It was the line heard 'round the fandom. Honestly, it might be the most infamous sentence in the history of peak TV. When showrunner David Benioff sat down for the "Inside the Episode" featurette after Season 8, Episode 4, "The Last of the Starks," he probably didn't think he was creating a permanent meme. He was just explaining a plot point. But then he said it: "Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet."
Fans lost their minds.
The context was already shaky. Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, a woman who had spent years conquering cities and outsmarting warlords, was flying back to Dragonstone. She was at her most vulnerable, yet she was soaring high in the sky on Drogon. Rhaegal was limping along beside them. Suddenly, out of nowhere—despite being on a literal dragon with a bird's-eye view of the ocean—she's ambushed. Euron Greyjoy and his "Scorpions" (those giant crossbows) rip Rhaegal out of the sky.
It felt cheap. It felt unearned. But mostly, it felt like the writers were admitting they didn't know how to bridge the gap between Dany’s massive power and her eventual downfall.
The Logistics of a Memory Lapse
The biggest issue with the idea that Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet isn't just the memory loss itself; it's the tactical impossibility of the scene. In the previous scene at Winterfell, the characters are literally standing around a map table discussing Euron Greyjoy. They knew he had the Golden Company. They knew he was patrolling the waters.
How do you forget a threat you discussed ten minutes ago?
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Visually, the scene is a nightmare for anyone who understands line of sight. Dragons are high up. Ships are on the water. For Euron to hit a moving, flying target with a ballista from behind a rock, he would have had to be visible to Dany for miles. The physics of the bolts—which seemed to have the velocity of modern surface-to-air missiles—didn't help.
The "forgetting" wasn't a character choice. It was a writing shortcut. By making the protagonist "forget" a primary antagonist, the showrunners bypassed the need for a complex naval battle or a strategic blunder. They just needed the dragon dead to even the odds for the finale.
Why Character Consistency Matters in Fantasy
We accept dragons. We accept ice zombies. We even accept a kid who can see through time. What we don't accept is a character acting fundamentally different from their established self without a psychological reason.
Throughout Game of Thrones, Daenerys was defined by her obsession with her enemies. She remembered every slight. She remembered every house that turned its back on the Targaryens. The idea that she would be "distracted" to the point of losing a child (Rhaegal) felt like a betrayal of her competence.
You see, "forgetting" is a passive act. If Dany had been arrogant, that would have worked. If she had seen the fleet and thought, "My dragons are gods, those arrows can't hurt us," her loss would have been a tragic consequence of her hubris. That fits the themes of George R.R. Martin’s world. But simply "forgetting" takes the agency away from the hero. It makes her a victim of the script rather than her own choices.
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The Impact on the Series' Legacy
The fallout from Dany kind of forgot about the Iron Fleet was immediate. It became a shorthand for the perceived decline in writing quality during the final two seasons. It wasn't just about one scene; it was about a pattern.
- The "Beyond the Wall" episode where Gendry runs a marathon in minutes.
- The teleporting armies.
- Varys, the master of whispers, suddenly forgetting how to be secretive.
This specific quote became the "Jump the Shark" moment for the 2010s. It highlighted a shift from a show driven by political consequence to a show driven by spectacle. When you have to rely on a character forgetting the main obstacle in their path to make the plot move, you've lost the internal logic that made the show a global phenomenon in the first place.
The Counter-Argument: Was She Just Exhausted?
If we're being fair, or at least trying to find a "Watsonian" (in-universe) explanation, Dany was a wreck. She had just lost Jorah Mormont. She had lost half her army fighting the Night King. She was realizing that Jon Snow had a better claim to the throne and that the North would never love her.
Grief does weird things to the brain.
Could a person under that much stress make a catastrophic oversight? Sure. But the show didn't frame it as a mental health crisis. It framed it as a "gotcha" moment for Euron. Even the most exhausted dragon rider would notice a fleet of ships with giant black sails in the middle of a clear blue sea.
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Moving Toward a Better Narrative Understanding
The takeaway here for writers and fans alike is that stakes only matter when they are built on logic. When the audience stops asking "What will happen next?" and starts asking "Why did the writers do that?", the immersion is broken.
The "Iron Fleet" incident remains a masterclass in how NOT to handle a power imbalance. If your protagonist is too strong, you don't make them "forget" their enemies; you give the enemies a smarter way to win.
To really understand the weight of this moment, you have to look at the episodes leading up to it. The tension was at an all-time high, and the expectation was for a tactical chess match. Instead, we got a random ambush that felt like it belonged in a different show.
What to Do if You're Rewatching
If you're diving back into Game of Thrones or introducing it to a friend, keep an eye on the tactical discussions in Season 8. Note how often the characters' plans are derailed by things they already knew. It changes the viewing experience from a political thriller to a tragedy of errors.
The best way to engage with this trope today is to use it as a lens for modern media. We see "the Iron Fleet" problem in plenty of big-budget franchises now—characters losing their primary skills just so the plot can happen.
Next Steps for the Deep-Dive Fan:
- Analyze the Map: Go back to the Winterfell strategy scene and look at the markers. It makes the "forgetting" even more baffling when you see the physical layout they were working with.
- Read the Books (Again): Comparison is the best medicine. George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire spends hundreds of pages on logistics and supply lines. It’s a great palate cleanser for the "forgetful" writing of the show's end.
- Study Narrative Agency: Research why "character agency" is the backbone of satisfying storytelling. When a character's success or failure is based on their own traits, the audience stays invested. When it’s based on a "forgetful" whim, that's when the memes start.
Ultimately, the Iron Fleet wasn't just a group of ships. It was a symbol of the moment the show's internal clockwork stopped ticking and started being pushed by hand.