The A Song of Ice and Fire series features tremendous sprawl. Over the course of five books (so far) and nearly 2 million words, George R.R. Martin has written from 31 points of view and created hundreds of characters, dozens of cities, and a handful of religions, cultural groups, and forms of magic. With all that source material, it’s a given that the Game of Thrones adaptation would have to cull various plot threads and characters to fit a television format.
But even the abridged version of the story spanned continents and expanded enough to showcase its own satisfying sprawl. So when it came time to contract as the finish line beckoned, viewers expected resolution for many of the characters and mysteries therein. In advance of Season 8, we at The Ringer identified more than 40 “Loose Ends” that remained on the show. As we described, the final season would “have to answer half a hundred pressing questions: Who will live? Who will die? Who will tell Jon he’s doing it with his aunt? Separate from those series-shaping questions are countless smaller but still crucial details that the show may or may not explore in the final season. These are Thrones’ loose ends: the characters, places, events, prophecies, and more that the story has made audiences wonder about over the past seven seasons but the show has yet to wrap up.”
Now that Season 8 is over and plagued by disquieted reviews of its pace and truncated storytelling, it’s worth revisiting those questions to see how comprehensively Thrones fulfilled its holistic promise. We’ll go one by one, assessing whether each loose end was addressed or not, and then consider what those answers suggest about the series’ final run.
Arya’s Kill List
Yes. Both Cersei and the Mountain, the two remaining names on Arya’s itinerary entering the season, are dead. Though Arya didn’t do the job herself, she conclusively capped this phase of her life with her conversation with Sandor Clegane in the Red Keep’s map room, when she accepts his warning against a life in search of revenge. This is a good start—the show is one for one!
Daenerys’s Pregnancy
No. Despite ample foreshadowing, Season 8 never mentioned the possibility of Dany conceiving and birthing a child.
Bran’s Warging Into a Dragon
No. What a shame. Instead, he spent the Battle of Winterfell, uh, scouting with ravens and then not using the information he gleaned from his warging activities to help the castle’s defenders. His final lines in the series, in which he says he will use his powers to try and find the missing Drogon, feel particularly damning in this context.
All the Potential Ways to Kill White Walkers
Kind of. While the heroes didn’t attempt to unmask the secrets of Valyrian steel creation, seek advice from the Children of the Forest, or try to find clues in Bran’s memories or the Citadel scrolls, Daenerys did try to roast the Night King with her signature dracarys move. Dragonfire didn’t work against the Walkers’ leader, but at least she—and the smiths, led by Gendry, who mass-produced dragonglass weapons in advance of the battle—made an effort.
The Mystery of Podrick’s Sexual Prowess
No. But the future Ser Pod—and the two ladies who accompanied him to the bedroom—did seem to have the most fun of anyone in the post–Battle of Winterfell festivities.
Catelyn Stark’s Return
No. But to be fair, if Lady Stoneheart had appeared, it would have happened many seasons ago.
Howland Reed’s Secrets
No. The Lord of Greywater Watch never appeared outside the Tower of Joy flashback. And Meera Reed never appeared in Season 8, making her last scene on the show her awkward Season 7 goodbye with Bran.
Edmure Tully’s Return
Yes. Cat’s brother came back for the finale’s Dragonpit summit, briefly made a fool of himself, and was fittingly told to pipe down by his niece, Sansa.
Jaqen and the Faceless Men’s True Motivation
No. Also unaddressed: How was a man of Jaqen’s talents jailed back in Season 1; what was he up to? The mystery will linger until The Winds of Winter explains more of the Faceless Men’s grand plot.
Salladhor Saan’s Return
No. The sex pirate missed out on the entire last half of the show.
The Surprise Return of Any Presumed-Dead Characters
No. But again, to be fair, this question was more speculative than insistent. The show didn’t really need the Blackfish or Syrio back for the conclusion. (Plus, Arya used Syrio’s famous “not today” mantra to catalyze her big moment.)
The Rulers of Westeros’s Forgotten Regions
Yes. The Dragonpit summit in the finale went a long way toward showing who ruled each region, even if that ending felt hasty and scattered after multiple seasons of ignorance in this regard. The most unintentionally funny moments of the season came in Episode 4, when Daenerys asked whether anyone knew who controlled Storm’s End and was met with a collective shrug, and when Varys explained that the unnamed “new prince of Dorne”—who ended up speaking one line, uttering an “aye” offscreen in the finale—supported the Dragon Queen’s cause.
The Mysterious Origins of Daenerys’s Dragon Eggs
No. Related: Are there more dragon eggs in the world? Could more appear with Drogon flying around, unmonitored? Again, who knows?
The Return of Melisandre’s Flames
Kind of. Melisandre played a crucial role in the Battle of Winterfell, but the story didn’t take the opportunity to further explore the role of religion or her accountability after committing numerous acts of horror. The visuals were darn cool, at least.
Bronn’s Quest for a Girl and Castle
Kind of. We don’t know about the girl, but Bronn negotiated lordship of Highgarden in the greatest upswing for any character in the series and found his way onto the realm’s small council—where he controls all the money—to boot.
Yara Greyjoy’s Role As More Than a MacGuffin for Theon
No. If only! She now rules the Iron Islands, sure, but she also had about as much screentime as Harry Strickland.
Young Griff’s Book Plot As a Clue to the Endgame
No. An actual Young Griff pop-up wouldn’t have made sense at this stage of the show, but in retrospect, his omission explains many of the show’s latter-stage issues. Not even trying to substitute for his important plot beats is one of the reasons key Season 8 turns—like Daenerys’s torching of the capital city—felt unearned.
Quaithe’s Appearance in Qarth
No. Admit it—the showrunners might have forgotten who she is at this point.
The Continued Role of Pie As a Symbolic Force in Westeros
No, but the show is definitely forgiven for this elision. The day this Loose Ends piece published was Pi Day (March 14—3.14, you get it), after all.
The Duel Between Sandor and Gregor, a.k.a. Cleganebowl
Yes. “You know who’s coming for you; you’ve always known,” Sandor tells his older brother in the Season 7 finale. So did audiences, and the show delivered.
Varys’s Distrust of Magic
No. Varys ultimately distrusted Daenerys for other reasons. Whither Kinvara, who teased Varys in Season 6, “Do you remember what you heard that night when the sorcerer tossed your parts in the fire? You heard a voice call out from the flames. Do you remember? Should I tell you what the voice said?” only for the show to never return to that theme ever again.
Ramifications of Jorah’s Greyscale
No. This pruned story line is a prime example of the show’s costly lean away from consequences in Seasons 7 and 8.
The Meaning of Season 2’s Comet
No. What seemed at the time as a possible commentary on the illusory nature of prophecy remained as such until the end.
Tyrion’s Love for Daenerys
No? Yes? For a while, it seemed as if this were another plot point strongly suggested by Season 7 that Season 8 abandoned—but in the finale, Tyrion tells Jon he does love Dany, just not as successfully as the warden of the North. It was a simultaneously overdue and odd admission in perhaps the most important conversation of the entire final season.
The Secrets of the Wall
No. And not only were the Wall’s origins unexplored, but the Wall’s future wasn’t, either. What is its point, now that the White Walkers are extinguished and all the remaining free folk appear to be allies of the North?
Old Nan’s Stories
No. WHERE WERE THE ICE SPIDERS?!
The Children of the Forest
No. They apparently were all in the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave when the White Walkers attacked. Daenerys might have massacred a city, but Bran inadvertently caused the final members of a whole race to die.
Daenerys’s House of the Undying Visions
Yes. Her prophesied walk through a snowy and ashy throne room became, incidentally, her last scene in the series.
The Golden Company’s Battle Acumen
No. They weren’t golden in battle, nor did they supply anyone company.
Illyrio Mopatis’s Initial Aid to Daenerys
No. The show forgot about him too.
Davos’s Wife
No. The Onion Knight remains a fan favorite, forever and always, but he still doesn’t remember his betrothed. At least with Missandei dead, he can no longer turn his flirting eyes her way.
Daario Naharis
No. But seeing as he’s basically the only remaining character who is still unaware of the army of the dead, he might be the most carefree of all.
Maggy the Frog’s Prophecy
Yes. Cersei indeed died before her fourth child with Jaime could be born, overthrown by a younger and more beautiful queen. Readers will complain that the valonqar part never manifested, but the show didn’t include that line in its Season 5 display of the prophecy so it can’t be blamed for that thread’s elision.
Gendry’s Possible Claim to the Throne
No. Gendry actually had two separate paths to a claim: through his Baratheon blood and Robert’s line, and through his more distant Targaryen blood. But no one floated his name in the Dragonpit. He’ll do just fine as the Lord of Storm’s End, even if he’ll have to find a wife who didn’t kill the Night King.
Brienne’s Romantic Journey
Yes. Even though Jaime’s decisions in Episode 4 this season caused some whiplash, her romantic arc closed with a rather fitting record-keeping session in the Kingsguard’s Book of Brothers, filling Jaime’s pages at last.
Tyrion’s Targaryen Potential
No. To be fair once again, more of this theorizing makes sense in the books rather than the show, but the lack of show exploration raises more unanswered questions about that scene in Meereen when Tyrion survives a close dragon encounter.
Ramifications of Cersei’s Pregnancy
Kind of? She successfully conned Euron into thinking that the baby was his, affirming their strategic alliance, but that plot point also met with incredulity when Tyrion publicly broadcast his knowledge of the pregnancy and Euron didn’t realize trickery was afoot. And though it ultimately became a humanizing factor for her in “The Bells,” it also led to far too many assertions from Tyrion that her pregnancy would change her character, which proved tiresome and redundant from Daenerys’s chief strategist.
The Secret of Jon’s Resurrection
No. Earlier, Jon takes pains to keep this development quiet, and Daenerys gives inquisitive looks when she identifies clues in Season 7. The eventual reveal seemed like it would induce massive repercussions. Now, though, Tormund boasts about Jon’s resurrection openly and nobody bats an eye, and even Jon is able to joke about it in mixed company. This is maybe the most baffling development of the whole season.
Sam and Gilly’s Stolen Citadel Books
No. Sam didn’t even need to show proof of Jon’s parentage via Septon Maynard’s diaries. The theft had no point aside from Sam’s asking Daenerys for a pardon, in a brief moment of levity before he learned about the fiery execution of his relatives.
Bran’s Potential Ability to Change the Past
No. One wonders, in retrospect, about the thematic purpose of Hodor’s death, which read as extraordinary in the moment but now seems oddly isolated, narratively, as the only instance of Bran’s attempting to push magical boundaries.
The White Walkers’ Motivation
Yes, kind of. Apparently they truly do want nothing more than death for the world and its collective memory. That answer may not be satisfying, given the rapid resolution of this long-gestating arc, but at least the show nodded at an answer to this crucial question.
The Prince(ss) That Was Promised/Last Hero/Azor Ahai Prophecies
No? This one’s a bit unclear. It could be argued that Jon fulfilled most of these prophesied roles, as he successfully brought together the right defenders of Winterfell in the battle against the dead, or that Bran fulfilled certain elements of the Last Hero’s journey to find the Children of the Forest. But Arya struck the killing blow against the Night King, and she doesn’t fit any other parts of the prophecies, which were never mentioned this season despite Season 7 making a grand show about their various possible permutations in Melisandre’s meeting with the Dragon Queen. And many of the specific elements of these tales—such as Azor Ahai’s sword-forging sacrifice—never manifested at all.
The Winner of the Crown
Yes. Congratulations to Bran, even if that turn fell flat.
So what does this list say about Season 8 overall? A few themes emerge.
First and most prominently, the fantasy questions went almost entirely unaddressed, from those about Bran’s powers to those about magic at the Wall, in Braavos, and in Varys’s past. With Bran specifically, the show concluded his political arc by naming him king, but left a host of dangling threads related to the fantastical elements of his persona. This imbalance fits a long-running disappointment in the story’s adaptation.
Second, several Season 7 story lines disappeared, suggesting that the showrunners might have rejiggered their planned character beats between the final two seasons. That appearance makes the endgame’s rushed pacing all the more confusing, with Season 7 serving as a rickety bridge between the fully developed first six seasons and the forced conclusion of Season 8.
And finally, the sheer number of “no”s on this list emphasizes the concentrated, compacted nature of Thrones’ final push. For the most part, these loose ends were part of the show itself. Sure, at this point it makes sense that Lady Stoneheart wouldn’t appear—but what about Quaithe? What about Illyrio, who played a crucial role in Season 1? (Remember not just his aid and gift of dragon eggs to Daenerys but also his scheming conversation with Varys, which Arya overheard while sneaking around the dungeons of the Red Keep.) What about Jorah’s greyscale, which Sam solved so neatly, and Jaqen’s purpose in Westeros, and Sam and Gilly’s books? And what about the loose ends the show introduced earlier in Season 8, like Drogon and Rhaegal’s distaste for the cold? The show introduced all these story lines only to abandon them without payoff beyond mere character movement.
Endings aren’t easy. If they were, The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring would have hit shelves years ago. Nor must a story follow every last thread to perfect satisfaction; in his books, for instance, Martin might never reveal what happened to Benjen Stark (who in the books is definitively not the Coldhands character who helps Bran north of the Wall). But while Game of Thrones’ end supplied answers to most of the show’s biggest questions—but not all! see: the various messiah prophecies—it left many smaller questions unaddressed.
To some extent, then, the Thrones conclusion was a missed opportunity to complete the whole world’s story, not just the stories of the main characters and a throne. Those were the highlights, but the thorough development of their surroundings and historical context was what elevated the story’s quality for years on end. The richness of Martin’s world didn’t translate to the final seasons, which, like the Lannister family coffers, ran prematurely dry.
Disclosure: HBO is an initial investor in The Ringer.
