We’ve all been pondering the fates of our favorite characters, wondering what Arya will discover, how Bran will rule the Six Kingdoms if Sansa will be a just Queen, and why Jon Snow can’t just head back south in a year or two.
Then again, the fan-made John Hughes ending might just be the perfect conclusion:
Say what you will about the #GameOfThronesFinale, the John Hughes homage was a bold choice to end on. pic.twitter.com/kKJrJyV9d7
— Dr. Prof. Col. Dan Olson D.T.H. (@FoldableHuman) May 20, 2019
Of course, one character whose fate remained a bit of a mystery was Grey Worm.
In the final season, Grey Worm promises Missandei that, once Daenerys’ war is over, he will sail with her back to her childhood home on the Isle of Naath, where she was taken by slavers years ago. But, after Missandei is executed by the Mountain, Grey Worm commits a bunch of war crimes and executes Lannister prisoners under Daenerys’ totalitarian rule. When Jon Snow kills Daenerys, he refuses to let him just walk away a free man and lobbies for Jon to be exiled to the Wall for the remainder of his days. Afterward, Grey Worm boards a ship with the rest of the Unsullied, where he tells the crew to sail to the Isle of Naath, as he once promised his former love.
It’s an overall bittersweet ending for Grey Worm. He and the formerly enslaved Unsullied will retire to a tropical paradise, but he will do so without Missandei. Still, maybe some white sand beaches and crystal blue waters will heal his broken heart, right?
Thing is, sailing to the Isle of Naath is pretty much a death sentence for Grey Worm and his crew.
As mentioned, Naath is a tropical paradise in the Summer Seas, far to the southeast of Westeros. There you can find white sands, palm trees, gorgeous waters, and oh, extremely deadly butterflies. The butterflies carry a very potent and deadly disease aptly named “butterfly fever” that the natives of Naath (Missandei included) are immune to. However, travelers to Naath are not immune to the butterflies and can expect this:
“A large species of butterfly on Naath is a carrier for a horrific disease that makes the flesh literally slough off of a man’s bones, but the Naathi themselves are immune to it. For centuries, would-be foreign invaders would end up succumbing to the ‘butterfly fever,’ and the Naathi say none maintained a presence on the island for more than a single year.”
So, Grey Worm is dead. Certainly sounds like something Missandei should have maybe mentioned, right?
Enjoy having your flesh literally melt off your bones, Grey Worm.
That being said, the butterflies are never confirmed to exist in the world of the show, only in the written world of A Song of Ice & Fire, where George R.R. Martin goes into intricate detail about the lands outside of Westeros in the text, The World of Ice & Fire.
While the killer butterflies’ existence in the show remains up for debate, it is worth noting a previously overlooked Easter Egg in the series’ opening credits. For years we’ve seen the names of the actor or actress next to the sigil of their character’s House. For example, a direwolf has always accompanied Maisie Williams and a lion is next to Peter Dinklage.
Next to Missandei’s Nathalie Emmanuel? A butterfly.
More in TV:
- Twitter Thread Imagines Recasting ‘Game Of Thrones’ With Black Actors And This Is A Reboot I Can Actually Get Behind
- Sansa Stark’s Hair Throughout The Eight Seasons Of “Game Of Thrones” Holds A Pretty Significant Meaning
- If You Were Pissed At The Writing In “Game Of Thrones” Season 8 There May Be A Scientific Reason For That