What Game of Thrones Kinda Forgot

[00:00] So I just started reading Stephen King's novel The Stand. It was published in 1978 but back then Doubleday had King cut about 400 pages from the book thinking that it wouldn't sell if it was that long. But in

[00:12] 1990 he got to publish the complete and uncut version of the story and in a preface he explains why he felt those 400 pages were important even though they ultimately don't change what happened. If all the story is there, one might ask then why bother?

[00:27] Isn't it indulgence after all. It better not be. If it is then I have spent a large portion of my life wasting my time. As it happens, I think in really good stories, the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. If that were not so, the following would be a perfectly acceptable

[00:43] He then includes this little summary of that story which in my opinion could even have been shorter and would have made his point better but anyway, he concludes "I don't know what you think. But for me that version is a loser

[00:55] It's like a Cadillac with the chrome stripped off and the paint sanded down to dull metal. It goes somewhere, but it ain't you know So, with that in mind Game of Thrones

[01:09] Season 8 What are the themes of Game of Thrones? Whatever your answer might have been a couple of months ago

[01:22] I think it'll be hard to square it with the final season. In its rush to get to the end, the show winds up contradicting many of the themes it was trying to communicate. Things that made the show so powerful and resonant.

[01:35] frustrated with the writing of Game of Thrones this year, in just the writing, everything else is phenomenal. While the first two episodes of season 8 are a welcome return to form,

[01:48] the last four episodes speed through what should have been three seasons worth of story. Jorah and Theon each get fitting ends for their characters

[02:00] changes too quickly and in all cases the central theme of each character's arc is rendered meaningless and it's all because the writers are rushing it!

[02:13] It's no secret that the showrunners, David Benioff and DB Weiss, wanted to move on to other projects. There's been talk of them making another show for HBO and they've got a deal to go and make a new Star Wars trilogy.

[02:25] HBO basically gave them a blank check to make as many episodes as they needed to tell the story and George So, it's really just these two guys who were anxious to end it, which in many respects I can understand.

[02:40] for a decade and at some point as a creative person you're going to want to tell your own stories. because the story needed many more seasons to wrap everything up and I don't agree with the argument that the show was destined to fail

[02:55] after they ran out of books to adapt. The show has often been more enjoyable than the novels and the mostly solid 6th season is almost entirely about stuff that hasn't happened in the books yet.

[03:07] The problem is that they spent most of the seventh season moving pieces around the board without resolving any of the main story arcs. So, going into that season there were essentially three stories left to tell: we have to unite the living to fight the dead; we have

[03:20] Daenerys is going to become the mad queen. And because none of those stories are resolved in season 7, season 8 has to do all of the heavy lifting and as a result, we don't have enough time to explore the smaller conflicts on the show.

[03:35] We don't have enough time to look at how these events are affecting the common people which is a central theme in the books and the early seasons. Don't have time for cleverness and schemes and nuance, we don't have time for character development. We just don't have time and as a result many of the themes of the story fall by the wayside.

[03:50] Part 2 The cost of subverting expectations

[04:04] what's the dramatic benefit of subverting your audience's expectations in a story? That phrase gets tossed around a lot? Well, first of all, subversion is different from simple surprise. Surprise can be totally random.

[04:27] Subversion actually has to be motivated. It has to play on a well-known trope as a way of commenting on that trope's existence. it subverts our expectations that the protagonist would overcome all odds and survive. Instead,

[04:42] he's killed and the message couldn't be clearer. In this story: no one is safe. Characters will face the logical consequences of their decisions. Ned's death or the Red Wedding play on our

[04:54] expectations built up by other pieces of media where characters miraculously survive things all the time. And this is all crucial to the themes of the story. Being honourable is not enough, having a just cause is not enough, you need to be clever to survive in this world.

[05:09] subversive moments is that it created a lot of buzz for the show. Game of Thrones was a conversation piece because it was shocking and that helped build the audience lesson from this. They started to think we only wanted big shocking twists or big epic battles and the impulse to deliver on that

[05:29] infected the writing and so we end up with big surprising moments that aren't exactly meaningful. I mean what trope is this moment calling into question? Well, in fantasy stories, we often see the hero and the villain of a story fight to the death

[05:44] so we're expecting John to be the one to kill the Night King. "The Night King turns and sees Jon coming for him. Is this No, the Night King... but then surprise! Arya is the one to do it! Except we already knew that Arya was an incredible assassin who was capable of this. The trope the writers want to undermine

[06:01] is the idea of there being a chosen one who will defeat the Dark Lord but they accomplish it only by making a different character the chosen one. So what's the commentary there? If a totally random extra was the one to do it since that would undermine the idea of needing a noble

[06:21] ancestry to do something great. In this case the more traditional ending where John defeats the Night King would have been more satisfying than the subversive one because it's not really subversive. It's merely surprising

[06:33] thematically it does make a certain amount of sense for it to be Arya if there was more set up for it. Her arc has been about confronting death from the beginning and the White Walkers are this universe's literal embodiment of death

[06:48] but to make it work the story needed to find ways to make Arya a viable answer to all of the mysteries and prophecies that it had set up about this moment. Scenes that subtly associate Arya with the imagery surrounding the prince that was promised, the sultan smoke stone dragons, all of that, instead we get this flimsy scene where

[07:07] Melisandre repeats a line from season three about blue eyes as a way to foreshadow Arya being the one to do it but it's basically asking us to ignore a 99% of the clues in favor of one offhand

[07:19] foreshadowed it more than maybe someone on Reddit would have figured it out and then it being Arya would have been too predictable. So it would have to be someone else but then that would be too predictable! Trying to trick your audience like this is basically like trying to win the poison game and Princess Diaries (I MEAN PRINCESS BRIDE)

[07:34] because he would know that only a great fool would reach for what he was given! I'm not a great fool so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of you You would have counted on it so I can clearly not choose the wine in front of me! The deeper problem with this moment

[07:52] though, is its impact on the overall themes of the story. George R.R. Martin has made it very clear that the White Walkers are an allegory for climate change. While everyone with power is occupied in their own petty little conflicts, the larger more existential

[08:06] threat goes unanswered. The message of a story like this is supposed to be that we need to put aside our differences in our self-interest and do what is right so that everyone can survive. But that theme is undermined in two ways: first

[08:20] Cersei's strategy of sitting the conflict out is completely justified by the writing. Even though she loses the final battle she only gains power by taking no part in the fight against the Night King. even if Jon is not going to be the one to single-handedly win the battle, then whoever strikes the final blow

[08:38] should only be there because of Jon. Jon is the whistleblower on this problem. He's the one rallying the troops together Daenerys or even Jaime who struck the final blow. If they had, then the message we'd get from the story would be

[08:53] it's a good thing they all set aside their differences and work together otherwise that character wouldn't have been there and they would have lost. But with it being Arya the message is well, it's a good thing Arya wandered home. That was lucky!

[09:10] "All hail Bran the Broken!" The other moment that is meant to be subversive but is merely surprising and thematically confused is Bran becoming king. The first problem with this is that it makes no sense

[09:24] metaphorically for this scene to happen if the characters are just going to name a new king a few scenes later. We've got saying goodbye at a port, sailing west, someone wrote a book about the story and in that logic

[09:39] The Iron Throne is the equivalent of the One Ring falling into Mount Doom, in both cases the ultimate symbol of temptation and corruption is burned to nothing. Now while the throne getting eviscerated doesn't literally mean kings stop existing, the visual language of the scene is

[09:58] communicating that idea to the audience. When you watch this your brain thinks so no more kings, right? This is actually a huge and recurring problem this season where you can't trust the meaning of the images you're looking at. We watch all

[10:11] of the Dothraki die, but then they're fine! Grey Worm seems to be making a huge decision to sacrifice the Unsullied but then there's an endless number of them, scorpion bolts have pinpoint accuracy

[10:23] until they don't, the Red Keep looks like it's collapsing in on itself except Jon seems to choose to let Sam die in order to go and end the war. The visuals make it seem like this is a

[10:35] So even though we've seen characters imperiled throughout the episode, which is another problem, the audience is trained to see this as a death sentence. Sam should really be finished here, except no! He survives!

[10:50] so if the throne gets burned, then no one should really end up as king but if we must pick one I think Bran is also a bad choice for the story. The subversion here

[11:03] is that Jon, the long-lost heir to the throne doesn't become king unlike his Lord of the Rings parallel Aragorn who does and Jon to not get the throne. The idea of the long-lost heir to the throne being the only one capable of saving us is tied

[11:21] But the story needed a better explanation for why he doesn't get the throne. As written this council should be scheming to get Jon the crown lest his children threaten the realm but the real issue is that

[11:36] Sansa should definitely be queen. It makes perfect sense for her character arc and it also makes a lot more sense for the themes of the story. This final season, really elevates the idea of not wanting the throne as the best signifier of a good ruler.

[11:51] But if that were the case, then Ned would have been a good king, too, and we know that's not true He sat on the throne for like a day and managed to cause years of guerrilla warfare in the Riverlands. I'd argue that what the story has been trying to prove to us again

[12:06] and again, is that what makes a good leader is someone who both has a strong moral code like Ned but who understands the political game like Tywin or Little Finger and that person is uncomfortable messaging of having just turned the only two female leaders in the history of this world into mad Queens who are way too emotional

[12:28] reversal to have eight seasons of female characters chafing at the constraints society has put on them, to have them begin to escape those bonds, only then have the story pivot to lines like this,

[12:42] "Yes, because he's a man cocks are important I'm afraid." And her being queen in the north is really not enough on this issue. I mean the whole point of the White Walker plotline was at need to find a way to work together but now secession is seen as a good thing? Now Bran may end up on the throne in the books, too

[12:59] but if he does then I hope we get a better sense of what kind of ruler he would be. Plus, the closing scene in the small council room does not inspire confidence. I mean really? Bronn, Bronn's gonna be master of coin?

[13:14] Bronn, the guy who as far as we know still doesn't understand what a loan is? "A man of the world you're strangely naive." "I've never borrowed money before. I'm not clear on the rules." And then Bran has the audacity to say that they still need a Master of War?

[13:30] a Master of Laws and A Master of War." Like make Bronn the Master of War, he actually has experience doing that! assassinating them! A Song of Ice and Fire is the quintessential piece of grim dark fantasy. Author

[13:50] Adam Roberts has defined that sub-genre as a story where nobody is honorable and might makes right. it's the complete opposite of the worldview you encounter in something like the Lord of the Rings where

[14:02] everyone is honorable in the world can be set in order by a just king. But while a sense of moral ambiguity permeates the series, it is not a completely bleak story. The characters of the story were capable of profound and positive

[14:17] change and so perhaps we were fooled into thinking that it would end with a reason to believe in the goodness of humanity. For many characters we get an ostensibly happy ending sure, but the moral lessons from each subplot are

[14:30] we had two characters whose lives are deeply impacted by the cynical and violent worlds into which they were born. In both cases, their stories are about rising above that violence.

[14:43] Reforming it building something better. And in the last couple episodes, it's all undone. Let's talk about Jaime. Jaime's struggle was to overcome his own selfishness, egotism and violence. Its theme was that these things were possible.

[14:56] Despite his selfishness, he cares for innocent people, which is what makes this line so wrongheaded. "If not for yourself, if not for her, then for every one of the million people in that city innocent or otherwise." "To be honest, I never really cared much for them,

[15:10] "Tell me if your precious Renly commanded you to kill your own father and stand by one thousands of men

[15:23] would you have done it? and suffered years of ridicule and mistrust because he chose to save innocent lives by breaking his oath.

[15:36] refuses to justify his actions in public because he hates being judged by others. He came face to face with all of the consequences of his actions,

[15:50] took responsibility for them and still decided to do good, to keep his oath, to fight the dead. but finally after seeing how truly vile she is in the seventh season, he decides to leave her.

[16:04] It's taken eight seasons to get this character to this point and in the span of a couple scenes... if this is the story that we were always watching, if Jaime was always going to regress back to this and never escape his darker

[16:18] we needed more reason to believe this was the case, we needed more reasons to believe he'd leave Brienne behind. it makes it seem like this was inevitable, inescapable in sending Jaime back to Cersei

[16:32] the story is making a pretty bleak argument that we are unable to change in any meaningful way. Daenerys' story sends an even bleaker message with an even more abrupt heel turn. From the beginning, Daenerys has been driven by two competing motivations.

[16:46] The first is her idealism, her innate sense of justice her desire to free innocent people. The second is her desire for power. The fact that she feels entitled to rule. her idealism is a perfectly logical and valid ending for the character except the setup for this character turn is

[17:07] Daenerys is held to absurd standards by Tyrion and Varys that no one else is held to. She executed people who didn't obey her. So does everyone in this universe! She wants to attack King's Landing to take the throne. That's completely necessary.

[17:23] I mean why on earth did they go halfway across the world to help her if that wasn't always in some way part of the endgame? So we have characters proclaiming that Daenerys is mad before she's done anything actually mad

[17:35] and then the story tries to retroactively justify their actions with the extreme atrocities that she commits and it all comes with some hand-wavy explanation that it was in the genes all along. Game of Thrones has always been about exploring the faults of complicated people.

[17:50] It's not about genetic determinism. But again the most important point here is that the manner in which these characters are handled directly contradicts and invalidates the central themes of their stories. Daenerys wanted to change the world, free people from tyrants

[18:05] But what's the message here? That trying to improve the world is inherently misguided? The new status quo created in the wake of her conquest needed to find a way to carry that idealism through that revolutionary spirit, to have her ideas affect the world.

[18:22] oligarchy is the wheel. So here's the ultimate kicker. We thought we were watching a story about how redemption is possible even for the worst among us, about the need for us to come together during a crisis, about how by

[18:38] challenging social norms we can build a better world and about how we must be savvy in the pursuit of those changes. But in the final moments everything flips on a dime and we find out that no, this is actually a story about redemption being impossible.That the only quality that predicts a good ruler is not wanting the job,

[18:55] about how it's actually better to let others solve problems instead of uniting, that women are too emotional for power and that any attempt to improve the world will backfire. Emphasizing the subversion of expectations over satisfying storytelling and forcing unnatural changes on to other characters tarnishes

[19:12] so much of what this story was trying to say. And what it was trying to say was important and inspiring. A grim dark world that was trying to be a little less dark. So, in the end, the final season of Game of Thrones is

[19:28] like a Cadillac with the chrome stripped off and the paint sanded down to dull metal. It goes somewhere, but it ain't you know boss.

[19:40] complicated story but to write a story like this you've got to remember the basics of storytelling and according to Daniel José Older those basics are character

[19:53] conflict, context and craft and you can check out his course where he explains all of that on Skillshare. I want to thank Skillshare for sponsoring this episode. If you don't know Skillshare is an online learning community that has over

[20:08] 25,000 classes in writing, film production, graphic design and more. If you want to give it a shot the first 500 people to use the link in the description of this video will get a two month free trial. A Premium Membership will also give

[20:21] you unlimited access to all of their classes. As always, a big thank you to my patrons for supporting this channel. Keep writing everyone!