By Muhammad Ahmad Iliasu.
Turning a blind eye to last week’s eulogy of the season finale, we’d dig deeper for noticeable faults and split-second errors you probably missed by an inch on this week’s edition.
The Game of Thrones, despite the big budget spent in production and the humongous amount of time invested by the exceptional directors, which we must agree yielded wide global viewership, has left many faults and unanswered questions.
David Beniof and DB Weiss – the two biggest executive directors, have been applauded for their creativity, which interestingly, earned them an Emmy nomination for the best written story.
However, is the direction of Game of Thrones worthy of earning an Emmy nomination?
The following are some notable and avoidable discrepancies the season finale has left:
Blunders:
For a TV series that depicts the medieval era, how on earth was a random coffee cup left around the set of episode four?
Again, a plastic water bottle spotted in the final episode!
Jaime who had previously lost his right hand in previous editions of the show, mistakenly revealed it while hugging his sister in episode five:
Discrepancies:
1. Anonymous effort; Reconstruction of the wall
The Wall, which was measured to be 700 feet tall, and 300 miles long was built by Brandon the builder, the first man who initiated House Stark and served as the first king in the north and lord of winterfell. Brandon led the joined forces of the ‘first men’ and ‘children of the forest’ to fight off the army of ‘white walkers’, and erected the wall to protect the living from the living dead, after spending years in the process. Its widely regarded that the wall had some magic built in it, thanks to extraordinary powers of the children of the forest.
Days before the beginning of the battle of winterfell, the army of the dead destroyed the wall with an extraordinary, rare Dragon fire, which allowed them to march south to fight the living. The wall got absolutely demolished, leaving only the bricks of its remains. However, at the end of the show, Jon snow, marched to castle black, to join the men of the nights watch, the army whose main job was to man the Wall against any external aggression that could threaten the realm. The wall was seen standing, very well built, just like before the dead invasion, which means it was rebuilt. The major question here is, how did they rebuild the wall, who rebuilt it, how long did it take them to rebuild it?
Answer to those questions weren’t provided, and judging from the method used by ‘Bran the builder’, its closer to impossible to say that there could be a method that’ll help build the wall in such short period. The absence of ‘children of the forest’ too makes it very much harder to take. Which I believe has gone against the initial rendition of Game of Thrones. Even the resurrection of Jon Snow was due to the magical powers of the red woman, which is pretty understandable. But who and what should take courtesy of rebuilding the wall remains anonymous.
2. Inflation of numbers
Stannis Baratheon travelled to the city of Bravos, to secure the loan that could help hire new army after the defeat at Blackwater bay. How Ser Davos seaworth brokered the negotiation is still alive in the memory of watchers.
Cercie Lannister secured a loan from the Iron Bank, which helped in financing the services of the ‘Golden company’, after the Lannister army were crippled by Daenerys at the spoils of war. Euron Greyjoy sailed for many days to bring them to Westeros.
Jon snow, after the wildlings invasion and execution of Alliser Thorne and co, was seen sending letters to the seven kingdoms asking for men that would man the wall.
The point I’m trying to make here is, every warlord experienced shortage of men after fighting a war. And the only way of reinforcing that army, was by hiring a new one.
However, the army of Daenerys Targaryen which consist of the Wildlings, the Unsullied, the Dothraki, the Second Sons and Northern Bannermen united together to fight against the army of the dead, which was the longest battle in the entire show, and had seen to it that so many men have fallen. That’s just right considering the power of the dead. But after the grief of the battle, a war was declared against Cercie Lannister, which many fan theories suggested would be difficult because Daenerys lost majority of her army, and Cercie had hired a new one. The Dothraki particularly were mutilated by the army of the dead in the beginning of the battle. The unsullied too, for manning the walls of winterfell. But the number of the Army suddenly inflated, with greater number of Dothraki recovered, Northmen and Unsullied too. How was it done? Perhaps Daenerys was borrowed the night king powers for once to resurrect her dead armies, or it should be considered the violation of the rendition of game of thrones, something that defied fact and explanation.
3. Skipping
Ellaria Sand and her daughter got locked by Cercie in a black cell. Cercie promised Ellaria that she’ll make her watch as her daughter’s body perish and rot. What happened to that promise? For none of the watchers saw Ellaria or her daughter, or their dead bodies after the kingslandin was seized.
Samwell Tarly became the new Grand Maester of the Barndon reign. However, no one should even try to forget that at no point was he pardoned out of his Nights watch vows. As we learnt when Stannis rescued Castle Black from the wildling invasion, if a brother of the nights watch was to leave the castle, he has to be pardoned by the king. Who pardoned Tarly? The almighty lover of girls, the reader of the books, the killer of white walkers and the triumphant in the battle of Winterfell. (May Edd Catellon rest in peace).
Not only that, a considerable number of Dothraki whose number was made to unexplainably inflate, survived the walkover of kingslandin against Cercie. And unlike their unsullied counterparts who sailed for Narth, only god knows where the Dothraki went, after the passive rebellion against Daenerys. Where did they go?
4. Misallocation of heroic display
Jon Snow, like the directors of the show is also nominated for the best leading actor. But at which point in the season finale were his displays showing a leading role? Lord Beric Dandarion, Lady Melisander, Ser Jorah Mormont, Lady Lyanna Mormont and Arya Stark ran the show and stole the spotlight during the battle of Winterfell. Lady Sansa Stark ran the discussion table. Tyrion Lannister ran the ideological transition. While Edmure Tully ran the show of duncery and idiocy. And Daenerys Targaryen saw to it that the demolition of the lannister-occupied kingslandin was all thanks to her. At which point was Jon showing a leading actor display? Perhaps for leading the wildlings, and the fresh and energetic group of rapers, poachers and pickpockets (as Sandor clegane would have aptly said) back to the wall as the new recruits for the nights watch.
There’s no doubt Jon was the leading actor, but there’s every doubt that his role wasn’t properly installed in the season finale. He was made to be more of a spectator, rather than a leading character which makes him the leading character on paper, rather than in practice. All thanks to the logic of the two directors, which I believe brought confusion upon his nomination for Emmy. Jon is nominated for something even himself can cast doubt over his own worthiness.
In the end, it’s not a debate that Game of Thrones season finale is a well-written story, I have no doubt about that. The writers deserve every award there is for writing that story. But such avoidable discrepancies have crippled the watch-value of the season. Their application of quick logic is impressive, yet, has been dwarfed by the application of haste, that got in the way without their knowledge. But is it down to them? No, for I don’t believe there is any individual alive that is capable of concluding the greatest story ever written and turned into motion picture without leaving loopholes. Which brings the entire discrepancies down to the greatness of Game of thrones as a TV show, George RR Martin as a novelist, and Game of Thrones watchers for having the wealthiest of imaginations.
MA Iliasu is INSIDER’s box office reporter.
muhada102@gmail.com
That’s fantastic MA Ilyas
Thank you