Here I go again on my own. Looking down the only road I’ve ever known. Like I drifter I was born to walk alone. And I’ve made up my mind… I ain’t wasting no more time… I’m writing about Game Of Thrones again.
Spoilers!
Listen, we gotta talk about the most recent episode if we want to talk about how it was good for George R. R. Martin. You read the title, you already know my dearest reader.
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I’m talking about “The Bells” here, folks.
Season 8, Episode 5.
So, if you haven’t seen it, consider yourself warned. And I have two tasks for you: watch the episode, and then return to this article to read it. Please, I rate my self-worth off my traffic numbers.
Okay, here we go.
“The Bells” was another episode fans seemed to be disappointed in, which has been a reoccurring theme throughout Season 8.
Then again, when you have internet writers constantly remind you of how much everyone else hated the episode, it’s kind of hard to be the person who liked it.
We lost a lot of good characters.
Some of the unceremonious deaths are what have fans so gosh darn huffy, especially that of Cersei’s. They think that the main villain just being crushed by a wall is totally lame.
Some people were upset with how we lost them.
A running theory was that Jaime would be the one to kill her.
Unfortunately, that didn’t really pan out.
Which is mostly why people are mad.
They are accusing creators David Benioff & D.B. Weiss of ruining the series!
This isn’t the way the books would’ve gone, they cry, their voices drowning in the sea of opinions that is the internet.
It would be nice if we had a book to look to.
It’s all fun and games to say that it’s not what the author wanted, but we don’t even have the source material to verify that.
But what if… this is what the big man wanted?
Yes! There is a theory going around the internet that this is exactly how the man who wrote the books would’ve ended the series. It’s a theory that might actually be… true?!?
It was brought to us by, you guessed it, Instagram.
No, I’m kidding, of course it was Reddit.
Because if you’re looking for a cool fan theory, look no further than that wretched hive of wholesome memes and dog gifs.
This is the theory:
Reddit user u/sam1405 calls this George R. R. Martin’s “scouring of the Shire”, which here is a reference to a late chapter in Return Of The King where the Hobbits return to the Shire and it’s totally corrupted.
Our friend sam1405 says that George R. R. Martin intended to end the series as everything has.
He starts with :
“That was it. That was the scouring of the shire that GRRM intended to end with. Some of it didn’t make complete sense because the way we got there was very different to how the books will get there, but that was GRRM’s ending for sure. Although he will likely change it now (that’s assuming he ever finishes the books).”
The theory goes on:
“The Northmen who we assumed as the good guys are rapists. The unsullied who we assumed are the liberators kill unarmed people. Danerys who we assumed would be free of the curse of Targaryen genes is a mad queen. Cleganebowl results in Sandor dying by (a fall into) fire, his worst fear.”
He continues.
Stating : “GRRM wasn’t subverting our expectations like D&D tried to in the rest of season 8, but he did want to twist a knife into our guts with a cruel reminder that in the world of ice and fire, there are no good guys and bad guys.”
He caps it all off with…
This final note :
“Episode 5 may be inconsistent with the rest of season 8, but that’s because the show writers didn’t follow all the steps in getting there. But as a book reader I’m convinced that generally speaking that was how George wanted this story to end. GRRM himself stated the show’s ending will be pretty damn similar to his own based on everything he told D&D.”
And honestly, he’s probably correct.
Turns out, the creators had a chat with Mr. Martin about how he would finish the series once the TV show passed the books. Or, if you’re a hater, the moment the show went downhill.
This goes back to another LOTR theory, where Dany parallels a character.
The resemblance is uncanny.
It all makes sense that Game of Thrones would parallel another massive fantasy franchise.
And Georgie-boy kind of confirmed it.
In fact, in an interview with Rolling Stone , GRRM said:
“Well, to a degree. I mean, I think … the major points of the ending will be things that I told them, you know, five or six years ago,” he said. “But there may also be changes, and there’ll be a lot added.”
People have their own theories on how the show will end now.
The season is not going how most people thought, but that doesn’t stop people from coming up with their own theories.
What do you think?
Do you think that this is the episode the author would’ve wanted? Or does this deserve to be one of the lowest rated episodes in the history of the series?
And what will happen in the end?
