The main complaint of Game of Thrones this season is that it
suffers from rushed and lazy writing, leaning heavily on explanations from
D& ;D (D.B. Weiss & David Benioff) in the “inside the episode” after show rather
than a natural progression of events.
This is what has caused such a terrible divide among fans of
the show and books.
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Characters who’s arcs have been developed , over the last
seven seasons and numerous published books, have been stripped away; leaving
them as no more than pawns in a game of chess played between preschoolers.
He stepped into season 8 like a golden lion. Sure, we knew
he was destined to die. This is Game of Thrones. It’s all about the
consequences of actions. Nobility or the depth of a characters evil nature is
not what gets a character killed. It is the actions they take and the
consequences of those actions. Jamie came to fight the good fight with the
living. He should have died at the battle of Winterfell , completing his
characters redemption arc, earning him an honorable death. But that honorable
death never came, despite the odds stacked way too heavily against him.
Plot Armor - A character's unusual ability
to survive infinite damage, due to their importance to the story.
The writers chose to keep Jamie Lannister alive, against all
odds, for another purpose.
What purpose was it?
After knighting Brienne and taking her virginity, he turns
his back, not only on her, but all of his new allies in the North, and return
to Cersei, because…. “He’s a hateful man.”
Character Arc Assassination - A deliberate effort
to derail the journey of a character in a story simply to alter their
reputation or credibility.
(Yeah
I made that one up, but dammit, it fits, doesn’t it?)
Jamie’s actions make no logical sense when you look at his
character arc. The journey his character has taken that had people rooting for
the incestuous, child maiming, kingslayer to live. Everything he has learned along the way, all
the hardships, the loss, the personal sacrifices, the risk he took just to make
it to Winterfell … It was all worthless because in the end, even after Bronn
admitted to being hired by Cersei to kill him, Jamie returned to her for one
last embrace; so they can die in each other’s arms.
What? No! This makes no sense.
“But…. Don’t you see? He’s an addict. This is classic
regression for an addict.”
Here’s the thing about character arcs. If you have to ask
“why,” because a character’s actions don’t make sense, then the character is
not acting “in character.” When you pull a reader, watcher, or fan out of the
fantasy world because they are stuck on a point like this, you have made a serious
mistake. It’s not subverting expectations, (the buzz word D&D keep throwing
around). They have deviated so far from the believability of the character that
even casual fans have noticed. Hint: Fans don’t like this.
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The Night King:
This is a creation of the show writers largely based on a few elements in the
books. However that does not discount the importance of a created character
that has been built up through the entire set of seasons as the big bad. The
expectation of this particular confrontation has been teased. The prophesy
surrounding how he is supposed to be defeated has been teased. We were given
the “Prince or Princess that was promised” plotline, expecting the big reveal
to be Jon or Dany. Countless YouTube channels have developed from fans dissecting
the show and the books all to learn the truth as they eagerly awaited the
fulfillment of this prophesy. This is what fans do. This is the thing that
keeps merchandising dollars rolling in, keeps the show on people’s lips, floods
comic conventions and panels. Word of mouth is the best marketing money can’t
buy and it pays out in dividends. Never. Ever. Forget your fans!
Jon or Dany. R+L=J. The secret Targaryen. The child of Ice
and Fire. Jon or Dany (some would argue), one of those two had to be the one to
wield Lightbringer, and destroy this big villain. Bring an end to the long
night once and for all!
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Instead, because D&D decided to, “subvert expectations.”
They ignored all the prophesy they created. It meant nothing. It was just a red
herring.
Red Herring - A clue that leads in the
wrong direction.
They teased us for years with this, and in the end, the long
night was anything but. Seemed like a pretty regular evening time wise. Winter
came and went despite the Stark family reminding us endlessly for 8 seasons
that it was coming. And the prince that was promised… I doubt anyone would live
if they called Arya that to her face.
She was not meant to do this. It was a tactical choice by
the show runners to play into the hot trope of Women Empowerment going on in
Hollywood.
Trope – A commonly recurring literary and
rhetorical devices, motifs or clichés in creative works.
And before you attack me for being against powerful women,
I’m not. I love Arya. Her character is one of my favorites. I expect great
things from her. She’s well trained and totally capable. But she is not the
Prince who was promised. Sorry. That’s not her arc.
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Subverting Expectations - Playing Bait and
Switch with a Trope.
D&D have openly admitted that they chose Arya to kill
the Night king because it was not expected. They had set us up to believe it
would be Jon or Dany and then pulled the rug out from under us because it would
subvert our expectations.
Time
Stamp 32.33
The argument has been made that Game of Thrones is all about
subverting expectations. And because of that they felt this particular
subversion was warranted.
True, Game of Thrones has been, in the past, a great example
of what it meant to successfully subvert expectations in an organic and
satisfying way.
Ned Stark, a man
who chose nobility no matter the personal cost, lost his life because politics
is not a game for noble (in the sense of morality) men to play. That was a very
poignant subversion of fan expectations. It struck a real chord with fans
because unlike general fantasy, where the good guy always wins, we were served
up a mirror of our reality in the portrayal of these fantasy characters.
Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer, introduced to us as an
irredeemable villain in the first episode, is later revealed his act of oath
breaking saved the city of Kings Landing from being destroyed by wildfire. This
subversion of expectations speaks to the truth that the vilest among us can
also perform heroic deeds.
Arya Stark, a
child, a girl at that, little more than ten years old. Essentially orphaned on
the streets of Kings Landing during a tumultuous changing of the monarchy,
should have died many times over. But, through a combination of street smarts
and building connections on her journey, not only survives, but becomes a
capable assassin. This is a subversion of expectations that creates a sense of
kinship with fans. It shows us the payoff of resourcefulness and persistence.
The way Game of Thrones, in the past, used subversion of expectations
did it in ways that engaged fans and gave them a narratively satisfying conclusion
to events they had set in motion. Even the most shocking of events in the show:
Ned’s Death, The Red Wedding, Purple Wedding, Sansa’s Wedding night (weddings
are dangerous in Westeros), Oberyn’s fight with the Mountain, John Snow’s death
at Castle Black, and Cersei blowing up the Sept. All of them came after layers
of setup, and while shocking to witness, they were not narratively unexpected
outcomes of the story.
This is where Game of Thrones Season 8 had abused the plot
device of subverting expectations. They have confused the shocking results of
events that have been carefully set up with simply shocking the audience with
events that have no set up.
They offer spectacle, but no story to back it up. Shock with
no value. This isn’t the Howard Stern show, this is Game of Thrones.
Daenerys Targaryen
going full on Mad Queen and lighting up Kings Landing, indiscriminately burning
soldiers and innocents alike. This came after Cersei’s army surrendered. Instead
of turning her justified anger toward the Red Keep where Cersei and her
precious Iron Throne was, we were expected to believe she would do something
this outrageous?
Oh wait, only a scene or two before, her nephew refused to
sleep with her. Yep, that’s enough motivation to push her over the edge.
I don’t think so.
“Oh but if you were paying attention you should have
expected this.” One half of the fandom cries out, desperately clinging to their
memories of better seasons.
Daenerys going mad. Yes I can believe that. With the
appropriate amount of building toward this outcome. Daenerys has shown she is
willing to do what it takes to achieve her goals, but she has never been
without empathy. She locked away her dragons when they burned a little girl.
She empowered countless slaves to free themselves using the example of her
unsullied army. An army, if you recall, she freed and willingly followed her
into battle.
“Oh, but she burned the masters. That’s not very nice.”
Yes she did. And they deserved it. I never said Dany was
incapable of ruling with an iron fist. She’s proven that time and time again.
But in her quest for the power she feels she is owed, Daenerys has always acted
with empathy for the people. She broke away from her quest for the Iron Throne
to help Jon defeat the Night King. She didn’t have to do that. She could have
torched King’s Landing anytime she wanted, especially when she had 3 full grown
dragons.
RIP: Rhaegal, and Viserion
“But she’s a Targaryen, and they go mad!” you say.
You’ve seen one Targaryen go mad among a reign of
approximately 300 years. And heard their enemies claim it’s a family trait. 300
years of Targaryen reign should have produced more infamous mad kings and
queens if that were the case. As it stands, telling me that madness is
preordained because of parentage is another lazy excuse to explain why a
character suddenly shifted from their standard behavior.
Let’s go back to what I said above with Jamie Lannister. His
character arc was destroyed by this same kind of lazy excuses that need
explanations from D&D in the “inside the episode.”
If you want a satisfying end to a character arc, you have to
earn it. You have to show us. Give the fans real tangible reasons to believe
that a woman who has fought so hard for power, and endured countless hardships
to get where she was, would give up and turn her back on the world. That takes
time.
Which
brings me to my final point.
Artists owe their fans respect.
When an author writes a book, and it is loved by all, and
they promise an epic series, they set an expectation. Fans, readers, whatever
you want to call them, are your patrons. They are paying you for your work and
all the merchandising deals that work creates. Remember my point above about
Comic Conventions, Merchandise, YouTube channels, etc…. When you make that
promise to deliver the completed work, those fans deserve your best. Any
self-respecting artist wants to produce only their best, so typically, the
system works out.
However GRRM stopped progression on his series. He left
numerous plot threads on the table. Still promising to tie them all up, of
course, but he has yet to do it. So, when D&D reached the point of the
story where they no longer had source material to fall back on, they did what
they had to do. They promised us a complete series, and we are one episode left
from them achieving their goal.
D&D are not GRRM. They do not have the same love for
these characters that their creator does. No one can love their creation more
than the creator. So there was no possible way they could have ended this
series in the way it should have ended.
That does not absolve them, however, of the task of
producing the best possible work. HBO would have given them more time. They
have gone on record, many times, saying they were done with Game of Thrones at
8 seasons.
D&D set the finish line and rushed towards it as fast as
they could, forgetting their duty to their fans. They chose to rush plots,
destroy character arcs, and ignore prophesy; using the mantra of “subverting
expectations” to lead their plot arc decisions.
Just like “The North remembers,” so to do the fans.
Right now there is a petition going around with over one
million signatures. Let me say that again, louder for the people in the back. More Than One Million Signatures!!!
Will HBO remake the season? I doubt it. But fans have made
their voices heard. They have said loud and clear that they lack faith in
D&D because they botched the end of this massively loved geek phenomenon.
That is bound to have consequences. Only time will tell what those are. But, as
of tomorrow night, Our Watch Has Ended!
