As Long as We GoT Each Other: Some Final Thoughts on Game of Thrones

I’m not one of the million-plus who signed a petition begging HBO to redo this season of Game of Thrones. The whole concept of a redo is unreasonable and impossible for a multitude of reasons. But it just goes to show how upset over a million people are. I can’t say that I’m upset anymore… just resigned.

I sat watching the series finale much like Bran Stark has sat watching the world for the past few seasons: still, unimpressed, apathetic. My wife asked me just before the finale aired what I wanted to happen, and my response was something akin to what Bran Stark would say. “I don’t want anything anymore.”

So congratulations to HBO and the GoT writers! I began the season excited for what was to come, and ended the season with Bran Stark as my spirit animal. Kudos! (And by the way, I noticed that little charge come through this morning for another month of HBO NOW. Way to sneak that in before everybody unsubscribes!)

I really don’t want to pile on the writers anymore though. It was probably never in the cards for HBO to succeed with this season. All the expectations, all the money, all the egos, and never enough time. Of course, time will tell if George R. R. Martin can do better, and if nothing else we know he will use the advantages of time.

And to be honest, the finale wasn’t all bad, was it?

Hey, Bronn got his castle! Jon, Ghost and Tormund are gonna be best bros forever! Our man Tyrion is running the show! Arya is going out into the world to have adventures! Brienne and Pod are gonna get to write all sorts of cool knight stories! And Sam Tarly just gave a huge middle finger to the entire Citadel! (Look who’s Grand Maester now, bitches!)

It was all really… really… happy. Oddly happy.

We entered the season with four Starks, they all survived and get to live the rest of their lives pretty well, considering. All the bad guys died (Night King, Cersei, Batshit Dany). I mean, as the show panned out on the small council with Bronn joking (probably not joking) about prioritizing the funding of brothels, I couldn’t help but have a happy little song playing in my head. It was a tune from my childhood, when everything had a mellow golden glow, and all things were full of hope, dreams, laughter and love.

​I’d like to share it with you now.

But wait, wait, WAIT a second… Hold the door… this wasn’t a happy ending. Now that I think about it, the bad guy won. Seriously, why is everyone so damned happy?

Bran Stark is the most self-centered, sociopathic MFer in all of Westeros. Let’s lay it out:

• As the Three-eyed Raven, we know he can see the past and present, as well as flashes of the future. Yet, he literally did nothing this season until it was time for him to become king. Even saying, “Why do you think I came all this way?” WHAT?! You mean to tell me no one looked at him in that moment and asked him to explain just WTF that comment meant. Not one person reasoned that Bran might have been planning something like this all along, or at least had a major hunch of what was coming.
• And speaking of what was coming, let’s not forget that every child burned in the streets of King’s Landing had Bran the Blabbermouth to thank for geeking Sam up on the whole Aegon Targaryen thing. If Bran had just minded his own damn business the Daenerys + Jon power machine might still be humming along in peace and harmony. Dany likely wouldn’t have gone nutso, would have had a massive army to make Cersei surrender peacefully, even larger than the one she showed up with, and probably at least one more dragon, because…
• If Bran never comes south of the wall, neither does the Night King. Bran was the Night King’s entire motivation. And Bran KNEW THIS!! He could’ve wheeled his ass anywhere in the seven kingdoms and he chose to bring death to his family’s door step.
• And I don’t want to hear any crying for Bran. “Oh what was he supposed to do? Stay north of the wall and let the Night King kill him?” Well, for one, yes, that would have better than what he chose to do. And two, let’s not forget that all of this could have been avoided if the boy had just listened to his DAMN MOTHER and stopped climbing the tower walls! He disobeyed his mother and got pushed out of a window, an event that started this entire mess in season one. And by “entire mess,” I mean directly caused the death of his father, mother, and brother Rob. Not to mention it caused his sister Arya to have to escape King’s Landing and learn how to fight for her life every waking second of the day. Hell, Bran becoming crippled might be the reason the Three-eyed Raven choose him to be his successor anyway.

EVERYTHING IS BRAN’S FAULT! He is likely aware that everything is his fault. AND he’s smugly accepting the royal nomination with jokes. Damn that’s cold.

So there you go. Our watch has ended, and the bad guy won, after all. Show me that smile!

Thanks for reading,
Dylan Lee Peters