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Spoilers ahoy. If you've not seen game of thrones, read on to get the disappointment out of the way now
I disagree wholeheartedly. As much as "who's got a better story than bran" sucked, I think that was likely the ending that was intended in the books as well (and the extreme backlash against it is why we'll never see the last books). GRRM stated on multiple occasions that he was working closely with HBO and that they knew the general shape of the story he was trying to tell.
I feel like the majority of the problem with GoT was Benioff and Weiss. GRRM wanted at least two more seasons in which to tell the story (and, knowing what we know now, to delay the revelation that he didn't really have a way to untangle the story he tangled), HBO made it clear that they would keep riding the money train no matter how far the station, but D&D wanted to wrap the series up ASAP so they could work on producing some Star Wars films. That's why Jon goes from Dragonstone to the wall in a single cut. That's why the entire war with the nights king that was central to the whole series was over in an episode. That's why Dani went psycho in her moment of victory. That's why cersei's death was so predictable that it's a cliche in ttrpgs, that's why cleganebowl was ultimately disappointing, that's why the resolution to dragons being in westeros was "idk he just left lol", that's why the resolution to aryas story was "idk she just left lol" (even after several seasons developing her character as someone who believes that if Starks don't stick together they'll be destroyed), that's why the resolution to the war in the north was "idk the north...won? but also surrendered? lol", that's why LRJ didn't matter at all, that's why the spider went from being the most politically adroit character on the show to doing a whole musical number entitled "Do You Wanna Do A Treason?", that's why littlefinger's whole trial was "we know he's a dick just kill him", and the fact that House of the Dragon is being made by people who want to make it is why its almost as good as the first 5 seasons of GoT
It all comes down to the fact that they wanted the show to just be over, and now it is I suppose.
The issue isn't the ending itself, it's how they got there. They rushed the ending, and as a result it made no sense.
There's one point on the ending that no amount of taking their time and telling the story correctly will resolve, and that's that accepting the crown goes fundamentally against who Bran has been since the beginning of the show. I would have been okay with a reluctant king in Jon, because it would fulfill the prophecy, fire would have won out over ice, LRJ would have mattered, Varys would have a complete arc, Jon being a Targaryen raised by a Stark would have given us an emotionally satisfying end to the civil war by uniting the north and south in one person, and Jon had already proven himself to be caring and competent in a leadership role he didn't really want when he was at castle black.
Bran didn't just not want to be king, he expressed absolute disdain for the office of king. He repeatedly says that it doesn't matter who is king. Unless we're assuming that something happened to make this ending make sense, it just doesn't. If we are assuming that something happened to make this ending make sense, then it's incumbent on the show to show us what happened and they failed to do that.
I really don't think Bran as king is a bad ending but I would have really liked to see Sansa or Jon.
What made it bad for me was how quickly it was decided. "Lol who should be king?" "I dunno not me" "how about the crippled boy" "haha perfect, the end"
There should have been more talk leading up to it - not just the episode but the season as a whole. Nobody ever ponders who will take over when they win??
The last two seasons were so rushed. Things happening nonstop and I enjoyed the slow moments of that show as much as the action. It felt very Hollywood (in a bad way)
And do they honestly expect him to produce an heir? I know quadriplegic men have trouble with that and he also just has no interest in that, Bei the raven and all. It will basically end up with someone else anyway, maybe Jon after all.
That was one of the points made for Bran, that since he won't produce an heir that the new system of "The Lords Paramount, monarchs of newly seceded nations, and whoever happens to be at the meeting decide by consensus" will continue
Actually I think many people agree with you. I can see the ending happening, it’s just… Dum&Dumber couldn’t figure out how to get there, and GRRM was too rich and lazy to do what he was supposed to do to get them there.
I personally think of it as “seasons 1-5 happened, then there was a huge, mysterious time jump, and the last 2 episodes of season 8 happened”.