Why Game of Thrones' final season made perfect sense

Daenerys Targaryen was always meant to go mad at the end. Photo / Game of Thrones / Supplied

After a decade of extreme emotional investment, Game of Thrones' eighth and final season in 2019 really failed to impress its legion of fans.

While there were a whole host of criticisms, from it feeling "rushed" to having no consistency on previous seasons, arguably the most deafening outcry was aimed at Daenerys Targaryen's King's Landing death ride – in which she burned thousands of innocents despite her victory having already been sealed with the rings of the surrender bells.

She got what she wanted, she defeated Cersei Lannister, why did she proceed to murder a whole city?

It didn't make sense, many argued, with a petition to rewrite the final season notching half a million signatures at the time. Even GoT author George R.R. Martin admitted writers Dan Weiss and David Benioff went in a different direction than what he would have wanted.

Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. Photo / Game Of Thrones / Supplied

Dany was the heroine of this story. The ethereally beautiful, silver-haired dark horse who rose from the ashes – dragons in tow – to follow her destiny and rule a better Westeros.

She showed empathy throughout her campaign. Moral judgment. She promised to "break the wheel" to her army of oppressed followers.

While those things are true, if you were stunned by Dany's fall from grace in season 8 you simply weren't paying close enough attention.

UK actress Emilia Clarke told Entertainment Weekly in 2020 she was "flabbergasted" by her beloved character's fate, but there were a long list of moments that foreshadowed Dany's destruction.

In the first season, Daenerys watches her brother Viserys die in brutal fashion - appearing stone cold emotionless as he begged for mercy at the hands of the Dothraki.

While, granted, Viserys was an awful person, Dany's lack of empathy in this moment hinted at her darker side.

And then in season 2, the very early days of Dany's campaign to the kingdom, she made it clear she was a force to be reckoned with, capable of doing the very thing she did in season 8.

Speaking to The Spice King in Qarth, in a desperate bid to convince him to let her take his fleet, Dany proclaimed: "I am Daenerys Stormborn of the blood of old Valyria and I will take what is mine. With fire and blood, I will take it."

In the same episode, she declares: "When my dragons are grown, we will take back what was stolen from me and destroy those who have wronged me. We will lay waste to armies and burn cities to the ground!"

And then, in season 4, Dany crucifies 163 Great Masters in Meereen for their treatment of slave children – never mind that some were innocent. She says: "I will crucify the masters. I will set their fleets afire. I will kill every last one of their soldiers and return their cities to the dirt. That's my plan."

Catch up on Game of Thrones on Neon before House of the Dragon is released on August 22.