this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2024
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Greentext

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This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.

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[–] [email protected] 140 points 4 months ago (6 children)

Anon crushed the alternative ending absolutely 1000x better than the actual show runners for free.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I love this, and it made me absolutely angry again for this two fucks that gave us the most disappointing conclusion to a story that I loved deeply. it could have been so much more. nicolaj was awesome

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

As much as everyone (including me) shits on AI, it brings me great peace that within my lifetime basement fanfic hobbiests will be able to generate this scene/episode with HBO quality, indistinguishable as a fake. I will actually get to see this.

That and my wish to see an Episode of star trek TNG where data gets sent to 1992 and has to save the community center by teaching Biggie and 2Pac the true meaning of Christmas

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago

Jaime killing the Night King should have been the only right answer. It makes the whole trip beyond the wall to get evidence worth it instead of being for nothing, and it completes the greatest redemption arc in television history.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

God DAMN that gave me chills. Mourning again for what could have been.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

I always disliked how Arya's story at the temple of black and white went.....

A girl speaks the truth!

Arya Stark facing Jaqen H'ghar once again, her sightless eyes searching the blackness, "who are you?" he asks. "I am no body" she replies; "a girl lies!" says Jaqen. "WHO are you?"; Arya angry now, stares blankly at him, "I am Arya of the house Stark! I am The Cat of the Canals! I am the boy Arry; I am the Blind Gir!; I am anybody!". "Yessss" replies Jaqen "a girl speaks the truth".

The realisation dawns; the Waif who tormented Arya for the longest time never realised this was the test; her vision clears. Jaqen H'ghar smiles down at Arya, you are anybody, you are everybody!

The Waif, realising that Arya has passed her tries to kill Arya. The Waif is not much of a challenge and Arya kills her in self defence. Jaqen is not pleased, Arya was not sanctioned to kill The Waif. She is forced to leave the temple.....she returns to Westeros and the story continues from there.

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[–] [email protected] 80 points 4 months ago (1 children)

The whole season turned into half arsed fan fiction.

[–] [email protected] 77 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I wouldn’t even call it fan fiction as the writers were seemingly not even fans of the show. It was like a fan hired someone who had never seen the show and hated everything about it to write it.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago

I call that the Netflix live-action anime treatment.

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[–] [email protected] 62 points 4 months ago (4 children)

Nah, they did kill a bunch of people. Remember the useless Dothraki cavalry charge? Straight up substracted the Dothraki army from the political equation, and removing several thematics from the narrative in the same blow. What would've become of the Dothraki after the war, had they survived? Would Kingslanding have kept a military continent of Dothraki, the way the Byzantines incorporated Huns in their army? Would they have had a political role in this new order? Would they have faced racism? Or would they have returned to the Steppe, and if so, would they have ruled it as an independent land or remained clients of Daenerys? And how would they have reacted to her death? So many questions that needn't be addressed thanks to the white walkers.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Davos: "There is land in the reach, go start your own house"

Unsullied: "You... you do realize what we are, right?"

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

Adopt some orphans, there's sure to be a bunch of those running around by now.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago

Remember the useless Dothraki cavalry charge?

I remember a very dark screen and a bunch of yelling and then nothing. I assume that's what you're talking about.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago

I remember when the Dothraki magically respawned for the Bells/final episode. Hooray, even though they got literally swarmed, somehow, Grey Worm survived

[–] [email protected] 10 points 4 months ago

Next episode: Hordes of Dothraki

[–] [email protected] 49 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

I'm so glad I never watched the last season. "Oh, but what about..." Don't care. I'll read the book eventually. When they ran out of material from the books it became cartoonish.

[–] [email protected] 105 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I’ll read the book eventually.

Get a load of Mr Optimism over here!

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Somebody will write it.

That somebody will be Brandon Sanderson. The story will be good and impactful, but will suddenly lack any kind of romance or nudity.

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[–] [email protected] 36 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I kinda wonder if the reaction to the ending killed his motivation to finish it. Id buy that explanation.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

My conspiracy theory is the show ended more or less how George R. R. Martin has been planning it, but because it was received so poorly he had to scrap it all and start the last two books over

[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago

Honestly, the plot points themselves were fine it's the execution that made it terrible. The pacing was off, character interactions and motivations made no sense, yes. But the broad-brush strokes of the plot could have been done well.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

from what I gathered from interviews etc, the ending itself (e.g. where each character went or did) is basically set by george. Just the way show got there was written by the show writers

So yes, the ending is by George, the execution by the show runners

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

It killed my motivation to read anything further about that world.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago

I'll read the book eventually.

Oh you sweet summer child

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Two books left, so far. Previous was released over a decade ago. I think a next book is possible, but two?

I bought the last one on release date, and I have no clue where each character is right now. I'm not reading the books again, and I don't think a summary will make me care again.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Yeah I've given up any interest. If another book comes out, there's absolutely no reason for me to read it. Like you said, the last book is over 10 years old. So you'd have to re-read the entire series to catch up. Then you'd read the new book, only to be confronted with the same problem for the final book. I ain't doing this whole thing again in another decade!

At this point, he'd have to release both books at once for me to have any interest in reading them again. And we all know that ain't happening.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Yeah I saw how bad the penultimate season was and could tell I'd regret it. So I just came up with my own headcanon for how things end and don't worry about it.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

There is no "what about". You're good.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

They tried so hard to subvert expectations that they fucking obliterated everyone's character arcs.

[–] Infinite 16 points 4 months ago

Gotta admit, I expected the show to end up making sense. Subverted!

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I never finished the show because of this episode. It was that disappointing I didn't care how it ended anymore.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 4 months ago

I started binging the show from the start when I heard how utterly stupid the last season was just so I could enjoy the memes. Worth it.

[–] [email protected] 25 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (6 children)

A lot of people shit on the final season, and rightly so. The ending didn't fit the entire narrative of Ice and Fire, Arya's training was basically useless, Daenerys's ending didn't make sense

I'm yet to hear of how anyone would rewrite the final season to be good, or where the plot points are all resolved. You would need to change a LOT, particularly how you conclude with the final battle AFTER Kings Landing is taken/won. There's a few novel ideas there:

  • Bran warging into a dragon
  • The Night King ignoring the North and going to war with Kings Landing
  • Arya using her skills at some point to attack/kill Cersei
  • Jamie's redemption, and possible pairing with Brienne, to leave Cersei alone and unhinged. Perhaps even Jamie killing Cersei?
  • The Night King being such a credible threat that he actually takes over Westeros and the final battle being waged in Essos, or with the full "world" involved
  • Jon ascending to the throne, as prophesied - but leaving the throne and escaping north
  • Westeros just generally being destroyed and no one winning. " The dragons siding with Jon, leading to Daenerys's madness
  • Bran slowly turning into the new Night King

So many avenues, but I'm yet to read a coherent plan.

[–] [email protected] 24 points 4 months ago (3 children)

My main gripe with is with the final episode, the final ,"bran should be king" happy ending. Like come on. It's so counter to the rest of the show. They just rushed the cleanup so badly.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 4 months ago (1 children)

My headcanon is Bran warged into the writers and made them do that

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

D&D certainly displayed the same level of intelligence as Hodor in writing the last 2 seasons.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

"bran should be king"

Didn't you hear, who had a better story? Who? Totally king material.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I think the big thing is the Night King should have stayed in the Far North, and there should have been a counteroffensive to push into his territory and kill him there as the battle keeps raging in the south. A full on war, with the White Walkers being a seemingly impossible enemy to overcome, with the only glimmer of hope being the army in the north slowly approaching the Night King's stronghold to cut off the threat at its source.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

A bit like Frodo et al.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

I'm partially with you on this. Comparing the mess of a state that the books' storylines are in, I think the TV show actually did a good job of cutting out some of the complications, from fake Aegon to Lady Stoneheart to the defeat of Stannis to all the storylines that were pruned in the Sept explosion, and finally moving things towards a conclusion.

If it is the case that Bran wins the throne in the end, fine, I guess that's the finish that's been prescribed.

But I do think the show itself could've hit all the same major points in a way that was paced better, with more episodes. More time building up Jon and Daenerys relationship, building up Euron as a major force to be reckoned with, making the final battle against the Night King a bit more evenly matched (maybe using some Children or better tactical use of dragons or even the freaking Dothraki), either building up or never adding the Golden Company, and maybe a bit more political or military skirmish/buildup between Cersei's and Daenerys's allies. All the while, really showing that Bran himself has got some cool shit going on and turning him into a more compelling character.

I feel like that could've been done without actually revamping the core storyline too much.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 4 months ago

The music accompanying the Night King scene is absolutely top-tier. Shame the storytelling failed to live up to it.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago

Greatest teleport assassination in history

[–] [email protected] 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (4 children)

I can understand saying it was rushed and poorly done, but the trained assassin, who serves the god of death, absolutely should have been the one to kill the night king. No one has a bigger beef with death than the undead army master.

Jon came back to kill Danny and take the throne and restore what passes for peace.

The Three Eyed Raven took it from Jon.

None of this was especially well laid out or planned or paced correctly, but it's the most Game of Thrones path they could've taken.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I mean, it was Martin's plan, but the writers took the most stupid and lazy routes to get there.

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[–] [email protected] 14 points 4 months ago (2 children)

They didn't do a good job of combining the existential threat of the dead with the political turmoil. It would've been better to focus on just one.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

On the plus side, Lyanna Mormont was pretty awesome.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 4 months ago

Never seen a show kill all interest in itself as GoT did at the end.

Although the quality had already dropped enormously as soon as they ran out of book.

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