Finally, I got to see Game of Thrones for the first time in a week-long binge this year. I am done with all 8 seasons and the convenient reaction to this epic series might have been to be short of words, but I am not. How does one hold back words after seeing the results of unrestrained ingenuity? It is a cinematic masterpiece that personifies all things creativity; epic, binge-worthy, thriller, and just now, words fail me.
Game of Thrones sets a standard for what brilliance should look like. From the incredible casting to their development in a manner that I have never seen to a story that is so immense you might live out the rest of your life believing it to be true, the world was gifted a timeless project we will forever be grateful was made in our lifetime. It is a story of the quest to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over 7 kingdoms. In watching this series, the viewer becomes a fluid citizen of these kingdoms, witnessing the politics of rulership. A politics in which avarice is in constant war with survival, and the navel-gazing nature individuals, families, sects, communities, and nations are forced to wear when faced with imminent danger.
To begin and finish Game of Thrones is to sit front-row through a lot of schemes and to see them fail or succeed. It is to have the rare privilege of witnessing many wars like Tyrion Lannister and yet come out unharmed, to witness an epic human-sized mirroring of humans' reality. You bear witness to the cost of loyalty and dishonor, the blurry lines between faith and fanaticism, the sacrifices made for love, and the subjective ways in which the greater good is crippled by self-interest. No one remains the same in GOT. It would appear as though the goal was to exploit every main character to their limits, to pass them through fire and watch if and who they become.
We see this with Sansa Stark, growing from a little bird and timid Sansa who wants to be a good Lady to her betrothed to becoming Lady Stark who would command respect and become Queen. We see this with Tyrion Lannister, who would crawl out of his self-imposed cells of drunkenness and delinquency to become the sought-after advisor of kings and queens. Arya Stark evolves to become a war hero, Cersei Lannister and Mother Dragon become worse than the father and rulers they detested, Jon Snow can't help his selfless nature, and Bran Stark who started as just hyperactive, becomes crippled, becomes all-knowing and ends up King.
In watching Game of Thrones characters become, and witnessing the unique life challenges that ushered them into what they were at every scene, we are exposed to the fire metaphor. Like Daenerys, not everything that passes through the fire gets burned, yet some other things like the city of Westeros get raised down by fire. The directors exploit this technique to leave you speculating about what becomes of a character, do they die? Do they evolve? What do they evolve into? We take a vantage view position into the life of the Starks, moved from their lovely home in Winterfell and thrown into preposterous circumstances, and we witness what these life-altering events turn them into.
In retrospect, the characters remain true to themselves or end up that way. We see that what emerges from the fire is a refinement of what went in and not a glaring alteration, one that makes sense of what is. This is true even for Theon Greyjoy, who leaves us traces of his true character despite being broken into a million pieces, renamed by his captor to Reek, forced to sleep beside hounds, and groomed into just anything. Even when he couldn't see it, his sister Yara saw it, Sansa saw it too, the pieces of Theon left from the cruelty he faced and gave out. As such it's no surprise who these characters came to be, it is the degree of life-altering crisis they encounter and its impact on their essence that might leave you gobsmacked.
As would be expected of every epic film, the locations and sets of Game of Thrones are developed like characters in their rights, with every set detailed to suit the characters and the story. Daenerys Targaryen, for instance, commanded a unique aura immortalized by the sets she appeared in, minimal, high-rising structures that were metaphors for her quest for the throne and to break the old wheel. The castles she takes over and inhibits, from the Meeren to Dragonstone, these sets were developed to correspond with her costume and individuality and to be uniquely different from Starks and their Winterfell, the Lannisters and their Red Keep, the Martells and their Water Garden.
The dialogue is as poetic as dialogue can be, with numerous noteworthy scenes, many of which have been shared countless times across social media. To maintain wit, clarity, and steady comebacks in such a humungous work speaks to the team of geniuses GOT had on the writing team. You experience conversations that leave you with deep thoughts, forcing you into a perception game to decipher how the characters take what is said and what actions it will permutate. If you follow closely, you might find yourself guessing some lines correctly, then you are a certified Throner.
If I could change a thing about GOT, it would be to breathe more life into Daenerys Targaryen. Her performances left me desiring more at times, as though she had been given some big shoes and forced to wear them out. For a revolutionary, commanding the muster of soldiers she had, she sometimes passed through scenes exerting just enough presence and authority, in the sense of letting things happen to her. There seems to have been a character shift and similarities between Daenerys and Margaery in the later seasons. Considering their different backgrounds and influences the switch seemed like an experiment away from the original characterization and I can almost argue they shared a particular outfit.
Game of Thrones deserves the cult following, and the countless conversations and content that continue to be created around it, because of how much its success has come to define the limitless possibilities of storytelling.
