It was a beautiful image. The faithful dragon soaring into the sooty sky, his fallen mistress and ‘mother’ clutched in his claws. Where was Drogon going? To resurrect Dany? Unfortunately, the real reason is much less romantic and also exposes the fatal flaws at the heart of the hugely divisive final season of Game of Thrones on HBO. The question is why, not where.
By the end of the entire show it was made painfully clear that, actually, all anybody needed was one functioning giant fire-breathing lizard.
Armies on both sides were rendered virtually redundant once a fully-grown dragon opened its jaws. The Golden Company was laughably burned to a crisp as the script veered from one illogical twist to another.
Qyburn’s huge scorpions had been carefully set up as the perfect counter-balance to build tension and duly knocked a rather unobservant Rhaegal from the sky when they were fired from rocking boats at sea.
Yet, a few episodes later, vastly more of them securely set around the battlements of Kinng’s Landing were ludicrously ineffective when the script needed them to be. Sure, decades earlier such weapons killed Meraxes in the histories, but that was always acknowledged to be a lucky shot.
Basically, Daenerys or (and this is the important part) anyone mounted on an adult dragon is virtually unstoppable. And this was a major problem for the very last scenes of the show.
Daenerys had to die for a series of divisive reasons that failed to convince many fans.
Actually, the dragon queen had to die because she was the equal and opposite force to the Night King. Without one the other would inevitably destroy the world.
Once she was gone, Drogon posed a major problem for the writers. The dragon had to be completely removed from the plot because Jon Snow could have ridden him.
It’s unknown if Drogon saw who killed Dany but he has already accepted Jon Snow, and not just because his ‘mother’ had given her seal of approval. Jon’s Targaryen blood makes him the only other possible dragon rider in existence. In the past Targaryens had found ways to allow others to ride their dragons, but without Dany, nobody can persuade or reassure Drogon to let anyone else near.
Jon in possession of Drogon changes everything. It completely undermines every other plotline being set up in the finale.
Drogon has to fly far away because otherwise, the writers have no way of remotely persuading anyone that Bran would be accepted as king.
Why did newly crowned King Bran immediately abandon the council that was desperately trying rebuild a shattered city and fractured Six Kingdoms? Oh yes, to look for Drogon.
Sure, they might all be worried the dragon would return and started burning and feeding his way across Westeros. Is Bran simply going to keep tabs on him?
If Drogon did return what could Bran possibly do?
Unless he has already seen a way the dragon is important? Or to use him? And let’s not forget the popular hope that Bran could find a way to warg into Drogon.
Bran’s government is a joke, with no money, no army, no city and a Small Council populated by people with little real world power or influence except for Tyrion. Sansa’s precedent must surely make other powerful regions and former independent kingdoms wonder why they can’t do the same. Who would stop them?
Bran needs that dragon. Is that why he is searching for Drogon? Drogon remains the key everything…
