First of all, I am not one of the 1,5 million disappointed fans that sign for Season 8 remake. I don’t think the viewer gets to vote on how a work of art will end. The reason I wasn’t content with the finale is that it is nothing like the Game of Thrones we know and love. Here is why.
The writers of the final episode wanted to make sure that we get the message. For seven seasons the evil where thriving and the main characters were dying, and we loved it because it was like nothing else. The desire to symbolically apply the series to our world, I think, obviated the narrative and gave the series a nice Hollywood ending. I will be waiting for the books for a proper Game of Thrones ending.
Daenerys’ end was already foreshadowed in her dream sequence in S02E10. Because of the ruins and snowflakes, we then assumed she would arrive at the Kings Landings after winter comes, but we now figure they might as well be ashes. The fact that she didn’t touch the Iron Throne in the dream signalled she would never sit on it, so it wasn’t surprising that Jon Snow killed her.
The character’s dragon is a symbol of her ego (Remember How to Train Your Dragon); if the ego feels threatened, it would breathe fire over anything. With an ego the size of a dragon, she believes she can do and have anything she desires. And she actually is the Dragon Queen, she is noninflammable (not in the books but in the series), and speaks fire and blood; we get it and we were already very excited about it for years. This scene below was too much in our face, too cheesy. When the dragon finds her killed, it destroys the reason: not Jon Snow but the Iron Throne. It was an expected and a highly poetic death, together with Jon’s final declaration of loyalty, the scene couldn’t have been less Game of Thrones.
And Tyrion decided to be the Morgan Freeman of the series. I don’t remember how many inspirational speeches he gave during the last episode. He, thus the series, became more political than ever when he pointed out that we were cheering for Khaleesi when she slaughtered evil men, and that we are responsible for her lunatic power. But where does it leave us when Arya is our favourite murderer?
Bran wasn’t identifying himself as Bran the last time we saw him, now he became King Bran the Broken. The actor actually thought it was a joke script, and asked for the real one. Bran first tells it’s why he came all the way, and later claims he doesn’t want to be the King? Everyone is confused. The idea behind it, that our past should lead us to our future, so that we don’t repeat the same mistakes we did back in time, makes sense in the symbolic realm of the final episode; because it wrapped up every story as a lesson for life. But it doesn’t make sense for the fan, because this is not Game of Thrones at all. We just wanted to feel like when Ned Stark died, or how we cheered for Jon and Daenerys after decrying Cercei and Jamie of incest for seven seasons. We wanted to be surprised, but not like this.
I must add that I am highly irritated that Sam survived until now. For me, it was cringeworthy when he almost invented democracy. I remember that Sam is a stand-in for George R.R. Martin, and the author previously said: “Tyrion might be who I want to be, but Sam is probably closer to who I actually am. The fat kid who likes to read books and doesn’t like to go up a lot of stairs.” So, he is the one to find the poetic title for the book, “A Song of Ice and Fire,” and Tyrion is not in it. Is this a comic relief? Are we supposed to be laughing? This was the scene that made me wish the episode ended soon.
If nothing else, the Stark girls have non-objectionable endings. Sansa always wanted to be a queen; she suffered and learned the hard way to finally become the Queen in the North. Well deserved. Also, it makes sense that you can’t sit at home in peace after killing countless men and one Night King. Arya heads west to discover what is west of Westeros, and nobody feels the need to tell her to be careful.
I personally was rooting for Jon Snow to become the King, and many Azor Ahai theories were pointing to him, and the Lord of Light brought him back to life, and he killed his love, and there is snow on the Iron Throne in Daenerys’s vision… Nevertheless, he had the sweetest end when he figured he can chill in the North with Tormund and Ghost. Again, too sweet for Game of Thrones.
What I will do next, is to pretend I haven’t seen this final episode and wait for the last book for a closure.