Death and Game of Thrones

Death and Game of Thrones
Dane La Born

Dane La Born

Before I actually get into the meat of this, I’m required by some kind of law to state that there are spoilers ahead. I apologize, but in this media-laden world, there is a 24-hour limit on spoilers, especially in the writing world.

Everyone is angry at Game of Thrones again, for the umpteenth time. Like a bad habit, it doesn’t seem to matter how much it’s hurting us to keep tuning in, we have to get our fix. It is, dare I say, getting a bit harder as the show begins to wind down.

Maybe that’s a misconception on my part, though. I didn’t start watching Game of Thrones until well after the infamous Red Wedding had occurred, and I had plenty of time between seasons to read all of the books, so I had been well spoiled on many of the larger plot points that happened in seasons four and five. All bets are off in the newest season, though, as book fans converge into the blind-unknowing that fans of the show have known since the beginning.

It’s odd to have a new book spoiled by its adaptation before you have the chance to read it, but it’s safe to say that there are many things that will happen in The Winds of Winter, George R.R. Martin’s sixth book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. Martin fills his books with as many intricate plotlines as any fantasy author, and many have been left out of the show entirely (at least for the time being). The events of Sunday’s episode, though, were confirmed as being Martin’s design, so there’s no escaping this reality for fans of either medium.

Hodor, the beloved companion to Bran Stark who only ever said one thing (Hodor) was killed by an army of zombie-creatures. Most people had assumed he was safe until the end of the show, his gentle nature and kind heart a (mostly) continuous feature of the series starting in the first season. That should have clued us in, as in the world Martin has created, there doesn’t seem to be any room for kindness.

There doesn’t seem to be any room for loyalty this season either. The Stark family’s direwolves, found by Jon Snow in season one, have been another (mostly) constant since the beginning of the series. Though two left us in the first season (one of which is still very much alive so far as we know), the show has been steadily dwindling down its collection of on-screen animals. For the show, this is very much a budgetary issue. Direwolves are meant to be giants, so they have to be rendered using live animals. Most of their effects budget in terms of CG cost, especially lately, has gone toward dragons and armies of the undead. That doesn’t make the barrage of recent dog deaths any easier though. We’ve come to expect the deaths of the bigger players in this world. If you hold a sword, lead an army, have a vendetta, betray someone; it’s all fair game. But they’ve mostly left the likes of Hodor (RIP), or Ghost, Shaggydog (RIP), and Summer (RIP) alone.

Game of Thrones is approaching its endgame, and the players on the board are becoming clearer. For some characters, who aren’t on the board, who aren’t playing the game? They just aren’t worth the time anymore. For others, like Bran and Hodor, the show has hit the fast-forward button, taking us from the slogging safety of flash-backs and exposition to the rushed tragedy and chaos of battle.

I don’t know what’s coming next in Game of Thrones. The coming weeks are as much a mystery to me as anyone else. Judging from the intensity of what’s already happened, I can guess they’re going to be intense. At least we have the promise of more moments between Lady Brienne and Tormund to ease the pain.

Categories: Commentary