4 years ago
5
ARTICLE AD BOX
I just need to know that Hot Pie is doing okay.
After weeks of devoted binge-watching, I have re-emerged from a rewatch of all eight Game of Thrones seasons. This was my second time seeing the series after having watched it live every Sunday during its 2011-2019 run. Let me tell you, it was well worth the time, energy, and emotions.
There's a reason HBO's pinnacle fantasy series truly took the world by storm. It brings you into an epic realm of knights, night kings, and dragons, but at the end of the day, tells stories of flawed and complex characters navigating family, power, and their purpose in the world.
Alas, once I reached the series finale, I was reminded of what all that hubbub was about after the show's controversial end. In my humble opinion, Game of Thrones is one of the best shows of all time, but indeed the conclusion leaves you feeling kind of...confused.
Now that my rewatch has ended, I'm rounding up eight questions that the Three-Eyed Raven himself could not answer about that finale:
1. Why didn't Arya use her Faceless Man training more?
HBO / Via tenor.com
The bulk of Arya Stark's plotline during season five takes place within the House of Black and White in Braavos. The youngest Stark daughter is off to find the mysterious man she met seasons earlier called Jaqen H'ghar (say that name five times quick) and learns that he is part of an assassin group serving a morally-questionable deity, The Many-Faced God. Once their victims are killed, these "Faceless Men" possess the ability to steal the person's face — and physically transform into them.
It's a long-winded storyline that builds up Arya's fighting skill and character as she undergoes many trials including being blind for a time, rejecting her old self to become "No One", and learning lots of cool new sword tricks. By the time she heads for Westeros, she has the ability to turn into another person entirely.
This little talent seems like it has the potential to be a major game-changer in the game of thrones.
Since Arya is set on marking Cersei off of her list (you know, the list of people she wants to murder), I was hoping that she would end up using this gift somewhere in the Red Keep. Perhaps she could've taken the face of Qyburn or someone else close to Cersei in order to complete her mission. Instead, the only real moment she uses her newfound skill is when she transforms into Walder Frey, the lord responsible for that horrific Red Wedding, and kills all of the men who helped slaughter her mother and brother.
It's a total justice moment for Arya, but all of the training she underwent back in Braavos seems to lose its purpose here on out. Her fighty skills are put to good use when she kills the Night King, but the whole "stealing faces" situation seems like it had wasted potential.
2. Why didn't Bran use his warg abilities more?
HBO / Via tenor.com
After Bran Stark's fall from the tower in season one, he begins to experience vivid dreams in which he can enter the minds of animals to see through their eyes and control their actions. Pretty neat, huh?
We see Bran utilize this supernatural ability with his direwolf, with ravens, and even with a human — though there are severe consequences. The importance of this ability — called warging — is built up in the middle of the series but kind of falls to the wayside as the show nears its end.
Eventually, Bran becomes preoccupied with being the Three-Eyed Raven (see #6 for reference; it's a whole thing) though he still maintains his status as a warg.
It seems as though this storyline might be headed toward something bigger, but we never see Bran warg into a dragon or any other creature that does something pertinent for the plot.
Even stranger, he seems to be warging around consistently as the Three-Eyed Raven — judging by his creepy eyes whenever someone finds him in a room — though we aren't totally clear on what he's up to. Is he looking into the past? Is he taking a nice leisurely flight around Westeros as a crow? I do not know.
3. Why did Jaime abandon his redemption arc and return to Cersei?
HBO / Via tenor.com
In my opinion, Jaime Lannister was one of the best characters in this series. Along with his brother Tyrion, he often acted as comedic relief but also underwent some of the most notable character development. When we first meet Jaime, he's arrogant, selfish, in love with his sister, and heartless enough to push a little boy out of a tower window.
Each season, Jaime is faced with new adversities, and we begin to watch him develop a heart for others. It's also pretty adorable when he begins to fall for Brienne of Tarth, a female knight he has a soft spot for after she saves his life, but his final scenes of the show are straight up bizarre.
With an attack on King's Landing looming, Jaime returns to the city and decides to go back to Cersei.
It feels like his entire redemption arc is thrown out of that tower window, as he relapses back into his old self just in time to be buried alive in rubble. The things we do for love, I guess...
4. What was the point of Jon Snow being a Targaryen?
HBO / Via tenor.com
It was inevitable from the beginning that Jon Snow would be more than Ned Stark's bastard son. In this society, it's something they're hyper-focused on - so much so that they give their children a different last name (hence "Snow") and remind them of their parentage at least once an episode.
We can still rest easy knowing Jon is indeed a relation to his beloved Stark siblings, but Game of Thrones' season-seven finale drops some interesting knowledge. Turns out the broody king in the north is actually the son of Lyanna Stark and Rhaegar Targaryen. Lyanna is Ned Stark's sister and Rhaegar is Daenerys Targaryen's brother. Oh, and he's now the rightful heir to the iron throne!
We learn this tidbit while also witnessing Jon and Aunt Dany have their first, um, romantic moment, so it's really all downhill from here.
Despite the weird romance that's blooming, Jon's true parentage doesn't seem too surprising. He's already been established as a natural-born leader, so this plot twist sets us up to believe that maybe Jon Snow is a good contender for the iron throne.
Instead, the series finale has Bran/Three-Eyed Raven chosen as king, and Jon is shipped off to the Night's Watch because he murdered his mad queen/lover/aunt for the greater good. Hot mess!
I can appreciate that this twist gave us some pretty hefty plot, but wonder why they bothered to make Jon a Targaryen at all if his new birthright meant nothing in the end.
5. Who is the "prince that was promised" from Melisandre's prophecy?
HBO / Via tenor.com
Melisandre spouts a number of prophecies throughout the duration of Game of Thrones, including one about a prince or princess who is prophesized to save Westeros from darkness. There are plenty of Internet theories as to what this means for George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire books, but the show's finale is hard-pressed to give us an answer.
The Red Priestess herself has a few different theories throughout the seasons - Melisandre initially believes this "prince" to be Stannis Baratheon (remember that king she had a scary shadow baby with?), then Jon Snow, and then potentially Daenerys as she mentions this prophecy in Dragonstone as well.
So who was the actual promised savior? TBD.
Jon Snow is at the forefront of the victory against the Night King, so it seems like he could be the promised prince? On the other hand, Bran is an all-knowing Three-Eyed Raven who is now the ruler of Westeros. Does that mean it could be him? Consider me baffled.
6. So, did the Three-Eyed Raven win the game of thrones?
HBO / Via tenor.com
When the finale first aired, I'm not sure anyone predicted that Bran Stark would become king of the Seven Kingdoms... but did Bran Stark become king of the Seven Kingdoms? Let's back up to season six: Bran has encountered a mystical seer called the Three-Eyed Raven who ushers him around to various plot points in the past via a time travel-like method. As viewers, this is useful because we get insight into things we would otherwise not know, like Jon Snow's true parentage.
Once the old-man version of the Three-Eyed Raven is gone, Bran is given these powers, so it seems that he is now able to see all things past, present, and future. In the final seasons, he mostly spends his time being super stoic and creepy to his family members, letting them know that he's no longer Bran of House Stark, he's the Three-Eyed Raven.
With no heir to the throne in sight during the finale episode, Bran is decided to be the next king of Westeros. But also, it's not Bran. Not really.
Don't get me wrong, it seems very useful to have a monarch who knows everything, but I guess the Three-Eyed Raven is the one true king?
7. Why did Daenerys Targaryen forget her entire life's work?
HBO / Via tenor.com
Perhaps the plot twist that generated most buzz when the show first aired was the downfall of the Mother of Dragons in season eight. When we first meet Daenerys Targaryen, she's being sold to Khal Drogo and used and abused by her brother, Viserys. After acquiring some dragon eggs and finding out she can walk through fire, she decides to go claim the iron throne and make the Seven Kingdoms a better place. That's her whole deal: she wants to stop the cycle of tyrannical monarchs and bring justice to a place riddled with poverty and classism.
One of her first big test runs at being queen is when she overtakes cities in Essos and kills a bunch of slavemasters to free local slaves. She has a gruesome side without a doubt (especially considering she has three fire-breathing dragons), but as Cersei Lannister once said, "When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.” Basically, you're not accomplishing anything without a little bloodshed in this world...
By the time Dany makes it to Westeros, she's faced with a slew of new problems and moral challenges, but it's not until season eight that we really see her character change quite abruptly.
After years of liberating cities and claiming she's not mad like her father (who they aptly called the Mad King), she decides to burn an entire city of innocent civilians — even though the opposing side just surrendered.
Huh?
Knowing the outcome while watching this series for a second time had me hoping that I would find some justification for this ending. Dany does watch her BFF get beheaded around the same time she finds out her lover is her nephew, so I guess that would make anyone act a bit rash. But still, this hasty mental decline seemed a little too out of character and has me wanting to ask the writers: Why?
8. What is the Night's Watch watching for now?
HBO / Via tenor.com
In Game of Thrones' very first episode, we become privy to the Night's Watch and their devoted duty of defending Westeros against the white walkers. This ragtag bunch is an important part of the storyline, but with the Night King and his army of undead actually dead, why is the Night's Watch still a thing?
It's so much so still a thing that Jon Snow has been banished back into the Night's Watch as "punishment" for killing his queen. At this point, Jon and the rest of the watchmen are pretty buddy-buddy with the wildings, so it would be surprising if they were the reason this organization still existed.
Maybe the Night's Watch will relocate. Arya, who is planning to venture west, says she doesn't know what's west of Westeros, so maybe there's a new ominous force lurking over on that side of the earth.
This show has left me with many questions, but this one is top priority.
Honorable Mention: What happened to Hot Pie?
HBO / Via imgur.com
Okay, this one is more just a personal query. Since only the most well-intentioned people survived at the end, I was hoping we might see Hot Pie make his way back to King's Landing to become King Bran's resident palace baker. For those who need a refresher on this minor but memorable character, Hot Pie is the little boy from the streets that tries to bully Arya in season one. Arya, of course, threatens to kill him, and then they become fast friends in season two.
Since Hot Pie and Arya are both orphans just trying to survive, they travel together for quite some time until an innkeeper offers him a kitchen job due to his exceptional baking skills. Before parting ways, Hot Pie bakes Arya a direwolf-shaped bread loaf and it's pretty much the sweetest moment in the entire series.
He also nicknames Winterfell "Winterhell" and is just the very best.
He inadvertently helps Brienne of Tarth and Podrick Payne locate Arya in season four after they stop at his inn to dine, and then appears once more during season seven. Again, he acts as an unwitting barer of important news and informs Arya that her brother Jon Snow is alive and in the north. Before they part ways one final time, Hot Pie notes that it's a good thing they're both survivors.
Alright, this is a pretty decent ending for Hot Pie, but I still wish we would've seen this gem rise to the ranks of star baker in the final episode. I need closure.
English (US) ·