Okay, we’re down to the last episode. Only 80 minutes to wrap up a million loose ends. Predictions and spoilers below the fold…
So, we know from the 20-second preview video above that Arya stays in the rubble of King’s Landing instead of riding that white horse far away. She’s looking at Dany with vengeance in her eyes since she experienced firsthand Dany’s unforgivable atrocities in the last episode.
Will Arya try to kill Dany? It sure looks like it’s being set up that way. On the other hand, Sandor “The Hound” Clegane’s words about forswearing vengeance are still ringing in her ears. I wish she’d get back on that horse, ride to Storm’s End and take Gendry up on his proposal, but she probably won’t.
Speaking of Gendry, ever since season one, my husband has been predicting that Gendry will win the game in the end. I scoffed at first, but it’s not so far-fetched now that Gendry has been legitimized as Robert Baratheon’s heir and made Lord of Storm’s End.
Even if the Targaryens are removed from contention for the Iron Throne, I don’t think Tyrion can win on the strength of a claim as the last surviving Lannister since everyone now knows Joffrey wasn’t Robert Baratheon’s son. Gendry has the superior claim in the absence of a Targaryen restoration. Maybe Gendry becomes king and appoints Tyrion Hand of the King. He’ll need help since he’s a blacksmith by trade.
My prediction is that Dany will sentence Tyrion to death by Drogon for springing Jaime from captivity — recall that she told him the next time he failed her would be the last. Maybe Bronn will kill Dany and/or Drogon to save Tyrion since he (Bronn) needs Tyrion alive to fulfill his promise to make Bronn the Lord of Highgarden? Bronn wants his damned payday.
So, if Dany dies, why wouldn’t Jon be the king? As he keeps telling everyone who will listen, he doesn’t want to be king. Maybe he’ll refuse the crown and head back north, rejoining Ghost and Tormund beyond the wall. It’s what he wants to do, as he told Tormund after the Battle of Winterfell. He wouldn’t be the first Targaryen to renounce the throne in favor of colder climates (recall Maester Aemon).
If Arya survives the looming conflict with Dany, maybe she actually does go back to Gendry, with the proviso that she won’t be pigeon-holed in a traditional lady’s role. She’s had a crush on Gendry since she first saw him. She once told him she could be his family.
In the first season, Robert Baratheon told Eddard Stark, “I have a son, you have a daughter — we’ll join our houses.” He meant Joffey and Sansa, of course. But maybe that’ll come true with a different set of Baratheon and Stark children. That’s probably too happy an ending to hope for from GoT, but I like it.
What about Sansa? Dany will definitely be gunning for her since she blabbed about Jon’s true lineage and is a staunch believer in Northern independence. I think Sansa survives and stays in her Lady of Winterfell role, ably guarded by Ser Brienne of Tarth.
And what about the Unsullied and the Dothraki? They’ve gotta get out of Westeros somehow. Maybe Dany lives after all. Maybe she addresses the people gathered in the ruins of King’s Landing (as depicted in that clip above_ and announces that she and her dragon and armies are headed back across the Narrow Sea to rule in Essos but Westeros better not start any shit, or she’ll be back to burn everything to the ground again.
That seems unlikely, but I also don’t see how the Unsullied and Dothraki remain in Westeros long-term, even if Dany wins the Iron Throne. Grey Worm, for one, can’t wait to get the hell out of there, and who can blame him after the way the Northern people looked at him when he rolled up to save their asses at Winterfell? Maybe Grey Worm leads the Unsullied to Naath and becomes the protector of that peaceful land in memory of his sweet Missandei.
And what about Drogon? If Dany dies and he lives, maybe he or she flies away, and the last scene shows him or her leaving three dragon eggs in a nest…
What do y’all think? Open thread!
mrmoshpotato
“And it was all a dream.”
“What they were looking for was inside them all along.”
“Aliens.”
“Zombie apocalypse.”
?
I don’t watch GoT.
Cermet
The author “claims” a ‘Bitter-sweet ending’. Well, most endings without Danny having an heir (but she passes) or somehow, Jon the stupid with said (his) child would also fit that type of ending. Frankly, I don’t see how Danny survives this story line long enough to make it happen.
debbie
I watch it as the DVDs are released (I’m 14th in line at the library!). I’m trying not to read spoilers, but won’t get upset if I slip. I know last week’s episode has ticked most fans and I know the reason. As long as the dragons persevere, I’ll be happy.
MobiusKlein
That was a useless preview
Nicole
This is the only ending to the show I will ever need:
https://www.facebook.com/gameoflaughs/videos/364166277555200/UzpfSTU2MDU1ODk0MToxMDE1ODI4NTMzNDY4Mzk0Mg/
Mike in NC
I loved the first five seasons or so, then the show began to run out of steam as happens so often. We’ll watch the finale as well as the “Making Of” documentary next Sunday. Neighbors have recommended “Sneaky Pete” (three seasons) on Amazon Prime now that we’re caught up with “Bosch”.
Emma
Jaime got Brianne pregnant, Tyrion takes the throne and adopts the boy, Sansa and Jon run The North, Bran goes live in a tree in the forest and Arya… who the heck knows.
p.s. I don’t watch the show.
Dog Dawg Damn
I’m exhausted by the cynical feuds of the elite.
Give me an ending for Sam & Gilly (Lord and Lady of Hornhill?), Ser Davis the Onion Knight, Brown the upstart sellsword, Gendry the bastard blacksmith, Hot Pie, Meera Reed, and earnest Grey Worm.
These are the stories I want to see, but alas it will be more of the powerful destroying themselves and each other.
Sab
So did Master Aemon know who Jon Snow was? Hadn’t thought about him in years.
What’s Nymeria Wolf up to?
Betty Cracker
@Dog Dawg Damn: I would love to see Hot Pie made royal chef!
Raven
no bic
Brachiator
I got no predictions, except that Dany’s action in the prior episode has made a “happy” ending impossible, and this is fine with me. The only question is whether or not the conclusion will be satisfying.
By the logic of the story, it would make sense for Dany to move against Jon Snow and Sansa, and for Tyrion to move against Dany.
Somehow, I see Jon headed to the North again, maybe with Arya going with him. I cannot see her returning to Winterfell or ever compromising and living the regular life of a Lord or Lady.
Tyrion has not done enough in the last episodes to merit the throne. His last move in protecting Dany was correct, but led to disaster.
I would hope that Dany was angry but not simply another Mad Queen. I would like to see her rule, with Davros as her new Hand. The Dothraki maybe could be settled in Highgarden. Some Unsullied would have to be an Imperial Guard.
But only the gods, and maybe Bran, know what’s in store. But it has been a hell of a dragon ride.
LuciaMia
“It was that time of the month.”
R-Jud
The only spin-off I will countenance is a 10-episode limited series based on this concept.
LuciaMia
Is that how the Keebler elves got started?
dad23g
Dany orders Greyworm to kill Jon. Jon and Greyworm fight; Jon wins. Arya takes Greyworm’s face and kills Dany. Jon renounces the throne and takes Drogon north of the Wall to live with the Wildlings. Gendry assumes the throne and marries Arya; Davos is their Hand. Sansa is proclaimed Queen in the North; Tyrion is her hand.
NotMax
@Mike in NC
Watched Patriot on Prime by any chance? Two seasons, complete. Good stuff, borderline surreal, sneaks up on the viewer as to how captivating it is.
oldgold
Gendry has some Targaryen blood.
First, the founder of the Baratheon House, Orys Baratheon, “was a baseborn half-brother to Lord Aegon Targaryen, it was whispered.”
Second, Robert Baratheon’s grandmother was Rhaelle Targaryen, the youngest daughter of King Aegon V. Targaryen. As such, Gendry and Daenerys are second cousins once removed and Gendry and Jon are third cousins.
That expressed, I do not expect Gendry to sit on the Throne.
Mo MacArbie
Maybe they decided to tack on what we were denied before: The Scouring of the Shire.
geg6
Whatever the ending, everyone I know who watches will have some issue with it. I could never get into this show, but I remember when Mad Men ended. Personally, I thought it was perfect. But the butthurt of everyone else had me questioning their emotional health. To get sooooooo invested in a tv show not turning out exactly. how. you. want. it. to instead how the show’s creators envisioned it is a bit too much for me. I have been disappointed in entertainment endings many times but some tv shows and movies seem to attract real fanatics who just can’t let it go. Kind of fascinating to me.
Dennis Doubleday
There’s been a lot of speculation that Tyrion is actually a Targeryan, bastard child of the Mad King. I think he ends up on the throne.
lee
My Predictions (updated from a week or so ago):
Jon kills Dany
Jon splits (ala Master Aemon). Heads…north to Tormund?
Arya splits. Heads…to parts unknown?
Sansa Warden of the North and Lady of Winterfell (that she detested at the beginning of the story).
Brann mmmmm Iron Throne (why not).
tobie
I think the iron throne was destroyed in the flames last week and this breaks the cycle of world war and world peace, as no one person has Dominion over everyone and everything. Sansa will rule in Winterfell, Jon will go to the north and Arya will wander the world as the enforcer of Justice writ large. Who will rule King’s Landing? Who knows. It’s a smoldering heap in any event.
Sorry to propose such a prosaic conclusion.
Brachiator
@geg6:
This ain’t new. When Conan Doyle tried to kill Sherlock Holmes so that he could write more serious novels, fans rebelled and actually wore mourning while clamoring for more Holmes. Doyle eventually relented and brought back his detective.
Some Star Wars fans lost their minds over Rian Johnson’s seemly new direction and his rejection of the old Jedi myth. This has curiously led to a new counter-rebellion as fans who want Force democracy moan about how they think the new Star Wars movie may end.
And of course, there are those special idiots who continue to holler about wanting a restoration or continuation of Zack Snyder’s lame vision of Superman and the Justice League. I can’t pay any attention to these people.
I used to listen to friends who were soap opera fans whine and moan over plot developments. But I often preferred this kind of engagement to people who blandly ate up every ridiculous plot line.
I try to ignore the Thrones fans who insist on being unhappy. The best of them might be inspired to write their own novel, and perhaps go on to delight their own fans.
Meanwhile I am cutting back on my Internet presence to avoid spoilers by some unhappy fans who think that they have a write to spoil the fun for everyone else.
NotMax
Wow. This page is the first time I’ve ever seen NoScript detect items numbering in double digits.
germy
@Brachiator:
That’s been heating up lately. Snyder seems to enjoy egging them on.
What bothered me about Justice League was how severely it was butchered. For some reason, studio execs decided it had to be a short film. They cut so much out, the characters (cyborg especially) suffered. It’s a bad film.
I dislike Snyder’s vision, but I would have preferred to see his cut rather than the studio version. I probably would have disliked it as much as I disliked Batman v Superman, but I wouldn’t have felt as insulted as I did by the studio-butchered Justice League.
Mr Stagger Lee
I want the ending to be like the one for The Sopranos.
Just One More Canuck
@mrmoshpotatoBob Newhart wakes up in bed next to Emily
NotMax
@Brachiator
True story.
Housekeeper was an avid soap opera fan. One time she made a point of reminding my mother of the time, saying “You’re going to miss your stories.”
What had Mom been glued to the tube for? Broadcast of the Adolf Eichmann trial.
Betty Cracker
@geg6: I loved the “Mad Men” ending. Had no issue with “The Sopranos” ending either. I think my favorite series ending ever was “Six Feet Under.” It redeemed the whole series (which went seriously astray the last couple of seasons).
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Well, OK, but once his own minions start yelling “EXTERMINATE!” there won’t be too many others left, including Drogon.
Martin
California is taking a shot at it.
I’ll be writing my reps in support.
Jay
“I don’t know who set this trap or why they waited almost two years to expose Strache, but the episode provides one more example of how Neo-Nazis believe that the Russians are their allies and seek to work with them to further their political ambitions. As I pointed out in my November 2017 “A #TrumpRussia Confession in Plain Sight” piece, there’s plenty of evidence that something similar happened between the Trump campaign and Russia. That is why we need to see Robert Mueller’s counterintelligence report.
We already know that Trump used the National Enquirer to help him cover up his affairs and promote his candidacy. We know that Michael Flynn is currently awaiting sentencing after exposing attempts to bribe him into silence. Now we know that Heinz-Christian Strache is not only a nexus between Trump and Putin, but corrupt to the core. We’ve seen the white nationalist strains of Trumpism and the president’s strange affinity for Putin.”
https://progresspond.com/2019/05/17/the-disturbing-connections-between-trump-putin-and-austrian-neo-nazis/
Citizen Alan
Dany wakes up and finds Ned Stark in the shower.
LC
@SFAW: Thank you, I really wanted someone to jump on that typo. :-)
For the record, I’m with Jon kills Dany and goes North beyond the wall. Tyrion- Sansa marriage of alliance makes sense but they seem so committed to “only someone who doesn’t want to rule should rule” I can see them doing something as inane as putting Bran on the throne.
wvng
I predict a grand reconciliation, with all the dead restored to life in a huge kegger party, hugs all around, and Dany creates an ideal society modeled after Camelot. Or she burns EVERYONE to death. Or something in between.
feebog
I’m not going to be happy or unhappy, it is just a television series after all. If anything, I’m unhappy at the thought that GRRM will likely never finish book 6 and 7. I’m quite certain he has a number of alternate endings to the TV series, but he is just too invested in other projects to finish the book series. My prediction; there is no heir to the Iron Throne. They all agree to return to their own fiefdoms and rule the 7 kingdoms separately.
Mary G
I hope Sansa arrives via the newer, even speedier jet packs they have this season. Dany sentences her to death and Jon goes with his mother’s blood and teams up with Arya, who saved Missandei’s face, to take Dany out.
He has Drogon haul the Iron Throne to Storm’s End and melt it down for Gendry to make plowshares out of it. He hires Yara to cart.The Dothraki and Unsullied back to Essos to free the rest of the slaves, then Grey Worm goes to Naath to protect Missandei’s people.
Everyone agrees the Seven Kingdoms to be a democracy with Davos as president, Sansa governor of the North, Vale, and Riverrun.
Jon, Arya, Brienne and Bran go north to find Tormund and Ghost and install Bran in the tree. Tormund and Brienne have six darling oversized children and love happily ever after.
jeffreyw
@NotMax:
I am hoping this is not going to lead to reminiscing about “another time, another mother, and other stories”.
//
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
I was half-expecting to see something about Senator and Mrs. Blutarsky driving off in a Buick convertible.
The Dangerman
Ending is Suzanne Pleshette playing with a snow globe (St. Elsewhere)?
Never seen the show. Wasn’t a huge Big Bang Theory watcher either, but watched the last episodes and was … underwhelmed.
Trump has made me cranky.
trollhattan
Iron Throne turns up in the reactor slag in the next “Chernobyl” episode.
Brachiator
@SFAW:
We might as well get the Doctor involved. That would be a hell of a mashup. I suspect that the Doctor likes dragons.
Apologies to fans of the humble Davos Seaworth.
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Who?
NotMax
As for GoT, asteroid collision.
Mo MacArbie
The burning of King’s Landing triggers the Doomsday Brood, and dragons take out all the world’s cities to “We’ll Meet Again”.
Betty Cracker
@Mary G: I like your ending!
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: Haven’t seen Animal House. Would you settle for “The dragons eat everyone, then throw a kegger.”?
Geeno
@geg6: I think fans don’t like the way the show has changed. Ya gotta remember in seasons two through four?five, everyone’s favorite bit of the show .was people just walking around – Arya & the Hound, Brienne & Jaime, Brienne & Pod. The fans are used to slow build up, and this season feels rushed. Like the writers are dinging plot points on the way out. The show changed when they went beyond the books, not for the better, and it seems to be getting worse.
Brachiator
@germy:
This may have added to the problems. Snyder left the film because of a family emergency, and Joss Whedon was brought on to do reshoots. The results were not entirely successful.
But I don’t care about a longer version or a restored Snyder cut. I just don’t think that much of Snyder as a director. I liked some of Man of Steel, but even that was a mess. Some of Justice League was enjoyable, but I never followed the comics enough to care one way or another about Cyborg.
BTW, I guess Robert Pattinson will be the new Batman, and some fans are inevitably angry. The stupidity just never stops, and I guess is intensified by abuse of social media.
MattF
@Betty Cracker: For The Sopranos, a woman I was going out with at the time had a complicated theory about Tony, and how he would star in several movies after the HBO series. She was extremely irritated with me when I predicted that Tony wouldn’t survive the end of the series. But, basically, it’s impossible to see it ending any other way.
SFAW
@mrmoshpotato:
As long as I get invited, and it’s not rebranded water like Coors Light
Sab
@NotMax: Naw. I kinda like Sansa and some of the wildlings. Also Nymeria the abandoned direwolf. Fine if they blow up everyone else.
oatler.
@The Dangerman: They finally fixed the elevator!
SFAW
@Mo MacArbie:
Possibly the greatest last line in movie history.
Brachiator
@Geeno:
This was a mixed bag. Some fans got bored with Dany noodling around in Mereen. Arya spent too much time learning to be a Faceless One. The interlude in Dorne was largely unsuccessful. Martin’s later books in the series are almost shapeless and the tv showrunners did a pretty good job of cutting through the mess and cleaning up the plot.
This season feels rushed and yet the first two episodes were too slow for some viewers.
In an ideal world, I would like for Martin to finish the novels, and to end the story well. Then fans could dig in as deeply as they might want.
hueyplong
@Mo MacArbie:
Tyrion: “Of course, the whole point of Doomsday Green Fire is lost, if you keep it a secret! Why didn’t you tell the world, EH?”
Surviving member of Lannister cabal: “It was to be announced at the King’s Landing Congress during Season 9. As you know, Cercei loves surprises.”
MattF
@Brachiator: Martin would then have to figure out how it ends. I don’t expect that to happen. More likely that the pre-war history and civilization will be elaborated.
Brachiator
@SFAW:
I think you meant this one…
https://youtu.be/CYUfPTeE0DM
Tony Jay
However it ends, last week’s wildly OOC brainfart by Dany guaranteed that there’s no possible ‘good’ ending. People are going to die, randomly and unfairly, and amongst the tribes of fandom there will be many tumults and rumours of petitions.
My two-pennyworth of possible, based on the fact that the writers seem to be cycling back to the situation in the Seven Kingdoms at the conclusion of Roberts War (possibly as a ham-handed commentary on how it’s all SSDD where civil-wars and monarchies are concerned) boils down to this:
Dany blames Jon for not keeping the secret about his parentage (Ned Was Right!) and will have to kill him and everyone else who knows the truth right the fuck now to stand any chance of avoiding years of rebellions in his name. She also blames Sansa for mistrusting her so much and exploiting Tyrion’s suddenly broken political savvy. The best way to deal with her and send a message on the same level as Kings Landing – fly North and melt Winterfell and everyone in it to the ground.
Tyrion had time to think while Dany was going Bomber Harris on the capital, and it’s quite possible he was sending a raven north to Winterfell to warn Sansa before the Red Keep even fell. He’s already a dead man for releasing his brother from captivity, and I can’t imagine he’s going to survive the things he’s going to say to Dany the next time he sees her. We really might see Tyrion executed, but his speech is likely to be peak-drunk Dinklage.
Dany has everyone in chains ready to be executed when she returns from Winterfell. Except the North has its own inhuman magical superweapon in the form of Bran, the guy who did sod all against the Night King but who can warg into and control any animal, even ship sized flying ones. He does have a duty to keep the lineage of Three Eyed Ravens going, doesn’t he?
Basically we could end up with a semi-familiar scenario. Mad Targaryen overthrown after maybe burning a few Starks for treason, replaced with a Baratheon King with zero interest in ruling, possibly with a Lannister Hand, except this time Kings Landing is burnt to the ground. Hell, without a capital and after the slaughter of the last few seasons there may not be a single Kingdom any more. All the remaining major Lords go back to being Kings, three hundred years of Targaryen unity undone in a moment of lunacy.
Sigh. This was so good until the writers decided they were going to rush the ending so they can go off and make Star Wars things. Don’t think we didn’t notice the Mountain/Darth Vader homage, but Anakin Skywalkering Dany-T? That’s just slack.
Mike J
@SFAW: Best final movie line.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyFC_rFobX8&feature=youtu.be&t=5320
mrmoshpotato
@SFAW: For shame! Everyone knows Coors Light, Butt Light, etc isn’t rebranded water. It’s filtered, pasteurized waste water.
Carlsberg Elephant is quite good btw. Had a couple bottles last night.
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
The seeds of Dany’s actions were laid out in previous episodes, but I agree with those who say that it was not executed well. But fans who expected a conventional happy ending have not been paying attention.
Nicole
I posted on FB today that while I’m fully prepared to be very irritated with the end of the show, it’s been so much fun being caught up in a pop culture phenomenon again, like when Mad Men was running or when the Harry Potter books were coming out. One of my favorite stories about TV EVER was told by Patrick Duffy- a friend of his was on a airplane the night the episode of Dallas that answered “Who shot JR?” aired. According to his friend, during the flight, the pilot got on the intercom and said, “This is your pilot speaking. Kristin did it.” And the passengers erupted into laughter and cheers and applause. That’s the joy of some books, some movies, some TV shows, that capture our attention and bring us together. No rhyme or reason to which ones do it, but once in a while, something comes along and hooks so many of us and brings joy.
Yeah, I did not love the lazy writing last season and this season on Game of Thrones. But I loved all the conversations with friends on Monday mornings, the many think pieces on my favorite sites, the many recaps (god bless Michael Harriot), and the hundreds of hilarious Internet memes over the past decade. It’s been grand. Just the past few weeks, reading notcaptamerica on Twitter as he live tweeted himself binging all the episodes was a hoot, especially when he spent the first season venting about how much he hated Sansa and all of us who’d seen everything said, “You… may change your mind.” (He did)
So yeah, in the end, no regrets.
(And the first person who says “SPOILERS” to me about the Dallas story gets dracarysed.)
Geeno
@SFAW: I had my son watch that movie – he was amazed that people knew how f’ed up that whole situation was. He thought it got that bad, because they weren’t aware.
He absolutely adored the “We’ll meet again” ending
Brachiator
An OT aside…
John Wick 3 is outrageous fun. It features gun Fu, knife Fu, dog Fu, horse Fu, motorcycle Fu and of course Keanu Fu, and some guest star Halle Berry Fu.
A little something after Game of Thrones is all done.
@Nicole:
Yep. I will miss this all, as well.
Just a little time to go.
Geeno
@Brachiator: Exactly, it’s not the end they arrived at that annoys most fans I know. It’s that they wanted to take short cuts to get there.
One episode where we see Dany debating with herself without resolution sets up the same thing, but with set up.
ETA: When I say w/o resolution, I mean she doesn’t actually decide to burn everything, but you know it’s on the table, and we wait to see where she falls.
NeenerNeener
If you’re looking to kill some time someday, look up “Game of Jones” episodes on You Tube. Leslie Jones watches GoT episodes and makes comments, usually liberally interspersed with obscenities. I think they’re hilarious. I noticed that she didn’t do one for episode 2 of this season though. That one may have been too slow, sad and intense for her.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
Seeds for her going “Say hello to my not-so-little friend” on her enemies in a way that shocks and appalls even the most hardened Westerosi, sure, especially after losing her trusted advisors.
But what she did to Kings Landing? 100% out of her established character. That was lazy, lazy writing. YMMV
SFAW
@Brachiator:
Interestingly enough, that’s my other choice. It is great
ETA: Re: Strangelove: not sure how much of that last bit was ad lib. The Russian ambassador was doing his best not to crack up, so it makes me think Sellers was going off-script.
SFAW
@Mike J:
Not even close.
Mnemosyne
If you’re a little confused about why some women are so pissed off about these last few episodes, I think this writer explains those reasons best even if you disagree with her:
https://dangerouscharacters.substack.com/p/who-wins-who-dies-game-of-thrones
lofgren
My only prediction is that it will be revealed that the Night King has actually been destroyed many, many times before. The last shot of the series will be him reforming himself in the distant north on a glacier and starting his long trek southward again, gathering yet another army as he goes.
The True King defeating existential evil once and for all is exactly the kind of thing that happens in the types of fantasy novels that Martin is pointedly critiquing.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
I concur.
@SFAW:
Sorry, but he’s right.
lofgren
@Geeno: She’s spent seven seasons debating exactly that. When she said that she had no choice now but to rule by fear, that was her making up her mind. I don’t know why you think we needed one more episode to watch her debate the same thing one more time.
SFAW
@Mnemosyne:
Mnem, I loves ya (as they say), but you (and Mike J) are wrong. It’s mildly amusing, but that’s about it.
[Disclaimer/confession: For no particular reason, I have never seen the movie. I assume that make my opinion worthless. Or maybe not.]
ETA: I considered writing “It’s like the punchline to a shaggy dog story,” but thought that might be over the top.
ETA2: Hell the last line of “I am a Fugitive (from a Chain Gang)” is better than “Boy and His Dog”
Anya
Jon kills Dany because she becomes even more genocidal and threatens to burn northern cities to rubble after Sansa refuses her summons. After he kills her he refuses to take the throne and goes north to reunite with Ghost. Gendry gets elected. Too bad Margaery Tyrell is dead, she would’ve thought him how to be a king. Arya can be Sansa’s enforcer or she can go east. My happy ending is for the remaining Starks to prevail and reunite at Winterfell.
Anyway, I wonder at people who thought Dany was going to get a happy ending. This is the show that killed Robb Stark and his mother in such a brutal way. This show has always been about children and their father’s legacy. I feel like Jon is more like Ned than any other Stark and he is guided by Ned’s sense of honor and duty.
Citizen Alan
Honestly, I have no interest at all in how GoT ends simply because I know for certain that my preferred ending — all the nameless peasants rise up and kill Dani, Jon, and every other “noble” who claims the right too rule them because who what womb they sprang out of and then form a democracy — ain’t in the cards. Same thing with Star Wars. Nine movies fixated on the question of which branch of the same family should be allowed too rule the galaxy because their genes gave them superpowers.
LC
@Citizen Alan:
It wouldn’t shock me if something like that ending is possible in Martin’s version, and the fact Last Jedi even hinted that way is part of why one section of the fanbase was so angry. (Which is a shame, because it was the better choice.)
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
Yep.
Martin himself set up the idea that Dany might be like her forebears, a Mad Ruler. This ain’t lazy writing. It is embedded in the story. And Dany has unleashed her fury before.
The writers also clearly set up the idea that the Westerosi are stubborn people. They have not embraced her despite the fact that she saved all their asses. Also, the other rulers are not too accepting of the idea of a female to rule them all,
So, the background to her actions is there, and is in the novels. The later novels also emphasize more the misrule that has occurred since the collapse of the previous monarchy. But as I noted, this material needed to be shaped and executed better perhaps, but it is not simply about lazy writing.
artem1s
Dany tries to have Jon executed for treason but Drogon won’t do it because he’s always known he was a Targaryen. Jon rides off to protect the north from the Mad Queen. This is the last straw for Tyrion (who famously slapped Joffrey over and over for being a c#nt to the people and Sansa – I’ve been waiting for THAT Tyrion to show up again since Dany torched the realms food just when Winter was finally coming, and when she fried the Tarlys like a toddler having a temper tantrum). Tyrion becomes the new Kingslayer to revenge Jamie and everyone Dany just fried. He convinces Sansa to renew their vows, takes the Iron Throne, Sansa becomes the Queen, fulfilling the Crone’s prophecy. Jon becomes the warden of the north. Bronn gets Highgarden. Arya agrees to become Gendry’s Hand and lover, but not Lady of Dragonstone, has dozens of babies and trains them all how to water dance and forms her own assasin’s cult.
final scene
The Mountain is seen walking thru the gap in the wall northward to become the new ice king and hibernate until the next, last battle.
Betty Cracker
@artem1s: Well done.
Anya
@Citizen Alan: Jon was raised a bastard with no rights. His “stepmom” hated him and mistreated him. He earned everything he got and was not handed much. He is not even fighting for his birthright. Tyrion Lannister was mistreated and discriminated against. Daenerys was raised poor and oppressed and sold. The only thing is she was raised with the idea that the throne was stolen from her family. All of these nobles should be ones who can lead with compassion and fairness because of their suffering and experience of oppression.
Tony Jay
@Brachiator:
Very late, so I’ll make this uncharacteristically short.
It is lazy writing. Martin may have implied a lot, but this is TV Dany, and while her steel spine and volcanic temper have been displayed often, so has her through-line of concern for the beaten, downtrodden, innocent Small-folk who the Wheel grinds to chaff. She terrorises monsters, and she wins hearts by doing so, but she knows (because we have been shown that she knows) what she has to do to earn the love of a subject population. Don’t punch down, punch up.
TV Dany shouldn’t be surprised that the Westerosi don’t love her yet because a) she’s done nothing for the southern ones except bring foreign armies and dragons to threaten them, and b) the King of the North bent his knee to – buy – her armies and dragons, giving away their hard earned independence because the wannabe Queen wouldn’t do it otherwise. TV Dany as developed over the previous seasons should have been the one explaining this to her councillors, not getting irate because they were telling her obvious things.
The razing of Kings Landing was OOC because TV Dany would not deliberately slaughter and maim hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians to make a point. that’s the opposite of who she has been shown to be. It’s like having Colombo pull out his gun at the end of an episode and shoot this week’s bad-guy through the head because the writers decided that he was suddenly so frustrated with the court system that he snapped. It’s that bad. WTF barely covers it.
Given a longer run up, with a season or two of Dany getting to Westeros and – slowly – coming to the realization that these people were never going to accept another Targaryen, I could buy her burning down every noble’s castle and looking to terrorise the powers that be, but murdering children because Jon Snow knows nothing?
Nah. Raspberry noises.
frosty
Here we go ….
PaulWartenberg
In the books, all Dany really wanted was that summer Braavosi house with the red door that she knew in her childhood as home.
Part of me wants her to quit the Iron Throne the second she sits in it, realizing the waste of everything she’d done and the horrors she committed, melt it down, free everyone, fly off on Drogon, and find that house with the red door.
Lofgren
Prediction: Dany orders drogon to burn Jon for being a pretender to the throne. Her emerges from the fire unscathed, proving he is the true heir.
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
Cedric Diggory? Too skinny, too pretty, lacks a commanding presence. Last actor I’d cast as Batman.
Brachiator
@Tony Jay:
This is your version of TV Dany. And even here your are omitting elements that are pretty well developed in the tv series.
But by now, many of this has seen how it all plays out. I won’t say anything about the finale yet because I am not sure who watches at what time.
It’s been quite a ride.
hitchhiker
@lee:
Holy smokes. Nailed it perfectly.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
The author of the piece lost me right here, with this bit about Tyrion.
No, a sophisticated reader understands what a character wants and is deeply curious to see whether he or she gets it, when the story is compelling.
I know people who insist on characters they can root for, redemption arcs and happy endings in books and movies. Bless their hearts.
I can understand that the author does not want to see women brutalized. I can’t criticize this because it happens so often in some genres. But I think that GoT is stronger and better than this.
I agree with some of the author’s other points and disagree with others. But I certainly have no use for any of the Gamer gate bullshit or the despicable nonsense that the author and others are somehow not entitled to an opinion.
James E Powell
@Mike J: ‘
If nominations are still open, I have to go with this one
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDybg9CNXcM
Emerald
@lee: Freakin’ wow. Nailed it.
janesays
@lee: The entire finale plot was literally leaked online two weeks ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/freefolk/comments/bkc8xd/compilation_of_spoilers_for_got_episodes_46/
The redditor accurately called Tyrion quitting as Dany’s hand; Jon killing Dany; Drogon melting the Iron Throne and carrying Dany’s body away; a council of lords choosing Bran to be king of the Six Kingdoms; Sansa becoming queen of the independent north; Arya leaving to go west of where the maps are; Jon returning to the Night’s Watch; Tyrion becoming Bran’s Hand with a small council consisting of Tyrion, Davos, Samwell, Brienne, and Bronn.
The script obviously got out, and anybody who got a copy of it would have made a killing in the Vegas prediction markets on Bran becoming king.