GoT s7: What do I hope for?

[beer_good_foamy]

So I've been rewatching some Game of Thrones leading up to s7 in two weeks, and I started thinking. We know that they're wrapping the show up in the next two (shortish) seasons, so... what would I like to see happen in those two seasons? Well, hopefully season 7 will change what can happen in season 8, but here's some thoughts in no particular order. Others' thoughts more than welcome.

- Someone needs to try to impregnate the bitch. Ie take The Vale. The fact that Littlefinger currently holds it works out nicely. As does the fact that Bron is still around to make good on his boast in s1.

- A hint that Jeor Mormont knew about Jon's real parents, and that's the reason he explicitly tried to set him up as the future Lord Commander rather than letting him become just another ranger. I also want more Lady Lyanna Mormont, so that works out nicely too. And I'm going to regret saying that, aren't I?

- The return of Nymeria. Doesn't have to be a huge part, just have her show up at some point and help Arya out of a pickle, exchange a Look Of Respect and go on her way to do wolfy things off-screen.

- What the hell is up with the Brotherhood Without Banners? How will they reconcile their version of the Red God with Melisandre's? The trailer seems to indicate that we'll find out in s7... Also, if it comes to The Will Of God vs Humanity again (which it would be weird if it didn't) I hope to see The Hound on the latter's side. Come on, dude, you may have died and been reborn, but it was entirely down to human acts.

- Tormund/Brienne. Of course.

- Some actual well-written conflict between Sansa and Jon. By which I don't mean Sansa simply forgetting to tell Jon things. They have both grown a lot as characters, they've learnt a lot, and while I want the Starks to get along, I also want them to both have their own ideas on how to move forward.

- A major political shake-up has to come, since the feudal system will be in really bad shape once the smoke clears. Hell, this system that promotes incompetent idiots by virtue of bloodlines and leaves no lasting power base (no "deep state", if you will) is half the reason they're in this mess to begin with. They basically have a blank slate with most major houses really not doing too well from a traditional standpoint, whether in complete disarray (Lannister, Frey, Tully, Arryn) lacking legitimate male heirs (Stark, Targaryen, Martell, Baratheon) or all but wiped out (Tyrell (assuming Granny Tyrell isn't still fertile, which I wouldn't put past her, because she's just that awesome) and Bolton). I'm not complaining about female primogeniture. Sansa, Daenerys, Yara and Lyanna as leaders of the Seven Kingdoms would be pretty awesome. But it would be nice to see the show do something more with the political system other than replace lords with ladies. If nothing else, Dany's plot over the past two seasons seems like setup for that. Westeros has to move from mediaeval to early modern society sometime and you can only have all those women, bastards and just plain folks play understudy or be exceptions to the rule for so long. #breakthewheel

- More dragon riding. And no, I have no idea who will be riding the other two. If he were still around I'd love to see Maester Eamon ride one. Of course, once Jon finds out he's a Targaryen, you could easily solve the question of who'd ride the third one by having one of the dragons get killed... Not saying I want that, but how many direwolves are left again? It'd be weird for the show to start NOT killing beloved characters at the end.

- Minimum Sandsnake content. Like, 0.003% or so. Or at least, for someone to release a fan edit after every episode replacing every sandsnake scene with Granny Tyrell telling them to STFU.

- TEAM WHITE WALKER, Y'ALL. I no longer want to see everyone die a frosty death (though I still think it's a perfectly valid ending), but GET TO IT. They've been marching in circles north of the Wall for six bloody seasons, hand them a fucking compass and get them down here already. Though I expect that'll have to wait until s8 - they seem to be able to afford one megabattle per season, and I'm betting this year's will be for King's Landing. Assuming Cersei can get anyone to fight for her.

- Speaking of, a good end for Cersei. I don't really think there's any good ending possible for her at this point, given how much she's lost, but at least have it be one that suits her story. She's been a brilliant villain for six seasons, she deserves a proper sendoff. (Assuming she does die.) But I don't see Arya finishing her, there are people much closer to her who could get much more of an emotional payoff out of it. Having Jaime being forced to kill her wouldn't suck, except that it'd be a bit predictable, wouldn't it?

- Plus a bunch of other things I want but also want to be surprised by. I guess what I want most of all is for Benioff and Weiss to show that they're able to move fully off-book and wrap this up while keeping the feel of the book seasons - Martin's ability to surprise, that blunt realism and cynicism that often looks a lot like cruelty. GoT was never about wish fulfillment, and as much as I want things to go well for some people and less so for others, it'd feel cheap to end GoT on a note of Good Triumphs Over Evil, or to lean too heavily on tropes that the first 4-5 seasons spent all their time pulling apart.

So what does everyone else want?

Comments

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I guess one of the big open questions is whether Daenerys "succeeds" in her quest to conquer Westeros. I think that at a certain point, the tension between the series' aim to subvert narrative tropes in favour of Reality needs to also accede to a certain amount of narrative satisfaction; having Ned die is one thing, but having one of the series protags isolated from the primary action for the whole series sort of suggests she'd better damn well win, or at least do something heavily impactful, to retroactively justify us following her story for this length of time. Dany being part of Tyrion's return isn't really sufficient, because then they could have just had Tyrion and Varys go on adventures by themselves for a while instead. So I've got a few ideas:

1) Daenerys wins the kingdom, but is seriously morally compromised when she does -- becomes the Mad Queen. The problem with this is that this is a little too pat, as is -- I think the Targaryan madness (and Dany's tendency to burn or crucify her enemies...) has to come forth, but for her to make a simple heel turn wouldn't really work at the climax -- though her coming very *close* and not going over might work...

2) End of the feudal system might mean establishment of something like a constitutional monarchy -- so maybe Tyrion or Jon or Sansa transitions from a "Hand" role to a "prime minister"-type role. This is likely but still seems a bit pat.

3) Daenerys ends up dying in the fight against the White Walkers, but in some sort of heroic (?) sacrificial death (?) -- or maybe some grittier variation, where she and her dragons are necessarily killed (blood magic?) to appease some sort of forces to save the Kingdom. That preserves her importance to the story, but sort of reduces her to a pawn, unless she affects the change herself -- but the noble self-sacrifice is also maybe a bit too obvious for this particular show, and maybe for Daenerys' character.

4) Daenerys *gets* the kingdom, but has to give it up to save it -- this is similar to (3), but she won't necessarily be doing it by heroic sacrifice. This could combine with the others, somehow.

Sand snake content must be very low.

TEAM WHITE WALKER kind of automatically makes me think TEAM WHITE, WALTER (I mean, you only need to change one letter!) which does sort of make things interesting -- I wonder if there will end up being a sort of tragic I-did-it-my-way end for the White Walkers (and Night King) of finding a certain dark grace while being wiped out.

Jaime offing Cersei really does seem like the obvious way to go, which is why they probably won't do it.... But beyond that, it's hard to imagine Jaime actually going through with it and continuing on. Even if he decides that he has priorities higher than Cersei, it'd be odd to position him as Redeemed when Cersei can't be. So maybe what I *can* see is Jaime taking the two of them down together -- killing them both in a wild act of passion/love/destruction which also saves someone else (e.g. Brienne), so that Jaime doesn't "betray" Cersei exactly, or doesn't get away with betraying her, but also stops her power-ascent. This doesn't quite work either.

Now, if Tyrion killed Cersei, that I think could actually work additionally in a way that would cause discomfort. With Jaime, I'd maybe feel uncomfortable if he kills her, especially to serve some redemption story. But with Tyrion, there's the sense that he's wanted to hurt her for so long, and he also has some sort of justification for wanting revenge against her, AND YET it might be hard to say whether it's more like killing Shae or killing Tywin, and in some ways in between. I could see it being uncomfortable for us to try to figure out where our loyalties actually lie, you know, where the obvious pragmatic gains in taking out a dangerous opponent would be weighed against the distaste of it, with a character who, unlike Jaime, isn't acting against his primary instincts but is acting with them. Plus, Tyrion would probably also not entirely know whether he wants her dead or not, in his heart, or how much he feels pity for her.

Agreed that The Hound should fight for Humanity!!!

ETA: Of course, there's also an obvious (5): Daenerys conquers Westeros, is installed as leader, continues to be there... and realizes she absolutely hates it. This is not really enough by itself -- on some level, it'd be hard to take a poor-little-rich-girl angst at being in a position of power in this show, especially as a closing statement. But it seems important that Daenerys has no real idea what she's getting herself into, and whether she even wants it, or if it's just to take it away from someone else. "Bit of both," she might declare, as she drinks the chalice of Mountain Dew....

[beer_good_foamy]

Oh yes, it's hard to imagine what they can do with Danaerys' quest for the throne that won't come across like a bit of a disappointment. Having Dany immediately get assassinated her first night in Westeros would feel very GoT, but it's hardly a workable end to 7 years of plot. And that's part of the reason I'm increasingly worried about how savvy Benioff & Weiss are about how Martin's plots work.

So maybe what I *can* see is Jaime taking the two of them down together -- killing them both in a wild act of passion/love/destruction which also saves someone else (e.g. Brienne), so that Jaime doesn't "betray" Cersei exactly, or doesn't get away with betraying her, but also stops her power-ascent.

I kind of like that more than Jaime simply killing Cersei, though.

Now, if Tyrion killed Cersei, that I think could actually work additionally in a way that would cause discomfort.

Oooh, that's good. You're right, that has a lot more potential.

Of course, you could also end up in a situation where the Starks take her alive and Jon and Sansa have to decide on her fate. I could imagine better reasons for them to fall out, but worse ones too. That'd mean that Ramsay's death would be foreshadowing.

Also, I really do expect Jon and Sansa to fall out. Right now pretty much every single sibling team we've seen on screen have ended up at each other's throats except the Starks, simply because they haven't seen each other in years. I'm not saying I want them to become mortal enemies, but it would certainly fit the show.