SPOILERS ahead from Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 4, in which Jon Snow was a very bad boy.
How can you argue that Jon Snow would make the best leader of Westeros when he can't even say goodbye to his own direwolf? I had trouble caring about anything else in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 4, after Jon Snow ghosted Ghost.
Jon Snow (Kit Harington) was leaving Winterfell to head south to King's Landing. He didn't want to take Ghost, even though it seems obvious to me that Jon and Ghost should stick together. Jon did care for Ghost's safety, so he asked Tormund and the team heading back to the true North to take Ghost along.
Jon didn't even say goodbye. No head pat. No "good boy." No "We'll meet again." Hopefully that is not the final scene between Jon and Ghost. Even if they do reunite in one of the remaining two episodes, what a crap thing to do.
It hurt even more to see how dejected Ghost looked. Fans were devastated, and seemed more upset about Ghost than the episode's major deaths of Rhaegal or Missandei.
I know, Ghost isn't real, direwolves aren't even real (there used to be dire wolves in the real world). But still. We invest in characters, and Ghost deserved better. For all the shit she's been taking, Dany at least still shows love for her children and has mourned her two lost dragons.
Game of Thrones fans were horrified when Rhaegal was shot down, but possibly because of the plot convenience of that scene -- really, Euron got that shot off, and Drogon didn't even return fire? -- it didn't have the same impact as Jon abandoning Ghost without a goodbye.
It's especially hurtful when Jon Snow did stand there and say goodbye to multiple people, from Sam and Gilly to Tormund, before blowing off Ghost.
Even the truest Jon Snow fans were shocked into fury by the Stark/Targaryen ghosting his most loyal companion since Season 1:
To play devil's advocate, maybe Jon Snow couldn't even bring himself to say goodbye. Maybe it was too hard, even harder than saying goodbye to the friends they lost after the Battle of Winterfell. It doesn't make Jon look good either way, but it would be something.
The showrunners should explain why Jon Snow just walked away. There doesn't seem to be much time to resolve this storyline in the big Dany vs. Cersei battle next week, and however this all wraps up in the series finale. But maybe Ghost blows off the instruction to go north and follows Jon. Maybe Ghost shows up in King's Landing anyway and helps to save the day. Jon wouldn't deserve it after this, but Ghost deserves a better ending to his story.
Sadly, Ghost might be in the best position of all of the Stark direwolves, who have not been treated well by fate. Arya forced Nymeria away from the family to save her from being killed by Joffrey and Cersei. Instead, Sansa's Lady was the one killed just for the bad luck of being a nearby direwolf; Ned Stark killed the sweet girl himself. Robb's Grey Wind was killed with him at the Red Wedding. Summer died defending Bran in the cave of the Three-Eyed Raven. Rickon's Shaggydog was killed by the Umbers.
Only Nymeria and Ghost are still alive. Nymeria and Arya reunited, but Nymeria didn't want to return to Winterfell with Arya. "That's not you," as Arya recognized, saying a similar line herself to Gendry in last night's episode. Nymeria is still out there with a wolf pack. And Ghost is heading back North, since Jon figured he wouldn't like it down South.
Last night's episode of Game of Thrones was dark and full of coffee cup errors, but the story continues Sundays at 9 p.m. on HBO.
