be smart. This Tyrion was missing seemingly all season, and this scene practically redeemed a disappointing few episodes for the most famous dwarf in the world.
Of course, Cersei feigned acceptance but isn’t really going to the North. Jaime, who has maybe finally realized his sister is the worst person in Westeros, left King’s Landing after a heart-stopping confrontation with the Mountain (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson).
Up at Winterfell, Arya (Maisie Williams) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) revealed that they’ve been scheming against Littlefinger (Aiden Gillen) and put him on trial for betrayal, treason and murder. Arya cut his throat in a fantastically just way.
Though the deaths of Viserys Targaryen, Joffrey Baratheon and Ramsay Bolton were all satisfying, Littlefinger’s was perhaps the most delightful since he’d been screwing people’s lives up since the series began.
Sam Tarly (John Bradley-West) and Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead Wright), basically Westeros’ two smartest people, got together and pieced together that Jon Snow is not Jon Snow, he was born Aegon Targaryen, the son of newlywed couple Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark.
Viewers have known this was coming: Jon was revealed as Lyanna’s son at the end of last season, Rhaegar was confirmed as his father by HBO between seasons and Gilly (way to take all the credit, Sam) found out that Rhaegar’s marriage to Elia Martell was annulled.
As Bran gushed over the fact that Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne, he hooked up with his aunt, Daenerys. On any show other than Thrones, it would be super bizarre to be cheering for a incestuous couple who share like 50 percent of their DNA to get together, but here we are.
Even though “The Dragon and the Wolf” came through with great scenes, it raised tons of questions, and we’ll likely have to wait until 2019 for the final season of Game of Thrones to get answers.
How soon will Jon/Aegon find out about his real parents and birth name? Once he finds out, will he call things off with Daenerys, or will he continue the Targaryen tradition of incest? What if he got her pregnant?
How long did Arya and Sansa scheme to kill Littlefinger? If they were planning it for a while, then what was up with their bizarre arguments?
Where is Jaime heading (Winterfell, hopefully)? Are he and Cersei officially broken up? Is she really pregnant? Speaking of oddball duos, where are Pod and Bronn?
How long will it take for the army of the dead to reach Winterfell (it took them seven seasons to get to the Wall)?
Most importantly — the Hound and the Mountain met again, so is Cleganebowl finally going to happen?
