The Game of Thrones Finale – WTH?
No way to avoid spoilers for The Game of Thrones Finale so be warned.
The Game of Thrones Finale is over and we all have our answers as best as we are going to get them. How did the story turn out versus all of the theories? Read on and let me give you my thoughts. I am sure some people are happy while others are probably pretty disappointed, sad and pissed off.
As the episode starts, we see Tyrion walking through the ashes of Kings Landing. He is followed by Jon Snow and a few others. Tyrion and everyone is clearly devastated by the absolute destruction. Tyrion, upset and wondering if his sister and brother made it out alive, left the group to search for them himself. To many theorist’s dismay, Tyrion found his sister and brother, Jamie and Cersei. They were crushed to death and buried under the rubble of the crypts. They were lying next to each other. We all saw their last moment in episode 5. There were plenty of people who were thinking that one or both of them survived. Honestly, I am not sure how beneficial that would have been. Cersei was dead regardless of what happened. However, I personally expected a more dramatic death. I figured she would refuse to leave forcing Jamie to defend her to the death. Their demise is what it is. However, their deaths were sort of weakly plotted from my point of view.
More Missed Theories for The Game of Thrones Finale
There were plenty of theories for the Game of Thrones finale. For example, the theories about Daenerys being a mad Queen seem to be wrong. I suppose this depends on your perception of what mad means, more on this later. I had also heard Drogon was controlled by Bran through the warning. This theory suggested that Dani had no control of him and was therefore not responsible for the destruction of Kings Landing. In any case, we now know these theories were flat out wishful thinking and wrong. Dani killed everyone she could. Furthermore, once the battle was over she ordered the Unsullied to execute anyone left. In my opinion, she is being a typical full-bred Targaryen. She is also vengeful and has no compassion for anyone who sought safety from or was in any way loyal to Cersei. In my view, I did not see Dani as “a mad Queen”. She seemed to know exactly what she was doing and was doing what she had done all along. She burned her enemies down without compassion.
There were also theories about a fourth dragon that would enter the story that never happened. I heard of stories of a second army of the dead that may come into play. Of course, we also heard stories of who would kill Dani. There were plotlines where Arya would kill Grey Worm, take his face and get close to Daenerys to kill her. Others suggested that Tyrion remain loyal as an act so he could remain close and kill her. Those theories and so many more were all very wrong but honestly would have better leveraged many of the built-up story lines. Dani Addresses Her Troops and Takes Command of The 7 Kingdoms.
As the Game of Thrones Finale progressed, Dani spoke to her troops and made it clear, she was not done the fighting. She told her warriors that they would continue to fight until they broke the wheel and freed enslaved people for all of humanity. After her speech, as she stood at the base of the burned-out castle, Tyrion confronted Dani. He expressed his disgust the slaughter of the city and renounced his position as her hand. She called him out for treason for trying to save his brother and placed him in custody. We all know this meant Tyrion was a dead man under Dani’s rule.
Jon was turning to go see Tyrion in custody and ran into Arya. Arya grabbed him and warned him about Daenerys. She said he should keep in mind that his Queen knows who he really is and that he is a threat to her. Jon then visited Tyrion in custody. Jon was obviously trying to make some sense of it all. However, I also think he wanted to find a way to save Tyrion. Surprisingly, after all, he had seen, Jon made it clear to Tyrion that he was going to continue to follow Dani. Tyrion being himself, was sure to give his opinion. He did his best to convince Jon that she was just as bad or worse than Cersei. Jon told Tyrion that “love is the death of duty”. Tyrion answered that “sometimes, duty is the death of love”. He left Tyrion giving us no clear idea of what he was thinking or planning. However, it was clear he was torn and troubled.
The Troubled Lovers Jon and Daenerys
The next thing that happened in the Game of Thrones Finale was that Jon went to see Dani. He found her in the ruins of the throne room admiring the Iron Throne. The throne was now sitting in the open as the walls surrounding it had been leveled. She looked upon it as Jon walked into the palace area. She told him what she had always thought the Iron Throne would be like. She expected it to be much bigger, more meaningful and it was clear she was disappointed how small it was. The Iron Throne was not enough and nothing would ever be enough. She touched it, but she never turned and sat on the throne.
Jon confronted her about the execution of remaining soldiers and the murder of thousands of innocent people & children. He begged her to show Tyrion and the others mercy. Dani flatly rejected these suggestions and defended her actions. She told Jon “it is not easy to see something that had never been before, a good world”. Jon asked her how she knew it would be good which she answered, “because I know what is good”. Jon asked her, “what about everyone else, all the other people who think they know what’s good”. Dani simply answered, “they don’t get to choose”. This statement sealed her fate with Jon as he knew there was no hope, she was corrupted by power.
The Death of Daenerys
In her final scene, Dani still loved Jon and she pulled him in close to embrace him. She was asking him to build a new world with her, to break the wheel together. Jon told her “you are my Queen, now and always” and kissed her in what seemed like a passionate moment until Jon shoved a dagger up through her heart. That was that no secret Arya plot, no Tyrion climbs to power. Jon Snow killed his Queen, his true love and his aunt.
Drogon sensed her death and swooped in. Finding her dead, he got in Jon’s face ready to burn him down. Instead, he turned and burned down the Iron Throne, melting it to molten steel instead. It appears Drogon realized that the pursuit of the throne killed his Queen. Besides that, I am not sure Jon could die from dragon fire since he is Targaryen. Drogon picked up Dani’s body in his claws and swooped off leaving Westeros.
The Rest of the Story
The rest of the story was just sort of flat to me. It’s frankly not even worth describing it more. The Unsullied were given land to go to. Bran was voted King. Tyrian asked him, “will you wear the crown and will you lead the seven kingdoms to the best of your ability”. With that, Bran replied, “why do you think I came all this way?”
Keep in mind, Tyrian, while in shackles, makes all of the rules for the future of the kingdom. I just have to say, whatever might as well be him I guess. At least there was some reason for Bran to be in the show other than just hanging out and being creepy. A disappointing part of the Game of Thrones Finale was when Jon was exiled to the wall because he killed the Queen. Grey Worm, being loyal to Dani still has a huge army so there was a huge risk of reprisal. If they backed Jon it would have likely been another blood bath. So, Jon was once again banished to the Nights Watch. Sansa declared that Winterfell would be independent and she would be the Queen. Arya plans to go off to the east to colonize beyond the maps? Tyrian would be the hand to Bran whether he liked it or not to make up for his past mistakes.
The final scene ended with Tyrion adjusting chairs around in preparation for his first meeting with the lords. Bran comes in and says they are missing some positions. He then asks about Drogon, which the lords state that he was last flying off to the east, for which Bran says, perhaps he can find him. Is this important to anything? Bran leaves and the conversation turns to matters of business, decaying into the need for brothels since they have all burned down. I think this was an attempt at levity but it was just lame.
Arya was on a ship sailing off to new adventures. Jon shows up to the wall, which is apparently manned by Wildlings where he proceeds to apparently leave the wall and the Nights Watch behind with all the Wildlings. Sansa is back home in Winterfell and is crowned Queen.
Final Thoughts on GOT and the Game of Thrones Finale
I loved the series and I have to accept the ending. However, season 8 missed a lot of previously established storyline opportunities, felt rushed and hastily pushed the story. I think it could have been so much better if the story would have been better explored. They had two years to figure this out and I am disappointed that this is all they came up with. I take nothing from the actors, they did a splendid job. The acting and characters were much beloved by all of us.
However, in my opinion, the writing of the Game of Thrones Finale was flat and almost predictable. The plain storytelling caused almost everyone to overshoot what would actually happen in the end. I think most fans felt there would be more of a climactic ending. There would be twists and turns that would make us all go, “wow, I never expected that”. There was just no wow, I expected it all and it ended as a basic drama. It just seems that the usual story twists and plot surprises were simply lost on the writers. The plot lines that were out there to leverage were ignored and neglected.
