‘Game Of Thrones’ Fans Set Arya Scene To ‘Old Town Road’
(This post contains spoilers for Sunday night’s episode of Game of Thrones, “The Bells.”)
Sunday night’s penultimate episode of Game of Thrones mostly focused on the invasion of King’s Landing. Daenerys Targaryen attacked the city with her one remaining dragon, leading to the partial destruction of the Red Keep and the deaths of what appeared to be thousands of innocent civilians. There were also the deaths of several key characters and an air of mystery over what may happen on next week’s series finale of the mega-popular HBO show.
The super-long episode also featured a scene at the very end in which Arya Stark (Maisie Williams), having survived the dragon-led carnage as well as other calamities, comes upon a white horse, looks at it, and then mounts it before heading off in an undetermined direction with King’s Landing engulfed in flames on either side of her.
A lot of Game of Thrones fans had the same thought when they watched that scene: “I’m gonna take my horse to the Old Town Road…”
Yes, the scene seemed to fit the theme of Lil Nas X’s hit country/rap song “Old Town Road,” even if the show was filmed and in the can long before that song was released.
Multiple fans of the series, and of the song, even posted photos and videos to Twitter and YouTube with that scene cut to “Old Town Road.”
This is when Old Town Road should've come on full blast. #GameOfThrones #Arya pic.twitter.com/x2dfwupeQU
— Cosmic Bagels (@cosmicbagelsart) May 13, 2019
Game of Thrones (Season 8 – Episode 5) – Old Town Road #GameofThrones #DemThrones #Arya pic.twitter.com/0Ad1f07H75
— Steven Le (@steven_le) May 13, 2019
Arya Stark | Old Town Road
__________________#GameOfThornes | #???_???_????? pic.twitter.com/2nYl4i1Tul— ???? ??????? (@Juuzu__) May 13, 2019
In addition to the part with Arya and the horse, “The Bells” has set off furious debates among Game of Thrones fans over whether the final season has been overly rushed, whether the character arcs and motivations of certain characters, especially Daenerys and Jaime Lannister, were earned or made sense, and whether the show is being discriminatory in its treatment of Daenerys’ endgame.
In addition, many fans of the series have made jokes about the many people in recent years who, per The Inquisitr, have chosen Game of Thrones-inspired baby names. According to Social Security Administration figures that were widely cited in the media last week, there were 560 babies named “Khaleesi” in the U.S. in 2018, and eight more named “Daenerys.” Arya is the most popular named associated with the show, not counting more conventional names like Jon and Jaime.
So not only is “Khaleesi” not actually the character’s first name, but those who chose that name must contend with their namesake not turning out as honorable as they perhaps believed at the time they chose the name.
