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.

I agree about marriage. For most of the characters, marriage would not be a happy ending necessarily. For the women particularly, it would mean giving up hard fought for power. Jon probably will father some children beyond the wall, and go back and forth without marrying, but Brienne, Sansa and Arya can do as they please now, but would not be able to if they married. It would have been a cheesy Hollywood ending to have them all paired off.

I think they’d definitely need to pay the Dothraki off. Not to make up for Dany’s death, because she was a loser, but because plundering and enslaving is what they would expect to do to a defeated city: especially after taking the greatest city in the world. They need some loot, and they’ve earned it after helping save the world from an army of zombies.

RE the Dothraki - didn’t Dany declare them all her blood riders, so presumably they’re supposed to be dead now that she is?

Having 10 episodes would not have helped. What the hell would they have filled them with - more cock jokes and drinking games?
Yeh sure there would have been more cock jokes and copied lines from other seasons, the writing wouldn't have improved with a full season, but better pacing and and a bigger, more dramatic payoff could easily have been achieved. I think leaving Dani alive for at least an episode would have been much better, even if it was just more of her disillusion fuelled speeches and it would have been good to see some politics play out in the unsullied/council/Bran/Jon dilemma.

The thing is, S5 and 7 where utter garbage, but S6 was actually pretty decent. The dialogue was crappy, but more episodes where good and meaningful than not. Ep 9 & 10 where particularly fantastic. And tbf, the fans did absolutely hate S7 for the most part too, there where the same complaints, esp regarding the Littlefinger plot, but I'm still not sure why it's taken this long to get up in arms about it- I guess maybe they thought it was actually going somewhere and the last few seasons would be rectified with a clever or more well written ending.

better written. More well written sounds

I loved it as a final programme, I hated it as an ending (especially for JS). I realised in the middle of the night that of course it's because it's not an ending. Life goes on in Westeros. We may have stopped getting news from the ravens, but that doesn't mean things have come to an end. And we were shown that yesterday: Sam presented Tyrion with the completed ASOIAF.

Things in KL won't be easy for them at first. The survivors of the north won't be happy to bury the dead, they'll insist on them being burnt, which will upset the living of KL, who will see it as the final insult.

The Iron Islands and Dorne won't be happy to remain one of the six when the North is free, especially if heavy taxes are introduced to pay for the rebuilding of KL. I suspect Yara could bring her army down again, after a bit of R+R, but hopefully she'll keep her head and do things peacefully. After they've split the remaining three will fall apart.

What did Tyrion say was the most powerful weapon? Stories. And what was he presented with? The story of the recent history, which at its heart has the story of R+L=JS. This story will get out. Tyrion will visit brothels and tell the whores, tell people in pubs, tell everyone. Very quickly JS will go from man to legend, and the common folk will make connections with Azor Ahai.

They will also hear about Sam's idea of democracy, and I think they'll grab the idea and run with it. There will be calls to bring JS back, to guide the independent kingdoms. Arya will go north of the wall to find him, and will also find Nymeria. In the meantime JS has found the Children of the Forest and improved relations with them.

Bran will stand down as king - he's only there as an interim leader. The council will continue, as that's where the true power is, but members will be voted on to it.

There will be trouble brewing across the Narrow Sea - Greyworm hears of JS return and isn't happy, and the kingdoms pull together to see off this latest attempt at invasion.

I'd love for the ravens to return in ten years and update us all.

I kind of agree with you SweetSummerchild in that it was ridiculous how pared back the characters became, how many characters just dropped off the face of the world (even if some -edmure- reappeared right at the end. Who was feeding him once Arya killed the Freys?) and how the impact of really quite major events on some regions were just ignored because they didn't give themselves enough time or characters.

But I think that GRRM has gone too far in his world building and created a monster of sub plots that is now seriously unmanageable - he started writing a trilogy and the last book was due to have been called a time of wolves (so clearly not has always been intended for the Starks to be centre stage) but has wandered off into all sorts of weird side alleys.

It feels like the show tried to keep the breadth of location and plot while going shallow on characters and creating the problems you describe. It might have been better if they had completely cut Dorne rather than playing lip service to its place in the story and instead spent more time developing the Vale where the few characters that kept were important to the outcome of the main plots in the show.

With historian hat on, the meeting to choose a king would either have been chock full of every nobleman who could have an excuse to be there because major events or they should have had a stack full of letters from people claiming to be "ill" so they don't have to pick a side and can see how it settles down (then again that is in a medieval system with a house of lords which westeros doesn't have)

Did Blackfish die in S6? He was sitting in the dragon pit last night, wasn'

Any future problems brought to Bran will probably be met with, "Talk to the Hand✋." Tyrion will rule by default.

"chaos is a ladder". Bran has used that to become King and Sansa has also benefitted

It feels like the show tried to keep the breadth of location and plot while going shallow on characters
Yes, it turned from the characters dictating the plot to the plot dictating the characters.

Well...that was all very Wolverine and Jean Grey, wasn't it? And, I wouldn't have believed it was possible but I found that whole scene LESS moving than than the one in whatever X Men film it was! I mean.... please.

The small council scene was almost like a comic relief type sketch - ridiculous. Where was the fabulously sharp, clever dialogue and the well observed nuance of previous seasons? Not enough talking, far too much silent entreaty going on. A bit like walking dead, where later seasons seem to eschew great scripwriting in favour of long, meaningful looks off into the distance....I know that part of Jons original appeal was his brooding melancholy, a Westerosi 'Man at C&A' if you will, but this was just taking it too far.

Meh.

Viserion being pulled out of a frozen lake by White Walker forged chains did it for me. That was the point of no return - when I realised that the showrunners would invent any convenient plot device necessary to get them where they needed to be regardless of logic.

That was the point where I said “OK, I’m just along for the ride now”. I suppose that sort of explains why I’ve been less disappointed with this season than other viewers.

I mean the writing for the whole season, not just the small council scene...plenty of dialogue in that, obviously.

@agirlhasnonameX I completely agree that season 7 wasn't good but fans tolerated it thinking it was building up to an epic S8. I remember reading all the fan theory before S8 started about plot twists and hidden meanings and thinking I just don't this the writers have it in them to be that clever. I was right. Yes, episode 3 was great as it had the same director as BOTB and HH. There was also some fantastic imigary and beautiful shots but overall it was such an anticlimax.

Imagery*

I remember reading all the fan theory before S8 started about plot twists and hidden meanings and thinking I just don't this the writers have it in them

^this

I think the point about Bran is that he does have glimpses of the future, but he has learned not to influence events, didn’t the last 3ER remind him constantly not to stay too long and that his role is not to shape destiny, but to remember it.

Jon got a bum deal, he saved the wildlings, he brought Daenerys’ arms noth to fight the dead, and he sacrificed his love for the greater good. She was a nutter, and if you didn’t see that coming, you haven’t been watching. I don’t think she had to go mad at this particular point but the loss of Jorah, Missandei and Rhaegal; the lack of love, the knowledge that Jon has a better claim than she did ... , she just wanted her “birthright” ..

Very satisfying end, and it’s The onl,y thing that make any sense of Brans arc...

Re the book, I don’t believe GRRM will ever finish. His method of writing has just created far too many sub plots / extra stories/ complexity for it to be finished in one tie up... so he let the show into his ending, and they created it.

Sansa being crowned got me as well, and the cries of Queen in the North. Ned and Catelyn could be very proud of their children. Sob

Me too. In my head Ned and Catelyn were looking on proudly, like the hologram of Anakin at the end of Return of the Jedi!

I always used to hate Sansa but now I love her. It was her manoeuvring that won winterfell back. And she will be an amazing queen. I glossed over it initially but she obviously marched her entire army down to Kings Landing, which helped protect Jon.

It looks like GRRM has been taking notes on how to finish a long saga with hundreds of characters from the Avengers End Game movie.
Let's hope the books manage a more complex ending.

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

So, basically, like a modern corporation. A lot of which are very successful ...

Having said that, I still agree that Bran is a stupid pick.

I've never understood why he's so void of personality and so robotic, the bloodraven had been at it much longer than Bran and he wasn't a robot. Hempstead-Wright said he wasn't going to play Bran like that so much this season. He becomes a character impossible to really connect with.

I guess a King that doesn't want or have feelings could be a really good thing, ruling with logic over emotion, but would be better if we the audience felt something about it.

Thinking about the season I was surprised a few times (NK dying early, Ayra doing it, Dany dying early in the episode, Bran as king) which I think is pretty good considering there has been so many theories, speculation etc.

Yes it was defo too fast paced but overall i’m ok with it & think it’s a great show.

i want to watch from the start to the end but when will i find the time!

I'm pretty sure the Blackfish wasn't in the council meeting. He died way back when Edmure took over Riverrun.

As I said, I think the ending is open to interpretation, but in the final scene Jon was wearing black and he was wearing his Lord Commander cloak. I think it can be assumed that he was just going north of the wall as part of his duties. I actually assumed that Tormund would lead the free folk, if anyone, but there would be cooperation with the Black Watch through Jon now. I don't think he was abandoning his duties. That wouldn't really fit in with Jon's personality. He only left the previous time because they killed him.

I have loved these threads - thanks all!
I only started watching about 6 months ago but got totally hooked.
Mixed feelings about the end. Still not sure about the idea of Bran on the throne and the only thing I guessed right was that Jon would kill Dany. I feel so so sorry for Jon! What a life! He found out that his whole life had been a lie, he was killed by the very people who were supposed to follow him (the night's watch), he has lost both of the women he loved and had to kill one of them, he is still the rightful king yet he has been banished north of the wall. I suppose at least he has Ghost. 😞
I am glad that Sansa will reign over the north. I love her and she's survived so much that she deserves it.

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”

Because he isn't actually going to rule in the sense Dany was. He is leaving things up to the small council. He will know if any of them have ulterior motives and can advise the council as much as they can advise him.

Overtime the small council will change because people will die or want to retire or 100 other reasons.

He is young and assuming he leads a long life then the next king/queen will expect to be more of a figurehead than a direct ruler.

Also before he dies or shortly afterwards there will be a new three eyed raven.

So the process goes on, new ruler, new 3 eyed raven (one person may be both) and a steady small council.