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stormsewerSPOILERS FOR GAME OF THRONES BELOW (specifically, on everything before the last two episodes, and maybe for those, as well)
So, we've got two episodes left in Game of Thrones. If I was writing the show, here's how I'd end it.
Season 8, Episode 5: Euron gets too swaggery, so Cersei arranges his delivery to Yara. Arya kills Ilyn Payne (and heck, let's toss in Qyburn, too, just for fun), but before she can get to Cersei, we have a Cersei/Jaime murder/suicide as Cersei prepares to take predictably extreme measures to fend off a renewed attack on the Red Keep. The Hound and The Mountain resolve their differences via a heartfelt mutual stabbing and die in each others' arms.
Season 8, Episode 6: Dany falls prey to her rising rage and paranoia [1] and murders Jon [2]. This confirms Varys's worst suspicions about Dany, so he arranges for her to have "an accident," which is successful, but Grey Worm finds out and kills Varys, then packs up his Unsullied and leaves for Naath to live unhappily ever after [3]. That leaves Tyrion as the closest living relative of the last monarch (not to mention the most trusted advisor of those ill-starred Targaryens), so he gets the Iron Throne. Despite Sansa refusing his offer to become Queen of Westeros, Tyrion agrees to let the North stay independent with Sansa as Queen, because those northpeople just aren't worth the constant drama [4]. Bran sits around being crows.
Why this way? Listen, none of the three current contenders for the Iron Throne are suited for it, either as people or as plot devices. Dany is strong and sympathetic but too impulsive and uncompromising- just the type of person who always makes for a joyously heart-breaking death. Jon is too obvious, too much the boring standard-issue hero, and realistically as king he would just get himself stabbed all over, all over again; it's only dumb luck he's made it this far. And of course Cersei is Cersei- a transcendent villain, but c'mon. This ending comes straight from character. Though it will be SO HARD, Dany just will not tolerate any apparent competitor for what she sees as hers- bad news for Jon (and for her). Cersei is pretty much guaranteed to finally go too far, and Jaime killing Cersei, besides fulfilling the prophecy, brings his story full circle from Kingslayer to Queenslayer and brings his surging love/hate thing to resolution. Tyrion and Sansa are the only characters in this whole mess competent to run things, and it will be nice after losing so many beloved characters that at least two of them get what they deserve (after a lifetime of torment, of course), while Westeros itself turns out okay (ish).
See? So emotion, so wow, so satisfy! If it doesn't end this way, it should, amiright?
BONUS ALTERNATE ENDING (DVD only)
Dany, Jon, and Cersei find themselves in a so-called Dornish standoff around the Iron Throne- each has a crossbow but if any kills another, the third can kill them before they have time to reload. Just as Dany is calculating that Jon won't have the spleen to kill her if she shoots Cersei, Arya comes FROM OUT OF NOWHERE and stabs them all in the guts. ARYA WINS! THE CROWD GOES YAY!
[1] Perhaps further encouraged by losing her last dragon in an unsuccessful attack on the Red Keep?
[2] And this time he stays dead.
[3] I'll save my pitch for the Grey Worm spinoff series for another day.
[4] Though I do like Sansa as a dark horse candidate, I don't really see a sensical path to the Iron Throne for her.
So, we've got two episodes left in Game of Thrones. If I was writing the show, here's how I'd end it.
Season 8, Episode 5: Euron gets too swaggery, so Cersei arranges his delivery to Yara. Arya kills Ilyn Payne (and heck, let's toss in Qyburn, too, just for fun), but before she can get to Cersei, we have a Cersei/Jaime murder/suicide as Cersei prepares to take predictably extreme measures to fend off a renewed attack on the Red Keep. The Hound and The Mountain resolve their differences via a heartfelt mutual stabbing and die in each others' arms.
Season 8, Episode 6: Dany falls prey to her rising rage and paranoia [1] and murders Jon [2]. This confirms Varys's worst suspicions about Dany, so he arranges for her to have "an accident," which is successful, but Grey Worm finds out and kills Varys, then packs up his Unsullied and leaves for Naath to live unhappily ever after [3]. That leaves Tyrion as the closest living relative of the last monarch (not to mention the most trusted advisor of those ill-starred Targaryens), so he gets the Iron Throne. Despite Sansa refusing his offer to become Queen of Westeros, Tyrion agrees to let the North stay independent with Sansa as Queen, because those northpeople just aren't worth the constant drama [4]. Bran sits around being crows.
Why this way? Listen, none of the three current contenders for the Iron Throne are suited for it, either as people or as plot devices. Dany is strong and sympathetic but too impulsive and uncompromising- just the type of person who always makes for a joyously heart-breaking death. Jon is too obvious, too much the boring standard-issue hero, and realistically as king he would just get himself stabbed all over, all over again; it's only dumb luck he's made it this far. And of course Cersei is Cersei- a transcendent villain, but c'mon. This ending comes straight from character. Though it will be SO HARD, Dany just will not tolerate any apparent competitor for what she sees as hers- bad news for Jon (and for her). Cersei is pretty much guaranteed to finally go too far, and Jaime killing Cersei, besides fulfilling the prophecy, brings his story full circle from Kingslayer to Queenslayer and brings his surging love/hate thing to resolution. Tyrion and Sansa are the only characters in this whole mess competent to run things, and it will be nice after losing so many beloved characters that at least two of them get what they deserve (after a lifetime of torment, of course), while Westeros itself turns out okay (ish).
See? So emotion, so wow, so satisfy! If it doesn't end this way, it should, amiright?
BONUS ALTERNATE ENDING (DVD only)
Dany, Jon, and Cersei find themselves in a so-called Dornish standoff around the Iron Throne- each has a crossbow but if any kills another, the third can kill them before they have time to reload. Just as Dany is calculating that Jon won't have the spleen to kill her if she shoots Cersei, Arya comes FROM OUT OF NOWHERE and stabs them all in the guts. ARYA WINS! THE CROWD GOES YAY!
[1] Perhaps further encouraged by losing her last dragon in an unsuccessful attack on the Red Keep?
[2] And this time he stays dead.
[3] I'll save my pitch for the Grey Worm spinoff series for another day.
[4] Though I do like Sansa as a dark horse candidate, I don't really see a sensical path to the Iron Throne for her.
