Warning: This article contains spoilers for Game of Thrones.
Winter came for Westeros and it did a lot of damage both to King’s Landing and HBO. The highly anticipated final season of one of the worlds biggest shows finally came to a close on May 19, 2019.
Like many other fans, I spent years religiously following the show and had high hopes for the final ending. Despite the small critiques the show had received during the earlier seasons, I ignored the comments and continued with high hopes knowing that perhaps the writers of the show knew what they were doing and were just following George RR Martin’s lead with a few minor edits due to the network’s budget and the limited amount of time available .
I was a supporter of the writers’ decisions especially after there was no more of Martin’s novels to follow. It was up until Season 8 episode 3 when I unconsciously realized things were going to go downhill but my optimism nonetheless persisted and clouded my judgment. Arya killing the Night King was not expected and it gave the audience the shock factor that the shows runners were probably aiming to achieve. However, it weighed heavily on my mind of whether or not this action was truly within her character’s storyline.
Although I understand that all of Arya’s training in Essos wasn’t all for nothing and it helped shaped who she is; a warrior not a lady. Perhaps “no one” as well. The problem is that the show had not set up her character enough to play such an important role compared to characters like Jon Snow or Daenerys who were written to be the main protagonists/saviors of the series. All of sudden it’s Arya’s role to be one who gets to kill the Night King despite only finding out about his existence a few episodes ago and being told that either Valyrian or dragon glass will do the job.The same argument can be made about Daenerys however, since the end of season 1 her character has been pointed out to be special to the point that she was immune to fire.
Both Jon and Daenerys were very much indeed hyped up to be the major obstacles standing in the Night King’s path. This included the major reveal of Jon Snow’s true ancestry being the legitimate product of both House Targaryen and House Stark, fighting White Walkers beyond the wall for multiple seasons, and being revived from the dead by a mysterious red priestess. Also the dramatic arrival of Daenerys with her three large dragons in the North with her foreign armies.
After allowing Arya to kill the Night King it made it seem that the White Walkers were not the biggest threat to Westeros despite the fact that the mere threat of their existence began both the opening of the first episode of the show and the novel. But anyways, now that the Great War is over does that mean that the Last War against Cersei was the most important? Cersei’s character alone is what triggered the start of Game of Thrones upon Jon Arryn discovering that the father of her children was not King Robert but instead her twin brother Jaime.
Nevertheless, Cersei met her doom in the arms of her brother Jaime underneath the Red Keep.She was portrayed to be afraid of dying and her last words were mere whimpers about how she did not want to die despite in the past seasons she had embraced death rather than feared it.Reminder this the woman who murdered her own husband, was willingly going to commit suicide alongside her youngest son on the Iron throne during the Battle of Blackwater Bay, and walked down naked through the streets of King’s Landing without flinching. She also famously stated to Ned Stark in the first season, “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die”.
Additionionally Jaime’s entire character arc was also flushed down the toilet. What was the point him being with Brienne? What about his constant feeling of being a total failure especially when he saw his list of lacking accomplishments as a distinguishable member of the kingsguard? What about the valonqar prophecy that was told to Cersei when she was younger? All of these questions were left unanswered.
Episode five of the last season Daenerys’s character completely went against all of what she stood for in such a short period of time. Sure her character has always said she will take what is hers with fire and blood however, she never applied that violence toward women and children. In season 8 was the only season in which she kills innocent women and children verses in the past seasons where she only killed soldiers and men who had refused to swear her their allegiance. She literally locked away her dragons in Meereen when she was told that one of her dragons had killed an innocent child. Jon Snow also had hanged multiple people for defying him as Lord Commander including a child named Ollie. However, it is only because she is a a full Targaryen that it is the equivalent to madness.
No one is critiquing the ending plot for the characters but how they did it is what the problem is. The very important details they had laid out throughout all 8 seasons was left out despite the show being known for the various callbacks to each season. The whole season was just so rushed that it failed to give the audience a proper closure. A proper closure does not mean a show has to end the way the fans want but the writing to be good.
Despite the upsetting and disappointing writing of the last season of the show a lot of hard work and commitment was put into show by the actors and the crew members . No one is denying that fact. The audience should very thankful to the actors and the crew members since a lot of time and millions of dollars spent into the production of the show. However, the amount of time and money put into a show does not automatically equal that the quality of the writing was the best. Just like any other tv show or movie the show is no different when it comes to receiving backlash from critics and the fans. However, there is no doubt in my mind that George R.R. Martin will give the fans the adequate delivery of the ending for the novels.