This is why I canceled Jon Snow because of his blind love for Dany, now he has blood on his hands.
It’s in two parts, and it’s to do with Jon and his ultimate level of accountability and responsibility for what’s happened.
The first part of it is in Varys and Jon’s conversation on the beach. Varys has just made the coin-tossing analogy and Jon plays coy.
Varys: “We both know what she’s about to do.”
Jon: “That’s her decision to make; she is our queen.”
Varys: “Men decide where power resides, whether or not they know it.”
It looks like some variation of Varys’ same riddle, but it’s slightly trickier than that. Essentially, not only is Varys trying to get Jon to take the throne — he’s also telling Jon that whatever power Dany has, it’s power that she has because Jon is giving it to her. Varys heard the “destiny” bullshit and tapped out. Jon, for now, despite Varys warning him what Dany is about to do, still refers to Dany as his queen. “Men decide where power resides,” and Jon has decided. By deciding that Dany has power, Jon has given her that power, and Jon is also somewhat accountable for what she’s done because he’s respected her authority to do it.
The second part of it is when Jon loses control of his own men when Dany starts lighting up the city. It’s somewhat understandable that Grey Worm and Dany’s personal soldiers would follow her lead to go on a rampage, but Jon seems horrified that his men do the same thing, considering what Dany is doing to be a license to go on a free-for-all killing spree.
These are Jon’s men, but they aren’t, really. In this moment, they’re Dany’s men, and they’re Dany’s men because Jon gave them to her. Jon decided that power resided in Dany, and ceded his own power to her in doing so. In that sense Jon ceased having a full level of control over his army, and whatever control he had couldn’t compete with Dany setting the example to follow on her dragon.
Recall the war council earlier:
Jon to Sansa: “The northern forces will honor their promises and their allegiance to the queen of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Jon turning to Dany: “What you command, we will obey.”
What Jon first saw as follow-through on a sacred or wholesome promise, a debt to repay, ended up becoming something horrific. And while everyone who attacked surrendered soldiers and civilians in King’s Landing has a level of moral culpability in what happened — Unsullied, Dothraki, northmen, Vale, whoever — this isn’t something Jon ever wanted for his men, or would have ever allowed them to do in different circumstances. But he turned them over to Dany, and this is what happened.
It’s a choice Jon made and it’s one Varys tried to warn him about. I’m guessing Jon will try to own up to and/or make amends for his grave mistake in investing so much power in Dany, but it may be too late.
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