Spoiler: Who sits on the Iron Throne at end of Game of Thrones and why it makes sense

Fans finally know how Game of Thrones ends and who has won the titular game, allowing them to sit on the Iron Throne of Westeros.

Spoilers: Major spoilers for the entire Game of Thrones series follow.

At the end of the final episode, the Iron Throne has been destroyed - so nobody sits in it.

But Bran Stark has become king.

The wheelchair-using, mentally super-powered son of Ned Stark and Catelyn Tully is voted into power by the surviving lords and ladies of Westeros following the tumultuous period of its history now known as A Song of Ice and Fire.

"All hail Bran the Broken, first of his name, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Six Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm," Tyrion Lannister declares in S08E06 'The Iron Throne'.

This comes after Jon Snow, real name Aegon Targaryen, murdered his aunt and lover Daenerys Targaryen, just as she gained the Iron Throne herself.

Her dragon, Drogon, then roared up to the throne room and appeared distraught at her death. Rather than killing Jon, however, Drogon used his fire to melt down and destroy the Iron Throne.

While Bran becoming king might seem random to some viewers, others believe it makes absolute sense.

"Author George RR Martin's [first Game of Thrones book] features Bran as the first main point-of-view character. In interviews, Martin has said that the first scene he ever envisioned for the series involved Bran watching his father execute a man in the bitter cold north, an early example of what it means to rule justly," writes Josh Wigler for The Hollywood Reporter.

"'The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword', the late Ned Stark (Sean Bean) told Bran on that long ago day. It was always an instructive piece of dialogue for the greater themes of Game of Thrones; in hindsight, it's fitting that Martin's first imagined scene in the world of Westeros wasn't just meant to instruct the readers about his sense of justice, but also designed to instruct the future king of the land."

"Though his rich interior life full of prophetic green dreams may not have always translated well to the screen, it's clear from the beginning that in George RR Martin's books, Bran's story is inevitably intertwined with the story of Westeros," writes Joana Robinson for Vanity Fair.

"So while no one, except Bran, may have seen it coming, that doesn't mean this wasn't the plan all along. The *idea* of it may have seemed strange but that was an awfully convincing speech Tyrion gave, wasn't it?"

Now that Bran is king, it's interesting to look back at the rulers who came before him.

When the Game of Thrones TV show started in 2011, Robert Baratheon sat on the Iron Throne as the Westerosi king.

He took it from Aerys Targaryen, commonly known as The Mad King, in events that took place before the series kicked off.

Following Robert's death in the first season, the Iron Throne was then occupied by first Joffery, then Tommen - who were believed to be his sons - before his wife Cersei assumed power. She then ruled Westeros until Daenerys defeated her.

Her merciless slaughter of countless innocents in King's Landing ensured Daenerys' reign was a very short one - before Bran took over.

Will they all live happily ever after? Probably not.

Now the Game of Thrones TV show has ended - but a prequel spin-off series is in the works from HBO.

Newshub.