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So Far: "Game of Thrones" Season 8 (2018)
Great final season, vastly underappreciated
***SO MANY SPOILERS BELOW***
Everything that happened in this season, was a perfect culmination that explained every little thing that has happened for the series without spoon feeding you that explanation. Everything happened for a reason, everyone played their role. Just like End Game, this was the 1 in 14,000,000 chances to save the world. You don't have to like that it wasn't a happy ending. It was the only way it could end correctly.
Cersei - We all wanted her to get a brutal ending. After everything we went through because of her, we wanted the same satisfaction that we received from Ramsey Bolton's death. But, something GoT never gives us, is what we want or expect. It's frustrating, but it's also very Cersei of her to go out on her own terms, and not giving us the satisfaction of a gruesome beheading. She's still pissing us off from the grave.
Her Role: Being the biggest pain in the world's ass that put almost everything in motion. Truly one of the greatest villains ever.
Jamie - So. Many. Complaints. Yes, Jamie went through hell and back and became a hero over time. His arc was mainly about him redeeming himself and his stained reputation for assassinating a king. He was a knight that was not respected by other knights any more. He fought very hard to get his reputation back in line through honorable acts. After the White Walker battle, he got that redemption. However, not once did we ever get mislead that he didn't love Cersei with all his heart. Once faced with the actual fear of Dany leading her unstoppable force to his sister's demise, he had to return to her. He had to try to save her, or die with her.
His Role: Ultimately, shoving Bran out the window and setting him up to become the weird thing he is now.
Arya - We get it. Everyone wanted to see Arya wear faces and kill every bad guy in the show. This isn't the Arya show. She played her part by killing the Night King.
Her Role: Bringing an end to key evil stakeholders. Little Finger, all of Riverrun, and the White Walkers.
Bran - No one expected Bran on the throne. He's weird, he isn't royal blood, and he doesn't want it. But his quest brought him from little crippled Stark, to the only one in the world that knew how to save human life from the horde of White Walkers. Him being elected King presented a neutral option of choice, not blood, beginning a new era of peace and prosperity. I hated it the moment I realized it was about to happen. Then after Tyrion's speech, I was on board. He has the collection of human knowledge in his head, which means no repeating the same mistakes as past rulers. It's no wonder the Night King wanted to kill him so badly.
His Role: Save the world and lead it in a way that had never been considered before.
Jon - Could he have been a good king? Definitely. Would people of all 7 kingdoms rally behind him after assassinating the new Queen that did all the hard work of conquering before him? Probably not. The cycle of "royal" blood claims for the throne would continue forever. People also say him being Targaryen was all for nothing and it was a waste of our time. The reveal of his lineage is what caused his rift with Dany. If he hadn't been Targaryen, then you would have gotten the happy ending you felt you deserved. Dany as queen, with her husband from the North and all the love of the people she couldn't get on her own. She would have shown mercy at King's Landing due to having the love of Jon grounding her and keeping her emotions in check - and not feeling threatened by his potential claim. The entire purpose of him being Targaryen was to break that relationship and be that final snap in her decent into madness. The ending he received brought him full circle to where he has always felt the most at home. The "true" North with the wildlings and his wolf.
His Role: Uniting the Wildlings with the rest of the North, bringing Dany to save the world from the White Walkers, and ultimately - killing Dany to let a peaceful leader rule in the world she made.
Daenerys - if you still don't understand her descent into self-righteous darkness after Tyrion explained it to Jon, you haven't paid attention. Before she crossed the ocean, she had people who loved her, worshipped her, and 100% believed in her. The situations she faced were just stories that were unrelatable to the North and South because don't have slaves to free or in-your-face evil. Just politics. So, when she finally gets there and arrives with this army and demands they bend the knee because she has dragons, they aren't really sure what to do. They only know she's Targaryen, and she acts like one. After she fights a battle she never intended to fight, she loses most her army, she loses the last remnants of the people she loved and trusted, and she soon after loses the one person's affections that kept her grounded. Cersei pissed her off from the moment she met her - holding a throne she has no claim to, lying about helping face this horde of evil ice zombies, then killing her dragon and best friend. Those bells rang and the people did not drag out the queen for execution, she was sitting there in a bloodlust fury and finally snapped. Then you see her lust for power grow. She set out to do what she wanted to do, and the only person she now knows and trusts is the general of her army who also just wants to see the world burn for its sins. Why people can't get behind this story arc is incredibly ignorant. They just wanted her to be this hero with a perfect story. This young girl that only knew pain and struggle, given total power to take on the world. This girl that had no political training or positive role models. The only person that could get close enough to end her was Jon. Et tu, Jon Snow? Et tu?
Her Role: End slavery in major parts of Essos, destruction of the White Walkers, and the ultimate end to Cersei. She paved the way for the future to prosper under a peaceful leadership.
While season 8 felt a little rushed at parts and probably could have used 2 more episodes to slow that feeling down, it ended exactly how it needed to. I do agree that the White Walker story was left vastly unexplained, but maybe that's because none of the characters actually have an explanation. They are meant to be this mysterious evil that comes around every couple thousand years. We might also get a lot more of that in the prequel spin-offs (I hope)