Game Of Thrones - A Timeless Classic With Lessons About Honor And Courage, And Plenty Of Upcoming Spinoffs
[SPOILERS]Game of Thrones is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of A Song of Ice and Fire, a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the first of which is A Game of Thrones. The show was shot in the United Kingdom, Canada, Croatia, Iceland, Malta, Morocco, and Spain. It premiered on HBO in the United States on April 17, 2011, and concluded on May 19, 2019, with 73 episodes broadcast over eight seasons.
Set on the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos, Game of Thrones has a large ensemble cast and follows several story arcs throughout the course of the show. The first major arc concerns the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros through a web of political conflicts among the noble families either vying to claim the throne or fighting for independence from whoever sits on it.
One of the biggest highlights of the show were the battles throughout the series, one of them being the Battle of Blackwater in season 2 episode 9. With King's Landing in danger, Tyrion made preparations to withstand siege. However, most of their manpower had been drawn north to fight the Starks in the Riverlands, leaving the city walls undermanned. Cersei planned to level the field through the use of wildfire, a dangerous and highly destructive substance that she had made en masse that Tyrion would later use for the battle.
Stannis's fleet, commanded by Davos, swept into Blackwater Bay and approached the city. The original plan was to destroy the royal fleet and land troops under the city walls. However, the royal fleet proves to be absent, Tyrion having commanded it to leave the area, to Joffrey's incomprehension, rather than be sunk. Instead, Tyrion has a single uncrewed ship filled with wildfire and sends it to leak the substance directly into the bay. At his signal, Commander Bronn of the City Watch of King's Landing ignites the wildfire with a flaming arrow, resulting in a tremendous explosion that obliterates the leading elements of Stannis's fleet, including Davos's flagship, flinging Davos overboard into the bay, and killing his son Matthos in the process.
Another battle that kept viewers at the edge of their seats was the Battle of Bastards. Where spearmen from one side surround Jon Snow and his forces comprised of bannermen and wildlings, where they then crush them from all sides.
Vulture explains how the battle is based on the battle of Cannae from the Second Punic War that was fought in 216 B.C. When Hannibal invades Italy, the Romans were able to raise about 80,000 soldiers. Hannibal didn’t have the numbers that the Romans did, so at the battle, the Carthaginians took their lines into a U-shape. The Romans started punching through the Cathiginian line, but the problem with that was, they attacked up to the middle part of that U. The Carthaginians constricted their own lines and they closed the gap all the way around, and they killed something like 60,000 men in a day. This confirms the level of historical accuracy taken into account when filming and directing the scene.
Beyond that portion of the battle, the costumes, bannermen, swords, scenery, grunge, and level of detail to medieval combat make the scene one of the most accurate battles in television or film.
In an interview with one of the actors from the battle, the Hollywood Reporter explains how the grit and intensity of real war was certainly felt on camera. War is not beautiful. Sometimes you see action sequences where battles seem organized. It’s not beautiful. It’s hard work. The production had to shoot moment-to-moment, chronologically with one sequence being shot 80 times per day. It was cold and it was muddy and it was raining and it was tough, but everybody felt like they were part of something big.
The show also shows incredible development of the characters from the very first episodes to the very last ones. Some notable characters with strong development through the show are Jaime Lannister, and Jorah Mormont. Both characters defended the queens they swore to protect until death.
Ser Jorah Mormont was an exiled Northern lord from Westeros, previously living in Essos. Jorah fled Westeros when he was caught trading slaves. Which is illegal in the seven kingdoms. He had sworn fealty to his fellow exile Daenerys Targaryen, the Targaryen claimant to the Iron Throne, and was the first to help her adapt to life as a Khaleesi of the Dothraki.
Originally, Jorah was working as a spy for Varys, King Robert Baratheon's spymaster, sending him information about Viserys Targaryen's (Daenerys’s brother) efforts to reclaim the throne. However, Jorah grows to respect and admire Daenerys, serving her in earnest. After preventing an assassination attempt on Daenerys, he stops sending reports to Varys, ignoring an official royal pardon that would allow him to return to Westeros. He also developed strong, but unrequited, feelings for his queen.
When Daenerys learns of his past espionage, he is dismissed from her service and ordered to leave her presence. He later captures Tyrion Lannister in the hope of winning his way back to her, an endeavor that leads to him contracting the deadly greyscale. On his way back to Daenerys, this time with Tyrion, the pair are captured by slavers and sold into the fighting pits of Meereen. After he helps save her life from both the Sons of the Harpy and the Dothraki, Daenerys accepts him back into her service, and orders him to come back to her after he finds a cure to his disease, which he eventually does at the hands of Citadel acolyte Samwell Tarly at Oldtown.
Following their reunion on Dragonstone, he aids Daenerys further in order to provide proof to Cersei Lannister of the threat of the army of the dead, after which he joins the northern cause at Winterfell following a parley in King's Landing. Participating in the Battle of Winterfell, Jorah dies protecting his queen.
On the other side of the competition for the throne is Jamie Lannister, a staunch defender of his family and lover of the eventual queen Cersei. Jamie has arguably performed a lot of controversial actions and can be considered both a war criminal and war hero depending on how you look at it.
During Robert's Rebellion, which came before the show started, Jaime killed Aerys Targaryen, earning the derogatory nickname "Kingslayer." He was pardoned by Robert and allowed to serve in his Kingsguard. Following King Robert's death, he was appointed as the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard to his son, Joffrey.
During the War of the Five Kings, Jaime fought for his house, but was captured by Robb Stark and kept prisoner. He came to an agreement with Catelyn Stark, who decided to release him on condition that her daughters would be safely returned to her. Jaime was paired with Brienne of Tarth, whom Catelyn tasked to have him brought back to the capital. During their travel, Jaime lost his right hand, and revealed the actual reasons why he murdered Aerys. It was the loss of his hand that really brought him down to earth and gave him the humility he needed to grow as a character and as a person.
He became the new Commander of the Lannister forces to advance conquests across Westeros on King Tommen’s behalf, but left his position in order to help the North face the Army of the Dead. While fighting in winter fell Jamie and Brienne developed strong feelings for each other but after the dead were defeated, he decided to leave for Kings Landing. This devastated Brienne who he shared a long history with as both her prisoner, and comrade.
Jamie was horrified at the fate his sister would await back in the capital, so he went back to help her. Jaime died during the Battle of King's Landing, in an attempt to get Cersei out of the capital as it crumbled around them while the city was being bombarded by the fire of Daenerys’s dragon.
Both Jaime Lannister and Jorah Mormont developed their character significantly throughout the series. They were of the few characters that actually make it through the whole series. They each learned from their mistakes and sacrificed themselves defending what they loved. Jaime Lannister’s death was a little more tragic than Jorah’s since he ultimately gave up all he had gained fighting alongside Brienne, Jon Snow, and Daenerys to die alongside Cersei but she was ultimately his highest priority. Jorah’s character really went through a redemption and his death was also tragic with his absence from Daenerys’s council contributing to her ultimate downfall. The two characters show the complexity of how no war or political situation is ever black and white, there are always underlying motives, secret goals, or contrasting priorities influencing the direction of a regime or global conflict.
The last season was panned by crtitics when released. A lot of people wanted cersei to have a worse death than she did for closure but a lot of people escape justice and closure isn’t everything.
Lucy Mangan of The Guardian explains how there’s no doubt the last season was been a rushed business. It had wasted opportunities, squandered goodwill, and failed to do justice to its characters or its actors. But the finale just about delivered. It was true to the series’ overall subject – war, and the pity of war – and, after doing a lot of wrong to several protagonists last week, did right by those left standing.
The show is to be followed by a new spinoff titled House of the Dragon. The spinoff is an upcoming prequel to Game of Thrones (2011–2019) and is based on Martin's 2018 novel Fire & Blood. The series is set two hundred years before the events of Game of Thrones and chronicles the beginning of the end of House Targaryen, the events leading up to the Targaryen civil war, known as the "Dance of the Dragons", and the war itself.
House of the Dragon received a straight-to-series order in October 2019 with casting beginning in July 2020 and principal photography beginning in April 2021 in the United Kingdom. The first season of the series is scheduled to premiere in 2022 and will consist of ten episodes.
Another intriguing Game of Thrones spinoff in development is 10,000 Ships. The show will follow Princess Nymeria, who ruled over Dorne for two decades. Her story is set about a thousand years before the events of "A Song of Ice and Fire," making 10,000 Ships currently the earliest project on the Westeros timeline. The legend of Nymeria is that while crossing over into a channel of the Summer Sea, she was forced to burn down her entire fleet of ships to escape from the dragonlords of Essos.
An article on Screenrant.com explains how as more details are revealed about the 10,000 Ships spinoff, it looks to be one of HBO's most exciting prospects. While the Targaryen family dynamic is well known and has been explored by Game of Thrones, Nymeria is an almost completely new figure for audiences to enjoy. Her story is very compelling, setting up the show for plenty of chases, war, and political intrigue. Additionally, the setting of Dorne can now be more fully explored, as it wasn't used to its full potential in the original series.
While the ending of the original series left fans discontented, the two new spinoffs should alleviate the disgruntlement and also help continue to build out both the world of Westeros and the Game of Thrones franchise itself.
