Game of Thrones finale: How Jon Snow fulfilled the Azor Ahai prophecy and became The Prince That Was Promised

**Spoilers for Game of Thrones season eight, episode six “The Iron Throne” ahead**

Game of Thrones has come to an end, with Bran Stark being named King of the Six Kingdoms and Daenerys Targaryen being murdered by her nephew Jon Snow.

While the finale helped explain a fair few discrepancies fans had with the series (such a Tyrion explaining step-by-step why Dany turned mad), one major prophecy remained unresolved: The Prince That was Promised.

For the first seven seasons, viewers believed that whoever was The Prince That Was Promised – widely believed to be the warrior Azor Ahai reincarnated – would kill The Night King.

“There will come a day after a long summer when the stars bleed and the cold breath of darkness falls heavy on the world,” Melisandre tells Ser Davos in the book A Clash of Kings.

“In this dread hour, a warrior shall draw from the fire a burning sword. And that sword shall be Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes, and he who clasps it shall be Azor Ahai come again, and the darkness shall flee before him.”

Already, we have seen The Army of the Dead crumble into dust, with Arya Stark killing The Night King by stabbing a Valyrian Steel dagger through the villain’s heart.

Arya, therefore, seemingly fulfilled the prophecy as she vanquished the darkness. Melisandre certainly believed this, with the Red Woman deciding to turn herself into dust outside Winterfell following the battle.

However, fans believe someone else is The Prince That Was Promised. Arya, after all, had no flaming sword, and certainly not one that resembled the legendary weapon Lightbringer.

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So, who completes the prophecy? Some fans have concluded that Jon Snow fits the description best of all, as his journey similarly mirrors Azor Ahai’s struggle to forge Lightbringer.

Here’s the first part of the longer prophecy, which comes from A Clash of Kings: “To fight the darkness, Azor Ahai needed to forge a hero’s sword. He laboured for thirty days and thirty nights until it was done. However, when he went to temper it in water, the sword broke. He was not one to give up easily, so he started over.”

This has been seen as Jon going up against the Night King. He united the armies of men to fight against the White Walkers and won. Yet, even after defeating the ice monsters, The Long Night was not over as Cersei remained operational down south.

“The second time he took fifty days and fifty nights to make the sword, even better than the first,” the prophecy continues. ”To temper it this time, he captured a lion and drove the sword into its heart, but once more the steel shattered.”

The lion Jon drives the blade through is Cersei (the Lannister house has the lion as their sigil). And after defeating Cersei’s forces, The Long Night continued as the newly Mad Queen Daenerys took over.

“The third time, with a heavy heart, for he knew beforehand what he must do to finish the blade, he worked for a hundred days and nights until it was finished,” the prophecy reads. ”This time, he called for his wife, Nissa Nissa, and asked her to bare her breast. He drove his sword into her living heart, her soul combining with the steel of the sword, creating Lightbringer, the Red Sword of Heroes. Her blood, soul, strength, and courage went into the steel of the sword, creating Lightbringer. Following this sacrifice, Lightbringer was as warm as Nissa Nissa had been in life.”

Like Azor Ahai, Jon Snow ends up killing the person he loves, Daenerys. During her final moments, Jon pleads with Dany to stop waging war. She refuses to and instead decides to continue her journey of ”breaking the wheel”. At that moment, Jon ends her short reign of tyranny.

“Once Azor Ahai fought a monster,” it continues. ”When he thrust his sword through the belly of the beast its blood began to boil. Smoke and steam poured from its mouth, its eyes melted and dribbled down its cheeks and its body burst into flame.”

Some fans believe that the Iron Throne was the monster all along. After killing Daenerys, rather than her blood boiling, her child, Drogon, burns down the Throne and the metal melts into nothing.

Jon ends up giving everything away, sacrificing the person he loves for the good of Westeros. Jon gives up his birthright – to be King of Westeros – so that the wheel, one of birthrights and wars, could finally be broken, thus bringing peace to Westeros. And with that, Jon Snow concludes the Azor Ahai prophecy.

At least, that’s how some fans wish to see it.

The Independent’s critic called the finale “misjudged and hammy”, and criticised the episode for “lacking emotional resolution”. Emilia Clarke, whose character Daenerys finally perished during the episode, has said “it was a f***ing struggle reading the scripts” but that the character’s final moments were “very taken care of… it’s a very beautiful and touching ending”.

You can find a ranking of every character – from worst best – here. Flick through the below gallery for our ranking of every episode.

Game of Thrones has come to an end. You can stream previous episodes of the show on NOW TV.