After years as the biggest cultural juggernaut in entertainment, the epic HBO series Game of Thrones came to a not so epic ending. It was sort of a foregone conclusion that any show with that much buildup couldn’t possibly satisfy every fan, but unfortunately the show seemed to rush it’s ending and as a result it undermined a lot of elements in the series that had been the building blocks of the story.
There are plenty of things in Game of Thrones that didn’t age well, but certain aspects of the series held up a lot better than others. These are 10 things in the series that really didn’t age well at all in retrospect.
Dragon Power
One of the weirder aspects of the end of Game of Thrones was the suddenly defeatable dragons. It was never a question of whether or not a dragon could be killed, obviously they could, but it was a question of how easy it was.
The Night King killing Viserion made some sense, but the fact that Euron managed to take one out leads to the obvious question of why none of the cities in Essos that Daenerys conquered even tried to kill her dragons, since they’re apparently very easy to kill?
The Army Of The Dead
The army of the dead was supposed to be a massive threat. It seems like Jon Snow spent half of his screen time in the entire series telling everyone what a huge threat this was, and he couldn’t get anyone to really believe him.
And of course, most of the audience was right there with him, wondering how everyone could be stressed about battles with Cersei when the army of the dead was coming. And then… the army of the dead was defeated within a matter of hours in the first real battle against them.
The Valonqar
Cersei hated her younger brother Tyrion for a lot of reasons, but the biggest was probably that the prophet Maggy the Frog told her that she would die with her younger brother’s hands around her neck. She of course never suspected that it could be Jaime (who is her younger twin), but many fans speculated that he might be the true “valonqar” (the Valyrian word for little brother) in the prophecy.
And it turns out that those speculations were correct… because Jaime just happened to have his hands on Cersei’s neck when they both died.
Warging
Warging is a pretty extraordinary power, and Bran Stark appears to be the most exceptional warg who ever lived. During his sojourn beyond the wall, his abilities managed to save him and his compatriots from danger quite a few times, and when used at the right moment it could be the make or break element of a deadly situation.
So then, why didn’t Bran ever use that power against the Night King or the army of the dead? And frankly, why didn’t he warg into a dragon to help his family and protect them from Dany?
The Night’s Watch
The Night’s Watch has been one of the old stand-bys of Game of Thrones, and their existence and what they did to protect the realm was something that not even the people of Westeros understood until the white walkers returned.
And they were nearly demolished by the war with the dead, however they seem to have rallied and Jon Snow has returned to their ranks for the rest of his life. But the question is, why exactly did they rally? They were there to protect the realm from white walkers and wildlings, both of which are no longer issues.
Robert’s Rebellion
The rebellion against the Targaryens itself was still a brilliant idea and it probably should have been done far earlier than it was anyway, and Dany’s invasion of Westeros only proves that. However, marketing the rebellion as Robert’s Rebellion after the fact probably wasn’t a great idea.
Firstly, it’s pretty damn honorable that Jon Arryn refused to send his wards to King’s Landing at the command of the Mad King. But secondly and obviously, Robert warring against the crown to save his beloved, kidnapped fiancee Lyanna was a bold faced lie.
Jon Snow’s Parentage
The revelation that Jon Snow was actually the trueborn son of crown prince Rhaegar Targaryen and Lyanna Stark seemed like one of the biggest reveals in the history of the series. Regardless of what was going to happen, it seemed like the knowledge that Jon Snow was the rightful heir to the throne had to go somewhere, right?
Well, apparently not so much. After all of that massive buildup it seems like Jon Snow’s parentage will remain a secret, and being the last Targaryen really doesn’t mean anything.
The Night King
In retrospect, the entire Night King storyline was quite odd. He was supposed to be the greatest threat to mankind, and the Children of the Forest created him to defend them from the threat that men presented, and the Night King is that easily defeated?
Valyrian steel is a special kind of weaponry to be sure, but why would the Children of the Forest create one creature to defend them that could be felled so easily? And why would the Night King be so reckless if he knew that only one fatal blow would end him and all of his wights and white walkers?
The Long Night
Game of Thrones really hyped up everything about the conflict between the Night King, his white walkers, the wights, and all of the living humans in Westeros. It was speculated that the upcoming winter was going to be the worst winter in years, and that in this repeat of the mythical Long Night the Night King and his minions were going to conquer the continent.
And then when it came time for the new Long Night to begin, it was quite literally just one night of conflict that only affected one kingdom in Westeros.
Daenerys The Savior
On a smaller level Daenerys Targaryen’s entire storyline throughout the series was about her returning to Westeros and claiming the Iron Throne, but on a broader level her life goal was to be the liberator of the world and to “break the wheel”. And she ostensibly put off invading Westeros because she wanted to be it’s hero, and not it’s destroyer.
However, once she actually arrived on it’s shores and began to conquer it, it would seem that all of these ideals totally went out the window, along with most of Dany’s characterization in the series.
