Did you notice the new Florence + The Machine song during last night’s Game of Thrones? And does it mean anything?
As the citizens of Winterfell hunker down in preparation for the battle with the Night King and the White Walkers, Jon Snow let Dany know that (a) he’s the rightful heir to the Iron Throne and (b) he’s actually her nephew (not that he spelled that out, but Dany connected the dots.)
Meanwhile, in another part of the castle, Tyrion, Jamie, and a few others were drinking up all the wine. When Tyrion suggested a song, Podrick Payne struck up a rendition of “Jenny of Oldstones.”
Then during the closing credits, a new Florence + The Machine rolled. It was their version of the same song.
All right, big deal. A simple case of savvy song placement, right? Well, maybe not.
Ol’ Pod sings
High in the halls of the kings who are gone
Jenny would dance with her ghosts
The ones she had lost and the ones she had found
The ones who had loved her the most
Readers of George R.R. Martin’s the book, A Song of Ice and Fire, this appears as “Jenny’s Song” and is about a woman (Jenny, natch) and her prince Duncan Targaryen, Daenerys great-uncle. If we dig into the Targaryen family tree, we find that Dany’s father, Aerys II Targaryen (The Mad King) was killed by Jamie. Aerys ended up as king even though his brother Duncan was first in line to succession.
Yes, Dungan was Aerys’ uncle in the books, but for the show, Duncan became his brother. But that’s a quibble. The key takeaway is that Duncan gave up his claim to the Iron Throne when he married Jenny of Oldstones. Jumping past all the minutiae, the story of Duncan and Jenny kind of mirrors the relationship between Jon and Dany. This could foreshadow what to expect over the final four episodes.
Man, I need to get a life.
(Via Variety)
