Game of Thrones came back to my mind recently, and I began thinking again about how one could potentially edit the final season to make the conclusion more satisfying. I know there have been many interesting rewrites across the internet, but I think a general consensus would agree that it is likely impossible to make a wholly satisfying conclusion given what we have to work with. After seeing so many people wrack their brains (including myself) trying to think of a better ending, it isn’t uncommon to see frustrated fans half-joke that having the Night King win would still have been a better ending than what we got. After reading several of these types of comments, I began to ask myself, “What if it actually ended this way?”
Back in October of 2018, George R.R. Martin was interviewed by The New York Times and was asked this question:
Manjoo: Many observers have pointed out that “Game of Thrones” offers a perfect metaphor for understanding climate change. What do you think of this interpretation?
Martin: It’s kind of ironic because I started writing “Game of Thrones” all the way back in 1991, long before anybody was talking about climate change. But there is — in a very broad sense — there’s a certain parallel there. And the people in Westeros are fighting their individual battles over power and status and wealth. And those are so distracting them that they’re ignoring the threat of “winter is coming,” which has the potential to destroy all of them and to destroy their world. And there is a great parallel there to, I think, what I see this planet doing here, where we’re fighting our own battles. We’re fighting over issues, important issues, mind you — foreign policy, domestic policy, civil rights, social responsibility, social justice. All of these things are important. But while we’re tearing ourselves apart over this and expending so much energy, there exists this threat of climate change, which, to my mind, is conclusively proved by most of the data and 99.9 percent of the scientific community. And it really has the potential to destroy our world. And we’re ignoring that while we worry about the next election and issues that people are concerned about, like jobs. Jobs are a very important issue, of course. All of these things are important issues. But none of them are important if, like, we’re dead and our cities are under the ocean. So really, climate change should be the number one priority for any politician who is capable of looking past the next election. But unfortunately, there are only a handful of those. We spend 10 times as much energy and thought and debate in the media discussing whether or not N.F.L. players should stand for the national anthem than this threat that’s going to destroy our world.
I definitely agree that this symbolism is pretty apparent in the series, and because of that I had hoped the series would have given a more nuanced resolution to the White Walker plot line beyond our heroes simply burning or killing their problems. Even with the power of modern editing software, you can’t change the story we were given enough to change the fact that the story really did go with such a simple solution.
I remember the week before The Long Night episode premiered, everyone was speculating on who was going to die. Jorah? Brienne? Jaime? Now, imagine how shocked audiences would have been if the Night King actually won, and all of our heroes died. Really, nothing like that has ever really happened in the history of television, at least for one of the most popular shows in the world. I know I mentioned earlier that I was trying to figure out a more satisfying ending to the show, and this probably would have been the least satisfying ending possible, but maybe it would have been the ending we needed.
As the show went on, we slowly learned that all of the politics and fighting did not matter in the face of what was to come. Winter is Coming. It was the show’s tag line from the beginning. If the show had ended by killing all of beloved characters, many people would have hated it, but in a way, it could have been a huge wake up call for people our own existential threat we all face, and what the consequences would be if we don’t do something about it. Your character arcs, your fan theories, your lore, your entertainment, your game of thrones, none of it matters in the end if this problem isn’t solved.
You could argue that this ending would be really nihilistic or pessimistic, but to me it would function like any cautionary tale. As per Wikipedia:
A cautionary tale is a tale told in folklore, to warn its listener of a danger. There are three essential parts to a cautionary tale, though they can be introduced in a large variety of ways. First, a taboo or prohibition is stated: some act, location, or thing is said to be dangerous. Then, the narrative itself is told: someone disregarded the warning and performed the forbidden act. Finally, the violator comes to an unpleasant fate, which is frequently related in expansive and grisly detail.
In this story, clearly the threat of the White Walkers is the warning that was disregarded until it was too late.
I am not trying to say that this would have been objectively the best possible ending for the show, but I think this type of fan edit could at the very least work as an alternate ending to the series that tries to make a thought-provoking conclusion, and arguably be more true to the themes of the series, rather than succumbing to Hollywoodization.
I also think, from a practical standpoint, it would require less bending over backwards to try and piece together an improved ending. Obviously it would shorten the already short season, but I imagine it playing out something like this:
While we can’t add new death scenes for these characters, the last time we would see most of them would be when they are overwhelmed by wights, fighting for their lives. We never see Arya leave the room with Melisandre and the Hound. The Night King walks up to Bran, raises hand to unsheathe his blade, and we cut to black. Or, we end on a wide shot of Winterfell on fire, and fade to black.
It could end there, but I think it would be interesting to take it further. We could then fade back in to a sequence of scenes where we see King’s Landing being burned by a dragon, but instead of orange flames, they would be blue. Confirming the Night Kong’s victory at Winterfell and subsequent destruction of civilization. We could even see Euron’s fleet be destroyed by the wight dragon (but make them be at Pyke), as well as reusing recolored shots of the Battle of Slaver’s Bay to show that the White Walkers eventually reach Essos, and spread across the world. I imagine the last shot could be of the Iron Throne covered in snow and the hall in ruins (editing the shots to mask out anyone who might be in them), showing that in the end, none of it really mattered because Westeros failed to come together in time.
Perhaps you could add some kind of epilogue to show spring eventually return, and show the some people did manage to survive (except now civilization will basically have to start over). This footage could be pulled from other material. Or, maybe The Long Night could be cut in a way to show that some people managed to escape Winterfell, namely, Jon, Tormund, Ghost, and some other random people. Then, the epilogue of Jon going beyond the Wall with Free Folk could be reinterpreted as Jon and the small group of survivors going to hide beyond the wall until their distant dream of spring finally becomes reality. But personally, I think I would prefer a more somber ending, where no character survives the Long Night, and we are left to contemplate the meaning of it all.
Anyway, these are just my thoughts regarding a potential fan edit. It is an appealing idea to me, not only for thematic reasons, but also because it would be less time consuming to make than to edit the entirety of Season 8 (and potentially Season 7 as well). Just edit one episode, The Long Night, and include a brief epilogue to leave the audience to thinking.