Since the beginning of Game of Thrones the show felt like it could never end in the book present shock Douglas rushkoff
uses the show's opening title sequence as an allegory to this problem the camera pans over an
Animated map of the entire world of the saga showing the various divisions and clans within the Empire
It is drawn in the style of a fantasy role-playing
Map used by participants as the game board for their battles and intrigues and like a fantasy role-playing game
The show is not about creating satisfying resolutions
But rather about keeping the adventurer life and as many threads going as possible there is plot there are many plots
But there is no overarching story no end there are so many plants
In fact that an ending tying everything up seems inconceivable
even beside the points rushkoff definitely has a point the best word to describe the earlier seasons of the show would
Probably be chaotic main characters die at a moment's notice and plots meander in many different directions
And that's part of the appeal of Game of Thrones. It's exciting to experience a world where the present moment is. So unpredictable
but what rushkoff fails to mention is the narrative hidden beneath the surface of all that present chaos in reality game of Thrones does have
A story it is the story of characters traumatized by the past shocked in the present and looking for a future to believe in
Yes, the world of Game of Thrones is defined by chaos
but many
Characters in Game of Thrones are not they are
Instead defined by their struggle to find a story within the world they exist in there's no episode that makes this distinction better than in
the season 6 finale
The winds of winter the episode shows us characters trying to make sense of the world in many different ways by putting them all together
This episode becomes a metaphor for the entire series as a whole it is the symbolic end of the chaotic era of Game of Thrones
From seasons 1 through 6 and the beginning of its attempt of finding meaning within that chaos
The episode begins with the biggest act of chaos in the show's entire run up to this point the destruction of the Sept of Baelor
This sequence leads up to an act of terrorism
Orchestrated by Cersei Lannister the character who most embodies the chaos and cynicism present in the Game of Thrones world up to this point
She and her family have been responsible for the show's most significant discontinuities in its linear narrative
She and her son had the show's main character killed in the ninth episode
She and her father had more main characters killed in the red wedding and she herself has lost all
attachment to the future after two of her children died suddenly she gave up on preserving anything other than herself and those
Immediately loyal to her we can therefore see her destruction of the Sept of Baelor along with the religious hierarchy
Political rivals and many more main characters as the ultimate act of chaos
Not only does she destroy the literal embodiment of belief in the Seven Kingdoms
But she does it because he felt good to watch them burn
You felt good to imagine that
Cersei doesn't destroy the Sept because she has some plot for world domination
She does it because she feels she has nothing left to lose and when someone has nothing to lose they can risk everything to end
Up on top Margaery a character with just as much political savvy as Cersei is the only one in the Sept who sees this
so she
Understands the consequences of her absence and she is absent anyway
Which means she does not intend to suffer those consequences
the other characters are so blinded in their belief in the sanctity of religious traditions that they couldn't fathom the
Possibility that Cersei wouldn't show up for the trial much less retaliate with violence
Cersei cynicism is an advantage while others cling to their beliefs
She decides to embrace the chaos and protect herself. Her destruction of the Sept is the epitome of the chaotic worlds of Game of Thrones
Ironically this act of chaos is also the beginning of a more linear ending to the show
It gets rid of multiple important characters and ends a major plot line that has dominated the show for the last two seasons
Thus the show begins its shift from a chaotic and meandering character study to an end
Oriented and plot focus - TV drama the winds of winter begins with the familiar chaos of Game of Thrones
But the rest of the episode shows us something unfamiliar characters banding together getting revenge and realizing their destinies
I'm to be the new Meister
The rest of this episode focuses on wrap-up of various characters plot lines a further attempt at bringing an end to the chaos
Jv's military campaign ends Sam reaches old town
Melisandre is cast away John and Sansa resolved their tension and some unlikely
Alliances form as we landed marine with Daenerys the show points towards some finality and progress while tenaris has spent the entire show in Essos
Growing as a leader and as a character
She was always going to return to Westeros to reclaim the throne her conversation with Daario naharis
Shows us she is finally ready to take this crucial step in her personal narrative Daenerys his whole life story has been about her
Right to the Iron Throne while Cersei desires power out of a desire for self-preservation
Daenerys fights for the throne because of a belief in destiny. What is it?
You want my bath, right?
the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros her right to rule comes from a belief in a story about
Succession but Cersei rules because she tore down those beliefs. This is why Tyrion decides to support Daenerys, so I said no
Thank you to believe and yet
Here I am
I believe in you
Tyrion a self-proclaimed cynic son of the most cold-hearted politician in Westeros and brother of Circe herself
finds his faith in Daenerys her potential rule offers a
Restoration from the chaos brought by his family and it is why she is central to this story
She hopes to restore the stories and institutions undone by civil wars and cynical Lords back in Westeros
We get another satisfying culmination Arya's revenge murder of Walder Frey for his betrayal of her family
This scene shows a different solution to the chaos revenge
The last thing you're ever going to see is a stock smiling down at you as you die
It's a satisfying moment in Game of Thrones because this type of justice is so rare
the idea of justice itself is a
story
it requires cause and effect in the writing of wrong while Circe's retribution at the start of this episode was explosive and
Indiscriminate Arya's retribution is incisive and personal then in Winterfell the lord of chaos himself Petyr Baelish speaks with Sansa by the weirwood tree
Sansa remarks on her growth from a naive aspiring princess too. Cynical warden Assaf the north
She is the most prominent victim of chaos in the show
her multiple
Traumas have created a discontinuity in her personal narrative while she once prayed and wanted to become a princess the horrors
She has been subjected to have crushed her belief in stories and happy endings like Cersei and Littlefinger
This cynicism is her advantage
But even in such a hopeless
character the show manages to find her something to believe in a way to end her trauma and finish her story setting the scene in
The godswood hints at that one last thing that Sansa believes in you my love
The future of house talk her family
Finally, we see the immensely consequential vision of Jon's true parentage leading into the scene where he is declared king in the north, though
Jon is the rightful heir to the Iron Throne
Heritage is not the basis of his leadership like it is for Daenerys
Nor is it simply because he killed his enemies like Cersei while these things are a part of it
They only matter because he could unite the disparate houses under a single banner without this popular approval
Jon's rule would be just another chaotic plotline
but their overwhelming support shows that people will put chaos and cynicism aside to fight for a common cause
Something rare for the series John is able to do this because he gave the northern Lords
Something beyond the present to believe in his warnings of White Walkers in the army of the Dead
Motivated them to put rivalries on hold to fight a common enemy John represents an alternative to chaos and to restoring old stories
so at the end of the winds of winter
We have two opposed
coronations and another would-be ruler on the way one who represents the chaos of a world without a story another who promises to restore an
Old story and a third who offers a different story entirely
At its core Game of Thrones has been a story about people finding ways to survive in an uncertain world
learning to trust in one another to fight for common causes and
reconstructing a new narrative in a world without any but before this finale
Episode the show was more about people finding their way through the present chaos
And after this episode it became about pushing
characters towards a future that wrapped up the past as Thrones moved towards a world driven by story and away from a world driven by
Chaos, it had to make a complete shift no longer focusing on the exciting and watchable present chaos
Of course the show had to end sometime
But endings are in a way against everything that made Game of Thrones special in the first place. Nonetheless
It's the fantasy we've all been indulging in for the last decade because it speaks to a universal struggle
So don't be sad how the show ends because in reality. There's no time like the present
In
Present shock rush coughs sometimes sounds pretty pessimistic about the current cultural landscape
He stresses how technology traps us in the present not letting ideas and thoughts have the time
they need to settle the cruel irony of this issue is that the Internet does give us the opportunity to learn and consume in a
productive way
If you're doing something that takes time and effort, like writing your own story
The internet gives you access to the best stories like Daniel Jose
Older a New York Times bestselling author who has his own class on storytelling on Skillshare
I think Skillshare is helping solve present shock with their online selection of over
25,000 classes in creative writing video editing and more
Premium membership gives you the opportunity to really spend time joining classes and communities that match your exact goals
Click on the link in the description below for your chance at two months to try it out for free that's access to daniel
Jose alters class plus thousands of others across a wide range of topics a big
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