I guess you could say this is a sequel to lieselstark2′s meta about Sansa, Jon, and Daenerys representing an allusion to The French Lieutenant’s Woman. There will be some minor spoils based on leak speculation.
To summarize what lieselstark2 said, the trio each represent a character from the gothic satire book and movie The French Lieutenant’s Woman as well as its respective storyline.
Sansa is the dark woman - a tragic outcast who has been snubbed by society because of her rumored affair with a French lieutenant. Jon is a paleontologist engaged to the upper-class Daenerys who appears to be the heroine of the story, but is in actuality the foil to Sansa.
As for the storyline of The French Lieutenant’s Woman, it goes a little like this:
The paleontologist is an orphaned gentleman who visits the seaside with his fiance and sees the dark woman as she stares sadly out at the sea. He becomes curious with her and meets with her secretly three times even as he continues to court his fiance. The dark woman tells the paleontologist her story, and they form an emotional bond.
During this time, the paleontologist also learns that he may be disinherited from his uncle because his uncle has remarried a younger woman capable of having children. In a hilarious coincidence due to names, his servant, Sam, also falls in love with his fiance’s aunt’s maid, Mary.
The paleontologist falls in love with the dark woman and tells her to leave town. He then goes to tell his fiance’s father that his inheritance is uncertain, and the author of the book gives three possible endings:
He returns to his fiance because the father accepts his lack of inheritance anyway. The two marry, but their marriage is not a happy one. He enters his fiance’s family business. This is considered to be the traditional happy ending for a gothic novel.
The author then inserts himself into the story and sits beside the paleontologist. He flips a coin to determine the order in which he will tell the other two endings. It is emphasized that are both as likely to be possible.
The paleontologist returns to the dark woman and they have sex. He realizes she was a virgin the entire time, and he ends his engagement with his fiance and proposes to the dark woman by letter. However, Sam fails to deliver this letter and he is disgraced by his fiance’s father. The paleontologist’s uncle marries and the paleontologist does lose his inheritance when a child is born.
The broken engagement is so scandalous that the paleontologist goes abroad. The dark woman, having not received the letter, flees without telling the paleontologist where she is going. He has his lawyer look for her and finds her two years later living an artistic life with a painter. The dark woman reveals she has had a child by the paleontologist and there is hope that the three may become a family.
The narrator turns back his pocket watch, and the events are the same until the paleontologist meets the dark woman. Their reunion does not go well because the parentage of the child is not made clear and the dark woman does not express a desire to continue the relationship. The paleontologist leaves and wonders if the dark woman was manipulating him the entire time.
Lieselstark talked about a death cloak as well as the opening of the book being tied to Game of Thrones very explicitly to the point it could not be confused for anything else. The meta writer also made a point that the first ending was clearly false and intended to be false because it was a daydream and not in line with the satirical nature of book.
The movie actually disregards the first ending entirely. The third ending is the “real world” of the actors playing the second ending. However, the allusion that D&D make is not to the modern storyline, but to the book storyline... meaning they are heavily hinting the second ending as the ending of the show even though it appears as if the first and third are possible (Jon marrying Daenerys and the now suddenly unexpected but accurate to the allusion of Jon going to the Wall).
I agree with lieselstark2′s observation, and I want to explore this allusion in reference to the final season.
I do not think GRRM intended this allusion, though I do think D&D chose to include it in the show because it helps to frame and foreshadow the ending. The French Lieutenant’s Woman is an older movie based on a novel of metafiction - exactly the sort of story writers D&D’s age would be interested in and be influenced by in the post-modernist era.
Where We Were in Season 7
Season seven starts out with Jon and Sansa ruling beside each other, but Jon ends up leaving to seek out Daenerys for support in the war against the Night King.
Lieselstark2 notes that Sansa has always been the dark woman, and I believe she was pointing this out because the original dark woman is the true heroine of the story. D&D have been subtly pointing out that Sansa is the true heroine of Game of Thrones and the foil to the false heroine Daenerys - because they know how A Song of Ice and Fire ends.
However, we do not see the obvious connection to the dark woman until Sansa is standing at the battlements in season seven, episode seven sadly looking out at the moors of the North while Jon is far away.
Let me explain the context of that scene, because it is a much stronger allusion to The French Lieutenant’s Woman than it appears on a superficial level, and I believe D&D are using the allusion to build Sansa’s character.
In the previous episode, Jon had gone on his infamous wight hunt and pledged his allegiance to Daenerys. Meanwhile, Sansa was plagued by Littlefinger’s schemes to set Brienne against Arya, ultimately leading Sansa to send Brienne to represent her interests at the dragon pit meeting.
Before Sansa’s scene, we have the dragon pit meeting and Jon and Daenerys talking about her cursed fertility amongst the dragon skulls. Once the dragon pit meeting is done, we see Sansa in her solar with Littlefinger. She is upset by the news of Jon bending the knee, and Littlefinger discusses the possibility of Jon and Daenerys marrying.
There is more to this scene than that, and the allusion to The French Lieutenant’s Woman is not the only thing going on, but it is clear that it is also being alluded to in this solar scene - Jon and Daenerys are the traditional couple expected in this storyline, though there is something else that is more difficult to pick up but also part of the allusion:
The rest of the scene has Sansa being manipulated by Littlefinger into believing Arya might kill her because Sansa is a threat to the Starks - an outsider because of her past decisions. It is unclear in the narrative if she caught on or not, but I believe she entertained the possibility and ultimately decided that Arya was her ally and Littlefinger her enemy in her French Lieutenant’s Woman scene on the battlements that echoes the dark woman staring out at the sea.
The original dark woman was an outcast and liked being considered an outcast because she had already broken so many rules and she liked the freedom it gave her. Throughout the story, the dark woman pretty much Littlefingered everyone and I think what D&D were trying to do in that scene with Sansa was establish that Sansa was willing to become Littlefinger and use his political manipulation to secure her own freedom from Littlefinger himself.
While many in the general audience look at Sansa and consider her a snake because of everything that has occured in her storyline so far, it is clear that Sansa’s storyline is about personal independence just as much as the North’s independence is crucial to the plot in season eight.
Sansa is not thinking about Jon in that scene, she’s thinking about her freedom, so when she leaves the battlements and asks for Arya, she has made a decision to become the manipulative dark woman she has always been but never fully embraced - even though it means she will be forever the “dark woman.”
She executes Littlefinger. The episode continues, and Jon’s parentage is revealed as well as him going to Daenerys to begin their relationship. She returns to the battlements with Arya, and I think the key takeaway in regards to the allusion here is that Arya and Sansa are Starks - outsiders in the strange, political world of Westeros. They need to protect and free themselves, but they do need each other - and no one else.
Essentially, they must embrace the fact they are outsiders together to survive. However, Arya is “no one” and Sansa is specifically the “dark woman.”
Fast forward to season eight and Jon and Daenerys arrive at Winterfell effectively engaged. Sansa is standing on the battlements like the dark woman - the allusion continues.
There are some other interesting connections to The French Lieutenant’s Woman as well. The paleontologist is disturbingly similar to Jon - he is a typical romantic hero who is cynical on the outside but actually an idealist on the inside (think Ned’s influence on Jon). He struggles with his sexuality (Jon struggles with the idea of fathering a bastard) and joins the clergy but becomes disillusioned (Jon joins the Night’s Watch and it does not go as expected).
The paleontologist also has a servant named Sam whom he is friendly with. A coincidence, but one which I am certain D&D are reeling over, and one which I think is important to determine the way in which The French Lieutenant’s Woman will foreshadow the framing of the end.
Early in the book, there is a quotation that prefaces a chapter on the fiance: “Loce can only be lust if there is no hope for immortality.”
I think it describes the relationship between Jon and Daenerys well. Many in the general audience believe that Jon and Daenerys are going to marry, have a baby, and rule together. They may not have married before having sex, but that does not mean they will not be together.
The relationship between the paleontologist and the fiance is not sexual, though I think the quote provides some interesting insight into the allusion itself and the ending of Game of Thrones. Jon and Daenerys will not be simply a lust relationship if they get together in the end... if. A relationship can only be love if it lasts... like Ned and Catelyn.
But Jon and Daenerys are doomed from the start, and we know this because of Bran’s reveal that was overlayed on their scene. Their relationship has no hope for immortality because they are going to be at odds by the end due to conflicting claims to the throne.
That is why we know going into the first episode of season eight a few things:
Jon and Daenerys will not be together in the end.
Daenerys is not the heroine of the story, Sansa is.
Sam will somehow be involved, which makes sense considering how he wants to bring Daenerys down.
In order to get to the second ending and explore the possibility of the first and third happening, Game of Thrones needs to establish its allusion to The French Lieutenant’s Woman stronger.
Basically, the paleontologist and the dark woman meet three times in secret before they are reunited.
The first is accidental, and he leaves embarrassed. The second is accidentally on purpose by the paleontologist, and he is given a false story that intrigues him. The third has that lie continued, but he excuses his interest in the dark woman by assuming he helped her leave town.
In season eight, we see Jon meet with Sansa alone in the solar in order to convince her that bending the knee to Daenerys was the right idea. Sansa does not agree and is clearly hurt.
Although not a perfect correlation since Jon and Sansa know each other well, I do think D&D are going to follow the storyline a little to help foreshadow the ending. The solar scene was part of that. It is an emotionally charged meeting where Jon tries to justify why Daenerys coming to the North is a good thing. However, we know the solar is a private place, and the body language prior to their argument is one of a couple.
The paleontologist leaves that meeting certain that the dark woman is innocent of the accusations, and we do see Jon defend Sansa to Daenerys when she comes up again.
In The French Lieutenant’s Woman, the fiance is determined to have the paleontologist propose to her. She wants no one else in the world, and is effectively going to trick him into doing it.
Which is exactly what Daenerys is doing: she is trying to get Jon to forget his past and stay with her forever, reminding him that Sansa is not the girl he knew and has changed because of her past abuses... similar to the dark woman being outcasted.
Interestingly, the conflict with Sam is mirrored in The French Lieutenant’s Woman. The fiance is not empathic towards Sam, which is a trait shared with Daenerys - and not something which Jon approves of.
The paleontologist begins to realize that the fiance is putting on an act, and I think Jon is realizing that in Daenerys as well. Daenerys wants to be a liberator, but in reality... she wants power.
There must be two more secret meetings between Jon and Sansa, and I believe they will happen in the South as the conflict between Jon and Daenerys heats up.
The dark woman encounters the paleontologist and weaves a false tale about her affair with the French Lieutenant. It never happened, but the paleontologist is led to believe it did and is surprised by the dark woman’s acceptance and desire to be outcast... though this ultimately attracts him to her even as he tries to “save her” by convincing her to leave town.
Whether Sansa goes to the south willingly or is kidnapped, I believe that Sansa will ultimately meet with Jon secretly to try and convince him to take the throne for himself. He will reject the throne, but become increasingly attracted to Sansa and even the idea of becoming king as he comes to understand who Daenerys really is. He will also try to convince Sansa to go home for her own good.
Interestingly, the people in that Victorian society believed the dark woman was crazy, even though the reader knows she is sane. The fiance also appears to be well-adjusted at first, but it becomes apparent by the end that she is acting.
I think that dynamic will be echoed with Sansa and Daenerys. The general audience believes that Sansa is a traitor and Daenerys is a hero, though it is quickly becoming apparent in the narrative that Sansa is loyal to her family and Daenerys is actually power hungry.
The third meeting ends with the paleontologist then learning he is disinherited by his uncle and that the dark woman has left town. He fears that his relationship with the dark woman was discovered. However, his disinheritance also leads him to not fear the possibility of his relationship with the dark woman being discovered as much as before his disinheritance happened.
I believe that Jon has always been in love with Sansa, and the reveal that he is actually the heir to the Iron Throne (and thus her cousin) means that a relationship between the two of them is possible. However, like the paleontologist, he already has another commitment to Daenerys and it will ruin him if he breaks up with her.
Interestingly, Sam Farrow ultimately betrays the paleontologist. The paleontologist decides to leave his fiance after being disinherited, and Sam Farrow realizes that a poor paleontologist means getting married to his own lover is more difficult. Sam Farrow is asked to send a letter but chooses not to deliver it.
This leads to the paleontologist and the dark woman being separated. However, the paleontologist breaks off his engagement to his fiance anyway, meaning Sam Farrow’s plot ultimately fails. This leads the paleontologist to be humiliated socially, and he leaves to travel abroad, though he has someone try and look for the dark woman.
What I believe will happen in Game of Thrones is similar, with some important changes.
We know, for instance, that Sophie Turner kept a scroll from the season in her wallet that was supposed to be a major spoiler. We also know that she was gifted the storyboard of her last scenes. No one was able to determine they were a major spoiler for the ending, which means there is something very normal about the setting - and that it appears it had happened before.
Most of the spoilers we have seen so far in leaks seem to be referring to scenes outdoors. We are also never given the more private scenes in leaks, and since Sansa is frequently indoors with only a few people, that means most leaks related to Sansa never occur.
We need to build the ending based on the known leaks so far that appear to be confirmed and determine how Sansa fits into those pieces using The French Lieutenant’s Woman as a framework.
Drogon burns King’s Landing and Euron’s fleet
Tyrion frees Jaime to rescue Cersei
Cleganebowl, Hound and the Mountain die
Jaime fights Euron and is mortally wounded after killing him
Jaime and Cersei die together
Daenerys executes innocent people in King’s Landing
Tyrion is imprisoned for helping Jaime
Tyrion tries to convince Jon to betray Daenerys in order to save the Starks from her being a threat in the future
Daenerys does not listen to Jon’s reason in her madness
Tyrion eventually has a trial in which Daenerys and Jon do not attend
Tyrion and Sansa conspire against Daenerys and try to get Jon on their side
Sansa betrays Tyrion after telling him they will rule together
Jon ultimately kills Daenerys by stabbing her
Kit apparently show two endings: Night’s Watch and death
Tyrion’s trial has Davos, Sansa, Bran, Arya, Sam, Brienne, Robyn (really?), Greyworm, a golden man, and a mystery green man present.
Tyrion is angry at being betrayed because he claims to have done what he did for the good of others.
My speculation based on the links and the allusion to The French Lieutenant’s Woman is as follows:
Daenerys waits for Jon’s army to arrive so she can attack King’s Landing. We know they were about two weeks away the last time it was mentioned, and in the teaser we see Daenerys has returned to Dragonstone and Tyrion approaches her worriedly.
Even though it might seem as if Daenerys will attack King’s Landing immediately after Missandei’s death, we do see that Daenerys is far more cautious during Euron’s attack. She knows she cannot be as impulsive or she will have heavy losses.
We also know from earlier teasers that Jon also ends up in Dragonstone at some point, and just like Tyrion approaches Daenerys from behind, so too do we see Daenerys’s back to Jon.
Some point later, Cersei appears rather smug as she looks out at the city, knowing that she has plenty of bodies to protect the city from being burned down. I suspect this fact was echoed to Daenerys and was another reason she did not attack right away.
We then see Jon and his Northern army, alongside Tyrion, looking at the city. He appears very worried.
Then we see the Golden Company marching through the streets of King’s Landing and a hooded figure walking away from them in the background.
The hooded figure is too tall to be Jon or Arya. The feet are also too masculine to be Sansa (and why would she be sneaking in alone?). That leads me to think it is either The Hound, Brienne, Jaime, or Bronn. My money is on the Hound, and he and Arya are staking out their path to the red keep.
The teaser seems to promise by the end of the episode that the battle at least starts, with the scorpions being loaded and Euron hearing the dragon. Emilia told fans to watch this episode on a big screen, so my bet is that a battle actually takes place and it is fairly long (though not at long as the Battle of Winterfell).
So I assume these sequence of events:
Daenerys mourns at Dragonstone
Tyrion and Varys discuss her unraveling madness
At Winterfell, Bronn discovers Jaime has left for King’s Landing and that Cersei might be winning the war. He goes to kidnap Sansa for leverage, but Sansa promises him a castle immediately by the Umbers in return for helping her and her closest allies escape (Bran, Brienne, Podrick, Sam, and Gilly). He agrees, and the Golden Company assumes that Alys Karstark is Sansa and Winterfell goes along with it on Sansa’s orders. The group escapes, and Bronn heads North to his castle and to recruit the Wildlings that have since left. It’s possible Podrick goes with him so that Tormund trusts his word.
Jon arrives in Dragonstone to terrible news - the Golden Company is keeping his family hostage in Winterfell. Daenerys will not let him go to Winterfell until they have taken the Iron Throne.
Jon and Tyrion land the armies in front of King’s Landing, and he is conflicted about the battle.
Arya and the Hound sneak into King’s Landing. She wants to kill Cersei and he wants to kill his brother.
Cersei sends Qyburn to meet with Jon to surrender. Jon meets with her secretly against Davos’s advice and convinces him to betray Daenerys.
However, Jon isn’t sure he can kill Daenerys in cold blood, even as Varys pushes him to do so. Tyrion learns of the plot and tries to stop it, but it ultimately never happens because Jon is reunited with Sansa as she secretly arrives to tell him she has not been taken hostage. She arrives with more Vale forces (including Robyn Arryn) as well as Tormund, Ghost, and his wildlings. Jon is very relieved to see Sansa, but is worried about her being in King’s Landing and what she is planning. He tries to convince her to do nothing and to go to the Vale until Winterfell is retaken.
Jon agrees not to go through with the plot and confides in Tyrion, and Daenerys learns of Varys going behind his back. She executes him, much to Tyrion’s surprise and horror.
Sansa decides to use this turn of events to her favor and convince Tyrion to join forces with her to have Jon claim the throne from Daenerys. He is at first unwilling, but when Jaime is captured by Daenerys to be executed later alongside his sister, Tyrion agrees.
The battle begins shortly after Varys’s execution and Yara’s arrival.
Daenerys, wary of Cersei plots continuing during the siege and fearing that Jon may betray her if they do not take King’s Landing before word travels to the Golden Company in Winterfell, attacks King’s Landing directly in a brutal way. She disables Euron’s fleet first by using Yara’s arrival to distract them, and then burning the ships in the harbor.
The Unsullied then siege King’s Landing and kill innocents, but this is largely to convince them to escape the safety of King’s Landing and empty the city so Daenerys can make her final attack. Even so, this brutality horrifies Jon - but he must go along with it because Daenerys is unaware that Sansa has tricked Cersei and he is afraid to admit she is nearby for fear of Daenerys acting against her.
Sansa and Brienne help Tyrion to free Jaime in an eerily scene as the one between Catelyn, Brienne, and Jaime in the second season. Jaime admits he came to King’s Landing to save or kill Cersei, and Sansa commands Brienne to help him... knowing full well that Arya is already planning to kill her anyway.
Arya and the Hound sneak into the Red Keep, and Cleganebowl happens. However, the Hound is wounded in the attempt.
Euron survives the burning of his ships and tries to shoot down Drogon using a remaining Scorpion. This injures Drogon, and grounds Daenerys, slowing the attack on King’s Landing.
Daenerys and her allies regroup, and she learns that Tyrion helped Jaime escape, though she is still unaware that Sansa is in King’s Landing. She imprisons Tyrion. She promises to execute him aongside his brother and sister.
Sansa is surprised to learn that Tyrion did not betray her, and she realizes that Tyrion wants her to marry him when they finally get Jon to betray Daenerys.
Jon and Sansa meet again secretly and he is furious to discover she had a role in Jaime’s escape. She tries to convince him that Daenerys is crazy, but Jon refuses to consider her plot.
Jon tries to convince Daenerys not to burn what is left of King’s Landing or to execute the Lannisters. Daenerys refuses to listen to his reasoning, and prepares her second assault.
I think a scene between Yara and Jon is possible, and that Theon will over hear it. Yara tells Jon Theon died for the Starks, but Daenerys helped them protect the North and he isn’t willing to die for his own Queen. I believe Tyrion will then leave a seed of doubt in Jon’s mind by telling him Daenerys would not die for the Starks - would his family ever really be safe?
Sansa and Sam prepare to send ravens to the lords of the realm proclaiming who Jon really is. However, Sansa knows that once she sends the raven there is no going back. We do not see the ravens being sent.
Jaime reunites with Cersei, and Brienne is too hurt to watch the reunion and leaves the room. Jaime tries to convince her to leave King’s Landing, but she refuses. Euron appears and fights Jaime, and Jaime wins but is mortally wounded.
Brienne reunites with Arya and they arrive too late to save Jaime as he begins to die in Brienne’s arms. He asks to be taken to Cersei, and Brienne agrees. Once he dies, Arya kills Cersei. Jaime and Cersei’s bodies lie in wait in the throne room. Qyburn witnesses everything.
However, the two cannot get back to Daenerys’s army before the battle begins, and they struggle to get out of King’s Landing as Daenerys begins her assault in earnest.
Because Cersei and Euron is dead, the defense of King’s Landing is pitiful, especially as Drogon is able to wreck fiery havoc unchecked. This means that all the deaths that occur Post-Cersei were deaths that did not need to happen.
Arya is reunited with Sansa. Sansa goes to Tyrion with the news of Jaime and Cersei’s deaths, and he is grief-stricken. Between Robyn “Let the bad man fly” and Bran doing whatever Bran does, Sansa begins to suspect he may betray her in the future. She is also disturbed about the possibility of remarrying him since he is a Lannister.
The Golden Company learns they are not going to be paid and they defect. Arya and Sansa convince them to fight for their family in return for all the gold the Lannisters have left. They do not agree, so Sansa makes another agreement: do nothing in Westeros and leave. Robyn pays ransom for Winterfell.
Daenerys is able to enter the Red Keep and is happy that she is finally able to take the Iron Throne from Cersei. She is followed behind by Jon and some of her army. She is shocked to find Jaime and Cersei already dead. Qyburn tells her that Euron killed Jaime and a young woman with the description of Arya killed Cersei. He also states that it appeared as if someone bought off the Golden Company.
Daenerys realizes that this means a Stark won the day again, and even though Jon tells her they will rule side by side, Jon remembers what Tyrion said about Daenerys being a future threat, so just like Jaime he kills Daenerys when her back is turned in front of the Iron Throne. Everyone is shocked by this sudden and unexpected murder.
Drogon takes away Daenerys’s body and flies back in the direction of Essos. I assume to Valyria, but it remains uncertain.
Jon does not reunite with Sansa and Arya, but instead seeks out Tormund and Ghost to return to the Wall as an exile for his crimes. Sam tries to convince him not to go, stating that he will send ravens all over Westeros about who he really is, but Jon says he will refuse it anyway, like Maester Aemon.
Sansa and Arya watch Jon leave the Red Keep. Arya is frustrated and turns away. Jon looks back, and Sansa waves sadly.
Now we see Tyrion being taken from his cell. He assumes he is being freed, but he soon realizes he is on his third trial. He is upset, stating that he did what he did “for the realm” though Bran reminds him that he “would never bet against his family.” He is to be executed for a host of crimes, but the trial is clearly used as a show trial to put all the blame on Tyrion and the Lannisters and unite the survivors.
The execution is watched by Sansa, Arya, Bran, Davos, Robyn, Grey Worm, a Dornish man, and some weird green man, apparently. I don’t assume this is the full list. However, it is meant to represent the survivors of the Seven Kingdoms and of Daenerys’s army. Like Littlefinger’s trial, I do not think Tyrion realizes what is happening first until it is too late. It is possible that Bronn returns and serves as a witness - and Tyrion does not have the money or the will to serve him again after already receiving a castle from Sansa immediately after helping her.
The Iron Throne is ruled by a general council for a while with Bran at the head - but not really as a king. More as a Godswood charm that is able to watch over the entire realm as the memory keeper.
Sam returns to Horn Hill and occasionally works with the Maesters.
Gendry rules at Storm’s End and Arya occasionally visits between travels.
Brienne returns to Tarth and has an heir by Jaime. Podrick is helping to train the child.
Bronn rebuilds Last Hearth. He may make mention of wishing he had a bigger castle.
Tormund continues to lead the wildlings North of the Wall.
At some point, Jon is inspired by Tormund to return to Winterfell.
I think it is possible that some external threat is worrying Sansa and the realm about an invasion, though the seven kingdoms are not entirely united in its defense. Sansa does not have the South.
Perhaps fAegon makes an appearance, or Drogon was captured or laid more eggs. Who knows. Either way, the Seven Kingdoms needs a real leader again, and Sansa is sitting on the raven that could unite them... but not have the King to do it. She talks with an advisor about possibly marrying a southern leader, though she cannot imagine Gendry would agree to it because of Arya, and Sansa is not certain she can trust anyone else.
That’s when Jon arrives home, and it is possible the storyboard that Sophie was given may actually be their reunion at the end of the show, and I think their reunion implies two things:
Jon will be King in the North.
Political Jonsa is the only option going forward.
Their reunion is not merely platonic, given the charged meetings between them in the past, though the storyboard Sophie was given may not have the final scene.
I believe the final scene may be Sam receiving a new letter written by Jon and/or Sansa about their marriage and Jon ascending to the throne, and then Sam sits down to write the story of what had happened.
