Lines In The Final Game Of Thrones Season That Mean More Than You Realize

Game of Thrones is one of the densest and most complicated shows on television, with enough mythology to make any viewer's head spin and so much background information that it requires charts and graphs to keep everything straight. On top of that, creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss make sure that each script is layered with meaning, letting fans watch and re-watch episodes so that they can keep finding clues in every line and moment.

With so much ground to cover, the show's final season is sure to follow in this tradition, with plenty of lines leading up to the long-awaited conclusion — so to help you stay on top of it all, here's a look at the most important lines from the final season of Thrones. Each of these lines carries more meaning than most might realize, so remember to pay close attention to the dialogue as the show moves toward its epic conclusion — even the shortest sentences might have more meaning than you think.

The reunion between Arya Stark (Maisie Williams) and Jon Snow was one of the most anticipated of all going into this season; after all, Jon gave Arya, now a formidable faceless killer, her very first sword, and though their time together in the first season was short-lived, it was clear to viewers that the two had an intense bond. When they meet again in the Godswood at Winterfell, it provides Thrones with one of its biggest and most satisfying emotional moments, even evoking a rare smile from Arya, who has hardened considerably over the course of the show (to say the least).

Once the two broach the subject of Sansa and her obvious lack of affection towards Daenerys, Arya defends her sister, much to Jon's surprise, especially considering that the two constantly butted heads as young girls. Standing her ground, Arya says of Sansa, "I'm defending our family. So is she," even though she has no idea that the man standing in front of her isn't part of her immediate family — though he's her first cousin, he's technically a Targaryen, not a Stark. When Jon finally shares the truth of his lineage with Arya and Sansa, Arya immediately agrees to honor his request to keep it a secret — but Sansa, acting on her distrust of Daenerys, lets it slip to Tyrion, knowing full well it'll set a chain of events in motion that can only be problematic for the Mother of Dragons.

Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) has been, for lack of a better term, completely weird ever since he took up the mantle of the Three-Eyed Raven, and he didn't disappoint during the season premiere, lurking all over Winterfell to say cryptic things to the main characters or to simply blurt out that a portion of the Wall has been destroyed by the Night King's new ice dragon (a piece of information that, oddly, doesn't seem to trouble anybody very much). At one point, he runs into Sam Tarly (John Bradley) in the courtyard of Winterfell one evening, and when Sam asks what Bran is up to, he tells Sam he's "waiting for an old friend."

At the end of the episode, he's in the courtyard to witness the arrival of Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), who has risked his life to turn on his sister Cersei (Lena Headey), sociopath and current occupant of the Iron Throne, in order to work with their brother Tyrion (Peter Dinklage), Jon, and Daenerys to save humanity. However, the last time Jaime saw Bran, he was shoving him out of a high window after Bran caught Jaime and Cersei in a rather compromising position; though Bran didn't die, the fall cost him the use of his legs, and especially considering Bran can now see through all of space and time and he doubtless knows what else Jaime has been up to, he surely has plenty to discuss with Jaime as the season continues.

The "old friend" Bran is waiting for, however, turns out to be Theon, who makes his way back to Winterfell after rescuing his sister Yara from her kidnapping at the hands of their uncle Euron. Driven by a need to redeem himself for his many duplicitous acts earlier in the series — including taking Winterfell from the Starks and faking Bran and Rickon's deaths — Theon volunteers to lead the team protecting Bran from the Night King during the climactic battle with the White Walkers.

Bran's transition from young, naive boy to the Three-Eyed Raven has taken the better part of Thrones' run, and as he's become more and more omniscient, he's become a totally different person (or non-person, as the case may be). He's gone from just a regular boy trying to survive to an all-seeing mythical being who talks to everyone he interacts with like a college student with a superiority complex who just came back from a study abroad program. As each of his siblings reunites with Bran, they gradually figure out that he's turned a bit... well, odd, staring at him strangely and letting each other know that their brother has changed quite a bit since they all last saw him. Neither Sansa nor Arya seems to be able to make any sense out of his proclamation that he's the Three-Eyed Raven, although they do use his talents to hold Littlefinger accountable for his crimes.

In the season eight premiere, Jon is finally reunited with Bran after a few near misses. As Jon hugs a still and thoroughly unemotional Bran, he tells Bran he's finally become a man. "Almost," Bran replies, probably because he's now an all-knowing being who seems all but certain to hold some important — and still unseen — keys to the Game of Thrones endgame.

In an effort to bond with Jon's family, Daenerys pays a visit to Sansa during the season's second episode, asking if the two can speak alone for the first time since Daenerys' arrival at Winterfell. The dragon queen's time at the Stark family home has been fairly fraught thus far, and Sansa, for her part, has been quite skeptical of this Southern newcomer, frustrated by her relationship with Jon and distrustful of her overall intentions.

During their first private meeting, Daenerys seems to charm Sansa a bit, telling her that she has traveled all this way because of her love for Jon, finally showing both Sansa and the audience a softer, more genuine side of herself. Sansa does temporarily warm up, but is still wary, saying that "men do stupid things for women," referring specifically to Jon bending the knee to Daenerys and allowing her to take control of the North (a notion that Sansa is clearly incredibly unhappy about). In the end, Sansa's words are basically a thesis statement for half of the things that have happened on Thrones – from the attempt to murder Bran to most of Littlefinger's schemes to Jon's super-dangerous scheme to capture a lone wight, a lot of the incredibly huge missteps in this story have been so that a man can win over or impress a woman. This one succinct sentence sums up some of the show's greatest conflicts.

Considering the Battle of Winterfell took place at the ancestral home of the Starks, it would have been kind of confusing if the entire family wasn't front and center. With each member of the family serving some sort of purpose, from Jon atop a dragon to Bran waiting in the weirwood, the biggest juxtaposition came between Sansa and Arya, since the former was stuck down in the crypts with babies and eunuchs while the latter was positioned in the battlements with a full arsenal of weapons at her disposal.

Sansa and Arya's relationship certainly started off rocky when they were younger, but since they reunited in season 7, the two have been working together to hold the North and protect the Stark family. More than that, it's become apparent that they've arrived at a place of mutual respect and love now that they've reached adulthood. This is best shown during "The Long Night" when Sansa laments that she can't be helpful (perhaps a bit jealous of her daring, highly trained sister), and Arya gifts her with a dragonglass dagger, telling her to "stick 'em with the pointy end." Back in season 1, Jon gave a small sword (known as Needle) to a young, eager Arya with the same instructions; perhaps this moment is Arya showing her sister that she believes Sansa is every bit as formidable.

Bran's trippy, all-seeing thing is probably wearing thin for most viewers by now, but as the battle raged at Winterfell while he was safely ensconced in the Godswood with Theon Greyjoy and the rest of the Ironborn, he could at least offer some solace to one of the show's most (literally) tortured characters. A repentant Theon, once again loyal to the Starks, volunteered himself to guard Bran in the Godswood during the battle, knowing he would likely die trying but offering his services regardless.

Die he did, but not before buying Bran a little bit of time. As thanks for his life, Bran offers Theon the absolution he's craved. While the two wait for the Night King's inevitable arrival, Theon tries to apologize, but Bran tells him, "Everything you did brought you where you are now. Home." Finally, just before Theon charges at the Night King in his final moments, Bran takes a moment to say, "You're a good man, Theon. Thank you." Between reminding him that Winterfell is his home and letting him know that even after everything, his heart is good, Bran gives Theon what he needs to die, letting the last male heir of the Greyjoys go out in peace and finally complete his journey.

Arya's tryst with Gendry, the blacksmith turned lord (as well as the sole remaining bastard of King Robert Baratheon), raised a few eyebrows, but it also raised many viewers' spirits to see Arya pursue exactly what she wanted on the eve of a life-threatening battle while taking her sexuality into her own hands. Arya got what she came for, but clearly, that night meant quite a lot to Gendry as well.

After the Battle of Winterfell, where Arya proves to be the fiercest warrior of all, Gendry finds her just after Daenerys names him a trueborn Baratheon as well as the Lord of Storm's End and tells Arya he loves her, asking for her hand in marriage so she can stand by his side and become the Lady of Storm's End. Any Game of Thrones fan who's been paying attention to Arya's story knows exactly how this moment will play out, and even though she clearly cares about Gendry, she turns him down immediately, telling him, "I'm not a lady. I never have been. That's not me." Not only does this harken back to her past as a faceless assassin, it's a callback to a moment she shared early in the show with Ned, when she says "that's not me" after her father suggests she might be the lady of a great castle. Arya might have undergone quite the journey to become who she is, but she still knows what she isn't.

Since the beginning of the show, Daenerys has had one goal placed firmly in the forefront of her mind — to take the Iron Throne, no matter the cost. From her start across the Narrow Sea as the wife of Khal Drogo (Jason Momoa), Daenerys has made it her mission to take the throne of Westeros and bring justice to the world as she makes her way there. But at some point, Daenerys seems to have lost some of her righteousness and given in to her baser, crueler impulses, ending entire lineages and executing people simply because they refuse to blindly bow to her or stay on her side no matter what.

Daenerys starts the show's penultimate episode at a serious deficit, having lost both Missandei and Jorah Mormont (Iain Glen), and she acts out accordingly, torching her ally Varys (Conleth Hill) after finding out he backed Jon Snow as the heir to the Iron Throne. She then lays waste to the population of King's Landing by raining dragonfire on innocent civilians and Lannister soldiers alike. Before she even arrives in King's Landing, after being rejected by her nephew-boyfriend Jon Snow once again, she says to Jon, "All right then. Let it be fear," indicating that she's willing to take the Throne using fear, choosing violence just like Cersei did before her.

After her victory at King's Landing, Daenerys disappears for a few victory laps on Drogon before returning to her sieged and newly conquered city (notably, in the penultimate episode, she's never seen in closeup after deciding to slaughter the capital's population despite its surrender). Landing in a spectacular shot that silhouettes her against Drogon's wings, Daenerys addresses her Unsullied and Dothraki army from the ruins of the Red Keep, giving off distinctly totalitarian vibes as she commands her armies to join her in her next mission.

One might think that now that Daenerys has killed her rival queen (giving this speech, she's actually standing above Cersei's grave) and taken the capital city, she would be satisfied in her quest for world domination, but instead, she asks her armies to join her in liberating every person in Westeros, exciting her troops and alarming her closest advisors. "Will you break the wheel with me?" she asks, to an overwhelming roar, but at this point, what wheel is there left to break? Daenerys has always pledged to rid the world of injustice, but in her quest for total control of every inch of the Seven Kingdoms, it becomes frighteningly apparent that she's more power-hungry than anyone anticipated.

While in captivity, Tyrion is visited by Jon Snow, who is equally troubled by Daenerys' decision to kill thousands of innocents in King's Landing, though he initially insists he's still firmly on her side. Over the course of the conversation, however, Tyrion's bluntness gets through –- he tells Jon that it was all well and good when Daenerys was destroying slavers, captors, and other evil men, but now she'll destroy anybody in her path, whether or not they truly deserve to die. "Wouldn't you kill whoever stood between you and paradise?" Tyrion asks a brooding Jon, who is clearly torn between his queen and the fate of the Realm.

When Tyrion tells Jon that love often overcomes reason, Jon responds, "Love is the death of duty." "You just came up with that?" asks a baffled Tyrion, but Jon says it actually came from Maester Aemon Targaryen, with whom Jon spent time at Castle Black (and to whom Jon is distantly related). "Sometimes duty is the death of love," retorts Tyrion, and as he leads Jon to his inevitable fate — that Jon must kill Daenerys to protect Westeros — the message seems to sink in. As Tyrion eventually says to Jon, it's a "terrible" thing, but "it's also the right thing," and by the time Jon leaves, his mind is made up.

Bran Stark, now First of his Name and the Protector of the Realm, isn't the only Stark to don a crown during Thrones' final episode. Jon Snow ends up banished right back where he started — on the seemingly obsolete Night's Watch. As Jon departs, he says an emotional goodbye to Sansa, Arya, and Bran at the port of King's Landing.

Sansa apologizes to Jon for not being able to do more for him, lamenting that the North has now lost their king, but Jon, beaming with both pride and sadness, tells her, "Ned Stark's daughter will speak for them. She's the best they could ask for." The best of both of her parents, combining Ned's sense of loyalty and honor and Catelyn's steely, practical nature, Sansa is the natural choice to lead the independent realm of the North, and in the audience's final glimpses of each Stark, she is seen attending her own coronation. Jon clearly knew what he was talking about, and wherever he spends his days, he knows he can rest easy with the North in good hands.

Samwell Tarly was never a great fighter, but considering how long he stuck around throughout Thrones, it was always clear that he would have a huge role to play during the show's ending. A bookish and somewhat sheepish figure, Sam might have irritated some viewers at first, but eventually became one of the show's most beloved characters, and though he had his moments on the battlefield (including taking down a White Walker), his strength was always in his studies, from the time he did enough research on greyscale to cure Jorah Mormont's affliction to the time he helped Bran confirm Jon's true heritage as Aegon Targaryen.

This all comes to a head during the series finale, when Sam, dressed in the white robes of a Maester and a part of Tyrion's Small Council, presents the Hand of the King with an enormous book written by Archmaester Ebrose (Jim Broadbent), with whom Sam worked with at the Citadel. Confirming a long-held fan theory that Sam would write or at least help write the history of Westeros since Robert's Rebellion, Sam reveals that the name of the tome is A Song of Ice and Fire, noting, "I helped him with the title." If the role Sam was meant to play was that of a stand-in for the series' author, George R.R. Martin, that seems like a perfectly fitting end for his character.