Game of Thrones Water Bottle Story Arc Explained by Stephen Colbert

Game of Thrones had an issue in its final season, and we're not talking about story, pacing, lighting, or any of the other those specific things that fans have been discussing and picking apart over the past several weeks. No, we're talking the issue of errant everyday items popping up in scenes. First, it was the misplaced coffee cup in the fourth episode which captured fan attention and generated a ton of buzz online. Then, and perhaps most randomly, was a water bottle that showed up in the series finale. However, while the coffee cup was a mistake, late night host Stephen Colbert wants you to rethink the water bottle: he's given it a story arc all its own.

In some of the final moments of Game of Thrones, the lords of the remaining Great Houses of Westeros came together in King's Landing to decide not only the fates of Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow, but to figure out who should rule with Daenerys Targaryen dead, Cersei Lannister dead, and pretty much anyone with a valid claim on the throne -- save for Jon -- dead. It's in that scene that fans spotted a random water bottle right behind the foot of Samwell Tarly (John Bradley), but if you ask Colbert? That's not a random bottle. It is a member of the council. Colbert broke it down on a recent episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. You can check out his entire bit -- the Game of Thrones part starts around 1:49 -- above.

"Of course everyone thinks this was a mistake, just like the coffee cup two episodes ago, but no," Colbert said. "This is merely the perfect conclusion of the water bottle's story arc."

Colbert then goes on to joke that the seeds of this arc were planted all the way back in Season 1, teasing that the bottle had survived the fire with Dany and her dragons, then went on to save Bran by "holding the door" before finally rising to a place on the council. After helping to select a new king, the bottle was then consumed by Sam and, um, released later to its rightful place on the "Porcelain Throne".

We've got to admit, we kind of like the idea of a story arc for the water bottle, but all joking aside, the bottle and the coffee cup before it were simply accidents, harmlessly left behind probably after a long day of work on the series. For HBO programming head Casey Bloys, though, the fact that people were talking about the water bottle simply meant people were passionate about the show -- a good thing.

"The fascination with that, the divisive reaction to the finale, all of it is a testament to how much people were invested and engaged with the show," Bloys told Deadline. "Some people have very strong negative options and obviously some positive opinions. But I take all of this as a really great sign of what the show has been able to do to stay in the cultural conversation to have people passionately debate the characters and the storylines. That's what you want a show to do."

What do you think of Colbert's story arc for the water bottle? let us know in the comments below.