Game of Thrones Ending Explained, Part 2: Why Bran Stark?

Go to nordvpn.com/th... and use code thetake to get 75% off a 3-year plan. Protect yourself online today! | Continuing our Game of Thrones Ending Explained series, let's look at what the rest of the finale is about. Why is Bran Stark King? How do the stories of Tyrion, Sansa and other characters parallel our own history? If you like this video, subscribe to our channel or support us on Patreon: / thetake
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Go to nordvpn.com/thetake and use code thetake to get 75% off a 3-year plan. Protect yourself online today! Watch Part One here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rYbGhWSOjNNpqac Support The Take on Patreon: www.patreon.com/thetake Subscribe to keep up with our latest videos, and let us know what you want to see next!

[@melanatedqueen6662]

Just in case u don’t see it... As two white women you have NO Buisness trying to address issues with black and brown folks. Hour takes were the whitest takes ever. First of all, where do you all live? How many black folks are in your neighborhood? How many got displaced through gentrification so you can live there? Your “take” on the Highgarden offer was way off base. That’s what we want. We want you to give us the fertile land and the resources you ppl built on our backs. We want land and resources in wealthy areas instead of being forced into less desirable areas through discriminatory lending and housing segregation ( both of which 45 has brought back by signing the legislation that repealed parts of Dodd Frank and his housing dept has rolled back protections that were there to prevent housing segregation. His conservative/racist court will ensure this takes hold for generations. You have no Buisness trying to address these issues when you all CLEARLY don’t understand them 1 second ago

[@loveinthetimeofcholera888]

Can you do a video on Sansa as queen in the north as well?

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

The Take games of thrones is communist Marxist Socialism

[@kikeheebchinkjigaboo6631]

The Take you’re too involved with Marxist progressive communist socialism, occultism and Identity Politcs

[@noel7777noel]

The thumbnail is a spoiler. Take it off. You ruined it for me. All this video did was show up in my suggestion feed and I saw the crown on his head. A huge spoiler. I don't even have to start playing the video

[@krithikar.]

Bran was made king because he comes with his own chair

[@Genesis-iw6ic]

Weeell, they could put wheels on the iron throne

[@Claire18Hi]

Hahahaha hahahaha thank you for this comment

[@discountplaguedoctor88]

@@Genesis-iw6ic Drogon melted that down.

[@HeyCrabman14]

I was thinking the same thing! Bran the broken, now with wheels! 😆

[@hriata168]

lol..

[@denistaiwo157]

There was nothing wrong with Bran ruling Westeros. It’s just that the writers rushed so many things that in the end, it didn’t feel fully deserving for him to rule.

[@jacobrobson8920]

Bran ruling makes no sense

[@chezlolxo]

Jacob Robson “those who do not learn from history are destined to repeat the same mistakes” it does make sense, stop reaching

[@TheoneandonlyEETFUK]

@@jacobrobson8920 He saw the mistakes from the past sir.

[@stacksmalacks8826]

@@chezlolxo It makes no sense when you pull in the context of Westeros being a feudal medieval society. The mere suggestion of something like this would cause a war. What do you think happens when the next election occurs and the person with the biggest army doesnt win?

[@chezlolxo]

Jayson Stafford I can’t speak for the history of elected monarchies or Martin’s lore and history but we do know that a three eyed raven has never sat on the throne before so maybe we can’t go off the histories based on Bran being their memories this is where it was to end the game of thrones and also to just point out we should have wise rulers instead of people using their power to insight wars and capitalise on them. Given what we’ve seen of Bran he has no desires so cannot be corrupted by the power of it, he holds the memories and based on that should be able to avoid warfare at all costs with 10, 000 years of history to go off

[@CodyJancaric]

Your videos on season 8 are far better than season 8.

[@Natalie-cv2nt]

Because she explained it?😂

[@Ratchet2431]

@@Natalie-cv2nt No, because she adds more interesting meanings and elements to a season that it's lack of them.

[@Natalie-cv2nt]

@@Ratchet2431 omg that's exactly what I've said.. you know what never mind 😂

[@hackse4883]

@Shirley Timple another true comment

[@Ryuk45]

@@Ratchet2431 Have you ever considered that they're not just making shit up and everything they said is presented in the actual text, but you were too busy sperging out over your Azor Ahai theory not panning out to notice?

[@Moeller750]

Jon being Frodo and Bran being Aragon is probably the most Martinesque twist in the whole finale, but it was so badly served

[@michaeltrumph121]

It's a garbage ending no matter how they served it.

[@El_Descarriado]

Anything being anything related to LOTR is not Martinesque. His whole agenda is to NOT be like LOTR, he's said it himself.

[@chezlolxo]

Michael Trumph so if George himself planned the same things in the last book it would still be garbage? That genius brain whose stories has encapsulated the world, ending is garbage? Sure, Jan.

[@lolajay1768]

Michael Trumph garbage because your headcanon did not come true? The show fucked it up but with good writing it can work very well. It will be much more fleshed out in his books

[@caelinnis]

Yeah I think most people agree the problem here is the execution not the whole twist

[@SK28th]

No one : Tyrion : Bran will be King. Bran the broken! Bran: Thanks. But just Bran is cool... Tyrion: Bran the Busted up Bran: OK.. Or maybe just Bran. Tyrion: Bran the wheely wheely legs no Feely!!

[@amandatidey5751]

Hahah Tyrion Lannister "The Legs of the King"

[@jonathanpalmquist4894]

Better writing than Season 8...

[@mbalimtshali6097]

🤣😂🤣😂👏👏you just killed me!😂🤣😂

[@jeffreysammon4119]

It makes me think of American Dad, when Steve and Roger were Wheels and The Leg Man. Or something like that.

[@amandatidey5751]

There's got to be a Jaime Lannister joke in there..but I just can't quite perfect it (I can't quite put my (little)finger on it) no.. that's not it either..

[@SK28th]

But Bran knew that Dany was going to go mad and kill thousands of people in Kings Landing and did nothing to stop it. Does such indifference to human life make for a good ruler?

[@shivanigurjar13]

Wow this is really intriguing

[@annelee6400]

Because he saw something further than that.

[@SK28th]

@@annelee6400 I'm not sure the end justify the means. Especially if it's the lives of an entire city of civilians.

[@mementomori5985]

He can’t see the future.

[@SK28th]

@@mementomori5985 seriously. That's his MO. He said that the only reason he came all the way to King's landing was because he knew they'd make him king.

[@sangitamahanti386]

According to Tyrion's story logic, Old Nan is the most suitable ruler

[@derekwalter4238]

What ever happened to old nan anyways?

[@sangitamahanti386]

@@derekwalter4238 well she passed away,so in the TV series canon the showrunners decided to retire the character out of respect.

[@derekwalter4238]

@@sangitamahanti386 oh, damn

[@karfos6764]

OMG! Totally!

[@annickroussemrou1064]

I thought old nan was beheaded at kingslanding with nedd and company

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

Bran's first order as king is to establish ramps all over King's Landings.

[@carteor]

I support more inclusiveness

[@fattiger2000]

Why do you think he let it burn? Fresh start for accessibility protocols

[@kittjy9438]

Bout time! When Jon was walking up the stairs, I kept thinking, must be a b***h when you're pregnant.

[@Maymei99]

That's the kind of inclusiveness I can get behind.

[@madeleinec147]

Ramp Up King's Landing

[@sweetcandeh1715]

Broke the Wheel , came with 2 more

[@jesseling2802]

4*

[@soldier22881]

omfg that is a good one, i get it cuz of the wheelchair lmao

[@jezuzmaximum7510]

This one deserves more likes

[@btslolita3859]

Why aren't there more likes

[@saberm3795]

Worm Grey: You are not allowed to speak! - Tyrion speaks for almost an hour and even decided who the next king will be.

[@asalal0398]

Why did they name him "bran the broken" instead of something like "the raven king"?

[@chrisc6898]

Asalal 03 even The Three Eyed Raven would be hella cool

[@LegionnaireScout]

Does he look like Mathias Corvinus to you ? :D

[@joyboy_5613]

In the books he is named like that, Bran the broken

[@asalal0398]

@@chrisc6898 I don't know who that is

[@asalal0398]

@Kevin Humphrey yea, true though. But evry character has had trauma. Thats not whats special about him. I get your point. I just whould have preferd a diffrent name.

[@robchuk4136]

Tyrion not being mentioned in the book is a cute joke, but it makes no sense. He's the last living Lannister. Kind of important to mention. Hand of the King. Kind of important to mention. Hand of the Queen. Kind of important to mention. He's connected to too much that would be documented or would have records. So either Tywin, the man running King's Landing after Joffery died, killed himself on the toilet, or Sam is a terrible writer. Btw, you guys should do the Elizabeth movies.

[@monroecorp9680]

I think it's a callback to what Varys said to Tyrion after Battle of the Blackwater. "The Histories won't remember you..." (can't recall the exact phrasing)

[@Emanresuadeen]

True. But maybe it's to point out that perhaps there are really important people in our own times and histories that have been forgotten - the "small people" who are the unsung heroes, who really made history happen..

[@caelinnis]

It makes perfect sense. Tyrion is an ugly dwarf man-whore. I think the entire point Martin is trying to illustrate is, "History forgets the most important people simply because they don't fit the mold"

[@MonteCreations]

@@monroecorp9680 Yes its a call back, but one that ignores context. The reason why Varys thought Tyrion would not be remembered is because his father Tywin was the most important figure at the time. History would likely just tell of how kingslanding defended itself long enough for Tywin to save the day, and neglect tyrion's role in leading the defense. History is written by the victors, and Tywin made it very clear that he was not giving Tyrion any special credit for his role and thus he would be forgotten by history By the end of the series, those facts have changed. Tyrion is the only lannister left, and the only lannister that was on the winning side of the war. Heck if the book includes the roles the lannister family had, they would obviously need to include what became of the family and that would mean mentioning Tyrion. Also Tyrion was not just acting as hand of the king, but the true hand of the king which is an important role which is usually recorded in westerosi history. It really doesn't make sense to exclude him

[@monroecorp9680]

@@MonteCreations Agreed wholeheartedly.

[@PIRATER0B0TNINJA]

I don't get why people think that "Bran" as king is a "utopian" ending. The real Bran died in the cave. What's sitting on the throne is a thousands-year-old demigod who very coincidentally defeated his chief rival and ended up wielding supreme power. His only lines this season has been telling people that they "did what they were supposed to." But...supposed to by *whom*? The clear implication is that it was by *him*, and that this was his intended goal all along. We don't see him "doing" much of anything to get there, but how much effort does an omniscient demigod really need to put in? He would know exactly how people would react to whatever he would say to him, so really it would only require minor course corrects. That HBO has chosen to rewind to the Three-Eyed Raven's origin story for their first spinoff show is, I think, quite telling. They've set the stage to cast a very dark pallor on the "utopian" ending that this series gave us. Chaos is a ladder, but it was the Raven - not the Mockingbird - who came out on top.

[@sophiawilson8696]

The evil tree!!!!! maybe

[@99kdaniel]

I always thought that Bran was setting them all up! He had the knowledge and knew how to use it to his advantage. I also think that his vision during the final battle at Winterfell was his confirmation that he would be named king

[@pplr1]

Good way to sum it up. Bran wanted the massacre-it was part of him manipulating his way to the top.

[@Derekivery]

Agreed. Bran (or the Three Eyed Raven walking...excuse me... rolling around in Bran's skin) is a undead tree monster. They've basically agreed to make cthulhu their king. I am willing to believe that the books will end with King Bran, but it won't be viewed as this "happy ending" but rather this dark ominous ending where the reader knows an unholy monster has taken over Kingdom.

[@adw8451]

There you have it! A demigod. Real word does NOT have demigods or magic-dragons okay considering they are nukes- Martin praises himself on how his story has real world connotations yet we get this magical ‘godly’ ending. Disgusting.

[@VanAlexi]

“wHy dO YoU thInK i cAME aLl tHIs Way”

[@xavierclements2228]

You're pathetic

[@angelantayhua3096]

X C bad day?

[@htasul]

Bran kinda forgot about that.

[@LeoLCDT]

@@xavierclements2228 aLL hAiL bRaN tHe bRoKeN!!

[@tupimpacaterpillar3516]

X C HaiL bRaN! ThE BrOKeN!!

[@williammatthews693]

The scene where the lords and ladies of Westeros quickly shoot down Sam Tarley's idea for a democracy was the most inspired thing from the series finale.

[@TD-ix4ep]

I don't get why Arya, Bran and Sansa seemed to be willing to let Jon be punished for treason when they knew what he did wasn't treason at all, they should have let everyone know that he was the true heir to the throne and by killing someone who claimed to be queen he was in fact executing a traitor.

[@combatsportlover6919]

Technically Jon going off beyond the wall to live with the Free Folk is not really a punishment for him.

[@krisynthiagomez5883]

I think its more likely that they did argue against making him go but he was so insistent about paying for his crime of murdering Daenerys that they knew there was nothing they could say to disuade him, so they sent him off with assurances that he would be welcomed back when or if he was ready. Plus he never really wanted to be kind in the North and most certainly not of Westeros so he was happy to give it to Sansa.

[@LeChairman]

Not to mention the Dothraki fucked off to poison butterfly island, meaning Jon had no reason to live in exile and could simply return without consequence.

[@wernerdanler2742]

Perfect analogy of our world. The real world where the plotters for power are still in charge and hide behind good intentions.

[@pentfold6534]

May be a crude reflection of the USA but not the rest of the world

[@wernerdanler2742]

@@pentfold6534 look again my friend. If you think human nature is different here than anywhere else then you need to look at history a little closer the world over.

[@pplr1]

Bran had good intentions? I didn't see him showing any at the end. You are correct in the Bran could've manipulated this all-including the King's Landing massacre into happening. There are specific points in season 8 where his actions make the massacre more likely to happen and if Bran can see possible futures that says some bad things-like he wanted it to happen.

[@pplr1]

@TK Wallace I think the Take contradicted itself by implying Bran was both taking responsibility and then doing nothing. Perhaps he used his powers to pick which possible future he wanted and subtly worked for it to happen-which means Bran wanted the massacre to happen and was after power after all, even willing to kill thousands of innocents to get it.

[@haneenhawash1739]

Your videos make any viewing experience of any show waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better

[@emintey]

These Game of Thrones videos provide some of the most thoughtful videos on You Tube.

[@pplr1]

Its good excuse making for the show but still manages to miss things and contradict itself. Claiming Bran is both taking responsibility and not doing anything is contradicting itself. Plus Bran may have manipulated things to get the crown-since this would involve arranging the deaths of thousands of innocents that makes Bran very power hungry (and a mass murderer).

[@rockyp3917]

So Dorne and Iron Islands have been always fighting for their independence but nobody says a word when North declares their independence. Also a Stark King ruling the remaining 6 kingdoms Hmmm 😞 I wonder why people didn't like the ending.

[@Yami_Spirit]

Also why was Yara laughing at the suggestion of a democracy when that's literally how the Iron Islands select their leader? Jesus fucking Christ D&D....

[@MonteCreations]

@@Yami_Spirit Ya, the Iron islands have been doing the elective monarchy thing for centuries with the kingsmoot. Though interestingly enough, just like mentioned in the video on the history of elective monarchy's, the iron born's elective monarchy actually did end up turning into a sorta hereditary rule since they just fell into the habit of electing greyjoys with no serious challengers

[@tarawierzba8787]

I thought it was pretty.clear why the north was allowed its Independence. They fought off the White Walkers for all of westeros... and earned it. It was stated and agreed upon. What's so hard to understand about this?!

[@tarawierzba8787]

But I do agree with Yara laughing off Democracy as ludicrous. Lol

[@forint9654]

Because North earned it by doing something helpful and useful sometimes, than just fighting for freedom at all cost and causing problems with no intent in making pact or at least peace like Iron Islands and Dorne.

[@jennifert464]

Bran: I am not a lord and can never be one. I can’t be king of the north either. But I can be king of the 7 kingdoms 🤷🏻‍♀️

[@derekwalter4238]

Six kingdoms

[@robertnavarro5024]

deal with it 😎😎

[@DARKKNIGHT6.022]

Height of hypocrisy

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

3:06 If Bran could see into the future, then he MUST have saw Daenerys burning King's Landing and didn't tell ANYONE about it and let all the rest of the bad shit play out just to be king. Wouldn't that make him Evil? I mean for fuck's sake, there is NO ONE in King's landing to rule anymore. Their entire army/people is dead or has turned to ashes, moved up to the north with sansa in independence, dorthaki AND unsullied departed, and no army to command. What bullshit is this?

[@mermaidtingzzz]

AAAAND he technically interfered when he told Sam to tell Jon about his lineage. He literally set everything into motion with they info. Bran may not be the baddie in the books but the way the show presented his arc he definitely comes off as manipulative.

[@bryntendo]

Can Bran even really see into the future though? The show contradicts itself on that so much, like when they ask him if dragon fire can kill the night king and he says 'I don't know, no one's ever tried' as though he can only see the past, but then it's all 'will you be our king?' 'why do you think I came all this way?' like he knew it all along. I think maybe he's incredibly good at predicting the future based on everything he already knows about people, their stories, and all of history, but he's not actually able to see into it the way he can the past and present. Alternate interesting idea about Bran maybe being evil - He's not Brandon Stark anymore, he's the Three Eyed Raven, like a collection of consciousness from all the past greenseers and the singers, taught by Blood Raven who has been manipulated for centuries by the children of the forest. The Children created the Night King to destroy men when they were warring over land thousands of years ago. Now an ancient collective consciousness created by, passed down through, and probably controlled or manipulated in some way by the Children sits on the throne, ruling the lands men stole from them. He's like a trojan horse for them, sneak their magic and will into a high born human with a respectable name and let the men put him (them) in charge thinking it was their own idea all along. Seems pretty sneaky! The Children were only peaceable with humans after the Night King got out of their control and threatened them as well - Now that humans have defeated their rogue weapon, the Children could very well hatch a plot to regain their lands and take revenge using a human as a sock puppet.

[@happynewyear6240]

I believe that D&D don't really care about the contradictions in their writings anymore. I also believe that in show canon Bran isn't evil but D&d indirectly make him look like a villain so heyy everybody can go home and make some conspiracy of evil 3er now I guess. God as a Bran stan I really hate this show.

[@bryntendo]

northern sky c Man, I've been thinking up the most random 'theories' just to pretend that what happened on the show actually had any deeper meaning or connectivity and if I can reach far enough to have it make sense. It's the only thing easing the pain, lmao.

[@zacktobin8026]

The name of the show is Game of Thrones. It's pretty underwhelming that the person who won never played the game.

[@sarasamaletdin4574]

Well the name of the book series is song of ice and fire and A Game of Thrones just the first book.

[@pplr1]

Unless Bran used his powers to see what the possible futures were and manipulated things to create events that get him the crown. This would include making the massacre happen which means Bran is a mass murderer.

[@mickymicky3193]

I kind of feel that is the point

[@Gadget-Walkmen]

@@mickymicky3193 lol no it's not.

[@courageouscarla1804]

he played the game of thrones brilliantly, he just directly & indirectly delegated the dirty work to others ie tyrion, danerys, jon etc...

[@toneriggz]

I like the idea of Bran as king if there's a nefarious reason for it. The show rushed things, I imagine GRRM won't.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

Tone Riggz they should have hinted at the Three Eyed Raven being the collective greenseers or Children of the Forest getting their revenge on men

[@Crisyx91]

Tone Riggz For sure he won’t. This lazy fucker was supposed to deliver a book as part of his contract and didn’t do it

[@toneriggz]

@@Crisyx91 I never heard that he was contracted to release another book. Which would explain why he informed D&D years ago about certain major plot points.

[@magister343]

Bran is dead. They just made Bloodraven king.

[@alpertek2549]

Three-eyed Raven just utilized Bran's personality so that he could get the all the power. If the show even hinted that there's something sinister in "Bran's" mind, it would've suited the bittersweet ending way better.

[@sarahb7180]

Newsflash: John Snow also didn’t want to rule the throne.

[@GhostFan-ev4di]

Would have been better,if no one ruled,instead of that emotionless crowbot

[@lynsay31]

I know and that's why he would have been an excellent ruler.

[@georgeleinberger8670]

He knows nothing

[@theisjepsen22]

He is the smartest for he knows nothing.

[@latishalingo4399]

John wanted Danny to be on the Throne. Bran didn't care who ends up on the throne he just accepted it. He isn't interested, motivated or scared by the power of monarchy.

[@ocadioan]

Poland-Lithuan had an elective monarchy. More often than not, this led to weak ineffectual rule, with the neighbours partitioning the country several times. Btw, RIP Grey Worm. The butterflies of Naath are deadly to outsiders.

[@ccchhhrrriiisss100]

WE can only hope.

[@AintGotAnyName]

People of Naath: "We're peaceful. We can't protect ourselves" Butterflies of Naath: "We're deadly. We'll protect you"

[@AxelQC]

By allowing Sansa her own kingdom, they have set a precedent for dividing the kingdom. The Iron Isles will declare independent soon. When Bran dies without an heir, there will be another election. The Holy Roman Empire became weak and divided because of this. There could also be another war for succession, or a break up of the kingdom. They have chosen instability in an effort to give a 21st Century solution to succession. A kingdom without an heir results in war and strife, like the War of the Roses, the War of Spanish Succession, and the War of Austrian Succession.

[@halimdyfan5554]

The one eyed raven before Bran lived for like a thousand years. Probably won't be a problem for a while I think.

[@pplr1]

@@halimdyfan5554 Bran may not be plugged into a tree though. And if Bran didn't care about thousands of innocents dying (or even manipulated things to make it happen) he may not care about instability enough to prevent it. He may even be settling up political instability in order to take advantage of it again.

[@maryroosma9583]

Sansa's reasoning for the North needing to be independent kingdom right off the bat is flawed because Bran is not an outside ruler that the Northmen would be bending the knee for. Bran is the last legitimate male heir of the Stark line so he should be their default leader anyway which Sansa has even mentioned previously in the show. I can see Sansa trying to make that argument once Bran in old and at a point of near death but not at the beginning of his reign.

[@johnlemon2916]

The one that should rule is the one that deserves to rule. Not someone who only becomes the leader because of blood.

[@AxelQC]

21st Century values imposed on a medieval kingdom. @@johnlemon2916

[@Shervin86]

The primary message of Game of Thrones: "The best journeys can have horrible endings."

[@SmokeyLaBear]

19:30 - okay, that's genius from GRRM! In Carl Sagan's original 1980 Cosmos science series, Sagan stressed that climate change and nuclear weapons are the greatest threats to the survival of humanity and all life on Earth.

[@tupimpacaterpillar3516]

Smokey La Bear a whole video can be made about this!

[@CobraDove1111]

Take it up with the billionaire psychopaths that created GEOENGINEERING, cloudseeding aka CHEMTRAILS and weather warfare and the millionaires and their jets and wasteful carbon footprints

[@ihab2002ahmad]

@@CobraDove1111 Wait a second, I thought geoengineering was supposed to save the climate.

[@ryanterwilliger225]

Hmm I hadn’t considered the implications of Greyworm and the Unsullied going to Naath in order to possibly protect the peaceful, indigenous population (Misandei’s people) from the cruelty of the nearby slavers of Essos! I suppose that makes the conclusion of Greyworm’s arc at least a little bit more satisfying than it initially felt. It’s almost as if, because he was unable to have any actual children with Misandei, he’ll be the protector of her symbolic children (the future generations of Naath’s inhabitants) instead! 🙂

[@shivanigurjar13]

Bran was manipulating the future by releasing info about John's heritage at the correct time and to correct people ... He always wanted it, so he didn't accept Wardenship of north coz he wanted to be the king, Now his line "why else have I come so far " makes sense

[@jesseling2802]

Actually he cant see the future. Remember he stores the _memory_ of humanity. If it hasn't happened he cant know it. Not to mention the whole paradox risk

[@shivanigurjar13]

@@jesseling2802 I think he can see glimpses of future. Why else did he give the dagger to Arya?

[@jesseling2802]

@@shivanigurjar13 Well he can see through all Ravens and he can warg and see anything else through any eyes he likes. It was wasted on him wasnt it? Maybe he saw what she went through and made a safe bet that she'd have the best chance of using it

[@pplr1]

You are correct. Season 8 showed Bran could've manipulated things to get himself the crown. This means he pushed to make the massacre happen-making Bran a mass murderer.

[@pplr1]

@@jesseling2802 Three eyed raven. One eye for each direction of time-past, present, and future. Also knowing possibly futures would explain why Bran didn't warm about Euron's ambush (something he could see in the works just by looking in the present). He wanted Missandei to die because he wanted the massacre that followed to happen so he'd get the crown. He doesn't use animals to look through time, just his powers.

[@benjamingarrett9960]

Tyrion: "And who has a better story than Bran The Broken?" LITERALLY EVERYONE! Even Hot Pie!

[@millardlim981]

But Bran the Broken literally knows the story of "literally everyone."

[@casshernsins8333]

mlim yet does nothing with it

[@heyitsmira17]

@@casshernsins8333 why would he do anything with it if him doing nothing led him to be the king?

[@refilwelioma8868]

Hahahahahahaha

[@georgeprchal3924]

The trick is to brown the butter.

[@Mini-Toast_]

Let's stop putting more thought into this than the writers did.

[@Omnipotentmonkey]

let's automatically ignore anyone whose account name is dedicated to childish bullshit.

[@alexandrapurcarea1061]

GRRM must have given a lot of thought to the ending, and he’s the one to come up with Bran as king.

[@Mini-Toast_]

Ciaran Smith Let's just take usernames seriously and discredit anything of merit they have to say. That's so not childish at all.

[@Omnipotentmonkey]

@@Mini-Toast_ My point was that you've essentially committed your username to something of an agenda, you're not objective and your name is evidence to it.

[@Mini-Toast_]

Ciaran Smith My name is not evident of a lack of being objective. That view itself is so naive. By that logic any profile with a trace of crassness is instantly discredited. However my stance still stands that Benioff and Weiss are fickle novices. That isn't to say they are talentless, rather their poor direction with the show incites such vitriol from their fans. It's why I hold contempt for them. Someone with more merit than I holds even more contempt for the two. Check out the Dragon Demands and see for yourself.

[@redsnake69]

Thanks for point out that being ruled by a supercomputer working by an oligarchy and with access to all information of the citizens is extremely intrusive and creepy as hell.

[@caelinnis]

But we also know that Bran is just a figurehead and Tyrion is the real ruler, just not the king. He's like the Prime Minister of Westeros.

[@clarkterrell930]

@@caelinnis Right. Tyrion is the best ruler Westeros could have hoped for and the only way he would have ever got this chance was to rule for Bran.

[@melissarodriguez21]

I'm still salty about this ending... Regardless this analysis was great 👏👏👏

[@alexandrebeaudry8377]

We have to fill the gap with ours imagination. I believe the show runners didn't dare showing us the dark side of the Starks. This is the reason why Daenarys end up with a gap in her caracter's arcs. She always was a tyrant but avoid to look at the collateral damage and wrond decisions she did. This would have let the Stark with painfull and bloody decision to take her over.

[@Ar1AnX1x]

after watching earlier seasons it feels like two different story. one is far more epic and well-written. and the characters stand out in season 1-4.

[@Da_Homie12]

Grow up pendeja

[@pplr1]

Not really. I give the Take credit for admitting some of the flaws in season 8 but it didn't acknowledge them all and even contradicted itself. Bran can see possible futures and either didn't care about other people's lives so he let thousands of innocents die or wanted power so badly he manipulated things to make that happen. Not a good king either way and the Take missed it. The Take-by claiming Bran is both taking responsibility and not doing anything-is contradicting itself.

[@archenforever7264]

"I can never be Lord of Winterfell, I can never be Lord of anything. I'm the 3 eyed raven now." Yeah. Ok. Sure.

[@denisdaly1708]

I disagree with this take. Bran, the 3 eyed raven, will live for 1000 years. Because of this and his knowledge, he has absolute power. So, he will become a despot and tyrant. He is indifferent to citizens being killed. He knew Danny was going to torch KL. He used Jon, and manipulated this knowledge to destabilise Danny, and get Jon out of the way. Why do you think I came all this way? Here he was showing his naked ambition. Here, you have one family, and a couple of others putting two of the family members as monarchs. Ruling the kingdoms is a family business. Power was not as concentrated under Robert. Look at kings council, a collection of known incompetent. Again, this typically happens under tyrants. What does the uppity and self interested Bring know about finance? Davos is a smuggler, not a war strategist. Sam has almost zero training. WTF. I am an organisational psychologist. This is the opposite to how competent leaders should assume power. The evidence shows that Bran has no care for the people. Because all the others will be long dead, it is Bran who will select the next 3 eyed raven/king. Who would dare disagree with the almighty Bran?

[@BigHenFor]

Either you misunderstood or misheard. Bran is Head of State but not the actual ruler. He is a Representational Monarch, not an Absolute one. The real power in Westeros resides with Tyrion, The Hand of The King. Please refer to the history of the English Civil War, which bought to an end any pretence of absolute monarchy in England for a pertinent historical example. In that, King Charles I of England lost not only his struggle with the newly powerful merchant classes, but lost his head because his misunderstood that real power did not lie with the Crown, but with those who control its purse. Then refer to CGP Grey's KZbin video called "Rules for Rulers", and the text that inspired it: "The Dictator’s Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics." The ending of GOT, with its framework of power is accurate in describing how power moved away from monarchies to representatives of the powerful and wealthy. The Monarchs are figureheads, around which the nation can gather round, but the real work, the decisions, and heavy lifting is done by an Executive group. Look closely at organisations, and that structure is repeated even now. Lol.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@BigHenFor Tyrion cleary had less autority as hand of the king than the queen regent did back in season 2.

[@HusseinAbdirahman]

"Power is always dangerous. It attracts the worst, and corrupts the best. I never asked for power. Power is only given to those who are prepared to lower themselves to pick it up." - King Ragnar Lothbrok

[@JomerMercado]

you know what? it should have another season. that's it. they rushed everything forgetting to tell every detail

[@The.White.knight.]

But Rob stark and Jon snow got nothing they deserved. They were ideal characters.

[@katiedunmore2184]

Sam is the ideal character. Everyone else I can think of is either scheming and or violent or makes bad love life decisions etc. but then its called the game of thrones so pretty much every character is gonna be a power hungry sob, not a kind person of moral fiber. In the beginning Ned stark has to behead someone. There might be good people in westros but they aren't shown because good people don't get too involved with politics because power corrupts.

[@sabrinaerickson7098]

They were both honorable characters. But I would like to state that the key difference between them is that Jon had humility. Robb’s arrogance was his undoing.

[@jackiemanuel]

I love that you included the clip of Toby Ziegler ranting about Santos not wanting to be president. Another person who didn't want ir but ended up winning and presumably being good at it.

[@sharazisspecial]

If the moral of the story is the best person for the job is the one who doesn’t want it then that is a pretty dumb message. How would the person without any passion or motivation do the best? Bran even lets the small council do all the work while he wargs most of the day. The small council includes a cutthroat murderer and a complete failure of a hand that contributed to his previous ruler turning into dragon hitler.

[@speedy7040]

the cutthoat soldier (see the difference..) is best suited to keep other cutthoats in line.- he knows the rpes of it. the "failure" hand did actually very very well when charged with the safety and well beeing of his citizens...he was not that good at killing them ,thought... And the moral of the story is that ppl think they need a king, while they hate dictators. But every king is by nature a dictator. So the compromise is you get a figure head to worship as a king, while you run as a semi-democracy... From that point of view, yeah, the persone that doesn't want to be king, aka dictator, should be the figure head named " king"...

[@pplr1]

@@speedy7040 The small council was not a democracy and was not elected. Don't forget the cutthroat was quite happy with the idea of himself telling peasants what to do. Also Bran may simply be concerning himself with how to manipulate the future more. Season 8 shows where he manipulated events to make the King's Landing massacre more likely to happen which means he wanted it to-perhaps he wants power after all.

[@nimishanarayan7048]

I do get the message, the Game of Thrones was trying to convey and it would've been highly satisfying and rewarding had the writers executed it properly. Instead of being patient and laying out the build- up, they rushed it, that's where they went wrong. All of us imagined a patient build-up to the story, covering all the plot holes and seeing all the characters grow and go through their respective journeys and meeting their ends in way that seemed more realistic. You can imagine our disappointment when all we got was a hasty heap of an ending

[@pplr1]

It actually may be worse than that. Even without the rush the situation that was created in GoT does not logically go to the ending that was provided. So it still makes no sense and is unjustified (unjustified character breaking).

[@83149bd]

Well, as you say -"The show never gives us what we wanted" and that seems to be exactly what the show did in the end. Once again, I will say, after thinking about each of our Stark family characters and the direction they were set on in the end, I have begun to feel pretty good about this ending. It may not have been set up for us, but has forced us all to have to really THINK, and that's a good thing.

[@Sarah-eh7bw]

I guessed it would be Bran all along solely because his character arc reminded me of Leto II from the Dune series of books. He had the same all seeing god-emperor energy.

[@Satanthony]

Sarah what character arc?

[@Sarah-eh7bw]

Salpsan he starts out as a normal boy but gradually transforms into a powerful immortal all seeing being by fusing his person to a magical creature called a sand worm.

[@twiseart]

LITERALLY I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING! I was about to comment this if no one else had

[@pplr1]

@@Sarah-eh7bw You realize this means Bran either saw that thousands of innocents could die but didn't care or even manipulated things to make the massacre happen-making Bran a mass murderer. Not a sign of a good king either way.

[@guudnewdle6910]

It's kinda funny that Bran who has done absolutely nothing since becoming the Three eyed raven spends his time on the throne.. Doing nothing and letting Tyrion rule xD This is the best king lol?

[@speedy7040]

has done absolutely nothing.... that's why you will never became king. Bran has played so subtle and powerfull, that no one understood. it.He- - killed littlefinger -pach things up beetween arya and sansa -gave the dagger to arya -lured the NK - motivated greyjoy so arya can kill the NK - told jon his origins - told tyrion stories , so he will place his bit for the kingship...

[@deet917]

speedy I’m a bit iffy about giving Bran the little finger kill and Sansa/Arya making up because the scene where he actually did it was cut from the show (making that whole arc even more stupid in hindsight). The rest was passive manipulation and also bad when you consider that he knew millions were going to die but did nothing. Does Westeros really need a living library who is too emotionally detached to truly care about anything as king? It makes more sense if you think of him as only a mostly neutral figurehead for the small council to do the actual ruling-but was that truly what D&D’s vision for this show was?

[@jkleung634]

0q

[@clarkterrell930]

Making Tyrion the acting king is actually the best thing for Westeros because he understands ruling and also has a kind heart. So it actually worked out very well for Westeros that Bran is the figure head king.

[@Dilaudid281]

Fun idea, Bran really is actually the main antagonist of A Song of Ice and Fire. The raven is probably the most mentioned and widely used animal in the entirety of the show. Every message throughout was delivered by ravens. A good what if, is what if Bran has been controlling the ravens and redirecting information in order to fuel the mass conflict. The Night King never began his full mobilization march until after Bran went beyond the wall. His arrival was what started the assault. What if the walkers were created as they said, for protection, but the threat was the 3 Eyed Raven? The walkers didn't force themselves beyond the wall until after Bran was back on the other side and it was heavily fed to us that the Night King's main objective is to kill Bran. There are a lot of other things that can be used to flesh the theory out, but I've already typed way too much for a KZbin comment lol

[@xavierclements2228]

I appreciate a level headed response to this season, as opposed to the reactionary trolls we always see.

[@muther1997]

X C it aint trolls. Its very level headed to realize the writing was shit the last two seasons

[@Observer-cp4if]

Yeah, the "reactionary trolls" know what it is to hear a good story. Season Eight wasn't it.

[@lucascarroll4859]

I think his point is that even though season 8 was poorly written, and there were big problems previous seasons, that there are a lot of channels out there that are just waiting for a hate train to jump on and don't make very good points. For example go check out geeks+gamers

[@OfAngelsAndAnarchist]

People waited two years to be disappointed, and it wasn’t just because of what it couldn’t live up to; it didn’t do justice to what already had been done and for the sake of getting that Star Wars money Who’s the real troll here ?

[@suchafknladyyy]

You guys ABUSE the word troll having a different opinion doesn't equate to "trolling". Season 8 was just that a troll of a fukin season D&D are troll 😂 fanboys who got offered a shiny new toy and got bored with the old one....

[@lmp19791]

Idk. Seems like another story is missing. His whole mission w 3 eyed raven was dicovering who jon was, then he banishes him, lets Dany commit genocide, and his last words are about finding drogon. So his story was getting rid of targaryens and he was the night kings target. Hmm...

[@derekclinton9438]

4:34 Sansa was "a little unfairly passed over here?" What did she do at all this season that would merit her being the ruler of Westeros?

[@gregorclegane2007]

quack

[@GovGenMarcusKerensky]

Worst Stark in the game. And Sophie is a terrible actress.

[@thomasofastora6588]

Why? because that Star Wars cheque was dangling and D&D got desperate and wanted to rush it.

[@Omnipotentmonkey]

The 6 episode count was announced nearly 2 years before D&D's star wars... either that's a long-ass negotiation period. or more likely... they're two coinciding but unconnected events.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

Ciaran Smith they should have moved on respectably and given the reigns to someone else. Now they’re entering an already toxic fan base with Star Wars

[@alexandrapurcarea1061]

Bran being King is confirmed to be GRRM’s ending - only, we have thousands of pages to get there and it will be thoroughly explained. There are subtle hints from visions, but there’s still a long way to go, whereas D&D chose the short way.

[@maxhydekyle2425]

@@Omnipotentmonkey Most likely they were in negotiations back then though.

[@Omnipotentmonkey]

@@maxhydekyle2425 not likely... keep in mind, production would have begun on Season 7 soon after Season 6 wrapped up production, meaning very early in 2016, with planning stages likely going back to 2015. thus, the intent to have Season 7 as a 7-parter, and thus Season 8 as a 6 parter was devised FAR earlier than it's announcement in 2016. negotiations like these do NOT take 2-3 years. they just don't.

[@gangx3273]

Small correction: The Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806 and not 1866.

[@Kaliosthesecond]

Whatever

[@StamfordBridge]

Arthros Shandhi I’m guessing you thought you were making an insightful point and not shouting your own ignorant worthlessness to the world. Fascinating.

[@ThePurpleCosmos]

wow i'm gonna comment only because 3 other people decided to be dicks and there was no reason for that at all???? Thank you for the correction, it's always nice to have accurate information

[@StamfordBridge]

Purple Nebulae Given that you say “three,” you must think I was replying to the OP. Look again.

[@TorianTammas]

@@StamfordBridge - It matters as in 1806 it was Napoleon that ended it and in 1870 the unified Germany has been founded under the Prussian King as German Emperor.

[@soupforyou11]

It is the pacing and the execution that ruined the ending. All that actually makes sense, but the lack of build up is what made it so unsatisfying. If only they had chosen a slower path and went for like two more seasons. We could've got a satisfying closure. Dany's path to madness had always been foreshadowed. But the fact that they skipped the slow and sensible transition is what made it so disappointing. I always supported this theory, though. NK plot was so rushed that it pretty much killed the mood of fans. Season 7 & 8 were mediocre because how rushed it was and things were happening just to move quickly to the end. Thus, all those plot holes. While some people were fine with season 7 because of the anticipation of the final outcome. Season 8 was just meh. My expectations after season 7 were so low that I didn't mind season 8 to some extent (kinda didn't care) because the acting, cinematography, effects and the music were great. GOT had 4 amazing seasons followed by a fairly decent season 5 and 6 (the latter being pretty good imo). Ending with two disappointing rushed seasons. I am pretty sure GRRM will write a better ending, even though the final outcome will likely be same. (I'm finally gonna start reading the books lol)

[@54markl]

Clunkiness does not foreshadow Greatness. It foreshadows “Take the money and run.”

[@irmura.m]

I'm pretty sure that he won't bother writing them books, we've been waiting for years now, still no release date. In my opinion, he is satisfied with the money he's made

[@pplr1]

I'll disagree. Daenerys has generally been quite sane through seasons 1-7, doesn't break from reality, and usually acts with clear reasons on why to do so. Saying madness on her part was foreshadowed just isn't true.

[@Jon.A.Scholt]

I also have thought of Bran as a sort of "Skynet" or other (perhaps evil) AI. Glad it was included, as he is way more machine/AI/computer-like than a human now

[@ginettemayas7640]

So true. The dialogue seems to reflect the values of the showrunners, not the characters as we haven known them to be. You're spot on. This was a really good analysis. You brought in aspects many others have not including the attempt by the showrunners to square the circle and tie past with present. Your reflections on medieval European History are great. I am not convinced that the neat happy ending is what undid Episode 6 as much as it was the failure to confront intelligently some of the big questions/tensions the show had been leading up to: namely, the true meaning and consequence of the Night King. The other thing is why does Dany have to be crazy in order to burn the million or so civilians in Kings Landing? In one of the clips you presented Tywin himself shows no pity for civilians caught up in the collateral damage of war. He says that it should teach them the perils of supporting the wrong side. My point is that the exercise of raw power usually means ruthlessness. You don't have to be crazy to be ruthless. In the aftermath of burning of Kings Landing, Dany and her army glory in their power the way tyrants do, the way the powerful do. Cersei showed no mercy for the innocent victims killed by wildfire. Look how she shamelessly has Missandei killed during a parley. What is baffling is how the showrunners cannot decide if Dany is crazy or simply lusting for power. In one scene she looks insane and in the next she is confidently outlining her plans to rule the world. In one scene she looks at Jon as a Loser and in her final scene she looks at him with beatific love. Which is it? What did the showrunners decide? This is the kind of nonsens that made Season 8 and in particular Episode 6 unbearable I don't really understand why Bran Stark is named king, but I accept it. It would have helped if previous seasons had developed the character more. I hope the children leading the way beside Jon forge a path toward a better future. That's a nice thought. Thank you for elevating the discussion.

[@goddessnoir290]

Great points

[@pplr1]

Bran became king because his powers allowed him to see possible futures and he was put in a position of being able to manipulate events like few others were. This he quietly manipulated things to make the massacre happen as he knew it was one of the few (if only) ways he would become king-a mass murdering king. Season 8 is so bad the writers may not have realized they left evidence Bran was manipulating things but they did.

[@realSimoneCherie]

All well said except craziness is a supposed Targaryen trait. It’s a lazy answer but it’s logical. Lannisters aren’t known for madness so Tywin’s sane ruthlessness doesn’t compare. Frankly, Dany has revealed herself to be unhinged at many points. By the end in season 8, after losing a dragon/child, Jorah, Missandei, and her identity as the last Targaryen within 2 episodes (2 days), safe to say the hinges all melted

[@LordMichaelRahl]

"Who has a better story?" *Literally everyone else*

[@AlbertoFolres]

Nah, as far as the books go today, Bran has a better story than Arya and Sansa (yes, Arya), that's how bad they adapted Bran's story to the books. Clearly D&D never liked him, and they procastinated him (even left out of an entire season), little did the know about the ultimate king

[@El_Descarriado]

@@AlbertoFolres I mean, he's still just gone to live in a cave with tree people. At least Arya is doing things in the books, and Sansa is...watching people do things, namely Littlefinger.

[@sangitamahanti386]

Ikr, Old Nan should be the new Queen

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@AlbertoFolres Unless Bran's chapters in dance with dragons are better(I skipped as soon as I saw his name), no, he sucks. His pov is the worst thing in all five books.

[@roberttg3767]

@@AlbertoFolres Better story than Arya? What nonense. Her time with the hound, faceless men etc...were far more intersting than some trek through the north chasing a tree and some raven aimed at some arcane magic that was never really explained.

[@shorthairkorra]

Tyrion: who has a better story then bran the broke? Me: well he wasn't even in s5 so clearly a lot of other people

[@evie3148]

If they made Bran seem more calculated than literally just sitting there the entire time then I would be okay with him getting the throne, as it ended it feels like he didn't deserve it. If they showed how he put things in place in order for him to become king, so it felt like he was moving pieces on a chess board then the ending would have been a whole lot better. Maybe a final reveal at the end how he did it all.. or something! anything!

[@courageouscarla1804]

"Maybe a final reveal at the end how he did it all or something" thats a good point & would've helped the viewers accept & understand how Bran was able to pull it all off & how well he played the game

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

I disagree with the whole "more episodes" argument. What was needed was a clearer focus and emphasis from the start as to Dani's madness and who winds up running things. I'm glad you hinted at this.

[@Likewoa]

It would have been hard to do this in just one season. They said until season 7 to have daenarys arrive in westeros, and spent 2 miserable seasons following her in Mereen.

[@pplr1]

Perhaps what you just highlighted is that in GoT Daenerys is not mad. Meaning the whole mad queen thing doesn't apply to her in GoT.

[@Bloxgator]

Y’all: “you need some get up and go” Bran: ...

[@eplazaguest9840]

New HBO Series: Game of Thrones : West of Westeros.

[@latoyaallen9062]

The dragon bring Danny there she came life and she is the queen there with Jon baby 💙

[@tupimpacaterpillar3516]

Season 8 was good enough. I liked it. I don’t see why people are complaining so much just for not getting the endings they wanted. Yes it felt rushed but there’s not much options without source material. Thanks for your honest Take! refreshing to watch a breakdown that isn’t just bashing down the show and it’s writers. You’re breaking down the story as it is. Kudos to you!

[@mariromero2413]

Nobody talked about how the Dothraki and Unsullied were portrayed at the end, I'm glad you did. It's sad seeing the Dothraki last image to be their savage side, when is one of the most interesting society and culture in the GOT universe. And having them walking like nothing in Westeros (when Jon is escorted to the port) it erases their culture completely.

[@clarkterrell930]

Let's not forget that their culture was also raping, pillaging and murdering villages they came across.

[@edienandy]

Clark Terrell for real. Fuck the Dothraki.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@clarkterrell930 You gotta survive somehow. Life isn't easy on the cold grass sea. Still, the Dothraki, even in the books, were a bit to violent to be realistic.

[@based7881]

As once tywin told tommen ," What should a ruler be?". "Wise"

[@pplr1]

That could be the problem, Tywin didn't care if innocents die to get what he wants and neither does Bran.

[@jeremyplum5007]

You are giving this show way more credit than it deserves

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

The context about why Sansa is passed over is outside the context of your "least fit to rule" topic. You know Sansa would like to rule.

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

Lost Age Comics they made the point that “those who don’t want to rule is best fit” isn’t a truth. It’s more like conjecture. Ned didn’t want to rule but he would have made a crap king outside the North.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

@@blackflagsnroses6013 I was clearly talking about as context in relation to something that wasn't. You are not on topic.

[@oerthling]

Absolutely. And she does. The North. I really don't get why people think that not ruling over all of Westeros is a great loss to her. She is the first queen of an independent north. An independence she delivered. Why would anybody assume that she'd be more happy in KL, instead of her native Winterfell? As queen of the north her place in history is assured and she is unlikely to be challenged. As queen of Westeros she would have to live in the south - which she surely associates with many of her unhappiest days of her life and deal with a court that might still have remnants of people left that are part of what got her father killed. Being Queen In The North us the best possible position for Sansa. And her all-knowing but politically uninterested brother is de jure King, while her ex, with which she has good relations is the de facto boss of the remaining 6 kingdoms. Which probably makes her the most influential person on the continent. Total win for Sansa IMHO.

[@pplr1]

Good call. And they even touched on Sansa becoming Sansafinger as her tutors were Cersei and Littlefinger. That she became an oathbreaker within a day of making one to Jon shows Sansafinger is leaving Stark honor and morality behind. Such as saying northmen shouldn't have to kneel anymore before self-servingly (and hypocritically) making them kneel to her.

[@bbydevil5]

I absolutely love your videos. I think you make the best analysis and interpretations of movies and tv shows

[@Msblakbuttaphly]

Season 8? What? As far as I'm concerned, it never happened

[@soSkikik]

Game of What?

[@pplr1]

Agreed. Best way to approach season 8. Since it was contradicted by much in seasons 1-7 it can be said it doesn't belong as part of the story, maybe some other story but not GoT. And it isn't just the characters they messed up. In season 2 Davos (from King's Landing) said he "has never known bells to mean surrender". That makes a good chunk of episode 5 including its name nonsense (unless it happened in a Star Trekish mirror dimension).

[@edienandy]

Just like the loss of your virginity lol

[@Derekivery]

Tyrion: Who has a better story, than Bran the Broken. Fans: Literally every other character on the show

[@DavidMacDowellBlue]

02:12 There is the problem right there. The novels--like virtually all really good literature and art--does not have a "moral." It is not telling you want to think. This is why Shakespeare is more beloved than Ben Johnson, why LOTR is more popular than Narnia, why Jane Austen remains a bigger seller than so many of her contemporaries. Great art does not tell you want to think. It does not give final answers. It asks questions in challenging ways and lets you--the reader/audience--to learn and figure out some kind of answer for themselves. That doesn't mean the author or the story doesn't have a moral POV, but it doesn't have a specific ideology it wants you to end up believing. This is one way among many the cable series--while enormous fun--is nowhere near as good as the books. They stopped pursuing truth in favor of formulaic character arcs and "morals" to the story, which degraded the quality of the story and characters overall. It is a fun show. It in some ways even improves here and there on the original. But the increasingly heavy hand of the series writers can be seen. Characters do not what they would do, and thus enjoy/suffer the consequences. Instead they do what the writers want them to do, with random chance giving the exact outcome the writers of the series wanted rather than showing what would in fact happen. Rant over. For now. 04:37 Sorry but you are making the same mistake here. You're analyzing/criticizing the story from the POV of a viewer and what what the viewer should take away from all this. Not what a writer should be doing--allowing the characters to behave as they actually would. The real question is WHY would these men (and a few women) go with Bran Stark as king? On the face of it, for example, it looks like he would be a weak king--and that means he'd leave them alone to go what they want to do. That would be logical, but of course we never get the slightest hint of that. We do get a hint that Sansa commands the largest remaining army (which makes close to no sense at all--the North is the least populated of the seven kingdoms and has taken the brunt of the fighting against the Night King, this after two long conflicts--one fighting for Robb Stark as King, and again in fighting to overthrow the Boltons). 04:51 Sounds nice. Didn't see any of this actually happen on the show. Tyrion--one of the most despised persons in Westeros, loathed and dismissed by nearly everyone as a kinslayer, a traitor, a deformed and decadent monster, etc. He talks about it some. Why does anyone listen? In terms of hard politics, it might come down to Sansa--who (bafflingly) has a large army, and who dominates Robyn as well as Edmuir. They put Bronn and Gendry in positions of power for some reason, while who knows anything about whoever is in charge of Dorne? And what about Yara? 05:40 That would almost certainly have to be the case. These last two seasons were borderline incoherent. 20:24 I have actually heard the quotes you mention from Martin. He says things like "you could see..." something and you then claim he explicitly called (for example) the dragons are atomic weapons. You are looking for overt messages where there is none. And you are focusing frankly on surface details like "good guys sometimes lose" as if that were what is the point. And I don't think that is even remotely the case. The good and bad and all points in between made decisions, and those decisions have natural consequences based on context. Period. The evil and stupid fail, while the evil and wise tend to succeed.

[@Hallows4]

While I don't disagree that the ending did - in some ways - seem too neat compared to all the previous subversions and plot twists, I think we also need to ask ourselves; where does it end? As sad as we might feel, we know from experience that all stories must come to an end at some point. When you really break it down, that what Game of Thrones is; a story that had a beginning, a middle, and an end. We can imagine and speculate all we want about what could happen in the years afterwards, but ultimately it's not something we will ever know for certain. Maybe this is just my cynical side coming out, but we need to accept that fiction in any form does not have an infinite storyline. We all knew that the series had to end at some point, and whether it finished on an ambiguous high note or in a neat plot resolution, the perennial speculation about "what happens next" would be present in both cases. It had to end somewhere, and whatever form that took, it's beyond our power to do much more than accept it.

[@brittanysaved1225]

Your videos are sooo great! You have so many smart insights!!

[@Sylviala2009]

"Everyone present has grown and learned so much" referring to Tyrion speaking to the lords, who is the who you're referring to, the writers couldn't even bother to tell you who they were! How did Yara grow, and Gendry who was only brought back last season, Robin grew up but how did he grow? The writers rushed to end this story, you guys don't need to rush to critique it.

[@pretzellina]

I liked the ending, but it really feels like D&D got that last tip from Martin and then didn’t know how on earth to end up there. You have correctly analyzed why this season was so jarring, but it was also because other parts of the story were just left with no conclusion.

[@TheCandymusiclover]

What's great about Bran being a king who doesn't want to rule is that he's allowing other smarter, more reasonable, more capable people to rule. Much like with Robert, Bran is just a placeholder keeping the spot from another tyrant while the real power lies with the Hand of the King and The Small Council. This time however, the Council is full of people who will actually do right by the city and the kingdoms and the King himself will actually do his job. A new peace and prosperity can settle in. If a new threat arises in the kingdoms, Bran can warn his Council and help them prepare to defeat it.

[@bookchaser1103]

Yeah, the ending implied that. I thought it was pretty clear. But then, you know, internet.

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

Nah, I'd rather have Littlefinger as master of coin than Bronn. Samwell sucks too. Tyrion clearly became incompetent too.

[@cynicalcenobia]

Somewhere, sometime this video will save a student's history grade! Very informative, great video!

[@pplr1]

Yeah, but it kinda missed that Bran still has wants (proven by him wanting a better wheelchair design than what Tyrion gave him) and possibly manipulated events to happen in a certain way to get himself the crown-making him a mass murderer as one of the events he manipulated into happening was the King's Landing massacre.

[@LordBloodraven]

2:45 Richard Schiff cameo in a Game of Thrones discussion video... Instant Thumbs Up! Regarding the finale: I agree with the fans. And I agree with the writers. And I agree with George. And you know how that makes me crazy.

[@goink3368]

It's so nice to see something that is not negative about season 8

[@ДартКсенос]

check r/naath and r/asoiafcirclejerk subreddits.

[@jonathanpalmquist4894]

It kinda is tho, they're just not quite as critical of the story itself.

[@SupportGamin2024]

season 8 was garbage,you'd have to be a complete moron or a casual to think that crap was any good.

[@abbiewaters1085]

When will we get a Sansa video

[@thedriver5462]

I still don't get few things. 1. How Grey Worm would know that Jon killed Dany? There was no one there, no witnesses. Dragon took her body so they are not even sure if she is dead or just gone away for a bit. Maybe dragon just killed her? 2. How did they actually arrest Jon when half of the army at Kings Landing were northmen who see Jon as their king? They just let them take Jon like that? 3. When Tyrion was giving argument who should be new king, why he ignored the fact that Jon is actually in line to rule? How he can decide who is going to rule when rightful king is right there , in front of his eyes. If they accepted Jon as king, he would have to be set free, right? 4. How Bran gets to rule when he is from the North but North doesn't belong to 7 Kingdoms anymore and how he gets to rule because he already claimed he is not Bran anymore and he doesn't want to rule?

[@SerbAtheist]

1) Really? You're actually asking this question like you don't know Jon's character? Of course he would have told on himself. 2) The Northmen LEFT the KL in the final moments of the battle. Only Jon, accompanied by Davos, Tyrion and a small garrison went in. 3) Because no one actually cares anymore about appointing a ruler from a genocidal dynasty on the throne any more. The Targaryen's are no more. They have neither physical support, nor moral ground to claim the Throne, and are down to just one person who is neither free, nor was ever willing to rule anyway! And the entire point of the new king was to decide on Jon's fate. For them to suggest Jon as king would have been taken by Grey Worm as an insult that would end the already tenuous conversation then and there and would have lead to war. Grey Worm would have never allowed Jon to walk out of KL as a free man, let alone a king. A lifetime sentence at the NW was the best Jon could have hoped for. 4) Bran was pretending to be spazzed out because he was keeping a low profile. He did not want to tick off the crazy power-hungry dragon lady. The moment he said he wanted to be Lord of Winterfell is the moment all the (extremely negative) attention would be on him, and not Sansa. He was playing chess while everyone else was playing checkers.

[@EmreCanKorkmaz]

Tyrion: Your grace... Bran: I know. Tyrion: (fml) every single day

[@luisarteaga2679]

What D&D said to GRRM that convinced him they were able to adapt ASOIAF, was that Jon was the Frodo of the story and not the Aragorn

[@crystalschweitzer7625]

When my boyfriend and I were watching this show we felt like we saw the last season being how it actually was. Like Bran becoming king and Dany going mad and being killed. I just finished the show about a week ago and I don't understand how people are mad at the ending. Yes it was very fast and I guess thats why people didn't like Dany dying but we felt the show really did lead up to the ending being how it was. I like these videos on the ending because it validates that im not crazy for liking the way the show ends.

[@viridianacortes9642]

The ending was good. The execution was not good. It should have been 10-13 seasons. In the 5th season, D&D became very arrogant and burned many bridges with many people. They had a fight with GRR Martin and basically prevented him from being involved in the show after the 5th season. Then, when they were offered to work in Star Wars, they rushed the last episodes instead of handing it over to another person to finish it. They just didn’t care about the story’s author, the fans, or the show.

[@SerbAtheist]

@@viridianacortes9642 'The execution was not good. It should have been 10-13 seasons.' No, this is ridiculous. The only reason you say the 'execution was not good' was that you wanted more content, as if 73 episodes of top-tier fantasy wasn't enough for you. ' They had a fight with GRR Martin and basically prevented him from being involved in the show after the 5th season.' A lie. GRRM quit because he felt he had to devote himself to finishing WoW as soon as possible. ' Then, when they were offered to work in Star Wars, they rushed the last episodes instead of handing it over to another person to finish it. ' Another lie. The number of episodes was finalized ages before Star Wars. And they 'rushed' the last episodes so much they spent two years working on them, performing some of the biggest and most complicated shoots in TV history.

[@artemisvsvenus]

Did you ever do a character study of the Hound? That would be amazing. I found the Hound to be one of the most fascinating characters in GoT. I started out deeply hating him, but by the end he was one of my fav characters.

[@justsomeguyx.1645]

Yes, why would Tirion be mentioned in the book? It's not like he served as acting Hand of the King under Joffrey, a King who was killed yet Tirion was suspect number 1. It's not like Tirion killed the Hand of the King who was his father. It's not like Tyrion served as Hand of the Queen under Daenerys who helped defeat the undead and burned King's Landing. Yeah you can see how Tirion would go overlooked.

[@w-james9277]

"We've been cutting each other's throats for years!"

[@keyboardevangelist]

Do you ladies watch anime? If you do a video essay on death note , full metal alchemist brotherhood, attack on titan will be cool..but keep on the good work

[@ZaxorVonSkyler]

Also Neon Genesis Evangelion please!!!

[@whathell6t]

Zaxor Von Skyler Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down! Let’s not make them destroy their souls. Just suggest them simple stuff like One Piece, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Bleach, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, One Punch Man, Code Geass, YuYu Hakusho, Hunter X Hunter, Knights of the Zodiac-Saint Seiya, Sailor Moon, Your Name, Spirited Away, Gintama, etc. Do not suggest the hardcore stuff like Cutey Honey, Kimagure Orange Road, Hokuto no Ken, Mobile Riot Gear Police-Ghost in the Shell, Rurouni Kenshin, Cowboy Bebop, Akira, Fate/Stay Night (Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, Heaven’s Feel), Devilman, Urasei Yatsura, Rose of Versailles, Kaze to Ki no Uta, Berserk, Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Mobile Suit Gundam Universal Century timeline. That’s way too much to take in.

[@caelinnis]

Oh my god!! DO FMAB PLLEEAAAASEE

[@Omnipotentmonkey]

I'm going to disagree with a lot of the simplistic comments saying 'you thought about this more than the writers did' because it's not true. all of this stuff is heavily implicit in the story itself. the writers were clearly at least thinking about the rationale of the plot-points, Tyrion and Bran's interaction ending with Bran stating 'he doesn't want anything' happened in the same episode as Varys and Tyrion debating about the potential of Jon Snow as king, amidst the fact he didn't want it. Bran's knowledge and ability to uncover secrets was demonstrated with Jon, which is important, as two of the central conflicts of the series history, Robert's Rebellion and the War of the Five Kings were entirely contingent on secrets and lies, (Lyanna+Rhaegar, the parentage of Cersei's children) Bran's non-emotional reaction to the man who crippled him contrasts heavily against Daenerys' rage getting the best of her. the problem, is that due to the short season, and maybe a bit of laziness here and there, the writers did a less than stellar job of CONVEYANCE, they didn't reinforce points, they didn't strengthen implications, and the council scene that could have tied it all together was practically blazed through. they left too many factors down to fairly shallow implication,

[@take7upyours822]

.....because anti-climax is the new climax....ugh.

[@mimimurlough]

This was a great interpretation of the ending! Nitpick: The Vasa kings of Sweden came after the elective monarchy, After Gustav Vasa was crowned in 1523 and proceeded to remake the whole country as he pleased. Before that Sweden was in a messy union with Denmark and Norway, but apparently did elect some sort of overlord. Before that, yeah it seems your point pretty much holds.

[@barksdalehales438]

If you read history you notice that a king without a clear heir leaves a disaster. As everyone who wants the throne fights and scheams for it.

[@MegaCalin88]

Arya asks about what’s West of Westeros simce book one. Took the show long enough😄

[@emem6935]

Great video but I still don't know why tbh. Please do haunting of hill house!

[@alpertek2549]

"Change is going to come to Westeros." I doubt it, but we may never know. There's always one envious, bitter, power hungry person, who wants the throne. Possibly a new force from Essos.

[@pplr1]

Bran was willing to manipulate others into causing a massacre of thousands of innocents that he was one of the few (if only) ones that even knew was a possibility. That is pretty power hungry. Bran could have chosen not to have a massacre but that would mean Dany or Dany and Jon get the crown.

[@TheRavensCaw]

He claimed he didn't want to be king yet so smugly said "why do you think i came all this way?" If that wasn't a more indicative way of giving insight to the intentions of his actions I don't know what to tell you. The throne was definitely his end game.

[@caelinnis]

Just because he saw his future doesn't mean he wanted it.

[@abigailvalle9377]

@@caelinnis but he was happy with it

[@blackflagsnroses6013]

I had my problems with the season overall but I get what the ending tried to do, and I enjoyed it some. Even if it felt too lonely and empty. I liked that in the end it was “A Time For Wolves” and the Stark kids are alright. They won, they reign, they survived. Sansa as Queen in the North was the logical and satisfying end to her story arc. From being used and abused, Sansa wanted power for security, so that herself, her family, and her people will never be vulnerable pawns in the game again. She absorbed the cunning and scheming of her tormentors, but remains a Tully-Stark with no self interest and ambition other than security and to lead pragmatically. Arya ever the free spirit. Instead of finding empowerment in violence, finds it in exploration and discovery. She looks towards new horizons as she leaves behind her blood soaked childhood. She goes knowing her family will be okay. Bran is the receiver of memories (like in the Giver). He knows all, is a magical computer. No one corrupt and ambitious can hurt the realm with him as king. Truly the 6 kingdoms have a sage-King in practicality to lead them in a new age. The thing about Bran’s ascension is it calls back to Dwarves, Bastards, and Broken things. Tyrion has a soft spot for such creatures. Bran the Broken is the promise that things may be a little different now as the downtrodden, the least likely, the outcasts inherit the world or authority to make a better future by whatever margin. The Starks, including Jon, Tyrion, Brienne, Ser Davos, and even Bronn I suppose are all Dwarves, Bastards, and Broken things that through great obstacles persevered and come out victorious. Jon is a true selfless hero. His two lives were nothing but sacrificing and he proves to be the best out of all of them. Now he lives in exile where he can find some peace in freedom. Unfortunately his heritage wasn’t of much consequence, and it should have at least allowed him some agency. Jon wouldn’t be King, but he could have briefly used that inheritance to abolish the office officially and exile himself in penance. The messianic character, was just a guy, who did heroic things, has no real reward, and can find solace in freedom and relative peace for the rest of his days. The true North is in him, and he has proven to be more Stark than any other could claim. The White Wolf is legend

[@Lynch2507]

"Who has a better story then bran the broken"? Like, everyone who died in season 1. And the rest of the cast

[@artysarryn9111]

Imagine a prisoner giving a speech so convincing that he not only gets his freedom with the speech, but he also gain: the king's hand position, the land and titles of the Tyrell house (to pay a debt) and elect a new king , who has no support within the new kingdom and will surely be unable to leave heirs (giving a big succession problem in the future). We will have to imagine, because that shit speech is not able to convince anyone.

[@Tyler_W]

If you remember, the fact he likely won't be able to have heirs doesn't really matter, because the lords of Westeros would chose their kings and queens from that point on, thereby removing kingship from the concept of bloodlines determining one's right to rule.

[@dr.little7311]

Since their wasn't a Throne for the King/Queen, they had to have a ruler that came with his own chair.

[@wel2myworld]

The Raven king said it himself "I must not leave the North" and as the successor of being the Raven king he must not leave the North unless the night king pulled a fast one on us in letting Bran thinks they won so he would leave the North and he would forget the story of all, so in the end the Wyt walkers won.