Post by stdaga on Jul 29, 2019 15:05:58 GMT
They didn't emphasize enough the power Prophesy has had on her mindset, and how Quaithe's influence has slowly been influencing her mind. They dropped Quaithe after Season 2, and they downplayed the lure of the House of the Undying.
They did really downplay the House of the Undying, so much so that we get the odd abbreviated look at the throne room, and Drogo and Rhaego on the tent, but nothing else. So, from early in the story, they veered away from the importance of Dany's focus on prophecy, her need to constantly question who would betray her next, and they really never let her question how she would be viewed in Westeros with her foreign army. Until this final season. Oh, they used that as propaganda against Dany, but they never let us know that Dany worried about it, and they gave her instant allies like Dorne and the Reach and the Greyjoy fleet (well, part of it) that all seemed to fawn over her and make her think she was needed. There was no set up about any push back about how she might be seen as a foreign invader, except for Cersei's camp, and that is downplayed in reality. But I think that the show did it that way to make her change/fall seem like a surprise. They are all about surprises. The show runners loved the reaction that the Red Wedding received, and they wanted to repeat that fan reaction again and again. But this time, it was too much, and too near the end of the story. There wasn't really any delving into what happened or the true fall out afterward, or any closure. It was all glossed over. Just like they glossed over how the Red Keep pretty much fell to pieces, but then a couple months later, it barely looks like the wind blew hard in Kingslanding. Sloppy and quick, which fed to disappointment in the character arcs.
Reading more of Martin's other works really helps identify what's his ideas, and what are D&Ds, it's just D&D don't know how to build to those ideas, and Martin himself hasn't figured out how to get there, or else the books would be written already.
I agree that d&d struggled to build on GRRM's concept for the end, and I guess I should give them some credit for trying, but Lord, it fell very flat. I am sure it wasn't an easy task, and if you are correct, and GRRM himself is struggling to get to the conclusion that he wants, that might be a reason for his delay. I am more inclined to think that the story has grown so big he can't wrangle it down anymore, and is a bit lost in his own world building. He has this goal of two books, but I think if he just wrote, without a book total in mind, he might be more successful trying to wrap up his series.
Honestly, I almost wish that d&d had just made their own fairy tale ending and didn't even attempt to stick to Martin's conclusion points. This way, the show fan base might be more satisfied (probably not with the coffee cup and water bottle sloppiness) with the ending as a whole, while GRRM doesn't have to face the idea that right now he is working against public opinion if he pursues his planned conclusion. He already has enough working against him (himself, mostly), he didn't need that to weight him down.