‘Game of Thrones’: Could Missandei Ruin Everything For Jon and Dany?

Now that the Night King has been defeated on Game of Thrones, it seems like there’s nothing standing in our heroes’ way. Indeed, the teaser for next week’s episode seems to confirm that Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) is feeling confident about her chances against Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey). After all, after you’ve overcome the literal Army of the Dead, what’s 20,000 sellswords and a human queen? (Well…)

However, Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3, “The Long Night” also set up a totally different danger for our heroes. You see, the people who are loyal to Daenerys don’t seem to like Jon Snow’s friends, family, or countrymen very much. And by “people who are loyal to Daenerys), I mean Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel).

Darling Missandei seems to loathe the frosty reception she’s gotten in Winterfell so much that she could wind up being a problem for Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner). In fact, I’m wondering if Missandei and her boo Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) might eventually be responsible for breaking Jon and Dany up and ruining everything for our heroes’ happy ending.

When we first met Missandei she was a sheepish slave in Astapor who was responsible for translating for her odious master. Daenerys slyly convinced this master to give her Missandei as a “gift” for a bargain well struck for the Unsullied. Soon Missandei was shocked by Daenerys’s boldness and intelligence, and she became Dany’s closest friend and adviser. Missandei has willingly followed Daenerys all over the world, but there’s one place she seems to loathe and that’s the North.

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To be fair to Missandei, the North doesn’t seem to like her. She’s been met with not only skepticism, but a hostility that reeks of racism. In Missandei’s mind, Jon Snow probably has manipulated Daenerys, and even if Missandei likes Jon (and it’s unclear if she does), she has shown uncharacteristic disdain for Sansa Stark. Missandei is pissed off at Team Stark and she’s not afraid to show it.

Here’s why this might pose a problem. What makes Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen so unstoppable right now is their partnership. Love binds them, but ambition and divided loyalties could tear them apart. Daenerys didn’t appreciate the news that her lover is actually her nephew, but she was more upset at the implication that Jon is the true heir to the Iron Throne. Jon has been sitting on this news, and it’s unclear how word of it will get out, but when it does, you can bet that Sansa, Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), Ser Davos Seaworth (Liam Cunningham), and Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) will probably take it ecstatically. Sansa Stark will likely urge Jon to take his rightful place on the Iron Throne…throwing Daenerys’s claim into doubt.

Now that Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) is dead, there’s no one in Daenerys’s orbit who is profoundly good at calming her down and helping her see sense. She will be leaning on Missandei and Grey Worm. Knowing that Missandei straight up doesn’t like Sansa Stark and the North suggests that she would counsel Daenerys to stomp on Jon Snow’s claim and take the Iron Throne for herself. She might even go so far as to turn Daenerys against Sansa Stark, and if Dany moves against Sansa, we’re going to have Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Arya Stark jumping to the Lady of Winterfell’s defense.

The final three episodes of Game of Thrones are poised to shift focus towards the fight for the Iron Throne. All Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen’s alliance needs to dissolve is one person on either side appealing to their worst tendencies. Right now it looks like the show might be positioning Missandei as that person.

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