How I feel about the Game of Thrones Finale.

It’s no secret that Game of Thrones has been one of my favourite shows for the past eight years. The first time I saw the preview I was hooked – history, fantasy, and all the violence, sex and swearing HBO shows have to offer. GoT- you had me at “Hello”!

This post will have spoilers – so please don’t read it if you’re a fan and for some reason still haven’t seen this much anticipated finale!

After a lengthy text rant to my sister last night she finally snapped back – “why don’t you post this on your blog” 🤣 So here I am, sharing my thoughts on Game of Thrones and the finale.

To put it quite simply, the history-lover in me was satisfied with the Game of Thrones ending. The TV viewer was not (this season was clearly rushed – coffee cup and two water bottles spotted- c’mon guys!) If you’re a history buff – you know much of history does involve monarchies, tyrants and plutocrats. Even famous democracies like Ancient Greece and Rome weren’t real democracies – the rich and powerful chose what was right for “the people” – this was even blatantly referenced in last nights finale of Game of Thrones. I appreciated it. It’s actually quite relevant to what we’re seeing in politics all over the world today. I hate to break it to TV viewers – but History is way more disturbing, brutal and disappointing than this final season.

I won’t get into all eight seasons of very layered, complicated and detailed storylines. But I can imagine many fans despised this ending. The one who ultimately sits on the (now destroyed) Iron Throne was a big surprise and I doubt anyone saw it coming. But, if you look back at this series – it started with Bran and it ends with Bran. As the three-eyed-raven he’s seen the whole story: past, present and future. So, it’s not surprising at all it ends with him as ‘the storied king’, King Bran the Broken. Tyrion Lannister’s monologue in front of the high Lords and Ladies of Westeros was probably my favourite dialog and was the ‘ah ha’ moment for me last night. Tyrion outlines that after a devastating war brought on by many fabled and powerful families feeling they each had an equal or better claim to the Throne, “The Wheel” as Daenerys Targaryen describes the on-going civil wars of Westeros several seasons back, has to be broken – and the best way to do that is by appointing Bran, King of Westeros, because of his story. This brings us to the epoch in Westeros history. I liked it. And it connects very well to real monarchical history which clearly inspired this series. In the end, all monarchs are chosen – that’s where it all starts. Eventually they become useless enough: like King Louis XVI of France who lost his head for being incompetent as an Autocrat, or too ambitious and arrogant: like King Charles I of England. Both men had their heads cut off because they went too far in either direction a leader can take.

At this point I’ll share who were my two favourite characters and why.

My absolute favourite was Daenerys Targaryen – the Mother of Dragons. Maybe it is the hair – I wish I had silver-blonde hair like that! Or maybe it’s because her children were her magnificent dragons and I related to that being the Mother of Labs ♥️♥️. Or, maybe it was just watching her self-discovery and growth over eight seasons. I’ve loved watching this vulnerable and weak young woman emerge as a dedicated, inspired and beloved Queen. I loved her patience – when she was pretending not to speak Valyrian in front of a slave master for several episodes as he called her horrible names or made sexist and vulgar comments about her – we reach the revelation that she’s understood every word and with the utterance of “Dracarys” she walks off with undoubtedly the most badass army heading for the Iron Throne. Here’s that scene – it’s so awesome! With two wise and highly skilled swordsmen as her councillors, eight thousand loyal Unsullied soldiers, some legendary Dothraki soldiers and three dragons – she was the badass of all claimants. She kept growing in her power and influence. So much so, that from about season 4 onwards she was a little too obvious to be the winner of the Game of Thrones – even if I really really wanted it. But I still loved watching her. The times when she took council and was merciful and cunning to the times she gives two f#cks and was impulsive and ruthless in her justice. I loved her story so much that last week’s episode was disturbing, frustrating and uncomfortable for me, and many others, to watch. It was meant to be. We don’t like seeing our beloved characters go bat-shit-crazy and become the “bad guys”. Daenerys thought she was the ruler to “Break the Wheel” that was rolling over all the innocent and vast populous of Westeros. Last week we saw her as the most devastating and disturbing spoke in that wheel after she hopped on her dragon-child, Drogon, and burned, maimed and killed thousands of innocents in her blind-quest to destroy Queen Cersei. She could have simply flown up to the Red Keep’s tower where Cersei is always standing and just burn her up – but no, Daenerys zig-zagged her way through the congested and chaotic streets of Kings Landing – annihilating the populace and burning them all. Many said this was inevitable, it wasn’t. It was hinted. We saw Daenerys slowly crack as she continued to vacillate between coping with her many personal loses to embracing her immense power – she cracked and it was hard to watch. So like many, who loved, adored and admired Daenerys Targaryen’s character from the start, like me, you had a disappointing last two episodes. This beautiful character who fought and brought justice time and time again against oppressors who enslaved, abused, tortured and killed innocents. Only to see her go Mad at the end and do the same to the innocents of King’s Landing. I was disturbed, irritated and frustrated AF last week after that episode. Watching my beloved favourite character and her beautiful (and only remaining) dragon, Drogon, destroy much of King’s landing and slaughter thousands for almost an hour straight- ugh, it was too much and actually… sadly….it kept me up that night. And then, I dreamt about it – LOL! I know I know, pathetic 🤦🏼‍♀️. Last time this show did this to me was the Red Wedding. Her ending was sad, fast but I also found it quite touching – especially the Dragon coming in. I thought it was beautifully done and the throne is no more. It was quite moving.

Okay, enough about Dany.

My second favourite character was Arya. I loved her since the first season. She was quite a pain but I liked that she had zero interest in being a Lady like her sister Sansa. Arya’s just been perpetually bored and brave all through the series and she’s been really fun to watch for that reason. But she’s also laser-focused. She’s always known what she wanted and never swayed. Her revenge list was awesome and you could see her slowly but surely disciplining herself into becoming a skilled Assassin. Her moment came this season. Arya! what a BAMF! Even if you don’t watch this show – you may have heard that she surprising and stealthily killed The Night King – the most evil and threatening of all GoT antagonists. That night battle episode was anxiety-inducing and had me and my husband on the edge of our seats. Usually we’re very quiet while watching these dialog rich episodes, but that episode was so dark and frustrating to watch (done on purpose) that we talked a lot through our anxiety of the show. And the moment Melisandre (The Red Woman) and Arya reunite and Arya says, “You said I’d shut many eyes forever. You were right about that too.” and Melisandre replies, “Brown eyes. Green eyes. And blue eyes” I screamed out loud, *gasp*, “Arya is going to kill The Night King!!!” – which to me was obvious, I found out later it wasn’t to others – so the moment Arya leapt behind The Night King to deliver that fatal Valerian steel dagger blow – many viewers were shocked and amazed (or annoyed it wasn’t Jon 🙄). I hadn’t moved from the moment 20 mins earlier when Melisandre said (and my body was covered in goosebumps) “what do we say to the God of Death?” And Arya replied “not today” … every part of me cheered out loud and inside. Hands down this was my favourite scene this season. That and when that one Wight Walkers hair wafted – goosebumps again!! I loved it. I rewatched that scene about 15 times. Arya had her moment and I loved it. I’m excited to think she’s likely getting a sequel out of this.

Ok, so enough about my two favourite characters. Just wanted to share those and if you have favourites I’d love to hear about them and why they were your favourites!

Going back to why I actually liked this finale. Looking back at history or even the prequel to A Song of Ice and Fire (the book series Game of Thrones is based on) you can see the famous leaders have the storied names – they are the ones with the most support, success, fascination and legacy and even it’s infamous ones like The Mad King all have memorable names that tell a story. I found myself thinking of King Henry VIII of England, oddly enough. Game of Thrones is very clearly inspired by The War of the Roses. If you’re not familiar with this part of English history – here is the Coles notes: it’s basically about two warring families vying for the throne – House of Lancaster (Red Rose) and House of York (White Rose). Sounds like Lannister and Stark, right?! It was quite literally a game of thrones back then – thousands died over decades of the jockeying power between these kings. In the end, Henry Tudor wins. A few decades before he seemed to be a very unlikely claimant to the throne — just like Bran. Except Henry Tudor won his claim on the battlefield. This is a bloody and gruesome time in history. The outcome, ultimately, is the birth of Henry the VIII. He’s the first born (actually second born) heir of both houses, son of Elizebeth of York and Henry Tudor (Lancaster). He started out as a young erudite King whose claim to the throne was inspiring and everyone felt a new prosperous age in England’s history was beginning. His claim though was still precarious and it plagued his reign and he grew more paranoid and isolated. Game of Thrones is very clearly inspired by this tumultuous time in English history. But Henry VIII was not a lovable figure in the end. He is widely referred to as a Tyrant and was infamous for boldly cutting off Catholicism and executing and divorcing his wives. He was easily bored, swayed and easily paranoid. He was also consumed in his need to produce a legitimate male heir to secure his Dynasty. The irony is that in all Henry caused in his quest for a male heir – all the death, destruction and trauma his reign brought to his country, it ultimately led to a time for Queens. When Henry’s only son, Edward, dies quite a young King – all who remain with any claim to the throne is a slew of women. Bloody Mary results – brutally murdering thousands in her quest to bring England back to Catholicism – only to die childless and half-sister goes on to become one of the most famous rulers in history: The Virgin Queen Elizabeth I. She would be incredibly successful and reign over a Golden Age. Virgin Queen, that was her “story” – she was a Virgin Queen: married to God and Country. SHe had to order to keep her power secure in a Mans world. It also connected her to the Virign Mary, adding to her mystical title and her people bought in. And I truly felt last night’s Game of Thrones was connecting to this real history and not playing to archetypal TV storytelling. Which is why it pissed off so many viewers. Many viewers of Game of Thrones were turned off early on in Season 1 by the many characters and storylines, it was confusing, too busy and choppy. Then many came back hearing of the epic scenes and the shocking deaths- people got hooked and bought right in knowing their favourite characters were never safe. Then the Red Wedding – many viewers bowed out after that. But it’s still one of the top TV shows of all time – a phenomenal hit.

Last night I realized I fell in love with GoT because of its honour of history. It was unlike any other series I’ve ever seen in that sense. It was never predictable, often disappointing and frustrating and at other times funny, inspiring and uplifting. Also, we can all complain but you can’t deny – it’s Epic! It’s been eight seasons of rollercoaster rides. TV and movies have a way of making complex human stories more simplistic – they wrap up with Good vs. Evil… the classic heroes journey starting with accepting the quest, encountering and battling hinderances and ending with a triumph. GoT was NOT that story and I loved it. Along with millions of others, the moment Ned Stark’s head is chopped off in season 1 – you had shock, disgust and upset coupled with intrigue and speculation on where this story could go. You knew you were watching a story arc go sideways at the tragic and shocking loss of the honour-bound main character. These feelings – felt all at once, would not be the last time GoT would put us through a myriad of emotions in a single scene.

I know fans of the show wanted heroes or favourites to win. In reality, we are often incredibly frustrated by our leaders – especially if they have been voted in – I know I am right now! Ramsey Bolton – one of the most vile of characters in a series teaming with evil players predicated, “if you think this has a happy ending, you haven’t been paying attention”. Game of Thrones was escapism with reality thrown right back in your face about how brutal, frustrating and what a let down our world can be. And also how so much fate is decided by a few people. I also thought of World War I, “The Great War”, after last nights finale. We end with “what was all of this for?” it’s just like after 1918 when the world had to move on from the devastating and seemingly meaningless loss. How quickly everyone wanted to just get things sorted out and get back to normal. The fate of millions were decided by a few men in Paris in 1919. They literally re-drew the map of the world and chose new leaders – their choice impacted millions and would domino effect it’s way, even more tragically, further into the twentieth century. These historical conflicts are not wrapped up in nice little bows and neither was Game of Thrones.

While considering Tyrion’s speech regarding what makes an inspiring leader – “The Story” – I bought in why Bran was chosen, King Bran the Broken. Westeros is broken – so is their King. They’ll hear all of what he’s done despite his disabilities and they’ll relate to him and be inspired by him—- and more importantly, they’ll follow him. I thought of JFK and Camelot, Princess Diana as The People’s Princess, Queen Elizabeth I as The Virgin Queen. These stories and titles are meant to invoke the magic and passion they describe. The stories are what last – the stories are what people buy into. The stories are what we can easily digest and absorb in an incredibly complex layering of facts, fiction and emotions.

Try looking up the War of the Roses and I dare you to try to not feel dizzy. It’s complex, it’s long, it’s strange and disturbing. Game of Thrones captures all of that in an epic fashion.

Anyways, that’s my take. Would I have loved to seen Daenerys take the throne earlier with all three of her Dragons – 100%! But, I’m a huge history lover – my husband makes fun of my never-ending documentary watching and biography reading – but it’s fascinating to me and I think that’s why Game of Thrones delivers for me in the end. Albeit, in a rushed, plot holed, coffee cup and water bottled filled season. I’m glad I got to see it end – I’m ok with how it ended and onto the next. I think the prequels may be more fun than the sequels – but we’ll see.

Valar Morghulis