Why It Looks Like ‘Game of Thrones’ Will End With Jon Snow vs. Daenerys Targaryen

I’ve been beating on this drum for a few weeks now, but I don’t know if people really realize what Jon Snow’s true name and heritage mean for Daenerys’s sense of self. Daenerys’s whole understanding of who she is has been tied up with her family’s exile. Taking back the Iron Throne is more than a mission for her, but a fulfillment of destiny. Everything she’s done along the way, from bringing dragons back to freeing the Eastern slaves to taking over kingdoms and Khalasars, has not just been her path to the Iron Throne, but proof that it must be her destiny.

When Jon reveals that he is her elder brother’s trueborn heir, Daenerys looks at her lover as if he’s betrayed her. There’s nothing in her behavior to suggest that she’s willing to accede her claim to the Iron Throne for him, even if they marry. She has to be the one, singular queen sitting on that throne.

The problem is his claim is technically superior, and the people of Westeros are likely to rally behind him instead of the “foreign” dragon queen. That alone could spell doom for Jon and Daenerys’s romance.

From the very start of Season 8, Game of Thrones has made it clear that not everyone on Team Jon is Team Daenerys. Sansa Stark (Sophie Turner) is notoriously tetchy, but as she explained in Season 8, Episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms,” she’s concerned that Daenerys will pulverize the North’s freedom. There’s a political fight there. However, for sweet Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), his antipathy towards Daenerys is personal.

In Season 8, Episode 1, “Winterfell,” Sam is pleased to meet Daenerys until she cooly reveals that she killed his father for not bending the knee. Sam can sort of accept this, but the news that she also murdered his younger brother is too much to bear. When he finally does tell Jon Snow the truth about his parents, he adds that Daenerys shouldn’t be the queen because she is unhinged and unjust.

Once Sansa Stark learns that Jon Snow has a claim to the Iron Throne, you better believe she’ll push him to capitalize on his power, as Sam already has. If two of Jon’s closest advisors are already being positioned against Daenerys, then it stands to reason that they will do everything they can to encourage him to take the Iron Throne from Daenerys.

So we know that the people in Jon’s corner aren’t fans of the Dragon Queen, but what about the people whispering in Daenerys’s ear? Well…they don’t like Jon’s friends either.

Since Missandei (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) have arrived in the North, they’ve been met with cruel stares and cold manners. Because of this, the lovers have already begun planning to leave Westeros altogether as soon as their queen takes her Iron Throne. Missandei even went so far as to snarl at Sansa Stark in the Crypts of Winterfell. The message is clear: Missandei and Grey Worm want nothing to do with Jon Snow’s friends and family.

This does not bode well for Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen’s future together since now that Ser Jorah is dead, Dany’s going to be leaning harder on Missandei and Grey Worm for advice. Unlike the native Northerner, we doubt Missandei is going to implore Dany to make peace with Sansa Stark. In fact, we suspect she’ll push her queen to make war.

Even though Lord Varys (Conleith Hill) has been one of Daenerys’s most powerful allies, he could very easily switch his allegiance to Jon Snow’s claim. After all, that’s what the Spider does. He backs whomever he thinks is the best ruler for the people of Westeros at a given moment.

Daenerys knows this. In Season 7, Episode 2, Daenerys questions his loyalty to her and even threatens to burn him alive if he betrays her. Later in Season 7, Varys intimates to Tyrion that Daenerys has a dangerous streak that needs to be soothed. He’s so upset by the news that she’s burned the Tarlys to a crisp that he drinks from Tyrion’s cup and recalls the guilt he felt not stopping the Mad King.

So there’s reason to believe that should Daenerys let her ruthless side shine in pursuit of the Iron Throne that Varys might…uh…decide that Aegon is the Targaryen who should sit on the Iron Throne. How could Daenerys do this? Well, if she decides to just burn all of King’s Landing in order to defeat Cersei as fast as possible.

Last winter, George RR Martin released Fire & Blood, an in-depth look at the early history of the Targaryen dynasty in Westeros. One key takeaway from that book is the deep bond shared between dragons and their riders. It’s a connection that trumps family lines. Meaning, once a dragon takes a rider, they are loyal to that person over anyone or anything else.

This is important because Jon is now a dragonrider. Rhaegal has taken him on, and that means, whether Daenerys realizes it or not, that Rhaegal is loyal to Jon and not her or Drogon.

During last week’s episode, we saw two moments that signaled there may already be a rift forming between Rhaegal and Drogon. First, after Jon and Dany rode them to the summit overlooking the battle, the camera lingered on the two dragons snapping at each other. Later, they almost collided in a way that looked possibly intentional…from Drogon’s perspective.

Even if Drogon didn’t try to take out Rhaegal, the two dragons could very well fight each other in the episodes to come.

Back in 2015, George RR Martin was asked what to expect from the ending of the whole A Song of Ice and Fire saga. “I think you need to have some hope…we all yearn for happy endings in a sense. Myself, I’m attracted to the bittersweet ending. People ask me how Game of Thrones is gonna end, and I’m not gonna tell them … but I always say to expect something bittersweet in the end,” Martin said. “You can’t just fulfill a quest and then pretend life is perfect.”

Well, the quest has been fulfilled, right, but the ending is not going to be perfect. What could possibly be more bittersweet than two heroic lovers who band together to save the world and then fall apart when it comes to decide who has a right to rule it?

Then again, maybe Cersei wins.

Where to stream Game of Thrones