I'm just going to say it: that ending was trash.

dany, we hardly knew ye. No, really, we didn't know you were hitler ( I love how the spellcheck harrumphed me when I didn't begin hitler with a Capital H. He was a monster you cold, uncaring code!) stalin, pol pot, and those fucks who didn't evacuate those people around Chernobyl. Took her out quick, though. Drogon burning the throne, not John? Huh? greyworm, who's a cold blooded murderer now, thanks writers, doesn't execute Jon on the spot for killing dany? Huh? You mean you do have control of your actions? Who'd a thunk it?

Gotta say, when I first read Bran's POV in George's book, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, he would be king. All that foreshadowing, it's marvelous! No, really, I knew he would be king. Seriously. Wasn't it obvious?

Jon finally pets Ghost, and Ghost doesn't rip his throat out. Touching. Hey, and going back to the tundra? Awesome. Cold balls, small dicks, frozen twats, just what's needed. And the kids look so happy! Yay, snowmen, no, snow giants, no, yellow snow, look I can write my name ( Harrumph! dany's spelt with a capital D!).

I hate all you ****s who loved bronn as a character. All that fucking fan service.

So, it was only Drogon protecting dany? No unsullied? Jon can go see her armed to the teeth? She massacres innocent men, women, and children, and they don't surround her with protection, so much protection that she has to pee herself cos she's too embarrassed to use the toilet? Hardcore body-guarding? No? None? Huh?

Arya's gonna kill Dora, take her face, and go exploring? Huh?

Tyrion finds Jaime, and Cersie, who are buried under a few bricks? Seriously? What, he could smell them? Her Eau De Decomposed, and his Brienne's broken hymen rotting on his cock? Huh?

Brienne, I thought she was writing HE FUCKED ME ONCE, in that book. Poor Brienne, sullied.

Boy, it was bland, and boring, unless, unless it's not Bran who's king, but the Three Eyed Raven, and in my mind, he's gonna fuck things up. What was it Bran said? Something like Why do you think I came all this way? Someone correct me? Like he knew it was going to happen? He just had to get all the pieces on the chessboard? If, so, fuck you, bran (no, you don't deserve a capital, now). You knew dany was gonna go nuclear, and all those hundreds of thousands of people were gonna die? Fuck you, you piece of shit.

Why was Sansa such a **** to Edmure? Huh?

Why did d&d fuck up so catastrophically? I mean, Star Wars is so important, I get it, well, no, I don't. Am I the only one who thinks a supernerd has sold his soul to the devil, and that's why we're getting all this Marvel, DC, Star Wars, Star Trek crap? Christ, almighty, enough already.

Thanks d&d, and HBO for subverting all my expectations.

And, thanks George, for not finishing the books (at least give us Winds Of Winter, I'm really interested in the true Euron.)

I noticed Brienne writing in the book about Tyrion killing Joffrey. I take it word never got around that it was actually Olenna Tyrell who did it?

Totally agree! After Season 7 I don't recall anyone bitching about how horrible D&D were. In fact I remember some saying 'Battle of the Bastards' was the best episode of the series and that wasn't GRRM sourced.

It's not a surprise there was a drop in quality with them having to cram everything into 6 episodes. This definitely could have been stretched to the usual season. I don't think D&D were given carte blanche to spend anything they wanted. I think HBO said you get this much money and they decided they could only do 6 episodes given all of the SFX budget that would be needed. So you either get the amazing visuals or you get the slower pacing and character development. Personally I'm glad we got to see the two battle episodes. If they had chosen not to spend money on the SFX and everything had been shown offscreen everyone would have been bitching about that!

What I'm curious about is D&D said GRRM gave them the loose framework of where he planned for the storyline to go after they ran out of source material. So GRRM always planned for Bran to take the throne? I'm wondering if he will change this in the book storyline. It would be great to know what other details he provided. I'm sure he said who he wanted to live and die. I'd love to know what parts D&D filled in and what was considered GRRM canon that must happen. But I suppose we will never know.

It’s been confirmed that D&D said they only needed six episodes. No blaming HBO on this one.

can we talk about that gorgeous shot of Dany with Drogon wings?

I felt the ending was a little too "... happily ever after".

From one viewpoint, it was a perfect ending, we know what happened to many key characters. From another viewpoint, after years of betrayal, murder, revenge, etc, I expected a twist (like Brann being the new Night King or Jon / Dany standoff of armies). Either way, it was a helluva show overall and the ending kicked the shit out of the Sopranos finale.

I liked the Series finale (didn't love it) but of course the internet will force everyone take the extreme side (loved it or hated it), as sometimes many fans like me fall in the middle. The multiple endings felt like Return of the King, as I sort of felt that gave it an anti-climatic feeling after the first 45 minutes (which were really good). My interpretation of the episode and series was 2 things:

1. The dragon obliterating the Iron Throne was symbolism that powers corrupts and almost everyone who went for that Throne eventually died because of that.

2. Bran becoming King (without the ability to have children) is a metaphor that they wanted that world to transition to democracy and less about lineage.

My best friend disagrees with my assessment as he hated the finale, and thinks they wimped out. But I don't get too caught up in all of the character arcs because there was no way they were going to please everyone. I thought the ending was about power, and the whole show was about these people who felt entitled to their power, and look what ended up happening? It's a reflection on our society (it is a reflection of us and what happens when we get power), and that is why I liked the finale. But if I went through each character and dissected their ending, than I probably would have been mad too, but I just didn't see the episode that way. I looked at the episode and the show from a purely macro point of view.

Overall, it was ok. I struggle with the following:

1) In the shot of E5 where we originally see Varys writing out a note about Jon Snow's real identity, there are clearly some already completed small scrolls rolled up, looking as if they are waiting to be sent. He has the convo w/ the girl. He has the convo with Jon Snow. Next we see him writing again and the pile of completed scrolls is gone. He burns the one he is working on. Simple continuity error? Did he send the others?

2) Seven seasons of building up to find out Jon is Rhaegar Targaryen. Word starts getting out to the point that Varys says it isn't a secret; it's information. Yet in the end, that all goes no where and he's sent north of the wall to live out his days in frozen purgatory. This is the equivalent to finding out Strider is Aragorn, the rightful heir to the throne, but only Gandalf and Frodo know and they watch as he goes to live out his days serving ale at The Green Dragon. It would have been more plausible for his true identity to become known to Grey Worm and THAT is why Grey Worm is conflicted about killing him. In the first 20 mins we see Grey Worm killing POWs with no hesitation but after Dany dies, he waits for a judiciary hearing on Tyrion and Jon. Riiiiiiiight.

Yep. D&D basically said fuck it to move on to something new. Cause their career is clearly more important that getting the ending of HBO's biggest show ever correct.

I also believe this is correct. The only way for "the game" to end was by switching from birthright to chosen. To do this all heirs had to be eliminated, and the chosen ruler unable to have children. Jon's exile was the compromise that achieved this. His going free or being killed would have continued the fighting and not ended the "game"
Dany had to do something bad enough to make Jon eliminate her from the game. Jon had to made prisoner in order to bring that council together to end the game. Had he been killed the council wouldn't have happened and the fighting would just continue.
And in the end, Jon Snow is still the hero. The true heir who sacrificed it all for everybody else and rides into the sunset.

That is completely ridiculous. All of Hollywood is judging them by how they wrapped this up just as harshly as any fans. The career will be judged by Season 8 just as much as the rest of it.

And I'm sure everyone is taking the 6 episode comment out of context. They definitely had a budget and had to make it work. They obviously determined they only had enough money for six episodes given the visual effects needed and the storyline had to fit within those constraints. If D&D said they only needed 6 episodes its because trying to do 10 would have left us just watching characters sitting in rooms just talking without any shots of dragons, Night King or dire wolves.

It's easy to forget, this is a business. HBO doesn't just dole out money to fund the arts. At the end of the day, there is a budget and you have to make it work.

So you think D&D thought the show just didn't warrant more episodes then? Cause HBO would have gladly given them budget for more (as has been reported). This was all about them. Who knows what talks they were already in regarding the Star Wars project when they decided on the short season.

In this case, HBO would have doled out a blank check to keep this show going. They're going to lose thousands of subscription now that it's over.

First, glad to see that many here have posted reasonable things about the finale. Overall, I liked it and elements like the bickering at the Hand's table and Jon in the North/North brings us full circle, in a way.

However ... the reason that they didn't show Jon being taken to jail is that it would have fully shown just how stupid that would have played out. Dany's forces would have pulled him apart limb-by-limb in their rage. The idea of 'let's put him in jail and consider our next step?' From the same crew that just murdered everyone in sight? Please.

I certainly believe that D&D felt they could wrap the story up in 6 episodes. And I, for one, think they did just that. Others can certainly disagree, but not everything is some weird conspiracy.

I'm disgusted at how bad an episode that was

That was a happily ever after ending, totally against what the show is about

It was like a daytime soap ending

I think that D&D proved they are excellent at adapting other people's stories but inept at creating their own. This show took a sharp nosedive after the source material dried up (and I don't care that GRRM gave them outlines, clearly that didn't make a difference).

And yes, there were plastic water bottles in one of the scenes. Just to prove how much of a shitshow this was in the TWO YEARS they had to get it right.

Complete waste of time - they should have just condensed the main parts of the final episode into the second to last episode - I didn't need to see over an hour of people slowly walking towards the camera.

Best show of all time for me but this season hobbled a bit.

I would expect his kingship to be a lot like the following:

Bran sitting in his chair while warging
Tyrion approaches, asks to speak with him
Bran continues warging and does not respond
Tyrion - "Well then, I guess I'll make the decision"

Rinse and repeat ...

On a different note - why not continue to choose the Three-Eyed Raven as the King going forward? If that individual can see the future in some respect, aren't they going to continue to be the best choice? Beats having a King saying, "I certainly didn't see that coming ..."

I think 6 episodes worked ... it didn't feel unusually rushed to me. And the ending was OK... just not how I personally would have done it. But that doesn't mean their way was wrong at all..

They broke the wheel.. and moved to bottled water.

I don't buy that. These guys gave a decade of their life and obviously were very passionate about the source material. I don't think they want to go down in history as the guys who took a dump on GOT in the end. OTOH, I still don't understand why they felt the need to box themselves in with two shorten seasons since budget wasn't a concern.