It started with a low, gravelly hum in a darkened room at Winterfell. Podrick Payne, a character most people liked but nobody expected to carry a musical climax, started singing about being high in the halls of the kings who are gone. Honestly, it was the only moment in the final season of Game of Thrones that felt like the old, magical, soul-crushing show we fell in love with back in 2011.
The song is called "Jenny of Oldstones." It’s ancient. It’s sad. It basically sums up the entire tragedy of Westeros in a few verses. While the TV show made it a viral hit thanks to Florence + The Machine, the roots of this melody go way deeper into George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire lore. If you’ve only seen the show, you’re missing the actual gut-punch. This isn't just a campfire song; it’s a prophecy, a warning, and a suicide note all wrapped into one.
The Ghost of High Heart and the True Origin
Most people think the song was just written for the "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms" episode. Nope. George R.R. Martin first dropped the "high in the halls of the kings who are gone" line in A Storm of Swords.
There’s this tiny, ancient woman known as the Ghost of High Heart. She’s a wood switch, or maybe a Child of the Forest—it’s kinda vague, which makes her scarier. She trades her prophetic dreams for wine and a specific song. That song is Jenny’s song. She’s obsessed with it. She cries when she hears it. Why? Because the song is a direct link to the tragedy at Summerhall, an event so catastrophic that it nearly wiped out the Targaryen bloodline.
Jenny of Oldstones was a girl who claimed to be descended from the long-lost Kings of the First Men. When Duncan Targaryen—the Prince of Dragonflies—met her, he fell so hard he gave up his crown. He literally walked away from the Iron Throne just to marry a girl with flowers in her hair. It sounds romantic until you realize it started a chain reaction of political resentment that led to a massive fire and the death of King Aegon V.
The lyrics we hear today are basically the aftermath. Jenny is dancing with her ghosts. She’s in the ruins of the "kings who are gone" because everyone she loved burned to death in a failed attempt to bring dragons back to life.
Why the Lyrics Hit Different After the Finale
When Podrick sings those lyrics, the context is the Battle of Winterfell. Everyone is about to die. Or they think they are.
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"High in the halls of the kings who are gone, Jenny would dance with her ghosts."
Think about that for a second. Winterfell is a literal tomb. The crypts are full of the kings who are gone. By the time the Night King shows up, the living are basically already ghosts. The song creates this weird, haunting parallel between Jenny—who lost her prince in a fire—and the characters in the room who are about to lose everything to the ice.
Florence Welch’s version, which played over the credits, turned the "high in the halls of the kings who are gone" refrain into a chart-topping anthem, but the heavy lifting was done by the composition. Ramin Djawadi, the composer who basically carried the show on his back for eight years, kept the melody simple. It’s a folk song. It’s supposed to feel like something your grandmother sang to you to scare you, but also to comfort you.
Breaking Down the "Kings Who Are Gone" Mythology
Westeros is a land defined by its dead. You've got the Targaryens, the Baratheons, the old Kings of Winter. The "halls" mentioned in the song aren't just physical places like Summerhall or Harrenhal. They represent the weight of history.
In the books, the lyrics imply a sort of madness. Jenny never really recovered. She stayed in the ruins. She danced. She talked to people who weren't there. When we look at characters like Daenerys or even Cersei, they are also dancing with ghosts. They are obsessed with reclaiming things that are already dead.
- Summerhall: The primary location of the tragedy.
- Duncan the Tall: The legendary Kingsguard who died trying to save people from the flames.
- The Wood Switch: The mysterious friend of Jenny who likely survived and still wanders the Riverlands.
The reason the song resonates so much is that it taps into a universal human fear: being the last one left. Jenny is "high in the halls" because she’s the survivor. But survival in Westeros is often worse than death. You’re left in a giant, empty room with nothing but the memories of people who were better, stronger, or more loved than you.
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The Connection to the Prince That Was Promised
This is where the nerdery gets real deep. The Ghost of High Heart—the one who loves this song—is the same person who prophesied that the "Prince That Was Promised" would be born from the line of Aerys and Rhaella (Dany’s parents).
Because of that prophecy, the Targaryens forced their children to marry, leading to the "madness" and eventually the rebellion. If Duncan Targaryen hadn't married Jenny, the "high in the halls of the kings who are gone" song might never have been written, but the dragons might never have died out in the first place. Or maybe they would have come back sooner.
It’s a massive "what if" that fans still argue about on Reddit and at conventions. The song is the emotional connective tissue for the biggest mystery in the series. It’s not just a vibe. It’s the soundtrack to the end of a dynasty.
How to Capture the "Jenny of Oldstones" Aesthetic
If you’re a writer or a musician, there’s a lot to learn from how these lyrics were used. It’s about the contrast. You take a moment of extreme tension—an army of the dead outside the gates—and you counter it with a soft, acoustic ballad.
Don't go for the epic orchestral swell immediately. Start small. Let the lyrics breathe. The line "from night until day" isn't just about time; it’s about the transition from the world of the living to the world of the dead. It’s about the "long night" that the show spent years promising us.
Even if the final episodes of the show were divisive (and boy, were they), this specific sequence stands up. It works because it’s grounded in the lore. It respects the source material. It uses the "high in the halls of the kings who are gone" motif to remind us that in the end, time swallows everyone—kings and commoners alike.
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Practical Steps for Lore Hunters
If you want to dive deeper into the history behind the song, there are a few things you should actually go and read. Don't just rely on wiki summaries.
First, get your hands on A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. It’s a collection of novellas about Dunk and Egg. It gives you the background of the era before the tragedy at Summerhall. You’ll see the world when it was still full of Targaryens and hope, which makes the song's sadness hit twice as hard.
Second, check out The World of Ice & Fire. It’s a massive lore book that explains the history of Oldstones. Oldstones was once the seat of House Mudd, kings of the First Men. The ruins are where Jenny lived. Understanding that she was basically living in a graveyard for a dead civilization explains why she was "dancing with her ghosts."
Finally, listen to the different covers. Beyond Florence + The Machine, there are dozens of folk artists on YouTube who have interpreted the lyrics. Each one brings a different flavor to the "kings who are gone" refrain. Some make it sound like a lullaby; others make it sound like a funeral dirge. Both are correct.
The real power of "Jenny of Oldstones" is that it doesn't offer a happy ending. It just tells you that the ghosts are there, and they're waiting for you to join the dance. That’s about as Game of Thrones as it gets.