Perhaps one of the most poignant scenes in the final episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 was the moment Drogon decides to burn down the Iron Throne after the death of his mother Daenerys Targaryen. But was Drogon truly destroying the one thing that the Mother of Dragons has wanted all her life (or at least, for the past eight seasons)? The screenplay for The Iron Throne reveals a different side of the story.
It was previously reported that the Game of Thrones season finale has been nominated for Outstanding Writing For a Drama Series category at the upcoming Emmy Awards. With that in mind, it is currently one of the scripts that has been uploaded by the Academy's website. Interestingly, the screenplay penned by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss offers some insight on what exactly was happening in Drogon's emotional scene.
An excerpt of the script reads as follows:
"The dragon rises up on his hind legs, towering over Jon.
In a beautiful, terrifying tableaux, he roars to the sky, the embodiment of rage.
He looks down at Jon. We see the fire build up in his throat.
Jon sees it as well. He prepares to die.
But the blast is not for him. Drogon wants to burn the world but he will not kill Jon.
He breathes fire on the back wall, blasting down what remains of the great red blocks of stone.
We look over Jon's shoulder as the fire sweeps toward the throne-- not the target of Drogon's wrath, just a dumb bystander caught up in the conflagration.
We look through the blades of the throne as the flames engulf it, and blast the wall behind it.
We see the throne in the flames, turning red, then white, then beginning to lose its form."
That's right, Drogon was actually aiming at the wall of the Red Keep and not the Iron Throne itself. It's not explained why the dragon was so angry at the wall in the first place but the script makes it clear that the throne was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.
Game of Thrones has a record-breaking 32 nominations including Outstanding Drama Series.