"Some female characters reject traditional feminine qualities while others embrace them. A woman can be powerful and have agency regardless of how she dresses or what skillset she possesses." This is so important.
Seriously having "strong female characters" rejecting traditional feminism is kinda sexist. It's like saying only traditionally masculine people can be strong. Feminine characters can be strong and masculine characters can be strong, no matter their gender.
Is it not a little sexist that the 'Strong female characters' these days are made to only be strong by being more like a men? I think it is. I do not care if the female character knows how to fight or likes traditionally male things, I care if they are compelling and well written.
@@desertmortician9332 It is a one dimensional view of modern feminism that women must fill the same roles that men do to be important, one that we can look at a character like Olenna Tyrell to know that not to be the case.
I cried a little when he was talking about not using masculine women to put down feminine women, and Im more of an Arya than a Sansa, it just felt nice to hear someone say it, especially a dude
Exactly my thought. I won't discount that mental illness may have dulled her emotional response to the news of Lysa's death, except to allow that maybe Arya wasn't terribly close to her aunt given how it's implied to have been a long time since Cat and Lysa had last met. Hysterical laughter is rarely the response of a healthy mind. But her laughter at the Gate struck me as being entirely at Clegane's expense, over how HE keeps getting so massively screwed over by the tragedies befalling HER family.
@@04nbod Probably not, now that I think about it, it was mentioned (in a conversation with Tyrion, maybe?) that the last time Cat and Lysa met face-to-face was at Lysa's wedding to Jon Arryn. Arya might not have even been born at that time; she would at most have been a toddler. So, like I might not have made clear, I doubt Arya felt any strong emotional connection to Lysa.
I thought it was more a 'laughing at the absurdity of it all' kind of thing. A 'laugh or cry' kinda thing. Not that I think you're wrong... just that there are layers to it.
Arya becoming a massive fan favourite (especially among the pub watching reaction types) I think definitely influenced her trajectory in the show. She was forcibly molded from a vengeful child losing herself into a stonefaced, cold badass because too many people loved rooting for the 'little girl giving those nasty men what they deserve' with absolutely no regard for what all her violence was supposed to *mean.* And not only did that ruin her character, I'm one of the people who was thoroughly upset that Jon was basically left with fucking NOTHING to do when they made the decision to make the Long Night Arya's moment. The Long Night was clearly Jon and Bran's moments, with King's Landing clearly being Arya, Jaime, and Daenerys' moments. Sure, it is obvious, but these writers clearly struggled with the idea that something that can be predicted is not synonymous with something being boring. People correctly predicting something is much more often a sign that people are engaging with your work and analyzing it; people being able to correctly predict something is more often than not a *positive sign* for your writing.
For being a fan favorite and for being a showrunner's favorite too. Remember that D&D revealed in the inside that they had decided that Arya killed the Night's King in season 5 ... That is, the same moment they decided to take her away from her own characterization. Which came first, the idea that she would defeat the Night's King or transform her into the hero? I think it was together, D&D really thought they were doing something great with the character. Something "subversive"
Jon had a million “wins” on the show and was completely overpowered compared to the books (Hardhome, BOB, Beyond the Wall, etc,). His character became boring (and a fantasy hero stereotype) and he was dumb as a door nail. I actually thought it was more interesting that for once it wasn’t Jon “saving the day”. He is so much better in the books. Think of Aragorn in LoTR, Sauron was his big enemy but it was Sam and Frodo that destroy him.
Mismatch Repair that was the plan from the beginning through, Aragorn will distract Sauron and Frodo will sneak past him and defeat it. A more correct similarity will be that Eowyn, after defeating the head of the nazghul, jump till the volcano, take the one ring for Frodo hands and throw it in the lava. What would have been of the arc of Frodo and Sam at that point?
Lisa DellaValle Actually, Frodo didn’t save the day either. He couldn’t throw the ring away. Sam fought with him over it and in the end it was Gollum that bit his finger (with the ring on it) and fell into the lava. So analogous to the complaints here, it was bad that Tolkien didn’t write Frodo saving the day.
Could you eventually weave all the rewrites together and prepare a modified script? Then it would be cool to get the new version made as an animated series.
Your channel is extremely underrated. You have good knowledge of narrative structure and of GoT / ASOIAF as a whole, your rewrites are gripping and emotional (not to mention more sensible than some of the stuff on UA-cam), and you understand that the show commited some wrongs prior to Seasons 7-8. It doesn't mean much, but I'm going to recommend you as much as I can.
I really liked how the show included a variety of female characters with different strengths, weaknesses, and skill sets. Given that, Arya's "most girls are idiots" attitude could INITIALLY be read as an issue she might have to get over. But...yeah, like her unhealthy thirst for vengeance, that flaw does seem to get framed as a virtue by the end.
Well put. It makes sense for Arya herself to feel that way as a young girl, but as the show went on this worldview seemed to be put forth by the showrunners themselves.
I had high hopes coming to this episode seeing at how good the previous one were, and also anticipated it greatly as I couldn't wait to find out the fate of Jaimie and Cersei and I have not been disappointed, in fact my expectation have been greatly exceeded. Everything just ties up so neatly, from coming full circle even down to the details of the name of the child, it's incredibly satisfactory. It filled the void the the show had left in me and makes its ultimate demise more bearable. I'm really amazed at the works you've put in this series, and the result is incredible! I'm very excited to see the rewrite for the secondary characters though now that the main characters are done we should all be able to wait more patiently, so you wouldn't to stress about getting the videos out fast enough, considering the time and effort it must takes the speed at which you're putting them out is pretty damn good!
Honestly have to thank you for this. This ending felt so genuine and real to the TV shows story. When I hear these rewrites it really completes the story. This was a beautiful ending and I loved how it played out at the end reflecting back on lyanna telling ned to protect Jon. Truly beautiful storytelling. You are doing the fans a real service here! Keep up the good work, cant wait to see the next one.
The Cleganebowl he proposed in this episode was exactly what I would have wanted. Imagine an injured Sandor fighting the personification of his own fear and hatred in zombie Gregor, not just trying to kill him but having to protect an unconscious Arya. An externalisation of the fight inside himself
This is the best one you've done yet. Especially since I couldn't have been more indifferent with Arya's endpoint of just sailing west even though she never ever expressed any desire in exploring... Ever other than one throwaway line in S6. This is a genuinely emotional ending for Jaime, Cersei and Arya.
And Arya's supposed to look like her aunt - who needed someone to save Jon as she was dying... There's so much beautiful symmetry in this version! (or poetry, as G. R. R. Would say)
I love your family guy Joan of Arc reference. Perfect summary of Arya’s botched character arc. Shame, I liked her and her struggle at first, she was one of my favorite characters.
Yeah she was one of my favorite too, one of my favorite in the book too, but pass season 3 i did not care about her anymore, after she spent season 4 running circle in the forest not accomplishing much. The writers just spinning wheel. And then Bravos and the Faceless man we know how that went...
@@qwerty9398 Sansa the backstabbing selfish bitch? Why would anyone hate her? Her snitching to Tyrion set off the chain that got thousands of people killed! She prolly went to KL hoping to get the IT, dissed her uncle and then got the North. Even Jon could not forgive her. Her betraying Jon's ID meant Arya couldn't go home and live with her. Many fans are predicting Sansa will be unhappy, alienate the Northern lords and be overthrown or maybe die miserable. Would serve her right.
I think she laughed when her aunt died not because she had a break down but rather wasn't close with her aunt and found it funny that the Hound’s plans at holding her for ransom keep getting spoilt, just days or moments before he could complete them.
We need a petition for you to direct and write the show all over again. When Cersei pleaded with Arya to save her daughter I was in actual tears. You made me FeEl ThInGs.
1. that "i'm not like other girls" thing you said is so true. both sansa and brienne are portraided in the books as romantic characters, brienne being the sum of both sansa and arya's personalities. 2. i don't agree with being ok with arya killing the night king. not when we have a whole profecy about who is going to kill him. a lot of characters fit the description, and it would be nice to see someone not expected to do it. but arya is not one of them. 3. i also don't believe jaime or tyrion will be the ones to kill cersei, since the profecy states "the" valonqar, and tyrion is too obvious, and jaime's profetic dream shows cersei far away from him, but both are both valid options. 4. i also don't believe arya and lady stoneheart will meet in the books; i think either jaime or lsh can survive in twow, and we know jaime still has a lot to go, so brienne or him, or pod, or anyone, need to kill lsh, not giving enough time for arya to meet her one last time but damn. even with all my disagreements, i still believe your ending was awesome and better than the one we got.
My theory: Either Aegon "Young Griff" or Jon Connington kills her. It's one of those two, it feel so earned, so satisfying as Jon Connington is an interesting character and I want him to get his revenge.
It honestly seems like D&D did everything they could to avoid thinking about character arcs in order to stuff in as much fan service and superficial subversiveness as they possibly could
This was incredible and you did a great job. My only issue with this whole video is that I could never picture Arya marrying. She has never wanted to be a lady and after all she has seen and been through, I doubt she ever would. I don't feel like that was a "strong, independence woman" thing because it naturally fits for Arya.
I absolutely agree. It's not because of the strong female character trope. It's because that role is just not something Arya enjoys. I can't imagine her engaging in chit-chat with other ladies like Olenna or Margaery. That's not part of her character and giving up who she is for a guy isn't either.
In the books Lyanna and Arya are compared a lot, Bran even mistake the two in a vision. Ned say they are really similar too. And we all know what is Lyanna famous for. What I’m saying is that the thing that we believe true at 10 years old change a lot as we grew up. I don’t mind having Arya staying single, but I liked the idea that she will eventually fall in love too. She doesn’t need to become a “lady” to be married, there is more than one example of Westerosi wife that fight alongside their husband (the two wife of Aegon Targaryen and Queen Nimeria ecc) and in the book she’s show having a little crush for Gendry. I think would have been cute for the two of them to go on adventures together and become the other family
@@Lisey91 That's fair. But Arya has been through a lot more pain than Lysanna. And she seen a lot more of the dark side of the world. She and Lysanna are very different at this point in the story. Maybe if Gendry wasn't made a lord, she might have asked him to come with her on her trip. Maybe they wouldn't have been married, but they could have been lovers. But he seemed pretty enthusiastic about his new name and title. And he was the only Baratheon left in the show, so not surprised that the show runners didn't have him take off with her. The rejection probably wouldn't be as frustrating to some if they hadn't had her go out of her way to shag him right before the battle. I guess she was still attracted to him but not interested in romance? You said yourself that people change and a lot had changed since she last saw him.
I have always seen Arya as a type of Eowyn, and as with Eowyn who after killing the King of the Nazgul married Faramir, I would have like to see Arya marry Gendry. He is a man who would not expect Arya to change into a Sansa to be happy. He liked her just as she was.
I only discovered this series of videos today, but I can't stop watching them. As a fan of both the books and the television series, your conclusion to the main story feels so satisfying. Thank you for taking the time to write these videos.
The ending was beautiful! Truly poetic. Only question is, how would they cover up her birth? Would she be Sansa or Arya’s bastard or Jon’s or what? I knew her name was going to be Joanna, I love it! It really makes the Tyrion scene more poignant.
I believe she could be Sansas child, it would fit with her short "marriage" to Ramsay I believe. This way she would be princess of the north and really safe. I don't know if she would be considered a bastard then, really depends on whether this "marriage" is seen as an actual marriage.
Screw Tyrion. He does not deserve to be any where near Jaime's child. He sent his brother to die to "save" the sister he hated their whole lives. He ended up Hand to the new King and only surviving Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock. I hate that Ser Brienne was forced to work with him after he virgin shamed her and asked about her snatch and was "happy" Jsime had to "climb for it" now. Was Tyrion the one to tell Ser Brienne that Larry died with Carol so she could romanticize DnD's tWinCesT fetish in the White Book? Screw Tyrion.
Agree with most of the video but complete BS about Skyler in BB in my opinion. She was very well written and her thoughts and feelings made perfect sense throughout the show, except possibly in the latter half of season 5 where her supporting of Walt felt a bit contrived. The reason why so many didn't like her is, yes, because she could be a bit annoying and naggy, but mostly because she was often the only voice of sanity and reason in a show where for a very long time, many missed the entire point of Breaking Bad being about a man's decension into evil, not his ascent into being a 'badass'. She was viewed as a 'killjoy' getting in the way of the power trip many viewers got through Walt's ascent through the ranks of criminality and depravity. And yes, she was flawed, but she never did anything that wasn't understandable or unreasonable, and all her decisions were very well explained in the show, with the possible exception of her support of Walt in the latter half of season 5. She fucked Ted because Walt was forcing himself into her life where he extremely clearly wasn't wanted, in an psychotic and extremely emotionally abusive way, and she wanted her criminal, compulsively lying, drug dealing husband out of her life and away from her children. She gave money to Ted to protect her family from the IRS, and yes there was an emotional connection there too. That triggered the beginning of her descent. She was a controlling person in her nature; her decision to launder was a result of her deciding to have Walt's money to pay for Hank's recovery and her desire to control the situation so as to not get 'caught'. In her mind she's doing it for her sister and her brother-in-law, but yes, she does get a kick out of it because she's a complicated character who was portrayed excellently by Anna Gunn. Then her husband blows up a fucking nursing home and appears to murder an old man and the little world Skyler has built for herself comes crashing down, and she again realises she's completely out of her depth, can't control the situation, and is terrified Walt is going to get one of her loved ones killed, which is *exactly* what he eventually does. Skyler is never 'reveling' in Walt's decision to sell meth; very far from it, and honestly if you think her characterisation was inconsistent or her turns made no sense, to be perfectly honest that's saying more about your own failure to understand her motives and actions rather than a flaw in the writing itself. I think the reason why so many people, and to be honest probably you, dislike her is very simple: she reminds them of women they know in their real life they find annoying. It's not sexism, by no means am I saying you're anything close to sexist; it's far more subtle than that. That controlling nature annoyed people, yes, but that's not the fault of the writing or her actress, it's the result of a society that naturally treats men and women in different ways: a controlling man is responsible, authoritative, and knowledgeable whilst a controlling woman is an annoying hypocritical bitch. When Walt and Jesse are constantly evolving and changing their minds throughout the show, they're complex and intruguing and understandable, when Skyler does she's, well, 'annoying as fuck' as you put it. Skyler was a deeply flawed character but she was for the most part one of the moral centres of the show and was a very well-written character. The show made a few mistakes with her especially in season 1 in their attempts to make Walt more sympathetic, and as a whole Kim Wexler from BCS is a better written character, but Skyler was still a great character in BB.
It's really interesting to see the youtube video essay version of fanfiction starting to become a prevalent thing. What if GoT was good, like... really good? Nice job dude, I appreciate how you turned your rage at the show into positive meaningful art.
You are amazing I love this rewriting! I have an hypothesis for Arya's TV fate making sense (the west of Westeros thing) : she must escape the Faceless Men. It doesn't make sense that you can just leave the most powerful guild of assassins knowing their secrets! The only safe place would be going ti attempt an impossible quest
I started rewatching the show recently, but knowing how it ends made it too depressing so I had to stop. I keep coming back here though, so thank you for keeping the good memories of the show alive!
I stopped watching another GOT rerun because I got the notification this got posted. Happy to be a patreon (you are my first person to ever support!) - keep creating!! -Kayla
*This adds so much more to my understanding of Arya since Glidus' videos on Season 8. And its added value is in all the writing you propose. Thank you, you're a good man.*
I would actually have loved if after the show if Arya transitioned alowly into Catleyn I feel the Red Wedding and season 3 as a whole showed that she was not just some lady that Arya had thought origionally Catleyn is actually a lot like Arya in how she viciously protects her family and even how she deals with her children was her looking out for them. Always felt Arya could have become an amazing mother figure
Your evaluation of Meryn trant was great. I never thought of it till now but I feel kinda sorry that he was demonized at the last minute. Sure he was unlikeable buy that’s only from our biased perception.
This actually made me cry!!! I hate it when fans come up with better stories than the actual writers. Your rewrite is by far the best of the fan rewrites.
9:00 I'll add one thing here, when the Bride killed Vernita Green in front of her daughter (and she didn't mean for the daughter to see it). She acknowledged that she was adding to the cycle of violence when she tells the daughter to come find her if she wants her own shot at revenge in a few years.
A couple things:1) In the script, when Arya kill Meryn Trant, the reason Arya confronts him isn't to kill him, it's to interrogate him about where Sansa is. This dialogue was removed. It's unclear if it was filmed. Maisie has talked about that scene taking a very long time to film (it was after she was finally able to work full adult hours rather than limited hours as a child performer). Only after Trant can't tell her where Sansa is, does Arya kill him in the script. IMO, that would have worked better to show that Arya's anger over not being able to get information and loss of hope that she could find Sansa is part of the reason she kills him.2) I'm not sure it's only the changes made for the sake of a "strong female character" but the fact that the directors were having to work with an actress they've known since was 12. In Season 6, costume designer Michele Clapton has said she designed Arya's wardrobe for Maisie - not Arya. Maisie's spoken about how meeting Syrian refugee children in Greece (on a trip with Lena and Liam) changed how she understood PSTD and even how she understood how trauma impacted Arya. So, Dan and David may be bad writers, but they aren't writing in a bubble detached from everything else going on with the cast and crew. That's not to say they weren't willing to write very dark material for a child actress, but they also think Maisie is awesome and are clearly huge fans of her.Of all the characters in the show, I think the one the actor/actress has made the most impact on how the writers and producers see the character is Arya.3) Until TWOW comes out, we don't know what the Faceless Men want with Arya. The pre-released chapter Arya's Season 6 arc is based on is clear that the Faceless Men want Arya to remember who she is. They don't want her to be No One. "Jaqen" is in Oldtown researching dragons. There's more going on with the Faceless Men than revealed in the show.The Faceless Men may not have recruited Arya to be an average assassin. They may want Arya Stark in Westeros fighting for the Many Faced God. 4) If Nymeria didn't recognize Arya, then there would be hundreds of theory videos showing it proved Arya was dead and the Waif had taken her face. And it's possible putting red herrings into the story to feed those theories was one of the reasons for issues with Arya's plot. The fact that the actress who plays the Waif was flown to Spain for shooting the last episode and fitted with Arya's costume and paraded around the set to throw off anyone watching for spoilers shows how much effort was put into red herrings related to the Waif = Arya nonsense. 5) I have no problem with the Nymeria and Arya scene because it does lead to character development.What is missed in this video is Arya's mental state after killing the Freys. She thinks killing will make her happy, but it doesn't. She's even more depressed when she meets Hot Pie. She wants to connect to her friends, but can't. She could have gone to King's Landing to go after Cersei and the Mountain, but she doesn't. She instead chooses to go to Winterfell. If killing the Freys had brought her the type of closure or happiness she thought it would, then she would have. But it didn't. She chooses another path.She's been trying to get home for 7 seasons and when she gets there, everything has changed including herself. It's the same for Nymeria.
I cried so much, I did not expect that, it was beautiful and it also goes well with martins theme that history resonates and kinda repeats itself. Now this would’ve been a perfect ending maybe not a happy one but still perfect.
Okay. I really, really like your analysis of Arya and the 'strong female character' problem, I think it's absolutely spot on. And I think the ending you've outlined here hits all the right notes for her character development. But as an ending for the Lannister twins? Personally: nope. As nice as it would be to see Cersei realise the error of her ways and apologise in her final moments, I think it really misses the point of her character. She just never would - grief and pain always turns Cersei into her absolute worst self: see Joffrey's death/her walk of atonement. In the books she's even worse, but even in the TV show I can't think of a single compassionate act of hers. Her love for her children is one of pure narcissism in ASOIAF, and it looked to be going much the same way in the show (she's dismissive of Tommen's suicide). It actually looked to be going the same way in your rewrite, in that she's having this child to defy Maggy's prophecy. And as per your own points re. strong female characters in this video - that's okay. It's okay if that's the kind of woman she really is. As a woman myself, I'm kind of tired of seeing female characters where motherhood is deemed a redeeming feature, and Cersei Lannister is pretty much case in point. As for Jaime... well, I agreed with almost every point you made about his character in your previous video. We're really scratching our heads as to why he'd go back to Cersei. Their unborn child is one possible reason, but I think I'd write that child out altogether for all it served the plot. Anyway: unlike Cersei, Jaime IS capable of compassion. He has finally discovered that his sister truly isn't, and if the show had followed his storyline in ASOIAF at all, we'd see his worldview is rapidly expanding beyond the twincest cocoon he's been afraid to leave his whole life. He's not addicted to Cersei, she's just the only love he's ever really known. ... Which is where Brienne comes in, being the absolute catalyst in Jaime looking forwards rather than constantly back to Cersei. That's what his story is all about. But so many seem convinced that Jaime's story is not about pursuing his own goals and discovering who he is beyond his sister's machinations... but rather returning to Cersei's side and dying with her just like she always wanted. In subscribing to this, they completely write out Brienne's influence in his story, and the love that they plainly have for each other in both the books and the show. In every version of Jaime returning to Cersei, Brienne becomes a footnote. And in keeping with your commentary on 'strong female characters' in this video, I have to ask why? Why is this warrior woman not deserving of the romance she's been built up for, but Cersei, a woman who has only ever been looking for her reflection, is? Does Brienne's ending not matter? After a lifetime spent being laughed at and considering herself unloveable, is Brienne and Jaime's relationship an irrelevance whilst Jaime and Cersei's is the centrepiece? Why is Jaime's final act in service to the 'nobody matters but us' narrative that he has spent all of Game of Thrones unlearning? Why is it not in service to everything he has learnt since season three? Anyway, I think you're a way better writer than D&D, and the ending you've written here is far more moving than what was actually broadcast! I wouldn't have written this much if I didn't think you had a ton of great points to make, and I'm looking forward to the next eps. But I think if people are gonna keep looking to Cersei instead of Brienne when figuring the end of Jaime's arc, they're gonna keep missing the point.
Brienne has always only been a plot device for Jaime and she and Jaime were borh sacrificed to insure Cersei did not "die alone" like she deserved to on the show. I absolutely loathe Brienne's show ending - making her join a celibate order and fracking romanticize tWinCesT in the White Book scene. Perhaps Brienne will be a rewrite and we'll see where Macabre Storytelling goes with tje character.
I've enjoyed every video in this series, but THIS right here is your magnum opus. Such a brilliantly beautiful end to the Lannisters arc and the show as a whole. It's now 100% my headcanon.
Arya sprinting through a city in turmoil with a baby girl in her arms would be such a good call back to her escaping King’s Landing after her father’s death! Perfection.
These videos are so nice, I feel like it gives closure and honestly just shows how little effort the actual writers of the show put into their thought processes for the characters and the storylines.
Just want you to know that this series was great, and that it has helped me find the emotional catharsis that I was initially deprived of in watching the show's final season. You have excellent literary interpretive skills; I hope to watch more of your work in the future.
LMAO the Arya Valonquar bit sent me Excellent series, I've been binging it after happening upon your Sansa video. You show a great grasp of all of these characters and it's really impressive how you're able to give them satisfying arcs even with some of the curveballs the show throws your way in terms of cutting/merging characters. Very curious about your thoughts on Bran / Night King and Theon (and the other Greyjoys) especially. I was initially sad you wouldn't be doing Dorne, seeing as it's (UO?) one of my favourite bits of the books, but I honestly wouldn't know how anyone would do that video without it being a long-ass angry rant that concludes with "so for the rewrite: Dorne doesn't exist! Hurray!"
An excellent ending and brilliant writing! I love it, it's now my official headcannon. That said, I would amend a couple of things -- 1 - Jaime dies from his wounds shortly after delivering the baby and holding it with cersei, before qyburn/Arya walks into the room. This lets the confrontation stay focused entirely on Arya and Cersei. 2 - after aryas moment of clarity and face turn where she agrees to take baby Joanna to safety, cersei will look out the window and daenerys dracrys'ing the city and say "Take my daughter and go, leave me to burn in dragonfire, it's what I deserve To which Arya will reply, "it is." After a moment, arya retrieves a pouch from qyburns clothes and gives cersei a fatal dose of sweet sleep. Cersei closes her eyes and dies peacefully moments before drogon incinerates the red keep. Arya crosses off the last name on her list, delivering death to cersei not out of hatred spite or vengeance, but mercy. I think it would be a fitting close to her arc as an assassin and aspiring faceless man and a fitting homage to the ending of season 4 where she wouldn't give the gift of mercy to the hound
😢 The sweetsleep thing is great. It would have been awesome if she had some expression of the FM poisons training, giving that little speech on it from the books where it's like "One pinch will calm a man's nerves, two will give him a dreamless sleep, three will...something something". I'm paraphrasing haha, though you know what I mean.
Wow I was absolutely not expecting this. I was literally weeping by the time this video was over . First and only time a UA-cam video has brought me to tears ...Very well done.
The worst thing about what happened in the show that it was easily avoidable with minor tweaks. But it needed full grasp of the characters arc and motivation which D&D clearly didn't even want to pursue as they were utterly annoyed by the show presence in their life . Kudos to you on this fine work .
I have really enjoyed your rewrites. Thank you. They make so much more sense than what was perpetrated by the show runners. I am also impressed by your creative use of invective when you get overwhelmed by the stupidity of said show runners. I was so very disappointed by the last several seasons, with this work you have redeemed the story. And shown how utterly carelessly this story was treated. By the way, I’m NOT crying.....
This makes me even sadder that the people who wrote the last season just wanted to get it over with when they could have just passed it onto people who were still passionate about GOT. This ending by far is more fulfilling and showed the characters growth.
GRRM said he only wanted them doing the show, but if they wanted out, why didn't he just take over? It's not like the fucking book is ever coming out anyways
I adore the story you have weaved with each one of them. I would love to see a complete story telling from start to finish. Maybe someone could honestly write this version.
I really love the idea of Arya going to have her revenge on Cersei but instead leaving with her daughter trying to protect her, the scene itself could have Cersei like you said spontaniously raising her daughter to Arya, followed by Arya awkwardly picking her up the way people often do when they don't know how to hold a baby, with Arya being silent and with an unreadable expression there would be a moment of tension whether she accepted the baby or whether she's gonna hurt her, stunned Arya would start slowly backing away and then wordlessly hurry to leave with Cersei having to shout her thanks after fleeing Arya
This is the most beautiful ending I’ve ever heard. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate d&d any more, I listen to this.they didn’t just drop the ball; they dropped it and it rolled down a hill, crashing into everything in its path . I loveyour videos so much . Well done sir. Well done
I would have been bawling so badly if GOT actually ended with your conclusion. Well woven and emotionally stirring--it would've been, dare I say, perfect.
I've always know that GRRM was a Lovecraft fan, for what I assume are obvious reasons, but hearing you say "[character x] was brought to the brink of insanity" in most of these rewrites made me realize just how deep an influence Lovecraft had on the series. It's doubly cool since rather than cosmic horrors beyond our understanding that drive the characters insane, it's hidden truths about society and the human condition that people refuse to understand. It fits perfectly with the grounded style of the books whilst also hitting many of the same beats of Lovecraft's stories.
It’s neat you referenced death wish. I watched it recently and to be honest I still like it as a sort of tragedy, he does end up getting overpowered and forced to give it up at the end. I think it argues that gun ownership and self defense are good but actively seeking revenge will never fill the hole in your heart. This is especially apparent in the scene were his brother in law questions why he isn’t concerned any more about his daughter and it’s apparent he’s given up on her and just wants the gratification of killing thugs.
It truly does sadden me how garbage Aryas character became after S4. Without Arya, I never would've been able to get into GoT, because I've never really been into fantasy + the long monologues always put me off when I tried to watch S1. But I fell in love with Aryas (admittedly quite generic) storyline, and thereby grew to love the whole show. Thank you for doing this re-write. I just want to say that I really appreciate it.
Holy shit, I totally called this on your Cersei video- the whole "her daughter is the younger, more beautiful queen" thing. The comment only got like one like, so I assume you didn't see it lol. You told this reveal very beautifully regardless!
Another good job. I would just say I'm okay with Sansa and Arya coming to terms with the letter due to Sansa's verbal smackdown of Arya about her not saving their father, either (and that Sansa was forced by Cersei, etc)...hearing it from her family who she has been so devoted to would carry weight and only add fuel to the "I hate Cersei" fire that's already burning bright (Arya's not an idiot, so I got that she was pushing Sansa's buttons in the "argument" to get an honest reaction from her). Also, D&D, as much as they screwed up the end, they DID do a great job adapting the books to screen, otherwise most of us wouldn't even be fans of the show...it's when they passed the books (or cut the wrong thing and ran out of material) that everything went to poop. But, yeah, they should have kept Lady Stoneheart (and I think Jon is going to come back as more Uncle Benjen like than regular Jon like, but stuck south of the wall instead of stuck north of it, like Benjen), which would make for an interesting team-up with Catelyn Stark, especially since she hated him during their "lives".
"Joanna" is great for Tyrion, since he can now save a Lannister by the same name as the one he was blamed by his family for killing. But better for Arya would be if Jaime and Cersei named the baby "Mercy". It makes sense as a spur of the moment decision on a name by Cersei, since it's Arya's mercy that saves the baby's life. But it's also a great echo of the time Arya spent being called Mercy, only this time "mercy" means sparing lives instead of taking them. BOOM, arc complete.
Wow. Just… wow. Incredibly well thought out and written. I just discovered your channel today- and I’m so glad. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, and giving us a phenomenal ending for the characters that started out so strong. I greatly appreciate your use of all the literary tools in a writer’s tool belt, as well as presenting a logical, satisfying, yet bittersweet end for Jamie and Cersei- as well as for all the characters that we fans grew to love. You’re a gem.
This was great. Love the tragedy and resolution you've got going on. I'm glad you brought up the Faceless Militia, as I call them. There's a lot of hot takes on the military in the books
A staple of the entire ASOIAF book series is that all the characters are realistic,complex and that nothing about them is really black or white,and the fact that these writers took all these characters and turned them all into one dimensional good guys and bad guys by the end just goes to show how little D&D understood these books.
Love this. I always wanted there to be a baby at the end. That said, that's why I also was initially game for the Jon/Dany romance because I thought we were going to get a baby out of that too. Imagine: a Lannister daughter and a Stark/Targaryen son both being raised in secret together, growing up together and possibly falling in love, thus finally uniting the three major houses at last.
"Some female characters reject traditional feminine qualities while others embrace them. A woman can be powerful and have agency regardless of how she dresses or what skillset she possesses."
This is so important.
See Brienne of Tarth and Yara Greyjoy.
Ha YA authors take note . God there are barely any good female characters these days because they have to be "strong"
Seriously having "strong female characters" rejecting traditional feminism is kinda sexist. It's like saying only traditionally masculine people can be strong. Feminine characters can be strong and masculine characters can be strong, no matter their gender.
Is it not a little sexist that the 'Strong female characters' these days are made to only be strong by being more like a men? I think it is. I do not care if the female character knows how to fight or likes traditionally male things, I care if they are compelling and well written.
@@desertmortician9332 It is a one dimensional view of modern feminism that women must fill the same roles that men do to be important, one that we can look at a character like Olenna Tyrell to know that not to be the case.
"Because out of all people Arya Stark knows what happens to a little girl left alone in the world" I honestly cried.
Damn right, this would have been better than giving her Frodo treatment
Same. Couldn't stop my tears.
This got me in the feels
I cried a little when he was talking about not using masculine women to put down feminine women, and Im more of an Arya than a Sansa, it just felt nice to hear someone say it, especially a dude
Dude my heart broke at that too 💔
Is this channel just your resume to be a writer?
😏
His endgame is to reboot That's So Raven as an R rated show for HBO.
@@sirocco2810 NDA! NDA!!!!!!!!!!
@@MacabreStorytelling Get exposed bitch.
I totally agree.
Arya found Lysa's death hilarious because The Hound still isn't getting his ransom.
Exactly my thought.
I won't discount that mental illness may have dulled her emotional response to the news of Lysa's death, except to allow that maybe Arya wasn't terribly close to her aunt given how it's implied to have been a long time since Cat and Lysa had last met.
Hysterical laughter is rarely the response of a healthy mind.
But her laughter at the Gate struck me as being entirely at Clegane's expense, over how HE keeps getting so massively screwed over by the tragedies befalling HER family.
@@alphalancer I don't think Arya ever met Lysa
@@04nbod Probably not, now that I think about it, it was mentioned (in a conversation with Tyrion, maybe?) that the last time Cat and Lysa met face-to-face was at Lysa's wedding to Jon Arryn. Arya might not have even been born at that time; she would at most have been a toddler.
So, like I might not have made clear, I doubt Arya felt any strong emotional connection to Lysa.
@@alphalancer Robin is the same age as Arya so unlikely she was born
I thought it was more a 'laughing at the absurdity of it all' kind of thing. A 'laugh or cry' kinda thing.
Not that I think you're wrong... just that there are layers to it.
Holy hell, this ending would've hit me so phucking hard
That ending for Cersei, Jaime and Arya literally had me tearing up. It would’ve been so beautiful and a perfect culmination of their arcs. Sigh.
Pretty ironic that Cersei becomes like a woman she hate, Lyanna Stark.
I gasped the moment I realized Arya was going to take Cercei and Jamie’s child to safety. And then the tears came.
I felt myself welling up a bit, such a beautiful ending....
except that jamie dying DEFENDING cersei ruins his arc
Arya becoming a massive fan favourite (especially among the pub watching reaction types) I think definitely influenced her trajectory in the show.
She was forcibly molded from a vengeful child losing herself into a stonefaced, cold badass because too many people loved rooting for the 'little girl giving those nasty men what they deserve' with absolutely no regard for what all her violence was supposed to *mean.*
And not only did that ruin her character, I'm one of the people who was thoroughly upset that Jon was basically left with fucking NOTHING to do when they made the decision to make the Long Night Arya's moment. The Long Night was clearly Jon and Bran's moments, with King's Landing clearly being Arya, Jaime, and Daenerys' moments. Sure, it is obvious, but these writers clearly struggled with the idea that something that can be predicted is not synonymous with something being boring.
People correctly predicting something is much more often a sign that people are engaging with your work and analyzing it; people being able to correctly predict something is more often than not a *positive sign* for your writing.
For being a fan favorite and for being a showrunner's favorite too.
Remember that D&D revealed in the inside that they had decided that Arya killed the Night's King in season 5 ... That is, the same moment they decided to take her away from her own characterization. Which came first, the idea that she would defeat the Night's King or transform her into the hero? I think it was together, D&D really thought they were doing something great with the character. Something "subversive"
Agreed. I actually live in Chicago where they did those Burlington Bar reactions videos on UA-cam. You can definitely see the favoritism.
Jon had a million “wins” on the show and was completely overpowered compared to the books (Hardhome, BOB, Beyond the Wall, etc,). His character became boring (and a fantasy hero stereotype) and he was dumb as a door nail. I actually thought it was more interesting that for once it wasn’t Jon “saving the day”. He is so much better in the books. Think of Aragorn in LoTR, Sauron was his big enemy but it was Sam and Frodo that destroy him.
Mismatch Repair that was the plan from the beginning through, Aragorn will distract Sauron and Frodo will sneak past him and defeat it.
A more correct similarity will be that Eowyn, after defeating the head of the nazghul, jump till the volcano, take the one ring for Frodo hands and throw it in the lava. What would have been of the arc of Frodo and Sam at that point?
Lisa DellaValle Actually, Frodo didn’t save the day either. He couldn’t throw the ring away. Sam fought with him over it and in the end it was Gollum that bit his finger (with the ring on it) and fell into the lava. So analogous to the complaints here, it was bad that Tolkien didn’t write Frodo saving the day.
Tyrion hands baby Johana over to John and says "Promise me..."
Me: :'-(
You: B-)
Could you eventually weave all the rewrites together and prepare a modified script? Then it would be cool to get the new version made as an animated series.
Holy that would be so cool, hell i am even okay with a webcomic only.
Susan Bauer Gaina and then into a tv series! Oh wait 😂
THIS!!!!
Yes yes yes! then we could read it as fan fiction and really get what we are owed!!! I feel robbed every time I think of GOT!!!
HBO would probably be completely on board with that.
Wow I was not expecting to cry during this video but.... You got me
Same! This version is beautiful.
Wow, what an ending! I finally have closure.
Until GRRM finishes his books (or if he doesn't at all), I consider this to be the official canon
Your channel is extremely underrated.
You have good knowledge of narrative structure and of GoT / ASOIAF as a whole, your rewrites are gripping and emotional (not to mention more sensible than some of the stuff on UA-cam), and you understand that the show commited some wrongs prior to Seasons 7-8.
It doesn't mean much, but I'm going to recommend you as much as I can.
Tristan Hallihan means the world 👌
Couldn’t agree more
"You know nothing Joanna Snow."
😂😂😂
“I don’t want it.”
- Joanna, at some point in her life
AN HOUR!?
Might as well get some popcorn ready.
@Taiwo Seiler I'll make some french fries
Time really flies when you're invested inma story! Also now I'm hungry.
Wait this video was an hour long????!!! I didn't even realize till you said it. Well done man👏🏼👏🏼
I really liked how the show included a variety of female characters with different strengths, weaknesses, and skill sets. Given that, Arya's "most girls are idiots" attitude could INITIALLY be read as an issue she might have to get over. But...yeah, like her unhealthy thirst for vengeance, that flaw does seem to get framed as a virtue by the end.
Well put. It makes sense for Arya herself to feel that way as a young girl, but as the show went on this worldview seemed to be put forth by the showrunners themselves.
I had high hopes coming to this episode seeing at how good the previous one were, and also anticipated it greatly as I couldn't wait to find out the fate of Jaimie and Cersei and I have not been disappointed, in fact my expectation have been greatly exceeded. Everything just ties up so neatly, from coming full circle even down to the details of the name of the child, it's incredibly satisfactory. It filled the void the the show had left in me and makes its ultimate demise more bearable. I'm really amazed at the works you've put in this series, and the result is incredible! I'm very excited to see the rewrite for the secondary characters though now that the main characters are done we should all be able to wait more patiently, so you wouldn't to stress about getting the videos out fast enough, considering the time and effort it must takes the speed at which you're putting them out is pretty damn good!
We NEED a White Walkers rewrite!
Honestly have to thank you for this. This ending felt so genuine and real to the TV shows story. When I hear these rewrites it really completes the story. This was a beautiful ending and I loved how it played out at the end reflecting back on lyanna telling ned to protect Jon. Truly beautiful storytelling. You are doing the fans a real service here! Keep up the good work, cant wait to see the next one.
Agreed!
Why do we need clegane bowl? We've already seen it in season one.. its just a fight and ultimately meaningless to the mountain because he's a zombag.
The Cleganebowl he proposed in this episode was exactly what I would have wanted.
Imagine an injured Sandor fighting the personification of his own fear and hatred in zombie Gregor, not just trying to kill him but having to protect an unconscious Arya.
An externalisation of the fight inside himself
@@Crick1952 why would sandor once again take up his obsession with revenge.... Lame , fuck arya
@@DavidGarcia-oi5nt If he would fight of Gregor to save Arya it would not be for vengeance. He would do it out for live of Arya.
It's such a reddit meme. Dumb and unfunny.
For me it's pretty obvious that he doesn't dare to kill his brother, he only fantasize about it
30:12 Actually, Ned Stark is shown to put certain things above honor. He would have forgiven Jaime if he knew the truth
This is the best one you've done yet. Especially since I couldn't have been more indifferent with Arya's endpoint of just sailing west even though she never ever expressed any desire in exploring... Ever other than one throwaway line in S6. This is a genuinely emotional ending for Jaime, Cersei and Arya.
And Arya's supposed to look like her aunt - who needed someone to save Jon as she was dying... There's so much beautiful symmetry in this version! (or poetry, as G. R. R. Would say)
Some people (like idk D&D maybe?) need to learn the difference between "strong female character" and "strong writing of a female character"
N. M. Same thing with the male characters. To make Jon a “strong male character”, they turned him into a dumb action movie hero.
David Benioff was probably the guy that thought it was a good idea to sew Deadpool’s mouth shut in X-Men Origins
@@jaimelannister1797 He was which makes it jarring as to why they got the job here.
@@gfilmer7150 he got it cus his daddy’s rich
@@jaimelannister1797 Wow. Why am I surprised?
I love your family guy Joan of Arc reference. Perfect summary of Arya’s botched character arc. Shame, I liked her and her struggle at first, she was one of my favorite characters.
She was my favorite too.
But past season 6...I hated all starks.Every one of them.Sansa at top.
Yeah she was one of my favorite too, one of my favorite in the book too, but pass season 3 i did not care about her anymore, after she spent season 4 running circle in the forest not accomplishing much. The writers just spinning wheel. And then Bravos and the Faceless man we know how that went...
@@qwerty9398 Sansa the backstabbing selfish bitch? Why would anyone hate her? Her snitching to Tyrion set off the chain that got thousands of people killed! She prolly went to KL hoping to get the IT, dissed her uncle and then got the North. Even Jon could not forgive her. Her betraying Jon's ID meant Arya couldn't go home and live with her. Many fans are predicting Sansa will be unhappy, alienate the Northern lords and be overthrown or maybe die miserable. Would serve her right.
I commend you for delivering that excellent segment on “strong female characters” without even bringing up the travesty of the Sand Snakes.
Watched all 67 minutes of this, and loved every second of it. Well done Macabre. Well done.
I think she laughed when her aunt died not because she had a break down but rather wasn't close with her aunt and found it funny that the Hound’s plans at holding her for ransom keep getting spoilt, just days or moments before he could complete them.
We need a petition for you to direct and write the show all over again. When Cersei pleaded with Arya to save her daughter I was in actual tears. You made me FeEl ThInGs.
Holy fuck this video made me cry.
1. that "i'm not like other girls" thing you said is so true. both sansa and brienne are portraided in the books as romantic characters, brienne being the sum of both sansa and arya's personalities.
2. i don't agree with being ok with arya killing the night king. not when we have a whole profecy about who is going to kill him. a lot of characters fit the description, and it would be nice to see someone not expected to do it. but arya is not one of them.
3. i also don't believe jaime or tyrion will be the ones to kill cersei, since the profecy states "the" valonqar, and tyrion is too obvious, and jaime's profetic dream shows cersei far away from him, but both are both valid options.
4. i also don't believe arya and lady stoneheart will meet in the books; i think either jaime or lsh can survive in twow, and we know jaime still has a lot to go, so brienne or him, or pod, or anyone, need to kill lsh, not giving enough time for arya to meet her one last time
but damn. even with all my disagreements, i still believe your ending was awesome and better than the one we got.
My theory: Either Aegon "Young Griff" or Jon Connington kills her. It's one of those two, it feel so earned, so satisfying as Jon Connington is an interesting character and I want him to get his revenge.
Omg the rewrite my wounded soul really needs ...
Thank you, sir.
It honestly seems like D&D did everything they could to avoid thinking about character arcs in order to stuff in as much fan service and superficial subversiveness as they possibly could
This was incredible and you did a great job.
My only issue with this whole video is that I could never picture Arya marrying. She has never wanted to be a lady and after all she has seen and been through, I doubt she ever would. I don't feel like that was a "strong, independence woman" thing because it naturally fits for Arya.
I absolutely agree. It's not because of the strong female character trope. It's because that role is just not something Arya enjoys. I can't imagine her engaging in chit-chat with other ladies like Olenna or Margaery. That's not part of her character and giving up who she is for a guy isn't either.
In the books Lyanna and Arya are compared a lot, Bran even mistake the two in a vision. Ned say they are really similar too. And we all know what is Lyanna famous for.
What I’m saying is that the thing that we believe true at 10 years old change a lot as we grew up. I don’t mind having Arya staying single, but I liked the idea that she will eventually fall in love too.
She doesn’t need to become a “lady” to be married, there is more than one example of Westerosi wife that fight alongside their husband (the two wife of Aegon Targaryen and Queen Nimeria ecc) and in the book she’s show having a little crush for Gendry.
I think would have been cute for the two of them to go on adventures together and become the other family
@@Lisey91 That's fair. But Arya has been through a lot more pain than Lysanna. And she seen a lot more of the dark side of the world. She and Lysanna are very different at this point in the story.
Maybe if Gendry wasn't made a lord, she might have asked him to come with her on her trip. Maybe they wouldn't have been married, but they could have been lovers. But he seemed pretty enthusiastic about his new name and title. And he was the only Baratheon left in the show, so not surprised that the show runners didn't have him take off with her.
The rejection probably wouldn't be as frustrating to some if they hadn't had her go out of her way to shag him right before the battle. I guess she was still attracted to him but not interested in romance? You said yourself that people change and a lot had changed since she last saw him.
I have always seen Arya as a type of Eowyn, and as with Eowyn who after killing the King of the Nazgul married Faramir, I would have like to see Arya marry Gendry. He is a man who would not expect Arya to change into a Sansa to be happy. He liked her just as she was.
I only discovered this series of videos today, but I can't stop watching them. As a fan of both the books and the television series, your conclusion to the main story feels so satisfying. Thank you for taking the time to write these videos.
"Arya's unborn niece" --> nephew, right? He was meant to be named Eddard.
Word.
No Joanna is necessary both to the Tyrion resolution and to the contrast he wrote of the reconciliation of the two houses.
@@abradley2198 they're referring to Rob Stark's murdered unborn child.
They didn't know the sex of the baby. Talisa merely suggested the name if it was a boy.
The ending was beautiful! Truly poetic. Only question is, how would they cover up her birth? Would she be Sansa or Arya’s bastard or Jon’s or what? I knew her name was going to be Joanna, I love it! It really makes the Tyrion scene more poignant.
I believe she could be Sansas child, it would fit with her short "marriage" to Ramsay I believe.
This way she would be princess of the north and really safe. I don't know if she would be considered a bastard then, really depends on whether this "marriage" is seen as an actual marriage.
I don't think identity would be a problem. She's just another war orphan.
Screw Tyrion. He does not deserve to be any where near Jaime's child. He sent his brother to die to "save" the sister he hated their whole lives. He ended up Hand to the new King and only surviving Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock. I hate that Ser Brienne was forced to work with him after he virgin shamed her and asked about her snatch and was "happy" Jsime had to "climb for it" now. Was Tyrion the one to tell Ser Brienne that Larry died with Carol so she could romanticize DnD's tWinCesT fetish in the White Book? Screw Tyrion.
@@josie-tv5ij Tyrion literally BEGGED Jamie not to go...
Dude you are brilliant! Are you writing your own story by any chance? I'd totally read anything you publish.
Same!
Agree with most of the video but complete BS about Skyler in BB in my opinion. She was very well written and her thoughts and feelings made perfect sense throughout the show, except possibly in the latter half of season 5 where her supporting of Walt felt a bit contrived.
The reason why so many didn't like her is, yes, because she could be a bit annoying and naggy, but mostly because she was often the only voice of sanity and reason in a show where for a very long time, many missed the entire point of Breaking Bad being about a man's decension into evil, not his ascent into being a 'badass'. She was viewed as a 'killjoy' getting in the way of the power trip many viewers got through Walt's ascent through the ranks of criminality and depravity. And yes, she was flawed, but she never did anything that wasn't understandable or unreasonable, and all her decisions were very well explained in the show, with the possible exception of her support of Walt in the latter half of season 5.
She fucked Ted because Walt was forcing himself into her life where he extremely clearly wasn't wanted, in an psychotic and extremely emotionally abusive way, and she wanted her criminal, compulsively lying, drug dealing husband out of her life and away from her children. She gave money to Ted to protect her family from the IRS, and yes there was an emotional connection there too. That triggered the beginning of her descent. She was a controlling person in her nature; her decision to launder was a result of her deciding to have Walt's money to pay for Hank's recovery and her desire to control the situation so as to not get 'caught'. In her mind she's doing it for her sister and her brother-in-law, but yes, she does get a kick out of it because she's a complicated character who was portrayed excellently by Anna Gunn. Then her husband blows up a fucking nursing home and appears to murder an old man and the little world Skyler has built for herself comes crashing down, and she again realises she's completely out of her depth, can't control the situation, and is terrified Walt is going to get one of her loved ones killed, which is *exactly* what he eventually does.
Skyler is never 'reveling' in Walt's decision to sell meth; very far from it, and honestly if you think her characterisation was inconsistent or her turns made no sense, to be perfectly honest that's saying more about your own failure to understand her motives and actions rather than a flaw in the writing itself. I think the reason why so many people, and to be honest probably you, dislike her is very simple: she reminds them of women they know in their real life they find annoying. It's not sexism, by no means am I saying you're anything close to sexist; it's far more subtle than that.
That controlling nature annoyed people, yes, but that's not the fault of the writing or her actress, it's the result of a society that naturally treats men and women in different ways: a controlling man is
responsible, authoritative, and knowledgeable whilst a controlling woman is an annoying hypocritical bitch. When Walt and Jesse are constantly evolving and changing their minds throughout the show, they're complex and intruguing and understandable, when Skyler does she's, well, 'annoying as fuck' as you put it.
Skyler was a deeply flawed character but she was for the most part one of the moral centres of the show and was a very well-written character. The show made a few mistakes with her especially in season 1 in their attempts to make Walt more sympathetic, and as a whole Kim Wexler from BCS is a better written character, but Skyler was still a great character in BB.
It's really interesting to see the youtube video essay version of fanfiction starting to become a prevalent thing. What if GoT was good, like... really good? Nice job dude, I appreciate how you turned your rage at the show into positive meaningful art.
The “Tyrion’s first and last act” line coupled with “Johanna” got me all teary eyed. I absolutely love this ending
You are amazing I love this rewriting!
I have an hypothesis for Arya's TV fate making sense (the west of Westeros thing) : she must escape the Faceless Men. It doesn't make sense that you can just leave the most powerful guild of assassins knowing their secrets! The only safe place would be going ti attempt an impossible quest
"tyrion asks them to promise him" I GOT CHILLS WOW
I started rewatching the show recently, but knowing how it ends made it too depressing so I had to stop. I keep coming back here though, so thank you for keeping the good memories of the show alive!
Thank Jesus, I was really looking forward to Arya's episode!
I stopped watching another GOT rerun because I got the notification this got posted. Happy to be a patreon (you are my first person to ever support!) - keep creating!! -Kayla
At this point the new writing term should be "well characterized" instead of strong.
Hear hear!
*This adds so much more to my understanding of Arya since Glidus' videos on Season 8. And its added value is in all the writing you propose. Thank you, you're a good man.*
I would actually have loved if after the show if Arya transitioned alowly into Catleyn I feel the Red Wedding and season 3 as a whole showed that she was not just some lady that Arya had thought origionally Catleyn is actually a lot like Arya in how she viciously protects her family and even how she deals with her children was her looking out for them. Always felt Arya could have become an amazing mother figure
Your evaluation of Meryn trant was great. I never thought of it till now but I feel kinda sorry that he was demonized at the last minute. Sure he was unlikeable buy that’s only from our biased perception.
This actually made me cry!!! I hate it when fans come up with better stories than the actual writers. Your rewrite is by far the best of the fan rewrites.
9:00 I'll add one thing here, when the Bride killed Vernita Green in front of her daughter (and she didn't mean for the daughter to see it). She acknowledged that she was adding to the cycle of violence when she tells the daughter to come find her if she wants her own shot at revenge in a few years.
A couple things:1) In the script, when Arya kill Meryn Trant, the reason Arya confronts him isn't to kill him, it's to interrogate him about where Sansa is. This dialogue was removed. It's unclear if it was filmed. Maisie has talked about that scene taking a very long time to film (it was after she was finally able to work full adult hours rather than limited hours as a child performer). Only after Trant can't tell her where Sansa is, does Arya kill him in the script. IMO, that would have worked better to show that Arya's anger over not being able to get information and loss of hope that she could find Sansa is part of the reason she kills him.2) I'm not sure it's only the changes made for the sake of a "strong female character" but the fact that the directors were having to work with an actress they've known since was 12. In Season 6, costume designer Michele Clapton has said she designed Arya's wardrobe for Maisie - not Arya. Maisie's spoken about how meeting Syrian refugee children in Greece (on a trip with Lena and Liam) changed how she understood PSTD and even how she understood how trauma impacted Arya. So, Dan and David may be bad writers, but they aren't writing in a bubble detached from everything else going on with the cast and crew. That's not to say they weren't willing to write very dark material for a child actress, but they also think Maisie is awesome and are clearly huge fans of her.Of all the characters in the show, I think the one the actor/actress has made the most impact on how the writers and producers see the character is Arya.3) Until TWOW comes out, we don't know what the Faceless Men want with Arya. The pre-released chapter Arya's Season 6 arc is based on is clear that the Faceless Men want Arya to remember who she is. They don't want her to be No One. "Jaqen" is in Oldtown researching dragons. There's more going on with the Faceless Men than revealed in the show.The Faceless Men may not have recruited Arya to be an average assassin. They may want Arya Stark in Westeros fighting for the Many Faced God. 4) If Nymeria didn't recognize Arya, then there would be hundreds of theory videos showing it proved Arya was dead and the Waif had taken her face. And it's possible putting red herrings into the story to feed those theories was one of the reasons for issues with Arya's plot. The fact that the actress who plays the Waif was flown to Spain for shooting the last episode and fitted with Arya's costume and paraded around the set to throw off anyone watching for spoilers shows how much effort was put into red herrings related to the Waif = Arya nonsense. 5) I have no problem with the Nymeria and Arya scene because it does lead to character development.What is missed in this video is Arya's mental state after killing the Freys. She thinks killing will make her happy, but it doesn't. She's even more depressed when she meets Hot Pie. She wants to connect to her friends, but can't. She could have gone to King's Landing to go after Cersei and the Mountain, but she doesn't. She instead chooses to go to Winterfell. If killing the Freys had brought her the type of closure or happiness she thought it would, then she would have. But it didn't. She chooses another path.She's been trying to get home for 7 seasons and when she gets there, everything has changed including herself. It's the same for Nymeria.
I cried so much, I did not expect that, it was beautiful and it also goes well with martins theme that history resonates and kinda repeats itself. Now this would’ve been a perfect ending maybe not a happy one but still perfect.
almost cried when cersei begged arya for the life of her daughter, thats some red wedding type shit, good job
Okay. I really, really like your analysis of Arya and the 'strong female character' problem, I think it's absolutely spot on. And I think the ending you've outlined here hits all the right notes for her character development.
But as an ending for the Lannister twins? Personally: nope. As nice as it would be to see Cersei realise the error of her ways and apologise in her final moments, I think it really misses the point of her character. She just never would - grief and pain always turns Cersei into her absolute worst self: see Joffrey's death/her walk of atonement. In the books she's even worse, but even in the TV show I can't think of a single compassionate act of hers. Her love for her children is one of pure narcissism in ASOIAF, and it looked to be going much the same way in the show (she's dismissive of Tommen's suicide).
It actually looked to be going the same way in your rewrite, in that she's having this child to defy Maggy's prophecy. And as per your own points re. strong female characters in this video - that's okay. It's okay if that's the kind of woman she really is. As a woman myself, I'm kind of tired of seeing female characters where motherhood is deemed a redeeming feature, and Cersei Lannister is pretty much case in point.
As for Jaime... well, I agreed with almost every point you made about his character in your previous video. We're really scratching our heads as to why he'd go back to Cersei. Their unborn child is one possible reason, but I think I'd write that child out altogether for all it served the plot. Anyway: unlike Cersei, Jaime IS capable of compassion. He has finally discovered that his sister truly isn't, and if the show had followed his storyline in ASOIAF at all, we'd see his worldview is rapidly expanding beyond the twincest cocoon he's been afraid to leave his whole life. He's not addicted to Cersei, she's just the only love he's ever really known.
... Which is where Brienne comes in, being the absolute catalyst in Jaime looking forwards rather than constantly back to Cersei. That's what his story is all about. But so many seem convinced that Jaime's story is not about pursuing his own goals and discovering who he is beyond his sister's machinations... but rather returning to Cersei's side and dying with her just like she always wanted. In subscribing to this, they completely write out Brienne's influence in his story, and the love that they plainly have for each other in both the books and the show. In every version of Jaime returning to Cersei, Brienne becomes a footnote.
And in keeping with your commentary on 'strong female characters' in this video, I have to ask why? Why is this warrior woman not deserving of the romance she's been built up for, but Cersei, a woman who has only ever been looking for her reflection, is? Does Brienne's ending not matter? After a lifetime spent being laughed at and considering herself unloveable, is Brienne and Jaime's relationship an irrelevance whilst Jaime and Cersei's is the centrepiece? Why is Jaime's final act in service to the 'nobody matters but us' narrative that he has spent all of Game of Thrones unlearning? Why is it not in service to everything he has learnt since season three?
Anyway, I think you're a way better writer than D&D, and the ending you've written here is far more moving than what was actually broadcast! I wouldn't have written this much if I didn't think you had a ton of great points to make, and I'm looking forward to the next eps. But I think if people are gonna keep looking to Cersei instead of Brienne when figuring the end of Jaime's arc, they're gonna keep missing the point.
Brienne has always only been a plot device for Jaime and she and Jaime were borh sacrificed to insure Cersei did not "die alone" like she deserved to on the show. I absolutely loathe Brienne's show ending - making her join a celibate order and fracking romanticize tWinCesT in the White Book scene. Perhaps Brienne will be a rewrite and we'll see where Macabre Storytelling goes with tje character.
Omg yes! I love how they just casually keep appearing in each others dreams and thinking what the other would do
yeah- tbh jamie going BACK to her in the end feels like bad character writing
I cannot believe how much you are improving these storylines !!
I've enjoyed every video in this series, but THIS right here is your magnum opus. Such a brilliantly beautiful end to the Lannisters arc and the show as a whole. It's now 100% my headcanon.
Arya sprinting through a city in turmoil with a baby girl in her arms would be such a good call back to her escaping King’s Landing after her father’s death! Perfection.
These videos are so nice, I feel like it gives closure and honestly just shows how little effort the actual writers of the show put into their thought processes for the characters and the storylines.
Just want you to know that this series was great, and that it has helped me find the emotional catharsis that I was initially deprived of in watching the show's final season. You have excellent literary interpretive skills; I hope to watch more of your work in the future.
LMAO the Arya Valonquar bit sent me
Excellent series, I've been binging it after happening upon your Sansa video. You show a great grasp of all of these characters and it's really impressive how you're able to give them satisfying arcs even with some of the curveballs the show throws your way in terms of cutting/merging characters.
Very curious about your thoughts on Bran / Night King and Theon (and the other Greyjoys) especially. I was initially sad you wouldn't be doing Dorne, seeing as it's (UO?) one of my favourite bits of the books, but I honestly wouldn't know how anyone would do that video without it being a long-ass angry rant that concludes with "so for the rewrite: Dorne doesn't exist! Hurray!"
An excellent ending and brilliant writing! I love it, it's now my official headcannon.
That said, I would amend a couple of things --
1 - Jaime dies from his wounds shortly after delivering the baby and holding it with cersei, before qyburn/Arya walks into the room. This lets the confrontation stay focused entirely on Arya and Cersei.
2 - after aryas moment of clarity and face turn where she agrees to take baby Joanna to safety, cersei will look out the window and daenerys dracrys'ing the city and say
"Take my daughter and go, leave me to burn in dragonfire, it's what I deserve
To which Arya will reply, "it is." After a moment, arya retrieves a pouch from qyburns clothes and gives cersei a fatal dose of sweet sleep. Cersei closes her eyes and dies peacefully moments before drogon incinerates the red keep.
Arya crosses off the last name on her list, delivering death to cersei not out of hatred spite or vengeance, but mercy. I think it would be a fitting close to her arc as an assassin and aspiring faceless man and a fitting homage to the ending of season 4 where she wouldn't give the gift of mercy to the hound
😢 The sweetsleep thing is great. It would have been awesome if she had some expression of the FM poisons training, giving that little speech on it from the books where it's like "One pinch will calm a man's nerves, two will give him a dreamless sleep, three will...something something". I'm paraphrasing haha, though you know what I mean.
Wow I was absolutely not expecting this. I was literally weeping by the time this video was over . First and only time a UA-cam video has brought me to tears ...Very well done.
Your rewrites are amazing. Definitely an underrated channel. Keep up the amazing work!
The ending - I cant, Im shooketh, Im moved.....amazing
I’m really impressed with the Arya re-write, this was best I’ve watched so far. Hope to see more
The worst thing about what happened in the show that it was easily avoidable with minor tweaks. But it needed full grasp of the characters arc and motivation which D&D clearly didn't even want to pursue as they were utterly annoyed by the show presence in their life .
Kudos to you on this fine work .
This ending was so beautiful.. for Arya, Cersei, Jaime and Tyrion!! I truly wish you're hired by HBO to redo the last few seasons!
I have really enjoyed your rewrites. Thank you. They make so much more sense than what was perpetrated by the show runners. I am also impressed by your creative use of invective when you get overwhelmed by the stupidity of said show runners. I was so very disappointed by the last several seasons, with this work you have redeemed the story. And shown how utterly carelessly this story was treated. By the way, I’m NOT crying.....
This makes me even sadder that the people who wrote the last season just wanted to get it over with when they could have just passed it onto people who were still passionate about GOT. This ending by far is more fulfilling and showed the characters growth.
GRRM said he only wanted them doing the show, but if they wanted out, why didn't he just take over? It's not like the fucking book is ever coming out anyways
I adore the story you have weaved with each one of them. I would love to see a complete story telling from start to finish. Maybe someone could honestly write this version.
These videos are the highlight of my week when they come out, and the longer the video the better!
13:15 Jesus that just shows how much emotional potential this show had in its barrels.
Well I never knew I needed to see Cats face shopped onto sickly ET but that made my day
No, they named the daughter Tysha as an epic troll on Tyrion.
Damn, I have loved all of these rewrites, but this one seriously got me 😭Thank you for these wonderful gifts.
I'm only three hours into a fifteen hour marathon. There better be good pay off for this 😂
I really love the idea of Arya going to have her revenge on Cersei but instead leaving with her daughter trying to protect her, the scene itself could have Cersei like you said spontaniously raising her daughter to Arya, followed by Arya awkwardly picking her up the way people often do when they don't know how to hold a baby, with Arya being silent and with an unreadable expression there would be a moment of tension whether she accepted the baby or whether she's gonna hurt her, stunned Arya would start slowly backing away and then wordlessly hurry to leave with Cersei having to shout her thanks after fleeing Arya
This is the most beautiful ending I’ve ever heard. Just when I thought I couldn’t hate d&d any more, I listen to this.they didn’t just drop the ball; they dropped it and it rolled down a hill, crashing into everything in its path . I loveyour videos so much . Well done sir. Well done
I love this ending for Arya, Jaime, and Cersei. Good job!
I would have been bawling so badly if GOT actually ended with your conclusion. Well woven and emotionally stirring--it would've been, dare I say, perfect.
I've always know that GRRM was a Lovecraft fan, for what I assume are obvious reasons, but hearing you say "[character x] was brought to the brink of insanity" in most of these rewrites made me realize just how deep an influence Lovecraft had on the series. It's doubly cool since rather than cosmic horrors beyond our understanding that drive the characters insane, it's hidden truths about society and the human condition that people refuse to understand. It fits perfectly with the grounded style of the books whilst also hitting many of the same beats of Lovecraft's stories.
It’s neat you referenced death wish. I watched it recently and to be honest I still like it as a sort of tragedy, he does end up getting overpowered and forced to give it up at the end. I think it argues that gun ownership and self defense are good but actively seeking revenge will never fill the hole in your heart. This is especially apparent in the scene were his brother in law questions why he isn’t concerned any more about his daughter and it’s apparent he’s given up on her and just wants the gratification of killing thugs.
It truly does sadden me how garbage Aryas character became after S4. Without Arya, I never would've been able to get into GoT, because I've never really been into fantasy + the long monologues always put me off when I tried to watch S1. But I fell in love with Aryas (admittedly quite generic) storyline, and thereby grew to love the whole show.
Thank you for doing this re-write. I just want to say that I really appreciate it.
Holy shit, I totally called this on your Cersei video- the whole "her daughter is the younger, more beautiful queen" thing. The comment only got like one like, so I assume you didn't see it lol. You told this reveal very beautifully regardless!
Seriously, Macabre Storytelling is one of the best GOT youtube channels. I love listening to these character rewrites.
Another good job. I would just say I'm okay with Sansa and Arya coming to terms with the letter due to Sansa's verbal smackdown of Arya about her not saving their father, either (and that Sansa was forced by Cersei, etc)...hearing it from her family who she has been so devoted to would carry weight and only add fuel to the "I hate Cersei" fire that's already burning bright (Arya's not an idiot, so I got that she was pushing Sansa's buttons in the "argument" to get an honest reaction from her). Also, D&D, as much as they screwed up the end, they DID do a great job adapting the books to screen, otherwise most of us wouldn't even be fans of the show...it's when they passed the books (or cut the wrong thing and ran out of material) that everything went to poop. But, yeah, they should have kept Lady Stoneheart (and I think Jon is going to come back as more Uncle Benjen like than regular Jon like, but stuck south of the wall instead of stuck north of it, like Benjen), which would make for an interesting team-up with Catelyn Stark, especially since she hated him during their "lives".
I actually got all choked-up at the end of this re-write. You would make a very good writer.
This ending gave me goosebumps. It's satisfying and makes sense.
"Joanna" is great for Tyrion, since he can now save a Lannister by the same name as the one he was blamed by his family for killing. But better for Arya would be if Jaime and Cersei named the baby "Mercy". It makes sense as a spur of the moment decision on a name by Cersei, since it's Arya's mercy that saves the baby's life. But it's also a great echo of the time Arya spent being called Mercy, only this time "mercy" means sparing lives instead of taking them. BOOM, arc complete.
Holy fucking hell. The rewrite around arya saving cerseis baby gave me chills. My god. Incredible
Wow. Just… wow. Incredibly well thought out and written. I just discovered your channel today- and I’m so glad. Thank you for sharing your talent with us, and giving us a phenomenal ending for the characters that started out so strong. I greatly appreciate your use of all the literary tools in a writer’s tool belt, as well as presenting a logical, satisfying, yet bittersweet end for Jamie and Cersei- as well as for all the characters that we fans grew to love. You’re a gem.
Wow! This is the very best rewriting you did up to now! Emotionally touching, yet far away from kitchy. Be proud of yourself, Ser!
This was great. Love the tragedy and resolution you've got going on. I'm glad you brought up the Faceless Militia, as I call them. There's a lot of hot takes on the military in the books
A staple of the entire ASOIAF book series is that all the characters are realistic,complex and that nothing about them is really black or white,and the fact that these writers took all these characters and turned them all into one dimensional good guys and bad guys by the end just goes to show how little D&D understood these books.
They started turning characters into simple goodies and badies way earlier...
@@bitterfox518 Season 5,6,7,8 are all garbage
Yes! I’ve been waiting for this one!
It is so satisfying to watch these. I love this series. I wish the real shows ending was just near what your rewrites are.
That ending made me cry 🥺🥺🥺
I think Brienne is a good example of a strong female character with flaws and complexities
At least in the books
Love this. I always wanted there to be a baby at the end. That said, that's why I also was initially game for the Jon/Dany romance because I thought we were going to get a baby out of that too. Imagine: a Lannister daughter and a Stark/Targaryen son both being raised in secret together, growing up together and possibly falling in love, thus finally uniting the three major houses at last.
Brilliant, even better than I imagined. Your efforts are much appreciated!