The Season 6 finale of Game of Thrones gave us something we have been waiting for for YEARS: Daenerys is finally heading to Westeros with her big fuck-off army of dragons, Unsullied, and allies.
(It also gave us R+L=J, which we have been waiting even longer for. HALLELUJAH.)
It was amazing, but it did raise one niggling question: How the hell did Varys get from Dorne back to Meereen in time to get on that ship?
While we're on the subject, how did Arya get to the Twins so quickly?!
Something is not right here.
Game of Thrones writer-producer Bryan Cogman took to Twitter to address fans' concerns with the timeline. Time to put the tinfoil away, because it's a simple answer: It doesn't add up.
Oh, one thing since a few people have asked me. The timelines of the various story threads don't necessarily match up all the time.
The events we're watching aren't all happening simultaneously, even though we're seeing them within one episode.
This is to avoid things like, say, Arya spending four episodes on a boat.
Apparently, this isn't something the producers particularly wanted to do – but in the end, they sacrificed timeline consistency in order to keep the plot moving forward.
Oh, and in case people think I'm annoyed at the question, I'm not. I tied myself in knots season 1 trying to make it all line up. 1/2
We realized right quick doing so would kill momentum. So there you go. 2/2
One Reddit user, The Rational Man, created an approximate timeline of the events from the finale.
As for Varys's movements, the appearance of Martell and Tyrell ships in Dany's fleet indicate he sailed back to Meereen with them before joining the rest of the gang to head BACK to Westeros.
Presumably Arya hitched a ride with the Westerosi traders she originally negotiated with.
So, sorry, no jetpacks in Westeros just yet.
Come on guys, Varys supposed jet packing is explained by the passage of time not being confined to your experience of it in an episode.