Game of Thrones ended the same way and in the same place, it began, and remember us all the game of thrones bastard names. The first shot of the show was a couple of watchmen encountering the white walkers, and Ned Stark executing a watchman who ran away. And in this final episode, we have those scenes again, but the north and the rest of the world is safe again and left the world remain in danger with the night king and the white walkers are gone. But even more importantly, this confirmed the Starks have always been the main focus of the series, and it’s fitting that we had our final goodbyes to Sansa, Arya, and Jon right in the end.
One of the big moments is obviously Jon taking out Dany as I predicted. This was a awesome moment and beautifully scene, when we focus on Jon and his acting. He has yet again had to watch the love of his life perish, but this time at his hands. He belongs to the free folk, like Tormundsaid in episode 4. Also, he suffered Ghost, so that is a huge point.
Having Dany be mad queen is a great premise, but it still feels way too rushed, resulting in a finale and final season that could have been a lot better than what we got. But nonetheless, this is what we get. And the next big moment is having Bran the next king of the now six kingdoms. This is also something I predicted, and a lot of people will be pissed but it makes sense. Bran is the next best thing after Jon, she doesn’t want power or anything really. The future of Westeros will also always be decided by voting on the next ruler after Bran’s death. So it’s not totally democratic but it’s still a huge step up from the passing down of rulers that have plagued Westeros for all these years. Bran the Broken will probably be a capable ruler. And Tyrion’s fate sealed as the hand is interesting. Tyrion made so many mistakes that led to Danykilling millions of innocent people.
And he now has to pay for his mistakes by fixing the world and shaping it to be this peaceful and prosperous place that it needs to be. And having Sam, Bron, Brienne, and Davos in the council helping Tyrion and Bran to rule was a huge highlight for me personally. This is the best fate for the realm, and kind of the perfect ending in a sense. From the start, it was fairly obvious that George Martin’s story, the heroes won’t rule or succeed.
Dany was the most obvious choice for the iron throne from the beginning, but her turn to the mad queen sealed her demise. And Jon is the ruler was also not going to happen because it’s too easy of an ending. Jon belongs in the north and that is where he ended up. The big issue would be having Bran be king, especially considering he hasn’t done much this season, especially during the fight against the dead. But this does fix the issue of Bran’s arch feeling useless. He was always there to help shepherd Westeros into a better world, and yet again it’s fitting. Sansa and Arya’s endings also made sense and were, essentially, perfecting.
Sansa always needed to be some sort of a ruler and she made the north an independent kingdom again. Seeing her be named the queen of the north was the ending she deserved. And Arya always wanted to explore and be a free spirit and see what’s west of Westeros. Her goodbye to Jon was one of the most emotional moments in the finale because of their strong bond together, and the knowledge that they may never see each other ever again. And this is where the strengths of Game of thrones shine in this finale, the character interactions and these small moments. So what is the ultimate message of this story? There’s a lot here and it’s a bit muddled as a result of Season 8 is very uneven. In the end, I think it’s about how people act differently to being in a position of power. Dany slaughtered millions due to her power, while Jon was happy being isolated up north despite having a right to the iron throne. Power and war are evil, and there is this importance of working together and letting go of your ego to better the world. The heroes came together to stop the NightKing, Cersei, and then finally Dany. Now they came together to usher Westeros into a new age, one that’ll go on after the final credits roll.
