After eight seasons, it is hard to believe it is finally over. There were so many great moments throughout the series. Some of them were spot-on with the books, which is a testament to how good the show could be at times because those moments were still impactful.
This post is a look back at those moments. The good, the bad, the fun, the stupid…
Favorite Moment
This was a close one for me. I will mention the other one in a bit. My favorite part of the whole series came in season three when Daenerys frees the Unsullied. She trades Drogon for an Unsullied army. The master, who has been insulting her in Valyrian, struggles with Drogon and he is sort of paying attention to her. Then the look on his face when he realizes that she is commanding the Unsullied in Valyrian. Dany looks back at him and says “Dracarys!” Drogon burns the master alive. It is such a great moment, where she plays it cool the entire time he is insulting her. Then, he gives her the whip (or whatever signifying she is in charge) and she is like “Dovaogēdys!” One of those cool moments in the book, but it is incredibly awesome on screen.
Worst Moment
It is interesting to see where I have come as a person. When season one came out, I was not a dog owner. However, since Samson came into our lives, my position on dogs has changed drastically. When I rewatch season one, I cringe and feel anxious when Ned has to kill Lady.
Favorite Stark
This is an easy choice: Arya! I think her story is so good. The tomboy, who escapes all of these horrors. She has that moment where she almost reunites with her family, but the Hound is like “no girl, they are all dead.” Then she travels the land with him learning valuable knowledge…
She then trained to become an assassin, but chose to return to her family. She avenged their deaths by taking out the Frays, she stopped the Night King, and in the end she continues her adventure by heading west. She even got a cool reunion with her direwolf.
Least Favorite Stark
Bran. I thought Bran was basically a tool for exposition. Or perhaps a deus ex machina. Instead he ends up being the king. I like the choice, he makes sense if you are electing a king. I just think his story was always the least interesting. Also, I think much of it has to do with the actor. I think Isaac Hempstead Wright had the unfortunate luck of hitting puberty in the middle of the series. Probably why they cut his story out for an entire season. I wonder if his voice changed so much that is why they kept his dialogue to a minimum. The disadvantage of casting a child actor.
Favorite Lannister
Tywin. I think Jaime gets dinged some points for how he went back to Cersei (although, he did ring the bells, so maybe he should not be judged so harshly). Like I said in the finale post, I liked his arc and how no matter how much he changed, he could not stop loving Cersei. However, Tywin Lannister was my favorite member of that house. Charles Dance brought the character to life and made you love/hate him. The scenes with Arya were some of my favorite in the show. Or the scene where he is skinning a deer and giving Jaime a lecture. Whether it was shutting down Cersei or insulting Tyrion, you always knew that Tywin Lannister was in charge.
Worst Lannister
Kevan. This is definitely a character that was much more dynamic and interesting in the books. In fact, he is almost as shrewd and calculating as his brother, so much so that he is close to uniting the kingdoms again until Varys kills him. The show? Well not so much, he barely seems like a match for Cersei on the show. He dies when Cersei blows up the Great Sept of Baelor.
Favorite Minor Character (Who Dies)
Oberyn Martell. The Red Viper shows up and instantly wins us over as this swaggering badass who came to King’s Landing for two things: sex and revenge. I knew he was going to die a gruesome death, but as the battle was happening, I kept thinking “maybe the show will let him live, this actor is too good to lose.” And then his head is crushed.
Favorite Minor Character (Who Lives)
Bronn. Is he a minor character? Maybe. My blog, my rules. He is such a great character and Jerome Flynn turned out to be the perfect actor for the role. I loved that the show was able to expand Bronn’s role and make him a more pivotal character (in the books, it is Ser Ilyn Payne who practices with Jaime after he loses his hand).
Least Favorite Minor Character that Everyone Else Loves
Sometimes I hate the internet. Even worse is when the writers decide to give the internet some kind of nod. Hot Pie was a funny character back when he was on the run with Arya and Gendry. And it was cool when Arya meets him again when she is with the Hound. But I did not need to have her meet up again when she returns to Westeros. That was totally Benioff & Weiss reading internet memes that were like “but where is Hot Pie??? Did he ever perfect his direwolf bread???” I know, such a stupid thing to bitch about, but whatever.
Favorite Relationship
Jon Snow & Tormund. They started off as enemies, but over time their friendship grew. Jon’s ending was perfect, as he and Tormund lead the Free Folk back into the true north. I always loved when Tormund would make comments about southerners (referring to the Starks and their bannermen).
Worst Relationship
Missandei & Grey Worm. The love story that no one asked for and we definitely did not need. It just seemed so shoehorned into the plot, like someone was like “we need another scene here, what could we do? Flesh out the Azor Ahai prophecy?” And then someone in the room went “what if we had Missandei and Grey Worm fall in love and have weird eunuch sex?” It was stupid and unnecessary.
Best Death
There was no more satisfying death than when Ramsay Bolton is eaten alive by his own dogs. Sansa carries out the sentence, which gives us a moment of justice for everything she endured at his hands.
Worst Death
Shireen Baratheon’s death was gruesome and tough to watch. Stannis and his wife burn their own daughter alive. Melisandre shows the danger of fanaticism. She sacrifices a little girl to the Lord of Light and what does it get them? Her Azor Ahai loses the battle and ends up being killed by Brienne.
Best Battle
This show has always had some great battles. The Battle of the Bastards, Hardhome, Winterfell, the Long Night, and then some of the minor battles, such as Meereen. However, the first major battle is still my favorite: the Battle of the Blackwater. We see the wildfire come into play and it all kicks off by a cool scene of Bronn firing an arrow from a ridiculous distance. This was also the battle where people see Stannis as a badass. Plus we get the Hound’s great “fuck the king” line, which kicks off his whole character arc.
Most Shocking Moment
When Cersei blows up the Great Sept, killing the High Sparrow and Margaery Tyrell. This was one of those moments that is not in the books, so when Lancel is stabbed and the little kids light the wildfire, it was a very tense moment. Margaery is yelling that they need to escape and then BOOM. They are all gone. I seriously expected the High Sparrow would lead a large army of Faith Militant against someone. It also showed us how ruthless/twisted Cersei could be as a ruler. Oh, and it gave us the suicide of Tommen, which was also pretty shocking. He just steps out of the window. Definitely did not see that coming when it happened.
Favorite Least Shocking Moment
The resurrection of Jon Snow. We knew he would come back from the dead. He just had to, right? And yet, the scene is still soooooo good. The way Ghost perks up and looks over at Jon’s body gives you a clue that something is about to happen. Then Jon’s eyes pop open and he gasps. This was my second favorite moment.
Better than Book Moment
The Red Wedding was shocking in the book. However, the show made it incredible. Again, this is something I knew was happening, but the way the show incorporates the music. The book does it, but again, you have to get it from a POV, so Catelyn Stark keeps thinking something like “that song is familiar, what song are the playing, why is Roose Bolton wearing armor under his tunic?” GRRM builds tension, but the show just does it so much better.
Worse than Book Moment
House of the Undying. the warlocks of Qarth are way more interesting in the books. Also, Daenerys’ vision is pretty weak compared to the book. In the book, she sees the Red Wedding and a bunch of stuff. We do not get what she is seeing until after it happens, then you go “OH MY GOD, THAT IS WHAT SHE SAW!” Obviously that would not work in the show, showing Robb Stark dead at a wedding or something would give it away. Also, I need to have a quick rant about the vision she has in the show. People keep saying that it did not come true. I disagree. In her vision, she sees the Iron Throne, then she rejoins Khal Drogo and her unborn son. Well, what happened in the show? She finally wins the throne and then dies…joining her beloved in the afterlife, where I am sure her dead son is waiting as well.
Saddest Moment
“Hold the door!” During the first season or two, I doubt I put much thought into what Hodor meant. Although, when I read the first book, I half expected Hodor to turn out to be someone important, someone pretending to be that way. As the books go on though, you realize that is definitely not the case. The show brought even more life to the character. The tragic part of his story is that his plight was caused by Bran, but also that he got that way saving Bran. It is a time-traveling mind-bender, but I think it illustrates the problems if the Three-Eyed Raven meddles in the past. Also the problems with Bran warging into a human.
Favorite Book Change
Speeding up so many of the stories. They work in the book, such as Brienne’s long adventure. Or all of the time we spend with Dany everywhere she goes. Or the Jorah & Tyrion story. I think no plot benefited from TV more than the election of Euron as King of the Ironborn. The Kingsmoot in the book takes like 23000 pages and never seems to end. There are like 1200 candidates, they each give speeches, they all need a backstory. Close second is Jon being elected Lord Commander. Way too much time describing the tiles they use and how the electoral process works.
Worst Book Change
I have two here. The omission of Lady Stoneheart and the revelation of Ser Barristan. I do not know how they would have included Catelyn into the story for the show and how she would have been better than Beric, but I think a season ending with Brienne being brought in front of her would have been amazing). The book also does such a cool job with Barristan. When Daenerys meets him, he is in disguise and goes by a different name. I think it would have been easy to have him grow out a beard and eventually reveal himself to her. Also, in the books he has Tyrion’s role in Meereen while Daenerys is away with Drogon. He runs the city and combats numerous threats. He is still alive in the books, whereas he died a few seasons ago on the show. Did we ever get a sense of how amazing of a fighter he was on the show? In the book, he defeats one of the greatest pit fighters with just a stick. He claims to be a squire and that is when Jorah suspects he is someone else. Daenerys wants to knight him and Jorah (along with Barristan) say no.
Favorite Fight
The show had some great fights. Syrio versus the Kingsguard (Meryn Fuckin’ Trant!), Brienne & The Hound, Brienne vs. Jaime, Jon vs. Karl, Khal Drogo and the challenge against him, Jorah & the Dothraki, Daario and anyone…there were so many. Yet, my favorite is one that never happened. Jaime versus Ned Stark. The book plays this up even more, but they discuss it as they prepare to fight. Ned does not enter into tournaments, but everyone knows he is a formidable fighter. Jaime says that he always wanted to test himself against the honorable Ned Stark. The go to fight and a random soldier thrusts a spear into Ned’s leg. It is such a deflating moment, but also just reminds us that GOT does not bend to our expectations.
Okay, I am kidding. That was a cool fight, but my favorite was actually the Tower of Joy. Eddard Stark and his band of heroes up against two members of the Kingsguard: Ser Arthur Dayne and Ser Gerold Hightower. Dayne is considered by many to be the greatest swordsman and knight of all-time. Pretty high praise. The show does him some justice, he makes short work of Ned’s men and pretty much has Ned dead to rights, if not for Howland Reed.
I would like to point how incredible it is to watch someone fight with two swords. If you read anything about sword fighting, you learn that two swords are incredibly difficult to wield, especially the way Arthur Dayne is using them. The scene does a fantastic job of making it look real and believable.
Okay, those are some of my favorite things. What are your favorites?
