When you look at the many comments about the ending of Game of Thrones, you’ll see the way it all ended with Daenerys Targaryen is often blamed most for the show's divisive final season. However, her arc is nowhere near as disastrous as Bran Stark’s storyline.
There is absolutely no denying that Game of Thrones rushed its final two seasons. There were a lot of moments that could have worked in those final episodes had everyone had the time to develop characters properly. (Although, I will always stand by the idea that the Night King should have lasted to the very end.)
The many plot twists could have worked if the execution of Game of Thrones season 8 was on point. In the end, some of the twists for particular characters just didn’t work.
Daenerys was always foreshadowed as the Mad Queen in Game of Thrones
I know there are many people who think the twist of Dany becoming the Mad Queen came out of nowhere. How could the bells just suddenly set her off like that? The truth is, there were many signs from early on that Daenerys could end up becoming very much like her father.
After all, let’s just remember the fact that the Targaryens had issues due to consistent inbreeding. Daenerys’s father was not the first Mad King, but he was the most prominent at that point in the story. Those type of mental health issue can pass down in families, and we did see that Dany's older brother Viserys was also on the little “mad” side.
As Daenerys gained power, she took steps that hinted that she would always suffer from the same issues as her father. When it came to getting what she viewed as justice, she would decimate places and people. For many, the idea of putting the masters up on crosses in the same way they crucified their slave children was “an eye for an eye,” but not everyone would have that reaction. Those farther removed from the situation could look at a more humane way of dealing with the masters, because then they don’t stoop to the masters’ level.
This was the woman who was happy to walk into a burning pyre, without explanation. We could see that she wasn’t always thinking straight, and that she put a lot of faith in her beliefs working out. Daenerys often went for the jugular and asked questions later. Well, maybe asked questions later. On many occasions, she viewed herself as the rightful Queen of Everywhere, and that gave her a free pass to lash out and kill in the name of justice.
It wasn’t that surprising, then, that as she faced loss after loss with her dragons and Missandei that she eventually snapped. Could Game of Thrones season 8 have developed it a little better? Sure, but the signs were always there.
Both of Bran Stark’s twists came out of nowhere
But when it comes to Bran Stark, there are two twists that just didn’t make sense. First, let’s just look at how he became an emotionless thing. The Three-Eyed Raven definitely wasn’t emotionless, although he seemed tired after decades of being in his cave. Bran was more like a robot than a person, and for no reason at all.
Then came the show's final big twist of him becoming King of Westeros, which was straight out of left field. I know that Game of Thrones probably wanted to do something that nobody was expecting, but those moments have to make sense.
When it came to Ned Stark’s death, it was shocking, but it made sense because of how becoming king had gone to Joffrey's head. People didn't expect the Red Wedding massacre when it happened, but looking back, there were signs. Knowing what we know about the Boltons and the Freys, it made sense for them to team up with the Lannisters for a ruthless power grab.
Bran becoming King of Westeros wasn’t something foreshadowed, because it was likely never meant to happen in the original story. Why would the man who could see the past, present, and future end up becoming King, and how did he not realize that that was how it would all play out? Then, to have everyone agree with little argument made even less sense, considering the huge fight we’d just seen for the Iron Throne.
It didn’t help that Tyrion’s suggestions for how to move forward in Westeros seemed to be just thought up on the spot. Okay, so he had time while he was imprisoned after seeing the destruction of King’s Landing at the hands of Daenerys and Drogon, but there was no time for viewers to see how his brain was ticking. We could have at least had some sort of conversation earlier on about the monarchy and the need for democracy.
We can’t look into the minds of the characters, and not everything can be explained quickly. Nor can everything be shown on the face of the characters. Game of Thrones failed itself by having Tyrion do some of his best thinking alone, leaving us to scratch our heads and try to figure it all out.
With all the building to Jon Snow’s real ancestry, it should have been him on the Iron Throne. Or, at least, people should have wanted him. Instead, the series handed us a plot twist that frankly had no business being there.
Game of Thrones is available to stream on HBO Max.