Warning: Contains ashy spoilers for Game of ThronesSeason 8,All Out with AJ Raval (2025) Episode 5.

Wow, okay. That was a cheery episode, wasn't it?

While the penultimate Game of Thronesouting seems to have divided people, though, it's worth noting that it wasn't necessarily a huge surprise.

Like many things that have happened so far this Season, the clues were there all along.

Obviously there was all the historical foreshadowing -- The Mad King; that unnerving expression about tossing a coin whenever a new Targaryen is born -- but there were also the literal clues: the visions.

As highlighted on Reddit by u/WijoWolf, here's a reminder of Daenerys' vision of a ruined Iron Throne from Season 2.

Reddit

Daenerys has that vision while she's in the House of the Undying, back in the good old Quarth days. In it she walks through the ruined shell of the Iron Throne room while white flakes fall around her.

Obviously at the time we didn't know what those flakes were, and with the White Walkers still a threat many assumed they were snow. But now we know better.

And that wasn't the only vision that pre-empted episode 5's carnage, either.

Here's a GIF from a vision Bran has of King's Landing back in Season 4, which was posted on Reddit by u/firetypecharizard.

Reddit

A vision of a ruined throne room, and a vision of a dragon sweeping the capital.

This destruction has been a long time coming.