The Ending: Would you have had it any other way?

Yep, the Targaryens were the wheel personified, Dany included.

 

The biggest issue I had was how quickly Dorne and especially the Iron Islands rallied behind King Bran instead of making a play for independence like the North. Seemed somewhat out of character for them based on where they stood politically right up to that moment.

I also don't find it very believable that Jon Snow would have ever made it out of that throne room alive. The Unsullied are not presented as the types to capture him so he can await trial. Tyrion, maybe, since his crimes were less and he was already imprisoned on Dany's orders. But it seems far more in character for them to murder Jon on the spot.

 

Literally minutes before we saw the Unsullied ready to gut Jon Snow for simply touching Greyworm.

 

THE ENDING: WOULD YOU HAVE HAD IT ANY OTHER WAY?

 

The only major ending I would have changed is that (so sue me, I like a little romance once in a while) is Gendry turns down his lordship and joins Arya on her journey to West of Westeros. I liked them together and would have liked them to stay together. They have been through so much, and he does make her happy, and it would have been nice to know she was not alone in her journey.

 

I wouldn't have changed the ending, just given it more time to develop, especially the process of choosing Bran as king. Show more of why he is the right choice to be king, establish who the heck the new Prince of Dorne is, and show Yara's point of view on the subject. Also, more setup for Tyrion's reappointment as Hand after making so many mistakes the last two seasons. (So much of what went wrong was his fault)

 

I would have had Drogon swoop in for a surprise attack on that incredibly STUPID council at the Dragon Pit, roasting and eating a few of those lords and ladies starting with Sansa.

 

Night King wins and takes over Westeros. Just a few small pockets of survivors still praying and hoping for a hero that will never come.

 

Maybe the first edit?

 

Fact: Valonqar was never in the show in the first place.

 

K cool. The scene is still weird between Dany and Jon.

 

Honestly, I wouldn't have minded Drogon just killing everyone. Just put the audience out of its misery with a big Westeroast.

 

I always thought this would be a fitting ending for the series. There is so much squabbling among the Westerosi that they don't unite against the Night King until it is too late and they all die as a result. Actions (or lack of actions) have consequences.

 

LOL, good for Westeros that Night King had a glass jaw, literally!

I was fooled by the series though because I always thought Long Night and White Walkers were the true threat that would bring down the kingdom, and it never really even came close that.

They turned out to lack teeth really.

 

Yeah, if you look at the final and all on paper...it would work well enough for a GOT ending.
Its the fact that they rushed through it and focused too much on plot and too little on character that this didnt work for most people.

That would have been a ballsy way to end and im all here for it.
Visually it would have been cool to see the NIght King win and all.

I refuse to believe that they had it planned out at the beginning to be as bland and empty as it was in the end.
On this i give D&D a bit credit, even they wouldnt have built up this to such an extent, just to have it be nothing...but i could be wrong on that one.
They promoted the hell out of this, even took the starks motto away and made this whole "Winter is coming" into the night king/white walker theme...there is no way this was meant to be a simple one episode battle when the show began.

They shot themself in the foot when they suddenly decided that season 8 NEEDS to be the last.

 

You know, people keep saying that it's because they didn't give themselves enough time to wrap it up, but the more I think about it, I really don't think that's it. Granted, they could have stretched the last two seasons out to 10 episodes each, or added an entire ninth season, and it might have worked. But they also had enough time to wrap things up well if they were really trying. For example, one of my other favorite shows, Sense 8, got canceled but then they struck a deal with Netflix to produce a two-hour movie that would wrap up the series. And not only did they manage to pull it off, I'd say it was one of the best series finales of all time. It's my personal favorite. And while there weren't as many plot threads on that show to wrap up, it's still a show that has a huge cast of main characters and fans were worried that one more episode, albeit an extended one, would do the story justice. But somehow it really, really did.

Now compare that to however many episodes GoT had when they announced that the show was coming to an end. Was it 14? That's plenty of time to complete a story. But instead, they meandered about, wasting time in multiple episodes when they could have been moving the story along. Dany's turn wouldn't have felt so abrupt if it had really started somewhere in season 7. Her love story with Jon would have felt more natural if they had spent more than a few scenes together before doing the deed. The White Walkers might have felt like more of a threat if we actually SAW them a bit more. This show perfected the ability to waste time. People have made fun of the scene where Tyrion straightens chairs in the finale. That scene was a microcosm of this show's main problem.

 

I"m not sure if Jon was still part of the Nightwatch at the end or if he left them to live with the Wildings, but I prefer the latter and would have set it at that. He's done with Westeros.

 

Truthfully, I do think the bullet points are there for a decent ending. The execution was extremely disappointing though.

Yes I would have changed (added) a lot.

I would have had 3 more episodes in S7 and 4 more in S8. Primarily these would have been used to bolster Dany's descent into madness, Bran's ascent to the crown, and some padding for fixing other character's arcs.

The following would just be potential fixes for the final episodes not the end all decisions.

- Fixing Jamie: Jamie, in his battle with Euron would have discovered something about Cersei that changed his mind and after ringing the bells he would have attempted to escape King's Landing, only to run into Arya.

- Fixing Arya: When Tyrion came across Cersei's body she would have found it next to Arya's (fulfilling the green eyes prophecy).

- Fixing Bran: Perhaps an episode or half an episode dedicated to fleshing out Bran's mentality toward what transpires in the final season. A mental interaction between him and the previous Three Eyed Raven, or between him and the Night King. Him controlling a dragon for a minute or two, potentially to stop some of the massacre at King's Landing or be the one to destroy the Iron Throne. It's silly, but maybe a flash of blue eyes could have been made interesting.

- Fixing Grey Worm: A battle with Jon at the very least. Even if it just ends with Grey Worm deciding to take the high road and imprison him. Fine. Just anything.

- Fixing Dorn and the Iron Islands: the fact that both nations were so okay with bending the knee when Sansa wasn't is so out of character. 7 independent nations would have made more sense to me.

 

I don't think that fix for Jaime does much to change what was done to him as by that point the damage was already done. He was already ruined for crushing Brienne on a whim and saying extremely uncharacteristic things like that he never cared for the innocent, despite that he killed the king he was sworn to protect because he chose to protect the innocent people of King's Landing instead. The fix needs to be to have his redemption arc matter in the end, at least in some way. Even if the original intent even from George was to have him go back to Cersei in the end it must still be a dramatic moment when he has another life altering change of heart, and he must still act like the character that he is.

I also think there has to be some better payoff near the end for Arya than to kill Cersei as she's pretty far down the list of characters with a lot of dramatic connection to the queen regent (especially if we factor in recency). In fact I'd probably skip having Melisandre's words be more than a poetic foreshadowing of that Arya will kill many people. Not that I necessarily think that Arya can't possibly kill the Night King, but the biggest character fix that is needed is Jon, who has had huge story line buildup but ended up being entirely pointless in this season. Neither his previous struggle with the Night King nor his Targaryen heritage had any relevance when the time for potential payoff finally came around.

I do agree with many of your points though.

 

It was easy to be fooled into thinking that. They beat us over the head with it repeatedly.

 

I mean the show literally begins with the White Walkers.

 

I'd have Jon kill the Night King in battle. Instead of Dany going mad queen on King's Landing... she goes mad queen on Cersei and tortures her to death the same way that her father tortured Ned Stark's father to death. This makes Tyrion very upset, because Cersei was still family and she didn't need to be tortured. Tyrion changes course and moves to break his brother Jaime out of jail.. which fails. Dany orders Jon to execute them both. After his pleas for her to change her mind fail, Jon kills Dany instead. Much to Jon's surprise, the dragon bows to him. Arya kills Grey Worm to protect her brother, and the North turns against the Unsullied.

Jon claims the Iron Throne, never being sure if what he did was right, but pledging to protect the realms from a return of the Night King.


If I really had a choice, I would have opted to have two more seasons. End the Night King arc in season 8. Take down Cersei in season 9. Dany goes crazy in season 10.