How Game of Thrones Should Have Ended

Talk to me about your reaction when you read the script for your final episode Ummm oh, I... I was Errr... I was really Pleased with... that [voiceover from review excerpt] I hate Dumb and Dumber the producers and writers of the show. I have never liked them They are the most overrated, egotistical, sorry excuses for talent in Hollywood [Think Story] as of the making of this video, the petition to rewrite season 8 is approaching a Staggering one-and-a-half million signatures that's like more than the petition to end world hunger, but it's one thing to hate the season It's another to claim you could have written it better So before you go ahead and automatically dislike this video hear me out if you don't like what I'm putting down fair enough But the whole reason I'm making this video is because I love this show so much and felt the characters deserved a lot better I'm splitting this video into two distinct halves First my two major critiques of the season and two the rewrite So if you're interested in just the rewrite portion I've left the timestamp in the description below but keep in mind my critique of the season Informs the rewrite a few ground rules before we begin this is going to be a broad overarching Revision of some of the main tentpole moments not a scene-by-scene rewrite or else we'd be here all day in fact I'm leaving episodes 1 & 2 Relatively untouched opting to start with episode 3 where things started to go downhill for me and then onward to episode 4 where things went completely off the rails while Daenery kind of forgot about the iron fleet and Euron's forces And I'm also not going to magically add episodes or seasons I want to give myself the same constraints the showrunners had Even though the last 35 minutes of the final episode arguably could have been an entire season in and of itself So I'm going to briefly go over what I believe the two major problems of this season were now I know there are literally Hundreds of things to bitch about this season and I could do a video entirely just on that But for the purposes of my rewrite I'm gonna focus just on these two major points one the night King and two character arcs The night king is the main antagonistic force that propels much of the narrative in the show It's his presence that forces people like Danny and John to band together in order to save humanity if the night king is Successful in his quest then. It doesn't matter who's on the Iron Throne I argue that the night King is more important of a foe than Cersei and there's more at stake should our heroes fail against him look all the way back at the very first scene in the very First season it doesn't start with the death of Jon Arryn palace intrigue or something to do with the throne It starts with the White Walkers. That's how important day in the night king arm This is why the night king dying in Episode three was a major mistake Not only were we denied an epic battle between Jon and the night king Which was essentially promised to us with the end of hardhome But all eight seasons of the show have been building up to this moment Will they defeat the night king or not by having him die in episode three? You lose eight seasons of that tension The best analogy I can make is imagine if Frodo dropped the ring into Mount Doom and defeated Sauron halfway through the two Towers the most climactic moment of the series should be continually built upon until it explodes near the final 10% of the show or film take a look at this diagram which shows the Traditional three-act structure of a movie the same applies for a TV series just in those instances it stretched out across episodes This is where the defeat of the night king should have happened Here is where it did Keep this in mind when I go over my rewrite the second major critique I have of the season are the character arcs mainly because many of them a didn't live up to their potential or B were Disregarded entirely now that isn't to say some characters didn't receive proper arcs I thought sir Jorah and Theon both received endings that made sense both narrative ly and emotionally But then there are characters like John Danny and the one who had the most potential Jaime Lannister Jaime had the most compelling arc over the eight seasons starting as an incestuous child murderer who over the span of eight seasons learns the error of his ways and becomes Yet in the show's final episodes he reverts back to his old self and his love for Cersei takes over eight seasons of building this change within him even banging Brienne was thrown under the bus so he could die to a Pile of falling rubble this unrealized potential of character arcs is something I want to address in the rewrite So without further ado, this is how I would have written the final season of Game of Thrones Okay enough of that we start with episode three the Battle of Winterfell And for the most part this episode will play out much like it did in the real version The combined forces of the unsullied are a key Northman and wildlings face off against the night king and is undead horde Meanwhile Cersei the golden company and the iron fleet chill in King's Landing Having reneged on their promise to help in the upcoming war but this episode will have one major Difference that will completely change the episodes to come The night king will be victorious and the remaining forces of Winterfell will be forced to retreat to King's Landing Let's dig a little deeper how this would play out first. I wouldn't put Tyrion the women and children in the crypt Yes, it's fun to have them in danger from the rising corpses of the stark family, but it's lazy writing They are putting the thrill of having to dodge zombies above logic as Peter Dinklage says nobody thought of that He's bringing all the dead people back to life and they put women and children in a crypt with all the dead people. So Instead I'd move them to the main hall where later Tyrion and the others are confronted with the fact they will soon die It's like the scene in the two towers when the battle looks lost and we see the pain of the women and children embracing each other one final time You can still have Taryn and Sansa holding hands than Tyrion picking up a blade ready to fight and even Sansa ready to join him in their last hurrah It's emotional visceral and gets the point across without mummies rising from the dead Meanwhile, Danny and Jon would be taking on the night king with their dragons but as the battle intensifies Jon has to split from Dany to help the soldiers below not only that, but he'll have to decide between Saving bran or fending off the zombie hordes about to break in and kill Tyrion and Sansa but Theon who's with And tells John to go he'll hold them off down there and John at Regal smashed into the side of the main hall just in Time to save the women and children giving them the opportunity to escape through winter fells underground tunnels underground tunnels which will have a Spattering of undead for them to fend off but then we can get characters like Arya who would join them in providing much-needed protection as they make their escape Danny hearing Reagan's cries would muster enough strength to dismount the night King from Viserion plunging him to the ground just like what happened in the Original John would then make his way to the weirwood tree just in time to see a Theon fall to the night king this death Would fuel an emotional John to attack and we finally get a sword battle between John and the night king. Trust me It'll be epic but the making will prove too powerful for John eventually gaining the upper hand Sword at their ready to kill him when bran suddenly wargs into Viserion breathing dragon fire all over the night king Yes in my version bran actually uses his powers that actually helps them but the night king emerges from the fire much like he did in the original Unscathed by the flames and now holding a dragonglass spear He slays Viserion which causes the largest and most epic disintegration We've seen yet taking this brief moment of opportunity John musters the strength for one last attack and stabs the night king with his dragonglass sword But nothing happens the night king we find is impervious to dragonglass It's a huge shock to John who is quickly picked up by the throat much like Arya was and when all seems lost for John Danny swoops in on Drogo and knocks the night King about 20 feet away freeing John with the battle loss She grabs, Jon and bran Winterfell burning in the background as we see regal overrun and killed the episode would end with the risen dead Dothraki Unsullied and all those who perished in a battle rising from the dead as the night King Continues his conquest south as John looks to brand will find that bran is stuck in his war expand They're unable to snap him out of it We'll get to what he's actually doing it a bit what I like about this is that it keeps the tension of the night King Attacks still at play while giving us a shocking new piece of information that dragonglass doesn't work against him It raises the stakes for the next even bigger attack on King's Landing if I'm gonna keep comparing this to Lord of the Rings episode 3 is the two towers and Episode 5 is Return of the King episode 4 would be rewritten to deal with the fallout of the battle as the remaining survivors hastily scramble to King's Landing It's here that Cersei will have to decide whether or not to let them in and it's Jaime who? Convinces her along with reports that Qyburn receives on the encroaching dead army Cersei agrees to let them in she doesn't really have a choice here but on one condition As long as Danny bends the knee publicly for all to see and with Cersei holding all the power here and Danny's army almost Completely wiped out Dany agrees. She puts her people before herself She sacrifices everything for the safety of her kin Episode 5 just like the original would be an attack on King's Landing But instead of it being a one-sided massacre It would be an epic battle much like that of ministereth in Lord of the Rings One of the things I disliked about the original was that it wasn't really a battle at all The golden company didn't do anything John didn't do anything. I felt it had so much unrealized potential So we're gonna try to fix that as the night king approaches his main forces line up along the outer walls But the night king is smart and has a separate force along the water's edge As the temperature drops the water around Euron's fleet starts to freeze allowing the White Walkers Access to the port making the defending army have to defend from two fronts Even worse is that we'll see Dothraki on undead horses Undead unsullied and a bunch of undead Giants join the battle for the night King as well But as the defenses of King's Landing begin to fall bran Awakens from his dreamlike state as the three-eyed Raven he spent this time since the fall of Winterfell going back in time Searching for clues that could reveal the Night Kings weakness and those clues lined the messages and symbols we've seen going back to season 1 he notifies Dany and this could be shown through a series of Flashbacks like it has been with bran in the past that the night King is linked to the children of the forest Remember that the night King was created by them in a place called God's eye when he was tied up against the great weirwood tree Bear with me as I go into a little bit of nerdy G ot Lore here the grandeur a great weirwood tree The heart of all the we're woods in Westeros and in my version is the source of the night Kings power After all it created him. Why can't it destroy him as well? Danny is told that if she destroys it It may also have the added consequence of destroying every type of magic in the world destroying the grand weirwood tree would also kill john after all The only reason John is still alive was that he was revived using magic by Melisandre To make matters worse since bran was marked by the night king the night king now knows what they're up to and will likely Himself be on his way to protect the tree Danny goes to John as the castle walls are crumbling and tells him what she has To do and John being the understanding and compassionate soldier Understands, but Danny is the one who's more torn here not because she'll lose John, but that shall lose the father to her child Yes in my version Dany is pregnant upping the stakes about 10 notches She flies off with drogon to the grand weirwood tree is the remaining forces of King's Landing Fight on it's he or she's confronted by the knight King in an epic final showdown The real Battle of Ice and Fire and the only thing standing before her in the tree is the night king himself She confronts him and before he attacks She yells Decorous burning her the night king and the grand weirwood tree all together and as the tree burns so does the night Kings flesh? She takes her sword and stabs the night King through the heart Piercing him into the burning tree just like he was pierced in the heart by the children of the forest centuries ago And this is all happening as Dany herself is being burned. But as we know she can withstand flames She's just never had to endure flames of this strength before and as the night King is dying So does John and the undead what I like about this particular? Ending is that it makes the theory that the night king would die by dragon fire true Just not in the way we envisioned it. It also ties in and brings back all those children of the forest symbols We've seen throughout the seasons which in the current version turned out meant nothing at all Nothing at all. Nothing But where does that leave us with the other characters? We still have Cersei the mountain you're on and countless others Don't worry. We can still have cleganebowl and you're on I'd have killed by the White Walkers, but then there's Cersei Ah, yes, circe. Imagine this the battle is over. We follow Jamie on his way to Cersei We're not sure if he's gonna kill her and that adds to the tension in the halls of King's Landing Completely out of the blue ilaria sand emerges and stabs him in the chest You'll remember ilaria was stuck in the dungeon and forced to watch her daughter's slowly be poisoned to death by the Lannisters It was also the Lannisters responsible for her lover. Oberyn's death in season four She's broken free either by an ally letting her out or garnering her escape through the destruction caused by the attack But as Jaime clings to life, it's revealed. It isn't Jaime at all It's Arya using Jaime's face as a mask to kill the Queen Ilaria recoils in shock as Arya spits up blood don't worry We'll see Arya survive and go off on her adventures But I thought it would be a cool way to bring back her assassin training bring back ilaria and provide a fun twist Then we have the showdown between the real Jaime and Cersei Cersei tells him that it's finally over They've won the throne and the battle of the undead Dany in the northern army have all but been destroyed and nothing stands in their way But Cersei won't stop there. Now. The battle is over. She says she must send a signal a decisive blow She calls for the murder of anyone who was loyal to Daenerys Jaime pleads on their behalf without them They never would have survived. And besides is this the type of new world? They want their child to grow up in and it's here Cersei divulges there never was a baby It was all part of playing the game to simultaneously keep him and Euron in check She tells him to go ahead and kill them all a throwback to Aerys Targaryen the Mad King when he wanted the city to burn And it's here Jaime completes his arc plunging his sword into Cersei and killing her for good the Kingslayer is now also the queen Slayer Danny arrives back and rushes to Jon laying by his side But it's too late King's Landing is in ruins with no one to rule a crowd has formed around her in the dead body of Jon Tyrion tells, the by standards of Jon's heritage and how Dany now with Jon's child makes her the rightful heir to the throne Tyrion kneels before his queen and hundreds of men and women around kneel well She makes her way to the throne and sits as we cut to black But just because we can make it a little more emotional will do something Game of Thrones hasn't done before Hey, I can break the rules right let's flash forward five years Daenerys visits the crypts of Winterfell and by the way Winterfell has been rebuilt with Sansa as protector of the north in the crypts Jon's body has been placed next to edit and Catelyn and who happens to come rushing through but Their son we can even throw in ghosts in here, too She puts her hand on the tomb and walks away calling for her son saying come along John I like this because it does away with the whole powers of Westeros. Choosing the new king Not to mention bran becoming King which I thought was problematic We also have more fulfilling character arcs for John Danny and Jamie now I couldn't get to all the characters but I invite you to leave your comments below on what you would have liked to have seen this season for me this ending gives Me what I want it's more traditional Heightens the stakes of the night King and provides more fulfilling arcs for many of her beloved characters If you like this video Please take a moment to like subscribe and let me know what you think until next time. Remember daddy loves you very much

Channel: Think Story

Views: 8,270,401

Rating: 4.7407565 out of 5

Keywords: how game of thrones should have ended, game of thrones ending, game of thrones rewritten, game of thrones new ending, game of thrones alternate ending, game of thrones writing, game of thrones season 8 ending, rewriting game of throne, david benioff, db weiss, new game of thrones end, new game of thrones ending, rewriting game of thrones ending, game of thrones finale, game of thrones final episode, rewriting the night king, game of thrones fan fiction, game of thrones

Id: G0mncEl4nVU

Length: 16min 33sec (993 seconds)

Published: Wed May 22 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/Darab318]

I never understand why people think they can do a better job and try to change the plot?

The actual plot line was good, the only issue was we didn’t have enough time to flesh out all of the complex stories that GoT requires in 6 episodes so we get a lot of rushed content.

[u/colourfulsevens]

For those who can't be bothered watching, and I don't blame you, here are the changes he suggests:

• Don't put Tyrion, the women, and children in the crypt. Put them in Winterfell's main hall instead, and have them escape through the crypts and tunnels.

• As the battle intensifies, Jon has to split from Daenerys to help out the soldiers on the ground. He has to decide between saving Bran and fending off the zombie horde. Theon tells Jon to fight the horde.

• Daenerys knocks the Night King off Viserion's back and sends him plunging to the ground.

• Jon makes it to the weirwood tree in time to see Theon die. Jon and the Night King then have a duel, which Jon loses. Before the Night King can kill Jon, Bran suddenly wargs into Visersion (seriously??) and breathes dragon fire all over the Night King.

• The Night King survives and has a dragon glass spear (it's never established where this dagger comes from?), which he uses to kill Viserion.

• Jon tries to attack the Night King again and stabs the Night King with a dragon glass sword (again, where does this dragon glass sword come from?) but nothing happens. The Night King is impervious to dragon glass.

• Jon is then picked up by the throat, and the Night King tightens his grip, only for Dany to swoop in on Drogon and knock the Night King twenty feet away (seriously, how many sudden rescues can Jon be afforded in this episode of his?)

• Rhaegal dies. The Night King takes Winterfell. Bran is stuck in his warg state.

• Battle moves to King's Landing. Jaime convinces Cersei to let the Winterfell armies enter the city, but Cersei only lets them in on the condition that Daenerys bends the knee (seriously??). Daenerys agrees to bend the knee.

• The attack on King's Landing would be like Minas Tirith. The water around Euron's fleet is frozen, allowing the White Walkers to attack from the south and the north. Bran suddenly awakens from his dreamlike state - he's gone back in time to find clues to reveal the Night King's weakness. Bran says the Night King was created at the God's Eye (this is factually incorrect), and that destroying the tree will destroy the Night King (honestly, for fuck's sake).

• The Night King finds this out because of the mark on Bran's wrist, and goes to save the tree. Daenerys is pregnant but flies to the God's Eye tree, leaving Jon behind to fight on. Daenerys and the Night King have a final showdown, during which she yells "Dracarys", which causes her to burn herself, the Night King, and the tree (how this happens is never explained, considering the Night King is immune to fire?). She stabs the Night King and pierces him into the tree.

• As the Night King and his undead soldiers suddenly die, Jon also suddenly dies at the same time (again, this is never explained).

• After the battle, "Jaime" goes to kill Cersei. But it's not Jaime, it's actually Arya wearing Jaime's face (for fuck's sake). Before "Jaime" can kill Cersei, Ellaria Sand shows up (for some fucking reason) and stabs him. It is then revealed that Jaime is actually Arya, who somehow survives the stab wound (this was something season 6 was ripped to shreds for). Then the real Jaime shows up (how can Arya steal his face if he's alive?) and kills Cersei when she says she was never pregnant and that she'll kill all her traitors (what the fuck?).

• Daenerys is named the rightful queen, and hundreds kneel before her (what the fuck?). She sits on the throne. Cut to five years later, Daenerys is in the Winterfell crypts at Jon's grave with their son, who is now named Jon.

[u/mamula1]

The more they rage the more happy I am that D&D killed Daenerys lol.

And not only that, they've put Sansa on the Northern throne LOL.

[u/gz29]

"tHe PrObLeM iSn'T hOw It eNdEd, It'S tHe ExEcUtIoN"

[u/gerstein03]

Well I mean this is stupid. There's like four or five things in here that were popular fan theories that people are pissed didn't happen. Proof that people are just pissed that their favorite fan theories weren't confirmed

[u/podteod]

Holy shit these youtube comments. These people are legit dumb i swear

[u/Flameoftheshadows]

We kind of forgot haters gunna hate.

[u/DevBruja]

Ok, so this guy wants the show to mirror the Lord of the Rings books, and end basically the same way, except the parts that he wants to mirror are the exact parts that George has openly criticized as being poor themes. If this guy is a book reader he's going to be really upset.

Martin, who is a fan of Tolkien’s works, has often criticized The Lord of the Rings for the over-simplification of the themes that it deals with. In his latest interview, he has challenged Tolkien’s portrayal of power:

Ruling is hard. This was maybe my answer to Tolkien, whom, as much as I admire him, I do quibble with. Lord of the Rings had a very medieval philosophy: that if the king was a good man, the land would prosper. We look at real history and it’s not that simple. Tolkien can say that Aragorn became king and reigned for a hundred years, and he was wise and good. But Tolkien doesn’t ask the question: What was Aragorn’s tax policy? Did he maintain a standing army? What did he do in times of flood and famine? And what about all these orcs? By the end of the war, Sauron is gone but all of the orcs aren’t gone – they’re in the mountains. Did Aragorn pursue a policy of systematic genocide and kill them? Even the little baby orcs, in their little orc cradles?

Martin also spoke about Tolkien’s treatment of war:

The war that Tolkien wrote about was a war for the fate of civilization and the future of humanity, and that’s become the template. I’m not sure that it’s a good template, though. The Tolkien model led generations of fantasy writers to produce these endless series of dark lords and their evil minions who are all very ugly and wear black clothes. But the vast majority of wars throughout history are not like that.

[u/YOUREABOT]

I have found what I was looking for... the ending to GoT... thank u.