Game of Thrones Creators Screwed Yara Over...Because They Forgot About Her Plot

SUMMARY:

• After the source material was completely explored, Game of Thrones gradually declined in quality and lost many crucial subplots.
• Yara Greyjoy had a deal for the independence of the Iron Islands in place, but she never pressed her claim in the finale of the show.
• There are two possible reasons for such logical conflict: either it was Yara’s conscious decision, or the showrunners forgot about her plot.

Game of Thrones used to be the most popular TV show in the world back in the day, but even its most zealous fans couldn’t deny that over time, its quality was declining. The changes became painfully apparent as soon as Game of Thrones was out of source material and the showrunner had to come up with their own ideas for once.

Fans have been pointing out various mistakes in Game of Thrones’ later seasons for several years now, and it seems like there is always more to be discovered. As characters were becoming progressively dumber and events less and less likely, there were entire subplots completely forgotten — including the Iron Islands one.

Independence for the Iron Islands

As you may remember, Yara Greyjoy was one of the two leaders of the Ironborn: while some remained loyal to her, others joined her notorious uncle Euron. The two leaders pleaded fealty to different queens, growing the scale of their conflict: Yara pledged allegiance to Queen Daenerys, and Euron joined Queen Cersei.

As part of her deal with the Targaryen heir, Yara Greyjoy demanded independence for the Iron Islands after the war was over, and Daenerys agreed to this term. Unlike her uncle whose condition was that he married Cersei Lannister and became King, Yara took her people’s strong independence movement seriously and proved it.

No independence for the Iron Islands

Queen Daenerys won the war with Yara by her side, so the Greyjoy fulfilled her part of the deal. Dany, however, never got the chance to fulfill hers as she was killed by Jon Snow right after finally “breaking the Wheel” and melting the Iron Throne away. After that, the election was held to determine the new ruler of Westeros.

Remarkably, Yara Greyjoy joined the gathering of the lords to decide on the fate of the Seven (now, Six) Kingdoms. Unlike Sansa Stark, the Queen in the North, Yara didn’t position herself as an independent ruler and was seemingly there on the same rights as other lords. The question of the Iron Islands’ independence wasn’t raised.

In fact, as Bran the Broken was elected as the new King of the Six Kingdoms, the Greyjoy apparently pledged her allegiance to him. Wait, why in the world?..

There are only two possible explanations for why Yara Greyjoy never tried to follow through with her people’s independence and her deal with the previous Queen.

Another plot bites the dust: Reason 1

Yara could see the value in remaining allied with the King’s Landing after the Long Night. Admittedly, Euron killed most of Yara’s people — and then Daenerys destroyed most of Euron’s. Having no men, the Iron Islands would be in no position to demand independence, and it would have been simply unfavorable to them.

Unlike the North which had vast territories and resources, the Iron Islands lacked both, and Yara could simply abandon her independence dream, especially since Bran was not obliged to honor her deal with Daenerys. In this case, Yara would indeed show up for the election with the goal of remaining loyal to the crown.

But that wouldn’t be like Yara Greyjoy to give up on the Ironborns’ independence even if the odds were against her. Not a chance.

Another plot bites the dust: Reason 2

The independence of the Iron Islands was only one among numerous subplots that were introduced but then never built upon. The closer Game of Thrones was to its finale, the weirder and more questionable things were getting with characters going against their previously established personalities and plots losing relevance.

Just like in the case of Yara Greyjoy and the Iron Islands’ fate.

The second possible reason why this subplot received such a weird and incomplete finale is that the showrunners simply forgot about it or decided it wasn’t worth their time. This would be far from the only such case as the finale of Game of Thrones did pretty much every last one of its characters and plots really, really dirty.

So quite likely, there was no reasoning behind Yara Greyjoy’s sudden memory and will loss — it was that D&D forgot about the Iron Islands entirely.

Honestly? Our bets are on the second explanation.