Game of Thrones/ASOIAF – Some spoilers included

It’s about time I started talking about something other than myself. So without further ados, yes I’m a big fan of GRRM’s work in particular.

I got into the show first after season 6 aired. Bought the first 5 series on DVD, then read all the books before series 6 came out on DVD. It’s fair to say that books (source material) is the key to it’s success.

The books are magnificent and the first few series were magnificent when they were faithful to the books.

When the source ran dry it became increasingly clear that the showrunners had given up on plotting a coherent story and just gave towards spectacle and writing for their favourite actors to look cool.

It’s been 11 years since the last book was published, the same year the show first aired. I live for the next book because I’m desperate to see how the proper story develops.

The original pilot was dogshit by all accounts. It is plain that Benioff and Weiss were charlatans who conned GRRM into believing that they knew what they were doing.

I’d recommend Dragon Demands YT channel for an expert expose on the showrunners and their shallow, narcissistic approach to writing.

They totally subverted the real message of the work and besmirched the arcs of many beloved characters.

Prime example being the case of Arya Stark. She’s a big fan favourite because of her strength of will and determination. Also a real rebellious tomboy streak who dreams of becoming a fierce warrior.

Her story in the books is of horrific trauma for a young child to face and she falls under the influence of other traumatised, violent people.

There is huge potential for her story to develop as   she has the most potential for redemption.

What did show do? Turned her into smirking killer who does everything badass. Everyone cheered when she took her revenge and there were no consequences whatsoever. No follow through. No logic at all.

The show which killed several important characters through a single infected wound had Arya survive several stab wounds to the stomach and a swim through a canal, then to perform superhuman feats of endurance and kill her more experienced trainer.

Arya’s series 6 arc has to be the most nonsensical thing I’ve ever seen. Benioff and Weiss showed their true colours by casting Ed Sheeran as present to Maisie Williams. And because she’s a fan favourite everything she does is brilliant and has no bad consequences.

She murders villains in a room full of important characters purely to conclude a plot with no further consequences. Oh and of course she kills the Night King out of nowhere despite having no connection to the whole White Walker/Long Night storyline.

The way the Long Night was concluded was a total copout. It should have been the finale and the actual resolution of the whole story. Alas they weren’t the real bad guys after all and they were defeated by the most ridiculous ex-machina.

The show writers love to “subvert expectations” and the cheap, lazy way to do that is to descend into nonsense.

Needless to say they’ve cut so many things from the books that will ensure the books play out very differently. It’s not clear how much GRRM told Benioff and Weiss about how the books will end but I’m betting that it will be so much more interesting and rewarding.

I’m hopeful that the 6th book will get published maybe in a year or two but I’m not going to stake my life on it. The 7th and final book may very well never reach the shelves.

GRRM’s writing has always seeked to highlight the terrible consequences of war and the folly of revenge and how self-destructive it is to turn to violence. The big difference in the show is how the violence is often glorified. The spectacle is the big draw and the show fans love the big battles.

Of course we all love the drama and the high stakes, but in the show the hindsight always reveals the stakes weren’t that high because the consequences are of no value.

I recently watched a YT reactor watch the whole series and all the real emotions are genuinely earned. It’s funny how during the final 2 series there was just… “wtf that makes no sense”

Truly by the end the emotional payoffs are not earned. The series descends to a series of stupid plot points, unconnected in any way that makes logical sense.

And let’s not forget we have a character who can time travel who can see any event in history but seems to do nothing about it and is then crowned King for no reason despite consistently saying he couldn’t be a ruler.

In fact all the time travel scenes are only to reveal the biggest mystery of the series, the real identity of Jon Snow, which has no meaning in the end.

That’s what really annoys me. You build something up in order for it to pay off in a meaningful way. It has to mean something doesn’t it? Has to be important. Has to be relevant to determining the outcome of an important event.

Like so much in the show it’s there to create the sense of importance but is just abandoned basically.

I put this down to the fact that Benioff and Weiss were given the keys to part of the Star Wars franchise and they completely checked out, stopped caring about the show (if they ever really did) and insulted the intelligence of every show watcher.

It heartens me to know that their Stars Wars project has been shelved and I think people are more aware of how crap they are.

I won’t say too much about the new prequel series which is midway through airing but I’m enjoying it. Some of it falls into the same trap as there are many time jumps that feel disconnected but on the whole the new showrunners obviously care a lot more about it.

To sum up the show squandered so much potential. The books have so much going on and I’m confident that every chapter will be immensely satisfying.

My own writing aspirations have been heavily influenced to create a full, immersive world where every action has meaningful consequences whereby the true drama of human life is explored and and ultimately I want to create something that is truly meaningful.

I’d love to write something that is a metaphor for me my autistic struggles. Something that is unabashedly honest but can be a form of inspiration.

I’ve had to find that inspiration from within myself and I haven’t found it yet but I should make this my next objective.

This would be me finally escaping my own head and start to externalise again in a way that makes me feel good about myself.

I’ve started to reorganize and tidy my environment to help tidy my mind one step at a time. Time to pursue the meaning of my life and stop letting things hold me back.

Thanks for reading and kindest regards.

Jamie