The game is over. After almost a decade of world-building, the saga of Westeros as told by HBO’s Game of Thrones has come to and end. It is rightfully praised as one of the greatest television shows of our time, and undeniably captured the cultural zeitgeist. And yet it seems that every single person I have talked to, and a majority of the masses online, feel personally bereaved over the ending. “Game of Trash,” I heard it referred to. So many people hated it, felt disappointed or outright angry with how David Benioff and DB Weiss chose to end their epic. Those people, I will argue, are wrong to be so upset. Given everything that has happened in the show over the past 8 seasons, and given the limitations that the showrunners have come up against, I believe that the finale we got is as good of an ending as can be hoped for, and leaves me excited for the final two books in the series. [SPOILERS AHEAD]

First, a little bit of background. I’ve read all of the books by George R.R Martin on which the show is based. I have long held the novels as far superior to the TV show, because the nature of the books allows for Martin to elaborate on more detail that is understandably left out to fit into a television adaptation. Most importantly, each chapter told from the point of view of a character allows the reader to become intimately familiar with each character’s thoughts. This allows us to not only better understand their motivations and actions, but helps us empathize with each character more. We come to truly care if they succeed or not, and it helps win us over to characters that would more routinely be pegged as straight “villains” such as Jaime Lannister, or at the very least adds depth and complexity to a more straight ahead antagonist like his sister Cesei.

I have greatly enjoyed viewing the translation of the story from page to screen. Benioff and Weiss have done a great job of capturing the feel of Martin’s world, and the actors (for the most part) perfectly embodied their characters. The show was able to bypass the lack of POV narration by positioning the characters into fantastically rich conversations that draw out their inner motivations while staying true to how that character would act in the given situation. That is where the strength of Game of Thrones comes from: it’s not about all of the crazy twists, but how these characters that we know so well create these events through their actions, and how they subsequently react to said twists. To crib from another source, the actions of a well-defined character almost seem inevitable if we know their true nature. In such a way, GoT was able to sweep us along by putting us in a believable fantasy world populated by well defined characters, then sat back and let the story tell itself.

Which brings us to the final season. I’ll be the first to say that we have been done a disservice in the presentation of the final season, but the issue is not with what happened in the  story, but rather how it was told. Once the show passed the story in the books (the last 2 books are yet to be written), the showrunners lost the details needed to explain each characters’ motivations. So while they knew the major story beats that needed to be hit, they lacked the nuance needed to make the developments believable in the same way that past seasons were.

The most blatant example is Daenarys Targaryen’s evolution into a villainous “Mad Queen.” I for one loved that development, and think that it makes for a significantly more compelling story than a rote “chosen one” narrative. The basis for her evolution also exists in her story. The problem is that the show did not give enough time to showcase that development, to the point where Tyrion had to explain the foreshadowing to Jon and the viewers at home.

When it comes down to it, literally every problem someone has with the show can be boiled down to this same issue: too rushed, not enough development. Think how better things would be if there had been 4 more episodes so we could get some breathing room in between Missandei’s execution, the destruction of King’s Landing, and Dany’s death. All of those events deserved moments of contemplation and discussion between different characters, but instead we had to keep barrelling ahead to the conclusion. The exact same story we got would be so much more understandable if we had just gotten the character development that we had grown accustomed to over the past seven seasons.

This is what makes me excited for the final two books in Martin’s series. Even if the story is exactly the same as what we saw on TV, it will be more fleshed out and, consequently, believable and fulfilling. But there is so much more in the books as well; I can’t wait to dig into two more huge novels of intrigue and excitement.

All of that aside, I feel very satisfied with how the story played out. Despite all of the shortcomings in the telling of the story, they were able to wrap everything up while staying true to the underlying themes of the series. Namely, power corrupts, the world isn’t fairy-tale perfect, and seemingly insignificant people can have a large impact on the world around them.

One of the hallmarks of Game of Thrones is the idea that anything can happen to any character, no one is safe, and often the most unexpected will occur, just like in real life. So I’m not sure why everyone is so upset with the show ending differently than “what they wanted.” Your favorite person didn’t end up on the throne? Oh well, life doesn’t always work out as we want or expect. I would have preferred that Cersei be “punished” more for her numerous crimes. I would have preferred that Jon square off against Grey Worm in a final showdown for Dany’s life. I DEFINITELY would have liked Jaime’s redemption arch to come to fruition (namely by him killing his aforementioned sister-lover). Yet I didn’t get that; instead I was presented with what “actually” happens, and can now rectify these deeds with what I know of the characters.

The most complicated conclusion for me was the resolution of the Lannisters’ story. I was positive that Jaime would prove to be a hero by killing Cersei, and she in turn would see that she had nothing left and utterly lost. While she certainly witnessed her defeat as Drogon torched King’s Landing, it troubled me that she received the satisfaction of having Jaime come back for her at the end. I was especially upset that the show seemed to throw away years of development for Jaime as well as do Brienne of Tarth dirty by having him dump her.

The finale episode rectified this a bit for me. Firstly, it provided us with that poetic image of the twins dead in each others arms under the pile of rubble. That scene also provided Peter Dinklage the opportunity to act powerfully. He sees that they ultimately took his advice and attempted to escape into anonymity, forsaking power for peace. Through Tyrion’s tears, we are reminded that while they may have been evil, they were still his family. Family brings complicated bonds, but they are bonds nonetheless.

Later we see Brienne, now Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, chronicle Jaime’s knightly deeds the White Book. You’d think that she would feel scorned by him, and while she may, she takes the high road and focuses on his good deeds through life. Low and behold, there are many, and she ends up etching him in history as a hero. This was the most truly emotional scene in the episode for me personally, and kudos to Gwendoline Christie for selling it. It told me that, perhaps, Brienne was able to look past the bad and see the good within him (like Tyrion did). It also reframed Jaime’s parting words to Brienne in Winterfell: because of his past actions and his uncontrollable love for Cersei, he did not see himself as hero and deserved to die. Pretty tragic.

Let’s end with who ultimately wins the “game.” Bran Stark becomes the king of Westeros by consensus among the noble lords, on the stipulation that a new one will be chosen upon his eventual death. The position is no longer hereditary, but based on merit. At first I must admit that I was taken by surprise. Bran has long been a pretty boring character due to his loss of personality upon becoming the Three Eyed Raven and more a conduit for all of the past knowledge of mankind. He also hasn’t been in the show much, despite his supposed importance. Although the choice ultimately is a sound one: he has wisdom and knowledge and, crucially, does not desire power, so will make the most utilitarian decisions. Crucially, the show makes a point in Se8 Ep2 to show Tyrion sitting down to talk with Bran about his experiences, which lays the groundwork for the Imp to feel confident in his suggestion of Bran for the crown.

It is fitting that a Stark ends up on the throne, they being the central family of the entire narrative, but also Bran in particular holds a special place among them. In the very first book, the only Starks to be POV characters are him, Eddard, Arya, and Jon (who isn’t even a real Stark). Robb, Sansa, and Catelyn do not receive their own chapters until the second book. It’s through Bran’s eyes that much of the world is first encountered, and we get the sense that he is being set up to be a major character. Once he is pushed out of the tower and becomes paralyzed the story truly takes off. While his story deviates significantly from the majority of every other character, and in the middle I wondered where it was all going, it’s kind of nice to know that it all comes back around to him. I had forgotten about his centrality at the beginning, so it was cool to be reminded of it by the show.

Bran, Tyrion points out, is essentially incorruptible. This is important, as everyone else who has credibly claimed the Iron Throne ended up being brought down by the desire for power. The initially good and noble Robert Baratheon became complacent and boorish in his lavish position, Joffrey indulged entirely in the undisputed power bestowed by the crown, Tommen was caught in the machinations of those trying to take his throne from him, and Cersei sacrificed her humanity to climb to the top of the hierarchy. Likewise, Daenarys’s believe in her own divine right to rule pushed her to become a murderous tyrant. The message is clear: those who seek to possess power often do not deserve to wield it.

In this sense, every survivor acknowledged that something new was needed. Obviously in a feudal society outright democracy is unheard of, but by choosing to elect a king every generation puts them closer to the path toward equitable governance. No, the solution will not achieve everlasting peace. Surely lords and ladies will plot and scheme to shore up the political support necessary to be chosen to wear the crown, or eventually some king will attempt to reconquer the North. That may be; but another, subtler theme shines through that gives us hope.

As Bran alludes, everybody was where they needed to be in order to achieve the outcome we got. If Dany didn’t have her dragons and ally with Jon, the White Walkers would have destroyed the world. If the Starks had not been betrayed and broken, Arya would not have learned the skills necessary to defeat the Night King, or they would not have gathered the allies and knowledge necessary to bring about true peace (for their time). In this sense, Tyrion’s belief that “cripples, bastards, and broken things” typically shunned by society can still make a difference proves to be true. All anyone has to do, all anyone can do, is strive to do what is right, and the reverberations from each individual’s actions can have untold consequence. So while the future is truly uncertain, it’s a reminder to keep on fighting the good fight, because every decision can make a difference.

That’s really the point of Tyrion’s “story” speech before nominating Bran for king. Stories do have the power to unite us and teach us. This story united all of us, not because we knew the ending, but because we knew the characters and followed them along the many winding paths to that conclusion. Hopefully we were inspired to ponder the ethics of their choices, or imagine what we could do in such situations. Through 8 seasons we cheered for, rooted against, or laughed with such a diverse cast through fantastic and memorable occurrences. Sounds like a pretty good story to me.