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How Bad Writers Ruined Game Of Thrones’ Legacy

By

David Mudd

As Game of Thrones fans, for nine long years, we were told that winter was coming!

And then winter came and lasted about one full episode after a decade worth of buildup.

This was supposed to be a Long Night that swept across Westeros, and Cersei ended up barely even catching a cold. In the end, it wasn’t Azor Ahai who killed the Night King; all in all, it was bad writing.

One could argue that the lack of existing source material was the show’s downfall. And yet, I still maintain that David and Dan simply lost interest in the show and could have delivered a far more engaging finale.

The decision to only air six episodes despite HBO and GRRM’s desire for the show to continue was simply baffling.

They took the plot points handed to them by Martin and simply rushed the endgame, sacrificing character development and plot complexity for CGI spectacle.

We got pretty laughable battle tactics and poor lighting (along with several other gaffes like the infamous Starbucks cup).

Game Of Thrones
A still of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen in the series finale “The Iron Throne”.

Also Read: House Of The Dragon – What To Expect

Subverting Expectations

I don’t have much of a problem with the ending, per se, the conclusions all make sense for their characters; the road to those endings, however, does not.

Jon and Tyrion’s characters were a shadow of their former selves, regurgitating old dialogue and making eunuch jokes.

Arya became an OP deus ex-machina for subverting expectations, characters always talked about Sansa being smart without us ever seeing her do anything intelligent, per se.

Bran existed only to spout exposition, and we never got any clarity on his plan to take the throne.

Dany’s tragedy was rushed to the point of being nonsensical. Jaime underwent a full character assassination, and Cersei drank wine.

The Scouring Of Bad Writing (Game Of Thrones)

The Long Night was supposedly the climax of the GRRM’s epic tale, in the same as vein as The Battle of Pelennor Fields in Lord of the Rings.

And the Sack of King’s Landing was more akin to the Scouring of the Shire as the epilogue. Structuring it as two halves of a six-episode season was undoubtedly a massive mistake.

Games Of Thrones
Games Of Thrones

The spectacle never made the show. The writing did. And the showrunners did display time and again that they could write compelling drama without the source material.

The dialogue in the character interactions and the underlying drama made people like me tune in. It’s a darn shame. Everyone brought their A-game to the finale; the actors, the composer, the production designers — everyone except the writers.

Sadly enough, it seemed that the target audience became more and more casual over the years to come.

Because writing engaging stories that made sense wasn’t the priority. Getting people in bars to cheer at the next spectacular scene was!

The Unsatisfying Season Finale

The season finale of the Game of Thrones series was much anticipated by the audience. But was it worth the hype?

Season 8 aka the concluding point of this series was utterly disappointing. And that was not really the kind of end we were expecting. A saga of confusion, awkward plots, and purposeless flashbacks made this season quite boring.

And the credit goes to the writers of the show who somehow wanted to end the show without giving any logical explanation. The historical and political angle to this season was not at all worth the type.

Final Words

In a word, we can say that this was the worst way to end such a popular series that ruled over the audience from the time it made its debut. But no matter what this series has got a worldwide fandom.

Thus it will remain as one of the popular series ever made! I hope George R.R. Martin will give justice to the years-old legacy of Game of Thrones in his upcoming Novel ‘The Winds of Winter‘ that’s slated to release in 2021.

That’s all for now. If you’re new to watching Game of Thrones, there’s one thing that would advise you.

Watch every season of Game of Thrones you want except the final season. You’ll be highly disappointed. I’m telling you this by my experience. Game of Thrones Finale season is not worth the hype.

What do you think of the Game of Thrones’ final season? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

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