22 best moments from Game of Thrones season 8

12. Daenerys torches King’s Landing

I know this one might be a little divisive, but hear me out. For eight seasons, we’ve been rooting for Daenerys Targaryen. Alongside Jon Snow, she’s been one of the series’ mainstay heroes, someone who was constantly overcoming challenges. She brought dragons back into the world, ended slavery in Essos, and gathered an enormous army with the end goal of taking the Iron Throne in Westeros that was her birthright.

Except that in season 8, she finds out that it’s not her birthright. It’s Jon’s. That, combined with all the other awful stuff that happens to her loved ones (R.I.P. Rhaegal and Missandei), pushes Dany into a really dark, bad place. If it were anyone else, you’d worry about their well being. But Dany has a dragon…and that means that instead, you need to worry about everyone else’s well being.

When Daenerys overcomes the defenses of King’s Landing, inspiring soldiers to lay down their arms and ring the city bells in surrender, it should be a moment for celebration. She did it! She beat Cersei’s forces without destroying the city.

Emilia Clarke’s quiet transformation in the seconds before she unleashes Drogon on the city is some of her best acting of the series. It’s horrifying to watch a hero we’ve loved for so long snap as she does. But it’s nowhere near as horrifying as what she does to the people of King’s Landing. It’s a credit to this sequence that, after Dany’s breaking point, we never actually see her up close again. It becomes all about the carnage she’s causing, and the lives lost because a person with an excess of power let their grief and rage overwhelm their sense of responsibility as a ruler. While it might not be a moment to make anyone cheer, there’s no denying its power.

Honorable Mention: Arya is the juxtaposition to Dany throughout this sequence, and her attempt to flee the capital is riveting to watch. It’s a great counterpoint to the drama unfolding above to show how it affects those below. Arya’s final scene where she rides down the empty street is a beautiful epilogue to an otherwise soul-crushing sequence.