This article contains major spoilers about the series finale of "Game of Thrones." If you're still catching up on the season or haven't watched the final episode yet, bookmark this page and come back another time.

"Game of Thrones," the 73-episode fantasy saga that has swallowed up more cultural oxygen than just about any other modern television series, said farewell Sunday night. The final 80-minute installment threw a few narrative curveballs, wrapped up some loose ends, killed off one last pivotal character and — surprise, surprise! — divided the internet.

Here's a look at the early reaction to the key moments in "The Iron Throne."

We have a winner

The oddsmakers were right.

In the end, Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) was named ruler of Westeros, just as the Las Vegas gambling world predicted.

The dark horse pick by a council of lords and ladies made sense to some long-time viewers, including Vox television critic Todd VanDerWerff, who argued in part that the ending was foreshadowed in George R.R. Martin's books.

But others on Twitter jeered Bran's ascent to power, poking fun at the character's ethereal aloofness and relatively minimal role in recent seasons — not to mention the narrative left-turn that led to his rise.

So Bran gets to be king, despite the fact that he just put his name on the group project and didn’t do any work. #DemThrones — Jemele Hill (@jemelehill) May 20, 2019

TYRION: People love stories. And no one has a better story than Bran



ARYA, WHO LEARNED SHAPE-SHIFTING AND MURDERED THE INVINCIBLE ICE KING OF DEATH: Bran has what now — Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) May 20, 2019

“Nothing in the rulebook says an orangutan can’t win the Game of Thrones.” — Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) May 20, 2019

Dagger to the heart

Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) may know nothing, but he's certainly crafty with a blade.

In a (literally) gut-wrenching moment roughly 40 minutes into "The Iron Throne," Jon fatally stabbed Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) during a kiss — a deed that ultimately results in the stoic warrior being banished to the Night's Watch.

Twitter mourned the loss of Dany, whose late-series descent into genocidal madness stirred intense debate. (Clarke, for her part, weighed in on the backlash in an interview with The New Yorker published soon after the finale ended.)

I don’t know what the writers did BUT this is forever my Queen ❤️ #GameofThrones #Daenerys pic.twitter.com/PjxyK8zfkk — TMY (@tianamarcus_) May 20, 2019

In the hours after the last episode hit the airwaves, some critics lamented how "Thrones" handled Dany's departure.

"Daenerys, once the show’s ostensible hero, ended up feeling like a plot point to be dispensed with, rather than a great and tragic figure to be truly mourned and reckoned with," The Washington Post opinion writer Alyssa Rosenberg wrote in her review of the finale.

Ice cream throne

It's not entirely accurate to say Bran claimed the Iron Throne in "The Iron Throne" because, well ... the Iron Throne doesn't exist anymore.

The hulking dragon Drogon, devastated over the death of Daenerys, torched the royal seat and melted it into nothingness. (Here's an appreciation of that brutal heap of steel.)

"Leave it to a dragon to make the sensible and humane political decision," New York Times op-ed contributor Wajahat Ali tweeted.

The only emotion I felt was for the dragon — Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) May 20, 2019

The political symbolism was not lost on many viewers, and some mocked what they saw as a heavy-handed storytelling device.

Jon:



Drogon: the sight of this accursed thing sickens me. This throne stands as a symbol of the oppression of the proliteriat, and as long as people seek it, this world will never know peace. Dragon fire can't melt steel beams, but on my honor, I shall liquefy this sham — Guyana's Ass 🇬🇾 (@sporker_) May 20, 2019

d&d after the episode: so we thought burning the throne would represent the end of iron throne — chai goth, a hit 2000s reality show Survivor fan (@Abid_ism) May 20, 2019

The dragons’ grasp of physical metaphor is way stronger than I had been led to believe — Helen Rosner (@hels) May 20, 2019

Strong statement against monarchies from Drogon — Alison Willmore (@alisonwillmore) May 20, 2019

But others thought the fiery destruction of the throne was an apt callback to the portentous words of Dany's ill-fated older brother, Viserys Targaryen: "The breath of the greatest dragon forged the Iron Throne ... the swords of the vanquished, a thousand of them, melted together like so many candles."