GAME OF THRONES: THE FINAL EPISODE. Monday 20th May. Spoilers after 2am.

[OneInAMillionYou]

It's here.

Eight seasons of love, hate, family, battles, history, mystery, myth and legend.

After laying waste to Kings' Landing, what next for Daenerys? Does destiny feel good when you kill thousands of innocents to reach it?

I will really miss these characters and their stories. Epic, must-watch television is rare. Will we ever see its like again?

And now our watch is ended.

Some idiot posted the leak on the speculation thread, but I didn't believe it at the time.

I think it is a fitting ending overall, even though it felt very rushed.

I liked Tyrion looking for Jaime and felt very sad when Drogon nudged Dany in mourning. Someone had likened the Iron Throne to the One Ring from LOTR, which I thought was very apt when Drogon melted it. Dany was very much like Gollum in her quest for the Iron Throne and in the end it drove her mad and killed her. Poor woman didn't even get to sit on it! At that point, I felt pity for her, despite her supposed acts of justice.

Bran asking after Drogon at the meeting.

What a let down thronecast was!

Having watched the finale again I liked it more this time around. I like the fact that Bran can’t have children- no hereditary monarchy.

'Am I wrong in thinking that Jon's ending was him choosing not to stay in Castle Black in the Night's Watch but moving north for good, with the wildlings, to become a kind of King-Beyond-the-Wall, a la Mance Rayder? So leaving all the politics and so on behind and returning to where he was happiest?'

I'm not sure. He still had his nights watch coat on. But it's clear he will be the main authority north of the wall. Each of the starks were given their own area to rule. Bran the 6 kingdoms, Sansa the north, Jon the very very North and Arya some foreign land.

So, on a second watch:

I like the first 50ish minutes, with the totalitarian imagery, and the intensity, up until Daenerys is killed and the dragon flies off with her. Really think Jon's arrest scene should have been sold...perhaps the writers also couldn't think of any way to play it where he didn't end up dead. The whole witenagemot is a bit cringeworthy. Bran as king seems rather wet. I can buy Sansa as queen in the north. Tyrion as hand seems appropriate. Bronn as master of coin far less so. Are they actually saying Sam is Grand Maester (yeah, right) or that he is representing him? Do like Brienne writing in the book.

Hmmm, Tyrion seemed the best human performance, second only to the CGI Drogon.

Incidentally, the Nuremburg banner - is there any chance it's the sale of one of her ships?

I thought the final moments with Jon going into the woods was beautiful - I loved it and thought it was very game of thronesy. It felt like coming full circle, had a sense of an ending but somehow also full of possibility and new stories.

Like others I am irritated by the gap between Dany's death and the council meeting. My version is that the melted throne put drogon under suspicion and bought Jon time to find davos and seek some protection before handing himself in - I suspect he hadn't long been the Unsullied's prisoner? Anyway it was very plot-holey.

I found broken bran annoyingly smug - but I had been thinking a virgin queen Elizabeth type character was what was needed - and actually he fullfills that role better than anyone.

I was also irritated by the brothel jokes - but I guess if Kings landing was destroyed and replaced by some totally 'good' new place then that somehow justifies dany's action iyswim? A few seasons back I thought the NK army was a bit like Nazi's so I like the way it turned out to be Dany's army that really was - I don't know much about fascism etc though.

Sorry I cant remember who shared it but I enjoyed reading the article that was linked to early on in the thread about the story telling going from societal storytelling to psychological storytelling.

Overall I felt it ended pretty well and I liked seeing the starks together before parting ways once more for new stories.

Good idea about that banner being a ships sail, whoever suggested that - it makes sense. Though I have a feeling that a couple of seasons ago there was a moment when a castle was conquered and new banners were displayed immediately (think it was Lannister?) so it may be culturally The Thing To Do in westeros so Danni would have made sure that there was a plan - even if that was *we can use the ship sail" rather than having something made.

I don't buy the Dothraki just leaving with the unsullied. Their whole culture is to violently conquer places then pilage and enslave the beaten population to gain their reward. They haven't been paid, their pay is what they get for themselves. They just survived the terrifying battle against the Night King with zero opportunity for reward. Then were immediately marched south to destroy and sack the capital city of the seven kingdoms.

Now it is feasible they might be paid off, but its a bit rubbish not to address this rather sticky problem as part of the post-conquest narrative. Its an equally important question as that of who rules. They dealt well with showing that the person who wants the throne and can command armies to get it will not make a good ruler, and the person who has line-of-succession rightful heir status will not make a good ruler.

The open question is that if someone assembles an army of conquest and inspires them to victory then that force which has been created does not just dissipate when no longer needed. Not addressing that is a cop out.

I was also thinking that Jon would probably find love again. I know the whole point of him going to The Wall is that so he can’t father children and the Targs will die out, but he’s just such a hopeless romantic. I’m sure he’d have loads of adventures.

Does anyone know if the words are available for that final choral version of the theme song they played when Jon rode north of the wall at the end?

Bronn, shut the fuck up and let Sam finish a sentence. Yes! And everyone else too no business actually got done at that small council thanks to Bronn and his bantz

We have all had Bronns in team meetings 😂

I thought the ending was ok. But I felt season 8 was too rushed, plot holes, not as well written or produced as series 1-7.
Disappointed.

The whole point of the free folk is that they are free. They don't bend the knee to any ruler. Jon turning up and ruling the free folk would go against the whole purpose of the episode imo. Dany said a few times 'they don't get to choose', so it was very anti monarchy. To have Jon, who is not one of the free folk come in and rule them would be the start of the reason they were all fighting in the first place, because outside invaders wanted power over all the seven kingdoms. I would like to think Jon went off to live amongst them and they stayed free. I liked Aryas ending. She was a free spirit and was set free to adventure.

I agree S8 was very rushed. They could have done Dany's descent much more effectively, as well as as tying up some loose ends. I liked the Grey joys but Yara just didn't do anything at the end. I thought she'd want her own Kingdom too. But maybe because they agreed that Bran should be king they felt they would be allowed to just get on with it and it wasn't worth the bother.

Reasons Bran is a shit choice

He knew what was going to happen and wa content to let thousands die so it happened that way

He doesn’t care. He is without human emotion

I’ve got a sneaky feeling he’s indeed manipulated himself into powee

He’s got as much presence as a wet lettuce. Surely to rule you must need some charisma

Go on then, persuade me how he’s s better or morally superior choice to dany. Dany was ruled by emotion in the end; Bran allowed and in occasion actively encouraged her genocide nevausexhe had no emotion and that’s “the way things were meant to be”

I heard the fan speculation but didn't believe it was true either cos it was such a shit idea. Wow.

Shittiest King Ever. He couldn't even be bothered to sit in his first Council meeting. FFS.

Also a bit of a let down how alone everyone is in the end. Brienne = unlikely to ever marry. Sansa = unlikely to ever marry, and certainly not for love if she does. Tyrion = unlikely to ever marry. Ser Davos = unlikely to ever marry. Bran = definitely not. Jon = definitely not. I just felt a bit sorry for them all in the end, despite them getting these plum jobs.

He knew what was going to happen and wa content to let thousands die so it happened that way

I don't think it's clear that he did know. I don't think he necessarily knows the future. Or not all of it. But even if he did know - what do you think he could have done to stop it?

Also a bit of a let down how alone everyone is in the end

How is that a let down? Did you expect happy endings?

I don't buy the Dothraki just leaving with the unsullied.

They might have been persuaded by all the North men standing outside the walls? Gates? Well, outside the ruins.
Even the Vikings didn't stay long during raids. It's not easy to sustain pillage on foreign land.

In a way, it's good that Bran didn't bother to sit in the first meeting. He's like the current Queen rather than an absolutist King. It's a huge way forward.
And maybe one day, Sam can persuade them to let the people vote for the Hand... Or the Council.

Ser Davos = unlikely to ever marry.

Good news, Ser Davos is already married. So it's just the others that are going to be lonely, yay!

The ash falling like snow in King's Landing, Dany had brought her own winter just as deadly as the Night King.

I'm a bit rushed for time so can't read the whole thread as much as I would like to but I couldn't follow Jon's ending.

So he was sent to the wall, was like wtf there's still a wall, ok cool. Got there and it was what, filled with his pal and the free folk and they just left the wall? Who is guarding the wall now? Was he allowed to do that? It's not really fulfilling his punishment is it?

DH thought he was 'just going for a walk in the woods with them and is going back to the wall afterwards' which I'm just ignoring as it seems ridiculous

Did anyone watch & think is Sansa based Elizabeth I?

I don’t think any of that is a given. Tyrion is Lord Lannister of Casterly Rock now, there’s no reason he wouldn’t marry. Davos could easily marry again. Jon has been told not to by a family who will never check up on him, and the free folk don’t bother with marriage anyway. He could still fall in love.

Also a bit of a let down how alone everyone is in the end.

That's a rather Hollywood point of view. Some people can be happy without a romantic partner.
That Council seems more a meeting of friends than previous ones.
Sansa is clearly happy among her people. Arya to boldly go.

I agree that Jon is best among free people. His queen is not of this world anymore.

I also don't agree reading Bran knowing and doing nothing.
I don't think he could actually do anything. And if anything he prevented another dictator from taking over by setting the wheels in motion with Jon's ancestry.
The sociological bit is that to achieve social progress it's often necessary a big trauma.
It took WWII for the UN to be born as a useful organization. And for the EC to be born.
The French and American revolutions were bloody ones.
Killing Cersei and Dany early one would have achieved just another traditional king in place. And maintenance of the disputes between Lords.

I don’t know if Bran could have stopped it but he never made an attempt.

That’s the thing. He knew. He fecking knew. And he sat back and let it happen and to an extent orchestrated it happening.

Even Jon, who lets face it is the human equivalent of a chocolate teapot, attempted to stop the troops at personal risk.