Game of Thrones Bosses on the Heartbreaking Death and What It Means for Daenerys Targaryen

D.B. Weiss and David Benioff break down the emotional impact of the latest death

By Chris Harnick Aug 21, 2017 1:19 PMTags
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Pour one out for Viserion. Game of Thrones had a heartbreaking death (well, there's always a heartbreaking death on Game of Thrones) when Daenerys Targaryen's (Emilia Clarke) dragon was slain by the Night King. Not only slain, but transformed into a weapon for the other side. Gulp.

"The whole path of the show in someway had been trying to map out all the episode end points and with this one it was the dragon opening its blue eye and realizing the Night King has finally gotten his own weapon of mass destruction," co-creator David Benioff said in the behind-the-scenes video below.

Yeah, it's not good for Dany and Jon Snow (Kit Harington).

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"We knew that killing the dragon was going to have an enormous emotional impact because over the seasons and seasons of the show, it's really been emphasized what they are to Dany," co-creator D.B. Weiss said. "We knew that the Night King would see and seize the opportunity. I like to think that when the dragon dies that it's kind of a one two punch…"

"The dragons are my children," Dany told an ailing Jon Snow in the episode. "They're the only children I'll ever have."

"It's a heartbreak," Clarke told EW. "Not only losing it but having that being given to the other side."

Now that the dragon is on the other side, defeating the Army of the Dead is now even more important. "My dragon could not have died for nothing, so this is now so important," Clarke said. "For the first time, you're starting to see her defenses broken."

The death of the dragon hit Game of Thrones fans hard, particularly Saturday Night Live's Leslie Jones. "NOT THE DRAGON!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! NOOOOOOOOOO," Jones tweeted as the Night King took down Viserion.

 

RIP Viserion.

Who has the best claim to the Iron Throne? We broke it down for you below.

Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish

Claim to Throne: Not legitimate. His only power comes from marrying Lysa Arryn, killing her, and now controlling her house and her son. He's got his sights set on Sansa but it's not like she's legitimate either.

Does He Deserve It? Yes and no but mostly no. He doesn't really deserve the throne itself, maybe, but he's been doing too much work behind the scenes to not achieve some kind of power. He's so creepy though.

Odds He'll Get It: If Littlefinger ends up as the King of the Seven Kingdoms, we will be shocked. But also kind of impressed?

Cersei Lannister

Claim to Throne: As Queen Mother, the suicide of her last son, King Tommen, following her murder of his wife, Queen Margaery, at the end of season six left the throne empty with no one to challenge her own coronation. However, considering Tommen wasn't actually the legitimate son of King Robert Baratheon, Cersei's child never actually belonged on the throne, meaning she should've never been Queen Mother in the first place.

Does She Deserve It? No. Cersei is a murderer, a liar, and an all-around terrible person. She does not deserve the power she's amassed.

Odds She'll Get It: Considering she's currently sitting on the throne, we're pretty comfortable in our prediction that she won't be sitting there by the time the series comes to an end.

Euron Greyjoy

Claim to Throne: Not legitimate. His only power comes from murdering his brother Balon, King of the Iron Islands, usurping his throne. His wooing of Queen Cersei by helping her avenge Myrcell's death has him one step closer to the Iron Throne.

Does He Deserve It? Not at all.

Odds He'll Get It: Euron is crafty and unpredictable, so one can never count him out, but the idea of someone from the Iron Islands sitting on the Iron Throne when all is said and done seems rather unlikely.

Jaime Lannister

Claim to Throne: As a glance at the (very convoluted) Baratheon family tree reveals that, once upon a time, a Baratheon married a Lannister, giving Jaime's nasty father Tywin a claim to the throne through the Baratheon line. Considering Tywin was murdered by Jaime's brother Tyrion, Jaime could very well challenge his younger sister Cersei as his father's first born son and rightful heir.

Does He Deserve It? If it's a choice between Cersei and Jaime, sure. But Jaime's claim would be through some pretty heavy technicalities. 

Odds He'll Get It: It would be a pretty neat twist to see Jaime unseat his sister-lover from the throne, but now that they're apparently expecting another child, we're not holding our breath that he'll do anything but stand faithfully by her side until the bitter end.

Lyanna Mormont

Claim to Throne: None whatsoever.

Does She Deserve It? Who among us doesn't think this feisty and fearless 10-year-old head of House Mormont of Bear Island is perhaps the most admirable person in Westeros? What we wouldn't give to see her on the throne.

Odds She'll Get It: Very, very slim. But we can dream, can't we? Let us live!

Jon Snow

Claim to Throne: Legitimate. The show has basically confirmed that Jon is actually the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark, and that Rhaegar and Lyanna were legally married. That means Jon is a direct descendant of the last Targaryen king's firstborn son, and has an even better claim than Daenerys (but don't tell her that).

Does He Deserve It? Honestly, he's not the strongest of leaders, but he's got a good moral center and he's already been declared the King in the North…even if a few of his constituents aren't so sure of his leadership anymore.

Odds He'll Get It: As much as we love us some Jon Snow, we'd be a little bored if he ends up on the throne at the end, especially considering how Dany will inevitably react to the fact that she is not, in fact, the last Targaryen.

Daenerys Targaryen

Claim to Throne: Legitimate, but not as legitimate as she thought. She's the daughter of the last Targaryen king, but since the firstborn son and his firstborn son are next in the line of succession…well, we'll just have to see what she does when she finds out the truth about Jon.

Does She Deserve It? She's heading into Mad Queen territory at present, but considering her entire history and how hard she's fought and how many people are devoted to her, yes. Yes she damn well does.

Odds She'll Get It: We used to think they were good, but she's too unstoppable right now to remain unstoppable forever.

Sansa Stark

Claim to Throne: As Lady Stark of Winterfell, she doesn't have much of a legitimate claim.

Does She Deserve It? Sansa has become one of Westeros' most cunning political figures as she's grown up, learning from the best. (All that time spent alongside Cersei wasn't all for naught.) But if she veers too much into her mentor's malevolent ways, we wouldn't want her anywhere near the throne.

Odds She'll Get It: Sansa's one to keep an eye on as the great fight for the throne heats up. We've got a feeling she just might surprise us all. 

Tyrion Lannister

Claim to Throne: As the second-born son of Tywin (and his murderer), Tyrion's claim to the Baratheon bloodline that would work in Jaime's favor wouldn't be of much use to him.

Does He Deserve It? We couldn't think of a fairer ruler for Westeros. His discomfort over Dany entering Mad Queen territory only further highlights how he ought to be the one in charge most of the time.

Odds He'll Get It: We're not sure we can imagine a world in which Westeros would accept Tyrion as their king. We've got a feeling he'll be standing next to whoever takes the throne, advising them from behind-the-scenes

Gendry

Claim to Throne: As the only living child of Robert Baratheon left, the bastard son technically has more of a claim than Joffrey or Tommen ever did considering Robert wasn't their father. However, the whole "bastard" title might make things a bit difficult. That said, if we're aiming to keep the Baratheon line on the throne, Gendry has a better claim than Cersei ever has.

Does He Deserve It? Gendry's been out rowing for the last three seasons, making him a bit of a non-entity as far as the Westeros power players are concerned. But he seems nice enough, right?

Odds He'll Get It: He didn't just pop back up for nothing. Don't count Gendry and his hammer out.

The Night King

Claim to Throne: None, he's a zombie.

Does He Deserve It? Hell no.

Odds He'll Get It: 100 percent. If the living don't band together and stop him first, that is.

Game of Thrones airs Sundays, 9 p.m. on HBO.