https://www.slashfilm.com/819246/game-of-thrones-ending-explained-a-story-told-in-the-wrong-order
Interesting read. And how this article says it should've gone is closer to how I'd imagined it. I figured they'd all still be squabbling in the last episode or two when the Walkers came to King's Landing.
All common criticisms, all correct.
I'd have taken two more seasons, devoted season 8 to the war against the Others and made it a lot harder, and then when the humans won at the the end of the season... I'd have them start choosing sides in the war between Cersei and Danerys. My season 9 would have been a brutal civil war, where everyone we cared about chose a side and killed other characters we cared about, no more plot armor!
Yeah, well, tough, it never happened.
What we got was a crap final couple of seasons, and unfortunately for us, to Dumb and Dumber, they're official canon.
The turning point was when D&D made Stannis burn his daughter within one day's march from Winterfell. Remember, Davos found the wood stag he carved for Shireen after their parlay with Ramsay Bolton, the day before the big battle, so Shireen was obviously burned close to Winterfell. It was doubly stupid since Stannis didn't even ask Melisandre why Balon Greyjoy wasn't dead as promised after the leech ritual.
shareHe eventually did die after Euron returned.
shareThe point is that Stannis would have surely questioned Melisandre about Balon before sacrificing his own daughter, since the deaths of Joffrey, Robb, and Balon were supposed to be proof of the power of king's blood.
In the book, before the last king died, there was a "two is not three" scene in response to Melisandre trying to convince Stannis to sacrifice Edric Storm (Gendry took his place on the show). Only after the third king died did he consider it, resulting in Davos smuggling Edric out of Dragonstone.
The show version of events is idiotic.
The show went to hell when they unlocked video games style fast travel. Journey's that used to take two or three episodes were basically happening by the next scene. For instance, it's supposed to be a thousand miles from North of the wall to Storms End, yet somehow a raven got from there to Dany and she was able to fly up there in a couple hours maybe.
shareAnd the condescending response to that criticism from the director was something like "This is a show that has giant fire-breathing dragons and ice zombies, and THAT'S what you're complaining about?" Ugh, that was sloppy writing and it's indefensible.
shareSo true. Or an equally lame excuse about how events are not necessarily unfolding in the speed and order that we see them onscreen. Would be easier to respect if they'd just been more open with "Look guys we're trying to condense it."
In minor defense, I'd say they probably wanted things to feel more rushed and climactic, at a constant dead run. Breaking that up with episodes of traveling might've thrown off the pace they wanted. But they still could've figured out better ways.
Well, if you want to argue about insignificant details, my Inner Geek insists on pointing out that we're never given a scale map of Westeros and don't know how big it is, we tend to think of it as a major continent but it might be no larger than the island that houses England, Wales, and Scotland!*
And although we can look up how fast ravens fly I bet neither of us has bothered to find out how long it'd take them to cover 100 or 1000 miles, and of course, we have no idea how fast GRRM's dragons can fly. For all we know, they have the magical ability to hold small humans in place on their necks, while they fly 1,000 miles per hour.
* Does that island have a name? I mean the land mass, not the UK.
Funny you mention geek knowledge. Because I watch the hell out of Young justice, I actually know that the fastest bird is the peregrine falcon and it goes up to 185 MPH, so I know a Raven doesn't fly any faster. Plus I've seen ravens fly and I know that aren't zipping around up there at insane speeds.
and I know Dany is fireproof, but unless she is physics proof, there is no way she could possibly survive even half that speed in the unprotected air.
I presume that Dany is able to stay on the dragon's back without being blown off and without her face flapping in the breeze, because of something magical. I mean dragons themselves can't possibly fly, they weigh as much as a multi-story building and you think a pair of flapping wings is going to get a great big building off the ground?
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