BadAssRobinArryn

I can see how it makes sense, The whole ending was literally about the characters who started out in a comparatively weak or outsider position (or were put in such position pretty soon, like the Stark Kids) coming out on top: The bastard, the imp, the hostage, the illiterate smuggler, the unloved son, the girl with boyish interests in a medieval society etc. Bran the cripple becoming king could be symbolic of this. But retrospectively I don't think the show developed the character enough to earn this ending. Particularly after he became the three eyed raven.

To be fair, I don't think it's quite the same. Alan Rickman was told a detail about Snape's backstory. Something that influences the character as we see him. Emilia Clarke would have been told a detail of Dany's future. Dany's characterisation from Season 1 is not really influenced by what she does later, even though the journey needs to be told well, of course.

I think the third big twist was probably Jon killing Dany. We are talking about a reaction D and D had years ago, after all. It is a.) subjective and b.) based on their knowledge of the story back then.

I don't think Ellaria is still alive. Leaker said she wasn't mentioned at all. I think the part in the brackets meant that she was alive the last time that we saw her, this is why he asked about her. But there's no mention. You know, Robin Arryn was actually the only one of the Southern Lords who sort of helped. First he sent his men North to fight the Boyntons and then he didn't order them back. I have no idea why he didn't, but it certainly helped against the NK. I would agree with this. But according to Freefolk he gave correct details for episode 5.

Pictures for 8x6, though nothing really new: https://ew.com/tv/2019/05/15/game-thrones-final-episode-photos/?utm_content=link&utm_term=BF9B19D4-773B-11E9-A2B8-11D0984234C2&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_ew&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

Theon suffered endlessly for his sins. One could argue an early death would have been more merciful. But he certainly found his grace again and got some redemption, that's true. However, and I'm aware that this is a matter of opinion: The IMO only other "evil" character that also had sort of a redemptive death is Melisandre, a woman. And I don't think Dany will be remembered as that monstrous. According to spoilers her positive legacy seems to be that she freed the slaves, and this is what Grey Worm wants to continue in her name. And the show still has a diverse array of women. It has Sansa, Arya, Yara, Brienne, who all wield some power in a different way. It had Lyanna Mormont dying a heroe's death, it had Arya killing the Night King and Melisandre basically the MVP (other than Arya) in the Battle of Winterfell.

No it isn't, because she got the same ending as the "evil" male characters. Her comeuppance took in account her whole character instead of reducing her to her gender. She was as vile as Tywin or Roose Bolton and like them got her just deserts. In the end, almost every single character*, male and female, who hurt innocents while trying to secure their power or getting power gets severly punished. It just happened that the last two were female. *Writing "almost" just to get sure. Right now I can't think of one who got away, but there might very well be some. If this were true, it proves that nothing would change for the Smallfolk. Bronn's rise isn't good news for them at all. Nothing changes for the Smallfolk, it's just that the tyrant has another name.

This is not quite true. There ist still Yara. And About the other women in this council: Ellaria had it coming. Queen of Thornes loss was a tragedy, but she went out in style.

Dany proved unfit to rule, not because she showed too much emotion or not enough Emotion or because she's a woman, but because she burned and killed many innocent civillians. In the end she turned out to be one of many rulers, most of them male, who simply were overcome by their flaws. Dany isn't portrayed worse than for example Stannis, she just has the even more dangerous weapon.

I completely agree. I don't think D&D would ever have come up this ending at all. It seems totally GRRM. Not to mention that it was him who wrote the episode with Bran's visions, where Bran saw a Dragon flying over King's Landing.

A while back here in this thread I disagreed that Martin is much of a tropebreaker. But if Jon of the royal and secret heritage refuses the throne, it would probably be the biggest trope breaking stuff ever done in this series (including the books) and one of the biggest I can remember in all fiction. Of course tropes exist for a reason. Breaking them simply for the sake of it is not good Storytelling. If it has some meaning behind it, it can be excellent, though. With that being said: The leaks are all mixed up so I'm still not sure about the Bran-council. Someone eaked Jon kills Dany and from there many leaks that had JKD suddenly popped up. Not all of them have to be true. One of them mentioned that Bran had a vision about the return of Nightking. It didn't happen so far. Are you sure that the leak with Bran as god-king was a genuine leak or did it came from someone who jumped on the bandwaggon?

They didn't do so after the Tyrion leaks. They only shut him down after he correctly spoiled the plot of 8x1. Not to mention that there still can be a Tyrion Trial. One leaker said that Dany arrests him for freeing Jamie, though I don't know anymore if it was a reliable leaker.

I am not thrilled by the development either and have written so several times. The problem lies IMO in the excution and I'm blaming both D and D (for using to many shorcuts to come to the point) and GRR Martin (for not coming to the point at all). But I assume GRR Martin planned this ending because he had something to say about both Jon and Dany and that this isn't "women rulers are bad". To change it because some fans don't like it were artistically a disappointment.

If GRR Martin changes his long planned ending, just because the Dany stans don't like it, I will lose a lot of respect that I have for him as a writer. But that won't happen anyway, because he will never write book 7.

The Red Keep literally crashing down upon Cersei would be a very Fitting end (ignoring the Valonqar Prophecy).