So when it was announced that the show was ending there was a lot of interest to see how characters and storylines would end up. The fanbase was so huge at that point that there were basically factions dividing people into what they liked and didn't like about the show.
But by the time Game of Thrones ended, no one wanted to talk about it or give it another rewatch. It wasn't that the events of Seasons 7 and 8 were sad, it was that they were painful. In two shortened seasons the show managed to destroy everything that made it unique.
While there are way more than ten reasons of why the final two seasons of Game of Thrones sucked, I do not have time to write a full and comprehensive list at the moment.
The length of a story doesn't denote how deep, nuanced, and compelling it is. A novel and short story can both tell the same type of story. Both can make you get attached to characters and the worlds they live in. Both can make you sit on the edge of your seat as you worry about the endings.
The trick to make a compelling novel and short story is all in the pacing. Pacing is basically how the story flows. If a story is paced poorly it will seem to drag while if it is paced well readers will hardly notice the passage of time until the final page is turned.
As long as you pace things correctly, you can do a lot with a little.
Writing a good short story means you have to have a good grasp on pacing. You need to understand what is actually necessary for your story and what is just there to make you happy. Such as knowing what scenes add important information and what scenes just repeat information that is stated elsewhere.
This understanding means you have to be merciless when deciding what to keep and what to cut. You have to be able to do this even when tears are coming out of your eyes because some details are just 'too important'.
While I haven't read the books yet, book readers generally agree that the Dorne storyline was hardly focused on. From the information I've heard I agree that was a missed opportunity. But that doesn't take away from the fact that when having a lot of time to work with, their work is much better than when they have limited time to work with.
David and Dan utterly fail when they have to tell 'short story length' stories. At that point they are unable to meander like they want to. Even if they do make the decision to severely limit their story's runtime, like they did with Game of Thrones Seasons 7 and 8, they don't bother changing their writing to fit a 'short story length'.
This is why the pacing was so off in Seasons 7 and 8.
Doesn't that sound interesting? In past seasons Littlefinger has proved he is a mastermind and isn't one to be underestimated. But this plot is not interesting at all as its ending is incredible predictable. To make matters worse, the only way this plot is able to function is by everyone acting like an idiot.
Since that is the case there shouldn't be much time spent on it so that more interesting plots and subplots have more time to be fleshed out. Yet in Season 7 a good chunk of time is devoted to seeing how Littlefinger meets his demise. So the pacing of this plot felt extremely slow.
Daenerys Targaryen/Jon Snow (aka Jonerys) is also a victim of David and Dan's inability to pace things correctly. The pairing could have been a bittersweet love story where Jon has to make the hard decision to kill the woman he loves so that Westeros will be safe. Instead it was lazily put together and therefore extremely uninteresting.
But I'll be getting to Jonerys later on in this post. Long time readers probably expected the pairing to make this list and are also tired of me talking about it.
Game of Thrones having two shortened seasons could have worked. It could have still wrapped up the series in a good manner. Maybe not like the show deserved, but in a way that would have satisfied viewers. But because David and Dan don't understand pacing, Seasons 7 and 8 were so bad that no one is talking about this show anymore.
Game of Thrones was good at getting viewers to remember key phrases and mottos. Such as 'Winter is Coming' and 'A Lannister Always Pays His Debts'. One of the phrases that Daenerys Targaryen is remembered for is that the dragons are her children. That phrase and sentiment had been hammered over multiple seasons.
Daenerys says this because she has been cursed with being barren. So without being able to have children of her own, she considers the dragons her offspring. One of her many titles references to this fact: Mother of Dragons.
Now it's true that the show focuses heavily on Drogon while Viserion and Rhaegal just exist. It's understandable why this is the case as he is the one Daenerys rides. Yet the other dragons not getting the same level of attention makes it feel as if the Targaryen doesn't love them as much. But she does think of all the dragons as her children. So it stands to reason that if anything were to happen to Viserion and Rhaegal she would care just as much if something happened to Drogon.
Well...that's what would happen in a well written show and not what the showrunners wrote for the final two seasons.
While the episode does not make sense, it is extremely fun. The thing that makes it work is the interactions between the characters. If not for that this episode would have been unwatchable.
So how did Viserion die? Did he die doing some noble act? Was he in a vicious battle and died? No, he was a victim of poor writing. Specifically the poor writing where the Night King didn't throw his spear at Drogon instead. That dragon was still on the ground due to Jon Snow not running to him as he had decided to fight various wights. And who was on Drogon? Various enemies of the Night King.
But the Night King decided to throw his deadly spear at Viserion who was both moving and far away. The only reasonable explanation for this I can come up with is that he was trying to impress his men.
To add to everything else wrong, Daenerys Targaryen hardly reacts to Viserion's death. Her face is like she's thinking if she left the stove on by accident. Her expression when one of her children dies is especially lackluster when compared to how other mothers on the show react to their children's deaths.
Daenerys should have overreacted by going after the Night King. The fact the great enemy is immune to dragonfire could have been revealed when the Targaryen came after him with Drogon in a fit of rage.
I know in reality that Emilia Clarke isn't seeing what viewers are. But actors are supposed to help us fully immerse in a show or movie. That is what she's being paid for.
Since Viserion is being controlled by the Night King and for Daenerys to gain vengeance she will have to kill her child again. She should be horrified by this news.
Daenerys hardly reacts and Viserion is no more than a small plot point in Season 8. In the planning of the Battle of Winterfell no one thinks what the dragon wight will mean for those on the ground.
I guess after Daenerys didn't mourn Viserion in Season 7, I shouldn't have expected her to mourn him in Season 8. In both seasons it was an extremely odd omission to make. In the earlier season she had seen her child, someone she thought was invincible, die in front of her eyes. She should have been devastated and needed to be comforted. Most likely by Jorah Mormont who has earned her absolute trust by this point. Someone she wouldn't mind appearing weak in front of.
In Season 8 she should have had a big reaction that left her unprepared for anything else for awhile. Maybe she could have worried about attacking the Night King because she'd have to kill Viserion. Maybe that could have ended up being a reason the Night King didn't choose Drogon: he wanted to do much more than kill Daenerys, he wanted to break her completely.
But instead of Daenerys mourning her child's death in Seasons 7 and 8, you are supposed to fill in the blanks yourself.
David and Dan had a big chance to use Viserion's death and enslavement to mentally torment Daenerys. Season 7 did seem to show a progression from the Targaryen queen believing herself invincible because of her dragons to realizing her children could die. The revelation that she and her children could die should have had more of an impact on her storyline.
Yet the showrunners let any emotional impact Viserion's death would have on Daenerys not be shown onscreen.
Sansa Stark from the first season of Game of Thrones isn't the same as the character in the final season. She started the show as a naive and idealistic girl. She believed that knights were noble and the things sung in songs were true. She wasn't good at spotting the darkness in the world as she believed people in certain positions had no evil in their hearts.
Sansa was so blind to reality that she couldn't see how evil Joffrey Baratheon was. She couldn't see him as someone that would torture people just because he could. Instead she saw a noble prince and was in love with him. She loved him so much she begged her father to be allowed to marry him.
Over the course of the show Sansa is faced with the fact that Westeros isn't anything like the stories she grew up hearing. Knights are rarely ever noble and royalty hides ugly secrets. She is faced with the fact that Cersei Lannister was never her friend, that Joffrey was never kind, and the thousands of other lessons she was forced into learning.
The truth could have driven Sansa mad or into a great depression. Instead she learned and never made the same mistake twice. She learned to not trust people easily and how to maneuver in a world where everyone has secret agendas.
Sansa in later seasons was a far cry from the little girl we first met in Season 1.
So those who think Sansa is smart are right as are those who think she is stupid. The first is what the show says is true while the latter is what is far closer to the truth.
Sansa going up against Peter "Littlefinger" Baelish should have been the ultimate test to show how far she had come. It should have proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Stark woman was clever, cunning, and one of the deadliest forces on the show. Yet the showdown between the two only worked because it was an idiot plot.
Basically Sansa was an idiot for thinking Arya wanted to rule Winterfell, Arya took her sister rivalry to the next level, and Littlefinger did not have a plan in case his deceit was discovered. The fact one of the most clever people in the show tried to run during his trial and cried as he died made his death feel unsatisfying.
Not only wasn't the Stark woman unable to show how clever she was by defeating Littlefinger, she also wasn't able to show what she had learned from him in Season 8. Sansa's distrust of Daenerys Targaryen is more than understandable. House Targaryen isn't trusted very much by the North, life had taught Sansa to keep most people at a distance, and she didn't want the North to loose their newly won independence.
Independence that had cost Sansa a brother and mother. Why would she want to throw away those deaths when their losses still meant so much to her?
So Sansa distrusting Daenerys is not a problem and makes sense. However, if the Stark had truly learned anything from Littlefinger she would have hidden her suspicions from the Targaryen queen. She would know that it is unwise to allow an opponent such knowledge as it makes working in the shadows so much harder.
In the series finale Bran Stark is declared the King of the Seven Kingdoms. This should have made Sansa state that even though a Northerner was the ruler, she knew that in the future someone not of House Stark would sit on the throne. She wouldn't take the chance on the North's future and so would make a request for Northern Independence. There of course would be debate around the issue, with House Greyjoy and Dorne also requesting to secede, but she would eventually become Queen of the North. At no point would Sansa appear power hungry as she thought only of the North.
In the series finale, though, Sansa just asks Bran for the North to be independent and he agrees. This makes Sansa appear as nothing more than a power hungry woman.
Oh, yeah, neither House Greyjoy or Dorne asked to secede for some reason.
Game of Thrones quickly showed how epic of a landscape it had. In Westeros there was a war for Norther Independence, the threat of the White Walkers, and many political games being played. In Essos there was the Dothraki, a fight for freedom of the slaves, and Daenerys Targaryen building enough support to reclaim the Iron Throne for House Targaryen.
What made this fantastical landscape even better was the fact anything could happen. You couldn't count on the noble Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark to be the hero even though in any other fantasy that would be the case. Even though the unexpected happened, in hindsight things made complete sense on why they happened like they did.
Not only was the scope of Game of Thrones fantastic, there were also various characters for viewers to care about. So fans weren't just swept away by the political dealings but for far more relatable things. Jon Snow wanting to prepare Westeros for the Night King, Daenerys Targaryen rising above the abuse victim she used to be, Cersei Lannister seeking the power she always yearned for, Jorah Mormont finding a purpose worthy to die for, and many others. And with each episode it was never certain our favorite characters would survive.
Each character came with their own complicated backstory. The show hardly left any room for the black and white morality we're so used to. Heroes did horrible things and villains did noble things.
Once the final two seasons of the show aired, it was revealed none of us should've invested so much time in our favorite characters. Hardly any character's ending felt satisfying. Too many times an important aspect of a character was forgotten so that the showrunners could shock us. Which left us unsatisfied.
An unexpected moment needs to feel earned. One can't just shock audiences and call that good writing.
Even though I loved Littlefinger as a villain, I was aware he should pay the ultimate price for his various crimes. So when Season 7 came around, I agreed with the fans who thought he was going to die. After waiting seven seasons for him to die, his fate was not worth the wait.
Littlefinger of past seasons would have a backup plan on the off chance he couldn't turn Sansa Stark against Arya Stark. Instead as Sansa, Bran, and Arya Stark give Littlefinger a 'trial' he immediately asks someone in the room to let him go. He then cries while looking at Sansa right before Arya kills him.
That's not even mentioning how Littlefinger's plan to turn the Stark sisters against each other only worked as long as it did because everyone decided to be an idiot.
Cersei and Jaime Lannister had a darkly twisted romance. Not only was their relationship incestuous, but Cersei manipulated Jaime numerous times. Yet even as she used him, she did love him in her own way. She couldn't bring herself to kill him even when he left to join Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Stark to kill the Night King.
As Jaime held onto Cersei as both were being born, it is poetic for them to die in each other's arms. So them dying in each other's arms in Season 8 was not the problem, the problem was the setup.
Jaime's relationship with Brienne of Tarth was solidified by the pair doing the nasty. And before he bedded her, he was the one to go against tradition and knight her. This showed that he was not the same man from the first season. He was finally willing to change and become someone much different.
So Jaime running back to Cersei did not make any sense. He went back on his character arc without any real explanation why. Given more time, him going back to his sister could have actually been deeply compelling.
What couldn't be saved by more time was Cersei being killed by a brick. You can't have a major villain be killed by a mere brick. I loved the character and couldn't wait to see what epic end she would face. The episode after she died was made worse by it turning out she could've moved over a few feet and have survived.
Yet Jon was exiled to the Night's Watch in the series finale. Beside that organization not having any reason to exist anymore, him joining seemed like a huge step back. He had become King of the North and found out he was the rightful King of the Iron Throne.
While he was more comfortable up North, the show never shied away from not giving characters what they wanted before. So Jon's ending should've seen his storyline progress and not given him such a storybook ending.
The Night King was built up to be the ultimate villain of the show. He was otherworldly, mysterious, and deadly. Not only did he command an undead army, he was also a deadly force in his own right. The Night King didn't seem to have any weakness except Valyrian steel.
His final duel should have been intense and left viewers worried for their favorite characters. As the Night King seemed to have a personal vendetta against Jon Snow, theorized by the look he gave the man when he fled Hardhome, he should have dueled against the fan favorite.
But there was no final duel against the Night King and he ended his life by getting stabbed through the chest by a character whose storyline didn't heavily involve the White Walkers.
Besides those characters I've mentioned, many other prominent characters had lackluster endings. While it's good for shows to surprise their fans, shocks don't work if there is no satisfaction. I can understand not wanting to go the obvious route of having Jon kill the Night King, but it doesn't make sense for the pair not to duel at least.
There is one critical thing to remember when trying to write a satisfying ending to a character: that it makes sense.
Even if the ending of a character makes viewers/readers sit in utter shock, it needs to make sense. The twists that work have build up to them so that, in hindsight, you realize how things make sense. So if a character is built up to not want power and nothing in their storyline shows them being forced into political positions, it doesn't make sense for them to end up on the Iron Throne.
The Sixth Sense had a shocking twist at the end: Bruce Willis' character had been killed early on in the movie.
While shocking, there had been clues littered throughout the movie that Willis wasn't actually alive. This made it so that the twist ending wasn't disappointing. Suddenly large chunks of the movie made sense. The Sixth Sense's ending not only being shocking but also making sense in hindsight is why it's remembered fondly.
So, naturally, Bran's storyline revolved around him learning about how to use his vast powers. He doesn't get involved in the political dealings of Westeros, for the most part, as he isn't a political player. He is a person that will be powerful enough to help aid in the fight against the Night King.
Bloodraven contained within him all of the past greenseers and when he dies he passes all of those memories to Bran. This means that the Stark boy hardly exists anymore. An example of how much he lost himself is how stoically he reacts to Meera Reed before she leaves. He hardly seems to feel anything when she goes even though they have spent a lot of time together.
One of the things Bran has a changed opinion on is his heritage. Though he has Stark blood, he no longer feels it is his place to rule. Throughout Season 8 he stated that opinion.
This is the kind of twist that doesn't reward viewers as you can't go back and have it make sense. This due to the fact Bran's storyline had never hinted at being involved in politics. The good majority of his storyline was him traveling to Bloodraven and learning about his greenseer powers.
The only way to make sense of why someone uninterested in politics would be decide to become King of the Six Kingdoms is if there were ulterior motives. Such as a long term goal of killing humanity. But that is theorizing and so has no place in this post. Just know that the only way I sleep at night is if I truly believe in my silly headcanon.
So why was Bran suggested to be king? Why did anyone think choosing him would be a good move?
Tyrion Lannister said that stories make good leaders and Bran has the best story. Not only does the Lannister's qualification for a good leader make no sense, but other people have equally good stories. Jon Snow came back from the dead and that's not to mention the drama surrounding his parents. Arya Stark ended up being trained by the Faceless Men in her quest to get vengeance for him family. Plus, you know, she killed the Night King thus saving Westeros.
I really wish I could still drink.
Shippers (aka people who like the idea of two or more characters getting together) can be a crazy bunch. They can be normal and ship canon couples. They can be semi-normal and ship any two characters that have appeared on screen together. They can start leaving normal far behind and ship characters that haven't even met.
Jonerys (the relationship/ship of Daenerys Targaryen/Jon Snow) shippers fall into the latter. At least those that shipped the pair before Game of Thrones Season 7 when the pair finally met. Even before the tv adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire aired its first episode, people were shipping the couple. In fact it was one of the more popular ships of the show even before it was made canon and many fans of the show never doubted it would one day become canon.
Now for anyone reading this who may be an incest shipper and are interested in getting into the Game of Thrones shipping scene: Jonerys is one of the only incest ships the majority of the fandom won't cause a fuss over.
Jonerys shippers tend to not admit the taboo nature of the ship. Such as saying Jonerys isn't the bad kind of incest or using lore to prove it's actually okay in the show. On very few occasions I've even seen some Jonerys shippers say incest shouldn't be taboo in real life.
So if you're looking for a fandom that doesn't kinkshame, this is not the fandom for you. Unless you ship some of the more popular pairings.
 |
| Credit |
The pairing of Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow works perfectly as a concept. For one thing the storylines of the two mirror each other. Such as Daenerys is seeking power and doing everything in her grasp to sit on the Iron Throne. Jon, on the other hand, doesn't want power and keeps being thrown in situations that increase his rank. The two are on opposite paths to power and so seeing how a romance between them would work is an interesting idea.
As an added bonus the pairing is spiced up by being taboo. As, yeah, it's an incest ship and I don't mind those at all. Well...I do have limits but a light dash of incest interests me.
Jonerys might work in A Song of Ice and Fire. Each book is so long that even in paperback they're deadly weapons. Having that amount of time would allow George R.R. Martin to approach the pairing in various ways, if he ends up writing them as a romantic pairing. The pairing in the books could be purely for political reasons. Or both Jon and Daenerys could really love each other. In any case there would be a weight to the relationship that was lacking in the show.
Plus if Daenerys went mad and Jon was forced to kill her, the scene would actually be deeply moving. This due to the fact that the relationship would have been perfectly built up just to be torn down.
Jonerys failed utterly in the show. This opinion of mine shouldn't surprise any loyal readers as this isn't the first time I've complained about how the show did this pairing. So if you want to take a look around this blog you're sure to find more Anti-Jonerys content if you want more details about problems I have with this pairing after you're done reading this post.
According to book readers the show hasn't stayed faithful to every plot in the books. Deviations have been made which has caused certain characters to not make it to the small screen or only be alive in the show or have bigger parts in the show.
So I feel extremely safe in saying Jonerys only exists in the show purely for fanservice. And not even the good kind of fanservice, just the kind made to please fans without any substance to it. They had a cool concept for a pairing and didn't do anything with it.
The first problem with Jonerys in the show was there wasn't enough time to build up the relationship. Now if the pacing had been handled better it is possible to have fixed this problem. It would mean, though, that the approach to Jon and Daenerys' courtship would need to be changed.
Jon and Daenerys could've fallen in love and admitted their feelings to each other without waiting a season to do so. This would mean the show wouldn't have needed to show how their hate turned to love. The pair could have just really hit it off from the first moment they met. So instead of focusing on how the pair tried to hide their feelings, they could spend more time opening up to each other.
Or Jon and Daenerys meet and feel extremely comfortable with each other so it's more than easy for the Targaryen to convince him to marry her for political reasons. She needs to gain both power and support in Westeros which a marriage with Jon will provide. And where the heck did the whole political marriage plot go when Season 7 came around?
The second problem with Jonerys in the show is that Emilia Clarke and Kit Harington didn't have any chemistry. Okay, the Dragonpit scene is one of the very rare exceptions. For the most part it was like watching two dead fish pretending to be in love with each other.
If the two actors had chemistry then the pairing between Jon and Daenerys could have been improved. Sometimes it is the chemistry actors have with each other that improves the show or movie. With the right actors, a poor script can be greatly improved. Sadly that wasn't what happened between Emilia and Kit.
In all honesty, the angst between Jon and Daenerys nearly made the pairing bearable. Maybe I am just a sucker for angst or maybe the angst actually made the pairing objectively better.
Yet because of how Game of Thrones ruined Daenerys' character arc, the fact I had stopped caring about the show after the third episode of the final season, and I loathed Jonerys I didn't cry over her death. In fact I cheered when Jon killed her just because I was cringing from that final kiss. The only reason I felt sad was because how well a CGI dragon acted in the scene.
Drogon lost both siblings, his mother, and Jorah Mormont. The last one he flew down to mourn with Daenerys. Now the last dragon is forced to wander the world for centuries until he dies. His story is one of the most tragic in the show.
Here's a tip to any writers out there: if your audience cares more for an animal than your epic love story, you have failed.
Jonerys being poorly written in the show is one thing. But it's ultimately the reaction of the majority of the fandom and some crazy shippers that make it so I'll never like the show's version of the ship. Not even in a 'so bad it's good' way.
People being happy that Jonerys became canon is one thing. It's always great when something you ship is actually made canon. But it's another thing to push other people down because they have a different opinion.
I've had people get into 'discussions' with me where they 'state their opinion'. In other words they went into a rant mode where they didn't care about having a discussion. All they cared about was winning by making me say the show's version of Jonerys was good and I was wrong to hate it.
And at times these 'discussions' could turn extremely vulgar. Especially if I started to not just bend over and let them talk. On Facebook I did block people because of wanting to avoid the crazy shippers.
Oh, I probably should mention my favorite character is Jorah Mormont and I like the idea of Jorah Mormont and Daenerys Targaryen getting together. So the majority of time toxic Jonerys shippers attacked me because I liked Daenerys being with someone who wasn't Jon.
The opening scene of a movie, tv show, book, ect. plays one of the most important parts in a story. By the opening scene readers and viewers understand the central focus of the story being told. This can be done by showing important themes and/or characters. So if you see a character in the first scene you can tell that they will heavily affect the plot, even if you don't see them for some time afterwards.
The opening scene of Game of Thrones did not show Daenerys Targaryen, Jon Snow, Cersei Lannister, or the many others that became major characters within the first season of the show. It showed the Night's Watch encountering White Walkers and being slaughtered. So what does this mean?
It means that viewers were alerted to the importance of the White Walkers from the first moments of the show. And why place the White Walkers at the start of the show? Because that was the show's way of indicating the importance of a group that wouldn't seem to mean anything for awhile. The show was telling its viewers that these creature would eventually be the main antagonists.
Over the course of the show the White Walkers did indeed become more prominent. The show started with encounters here and there to remind viewers that the mysterious creatures were a part of the show. Each encounter was burned into the minds of fans and left a yearning to see even more of them.
The scarce appearances of the White Walkers helped viewers realize that it would be the divisions between humanity that would spell the end of the living in Westeros. What would it matter if a Lannister, Stark, or other House sat on the Iron Throne if humanity didn't join forces to stop the ultimate threat? What would it matter if Arya Stark got vengeance if the White Walkers killed everyone?
You would expect this long awaited battle between the living and dead to be breathtaking. You would expect after years of waiting that the showrunners would go all out to make this important confrontation not be an utter disappointment.
Yet you would be wrong. And the disappointment of "The Long Night" is sad as the episode right before was the last good episode of the show. I was singing the song at the end for around a week after.
In my mind the fight against the Night King and his army should have taken a few episodes. You can't make an epic battle of such scope and hopelessness in only one episode. You need to show viewers how utterly unlikely it is that our heroes will win so that when they do, victory will taste all the sweeter.
Yet the show had the epic fight between the living and the dead last only one episode.
Before the epic battle I had hoped only for an enjoyable experience which would include some big named characters dying. I had stopped thinking the show could produce anything actually good after the disaster that was Season 7, so my standards were already low before the episode aired.
But I guess my standards weren't yet lowered enough. Guess how many big named characters died? None. Jorah Mormont, Theon Greyjoy, Lyanna Mormont, Beric Dondarrion, and Eddison Tollett were the only ones that died. Jorah and Theon were the two biggest names but their characters were hated by a majority of the fandom. Lyanna Mormont was a fan favorite but didn't have a large part in the overall show, so her loss didn't impact the story that much. Beric Dondarrion was big in past seasons but not a main character. Eddison Tollett didn't appear much in the final two seasons and he had the worst death of the lot. That isn't even to mention Melisandre who just walked out of Winterfell and died for some reason.
If a character was important enough they would just happen to get out of bad situations. Jaime Lannister and Brienne of Tarth would appear to be about to die just for the camera to cut away from them. Then when they appeared again somehow they'd be alive with no explanation given. The Night King was close to Drogon and yet his spear missed the dragon that was right in front of him. But he could hit Viserion from a far distance?
The plot armor was put on so thick for certain characters that there was never a real sense of danger for main characters. It was clear to see that if a character needed to be alive for future episodes, they would survive "The Long Night".
Besides major characters being protected by plot armor, the battle plan to fight the Night King only worked because the plot said so. The writers were not aware of the basic tactics that were used when defending a castle. How else would it make sense for the Dothraki to be the first line of defense that ran into the dark to meet the wights? Charges only work on creatures that feel fear, something that the dead don't.
The battle tactics were so stupid.
To add even more to the disappointment, Jon Snow never faced off against the Night King. I didn't mind if someone else made the killing blow, but I thought it was pretty clear the two would fight off against each other. Maybe we'd even find out why the leader of the White Walkers had focused on the human as he fled Hardhome.
Instead of having a sword fight against the Night King, Jon yelled at Viserion because it was the opposite of what viewers expected.
Now having Arya kill the Night King would have been fine in my eyes as long as he had a duel with Jon Snow first. Then Arya would have saved her brother at the last moment. This would work as the Stark girl's involvement wouldn't take center stage, but would just be a part of the moment. Plus it would play up the family part of her storyline.
In the show Arya was painted clearly as the savior of mankind due to a thrown together prophecy and how the death of the Night King was shot. Everything framed Arya as the hero of the moment with no one taking away focus from her.
I know some people would argue that Melisandre's prophecy was not thrown together at the last minute. That since nearly the same prophecy was said seasons ago to Arya that it was planned for her to kill the Night King for awhile. However, when Melisandre originally said the prophecy it was only intended to show that Arya would become an assassin and had nothing to do with the fate of the Night King. It was only later the showrunners decided to have Arya kill the leader of the White Walkers for pure shock value.
If Arya was fated to kill the Night King since the beginning, wouldn't the White Walkers have played a bigger part in her storyline? Instead her storyline focused on her getting vengeance for her family. She only got involved with the White Walkers in Season 8 when she fought against the dead. Jon Snow and Sam Tarly had much bigger involvement with the White Walkers but neither was involved with the death of the Night King.
In A Song of Ice and Fire there is no Night King which means the only way we'd get any backstory on him is through the show. Even though Bran Stark has the ability to see all of the Night King's history, he doesn't. Now the showrunners may have left a major antagonist with no backstory because before Season 8 there was supposed to be a prequel show that would tell that story.
That prequel show was to be called Bloodmoon and would tell the origins of the Night King, among other things. While I wasn't going to watch it, due to me feeling that its announcement indicated the final season of Game of Thrones wouldn't tell the history of the Night King, it would have provided fans with important information. The show had done such a great job at having no clear heroes and villains, the Night King couldn't be pure evil. There had to be a side to him we weren't seeing.
 |
| Credit |
There had been a mystery since the first season of Game of Thrones: Who were the actual parents of Jon Snow? Was he truly a bastard?
Was Lord Eddard "Ned" Stark actually Jon's father? Could such an honorable person actually sire a child with a mistress? And if Ned is actually Jon's father, who could have won his heart so fully that he never mentioned the mistress again?
For many years before the reveal of Jon's heritage, there was a very popular fantheory. It basically stated that Ned was not Jon's father. Instead his parents were Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark. This was kept secret as after Robert Baratheon took the Iron Throne he ordered every Targaryen killed. If Jon's heritage were out in the open then he could be killed.
That theory turned out to be both right and the reason the showrunners were able to make Game of Thrones.
But Jon takes the news really calmly. He does look disturbed but his calm demeanor isn't shattered. He doesn't really mention banging his aunt to Sam Tarly, the one who broke the news to him, which seems odd. In a fit of a bunch of different emotions, something like that is bound to leave Jon's lips. Instead what seems more important to the pair of them is who should be on the Iron Throne: Jon Snow or Daenerys Targaryen.
Jon later doesn't do much in reaction to the news except staying away from Daenerys. The show doesn't bother showing us how he's trying to cope with the news. He doesn't speak with any of his siblings, even Arya Stark who he has the deepest connection with, about the news he's a Targaryen.
How Jon dealt with finding out he's a Targaryen could've been a great exploration into the character. It could've helped fans understand the character even more. It could've been interesting but instead making Jon a bastard did not change much in the show.
It was a fitting end that Jon ends where he is most comfortable. He was always at home in the cold and his judgement became bad once he went south to Dragonstone. So him spending most of his time beyond the Wall with the Wildlings is a perfect ending.
Except for the fact that Jon's heritage was never part of the meeting in the Dragonpit. At least the parts we saw which are the only ones that matter. It was a strange choice to not bring up Jon as a possible candidate for king as the finale season wouldn't be silent about the subject. It was like once Daenerys Targaryen was dead, Jon's heritage was tossed to the side like junk.
It seems that the only point of Jon's heritage was to cause a divide between him and Daenerys. Which besides being part of a poorly done romance, was also a reason the Targaryen turned evil.
Game of Thrones was rather unique in how it handled consequences. A lot of the time shows would have heavy plot armor around their main characters. This meant that you could breathe easy when certain characters were onscreen since you knew nothing would happen to them.
While Game of Thrones did have characters that couldn't die, they were few and far between. There were such few characters that weren't allowed to die, you were on the edge of your seat worrying if your favorite character was actually important enough to live. Even those that had to live weren't treated kindly at all so every achievement felt rewarding.
Every character, important or not, was rewarded only when they made a smart action. Such as Robb Stark kept making stupid mistakes and was punished in the infamous Red Wedding. This even though he was both a main character and decided to not follow through with an arranged marriage but instead married for love, things that would've made sure he lived in any other show.
When the show decided to kill characters off the deaths were built up so they were both unexpected and satisfactory. Deaths weren't shocking just to be shocking. Instead character deaths tugged at viewer's heartstrings because viewers were shown how and why the various deaths had to happen.
Such as Oberyn Martell's death was both shocking and made sense. While he was a better fighter than the Mountain, his hubris wasn't under control. Instead of focusing on winning the duel that would see Tyrion Lannister free, he cared more for getting his opponent to admit past wrongs. So of course Oberyn would die if he didn't fully commit to the fight.
But the seventh season changed all of that. No longer did characters have to face the consequences of their actions. No longer did characters have to be smart to avoid death. Now all characters that had to be involved in future plots would survive. Now characters could defy logic just to be alive at the end of an episode.
In past seasons Jaime would have faced consequences for his actions. Such as both being taken prisoners by Daenerys for having tried to kill her. There would have been tension if he could survive. Heck, Bronn could be executed and Jamie sent back to King's Landing to send Cersei Lannister a message. In any case he would have faced the consequences for his actions.
However, in Season 7 both Jamie Lannister and Bronn are able to escape Daenerys. How could they accomplish such a feat? Why, by Bronn carrying Jamie underwater far enough from the battlefield. Because I'm sure he could hold his breath that long while carrying a man in full armor.
Another example is that in Game of Thrones Season 7 there is a big point made of Sansa Stark preparing Winterfell for winter. There is great weight put into details that would've been overlooked in another show such as how much food there is. Thus giving a reason for Sansa to be upset when Daenerys doesn't seem at all concerned about how much food it will take to feed her people. Dragons included.
Sadly Sansa's preparations turn out to go no further than being a way to show how evil Daenerys is while painting Sansa as good.
This even though both Arya and Sandor had already gone through character arcs in which they put revenge behind them. This even though the city is already burning and crumbling around them. While his speech is touching, it should've been given before they reached the city. But, then again, the writers didn't really care about Arya turning away from vengeance again. All they cared about was getting the Stark girl into the city so they could use her as a Point of View (POV) character so people could experience the destruction through her eyes and worry about her safety.
The problem is that Arya's plot armor is super strong by this time and so viewers aren't worried about her safety. We all knew she would survive. Choosing her as the viewers' POV is smart and allows for some stunning sequences. Thing is, it doesn't end up having any weight because we know she will survive and so viewers just laugh at the impossible situations she gets out of.
There are so many instances where characters escape the consequences that I can't list them all here. Instead I'll leave it to you to comment more instances. Have fun!
To many Game of Thrones fans, Daenerys Targaryen could do no wrong. She was a symbol to a lot of viewers of a strong female character. She had faced overwhelming odds only to overcome them. She had begun as an abuse victim and risen to the rank of a queen with three dragons. So many came to the conclusion that she was destined to be the hero of the show.
It was easy to come to the conclusion that the Mother of Dragons could do no wrong as the show hardly punished her for anything that might have been seen as wrong. And Daenerys did do some bad things in her lifetime.
But, at the same time, Daenerys lived in a world that wasn't gentle. Essos is where she grew up and the continent was much harsher than Westeros. So developing loyalty through violence was more than common place. When she crucified the slave masters, some that were trying to be good people, it was a justified act. It wasn't a kind or good decision, but it would ensure that she could keep people in line.
For many seasons Daenerys managed to walk a fine line between being just and overly cruel. She controlled her more violent impulses by focusing on those she deemed enemies. She knew that slavery couldn't end without violence and so many slave masters were slaughtered because of that. While she didn't mind her enemies meeting the most violent of fates, she spared those she considered innocent.
Such as in Astapor Daenerys commanded the Unsullied to spare children and women. She did not mind spilling blood but she wouldn't allow the innocent to suffer. She knew what it was like when it felt like you couldn't control your own fate.
Daenerys had the ability to be anything she wanted and it was watching her decisions that caught my interest. Would she finally succumb to her darker nature and embrace being the Mad Queen? Or would her kind heart win and she'd become the Breaker of Chains that she always wanted to be? And the most important question to be answered: why had she chosen the good or evil side?
Now I admit I wanted Daenerys to go mad for awhile now. This wasn't because I hated her character, but because of all the interesting sides of her character that could be revealed. On the fandom side it would be interesting to see how people handled that change. If they would admit she had gone evil or would continue to justify her atrocities as they increased in number.
So what made Daenerys' turn to madness make no sense? Because it was extremely rushed to the point that it felt like getting whiplash. Well...it would have if I was treating Game of Thrones like a serious drama after the third episode of Season 8.
Remember I said I wanted Daenerys to go mad because it'd be an interesting way to view her character? Well...the show didn't give viewers much in the way of canon to explain her going mad. The reasons we were given were so vague that there is no way to give an extensive canonical analysis of Daenerys going mad.
So instead of spending years looking into the psyche of Daenerys, I can only lament that there is not enough material for me to do much with. Minus any fanfics I write to delve into her complex set of emotions.
However, Season 7 Daenerys doesn't seek any political maneuvering to get Jon Snow on her side. Instead of proposing a political marriage or some other form of alliance, she continually asks him to bend the knee to her. That feels like something she would have done before arriving in Meereen instead of after.
Also in Season 7 Daenerys failed as a conqueror. She was very well versed in making people bow to her will. It was only in making sure her changes kept that she failed. It was shocking just how poorly she did things with her experience as a conqueror and the strategist Tyrion Lannister as her Hand. Though how dumb the Lannister became is another post entirely.
The final two seasons presented interesting plots for Daenerys, unfortunately they were done extremely poorly. Such as the plot for where she feels alone in Westeros. This should have been the time to explore her feelings about home and if claiming the Iron Throne would only make her feel more alone. Thus having her examine her feelings about why she's trying to conquer Westeros.
But instead of doing anything with that, the showrunners used her feeling foreign in Westeros as a way to isolate her. There was nothing more to that plot point.
One way the showrunners decided to make Daenerys go mad quickly was to have her lose nearly everyone she was close to. In the Battle of Winterfell she lost Jorah Mormont, beyond the Wall she lost Viserion, near Dragonstone she lost Rhaegal, and in King's Landing she lost Missandei. Heck, the show even considers Jon Snow not making love to her as a reason she feels isolated.
It is the intense feeling of isolation caused by being in Westeros and losing those she held dear that makes her feel so angry that she burns King's Landing down. At least I think so. As I said earlier, there's so little canonical evidence of why she went evil that really examining that part of the show is...yeah...hard.
Even though she wanted to burn Meereen, that isn't enough to explain why she burned King's Landing. The former she wanted to burn because she was becoming exhausted in her efforts to protect freedom in the city. Daenerys was able to easily take King's Landing with hardly any bloodshed so that same exhaustion wasn't there. She was annoyed with the citizens of the major Westerosi city. But a little annoyance had never angered the Targaryen to the point she'd take such extreme measures.
Since Daenerys had a dark side to her and she even thought about burning Meereen, it is possible she could burn down King's Landing. It's just that the show rushed her going evil to the point that her burning King's Landing doesn't make sense.
Daenerys burning down King's Landing only makes sense if it occurred during the height of her madness. It doesn't make any sense being her first action taken after becoming evil.
Remember you can submit ideas for future posts by commenting on this post. I also talk about other fandoms, so don't feel that you have to only submit ideas for Game of Thrones posts.
No comments:
Post a Comment