[ SECRET POST #4545 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4545 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 33 secrets from Secret Submission Post #651.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[sparklywalls]

I thought the main issue was that she went from killing people the story encouraged you to feel deserved it on some level to killing kids quite quickly. I'm not saying killing people is something that should be celebrated but the story very much framed her past kills as having some sort of justification or was done to characters we weren't meant to like anyway, such as Sam's father and brother - though I admit that was pretty shitty of her.

I'm not mad about her becoming a villain (I know some people are) but it was like she went from A to Z skipping out around 20 letters on the way. But the same can be said of basically every character in season 8 really. I've moved into the acceptance phase with how the show ended. No point being upset about it, it's done now.

[(Anonymous)]

From a Death of the Author point of view, I think there's something fairly profound in "once you accept that it's A-OK to burn people to death because you think they're Bad, other apparently-firm lines become actually very easy to cross". If you have the power to do that all the time, and you're a human with bad days, why wouldn't you? This is why individual humans shouldn't have access to carpet bombs.

Like. To reduce the scale to absolute absurdity, I love my cat like anything and absolutely would never think he deserved to be hurt. But if I was in the habit of killing, say, Pest Rats in excruciating ways whenever I was frustrated, I think it would be a lot easier to just kick him one day when I was having a meltdown.

.....but from a "two dudes passed up a chance to make a lengthier season so they could run off to star wars, and have always made some iffy choices re: gender politics, this is a matter of public record" perspective, I am 100% sure this was not the intended thematic point and they're just being lazy hacks who think "bitches be crazy" counts as a character arc, so fuck those guys.

[sparklywalls]

Great comment and it's definitely true that once you kill one person/group of people then perhaps it's easier to move on to those who don't "deserve" it. Because you've already crossed that overall moral horizon of hurting another living thing.

But your final paragraph sums up another of my feelings over this. I still can't believe they thought a reduced season would be enough. I understand they got the plot/endings from GRRM and it's unlikely the books will change very much in terms of how character arcs end, but season 8 very much came across as staying up all night writing that 5000 word essay you've been meaning to write for several weeks but the deadline is 9am tomorrow...

[(Anonymous)]

+1

i think it's the shame(though let's face, very likely deliberate) that people sweep this concern under the same umbrella as people claiming her downfall in general was ooc. foreshadowing does not mean you get to skip narrative arcs and it BAFFLES me how many think "was going to happen" means that it doesn't matter when or how it happened. ugh.

[(Anonymous)]

Thissss. I would have loved to see Dany as a proper conqueror and villain once she crossed the sea and had to interact with everyone else, but that wasn't it.

[sparklywalls]

It definitely could've been done so much better.

I think batting away this concern also ignores that the show was following the books in that Dany is basically written in a way that makes you see her as someone to root for, even coming across as one of GRRM's favourites. When I read the books there was only one POV character (who made it past the first book, because Ned is sympathetic too) that I felt like he liked more and that was Tyrion. And maybe Arya. Anyway, Dany has never been one of my favourites but I can understand why other viewers were drawn to her because she's a main character and her grievances seem legit and are framed as such...at first.

I personally have never had an issue being a fan of horrible characters because I was stanning villains as a little girl but I totally get why this is relatively new territory for some people and causing conflicted feelings. Having a protagonist who crosses over into antagonist (or antagonist who becomes a heroic character) is a very interesting narrative device for me but we criticise fanfic authors for rushing this stuff, TV show runners shouldn't be immune to that same criticism.