Bran Stark becoming king was one of the most controversial parts of Game of Thrones‘ series finale, “The Iron Throne,” but the show missed a golden opportunity to better set it up. After years of speculation about who would claim the Iron Throne, Game of ThronesThe ending provided a big shock when not only was the throne destroyed, but then Bran was made king. The likes of Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen were much more common theories, and even in terms of outside bets, Bran wasn’t really in consideration.
There is a bit of logic in this idea, as Bran is a character who does not want power and, like the new Three-Eyed Raven, can see the past and learn from his mistakes. However, it may also be better placed: Isaac Hempstead Wright is missing from Game of Thrones‘ Throw back in season 5 certainly didn’t help, however Season 8 also missed a golden opportunity to help explain why Tyrion Lannister, specifically, chose Bran In episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.”
Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 2 cut away from Tyrion and Bran’s scene
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” skips the story
“A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” is the best episode of Game of Thrones Season 8 by a wide margin, though Its IMDb rating is still surprisingly quite low, at 7.9/10Likely a victim of the general backlash to the final run of episodes as a whole. Written by Bryan Cogman and directed by David Nutter, it feels like a classic episode that could have been from the earlier seasons of the show, full of small-yet-meaningful conversations and brilliant, well-earned character moments, such as Jaime Lannister’s Knight Brienne of Tart.
Game of Thrones Season 8 Episodes on IMDb |
|
---|---|
episode |
rating (/10) |
Episode 1, “Winterfell” |
7.6 |
Episode 2, “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” |
7.9 |
Episode 3, “The Long Night” |
7.5 |
Episode 4, “The Last of the Starks” |
5.5 |
Episode 5, “The Bells” |
5.9 |
Episode 6, “The Iron Throne” |
4.0 |
However, the episode missed one character scene that it probably should have kept, which was a conversation between Tyrion and Bran. The pair, who previously met back in season 1 and have both been through a lot since then (to put it mildly), had a great catch-up off-screen:
Tyrion: “You’ve had a strange journey.”
Bran: “Stranger than most.”
Tyrion: “I’d like to hear about it.”
Bran: “It’s a long story.”
Tyrion: “If only we were trapped in a castle, in the middle of winter, with nowhere to go.”
The episode cuts away from them at this pointMoved to a scene with Gray Worm and Missandei, and then never revisited the conversation between Tyrion and Bran in any way. However, it is seemingly very important, because of what transpires in the series finale.
Bran who explains his story may have fixed him to become king
The ending of Game Of Thrones would have made more sense with this
One of the biggest points of criticism with Bran becoming king stems from a line from Tyrion: “Who has a better story than Bran the Broken?” The answer to that, from Season 8’s detractors, was “about everyone else.” But It’s clear that Tyrion has good reason to believe that Bran should be king, and the conversation they have in “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” may hold the key to it.As it is likely from that meeting that he got the idea.
If we were able to see their conversation, we would have a much clearer understanding of why Tyrion thinks Bran should be king.
If we were able to see their conversation, we would have a much clearer understanding of why Tyrion thinks Bran should be king. But even more importantly, we would have a much greater understanding of who Bran really is now. Although his story is shown, It is much unexplained as to what he is the three-eyed raven really means And why he now acts the way he does, and thus adding more depth to the character through this talk would have helped to alleviate these issues.
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Of course, Bran becoming king would still be a little divisive, because he was a left-field choice, but there is nothing wrong with subverting expectations if there is logic and understanding behind the choice. The logic is there with Bran, which is why it will probably be the same in George RR Martin’s books, but the understanding is lacking. Game of Thrones 8 really should have laid more groundwork for King Bran so it didn’t feel like such a shocking twist, and the scene could and should have been just that.