Game Of Thrones: Was [SPOILER] Destroyed In The Battle?
Game of Thrones' latest episode, "The Bells", destroyed the Red Keep - but what about the Iron Throne? After the Golden Company, the Iron Fleet, and the entire Lannister army was defeated in Game of Thrones season 8, episode 5, which happens to be the penultimate episode of the season, Daenerys fulfills her destiny and becomes the Mad Queen, thus following in her father's footsteps. Even though the Lannisters and the people of King's Landing surrendered, Dany took it upon herself to kill everyone.
From the start of the first and last battle of The Last War, Dany rode her last surviving dragon, Drogon, and burned everything and everyone to dust. Part of that destruction was the Red Keep. Although Cersei was adamant about the fact that the Red Keep had never fallen and was, thus, not going to fall during the battle with Dany, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, and the Northern armies, she was wrong. The Red Keep did fall, and so did everything around it. But what does that mean for the Iron Throne?
Judging by all the destruction and debris in "The Bells", it wouldn't be far-fetched to believe that the Iron Throne itself was destroyed, but that's most likely not the case. In the episode 6 trailer, a significant portion of the Red Keep is still standing, and more importantly, it would be a waste of time for Game of Thrones to get rid of the one thing that has been driving the entire series from the start - the Iron Throne. Destroying it is something that would need to be seen on-screen, not off.
Even after all these years, Game of Thrones has always been about obtaining the Iron Throne. That's why HBO marketed the final season by physically putting everyone on the Iron Throne itself, thus hinting that, while the war with the Night King and the White Walkers was important, the series will end either with someone sitting on the Iron Throne or it being destroyed for good. It was always going to be the end result, and destroying it during Dany's attack on the Red Keep would negate all of that development.
Having Dany sit on the Iron Throne in the upcoming Game of Thrones series finale or her being killed and then seeing Jon Snow sit in the throne would be cathartic. While it's remotely possible that Dany did destroy the Iron Throne during the battle in "The Bells", that's presumably not the case here. But that doesn't mean it can't still be destroyed in the next episode.
Game of Thrones' series finale airs on Sunday, May 19 on HBO.