Warning: This post contains major spoilers for the final episode of Game of Thrones.

Thenamal

As with most series finales, there’s a bunch of unanswered questions that remain about Game of Thrones. Leaving things open-ended is a technique often employed to garner continued interest, and to let the audience make their own deductions. 

One of the most puzzling scenes from the final episode involved Drogon finding his mother’s lifeless body, stabbed in the heart by Jon, and yet choosing to let Jon live. 

You see Jon standing above Dany’s body, ready to accept his fate by fire. Drogon rises up, the flames billowing in his throat, only to melt the Iron Throne and fly away with Dany’s body. There are a few theories about this unexpected behaviour.

Youtube

Drogon understood that it was the corrupting influence of the Iron Throne and not Jon that ultimately caused his mother’s death.

One of the main theories about why Drogon spared Jon is because he understood that the Iron Throne was the actual cause of Dany’s death. It had been the reason behind endless suffering and destruction. It had taken over Dany’s very being and corrupted her soul in the process. Jon was just doing what was necessary, for the greater good. 


Melting the throne was a symbol for destroying the system, and in a way completing what Dany’s original desire was – to break the wheel. 

Youtube

Jon is a Targaryen, which means he is family (and also possibly impervious to fire).

Another theory that’s also fairly obvious is that Jon is a Targaryen. He’s one of the dragon people himself, and could thus withstand fire just like Daenerys. Drogon always sensed that Jon was a Targaryen, and realised fire would do him no good. 


However, the fault in this theory is that Drogon doesn’t really need fire, he could’ve just taken a straight bite out of Jon. So maybe he just didn’t want to kill his family. 

Youtube

Drogon assumes Dany got stabbed by one of the many swords on the Iron Throne.

There’s also a theory that Drogon was just stupid AF. This theory posits that Drogon saw a knife sticking out of Dany’s heart, looked at the Iron Throne with all its pointy bits, and just assumed the Throne killed Dany. 


Highly Unlikely, but it had to be said.

Youtube

Dragons are unpredictable creatures who can never really be tamed completely, especially when they’ve lost their rider. Maybe we’ll know the reason he spared Jon one day, in George RR Martin’s extended fantasy world. For now, all we have are theories.