THE POWER OF GOOD SCRIPTS / WHY THE ENDING OF GAME OF THRONES IS SUCH A PILE OF GARBAGE, AND WHAT COULD BE AN ALTERNATIVE.

 Today, instead of incredibly good scripts, we’ll focus on an incredibly bad one. After the broadcasting of Game of Thrones’ ending, it was deemed so abject that a petition was launched on the internet to have another one. It has gathered nearly two millions signatures, which even in the age of globalization is very impressive. ( https://www.change.org/p/hbo-remake-game-of-thrones-season-8-with-competent-writers ). Dozens of thousands have even paid to support the petition.

 Of course, it must be taken into consideration that fans of Martin’s books were always likely to be disappointed, that books are often difficult to adapt, especially heavy ones since movies or TV series cannot by definition offer the same breadth and depth. There are also passionate fans of Daenerys, Jon, Cersei or Sansa, and they want to defend their champions. All this granted, there are extremely serious arguments for that extremely unusual petition : the last two seasons, and especially the eighth one, are not only bad, they are abysmally, colossally and dejectedly, bad.

 This is fascinating since “Game of Thrones” had become a world cultural phenomenon. It benefited from enormous means. It gathered multiple talents : Martin’s books, actors, photography, soundtracks, costumes, landscapes... Consequently, this ending will remain in the history of movies as the perfect example of what NOT to do. Benioff and Weiss, the producers, have succeeded into demolishing what was nearly impossible to demolish. And the worst part of it is that that was extremely easy to understand and to remedy. First, we need to identify the defects ; second, we can envisage what could have been much better done.

1.       The difficulty of endings in scripts

 The end is always difficult to write. To take one iconic illustration, the multiple writers of “Casablanca” (M. Curtiz, 1943) agonized during a long time before determining whether Ingrid Bergman was leaving town with Bogart or Henreid. Bergman even complained during the shooting that this made her performance more difficult (but not necessary worse, as we can see). Fourty years later, the end of the equally iconic “Blade Runner” (R. Scott, 1982) provoked a similar agony. After the previews, the producers required a “happier” ending, aggravated by a voice over. So after two hours in a world of overpopulation, insecurity, darkness, rain and dirty pollution, Harrison Ford and Sean Young escape alone in a magnificent forest with a shining sun. Totally ludicrous. Scott had the immense pleasure to delete this ending in the director’s cut, ten years later.

 This happens regularly. In “King Arthur” (A. Fuqua, 1995), we see the fall of the Roman Empire in England. This is no pretty picture. Slaves are tortured, locals are massacred by the coming barbarians, and finally Arthur loses half of his friends in a bloody battle. What happens after this ? A nice wedding with flowers, drinks, smiling children, where Owen and

Knightley seem to have been dressed by Versace. In the collector DVD, one can see Fuqua’s alternative ending, much better. No marriage. After the burial of the friends, an orphan tries unsuccessfully to raise the sword of his dead godfather, echoeing a similar moment in Arthur’s childhood. All this sends a real message about growing up in a brutal world.

 There can be no iconic masterpiece without an iconic closure. Coming back to “Casablanca”, it came dolorously, but was perfect. It emphasizes the whole axis of the movie, which is the question of the moral choice (for everybody, from Rick and Ilsa to Renault and Laszlo) The sequence has been copied or parodied in many movies since. Same thing for “Some like it hot” (B. Wilder, 1959). What can be a better conclusion of a film exploring the complex differences/antagonisms between men and women ? The final sequence “Nobody is perfect”, of course. Same thing again for the first “Planet of the apes” (F. Schaffner, 1968). Many anticipation movies have tried to do as well since, none succeeded. Same thing again for “Platoon” (O. Stone, 1986). The end is the perfect opposite of the beginning. Charlie Sheen came young, clean and innocent by plane. He leaves by helicopter ravaged, dirty and acid. He has become the perfect replication of the veterans he briefly saw at his arrival. Most powerful statement about war.

2.        Endings for TV series are still tougher

 Understandably, TV series amplify the difficulty of endings. The product is more complex, so is its closure. It’s also much longer, and thus tougher to plan. Additionally, creators try first to survive the first season and do not always care enough about what could happen later. Sometimes, studios stop the series without warning, which does not help either. Others series overstay their welcome.

 A good example of total wreck is the American version of “House of Cards”. The first two seasons are strong, with a few weaknesses (like incredible murders). The new two seasons are correct, but incoherence grows. The two last seasons are garbage, well before the revelation of Kevin Spacey’s disparition. The end is so bad that it strongly reduces the urge to come back to the whole series, and so their whole value, cultural but also economic. It also confirms that even with exceptional actors like Spacey and Wright, and strong means, you cannot save a script that is junk.

 Then you have series with a weak ending. “The good wife” offers a good illustration. A very strong creation, many deep characters. The creators had decided that it would begin and end with a slap, given by Alicia Florrick and received by her. Why not ? One can build around that. The end is however infinitely less powerful than the beginning. Looking back at the first episode is a true lesson in narration construction. Strong situation, strong characters, strong challenges, strong dialogs. Nothing is missing, and everything rushes at high speed. Looking back at the last episode shows only how tepid and quiet it is by comparison. It does not hurt, but it does not thrill either. 

 Now let’s take a series with an incredibly strong ending : “Boardwalk Empire”. The series is also very strong in all aspects (with the added value of an incredible visual reconstitution of the roaring 1920s). However, the last season still succeeds in adding depth. Note first the design’s audacity. Until then, the script had been fully linear. Now it immediately becomes a tapestry of flashbacks. Those flashbacks lead Nucky Johnson, the principal main character, to his first meetings with other characters. The origin of many complex relationships is finally revealed, Suddenly the whole life of Nucky Johnson is presented in a new light. This leads to a final murder, strongly connected to a previous one, that brings an extraordinary halo of human corruption to the whole saga.

3.       The “Game of Thrones” ending : how the shit hit the fans from all sides.

 What explains the success of ? Game of Thrones ? ? The series offers different layers to very different publics. At the basis this is a fantasy medieval adventure saga, in an imaginary world that has been created by George Martin with a fantastic amount of characters and details. It is also a very dense (lots of plots and subplots) and realistic saga (lots of violence and sex, occasional sadism and even incest). Good guys regularly die and bad guys prosper. Below one finds additionally a gallery of complex characters. And still below an acid reflection about power. 

 So what went wrong ? In a nutshell, everything. “Game of Thrones” remained a fantasy medieval adventure saga, and it lost all the rest. Even as a simple saga, it has become more mediocre. Take the big battle at Winterfell with the Whitewalkers at the end, it is very slow, very obscure, and rather dumb at the end. Contrast that with the battle of the Blackwater between the Lannister clan and Stannis Baratheon at the door of Kings Landing (second season, ninth episode). The difference is simply colossal in all visual aspects. It is not simply the narrative and the cut which are abysmally bad, but also the directing.

 But the loss goes much beyond that. Firstly, the realistic tone has been lost. This began before seasons 7 and 8. Season 6 suddenly resurrected Jon Snow, which was an enormous narrative turn. After that, Aria Stark began to change faces, without any kind of strategy or constraints. What is worse is that magic seems to protect repeatedly the Stark family, which is also largely spared from internal conflicts. It so becomes some kind of pink (and unbelievable) oasis in a dark world. Season 7 has an incredible sequence, where both Jamie Lannister and Bronn when they are just under the nose of a firing dragon (more unbelievable).

 Secondly, if realism has diminished, density has more or less disappeared. Again, this weakening was already perceptible before, for example in the long and void education of Arya Stark by Jaqen H’gar, or the repeated superfluous and sadistic sequences between Theon Greyjoy and Ramsay Bolton. A comparison easily reveals the free fall of quality that happens at the end. Season 2, episode 6 offers a magnificent sequence with Tywin Lannister, Arya Stark and Petyr Baelish. Tywin uses Arya as a page but ignores her identity, Arya tries to extract information about the war situation without revealing herself though serving wine, and Baelish provides that information and then discovers Arya’s presence. Simultaneously, there are thus three viewpoints, a lot of information provided, a lot of subplots, and various threats. All this in three minutes. In season 7 Baelish plots against the Starks by surveiling Arya, who surveils him. He goes in her chamber, but she sees it. All this is long, without dialogs, subplots, implications, and even adequate light.

 Thirdly, the complex characters … have largely stopped being complex. Tyrion Lannister stops plotting. Everything he conceives fails. Cersei also stops plotting. She drinks wine in beautiful gowns and refuses all propositions. Daenerys goes straight from the tender spouse of Khal Drogo to a SS queen. Sansa defends her family first, and wants her own kingdom. Baelish is incapable of find arguments in his own trial. And all women seem to crave sex before big battles. The authors seem to confuse endless repetition with behaviour, surprise with strength. The worst sign is Jon Snow’s nauseating formula each time he is confronted with Daenerys’ nastiness : “she is my queen”. So much for brilliant dialogs. Worse, all these characters lose not only their complexity, but even their coherence. Why do they change ? Nobody knows.

 The series’ latest layer, the reflection about power, has also vanished. We can compare this total vacuity with the remarkable dialog between Cersei and Petyr Baelish in season 2, episode 1. She threatens him with his love for Catelyn Stark, he threatens her with her incest, and finally she has nearly his throat cut before concluding : “power is power”. All this in 2 minutes 40 seconds. There are quite a number of similar rich sequences in the first five seasons. In the two last seasons, there is only one in season 7, episode 1 : the dialog between Jaime Lannister and Olenna Tyrell before her death, a very rare flower in a very big desert of mediocrity.

It’s not necessary to dwell more on the numerous inconsistencies of individual characters and sequences (Daenerys transforming Kings Landings into Hiroshima has no meaning, Jon killing Daenerys looks like false Wagner, the dragon burning the throne like false symbolism, Jon escaping brilliantly thousands of Whitewalkers, etc…). One already sees here a rare combination of structural defects, that nothing can remedy. As a result of them, “Game of Thrones” has not declined, it has in fact totally sunk. This is a rare episode in the history of movies : a Titanic-like catastrophe, where more or less everything turns wrong. Benioff and Weiss have succeeded in a very rare endeavour : they have turned a mountain of gold into a mountain of lead, in spite of a mountain of means.

 What explains that ? It is said that Benioff and Weiss ran out of books. Indeed, they appear as good in adaptation than bad in creation. But this is no excuse to destroy such a brilliant reference. Most probably the origin lies in an ounce of love for secrecy and a ton of arrogance. Because you do not need to be a genius to understand something is deeply wrong here. Inversely you need to be very stupid not to understand it. Doing this, in any case, betrayed the fans, the studio, the actors and the crew. It is hard to understand how HBO let this happen. Iconic series are an important component of a portfolio. New viewers still discover "Twin Peaks" 30 years later, and buy "West Wing" tee-shirts 20 years later. And old viewers still rediscover them (which is the ultimate criterion of value).

The wreck is so complete that it reduces in fact the value of the whole series. It may even compromise the books’ attraction. Television always trumps literature. The best decision George R.R. Martin could take now would take to announce that he abandons totally Benioff and Weiss’ approach in his coming book. In any case, this wreck offers at least the perfect example of what not to do in script writing. Probably, “don’t do a ‘Game of Thrones’ ending” will become a classical warning in many studios during many decades.

4.       What should have been done ?

 In a nutshell, the strategy should have been the opposite.

 A) It is said that the series had to be curtailed. Well, in this case, the first rule if you have less time is to accelerate the narrative, not slow it. You need to concentrate more material in all sequences, and shorten them. Not reduce their number of sequences while making them longer and emptier. (There are illustrations of this in the second season of “Rome”, and the fourth season of “Boardwalk Empire”).

 B) You absolutely need to preserve the richness of the narrative layers. Do not sacrifice substance for visual. Or characters for plot. Or subtlety for shock. The global strength of a telecommunications network depends on its weakest component. The same applies to movies.

 You thus cut the battles (which could have reduced the budget handsomely), especially the obscure and endless Winterfell one. You reintroduce more short sequences about characters.

 C) Realism implies that in the last seasons as in the first ones, attractive characters die. Do not transform it into a fairy tale. Inconsistency won’t be pardoned.

5.       An alternative end outline

 Criticizing without any concrete proposal is easy. So I tried to provide below an alternative outline for the end (which is of course highly perfectible). Its main objective is to recreate the many layers of the first seasons. As a result, the end could be divided into three parts : before battle of Winterfell, before battle of Kings Landing, after battle of Kings Landing.

A) Before the battle of Winterfell

 The whole North is preparing to resist the Whitewalkers. Daenerys and Jon are in love, but not the same love. For Daenerys, it is part of the path to the throne, for Jon path to intimacy. The more it goes on, the more she expects him to help her, and amplify his submission. He becomes puzzled. Tyrion (who knows something about the logic of power) tries to warn him, without success. Meanwhile, Sensa suffers from seeing Jon as the king of the North. She is also in quest for a throne, though she would settle for the North. She harasses Jon to obtain a role, and also to push him to contest Daenerys’ mounting supremacy over the alliance, without success.

 Baelish sees the same reality, and also feels relegated to third rank. He begins to try to seduce Sansa, and push her to develop her own strategy. Discreetly, he also takes contact with Cersei, hoping to become a third power between the Lannisters and the Starks, while marrying Sansa. Happy to divide them, Cersei promises much of what essentially is not under her control.

 Meanwhile, Varys observes the radicalization of Daenerys. He tries to find allies to weaken her, and produce a more balanced alliance. Baelish isn’t against it, because he can amplify so his plot to seduce Northmen to abandon Jon, whom he presents as Daenerys’ instrument. A big assembly is prepared. However, Daenerys learns this thanks to Jorah, who has been secretly informed by the High Septon. Cersei refuses any deal with Daenerys, because of “the honour of the Queen”. The High Septon, better informed, sees that the biggest threat comes from the Whitewalkers. A deal is thus necessary between Cersei and Daenerys. The High Septon is also not hostile to teach a lesson to Cersei.

 Thanks to Sansa, Baelish learns they have been unmasked. He betrays Varys to try to please Daenerys. Daenerys wants Varys executed. She finally kills him, against the wish of Jon and Tyrion. But they do not dare to resist because they know they need the Dotrakis and the Unsullied. Daenerys also wants the head of Sansa and Baelish. This time, Jon and Tyrion resist. The only way out is to put the conspirators in jail, after a trial, where Baelish defends himself and Sansa brilliantly. Daenerys begins to frighten all her partners, and her lover, and this increases some soft support for the accused. Before the battle, Arya spends the night talking to Lyanna Mormont, whom she finds very sympathetic and courageous (she will not die in the battle). Arya does not sleep with Gendry, though he has tried, and Brienne does not sleep with Jaime.

 The battle of Winterfell arrives. The alliance heads try to trap the Night King with Bran, but fail. The Night King suddenly flees however because Bran begins to read his mind and understand better his weakness thanks to proximity. He sees events in the far away past that are difficult to understand. Dawn also indicates that the Whitewalkers are weakened by the combination of sun and temperature, and they retreat. The remaining alliance army withdraws immediately in the direction of Kings Landing.

B) Before the battle of Kings Landing

 Daenerys has lost a good part of her troops and one dragon again. This diminishes her status in the alliance, and she still becomes more aggressive. The love relationship with Jon becomes impossible when she recognizes that her absolute priority lies with the iron throne. Jon is devastated, for himself, for the north, and for civilization in general. Daenerys refuses any deal with Cersei, for “her honour of queen”. Jon pleads hopelessly that she must accept a compromise creating two kingdoms for two queens. She does, finally, under the advice of Jorah (who sees both the Whitewalkers’ menace and the dwindling troops). She demands however that Jon recognizes the north’s submission in a charter. Her second kingdom must be guaranteed. He does, but over the protests of the men of the north. Jon answers them : “if you do not follow me, I shall not follow you, and you’ll deal with Cersei, Daenerys and the Whitewalkers without me. Without an alliance of all, we are dead.”

 They still need however to convince Cersei. The High Septon approves the two kingdoms plan, but without telling Cersei. They try to make a deal as soon as they arrive near Kings Landing’s walls. This leads however simply to Missandei’s execution. The High Septon organizes then a meeting with Cersei, himself, Jon, Tyrion, Jaime, and Daenerys. Daenerys refuses however to come. She is absolutely furious.

 The others leave for the secret meeting. Before departure, Tyrion explains discreetly to Jon that they must have a deal with Cersei or kill her. Without the alliance of all, this is the end. They make a pact on this without telling Jaime, because they do not trust him. At arrival, Cersei becomes immediately incandescent and has the High Septon jailed. Tyrion tries to reason her, and is slapped with a candelabra, which leaves new scars in his face. Jaime defends Tyrion and she has him blocked, and Jon, by her two guards. She enters into a total rage, accuses Jaime from having abandoned her, abandoned her love, her children, everything. She takes a dagger and threatens to kill him at once. Tyrion, unlike Jaime, sees she has become half mad and there is no escape any more. He nods to Jon, diverts the guards’ attention, rolling under the tables and risking his life. Meanwhile, just before Cersei kills Jaime, Jon takes a dagger and kills her in the back. He has become the queenslayer.

 Jaime is lost, both because Cersei wanted to kill him and she is dead. They find the High Septon, and Sandor Klegane in the jail. The two Lannister brothers take the power in Kings Landing, and Gregor Klegane is killed too, by his brother. The High Septon begins to work in the library with Bran and Sam Tarly to understand the meaning of Bran’s dreams. They finally discover that the White King’s heart can be melted with enormous fire, meaning a dragon. They then understand why the Whitewalkers’ priority in Winterfell was the kill the dragons (and the connection between fire and heat). The battle of Kings Landing may begin.

 Meanwhile Daenerys is both happy to see Cersei dead, and acid because nobody had informed her about the plan. Though she has a deal to create two kingdoms with the Lannister brothers and Jon, Daenerys fears risking her last troops and her last dragon. Tyrion sees that, and sends Jon to steel her soul. Jon is somehow worried since the deal relies on giving the north to Daenerys. He has bended the knee, and is thus responsible. He explains to Daenerys she wanted it, she got it, and now she is responsible too. She must fulfil her responsibilities. No risk, no throne. She asks him about his love. He tries to avoid the question. Daenerys understands this is over. She still doubts committing to the cause. Then Jorah Mormont indicates he will fight the last battle with Jon and the alliance. She pretends he abandons her. He answers he does not, and she abandons herself. Nobility and realism dictate the same decision : fight or die. And the Targaryen prestige is based on fire. There is no better occasion to enhance it with a new chapter. He leaves, and nobody knows whether he has convinced her.

In the battle, the alliance begins to discover that the Whitewalkers are weakened, but there are many of them. Kings Landing suffers. Jorah dies, Sam dies, Bron dies protecting Tyrion. The alliance tries to trap the white king again with Bran. The High Septon & co with Tyburn have found a warming substance which weakens the white king. They use it in the middle of the fight. It functions but the dragon and Daenerys are not there. Jon and Jamie then attack trying to keep the white king. Both are wounded. The dragon and Daenerys finally arrive. Nobody knows what has finally convinced her. The white king succeeds in wounding mortally the dragon, but is finally burned himself. The dragon falls, Daenerys with him, and she breaks her spine on the ground. This is the end for her, Jon is devastated, and they have beautiful final words.

C) After the battle of Kings Landing

 The destruction is heavy, though not colossal, and the hatred between the kingdoms is high. Both Lannister and Winterfell clans feel they have been betrayed. Both hate Jon. Both hate Jamie. Jamie and Jon are in the doldrums. The remaining Dotrakis and Unsullied are also furious that their queen and dragons are dead, and hate Jon and Jamie too, though they have saved the kingdom.

 Tyrion has lost more or less everyone operational and needs at least one person to learn what is happening outside. He then extracts Baelish from his jail to explore what happens in other clans, and especially the Vale. Baelish has learned a lot of things in the jail. He explains that there is only one solution : Tyrion must immediately become the new king of the seven kingdoms. Otherwise, a new war of succession will begin. Tyrion is flabbergasted. He has no envy. “Who cares ? cuts Baelish, this is politics”. Tyrion indicates he has no support. Baelish answers nobody knows nothing now, and he could manage to find support in the smaller kingdoms. Tyrion is the least hated solution from Casterly Rock or Winterfell, the two clans victors of the war. One has the money, the other the soldiers. Of course, if Tyrion appointed Baelish as the new Hand, this would facilitate the whole project. Tyrion approves vaguely, but seems lost in his thoughts.

 He then underlines that the North will never accept a new Lannister king after the experiences of Joffrey and Cersei. Baelish agrees but indicates that the North will accept the solution with a queen from the North. “I could not marry Sansa anyway, she has betrayed us”, says Tyrion. “Indeed, but House Stark has another wife to propose” smiles Bealish. Tyrion objects that he does not know Arya at all, and she has the reputation of being much more a warrior than himself. “Who cares ?, replies Baelish. This is politics. And so much the better, she will also protect you”.

 Tyrion then concludes that Arya will never accept. Baelish concedes that she’ll need to be convinced but it is possible if someone explains to her that it is the best solution to protect simultaneously Jon (that everybody wants dead), Sansa (that some some want dead), Bran (who is weak), the North and the peace. She is, after all, Catelyn Stark’s daughter. Tyrion then asks Baelish to convince her. Baelish accepts but then asks to be able to promise different things to Arya, in Tyrion’s name, concerning Jon, Sansa, Bran and the North. Jon will be exiled to rebuild the night’s watch, which is the best way to protect him. Sansa will be jailed in a monastery. Bran will become king of the North (which is very good because this king won’t enjoy making war very much), and the North will keep its autonomy. Tyrion accepts. He’ll try to obtain the support from Jon and Jaime (which should not be as difficult).

 As a matter of fact, Jon agrees and makes Arya promise to sacrifice herself for the good of all. She accepts. After a few days, Jon dies of his wounds. Another opportunity for nice farewells. Of course, some rumours affirm that he could not live after Daenerys’ death, and others that he was “helped” to die.

 Baelish informs Tyrion he has managed to found some support, though the Greyjoy are not happy, since they find the North too powerful, and some lords of the North are reluctant. An assembly must be organized but they will not support Tyrion as king without a Stark as queen. So the marriage must happen before the assembly. Tyrion accepts, and meets Arya to confirm the plan. Arya is cold but realistic. She demands an official marriage contract with all the agreement’s clauses. “Is it a marriage contract or a treaty you want ?” he asks. “Both” she answers. So it is done. Different representatives from the kingdom then request an audience to Tyrion to ask different things. Meanwhile Jaime is fed up with the kingdom affairs and leaves for Casterly Rock.

 After the marriage and the assembly, Baelish also requires an audience with the new king. He asks whether the king, as they had agreed at the beginning, has taken some decision about his new council. Tyrion indicates that he has. He announces immediately that the High Septon will participate. Baelish asks why. Tyrion answers they need someone who was in government under Cersei since all of them had left. Baelish underlines that the High Septon hates him. “We cannot compose the council exclusively with people who adore you”, answers Tyrion, “and maybe this would be difficult to find”. Baelish asks whether he may know who will be in the council. “You of course, answers Tyrion immediately, but for the rest I still need a bit of time”.

 The next day Baelish arrives in the council room. He is highly surprised to meet the High Septon, Davos, Yara Greyjoy and Gendry Baratheon (who has not been made a lord). Then Tyrion arrives, with Arya and Sandor Clegane. Tyrion pulls a chair near his own (a reminder of previous meetings) and invites Arya to sit near him. He then explains his decisions. Lord Baelish is master of coin and whispers, the High Septon master of laws and wisdom, Davos is in charge of rebuilding the economy and Yara the army and the navy. Gendry will control the guard and the city’s order. Finally, Tyrion indicates that he has other priorities than Kings Robert and Joffrey. He has already been the Hand, and finally will be his own hand. Clegane becomes the queen’s bodyguard of the queen, Brienne the king’s. After the adoption of a few measures, the royal couple withdraws, under the surprised eyes of the council’s members.

 Arya leaves for a meeting with brave Lyanna Mormont, who is much admired by Tyrion. Tyrion takes Baelish for a short talk. He informs him that a Lannister province has been promised to the remaining Dotrakis and Unsullied. This will diminish any return to dominance from the Lannister clan and keep those troops far from the capital. Tyrion has also given the use of a province to Yara Greyjoy as long as she remains in the council. “The use ?” interrogates Baelish. “Yes, this is a personal favour and a transitory one. If she were to die, who knows who would inherit the Iron Islands ?”.

 “What do you think about our new council ?” asks Tyrion. “My lord, there are not many noble families”. “It’s probably better, when you observe what they have brought to the kingdom in the past”. “Though people pretend I’m a master of negotiation, I must tell you that I have learned these days”. “I have also learned much observing you. One can certainly say that both of us are survivors, lord Baelish”.

 They cross the path of Edmure Tully in the throne room (where the throne is strongly visible). Tully begins to present a request to the king. After a short talk, Tyrion goes to Arya’s apartment, and sees the two women talking about sword fighting. Arya holds Lyanna’s hand, and this provokes a fleeting interrogation in Tyrion’s eyes. He smiles. Then a beautiful female servant enters the room, bearing flowers. She has a dress vaguely similar to Shea’s in the past. Another fleeting interrogation, another smile. Maybe this new royal couple could easily become a new complex one.

In the council’s room, all participants are fighting each other to get more money. Meanwhile, Tyrion begins to look at the blue sunny sea through the window. But in fact his eyes see in a quick movement the fleeting faces of Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, Alice Arryn, Jorra Mormont, Daenerys Targaryen, Mance, Rob Stark, Lysa Tully, Joffrey, Gregor Glegane, Loras Tyrell, Bronn, Ygritte, Erin Frey, Tommen Baratheon, The Viper, Margaery Tyrrell, Jeor Mormont, Ramsay Bolton, Khal Drogo, Catelyn Stark, Theon Greyjoy, Cersei, Missandei, Viserys Targaryen, Olenna Tyrrell, Varys, Talisa Maegyr, Rickon Stark, Roose Bolton. Tyrion repeats softly : “yes, survivors”. The sea is scintillating. Then we hear the sharp voice of Cersei repeating : “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die. There is no middle ground”.