Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8: The death was Daenerys Targaryen’s in episode 6, “The Iron Throne.” Jon Snow kills her, and Drogon melts the Iron Throne. Twitter’s reaction was divided: the scene was widely described as shocking, sad, visually powerful, and well acted, while the compressed buildup to Daenerys’s downfall drew fierce criticism.
Spoiler warning: This article discusses the ending of Game of Thrones season 8, including Daenerys Targaryen’s death in episode 6, “The Iron Throne.”
The death Twitter reacted to was Daenerys Targaryen’s. In the May 19, 2019 finale, Jon Snow kills Daenerys after deciding that her vision of breaking the wheel has become a justification for continuing violence and authoritarian rule. Drogon responds by melting the Iron Throne before carrying Daenerys’s body away.
The reaction was not simply “Twitter hated it.” It was sharply polarized. Many viewers were shocked and grief-stricken, while others argued that the scene was the inevitable end of Daenerys’s story. The most persistent criticism was aimed less at the idea of her death than at how quickly the series moved from her liberation-focused identity to her destruction of King’s Landing and final confrontation with Jon.
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What happened in the finale?
Episode 6 follows the events of “The Bells,” which aired on May 12, 2019. In that episode, Daenerys and Drogon attack King’s Landing even after the city’s surrender, killing large numbers of civilians. The decision creates the immediate conflict of the finale: Daenerys presents the attack as part of a wider campaign to remake the political order, while her allies increasingly see her as a ruler willing to use mass violence to impose her will.
Jon is unable to persuade Daenerys to abandon that campaign. After she describes the people she intends to “liberate” next, he goes to her in the throne room and kills her. The scene ends with Drogon finding Daenerys’s body. Rather than attacking Jon, the dragon burns the Iron Throne until it melts, then takes Daenerys away.
That final image became one of the most discussed moments of the episode. Drogon appears to understand that the throne, rather than Jon alone, represents the destructive pursuit of power that led to Daenerys’s death. It is emotionally legible as an act of mourning, but also symbolically direct: the object at the center of the series is destroyed immediately after its most determined claimant dies.
Why viewers were shocked and upset
Daenerys had been one of the show’s central characters since the first season. Viewers had followed her from political helplessness and exile to military power, emancipation campaigns, and a claim to the Iron Throne. Her death therefore ended not just a romance with Jon or a particular political storyline, but one of the series’ longest-running arcs.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsThe reversal of her relationship with Jon intensified the reaction. Only shortly before the finale, the two characters had been presented as allies and potential partners. By “The Iron Throne,” Jon is forced to choose between his love for Daenerys and his fear of what she will do as queen. The decision is deliberately tragic, but many viewers found the transition emotionally abrupt.
Contemporary reactions also focused on Emilia Clarke’s performance, Kit Harington’s distress, and the staging of the killing. The image of Daenerys framed by Drogon’s wings made her look almost mythic, while Jon’s hesitation made the act feel intimate rather than militaristic. Even viewers who disliked the story frequently acknowledged that the scene was visually striking and powerfully acted.
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The biggest criticism: the destination or the route?
A useful distinction emerged in the reaction: some viewers objected to what happened, while others accepted the broad destination but rejected how quickly the show arrived there.
There had always been warning signs in Daenerys’s story. She repeatedly threatened enemies with overwhelming force, treated some forms of violence as morally cleansing, and believed that her personal claim gave her a special responsibility to reshape the world. From that perspective, Daenerys becoming a tyrant was not impossible or wholly unsupported.
The objection was that the final episodes compressed the transformation. The series had to establish the destruction of King’s Landing, show the political consequences, make Jon oppose Daenerys, and bring the character to her death in a very short stretch of television. For many viewers, the show supplied the conclusion before it had fully dramatized Daenerys’s reasoning or allowed the other characters to process the change.
This is why the death often became shorthand for a larger complaint about season 8. The controversy was not limited to whether Daenerys “deserved” to die. It concerned pacing, character motivation, and whether the finale had earned the emotional and political resolutions it demanded from the audience.
How Twitter reacted to the death
Shock, grief, and disbelief
One major response was straightforward emotional devastation. Viewers posted about Jon killing Daenerys, the collapse of their alliance, and the cruelty of ending her story immediately after she reached the capital. Drogon’s response attracted particular attention because it extended the scene beyond the killing itself and gave the finale a mournful visual coda.
Anger at Daenerys’s character arc
Another large group expressed anger at the writing rather than simple sadness at the character’s fate. These viewers argued that Daenerys’s movement from liberator to mass murderer had been forced into the final episodes. The destruction of King’s Landing was seen by many as too sudden, and her subsequent death seemed to turn a complicated political and moral conflict into a rapidly completed tragedy.
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Disappointment with the finale as a whole
Daenerys’s death also became a convenient symbol for dissatisfaction with the rest of the ending. Social-media discussion quickly moved to Bran’s selection as king, Tyrion’s argument for that choice, Jon’s punishment and exile, and the feeling that several major character resolutions had been rushed.
In that sense, a post about Drogon melting the throne or Jon standing over Daenerys could be reacting to the entire season, not only to that individual scene. The death was the emotional event at the center of the finale, but it was also where many viewers felt the show’s unresolved problems converged.
Memes and quote-driven reactions
As with many major Game of Thrones moments, the reaction was not exclusively analytical. Memes circulated about Jon’s impossible choice, Drogon’s apparent understanding of political symbolism, Bran becoming king, and the contrast between the show’s immense production scale and the perceived weakness of its conclusions.
Those jokes should not be mistaken for a measured survey of audience opinion. The contemporary roundups captured highly visible reactions from a fast-moving social platform, where outrage, grief, humor, and exaggeration are especially likely to spread. They show what people were discussing—not what every viewer believed.
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Even amid the criticism, many viewers separated execution from writing. The dragon-wing composition, Drogon’s mourning, and the performances by Clarke, Harington, and Peter Dinklage were repeatedly recognized as effective. The scene can therefore be both memorable and unsatisfying: a striking piece of television whose surrounding character logic did not convince everyone.
Why the backlash became so intense
The finale arrived after years of investment in Daenerys as a possible savior, queen, or revolutionary figure. Viewers were not only watching a character die; they were being asked to reinterpret much of her previous story. Her opposition to slavery and abusive rulers could now be read alongside her willingness to impose liberation through fire and fear.
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That reinterpretation could have been compelling, but it required time. A story about a liberator becoming a despot needs the audience to understand the internal logic of the change, the incentives of the surrounding political system, and the reasons allies either fail to restrain her or choose to support her. Many critics felt that season 8 presented the endpoint without giving those elements enough room.
The political conclusion added to the frustration. After Daenerys dies, the surviving leaders choose Bran as king, while Jon is sent away from the political world he helped save. Tyrion’s explanation attempts to give the decision a philosophical basis, but some viewers found the argument unpersuasive compared with the complexity previously associated with the show’s political storytelling.
Was Twitter unanimous?
No. The reaction was divided, though the negative response was substantial and highly visible. Some viewers accepted Daenerys’s death as a tragic consequence of her choices. They viewed Jon’s act as morally horrifying but necessary, and Drogon’s destruction of the throne as an appropriate ending to the struggle for power.
Others accepted that Daenerys might ultimately become dangerous but believed the show had not built that conclusion carefully enough. For them, the problem was not that a beloved character died or that the ending was unhappy. It was that the final turn appeared compressed, leaving too little time for the audience to experience the transformation as a gradual tragedy.
Both positions can coexist. The scene’s emotional force does not prove that the character arc was fully developed, just as criticism of the arc does not mean the performances or imagery failed.
A concise timeline of the reaction
- May 12, 2019: “The Bells” airs, depicting the attack on King’s Landing and setting up the finale’s central moral conflict.
- May 19, 2019: “The Iron Throne” airs. Jon kills Daenerys, Drogon melts the Iron Throne, and Bran is selected as king.
- May 19–21, 2019: Entertainment outlets collect tweets, memes, and immediate fan responses, with Daenerys’s death and Drogon’s reaction among the most frequently discussed moments.
- May 20, 2019: Broader commentary emphasizes that the backlash concerns the finale’s character and political resolutions, not only the death itself.
Rewatching the finale
A rewatch can make the intended structure clearer: Daenerys’s language about liberation, the fear among her advisers, Jon’s divided loyalty, and the throne’s destruction all point toward a story about power consuming its claimant. It may not resolve the pacing concern, but it helps distinguish the show’s apparent destination from the disputed speed of the journey.
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For viewers who want to revisit only the season containing the finale, the Game of Thrones Season 8 DVD is the most directly relevant physical release; check the current retailer listing for region, format, price, and availability. Those details can change. A full rewatch is better served by the Game of Thrones: The Complete Series Blu-ray, whose documented bonus material includes commentary, deleted or extended scenes, and behind-the-scenes content connected to the series and its finale. If you purchase through a participating retailer, the site may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
Ultimately, the Twitter reaction to Daenerys’s death was so intense because the scene asked viewers to accept two things at once: that Daenerys had become a threat who had to be stopped, and that the series had convincingly shown how she got there. Many viewers accepted the first claim but rejected the second. That gap between the intended tragedy and the perceived rushed execution defined the conversation around the finale.
Frequently Asked Questions
Whose death did Twitter react to in the Game of Thrones season 8 finale?
The death was Daenerys Targaryen’s. Jon Snow kills her in episode 6, “The Iron Throne,” after concluding that her campaign to break the wheel has become tyrannical. Drogon then melts the Iron Throne.
Did Twitter hate Daenerys’s death?
The reaction was highly polarized. Many viewers found the death shocking and emotionally powerful, while others criticized the rapid shift from Daenerys as a liberator to a ruler responsible for mass civilian deaths. Some accepted the ending in principle but felt the show rushed the route to it.
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Why did Drogon melt the Iron Throne?
Drogon burns and melts the Iron Throne after finding Daenerys dead, then carries her body away. The scene is generally read as both mourning and a visual rejection of the throne’s destructive political power.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Twitter’s response to Daenerys’s death was polarized, but the dominant criticism focused on the rushed buildup rather than the mere fact that she died. Jon’s choice, Drogon’s mourning, and the destruction of the Iron Throne made the finale unforgettable—even for viewers who believed the story had not earned its ending.
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