Game of Thrones: How “The Bells” should have ended

Catherine Palmer

Photo Credit: HBO

Could Game of Thrones’ “The Bells” have given Dany, Cersei, Jaime and Arya better arcs, while still burning King’s Landing to the ground? Yes. Here’s how.

It would hardly be a hot take to say Game of Thrones season eight has been neither a fan-favorite nor, for the most part, especially well-written. So, I’m going to go one step further and suggest how the latest and highly controversial episode, “The Bells,” could have been reworked to better serve the characters and viewers.

Warning: Spoilers for Game of Thrones season 8 below!

First, I want to clarify that I do respect showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss for their refusal to write a happy ending. Much as fans might deny it, the reality is that everything going to plan would’ve been rather boring and, therefore, unsatisfying in the long run. Furthermore, Game of Thrones has always been predicated on violence and unpredictability, so their narrative decisions haven’t been entirely misguided.

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However, “The Bells” could absolutely have been reworked to be just as dark but in a much more satisfying way. Here’s how.

(Disclaimer: There are multiple moments from season eight that I would change; but, for the sake of not making this article overly long or overly confusing, I’m focusing on the back half of episode five.)

Daenerys still destroys King’s Landing… but not in a genocidal rage

When the bells start ringing, rather than going for innocents, Dany goes directly for Cersei in the Red Keep because she can’t stand the idea of letting her live any longer. After all, as Dany sees it, the Lannisters destroyed her family and Cersei personally stole the Iron Throne from her, killed her child, Rhaegal, and killed her best friend, Missandei. It is Cersei whom Dany’s rage is directed toward, not civilians.

Granted, the people may still not have accepted her, but she couldn’t have known that for sure at the time. And, yes, feeling isolated and vengeful can make people do terrible things. But, even under those circumstances, purposefully targeting civilians rather than Cersei was extreme and out of character.

Dany has absolutely been ruthless and reckless in punishing her enemies, but she has always had justifications, albeit harsh ones. She has never been outright cruel toward helpless people who have done nothing to her.

While I recognize the narrative irony of Dany killing the very people she has always been determined liberate, I still think the far more interesting narrative choice would have been Dany living up to her father’s legacy unintentionally, like this. When Dany sets the Keep ablaze to kill Cersei, she accidentally ignites an underground network of wildfire – put in place by her father (The reason Jaime killed Aerys was to prevent him from using it). So, she inadvertently triggers a firestorm that ultimately razes the entire city, killing all the innocent civilians and her own army.

The destruction is still Dany’s fault — a result of her ruthlessness and recklessness in going after Cersei despite having already won the battle — but not a result of genocidal rage. Thus, the takeaway is not that Dany becoming her father was inevitable but rather that, despite trying to do better and keep her worst impulses in check, she ultimately gets even more blood on her hands than he ever did. She, in fact, brings this plan to fruition. It’s an equally tragic ending but a more powerful one because she feels remorse for what she’s done. She finally wins the Iron Throne, but it’s a hollow victory.

Turning to Jon and Grey Worm, Dany doesn’t forget about them. However, neither wants to leave his fellow soldiers behind. Dany tries to order them to save themselves, but they remain steadfast in their resolve. Determined not to lose anyone else, Dany has Drogon surround Jon and Grey Worm and shield them. Dany, being fireproof, remains on his back and is unharmed as the fire consumes them.

Meanwhile, Cersei anticipates that Dany won’t be able to control her impulse to go for the Red Keep and will ignite the underground fire vats (which we saw were blown up in the episode), so she leaves the tower early on in the battle as a precaution and finds herself face to face with an unexpected group on the ground floor: Jaime, Arya, and the Hound.

Photo Credit: HBO

The Hound vs. The Mountain

This was actually a highlight of the episode so I wouldn’t change much. As in “The Bells,” The Hound and The Mountain immediately face off. The Mountain pursues The Hound up the stairs rather than down since they’re already on the ground floor. They eventually reach Cersei’s room and ultimately tumble together out of that big window seconds before Dany ignites the room. Just before they reach the ground, the wildfire explosion triggered by Dany’s attack consumes them.

Photo Credit: HBO

Arya makes her decision

Despite The Hound’s warning, Arya continues on with him, and they run into Cersei, The Mountain, and Qyburn as well as Jaime, who entered the Keep separately. As The Mountain approaches The Hound, Cersei tries to order her bodyguard to stay with her but to no avail. When Qyburn tries to intervene, The Mountain crushes and tosses him just as he hilariously did in the episode.

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Jaime and Cersei then turn their attention to Arya. Sensing what Arya wants to do, Jaime steps in front of Cersei and tries to defend her, arguing that Cersei is about to surrender. Cersei confirms that she is and, as if on cue, the bells start to ring. Arya says she doesn’t care. Cersei counters that Dany will attack the Keep regardless of her surrender, so they’ll all die if they don’t leave immediately. Arya says she still doesn’t care. But then she hears a young voice crying out for help.

Momentarily torn, Arya chooses to prioritize saving a life over ending one and goes off in search of the voice, while Cersei and Jaime head for the tunnel leading out of the city. Arya finds a terrified young servant girl, about the same age as her at the start of the series. Arya says she can get her out of the Keep and offers her hand, which the child takes. They escape through the tunnel and make it to the beach, just outrunning the fire, which billows out behind them as they take shelter to the right of the tunnel exit. When the fire and smoke finally clears, Arya spots a shocking scene on the other side of the tunnel exit.

Photo Credit: HBO

Jaime fulfills the prophecy

After they exit the tunnel, Jaime tries to convince Cersei to run away with him. Cersei refuses, confident that they can just wait for the fire to die down and then take back the city since Dany will be horrified by what she’s done and will no longer have an army at her disposal.

Jaime is dumbfounded but just then the city ignites in red and green flames. He realizes Cersei was always willing to be the queen of the ashes as long as she could still be queen – that she views the death of millions as a stroke of luck that will win her back the throne.

Furious, Jaime still makes one last desperate attempt to get through to her, insisting that their baby would be better off growing up away from all the chaos in Westeros. Cersei reveals that she was never pregnant and made it up in an attempt to manipulate him. That’s the last straw for Jaime, and he stabs Cersei.

When the fire and smoke clears, Arya sees Jaime cradling Cersei’s body. He asks Arya to give Tyrion a message from him — “The Queen is dead” — if Arya finds Tyrion alive (which she would in the next episode since he remained on the perimeter of the city). Jaime then slits his own throat. (In the next episode, with Dany still alive, Tyrion would realize Jaime meant Cersei. And with Arya delivering the message, he would realize that Jaime is dead, presumably by suicide, which Arya would confirm.)

Admittedly, it would be a very dark and very tragic ending for Jaime. But it would be a fitting one. Jaime and Cersei would’ve come full circle with Jaime once again killing a tyrant to save innocents (future innocents this time) and fulfilling the prophecy that Cersei would be killed by the hand of her brother.

Additionally, while not regretting his decision, he would still be guilt-ridden over killing the love of his life. Plus, he would feel too guilty about abandoning Brienne to crawl back to her. Thus, he would elect to go out of this world as he came into it — with Cersei (which, per the “Inside the Episode,” is what Benioff and Weiss were going for).

What do you think of these changes? Be sure to tell us your thoughts in the comment section below and check back here for more Game of Thrones coverage.

Correction: This article updated and revised to reflect that it was Aerys Targaryen, not Cersei, who put the network of wildfire under King’s Landing in place.

Catherine Palmer

Catherine Palmer is a Southside Serpent and former editor and columnist for The Johns Hopkins News-Letter. She wishes she could have majored in TV Studies but settled for a creative writing degree.