Game of Thrones Most Rage-Inducing Final Twist Was George Martin's Idea
The finale of Game of Thrones was widely panned, with many fans feeling that the whole series took a turn for the worse as George RR Martin's influence waned in later seasons.
And, of course, the most rage-inducing twist was when Bran the Broken became the new king of the Seven Kingdoms. So, to hear showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss confirm that this particular plot twist is what Martin had planned for the book series was, to say the least, a shock for many fans of the show.
Many had been of the opinion, since the finale aired in May 2019, that this unexpected (and largely unwanted) ending was a result of lazy writing from those who produced the later seasons of the show and were considered by many to have given up.
But no. This was apparently the plan all along.
According to Peter Dinklage, who played Tyrion, the ending makes perfect sense. He described Bran as "probably the only pure person in there" and noted that the fact that he could not produce heirs made him a wise choice for king.
Now, there is some sense to this argument. As seen in Game of Thrones – and more recently in the prequel series House of the Dragon – the subject of rightful heirs has caused nothing but war and bloodshed throughout the history of Westeros.
However, since these comments were made, Martin himself has indicated that the books will not have the same ending as the TV show. Speaking in 2022, the series' author said "not all the characters who survived until the end of Game of Thrones will survive until the end of A Song of Ice and Fire." He also said that not everybody who died in the TV show will also die in the books.
And while this is not a direct admission that the unpopular ending to the show (whether it really was his idea or not) will not be repeated in the book series, it certainly opens up the possibility that things will turn out differently for at least some of the inhabitants of Westeros.
Of course, we'll probably never know whether the ending we saw on-screen really was thought up by Martin. Or whether, if the books end differently, this is simply because Martin had the good sense to pick up on the outcry following the show's finale. But there seems little doubt in the minds of the showrunners that this was indeed the author's intended outcome.