WARNING: Spoilers ahead!!!!
We now know who sits on the Iron Throne of Westeros. Bran the Broken, who was paralyzed in episode 1 of season 1 in April of 2011, went from a broken boy pushed out of a window by Jamie Lannister, to the “Three Eyed Raven” to the chosen (yes, chosen) King.
Bran is joined by his sisters, Arya and Sansa, and his (not quite) brother Jon. Jon is back beyond The Wall with the Wildlings. Sansa refuses to be a part of the Kingdom, preferring to keep the North as a separate entity. And Arya is off on a ship to explore “west of Westeros” (I’d recommend Hawaii) as the show came to an end Sunday night.
Game of Thrones, based on the book series “A Song of Ice and Fire” by George R.R. Martin, is a phenomenon for HBO, garnering 10+ million viewers per episode. It’s a dense story in a world created by the imagination of its author, and brought the TV screen by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.
For fans, it’s been a bit of an unsatisfying end to a series that started strongly though.
Bran gaining the throne isn’t shocking to fans, especially fans of the books (note: I’ve read all five and eagerly await the next two). The books are much more interested in Bran than the TV show which somehow went an entire season without an appearance from the future king! The storytelling that put Bran on the throne over these 8 seasons? It didn’t match the result.
Let’s take a look at three key issues that lead to the widespread panning of season 7, and especially season 8.
1- The Show Outpaced the Books:As we mentioned, “A Song of Ice and Fire” is the book series Martin has been writing for over 20 years. The first book, “A Game of Thrones”, came out in 1996. The fifth book, “A Dance with Dragons” came out in 2011 just after the first season wrapped up on HBO. Two more books are planned: “The Winds of Winter” and “A Dream of Spring”.
Martin has been stuck for 8 years now. He says he’s writing, but struggling to finish, the next book (let alone two). At this point, book fans are terrified the 70-year-old Martin may never finish them.
Without the written story, show creators Benioff and Weiss have had the job of marching forward without a clear path. Yes, Martin, who says he “has the ending in his head”, has been advising them. Rumor was he told them how the story ends, but not really how it gets there.
How will George R.R. Martin's final "Game of Thrones" books end? "I don't think Dan and Dave's ending is going to be that different from my ending," the author says about the HBO series moving beyond his novels https://t.co/7JQuPW7Hl2 pic.twitter.com/Ecqni32S60
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) April 13, 2019And that has sort of taken the show off the rails in my view, and the view of many fans.
Martin as a storyteller probably hasn’t gotten his due credit (The Ringer has a great article on that here). There is clearly a life in the earlier seasons that is no longer there, and once the show passed the books, too many character arcs haven’t matched their personalities.
Take Queen Daenerys as example one. A hero for most of the series, suddenly in seasons 7 and 8, she’s slowly started to turn villain. This was foreshadowed, and certainly for book readers something that was considered possible. But the show spent so little time explaining how and why she turns on the people of Westeros, it became a shock to see her in the penultimate episode literally burn King’s Landing (and its occupants) to ash!
Let’s go back to the books for a minute. Where did those leave off?
Jon is still dead in the book. He’s at The Wall where he was stabbed to death at the end of “A Dance with Dragons”. No, we don’t know his true lineage or even if he will live at this point. We don’t know he’s actually a Targaryen.
Dany is a prisoner of the Dothraki. Remember, she is taken from Meereen by one of her dragons who takes her to the Dothraki Sea (grasslands). She’s then taken by the Dothraki as her consorts in Meereen struggle to rule without her, having no idea where she is, or if she’s alive. She’s literally years away from coming to Westeros, which basically happened overnight at the end of season 6 on the TV show.
Cersei is also a prisoner, being a captive of the High Sparrow, then forced to confess to crimes in order to get released. She has to march naked through King’s Landing until she reaches the Red Keep. Her youngest son Tommen, is still King.
Jamie is still in the Riverlands and is at odds with his sister Cersei. She’s begging him for help, he’s burning her letters. Not good between the two siblings.
Those are just a couple of things to point out, to say this: we have a long way, and a lot of explaining to get through in order for the books to catch the TV show.
A good part of season 6 was not in the books, but most of that season's story was already set in motion. Seasons 7 and 8 weren't even hinted at in the pages of the books. And somehow we fit in a neat little ending to all of this is just 13 episodes (7 in season 7, 6 in season 8)? I don’t think so.
Talk about whiplash!
2- The Fantasy Elements Weren’t Explored Enough:Let’s start this part with the Night King and the White Walkers.
All the way back in the first scene, of the first episode, of the first season, we are with a soldier of the Night’s Watch, beyond The Wall. He encounters a White Walker and loses his head in short order. We have a clearly established threat to life in Westeros that is the underlying threat to the entire show from season 1 through the start of season 8.
Then, in season 8 episode 3, “The Long Night”, the living battle the dead in a 90-minute (too dark) spectacle. The longest battle ever put to the screen. Arya somehow gets through and kills the Night King, Dany’s “Zombie Dragon”, all the dead and White Walkers are killed and done.
Who were the Walkers? Who was the Night King? We’ve spent years waiting to find out. Instead, we learn nothing and it’s right back to the violent political fight for the Iron Throne.
Huh?
I wanted to know who this Night King was! Why did the Children of the Forest create him? What was he trying to do? How did Bran, and the Three Eyed Raven, fit into this? Why and how was The Wall built?
The show turned the biggest villain, the biggest threat, into an aside. For a couple episodes, we turned north, took care of the dead, and we move on. Wait a second! Who the heck were these people?
I would expect a lot more explanation when (if) the books are finished. The show didn’t want to spend time on it, or other of the more fantasy-oriented storylines, which is too bad. It’s a key part of the story.
3- The Rush to the Finale:This probably comes down to money, but let’s look at how rushed this show was.
There’s a theory on how far the distances are in Westeros and Essos. George R.R. Martin is a little vague when it comes to distance in his writing, but spends enough time talking about how long it takes to get places that we can calculate some distances.
Winterfell, the capitol of the North, is approximately 1,400 miles from King’s Landing, the capitol of Westeros. Following the battle with the dead, Dany and Jon show up at the gates of King’s Landing where Cersei is waiting in a snap of the fingers.
Conservatively, it would take upwards of a month (if you’re hurrying) to get there via the Kingsroad. Slightly faster by ship, much faster on the back of a dragon I suppose. Either way, a lot can happen in the amount of time it takes, yet we go there overnight.
In that time, apparently, Daenerys goes from a savior of the North to the “Mad Queen” who wants to burn King’s Landing to the ground. After the surrender of the city, by the way.
At the end of the finale, we see Jon marching north past The Wall with the Wildlings. He was sent there to dedicate his life to the Night’s Watch (again). I sat watching this thinking, “why do we need a Night’s Watch and The Wall? They killed all the White Walkers and the Night King! What’s the threat?”
Then Arya, who spent most of the show looking for revenge against her enemies, and trying to get home to her family. Now she’s an explorer, wanting to sail west where nobody has ever returned from (a long-ago ancestor, King Brandon Stark, sailed west with most of the northern fleet and was never seen again). It didn’t make any sense. Her motivation suddenly changed, and it’s left unknown why she is exploring the western sea now.
Why are we rushing? Money.
By season 6, it was costing HBO upwards of $10 million to produce an episode of Game of Thrones. That’s a ton of money for a TV show. In order to create all the special effects, pay the huge cast, be on location across parts of Europe, the show was condensed, and condensed heavily, in order to squeeze the story into 6 long-ish episodes. It should be noted, Benioff and Weiss were given the leeway to make more episodes. But we don't know the budget constraints placed on them, and they felt in order to do the shows they wanted, they'd shorten the seasons. In my view, it's a money issue at the end of the day. There just wasn't quite enough.
Unfortunately, the storytelling suffered in the effort to jam too much into too little. We had to take long leaps of character and logic, in order to get to the finish line.
WCCO Producer Dan Cook, a big fan of the shows, broke this down Monday with Cory Hepola which you can listen to here.
What’s Next?Hopefully we’ll get books in the near future. The story remains mostly untold as far as Martin should be concerned. It’s probably accurate in how the show ended (Dany dies, Jon goes back beyond The Wall, Bran on the throne, etc.). But so much is left out in getting there, and the numerous minor book characters.
There is a character in the books, Young Griff, otherwise known as Aegon Targaryen. He’s said to be the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and Elia Martell. Rhaegar should be familiar to show watchers as he is the father of Jon Snow. His affair with Lyanna Stark started the revolution where the Targaryen’s were overthrown and of course the birth of Jon who went into hiding with Ed Stark. Got it? Good.
Back to Young Griff, or Aegon Targaryen (which is Jon’s “real” name in the show). This character is in exile in Essos, but by the end of “A Dance with Dragons” is already in Westeros with an army of sell swords ready to take the throne by force from Cersei. And he’s ready to do this long before his Aunt Daenerys who is still stuck in Essos.
What could this mean to the story? It’s a storyline the show had no time to explore and could have a massive effect on how Martin tells his story. It’s sure to have a ripple effect.
There’s the whole realm of Dorne, which was barely touched on the last three seasons of the show. They would clearly back someone taking out Cersei since she’s responsible for the deaths of several of the Martell family. My guess is they will play a large part of the story in the next two books (if).
There are also several ideas for shows based on Martin’s fictional world either in development, or being kicked around.
One show, for sure, is already shooting (starting this May). It’s a prequel and here’s what HBO says about it:
“Taking place thousands of years before the events of Game of Thrones, the series chronicles the world’s descent from the golden Age of Heroes into its darkest hour. From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’s history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend, only one thing is for sure: It’s not the story we think we know.”
We’ll perhaps get some of the answers we were hoping for in Game of Thrones.
While the show wraps up with disappointment from some fans (some even petitioning for another shot at season 8), we do need to give it the proper due.
This is a show that many thought could never be produced based on Martin’s immense story. It’s been an amazing journey. It’s still regarded as a pivotal show in television history. Millions have watched. HBO is clearly thrilled or it wouldn’t be making another show!
The final episode was gripping, even if it wasn’t quite satisfying. Through Jon killing Dany, the episode was strong. Certain plotlines as we went along, however, fell flat. The future of this kingdom was decided in a blink. We needed more time in Westeros.
