It’s no secret that the manner in which Game of Thrones ended its 8-season run left a large number of people deeply unhappy. So unhappy, in fact, that I waited until almost three months after the final season aired to actually watch the final episode. Had I spent that time living under a rock and successfully avoided the internet, spoilers, and hordes of people practically frothing at the mouth over the series’ conclusion, I would have been surprised by how the show ended.
Surprised, yes. But not disappointed.
Now, before you click away in disgust, hear me out. People hated the finale because it ended differently than they wanted it to, yes? Therein lies the critical error. Expecting Game of Thrones to end in a finale that pleases everyone is, first of all, impossible. And, as I’ll get into later, we all know Game of Thrones isn’t sunshine and rainbows. Ever. I mean, it isn’t as if the show hasn’t featured character deaths, or plot twists that upset people before, right? Red Wedding, anyone? Jon Snow’s murder? The beheading of Ned Stark, perhaps? I would argue that the difference here lies in the finale’s finality.
Think about it: are you angry simply because the storyline of the final season took some unexpected and undesired turns? Or because there are no more seasons to come, no promise of vengeance to be taken, no more chances for redemption? Catering to the whims of Game of Thrones’ considerable fan base would have proven a disaster, and ending the show in a manner inconsistent with the precedent set by the rest of the series would have betrayed the show’s identity.
All I ask is that you rein in your fire and brimstone for a minute and let me play Devil’s advocate. My goal is not to change anyone’s mind here, or make the internet suddenly fall head-over-heels for the GoT finale. I just want to share my feelings on the show’s final season and outline why I’m not ready to join the angry mob poised to roast Game of Thrones’ writers alive for their decisions.
So buckle your seatbelts, everybody. I come to you with a full six reasons why I think Game of Thrones needed to end as it did:
1. In Westeros, there are no picture-perfect endings.
This show is no fairytale, despite all the dragons and knights in shining armor. And I think this fact is something that audiences lost sight of as Game of Thrones rose in popularity.
For the most part, Game of Thrones is not a happy show. For the characters we have come to love in this universe, the positive end to a chapter tends to be a pretty clear indication that their story isn’t over yet (see: Theon, Varys, Missandei- heck, any number of characters in this universe). Game of Thrones is gritty, it’s dark, and most of all, despite its fantastical elements, it’s real. This makes the series so compelling: any character can triumph, experience betrayal, or die at any given moment, and no individual, no matter how adored or detested, proves truly impervious to the machinations of the world around them. This remains true in the season 8 finale.
The final episode also retained the GoT’s defining moral ambiguity. For years, we have watched virtuous characters choose darker paths while previously unlikeable characters redeemed themselves. The finale proved no different. Everyone can agree that Game of Thrones remained true to itself to the very end, whether you liked how the writers achieved this level of consistency or not.
2. Real character arcs are never smooth. (I’m looking at you, Jamie Lannister.)
To be completely honest with you, the scene where Jamie leaves Brienne alone at Winterfell was the one aspect of the final season that I legitimately disliked. I wanted so badly for the two of them to stay together, and in doing so, I fell into the same trap as everyone else. I became so wrapped up in Jamie Lannister’s redemption arc that I forgot his character was a human being.
What does that even mean, you ask? It means that Jamie, for all his honor, loyalty, and positive attributes revealed to us over the course of the show, remained susceptible to the character-defining weaknesses that made us detest him at the beginning, (see: his crippling dependency on Cersei). On some fundamental level, Jamie still felt that the two of them deserved each other. So, like a junkie catching a whiff after several years clean, Jamie couldn’t help but run back to his sister when her circumstances appeared most dire. He lapsed. Who are we, as fellow human beings who also chronically undervalue ourselves, love the wrong people, and constantly make mistakes, to expect differently?
3. Did we really think Arya was going to just sit around Winterfell? And Sansa deserved to get what she wanted. (Finally.)
Did anyone really expect a master assassin who has traveled across multiple continents and learned to change her face at will to retire happily to Winterfell? We knew from the beginning that Arya never wanted the life of a lady. Did we really think she would ever want to live out the rest of her days surrounded by ice and the gentile political maneuverings of court? I mean, really. This is, after all, a girl far more comfortable sparring with knives than words. Admittedly, it was disappointing to see the Starks separate so soon after their long-awaited reunion, particularly in the case of Jon and Arya. But with what Arya has seen, it’s hard to imagine she could ever be content to stay in one place.
And as for Sansa’s ending, who could complain about that? The writers sent her character through the wringer time and time again, passing her from one frankly horrific husband to the next. (Granted, Tyrion wasn’t that bad, but he had his own issues and proved a distant spouse, at best. Plus, the man was still a Lannister). Sansa spent hours’ worth of TV time grasping for the smallest margin of control over her own life, and we watched her grow from a simpering child into the Queen of the North. Her ascent to power serves as a triumphant story of self-realization and tenacity through the very worst of circumstances.
So let it be remembered: Game of Thrones isn’t all doom and gloom all the time. Events took place in this final season that are absolutely worth celebrating.
4. Bran is actually the ideal king, if you really think about it.
I have three reasons:
- If we’re talking about learning from history, Bran’s your man. I mean, who better to run your country than someone who literally has first-person access to all the successes and failures of his predecessors? Just saying.
- The dude has no ego. Okay, arguably this is what made him sort of a boring character. (Was I the only one who groaned when the show switched away from Jon, or the Daenerys, or even the Lannisters, and his bland, expressionless face appeared onscreen? I didn’t think so.) But if you’re looking to solve the number one problem plaguing practically everyone who ever sat on the iron throne, (see: Joffrey, Robert Baratheon, and even Daenerys), it’s this: they want to rule. They’re ambitious, and power-hungry, and almost always have an over-inflated opinion of themselves. Bran doesn’t. Enough said.
- It’s unclear if Bran is capable of siring children. Now, this might seem like a strange angle, but keep in mind the fact that probably 95% of the wars in the Game of Thrones universe have historically been waged over the issue of succession. Because Bran will likely have no direct heir, he probably won’t harbor the burning need to keep his bloodline on the throne. And this presents the perfect opportunity to continue Tyrion’s proposed practice of having the heads of Westeros’s greatest families elect a ruler.
5. Daenerys was never going to break the wheel, particularly not after channeling her arsonist ancestors.
Look, the warning signs were there all along. We just chose to ignore them. Heck, the woman was burning people from season 1, when she sentenced the witch Miri Maz Dur to death on Khal Drogo’s funeral pyre. Things only escalated from there, and our favorite mother of dragons quickly transitioned from roasting individual enemies alive to annihilating scores of people in Astapor and Mereen. Was razing King’s Landing to the ground really that much of a leap?
Despite Daenerys’s disgust toward the tyrannical rulers of Westeros and the slaver kings of Esos, however, her ideals and actions didn’t always align. This disjunction only worsens as her storyline moves forward. Despite her best efforts, Daenerys cannot seem to escape the specter of her family’s violent tendencies, leading history to repeat itself.
Listen to her dialogue in the series finale. She starts out by defending her decision to annihilate an entire city of innocent men, women, and children by claiming that Cersei forced her hand. Now, mass murder isn’t great, but defining it as “necessary” is even worse. Daenerys goes on to insist, “I know what is good.” And the rest of the world? “They don’t get to choose,” she says. All of this alone should provide sufficient proof of Daenerys’s instability and ultimate unsuitability for leadership. But the worst part is that she was never going to stop.
“We will not lay down our spears until we have liberated all the people of this world,” she announces to her army of unsullied. Had she been allowed to continue her so-called campaign of “liberation,” the Mother of Dragons would have found herself Queen of an empty and desolate kingdom. Letting her live would hardly have spelled a happy ending for anyone, and nothing would have changed in the grand scheme things. One tyrant would have been replaced by another. The conventional wheel of power would have kept on turning, crushing the people of Westeros beneath it.
6. I know the man deserved better, but Jon’s story had to end the way it did.
There’s a lot of debate out there on the internet regarding the identity of the so-called Prince that was Promised, as well as just exactly what he, (or she) is supposed to do. I don’t want to go there, but Jon does check a lot of the prophesized boxes. (Born “under a red comet” and “amidst salt and smoke,” dreamt of a flaming sword in the books, etc.). And if delivering Westeros from darkness is supposed to be the Prince’s crowning achievement, then, well, I’d argue that Jon did his fair share of world-saving. Without him, Westeros would probably have found itself zombified and frozen solid. And when Daenerys fails to break the wheel of despotic rulers, Jon finds that he can and does, albeit at great cost to himself. He plays the role of tragic hero to the show’s bittersweet end.
Yes, yes, I know. Jon was the rightful king of Westeros, and probably would have made a pretty damn good monarch. But he also made it clear from the beginning of his rise to power that he wanted nothing to do with the throne. Also true is the reality that Jon was forced to make a horrible choice between his people and the life of the woman he loves. But with the loss of Daenerys and his claim to any measure of power in Westeros proper, Jon gains something else. Freedom.
Since his return from the dead at the beginning of season 6, Jon struggled to define his place in the world of the living, even as a veritable mountain of new roles and responsibilities were thrust upon him. The last time we see Jon in the finale, he is bound by no such constraints. Having ventured back beyond the wall with the wildlings and his faithful direwolf Ghost at his side, Jon can reclaim an identity he is comfortable with and escape all the pain and death that plagued him in the South.
So What’s the Bottom Line?
Give the writers the credit they deserve. Closing the curtains on a spectacle as popularized, complex, and unique in its exploration of human morality in a mere six episodes represented a thankless, near-impossible task. Yet they managed to create a finale that brought the plot full circle in a meaningful way without compromising the show’s identity or believability. They were never going to please everyone, and the end is the end, whether we like it or not.
So set aside your pitchforks and hang up your broadswords as we take a step back from the world of Game of Thrones, (at least for a little while, if HBO releases their Targaryen prequel series). Take a hiatus from dragons and iron thrones. Nurse that tiny flame of hope that the books might end differently, if you have to. But most importantly, whether you’ve been with the show since season one, or you’re a recent binge-watcher-slash-bandwagon-fan, remember all the joy and excitement this show has brought to our lives. It’s been one hell of a ride.