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(Editor’s note: Warning, there are all sorts of Game of Thrones spoilers below. If you’re not caught up, you probably shouldn’t read on.)
What’s up with Dorne?
Did you hear there’s a new prince in Dorne? It wouldn’t be surprising if you missed it, since Daenerys’ war council dropped the news with all the excitement of someone checking the box score of a Suns-Knicks game. The show didn’t even bother giving the new leader of this proud and strategically crucial kingdom a name, which is wild given that Dorne is loyal to Daenerys’ cause and is one of the most distinct cultures in Westeros.
One imagines that due to the caustic reaction to the Dorne storyline in season 5 — which gave us the Sand Snakes and the infamous “bad pussy” line — the showrunners decided to sweep Dorne’s existence under the rug. One of the consequences of the show pushing regions like Dorne to the margins is that the world of Game of Thrones, which once felt so grand and complex, now feels like just a handful of characters concentrated in a couple of locations. We doubt the show has time to check in on places that aren’t King’s Landing or Winterfell, but it would be fun to see.
Who is Azor Ahai?
You wouldn’t know it from watching the last two episodes of GoT, but the show actually did have a notable amount of magic outside of the dragons. Although Westeros began as a fairly low-key fantasy setting (albeit one with ice necromancers to the north), sorcery and prophecies started to factor in more heavily as the story went on. The prophecy regarding the return of Azor Ahai, the legendary figure who ended the Long Night, was a source of speculation for fans for years.
Readers and viewers pored over details and hints, trying to figure out who was the likeliest candidate to be the second coming of Azor Ahai. The show seems to have given up on that bit of lore; even Melisandre, the character most obsessed with the prophecy, stopped bringing it up. Since Arya killed the Night King, we suppose that means she was the Prince That Was Promised? Or maybe, if someone brings Daenerys down in the finale, that person will have fulfilled the prophecy? We don’t know, and we’re not sure the show will tell us.
Does Bran serve any purpose now?
Bran spent years training to become the Three-Eyed Raven, an omniscient greenseer, all in the hopes that he would use his powers in the war against the White Walkers. That war came and went in the span of an episode, and Bran’s destiny was apparently just to sit in the weirwood grove warging into … something, and ostensibly acting as bait so that Arya could get the jump on the Night King. Aside from that, Bran’s only role this season has been to drop important bits of backstory to characters in his super-chill tone. But is there more to the story? Did he play any role in the King’s Landing assault through his warging powers? Will he serve any role in the finale, or is he just going to sit in Winterfell, staring blankly at people and being Zen while the major characters finish things down south?
Whatever happened to the Reeds?
House Reed is one of House Stark’s most loyal vassals, and the two families have shared a lot in recent memory. Howland Reed saved Ned’s life in the battle at the Tower of Joy and was the only person Ned trusted with the secret of Jon’s lineage. Meanwhile, siblings Jojen and Meera Reed helped shepherd Bran to the Three-Eyed Raven, Jojen dying on the journey. Given their shared history, it was a bit of a downer when Bran unceremoniously brushed off Meera after their return to Winterfell. Recognizing that Bran is a bit of a jerk now, Meera left, which is a shame because she was arguably an even cooler knife aficionado than Arya. Maybe the Reeds will pop up in the finale to salute Jon’s rise to the throne?
Who will pay the Lannister debts?
A Lannister always pays their debts, unless most of them are dead. While the Targaryen-Stark alliance rode north to battle the White Walkers, Cersei took out a new loan from the Iron Bank to hire the famed Golden Company mercenary group to bolster her forces for the subsequent war against her rivals. Assuming she and Jaime didn’t survive the collapsing ceiling in The Bells, Cersei’s dead now, and either Daenerys or Jon will likely end up on the Iron Throne. Will the Iron Bank try to press the repayment of the debt — it was presumably the crown as an institution that owed it, regardless of who helms that institution — and if so, would Daenerys or Jon care to pay it back? While the show used to revel in such details, we don’t expect any answers to these questions.
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