TV Review: GAME OF THRONES: Season 8, Episode 6: The Iron Throne & Series Post Mortem Analysis [HBO]

Jon Snow’s Life Sentence

Jon Stark being given a life sentence at The Wall for murdering Queen Daenerys is a pointless punishment. There are no more White Walkers. The Wildlings are now the allies of The Night’s Watch (what’s left of it), The North, and the Six Kingdoms. There is a gargantuan, dragon-blown gap through The Wall which completely negates the function of The Wall i.e. a barrier between the North and the South of Westeros. What is the point of manning The Wall now that it serves no purpose?

What is the point of sending men there? Is The Wall now just a penal colony? If so, what type of punishment is it when the people sent there have no responsibilities anymore, there is nothing for them to protect, nothing for them to do, there are no guards, no warden, and they are free to roam around on horseback as they please? It’s a complete joke.

If Jon Snow is to be given a life sentence, if he is truly to be punished, why doesn’t Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) demand that Jon be imprisoned in a cell at Dragonstone, guarded by The Unsullied? The Wall is an abstraction to Grey Worm. He has never seen it. All he knows is that The Night’s Watch manned it previously and that it has been breached. How is sending Jon Snow back to The North with his friends and family and to an institution that is now defunct any type of punishment for killing the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? Life imprisonment in Dragonstone makes much more sense from any angle. Grey Worm has seen the Dragonstone prison cells. He knows his men. He knows Jon will live no life of comfort behind Dragonstone’s walls.

Conversely, Grey Worm has no idea what awaits Jon at The Wall and the lords and ladies of Westeros are strangers to Grey Worm. Why does he trust them to keep their word about Jon? When Grey Worm leaves the Seven Kingdoms, the lords and ladies of Westeros could easily reverse the life sentence or secretly transport Jon to a grand and lush retirement somewhere extremely comfortable. The only way Grey Worm could be sure the life sentence was carried out would be to stay in Westeros to make sure that it was. Grey Worm trusted Jon and the nobles once and Grey Worm’s queen died because of it. Why in the world would he trust them again, especially with something so critical?

Trial by Combat Anyone?

If Grey Worm is determined to leave Westeros yet see justice done before he goes, Grey Worm should have suggested Trial by Combat (imagine the sublime spectacle of such a fight e.g. Ubbe and Frodo’s fight in Vikings). Trial by Combat is the obvious choice to satisfy Grey Worm’s anger (as he did in The Bells) and the lords and ladies of Westeros. It is extremely dubious that Grey Worm doesn’t make this suggestion during the gathering or that Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) does not suggest it. Why sit there as your brother is given a life sentence when through one fight, he could be freed? This clear option is never mentioned by anyone at the gathering in The Iron Throne. Why? Benioff and Weiss want Jon Snow to live (it is all about protecting this one character, something George R.R. Martin never does with his characters in A Song of Ice and Fire). Benioff and Weiss know that Grey Worm, like the rest of The Unsullied, has extensive military training and was trained starting at a far younger age and under far worse conditions than Jon Snow. That, coupled with the fact that Grey Worm may be as good with a spear as The Red Viper, means that the fight between Jon Snow and Grey Worm would be at the very least even, if not more favorable toward Grey Worm.

These facts are why Jon never fights for his life against Grey Worm in Trial by Combat in The Iron Throne and why the obvious (i.e. Trial by Combat) isn’t even broached in this lackluster episode.