Latest Game Of Thrones Episode Ruined Every Character Arc And Expectation

SPOILER ALERT!

The first episode showed promise. The second episode had good moments. The third had poor lighting with a storyline that reduced the main villain to a plot device to weaken Dany’s army. The fourth episode commenced the downfall.

Foreshadowing is a very important attribute used by a writer to make the story compelling. Well, I guess Ned Stark’s execution foreshadowed what we were going to feel after watching the rest of the seasons.

Game of Thrones is probably on the top of the list of shows that were once great, popular and had every social media platform talking. People took to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to write about how they’d feel once the show is over and they wouldn’t have another season to look forward to. Who knew that Dany’s dramatic turn would make the fans say “Alright, just one more episode to go and it will be over”.

Dany’s ‘mad queen’ vibes were obvious the minute the Mountain decapitated her best friend, Missandei, whose final word was ‘Dracarys!’. Despite her assurance that she will not turn into her father, Daenerys ended up following his footsteps, taking her best friend’s final wish literally. The King’s Landing soldiers dropped their swords and rang the bells, yet Dany went to attack and kill innocent men, women, and children.

Rubble And Ashes

Drogon did not just burn King’s Landing and its people, but all the fan theories, prophesies, plot expectations and most importantly character arcs. The most beloved character, who was a feminist icon, who turned her life around and became the one who fought masters to free the slaves, is the most nerve-racking and ruthless villain now, who might even make King Joffrey look less evil. Though her ruthless and cold side was (kind of) hinted once in a while, it was never inferred that she would let her army and dragon butcher civilians. She once stopped her Dothraki people from raping; here, her army butchered thousands of innocents. One of her army men is shown dragging a woman to a corner, only to be killed by Jon Snow.

She had seen the vision of herself before the iron throne with snow falling (a probable reference to Jon Snow). That is later deemed as ash. She does express that she will take back what is hers and that she will burn the cities if need be. But, what I hoped for was that she wouldn’t do all of that after all and instead stick to her original promise, which was to not become the queen of ashes.

That being said, even if they wanted to make her the mad queen, why did they have to reduce that arc to a six-episode season as opposed to giving it ample buildup? On one hand, we saw Dany’s efforts during the ‘The Long Night’ where she saved Jon Snow from the wights, who stood with Jorah Mormont despite the fact that she could easily escape the wights by standing inside the fire. Now she’s suddenly decided to destroy an entire city.

Well, since Jon Snow aka Aegon Targaryen is the true heir to the Iron Throne, the show-makers wanted to take Dany out of the equation and what better way than to make her a mad queen?

It was not just Dany. I wrote earlier about Sansa’s problematic perception of how her experience with her rapist/abusers made her a tough woman. Well, that line seemed like a lighter before Drogon’s fire, which is the depiction of women and character arcs of important people.

Tyrion Not So Clever Afterall

Tyrion Lannister was the cleverest man in King’s Landing. He has been unapologetic when it comes to his preferences yet he has a good heart. We saw his slickness during the first few seasons, yet he was kind to Sansa who then was being terrorised by Joffrey and Cersei. Here, in Sansa’s own words, I thought he is the cleverest man in Westeros. He just ended up being disappointing in the last episode.

Cercei Deserved More, Yes She Did

Then, when it comes to chewing and spitting, nothing gets worse than Cersei Lannister’s death. All that plot building and she died under the collapsing buildings!? We have seen in the past seven seasons how ruthless and cold she is. I mean, Lena Headey still gets hate from her fans. We saw the look on her face after she executed Missandei; surrendering is the last thing on her mind. Even as a young girl, who listened to the prophecy, Cersei only gave out evil vibes. And… she dies under a falling ceiling?! We waited for almost decade to see Cersei get what she deserves. After everything she did- Ned, Sept of Baelor, forcing Ellaria Sand to watch her daughter’s rotting body, ordering the sexual assault of Septa Unella, and many other such instances.

She is seen crying and pleading in her brother and lover, Jaime’s, arms. For some reason, the writers made her look like a victim amidst the rubble and wanted us to sympathize with her.

Well, duh?

Where is the Valonqar’s role in this? He is only holding her in his hands, not choking her. That moment was as dumb as Jon Snow who was just standing next to the trench on his dragon when Melisandre lit it (after great difficulty).

All For Love, Jamie? Really?!

Speaking of the most ruined character, Jaime Lannister showed potential and promise to be the best in the series. When he left Winterfell, leaving behind a heartbroken Brienne, I kind of hoped that he was going there to put an end to Cersei. She just sent Bronn to kill him and Tyrion. She made a deal with Euron behind Jaime’s back and was manipulating him. She turned her back on the deal with Jon Snow. He had plenty of reasons to be pissed off. But, then as it turns out, his words to Brienne were literal. He was indeed going back to Cersei and for Cersei. Who knew that when Jaime pushed Bran out of the window, he was foreshadowing the fate of his own character arc and likability?

Arya Stark, who was the only one carrying the disastrous season on her back after her badass move in the third episode, is basically only shown moving around. She retreats after the Hound’s words, which is mostly what dudes say to their female counterparts. When Arya turned back, she shut the theory of ‘green eyes’ forever. The ones who thought that she will use Jaime’s face to get close to her, are probably making their own faces. I feel bad for those who wrote articles after articles, theorising Cersei’s fate.

After spending over seven seasons developing the story and people’s expectations, D&D threw it all under the rubble.

After watching this episode, all I thought was ‘what was the point?’

With only one episode left, we all know where the plot is going. There is no chance of redemption for the mother of dragons, and, plenty of parents who named their kids “Khaleesi” or “Dany” are regretting it already.

Dany’s fate was written as she stood before the kingdom that was reduced to ashes. It is just a matter of who is writing it. Or, as per one of the fan theories, the whole thing is just Ned Stark’s bad dream, with him waking up in the end.