Game Of Thrones. The show that’s had us captivated for nine years is over, and everyone has THOUGHTS, particularly regarding that season finale. From the pace to Daenerys Targaryen‘s fate, the internet is spewing forth opinions left, right and centre. Me included – because I think Bran Stark being crowned King made absolutely zero sense.
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Let’s start with the fact that this show hinged on the concept of birthright when it came to the Iron Throne. We had Cersei trying in vain to convince the world her sons were Baratheons. We had Daenerys Targaryen hoarding up armies to cross the Narrow Sea to take the throne because it was her birthright. We had several seasons slowly building up the importance of Jon Snow being Aegon Targaryen, the actual rightful heir to the throne.
It seemed like a huge cop-out to suddenly have all the leaders in Westeros decide unanimously that throwing away the unending history of King/Queen-by-birthright was the best way to move forward. Maybe if they’d drawn the decision out over the full season I wouldn’t find it so shitty. But it happened within thirty minutes. Thirty minutes to throw away the entire premise of this show!
I understand that the large council involving all the important leaders of Westeros came to the conclusion that the fighting and destruction needed to end, so let’s all vote in a leader each time the former dies. But many of these people changed their minds so suddenly I had whiplash. Tyrion Lannister was passionately behind Daenerys, then passionately behind Jon as the rightful heir to the throne and the best person to rule. Suddenly he’s just decided Bran Stark would rule Westeros best? Not to mention a clear divide between the council miraculously dissipates simply because Tyrion says that Bran has “the best story”?
These are leaders who have been through hell fighting for their respective Kings and Queens, and they’ll just be like “cool, this random contender we’ve never considered before can rule our country” based on one passionate plea from a disgraced Hand Of The Queen? I don’t think so. It felt like the kind of decision made by writers who are frankly stuck for a solution.
But let’s move on. Why did Bran Stark even make sense as King to these council members, even if they were happy to break the wheel of birthright?
He’s not known to the people of Westeros – something that was apparently going to work against Daenerys when she crossed the Sea, remember? Tyrion was going on and on about making alliances so the people of Westeros would respect her. I know the Starks are highly regarded in the North, but would the Southerners be like “yeah cool, Bran as King, we back it”? The divide between North/South has long been discussed in this show – Robb Stark even had to pledge marriage into the Frey family to gain their trust. Considering this council has completely overturned a centuries-old system of ruling, the population of Westeros would be reeling. And then you give them a semi-foreign King who also looks and acts nothing like any leader they’ve ever had?
Let’s dive deeper into that. Bran is not a warrior like Robert Baratheon. He doesn’t have magical dragon powers like the Targaryens. He’s not a skilled strategist like the Lannisters. He’s just this weird teenager who sees the past and present but also never really uses it much to help anyone out.
You could argue that Bran is wise beyond his years, but he… never speaks with any sense. For two seasons now he’s spoken in riddles – even in that final small council meeting that gave us insight into his ruling nature, he comes in, Tyrion runs the meeting, and then within a minute he’s all “where’s Drogon? I’ll go find him” and heads off to warg out somewhere.
He would be the strangest King for Westeros to accept – and even if you want to suspend disbelief and take these leaders believing in him as King for what it is, what would the rest of the population think? Surely there would be anarchy within months with such an unlikely King and a complete overhaul of their leadership structure. Contenders for the throne would rise up and form armies, etc etc.
But finally – the big one – why did Bran Stark even accept the leadership anyway? For seasons he’s been telling anyone who would listen that he was no longer Bran Stark, but The Three-Eyed Raven. Then right at the last second he’s all “yes I am Bran Stark I’ll take it thanks”. It was so completely out of character that he would even accept the nomination.
I know there’s a lot of chatter online about letting shit go and just accepting that the show ended. But fans have committed to this for eleven years – invested in these meticulously formed characters and how they behave, how their arcs have gone. So to wrap things up by just forgetting what happened for seven seasons, forgetting the world these showrunners built in the first place felt like a huge let down. We didn’t need it to end like a Disney movie with everyone happy – we just needed to feel like this eleven year battle had finally come to a believable end, and that things in Westeros would start to rebuild and not descend into anarchy within months.
Because hey, if you’re gonna end the show at least make us think there won’t be any fun and spicy drama ensuing that we won’t be privy to, ya know?
