GAME of Thrones fans were stunned when Daenerys Targaryen declined into bloodlust in the show’s final season.
Viewers will remember how the silver-haired leader burned King’s Landing to the ground from atop her dragon without mercy.
Even when the bells of surrender rang, the tyrant continued to torch civilians in the street, as she took her bid to the throne to a bloody low.
Ultimately her actions backfired, with Jon Snow (Kit Harington) driving a knife through her heart for the good of Westeros.
In fact, in the fifth episode of season 8, Jon and Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) shared their concerns about Daenerys’ (Emilia Clarke) ruthlessness, foreshadowing the assassination.
However, the scene that actually made it to screens was dramatically edited, with the bulk of the script cut out.
In a deleted exchange, Tyrion appeals to Jon to take mercy on the capital, despite Cersei’s brutal slaughter of Missandei.
“A million people live in that city,” Tyrion tells Jon.
“I know,” he snaps back, before confessing he fears Daenerys may have reached the point of no return.
“If you hear the bells ring, they’ve surrounded – call off your men,” Tyrion adds.
A pensive Jon replies: “I don’t think she’s letting anyone surrender today.”
“We have to try, how many children are in there?” a desperate Tyrion pleads.
Referencing the Mad King who was known for his oppressive use of violence, he adds: “She’s not her father.”
The script reveals “Jon nods, unconvinced” – however the scene was distilled down to Tyrion’s comment about the bells and then the nod from Jon in production.
The full exchange suggests that Jon knew he would have to topple Daenerys even before the siege on King’s Landing, having predicted her homicidal decline.
Even though he supported her attack from the ground, he was clearly pained to see women and children savaged in the streets by the likes of the Dothraki and Unsullied.
The revelation comes after Peter Dinklage defended Daenerys’ mass murder, insisting she was as much a victim as a villain and had been brutalised by the hardships she’d faced.