A Song of Ice and Fire

“You are my queen, now and always.” — Jon Snow

The eighth and final season of Game of Thrones kicked off on Sunday, April 14. Each week during the final season I’ll recap episodes, look at highlights and make predictions for what’s to come.

All good things must eventually come to an end. For Game of Thrones the series, that end came Sunday night. It’s an episode — and a season — that has caused a lot of debate, and likely will for years to come. And it’s a finale that likely makes those who read the books want to see George R.R. Martin’s finished vision in print even more.

But in the end, we can’t judge the show we wish we had, only the one we got. It wasn’t perfect in total, but I thought elements of this finale were fitting and beautiful. Doubtless others will feel differently. But let’s take a look at what we got as this show winds its way to a conclusion.

The Ultimate Showdown

The show has been building to a confrontation between Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon Snow (Kit Harrington) seemingly all season. Many have expressed concern about her and her motives, and yet Jon has remained loyal and in love. But even he was shaken by what he experienced in battle, and in the aftermath as Grey Worm (Jacob Anderson) and the Unsullied slaughtered men who had surrendered.

Then she gave a speech that felt a little frightening, and on the heels of that had Tyrion (Peter Dinklage) reject his position and turn on her. Jon gets a warning, too, from Arya (Maisie Williams) that she’s dangerous, as if that wasn’t abundantly clear. So he has plenty to wrestle with as he goes to see Tyrion in his holding cell.

That conversation is key for where Jon is going. He loves Daenerys and doesn’t want to go against her or harm her. And yet, the part of him that’s always felt bound to do what is best for the people knows he must act. Tyrion taps into this reminding Jon he is, “the shield that guards the realms of men,” a call back to his days in the Night’s Watch. He also remembers what Maester Aemon once said that, “love is the death of duty.” And Tyrion adds, “sometimes, duty is the death of love.” That is Jon’s decision — his duty to family and honor, or his love for Daenerys.

He’s weighing all that when they meet in the throne room. He presses Daenerys and the answers he gets push him toward a decision — he loves her but she isn’t the right ruler. No scene in the finale moved me quite as much as when he acts to end her reign. I’ve seen some complain about this, and it is heart-breaking to see a character we’d long invested in take a dark turn and meet a dark fate. I understand the frustration and angst, but the execution of that sequence was great.

Drogon appears, crying out as soon as Daenerys takes a blade. And when it seems he might melt Jon — a reminder we saw Jon get burned in Season One, meaning it’s likely he’s not one of the Targaryens that are immune to fire — but instead he melts the throne. Then Drogon gathers Daenerys’ body and flies off. We don’t know precisely where Drogon went, but I kind of assume he took Daenerys to Valyria, the original home to Targaryens and dragons.

And that brought an end to the main part of the story. Jon left standing in the wrecked throne room, and Drogon flying away with Daenerys. Leading to a time jump of some sort to give a conclusion to other characters.

Long Live House Stark

The remainder of the episode was about the ultimate conclusion for those who lived, which was everyone that didn’t die in previous episodes and wasn’t named Daenerys. I had expected an unexpected death somewhere in the finale, but it didn’t happen. I also think, while I appreciate some aspects of this, the pacing of the final season comes into play with some of the complaints about this finale. Ending a series is hard, especially when it’s as big and complex as this one is. And it turns out six episodes, even when four of them are 80 minutes, wasn’t enough time.

Part of this is the economics of television, where actors are paid per episode. So you make choices to maximize production budgets by reducing the episode count. It sounded fine in theory, but we’ve seen these final two seasons could have benefited from being 20 episodes rather than 13. That would give the space to let some stories breathe and answer some more process questions.

But as I said, we have to evaluate the story we have instead of the one we wanted to have. And so, before I get to the specifics of the ending, that time jump certainly presented a few questions that will never be directly answered. Like how did the Unullied know know Jon did it. My best guess is he obviously confessed. As to why they held him for trial, well that’s curious. And who called all the rulers of the other houses together? We’ll never really know.

But it was a great chance to see Edmure Tully ( Tobias Menzies), who is still alive. And it was a great moment to see Sansa (Sophie Turner) dunk on him as he tried to nominate himself as King. Robin Arryn ( Lino Facioli) is still alive, which is a mild disappointment. And Yara (Gemma Whelan) is there, talking about her loyalty to Daenerys though she never showed up for either battle this season.

Ultimately Tyrion makes an impassioned speech nominating Bran ( Isaac Hempstead Wright) as King, and everyone accepts. I wouldn’t have guessed Bran for the throne — and I get why folks aren’t pleased. But in a show that constantly defied conventions, in some ways his selection makes sense. The speech Tyrion made (apart from saying Bran had the best story) sold it decently. It’s not incredibly satisfying, but I don’t know what single choice would have been.

Of course it’s fair to wonder why no one — including Sam (John Bradley) — mentioned who Jon really is. Clearly the letters that Varys (Conleth Hill) tried to send out last episode didn’t spread too far. But Jon never wanted it, and given the delicate situation it might not have sat well to learn he was a Targaryen. I wish it had come out, but I understand why it didn’t.

Tyrion ends up as Hand of the King, which is what many thought he’d end up doing. It’s for a different ruler than expected, but in some ways it makes sense. And the small council meeting with Tyrion, Bronn (Jerome Flynn), Davos (Liam Cunningham), Sam and Brienne (Gwendoline Christie), now head of the Kings Guard, was a bit of fun. Even if we never learned the end of Tyrion’s story about a donkey and a honeycomb…

But mostly the endings were good for House Stark. Bran is on the throne, ruling the Six Kingdoms. Meanwhile, Sansa achieves her goal of freeing the North.

The moment at the close as she’s crowned Queen of the North was moving. And her work to fiercely protect the North paid off. Many fans had hoped she’d end up ruling the Seven Kingdoms, but it made sense in some ways that she rules the North as an independent kingdom. She has been singularly focused on Winterfell in later seasons, so this feels like victory.

But it comes with a few questions we’ll never really get answered. Why does she leave Brienne in the Capital? It seems Sansa got the North but returns with fewer allies, and no family to speak of. And why did everyone relent so easily at the idea of the North being free? It made for a satisfying resolution for Sansa, but it was bit tricky in terms of overall story.

Arya, meanwhile, fulfills what she said to The Hound (Rory McCann) and indeed does not return home. She asks what’s West of Westeros, and decides to find out for herself. I was glad Arya lived, and I think it makes sense that she would follow her wanderlust a bit now that her family is safe. She isn’t the little girl that grew up in Winterfell anymore, and while it will always be her home she wants more from life.

We know HBO is working on myriad spin-offs, and you can’t help but feel that many would be on board for the swashbuckling adventures of Arya Stark, were it ever to come to that.

Which brings us to Jon. He isn’t King, he isn’t executed, but he isn’t free, either. The compromise is for Jon to, once again, take the Black and join the Night’s Watch. And while we could quibble about what they have to do now, him going North at the end makes a lot of sense. His path to get there might not make as much sense. It would have been more satisfying if he’d gotten to choose it for himself.

But he is back. As Tormund (Kristofer Hivju) noted, Jon’s heart is in the North. He belongs in the North, the real North. And we see him reunited with Ghost, a friendship many wanted to see fulfilled in some way. And as the series closes, he and Tormund lead the Free Folk back North of the Wall. It makes sense, and you see Jon as happy, to some extent. Again, the path back to the North didn’t feel totally satisfying, but that ending for Jon did feel fitting.

Other Notes

The Finale had a lot of things to touch on in a short period of time. Here’s a couple quick things I also appreciated.

• Tyrion finding his brother and sister was one of the more beautiful, and emotional, scenes in the finale. It felt fitting and, somehow, gave a greater depth of meaning to those deaths for me. That helped, in part, right some of the frustration I’d felt about their ending in the previous episode.
• Grey Worm is headed to Naath after all. I don’t know how I feel about him in total given all we saw, but it’s nice to think he’s going in honor of Missandei.
• Brienne finishing Jamie’s page in the book of history was a nice tribute and call back. It was nice to see her honor him, and their friendship, despite how things ended.
• Sam did indeed help author a history of the recent era in Westeros, titling it “A Song of Ice and Fire,” which is the title of Martin’s book series. It was a little cheesy, but it was a fun nod to a fan theory, especially given Martin’s fondness for The Lord of the Rings series.

A Place in the Pantheon

This finale — and indeed this final season — is something that has divided fans and critics. It will likely be long debated. I didn’t think it was perfect, nor did I think it was a flop along the lines of Dexter and How I Met Your Mother, a few finales that have been evoked in the aftermath.

I think in the end the finale and show might end up in the same category as LOST. It’s a show that reached some of the highest highs but didn’t quite match that intensity in its endgame. And given some of that endgame, it will be impossible for some, myself included, to look at past seasons the same way. But it is a show that was a great adventure, and one that I will miss.

Heading into the final season, I thought Game of Thrones had the potential to be my favorite series of all time, depending on how the ending came together. I probably need more time to reflect on it, but I don’t think it achieved that goal in the end. But it is still an incredible achievement, one I will appreciate for years to come. I hope that despite the frustration with some of the final season story decisions, that most fans will be able to appreciate the show for what it achieved ultimately as well.

For now, it’s time to sit back, reflect and appreciate the end of an era.

Agree? Disagree? Have a strong feeling about the finale? Hop in the comments and share your thoughts on the end of Game of Thrones.