We Now Finally Know Why Drogon Burned Down the Iron Throne

Erica Gonzales
Photo credit: HBO
Photo credit: HBO

From Men's Health

WARNING: Spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8 are ahead.

  • The Game of Thrones Season 8 finale script was released on the Emmys website.

  • The stage direction reveals that Drogon didn't burn down the Iron Throne on purpose, instead it was a "dumb bystander" to the dragonfire.

  • GoT fans seem even more upset about the revelation.

The script for Game of Thrones' finale episode, "The Iron Throne," was shared on the Emmys website this week after the series earned a whopping 32 nominations for its final season, Huffington Post reported.

The 45-page conclusion to the epic HBO show, written by showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, contains some of Season 8's biggest (and most bewildering) moments, from Daenerys Targaryen's death to Bran the Broken's pseudo-coronation. But the real revelations are found in the stage direction and screenplay notes.

GoT fans are particularly focused on the scene in which Drogon burns down the Iron Throne with his own dragonfire, seemingly in an emotional rage after finding his mother, Daenerys, stabbed to death on the floor of the throne room. At the time of the finale, viewers half-joked, half-theorized about the symbolic significance of Drogon's fiery siege. Did he know that the throne was a symbol for power, and that Dany's irrational craving for power ultimately led to her demise? Or did he associate the dagger in his mother's body with the piles of swords melded into the massive chair?

The answer is neither. According to the script, the throne is "not the target of Drogon's wrath," but "a dumb bystander caught up in the conflagration." The screenplay also emphasizes that the dragon did not want to kill Jon Snow, who was present during the throne-burning and is actually the one who murdered Daenerys.

Read an excerpt of the scene below.

The dragon rises up on his hind legs, towering over Jon.

In a beautiful, terrifying tableaux, he roars to the sky, the embodiment of rage.

He looks down at Jon. We see the fire build up in his throat.

Jon sees it as well. He prepares to die.

But the blast is not for him. Drogon wants to burn the world but he will not kill Jon.

He breathes fire on the back wall, blasting down what remains of the great red blocks of stone.

We look over Jon's shoulder as the fire sweeps toward the throne—not the target of Drogon's wrath, just a dumb bystander caught up in the conflagration.

We look through the blades of the throne as the flames engulf it, and blast the wall behind it.

We see the throne in the flames, turning red, then white, then beginning to lose its form.

We get tight shots of the details melting in silhouette: the armrests, the iconic fan of swords on the backrest.

The fire stops. The smoke clears revealing a puddle of smouldering slag where the throne once stood.

Who will sit on the Iron Throne? No one.

GoT viewers were disappointed with the finale to begin with, and the clarification on Drogon's throne destruction did not help at all. Disgruntled fans reacted on Twitter.

Would now be a bad time to bring up the fact that Game of Thrones Season 8 was nominated for an Outstanding Writing Emmy?

Read the full GoT Season 8, episode 6, script here.

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