Veronica Panella

SPOILERS FOR FINAL SEASON I can understand why fans were disappointed over the final season; particularly how the last episode went down. A great deal of story time was spent on developments that ended up being unimportant in the end; the most famous being R+L=J. It was true that several story lines did end up wrapping up well, but others not so well. Among those characters who did get a complete character arch were Sansa, Arya, and Bran. Daenerys did also get a complete arch (even if some fans were not happy). She was headed to this end and it took her eight seasons to slowly get there. I actually found her death very poignant and, I kid you not, it happened almost exactly as I imagined it would be, with Jon kissing her and telling her that she would always be his queen just before he plunged a knife into her chest. It is a predictable development, but very nicely delivered. Jon's story, however, seems to have derailed somewhere. He began in the Night's Watch and he ended in the Night's Watch. He was the true heir to the Iron Throne and we all cared about it until the last episode; when we all realized that it did not matter. R+L=J was just as important as Aunt Cecil + Uncle Bob= Cousin Pete. Sure Aemon Targaryren turned out to be Jon's great great uncle or something and they were both in Night's Watch, and blah blah blah, who cares? Yes, Sansa went from zero to hero (and Queen of the North), so "yeah", she got a complete story arch, and Bran underwent a transformation to the Three Eyed Raven (although he did not get nearly enough development to end up the winner of the Iron Throne). Arya underwent training for seven seasons to become a warrior only to abruptly change career paths (okay, I guess she mentioned to Lady Clark that she wanted to see what was West of Westeros in a scene several seasons ago). Next to Jon, I think her path was the most useless. Lord Davos, Brianne, and Sam Tarly got to be observers of history and Gendry and Yara got land assigned to them after their original holders died leaving vacancies. They had nice side stories, and none took up that much screen time. I liked Grey Worm and Missandei's love story. It is true that Missandei died rather abruptly, but her death formed the catalyst for Dany's madness and her memory will live on in Grey Worm's decision to settle the Unsullied in her homeland. Then there are the truly robbed characters. These are the ones who were developed and died in vain. I am not talking about those, like Ned Stark, who died but whose death had a purpose, but rather those whose deaths made everything they did before pointless. A moment of silence for them: Oberon Martell, the Sand Snakes, Margaery and Loras Tyrell, and Cersei Lannister. I do not count Jamie Lannister because like Romeo, his whole purpose for existence was to die with his lover (as we found out in the second to last episode), but why even bother developing Cersei only for her never to be confronted by the consequences of her action (and no, having rocks land on you is not facing the consequences of your actions- it is just being in the wrong place at the wrong time).