The seventh and penultimate season of Game of Thrones only has seven episodes. Each episode ranges from 50 minutes to 75 minutes long. There is an immediate strong start to the season by showing off Arya and the abilities that she had gained from her time with the assassins. She is on a mission to kill all those that were on her list (i.e. who had done the Starks wrong) and finishes the job against Walder Frey. It manages to make the deaths gruesome and harder to stomach, while she then moves onto kill Cersei.
Jon Snow now holds the title as the new King in the North, having secured loyalty from the various lords. He is intent on stopping the White Walkers from invading but is struggling to find enough allies and build enough weapons that are effective against them. On the other hand, Daenerys finally arrives in Westeros and begins her reclamation of the throne. She is actually in a great position, having a strong army, three dragons, and reliable advisors. It is interesting how her circumstances are perfect to ally with Jon Snow. Her dragonfire can kill White Walkers, her stronghold contains a huge quantity of dragonglass, one of the only materials to kill White Walkers with, it seems too perfect a fit.
Unfortunately, Daenerys alternates between annoying and someone you root for. At times, she is too proud and arrogant, as are her advisors. She comes on too strong and asks immediately for you to succumb when characters first meet her, without considering all the facts. At other times, she has been through many injustices in order to get to this point. She acts like everyone did her wrong, and that she is the rightful ruler. However, she is sometimes blinded to the fact that she is acting like the people she hates, by not listening and stating her claim just because of her blood.
Cersei has gotten her wish and became Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, sitting on the Iron Throne. However, four of the kingdoms are in revolt and due to her nature as well as reputation, others are wary of her. The season returns the focus back to scheming and plotting, and this is where the series is at its best. By having such a huge cast to follow, it is inevitable that there will be uninteresting characters. Bran fits this description as one of the most useless characters in the series. Apart from his important first role of finding out the relationship between Cersei and Jaime, everything he does after adds nothing to the story. Sure, he is now the Three-Eyes Raven, saw the past, and also learns of the threat, but it could have been done by another character or even omitted and it wouldn’t have made a difference. All he does is rood and be cryptic, but not actually adding value.
Finally, Jorah, the noble knight, and Sam Tarly, who had journeyed onto the citadel to become a Maester, meet and help each other out. This is actually a theme of the season as the unlikeliest of characters would meet up and then band together as they have a common goal. Over the season, characters who had been stubborn up until now start to see things with a more objective view, and they move forward as a result. It’s interesting to see the season touch upon some minor plot threads that you thought were forgotten. It would dig them out into the open, such as Joffrey’s death, when it happened so long ago. It’s meaningful and serves its purpose, which is what makes it logical to be brought up again.
The battles of a grand scale continues, and now that Daenerys is finally taking action and taking the fight to King’s Landing, these battles are a lot more epic. Dothraki cavalry will rush in, fighting like mad men, while Daenerys rides her dragon into battle, spreading terror into the enemy’s forces. The enemies then desperately find a way to counter this living weapon and it leads to several tense scenes.
However, as Daenerys faces off against Cersei, there is a looming threat from the north by the White Walkers. They have a bigger presence towards the end of the season. The might of their power is scary. They have such a large army of the dead that it makes them feel invincible. They can always resurrect more to bolster their numbers in a never-ending cycle but the season revealed an easier way out for Westeros…
The ending to the season is one of the bigger cliffhangers in the series thus far. Not only are we not sure if the various kingdoms can overcome their differences in order to band together to fight off the threat from the North, but there are significant revelations on who is the true and rightful heir to the Iron Throne.
Overall, Game of Thrones Season 7 is filled with highs and lows. Yes, there are certain scenes with not much happening, and there is a lot of back and forth between the characters and events. However, things seem to continually progress at an alarming rate as we near the end of the series. It is starting to wrap up a lot of its minor plot threads, and funneling the rest into a single point. Despite this, it still manages to lead us to an unexpected revelation in the final episode.
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