Anyone who made it through Season 1 of Game of Thrones faced the stark (yeah, I know) realization that all men must die. Folks who were expecting it to be just like Lord of the Rings were swiftly rebuked when the show took the alternate universe version of Boromir and made him good and honorable and (do I even need to warn about spoilers at this point?) lopped off his good and honorable head. Those who have read through the third book and know what’s in store for the upcoming couple of seasons have an even greater idea of how crazy and unexpected things can get in this George R.R. Martin universe.
This is exciting for an audience because things are happening with a reasonable level of frequency that makes our jaws drop. And it’s not always just in the what but in the how. The wildfire moment from last season had been telegraphed by many earlier scenes but seeing the spectacle of it really was something to behold the first time we all saw it. So it’s exciting, but it’s also thematically resonant for the series. As point 5 tried to convey, this is a universe that does not adhere to the typical fantasy trope of a great battle between good and evil, with good prevailing because it is good. This is a world more like our own in a way, with death being handed to people seemingly at random, striking when we don’t expect it just as often as when it’s anticipated. The concept of fairness and death, death as a form of justice, is out the window.
And beyond death, even just a friendly maiming or disfiguration or immense embarrassment and reduction by those who once held extremely high standing in the kingdom to lowlier statuses—this all happens with no regard to who deserves it, who has set actions in motion that led to their own demise, whose tragic flaw led them to suffer their tragic fate. Just when it seems like it might, we get the rug pulled from beneath us. Because the world doesn’t actually work that way. In the real game of thrones, the only useful rule is that the winner gets to live. And no victory is permanent. Everyone loses at some point.
The television adaptation of Game of Thrones captures this spirit beautifully. With the most exciting book in the series set to play out over the next two seasons, it shows no signs of letting up. The cold winds ride on.
