I’m kinda confused about what fans think this show is. I’m relatively new and haven’t read the books but over these 8 seasons, I’ve only seen it as a tragedy about tragic characters. The Good people don’t always get good endings and the Bad people don’t always get bad ones. Ned could have sided with Renly, taken the Red Keep, and Gendry eventually could’ve sat on the Throne. But his defining characters trait, his honor, led him to make a “bad” decision and he was beheaded for it. It was like his fight with Jamie, Ned didn’t go down in an honorable fight, some dude just stabbed him in the leg and it was over. I heard people talking up Kahl Drogo as this badass and thought he had more of a role to play in the story but he died from an anticlimactic infection like King Robert did. You kind of warmed up to Tywin who was more of a business man than a bad person but he died on the shitter because he raised his children to be that way. Oberyn could’ve gotten his revenge in this big hero moment but he was too blinded by revenge rather than survival and got his head Gallaghered. The irony of Cersei dying in the arms of the one person in the world that she loves as the castle she murdered hundreds over falls on her head while civilians are burned alive in the chaos is just how the show has taught me it would go.
From a character standpoint, we follow people on the path to make a disappointing decision that is in line with their character traits and emotions and are left with the aftermath. Rob loved a girl, but was promised to another and all his men, his mother, and his wife died for it. Stannis wanted the Throne at all costs, and killed family member after family member in pursuit of it, but when it came to be his daughter of whom he loved above all else’s turn, surely he gave it up, right? Wrong. He burned her too and for nothing at all. Jon’s compassion and forgiveness in the face of overwhelming death led him to bring the Wildlings across the Wall only to be killed by the Night’s Watch, who couldn’t let go of their grudges. People don’t always work based on logic over emotion and the consequences of those actions are based on chance more often than not in this story.
For Jamie, day one, he pushed a kid out a window to protect Cersei and his house. We grow to like him as he tells us about the Mad King and saves Brienne at the cost of his hand, but he still fights ultimately for Cersei. He may have joined the Good Guys in the battle of Winterfell but he is still who he is. Addicts relapse, abuse victims return to their abusers and Jamie always goes back for Cersei.
On Daenerys’s side, she has always been about subjugation rather than surrender in pursuit of her seat on the Iron Throne. She makes big statements with power and fear to turn people to her side and it was cool when she was the underdog, but now that she’s on top, people have a problem with it and say it’s out of character. Back in Esos it’s like, “Fuck yeah Dany! Fuck em up! Fuck slavery!” because fuck those guys and slavery is obviously bad but then you find out she crucified a nobleman who opposed slavery and some slaves want back in it’s like, “Yikes, shit’s more complicated than I thought.” She works on impulse (the same “burn them all” impulses I’ve observed people reacting to the show have) and power and the only people who could reign her in are her advisors. Ever since she came to Westeros, she’s lost half of her army, two of her dragon children, two of her best friends, and her rightful claim to the Throne. She’s lost more and is more alone than she’s ever been and when she’s this close to completely destroying her enemies and taking what she sacrificed so much to get here for, she’s gonna let Tyrion LANNISTER tell her when she’s finished? No. Because she’s a Dragon. What she wants gone, gets gone.
It’s not about the people, who we see just trying to survive while a select few decide whether they live or die. It’s about the enemy before her. King’s Landing stands in her way and it’s people are a statistic. King Robert killed thousands of people because Lyanna didn’t love him. Littlefinger started the this whole conflict killing thousands more because he was greedy. Daenerys did what she did because her solitude and loss lead her down the path of apathy. The Night King was a major threat, bigger than all of them, but he wasn’t what this has all been about. The Dead were Nature. Winters have come and gone but the Real threat has always been the evils that lurk in the hearts of men and what powerful people choose to do with their power. I struggle, here at least, to sort out the “bad writing” from “choices I don’t like” seeing the reaction from everybody. idk
yousharknotpass
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
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