Game Of Thrones Has A Lot To Answer For

Published April 29, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Shat Hosts,

Let’s get the perfunctory praise out of the way – yes, this episode was tremendously executed on the production, musical, cinematography, and acting fronts. Bravo on all accounts.

But I’m furious at the show for the way they handled the Night King and the Great War. Absent some serious course correction, the show is in danger of a truly weak ending, which would be a goddamn shame for something that had such promise and that I love so dearly.

Cheap Shot
Let’s talk about Arya. Misdirection for misdirection’s sake is bad storytelling. Ned Stark’s death was shocking, but as you’ve discussed, it did more than just surprise the audience – Ned’s death was the best way to show the impact of his legacy. It moved the plot forward and set the tone for greater themes to play out for 7 additional seasons. So why did Arya – who has virtually no connection with the White Walkers or Great War – kill the Night King? Why wasn’t is Jon, who has dedicated his life and lost much in pursuit of stopping him? Why wasn’t it Dany, who abandoned her pursuit of the Iron Throne after the loss of one of her dragons at the Night King’s hands? Why wasn’t it Bran – somehow – who is the antithesis of the Night King and all he represents? If the answer to these questions is simply “Because no one would have seen Arya coming” then it’s bad storytelling. Just because Jon or Dany killing the Night King would be “predictable” doesn’t make it a bad plot point if it fulfills a character arc or makes sense in the broader story. Arya’s training in Braavos just doesn’t live up to this outcome – not just in the sense of whether it’s plausible for her to kill the Night King, but more in the sense that these past two years with Arya haven’t adequately developed her character arc to make her the one to take out the literal existential threat to all human life. Unless the show plans to deliver on Arya in a way that makes her killing blow make thematic sense outside of that “super badass” moment, it’s a gimmick that is beneath the quality that we’ve come to expect from Game of Thrones.

What is Dead May Never Die – Especially with Plot Armor
Speaking of what we’ve come to expect – this episode was telegraphed and headlined from the ends of the earth as a bloodbath. It was supposed to be crushing. We had two episodes of character development in anticipation for the loss of these characters. And who did we lose? Theon and Jorah – who were dead men walking – a bunch of redshirts, and some third-string named characters. Let’s be honest – was anyone really invested in Ed and Beric? Lyanna Mormont’s death was cool, but was that any great loss? She was introduced in Season 6 and had some great lines. So what? For a show that apparently likes to rely on surprising the audience, why are 100% of the Starks still alive? Why are both Jon and Dany still alive? Why are both Dragons still alive? Why the FUCK are both Jaime and Brienne still alive? One of the major draws to this season was that plot armor was supposed to vanish – no one should be safe. And while I harp on and on about not killing just for shock value, killing only Jorah and Theon but then saving everyone else with deus ex machina every three seconds really does diminish any tension around the “fan favorites”.

The idea that “no one is safe” is all but gone, now that the stakes are so much lower. Remember, before this episode there were people genuinely considering whether the end of the show would be the end of humanity – this outcome wasn’t unreasonable because of how well the show demonstrated and projected the power of the Night King. Now that’s all gone with half a season left. Does anyone really have big doubts about the ending now? Is anyone putting forth plausible theories that aren’t just Jon or Dany or both ruling after defeating Cersei at “great cost”? Keep in mind, the Battle of Winterfell – the headline fight – only took Theon and Jorah from us. Key characters, but ones marked for death from the get go. Is anyone really worried about Bran or Sansa or Arya anymore, or is the plot armor back on strong as ever now that the main foe is just…a human army?

Azor – a- Who?
Here’s another failed expectation – for 7 years we’ve gotten all these prophecies about Azor Ahai and the Prince that was Promised. Was that all…just bullshit? If so, then I think the show dropped the ball in a big way. One of the themes in the books and in the show is that prophecy is dangerous – it comes true, but not in the way you expect. The deaths of Robb Stark, Joffrey Baratheon, and Balon Greyjoy have all been predicted by prophecy. Some of Bran Stark’s visions have come true. Even Melisandre’s prediction about Arya closing “blue eyes” (a little on the nose for me…) came true. The show has not once taken the stand that prophecy is bullshit. Treacherous? Sure. Dangerous? Absolutely. But…just not coming true at all? Never. So, going forward we have three options: (1) Arya is Azor Ahai…somehow?; (2) the main prophecy of the show is just dropped, which would be awful; (3) there’s some great danger yet to come that’s in need of a chosen one. The only good answer to this conundrum is the last option. Arya being Azor Ahai would be a bad outcome for the reasons explained above – it makes no thematic sense. Dropping the prophecy because “oh who cares, the Long Night is ended!” is a bad outcome because it goes against 7 seasons of setup – setting up a plot point for 7 years only to abandon it is bad writing, period. So hopefully, we get one more big bad that’s actually worthy of needing a chosen one. It’s hard to see Cersei as up to that challenge…

Additional disappointing plot points: (1) apparently the White Walkers were really just weapons made by the Children of the Forest that got out of hand; (2) apparently the Night King’s goal really was just to destroy the world; (3) apparently all the symbols are such were just little “fuck yous” to the Children – a shame this is only explained in the interviews; and (4) apparently Bran is just the collective memory of mankind…so he’s the Giver from the kid’s book. Cool.

Where do we go from here?
The biggest issue coming out of the Battle of Winterfell is the herculean task thrust upon the show to make us give a damn about who wins the Throne now that the Night King and the Long Night got shanked into oblivion. Since Season 1 Episode 1 the White Walkers have been set up as the “real” danger, while all of the political machinations of the realms of men were, essentially, bitches squabbling over a gaudy metal chair. We enjoyed our time playing the Game of Thrones early on, but since at least Hardhome in Season 5 the show has time and time again promised us that the REAL threat is the Night King. Seasons 6 and 7 were dedicated to that premise. All of the discussions around the show during the hiatus were dedicated to that premise. I’ve lost count of the amount of times a character has explicitly said “Yeah, Cersei really isn’t the main threat here.” And then, just like that, it’s done. One cool knife trick later, it’s all over. This is an issue.

We’ve got three episodes left, which is not a lot of runway. In those three episodes, the show needs to REALLY amp up Cersei and Euron as a threat – after, ya know, two plus years of telling us they’re not the real threat – and make our heroes feel the loss at Winterfell. But worryingly, the preview shows that the Army of Good Guys has men to spare and they’ve still got two dragons. They’ve got to make us care about who rules the Seven Kingdoms after two years of beating us over the head with “it doesn’t matter whose skeleton sits the Iron Throne.” How? In-fighting between Jon and Dany? Again, the preview seems to indicate that Dany is real popular with the people left alive. Even if she weren’t – even if they hated her – her Unsullied and Dothraki are gone. Jon’s the only one with an army. But Dany’s got dragons. And honestly, just trying to do the math of Jon v. Dany in my mind right now is tedious…because I’ve been conditioned not to care about this by the show itself. Maybe there is no Iron Throne at the end – it would be a fitting end – but now even that seems too daring for the story.

Long and short of it – to make the final episodes of the show count for anything, the show needs to spend time it does not have contradicting two years of setup that it provided. In my mind, this ending can only be surprisingly great or tragically underwhelming.

For me, the biggest loss coming out of the Battle of Winterfell is my faith in the show to stick the landing in the final episodes. I hope I’m wrong.

– Ken L

Subscribe Now