The allegedly happy ending seeded at least three more wars:

Uprisings from the Iron Islands and Dorne and everyone else who decides they want to break away like the North

The North going to war with the South when Bran's successor wants to reconquer the North or Sansa's kids decides the Starks should rule it all anyway

The remainders of Dany's followers in Essos decide they're not okay with the Queen-killers getting off scott free, kicking off yet another invasion

Not to mention the smaller conflicts of Gendry probably getting deposed because he knows nothing about ruling and Bronn getting assassinated (or at least ousted) for trying to throw his weight around and bully the rest of the council into doing things his way

 

Bran will rule for a long time. Not just as Bran, but as the next three-eyed raven.

I find it unlikely Bran would have his successor be an idiot. If anything, it will just be a continuous line of three eyes raven's guaranteeing their successors.
--- Post automerged ---

 

I'm just here for the memes.

 

The finale was a masterstroke, a bleak reminder of the dangers of social justice. Never have so many people been, trolled, red-pilled, and/or sent to therapy in just eighty minutes. Even if you count it as eight years, 1 month, and 2 days, it's still an impressive and rarely equaled feat. Kudos, D & D.

Seriously, though: Everyone who was upset about Jon abandoning Ghost should be happy now, right?

I still maintain that (if he finishes the series at all) GRRM was just waiting to see how the ending was received before publishing his next book. Now he definitely knows what not to do.

Then again, we are talking about a guy who kills off character left and right. Maybe he's planning for more infamy versus more reader satisfaction. Jon will probably stay dead and Dany will trip while dismounting a dragon and break her neck.

Wouldn't Tyrion Eddard Night-King Snow be named after two magic zombies?

Jon may not have been Ned's son, but I feel like he made the same kind of decisions...

 

I thought this was an interesting remark

https://mobile.twitter.com/Brad_Glasgow/status/1130628843163848704

 

Reflecting on my thoughts a lot these past couple of days...

I kind of wish Jon never came back from the dead, and he's arguably my favourite character. Doesn't even change all that much given how they handled everything, unless you think an awkward forced romance leading to being talked into stabbing said psycho in the gut as necessitating his involvement...

 

Caught up and done. I found the season surprisingly palatable* — if I didn't think too hard and squinted a little, I could see the outlines of coherent character logic.... Actual writing and implementation was bosh, but I actually enjoyed some of the actors I'd not before. Particularly Emilia Clarke's delivery as the internally-wrought delusional mad queen, which was far superior to mid-seasons' stilted SJW patter.

* Might've helped that I was multitasking and skimmed much of it.

So errr... one of the Ds is a fellow alumnus, and putting together surprisingly quality "papers-due-at-midnight" is supposed to be a special talent drilled into us... anyway, accurate tweet on the whole.

Choice block-quote from VanityFair:

Spoiler

"On the other hand, it’s a strange conclusion about the nature of leadership, which was one of Game of Thrones’ longest-running threads. Daenerys, Tyrion, and Jon were often presented as leaders with distinct, crucial skill sets that rarely overlapped; Tyrion as the strategist and master negotiator, Dany as the conqueror and charismatic leader, and Jon as the just king who wins the trust of the people. For a tantalizing moment, it appeared as if all three would work together to create a super-leader—the three heads of the dragon turned into one mighty regime. That didn’t happen.

But even without Dany providing the fire, Jon would have been a good king. He’s not the sharpest sword, but he means well and speaks with integrity. We see that everyday people trust him, and those who have fought with him have witnessed his courage with their own eyes. He may have been able to convince the North not to secede; unlike anyone besides Daenerys, he has a blood claim to the throne. He already represents the union of two kingdoms and two religions. (Three, if you count the fact that Melisandre called on the Lord of Light to raise him from the dead that one time.) He combines fairy-tale origins with personal gravity, a history of victory on the battlefield, and an apparent penchant for justice. He’s got a really good story. Yet in the end, the show—and Tyrion—ignores that.

Are we supposed to believe that Westeros has changed so much that a high-born, handsome war hero in his 20s isn’t a natural candidate for the throne? True, this resolution of Jon’s story was apparently sanctioned by George R.R. Martin, who divulged an unknown number of future plot points to Thrones show-runners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss as the show threatened to overtake his original novels. Evidently, this saga’s mastermind believes that the mythos of a just king, born for the throne, needs to be destroyed."

If this is one of canon's end points, then it's perfectly fine from a deconstructionist PoV. It would be an ultimate subversion of our shared egocentrism and all we strive so hard to shape in developmental personhood. At least Dune permitted its heroic forms the satisfaction of taking the throne. The ones in SoIaF... are "simply packed away—another bit of dynastic detritus that no one wants anything to do with."

Of course, we miss the crucial developments that actually give sense to this plot progression. Seems we'll have to wait on GRRM.

 

Lannister backed Crown had actual power due to Tywin Lannister and the Tyrell forces later. Cersei had lots of Lords supporting her against the Usurper Daenerys Targaryen. Bran only has the uncontested support of the North and the Vale unless writers expect us to believe that

1. Entirety of the Reach would accept Bronn as Lord Paramount.
2. Entirety of the Stormlands would accept Gendry, a bastard with no experience in leadership as Lord Paramount.
3. The Iron Islands and Dorne would willingly accept the Crown's authority.

Power resides where men believe it resides and the writers would have you believe that the good people of Westeros think it resides in a crippled boy long thought to be dead.

 

Bronn as LP, I don't even...

No, what gets to me two days after the finale is how much Jon got screwed.

Yeah, the guy trusted his family to have his back but they threw him under the bus at the first sign of trouble to their plans... Sansa was on schedule for her coronation, Arya had that ship to catch and Bran couldn't be fucked to aneurysm the shit out of Grey Worm...

House Stark... what a great family. On the other hand Catelyn must be laughing her head off in the afterlife...

 

I would say that he got off lightly. Convicted of regicide, he got to fuck off back to the true North and be with people that have accepted him as Jon Snow instead of looking at him like he was Aegon Targaryen. He gets to be at the place that gave him meaning and identity rather than engage in political squabbling in the South.

Back in the Dance of the Dragons Civil War after Aegon II was poisoned and the Stark and Riverlands combined forces took King's Landing(they were on the side of the Late Rhaenyra Targaryen) they executed every man associated with the regicide even though it was their actions that led to a bloodless capture of the city.

 

I'm pretty sure he got what he wanted and I was actually happy to see him go beyond the wall (all said, not bad for a queen slayer and a kin slayer). It's Sansa and Arya just shrugging and going along with it that bothers me.

 

“Alright Jon, we’re in the North now so you’re under my jurisdiction. Forget about that whole exiled to the Night’s Watch thing.”

Or

“Coast is clear, Jon, Gray Worm and all of Dany’s men have sailed back to Essos forever apparently. Forget about that whole exiled to the Night’s Watch thing.”

Or

“Wow Jon, it’s hard to believe you’re the Khal now, but I suppose that is how the Dothraki hierarchy works isn’t it?”

Or

“Thank the gods Drogon took Dany’s body with him when he flew off, Jon, it made your story of her flying back to Dragonstone/Essos much more believable.”

 

Martin posted about the ending: http://georgerrmartin.com/notablog/2019/05/20/an-ending/

To me it reads like he's noping out of that ending, but that might just be hopeful thinking on my part.

 

Really good article by Isaac Hempstead-Wright.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/l...d-isaac-hempstead-wright-guest-column-1212195

 

Could you ss it? The site doesn't work maybe HBO demanded that he took it off

 

looks like the whole website is down...

 

Works for me!

Spoiler

The last night, the last show. After eight epic seasons, HBO’s GAME OF THRONES series has come to an end.

It is hard to believe it is over, if truth be told. The years have gone past in the blink of an eye. Can it really have been more than a decade since my manager Vince Gerardis set up a meeting at the Palm in LA, and I sat down for the first time with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for a lunch that lasted well past dinner? I asked them if they knew who Jon Snow’s mother was. Fortunately, they did.

That was how it started. It ended last night.

I had no clue, that afternoon at the Palm, that I was about to embark on a journey that would change my life. I had optioned books and stories for television and film before. Some had even been made There was no way to know that this one was going to be different, that this pilot would not only be shot, but would go on to become the most successful show in the history of HBO, win a record number of Emmy Awards, become the most popular (and most pirated) show in the world, and transform a group of talented but largely unknown actors into major celebrities and stars. Even less did I imagine that I would somehow become a celebrity as well… and if truth be told, I’m still not sure how that happened.

It has been a wild ride, to say the least.

I want to thank people, but there are so many. There were forty-two cast members at the season eight premiere in New York City, and that wasn’t even all of them. And the crew, though less visible than the cast, were no less important. We had some amazing people working on this show, as all those Emmys bear witness. David & Dan assembled a championship team. The directors were incredible as well. I should start naming names, but then I’d miss someone, there were so many. But I do need to mention David Benioff, Dan Weiss, Bryan Cogman (the third head of the dragon, as I said in the recent VANITY FAIR piece about him), and of course the great team at HBO, headed by Richard Plepler. Any other network, and GAME OF THRONES would not have been what it became. Most other networks, this series never gets made at all.

I could go on and on… and have, as I’ve been writing this post in my head… but there’s really too much to say. Parting is such sweet sorrow, the Bard wrote. In the weeks and months to come, I may post about some of my favorite moments from the making of this show… now and again, when I am feeling nostalgic… but just now, there are so many memories, and no time to do them all justice.

Let me say this much — last night was an ending, but it was also a beginning. Nobody is retiring any time soon. David and Dan are going on to STAR WARS and other projects beyond that. Amazon scooped up Bryan Cogman, and put him to work on developing shows of his own, as well as helping out on their big Tolkien project. Our brilliant cast has scattered to the four winds, but you’ll be seeing a lot of them in the years to come, in all manner of television shows and movies. Our directors are keeping busy as well. I suspect that you have not seen the last of Westeros on your television sets either, but I guess that all depends on how some of these successor shows turn out.

And me? I’m still here, and I’m still busy. As a producer, I’ve got five shows in development at HBO (some having nothing whatsoever to do with the world of Westeros), two at Hulu, one on the History Channel. I’m involved with a number of feature projects, some based upon my own stories and books, some on material created by others. There are these short films I am hoping to make, adaptations of classic stories by one of the most brilliant, quirky, and original writers our genre has ever produced. I’ve consulted on a video game out of Japan. And then there’s Meow Wolf…

And I’m writing. Winter is coming, I told you, long ago… and so it is. THE WINDS OF WINTER is very late, I know, I know, but it will be done. I won’t say when, I’ve tried that before, only to burn you all and jinx myself… but I will finish it, and then will come A DREAM OF SPRING.

How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different?

Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.

I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget. They had six hours for this final season. I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done… and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them. And of course the butterfly effect will be at work as well; those of you who follow this Not A Blog will know that I’ve been talking about that since season one. There are characters who never made it onto the screen at all, and others who died in the show but still live in the books… so if nothing else, the readers will learn what happened to Jeyne Poole, Lady Stoneheart, Penny and her pig, Skahaz Shavepate, Arianne Martell, Darkstar, Victarion Greyjoy, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Aegon VI, and a myriad of other characters both great and small that viewers of the show never had the chance to meet. And yes, there will be unicorns… of a sort…

Book or show, which will be the “real” ending? It’s a silly question. How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have?

How about this? I’ll write it. You read it. Then everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet.

 

"The last night, the last show. After eight epic seasons, HBO’s GAME OF THRONES series has come to an end.

It is hard to believe it is over, if truth be told. The years have gone past in the blink of an eye. Can it really have been more than a decade since my manager Vince Gerardis set up a meeting at the Palm in LA, and I sat down for the first time with David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for a lunch that lasted well past dinner? I asked them if they knew who Jon Snow’s mother was. Fortunately, they did.

That was how it started. It ended last night.

I had no clue, that afternoon at the Palm, that I was about to embark on a journey that would change my life. I had optioned books and stories for television and film before. Some had even been made There was no way to know that this one was going to be different, that this pilot would not only be shot, but would go on to become the most successful show in the history of HBO, win a record number of Emmy Awards, become the most popular (and most pirated) show in the world, and transform a group of talented but largely unknown actors into major celebrities and stars. Even less did I imagine that I would somehow become a celebrity as well… and if truth be told, I’m still not sure how that happened.

It has been a wild ride, to say the least.

I want to thank people, but there are so many. There were forty-two cast members at the season eight premiere in New York City, and that wasn’t even all of them. And the crew, though less visible than the cast, were no less important. We had some amazing people working on this show, as all those Emmys bear witness. David & Dan assembled a championship team. The directors were incredible as well. I should start naming names, but then I’d miss someone, there were so many. But I do need to mention David Benioff, Dan Weiss, Bryan Cogman (the third head of the dragon, as I said in the recent VANITY FAIR piece about him), and of course the great team at HBO, headed by Richard Plepler. Any other network, and GAME OF THRONES would not have been what it became. Most other networks, this series never gets made at all.

I could go on and on… and have, as I’ve been writing this post in my head… but there’s really too much to say. Parting is such sweet sorrow, the Bard wrote. In the weeks and months to come, I may post about some of my favorite moments from the making of this show… now and again, when I am feeling nostalgic… but just now, there are so many memories, and no time to do them all justice.

Let me say this much — last night was an ending, but it was also a beginning. Nobody is retiring any time soon. David and Dan are going on to STAR WARS and other projects beyond that. Amazon scooped up Bryan Cogman, and put him to work on developing shows of his own, as well as helping out on their big Tolkien project. Our brilliant cast has scattered to the four winds, but you’ll be seeing a lot of them in the years to come, in all manner of television shows and movies. Our directors are keeping busy as well. I suspect that you have not seen the last of Westeros on your television sets either, but I guess that all depends on how some of these successor shows turn out.

And me? I’m still here, and I’m still busy. As a producer, I’ve got five shows in development at HBO (some having nothing whatsoever to do with the world of Westeros), two at Hulu, one on the History Channel. I’m involved with a number of feature projects, some based upon my own stories and books, some on material created by others. There are these short films I am hoping to make, adaptations of classic stories by one of the most brilliant, quirky, and original writers our genre has ever produced. I’ve consulted on a video game out of Japan. And then there’s Meow Wolf…

And I’m writing. Winter is coming, I told you, long ago… and so it is. THE WINDS OF WINTER is very late, I know, I know, but it will be done. I won’t say when, I’ve tried that before, only to burn you all and jinx myself… but I will finish it, and then will come A DREAM OF SPRING.

How will it all end? I hear people asking. The same ending as the show? Different?

Well… yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes. And no. And yes.

I am working in a very different medium than David and Dan, never forget. They had six hours for this final season. I expect these last two books of mine will fill 3000 manuscript pages between them before I’m done… and if more pages and chapters and scenes are needed, I’ll add them. And of course the butterfly effect will be at work as well; those of you who follow this Not A Blog will know that I’ve been talking about that since season one. There are characters who never made it onto the screen at all, and others who died in the show but still live in the books… so if nothing else, the readers will learn what happened to Jeyne Poole, Lady Stoneheart, Penny and her pig, Skahaz Shavepate, Arianne Martell, Darkstar, Victarion Greyjoy, Ser Garlan the Gallant, Aegon VI, and a myriad of other characters both great and small that viewers of the show never had the chance to meet. And yes, there will be unicorns… of a sort…

Book or show, which will be the “real” ending? It’s a silly question. How many children did Scarlett O’Hara have?

How about this? I’ll write it. You read it. Then everyone can make up their own mind, and argue about it on the internet."