Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne Thoughts

Robb Stark seemed puzzled. “Is this some trap, Lannister? What’s Bran to you? Why should you want to help him?”

“Your brother Jon asked it of me. And I have a tender spot in my heart for cripples and bastards and broken things.”

               This is from a fairly early passage from A Game of Thrones. It is also, I believe, George R. R. Martin’s guiding principle as he writes A Song of Ice and Fire. Cripples, bastards, and broken things have always been at the heart of his story. Whether it was Bran Stark, Jon Snow, or Tyrion Lannister. Or any number of other characters you can say are broken like Arya, Daenerys, or Jaime. Those are Game of Thrones the television show’s central characters. And many of them were failed at the end. None more so than Daenerys and Bran.

               Dany’s story this season has been muddled to say the least. She didn’t do anything and then suddenly she was the Mad Queen. And the Mad Queen appropriated Nazi imagery (Starring a bunch of people of color… but I’m probably not qualified to properly dissect that). And then she gave a monologue and was stabbed in the stomach by her boyfriend/rival/nephew. That final scene tried very hard retroactively make Dany’s villainous turn work. And it almost did. This scene featured masterful performances from Kit Harrington and, especially, Emilia Clarke. They did a very convincing job of making me believe that Dany could no longer see the difference between liberation and destruction even if the writing couldn’t quite get it done. It would have a fantastic ending for her character if there had been more than 25 minutes of buildup. Imagine if this had been at the end of an episode or two of Jon doing his trademark brooding before finally deciding to go through with it. That would have been powerful. Instead, it was fine.

               Bran the Broken won the titular game and the internet is…unhappy. But it makes perfect thematic sense. The king had to be a cripple, bastard, or broken. Bran rising from youngest son of lord to the protector the planet’s memory to king is the ultimate embodiment of the ideal espoused in the above quote. It is just too bad that his arc has been botched since the very beginning. He has always been a minor that the writers clearly were unsure what to do with. He literally isn’t in the fifth season! Which felt weird at the time and egregious in hindsight. Imagine if all that time Bran spent training was the focus of a plotline. Then maybe we would understand his role in the story and the ways in which his powers work. Instead he just randomly becomes king because Tyrion suggests it and... the lords of Westeros just go with it. Cool.

               I could go on forever about the failings of this show (Why melt the throne, Drogon?) and the final two seasons in particular. I probably will in the future (I have the seeds of a piece about it in my head, but it’s not fully formed). The story execution has been flawed, but that shouldn’t take away from the absolute majesty of Game of Thrones. Visually, this is the most amazing show I have ever seen. From the sets to the cinematography to the costumes. I truly believe it is untouchable by any other show ever aired and the majority of films. And that lasted until the end. The montage of the Sansa, Arya, and Jon suiting up for their respective futures was amazing. As were all the scenes in the throne room. The huge battles like The Bells, The Long Night, and Blackwater were unlike anything that had ever been on a television series. The Long Night took 55 days to shoot! And most of those were night shoots in Dubrovnik I believe. That’s commitment and incredibly impressive. And we should never forget it.

               And this is not the end of these characters or this story. The Winds of Winter and A Dream of Spring will come out and finish this story as Martin intended. The is a spin-off series coming up (Maybe more than one). There is still more to come and even if you found this an ultimately disappointing series, that may be better. And I will be there for it because I love this world and these characters. I hope y’all will join me. And unlike everyone else on the internet, my watch has not ended, but begun anew. May Bran the Broken reign for a long time.