The art of subverting expectations

Let’s been clear, the last season of Game of Thrones is undefendable?

But what’s happen if you find somebody brave enough to do it?

I’m not brave, but I can try to defend fanservice and use the finale of GoT in order to explain why some concept is not less than amazing ideas built in stupid ways.

George Martin himself was brave enough when he decided that whipping out characters like wheat on a field was just considered normal, but yet lied in the field of realism.

Then, he created the might of the nightwalkers and they went away with the stab of a teenager.

He created a bloodline and it went with the decision of a man on trial, but what if I tell you that, with hindsight, I can tell you that is not the worse way to end this gigantic story (if only could be better written).

There is thought around the story, somebody believes that in order to be attractive, a plot has to be something that doesn’t happen commonly in the life of whoever reads it.

I agree with this sentence, it is inevitable. But we have to make a distinction between the main story and the end of it.

I was always being attracted on the end of every big story because finally everything is done, the problem is solved, the enemy is defeated and we can meet our character that accomplished their hero journey and they can start a new life.

This should be the return of normality for every character and they can finally find peace and do what they couldn’t do along with the story, so John Snow went with the free people because he didn’t want to be king, Arya explored the world, Sansa became the queen of an independent Scotland… Ehm! North and Drogon went away to burn them all.

The road that brings to that ending wasn’t great and, if I can, was disrespectful for ourselves, but the last episode wasn’t so bad as everyone said, was just the prologue of a terrible last season.

Just a dumb bystrander caught up in the conflagration:

With the Emmy awards approaching, the very script for the season finale appeared on the internet and, even do it was deleted immediately, what comes on the internet stays on the internet and finally we discovered what Drogon thought while he was burning to kingdom hell the hall of throne.

We look over Jon’s shoulder as the fire sweeps toward the throne ― not the target of Drogon’s wrath, just a dumb bystander caught up in the conflagration. We look through the blades of the throne as the flames engulf it, and blast the wall behind it. We see the throne in the flames, turning red, then white, then beginning to lose its form. We get tight shots of the details melting in silhouette: the armrests, the iconic fan of swords on the backrest. The fire stops. The smoke clears revealing a puddle of smouldering slag where the throne once stood. Who will sit on the Iron Throne? No one.

So! Here we are, at the end of the story the throne was destroyed just because was in the same room of the dead mother and his murderer… And I don’t understand why this caused craziness in the fandom.

Dragons in the lore of game of thrones are not smarter than other animals so why it should recognize what the throne is?

In my way to enjoy stories I confess that there is nothing wrong in this scene, rather is the best way to close the Daenerys storyline.

So! Why is subverting expectations a thing that I appreciate?

Simply because is a good way for getting an unexpected ending in stories that you could mostly imagine the endings.

After this post you don’t think I defend GoT season 8, I just defend small things I enjoyed.

-ldmarchesi