Last night marked the end of the greatest TV show of the decade. As the ashes of the last episode settle around us, fans all over social media are exploding into reactions ranging from extreme sadness to extreme rage. No matter what part of the emotional spectrum you are on, it’s unlikely you were untouched.
Game of Thrones has been controversial from the very beginning – for its rejection of the hero trope, for its terrible treatment of women, for its gratuitous porn & violence and for reminding us repeatedly that power does terrible things to people.
Ever since the TV show overtook the source material that it was based on, fans have been very vocal and divided on the quality of the show. And it’s, understandable. With no story to build and general guidelines from GRRM, the show creators have had the hefty task of bringing all these plotlines together often overriding popular fan theories and predictions.
But no one could have anticipated the disaster Season 8 has been and the anger it has created. Mostly driven by lazy writing and rushed plot jumps, but partly because there was never was going to be a way to please all the fans.
After having spent 10 years with these characters, everyone and their aunt had a very specific idea of where they wanted them to go and what they wanted to do. And that just wasn’t going to happen.
As far as this fan is concerned, after the extremely uneven 8th episode, the ending was poignant and bittersweet. It wasn’t perfect but it fit in with the nature of the Game of Thrones.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the last 90 minutes of this show ever.
The Tragedy of the Mother of Dragons
To call Daenerys mad or evil would be a great disservice to her journey and extremely reductive to the complex human drama that is Game of Thrones. Dany’s star has been on the rise in the last couple of seasons so it’s hard to remember her origin.
When Dany stood in Throne Room, amongst the ruins, she looked so much like that young girl from Essos who had dreamt only of this single moment. Ever since she was young she was brainwashed into believing that her future was in returning to Westeros. A belief strengthened by the death of her brother and cemented by the birth of the dragons. Her own difficult childhood gave her great empathy for the downtrodden and she became the queen of the cause.
Not once in her entire life trajectory did she question the need to return to a place that she had never seen or to just rule Essos. Her victory speech revealed that she had always been a conqueror and that she was going to continue ‘liberating’ the people until she ruled them all.
Her death was the saddest on the show and I felt such pity for this character as she fell before the throne. Her entire life had led to this point, and she had sacrificed everything to her ideals and in the end, those ideals failed her, and she was betrayed by the last person that she trusted.
She wasn’t the hero or the villain of the story, she was its tragedy.
The Last Targaryen Standing
Now we come to Jon Snow – the brooding Lord Commander, Targaryen heir, reluctant king and the moral center of the show.
I almost hesitate to call him a Targaryen, coz Jon Snow hardly ever accepted his heritage. A lot of people have questioned the whole point of that storyline. Once Dany died, the show made it irrelevant. No one even suggested he take the throne.
I admit it is strange but let’s be real, he was never going to sit on the throne, so why to waste airtime on that.
The whole point of him being a Targaryen was to be the contrast to Dany. And it starts at their first meeting. Dany’s introduced by her string of titles and the entitlement that she wears on her sleeve. Jon is introduced simply as himself, The King of the North added as an afterthought. Then Dany goes on a speech about how her faith in herself as made her who she is, and Ser Davos steps in to tell how the faith of others has made Jon Snow who he is.
Game of Thrones has been amongst things, about the journey of Jon and Dany. They both succeeded against the odds in very different circumstances – Jon in the freezing cold of the north, Dany in the searing hit of Essos.
Dany had always been driven by her destiny which is purely self-serving, Jon, on the other hand, had no destiny. He has always been driven by duty and to do the best by his people. The last two seasons have only heightened the contrast.
And of course, he had to be the one to kill her. Who else would be selfless enough to kill the woman they love for the greater good? Who else has done this before?
I think killing Dany broke Jon and it’s only right that he finds peace in the North beyond the wall – with the people who believed in him. I am betting he will find another wilding to fall in love with😊.
( As much as I loved the symmetry and the poetry of the scene in which Jon kills Dany, the lack of chemistry between Kit Harrington and Emilia Clarke has hugely undercut the potential of this moment)
Tyrion, the Kingmaker
Tyrion wisdom returned after a two-year sabbatical. Whether he admits it or not, he is partly responsible for the sack of Kings Landing. After all, he had been advising Dany, observing her and if he didn’t see this coming, then he is not as clever as he claims.
Tyrion has many key scenes in “The Iron Throne” and by sheer screen time, one could assume that he was the hero of the show. Maybe rightly so.
From the very first episode to the very end Tyrion shines out from the rest of the characters partly due to his clever lines, but mostly because of Dinklage’s acting).What differentiates Tyrion in not just his wit but also his empathy. Empathy gained by personal experience – from being the most hated offspring in the Lannister family. This outsider status is also what ties Dany, Jon, and Tyrion together. It is interesting how this influences their respective life choices.
For all his debauchery, Tyrion has always tried to do the decent thing. And it is no different in this last chapter. He is burdened by his failure and guilt and he knows Dany’s death is the only way out. His conversation with Jon is deliberate, manipulative and necessary. Jon already knows what he has to do, but his honor is holding him back. He cannot betray his queen and this is where Tyrion gives him the gentle nudge.
And it’s Tyrion who brings the first set of reform to Westeros by appointing Bran as King ( a choice made simply by the process of elimination?). While I don’t personally like that Tyrion becomes The Hand of the King ( a bit too quid pro quo, maybe this is what they talked about in Winterfell), I am glad he is free of the toxic influence of his family. I hope when death comes to him, it is exactly how he wants it😊.
(Performances this season have been exemplary in general. But I cannot complete this review without mentioning the brilliant turn by Peter Dinklage in the finale. He carried the episode from the beginning to the end, his character literally guiding the show to its end. This should easily win him another Emmy)
So, who broke the wheel?
Was it Dany? Did set the inevitable in motion as she crossed the Narrow Seas with her armada and dragons and brought fire and blood to Westeros?
Or was it Jon Snow? Did he break the wheel at the moment when he abdicated the throne? Or the moment when he plunged the dagger into Dany as she became the very ruler that she had promised not to?
Or maybe it was Drogon when he destroyed the Iron Throne – the symbol of tyrant power in Westeros. The Iron Throne that had cost him his mother’s life.
Maybe it was Tyrion who broke the wheel – when he brought consensus amongst the remaining overlords to stop the circle of inherited power and allow for an ‘election’.
And did the wheel finally break at all?
Every ruler of Westeros will be ‘elected’ by the lords of the other kingdoms. However, the cessation of the north has opened the path for others to do the same. Maybe in time, there will be a council of kings but until then people of Westeros would continue to be ruled by their capricious powerful overlords.
What Does The Future Hold For Westeros
If the closing montage has anything to indicate then Ned Stark’s kids have more than avenged their father’s death. There is nothing to say that Bran the Broken will be a worse or better ruler than the ones before him – but he is the most equipped to learn from history and improve. Sam Tarly has sown the seeds of democracy and maybe there will be something like a republic in Westeros in a distant future. Arya’s explorations will have a significant impact on trade and the rule in Westeros.
The End of Game of Thrones
I believe that the ending is thematically consistent with the history of the show and with the end that George R.R. Martin may have envisioned. The Song of Ice and Fire was always meant to be something of a Greek tragedy. If you feel empty, bittersweet or cheated then Game of Thrones did what it set out to do.
As Tyrion says – ‘No one is very happy, which means it’s a good compromise’. What better can we expect from a show that has always been a mirror for real life than a good compromise?
Postscript – I typically don’t plug other reviews, but if you care one bit for post-show analysis you have to read this https://www.wired.com/story/game-of-thrones-recap-s8-e6/
Check out other Game of Thrones reviews, here
