'Game of Thrones' Finale Delivers Shocking Twists
by EG
GoT's seventh season came to an end last night, and it did so in a spectacular fashion. There's almost too much to talk about, but let's give it a try.
[Warning: This story contains spoilers for the season seven finale of HBO's Game of Thrones, called "The Dragon and the Wolf."]
Step aside, The Walking Dead. You're not the only genre show with an eighth season steeped in all-out war.
In its stunning season seven finale, Game of Thrones delivered a litany of monumental moments, including but not limited to (and seriously, final spoiler warning, turn back before it's too late): the death of Littlefinger (Aidan Gillen), the consummation of Jon Snow (Kit Harington) and Daenerys Targaryen's (Emilia Clarke) relationship, the confirmation of Jon's status as a legitimate Targaryen, and so much more. Oh, and it finally gave viewers the moment they've awaited ever since the very first scene of the series: White Walkers invading Westeros. No big deal.
The gripping final moments of the episode, called "The Dragon and the Wolf," featured Tormund Giantsbane (Kristofer Hivju) and Beric Dondarrion (Richard Dormer) helpless as they witnessed the Night King and his minions finally rolling up to the Wall, fully ready for business. With an undead version of Viserion at his command, the Night King flew up to the magical blockade separating the Seven Kingdoms from the frozen wasteland beyond, and obliterated the thing.
There's no greater symbolic gesture of the end of Westerosi civilization as we know it than the fall of the Wall, a development that was baked into the premise of the Wall's existence from the very beginning. A fantasy author doesn't just place an enormous enchanted barrier between the living and the dead without plans to knock the thing down eventually. Now, there's no more eventually about it.
What does the Wall's fall mean for the series moving forward? Nothing short of all-out war as soon as Thrones returns. The final season of the record-breaking HBO series boasts only six episodes, and given the events of the season seven finale, it's easy to see why. With White Walkers fully marching on Westeros soil, there's simply no way for Thrones to expand its story beyond a shortened but propulsive arc. For instance, Winterfell is within spitting distance of the Wall, at least if we're judging by how quickly one can fly to the North from Dragonstone, as established in the season's penultimate hour. Expect the home of House Stark to come under attack from the Army of the Dead as soon as the very next episode of Game of Thrones — tragic timing, considering Winterfell only reverted back to its rightful owners very recently.
Speaking of the rightful owners of Winterfell, the surviving children of Ned (Sean Bean) and Catelyn Stark (Michelle Fairley) finally avenged their parents, leading to the biggest human casualty of the finale: Littlefinger, the scheming manipulator who died as a long-winded result of his unhealthy obsession with his beloved "Cat." After spending weeks at each other's throats, the Stark sisters Sansa (Sophie Turner) and Arya (Maisie Williams) pulled off their proverbial masks, revealing their aim to take down Littlefinger once and for all. With an assist from Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) and his ability to see into the past, the Stark siblings ascertained all of the evidence they needed to convict Lord Baelish in his crimes against House Stark. For a man who once boasted that he could see every single possibility playing out at all times, it turns out Littlefinger was no match for a young man with actual omnipotence on his side.
Love him or hate him, Littlefinger was a character who added enormous amounts of intrigue to the show's more politically-inclined storylines. His loss isn't quite as grand a symbolic gesture as the fall of the Wall, but it's nevertheless one that reinforces the show's current mission statement: Game of Thrones has little time left for scheming and manipulation, not when there's an undead army breathing down humanity's neck. (In fairness, the White Walkers have not quite yet reached the Neck. In further fairness, that was an awfully nerdy Westeros geography joke. I make no apologies.) Given the clear and present danger of the show, Littlefinger's role was already slipping away; with the Night King now officially in Westeros proper, and with Littlefinger in such close physical proximity to the coming White Walker assault, there was only so much wheeling-and-dealing Lord Baelish could pull off before his inevitable meeting with the Stranger. Considering the alternative, it's much more fitting for his story to end at the hands of the Starks, the family he ruined through his own political ambitions and long-simmering personal grudges.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
What do you think is the most astonishing part of the season-seven finale? Let us know in the comments below.