Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4 sees Daenerys struggle to deal with Jon Snow's truth. How will this affect the war?
Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8 episode 4
The fourth episode of 'Game of Thrones' season 8 is less on the action, but we definitely see how the final war between Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) and Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey) will shape up. Dany has lost one of her most loyal followers, Sir Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen) and she bids farewell to him at the funeral and so does Sansa Stark - who not only mourns her savior Theon Greyjoy's (Alfie Allen) loss but pays homage to him with the Stark sigil. The mourning of the fallen soldiers takes precedence over celebrating the victory of 'Battle of Winterfell', and throughout the episode, the celebration never really registers because beneath all of it there is tension.
Spoilers ahead...
Dany awards Gendry (Joe Dempsie) the Lordship over Storm's End, despite being an illegitimate son. The celebration begins and the men who fought cluster around in groups to get drunk on wine and women. Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), Podrick (Daniel Portman), Brienne of Tarth (Gwendoline Christie) and Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) gather around for a drinking game, Jon Snow's (Kit Harington) friends including Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) gather around him to sing praises about how he is a King and all of this bothers Dany. She doesn't seem capable of moving on after Jon revealed his true identity and Jon seems to understand that there is now a barrier between them despite his promises that Dany will remain his queen. The Dragon Queen even tells Jon not to reveal his true identity to anyone and he replies that he would have to tell the truth to Sansa and Arya because they are his family.
When Sansa suggests that the men who fought get rest to recuperate before they head down to King's Landing, Dany is wary of her suggestions. They decide that a team of them will use the ships to sail to King's Landing, while another led by Jon will take the road. Arya and Sansa, who are tightlipped throughout the strategy meeting seek time out to talk to Jon and tell him that they don't trust his queen. Despite being torn between love and family, he chooses to tell the truth about himself to Sansa and Arya.
The episode titled 'The Last of the Starks', in a way is also about bidding farewell to the North as Jon leaves his home to wage a war for his queen. He leaves Sansa behind, to be protected by Brienne and after an intimate exchange, Jaime decides to stay back with her only to realize later that his one true love will always remain Cersei and he will do everything in his power to try and save her. He still thinks that Cersei is pregnant with his child. Jon also leaves Ghost to be taken to where his heart really is - The North. He asks Tormund to take care of Ghost as the South is not a place for the dire wolf. Before bidding him goodbye, Tormund says that Jon has the North in him and somehow this resonates with who he really is and possibly where he is headed in the future.
After refusing to become the Lady of Storm's End, Arya heads to King's Landing with the Hound as both of them have some unfinished business. With the majority of them traveling to King's Landing, Tyrion and Varys, struggle with the truth about Jon. They have also learned about his origin and Varys is now ready to betray Dany in order to get Jon to rule the seven kingdoms. Only trouble, as Tyrion points out, is the fact that Jon doesn't want to rule. Varys is convinced that Dany might be following in her father's footsteps and doubts the destiny that she wants to fulfill, while Tyrion tries to convince him otherwise. The determining moment comes, when Varys confesses that his loyalties have always been towards the realm and he is sure that Dany is not what the realm deserves as she will bring forth an unimaginable loss. It is now certain that very soon, Varys will betray Dany for the betterment of the realm hoping that Jon would take reign of power.
Oddly, while Jenny of Oldstones was introduced in episode 2, it is episode 4 that fits the song like a glove as we see the Jon give up the power that Dany seeks willingly. If the lyrics of the song are anything to go by, Dany will lose all that she held dear and we saw Missandei's miserable end and Rhaegal go down after facing attack from Euron Greyjoy's fleet. This came after Jorah's death and shows how many of her close confidantes the Queen of Dragons is losing. Will Tyrion also leave her side? How will Jon serve his queen? We will have to wait and see.
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