Game of Thrones: The futility of it all
“And when all the wars are over,
A butterfly will still be beautiful.”
I don’t know about you guys, but two things that stuck me the most while I watched the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones last night were:
How beautiful a battle can be.
How “futile” as a feeling can be evoked in me by a TV show.
From pity and tears to genuine heartwarming love and sigh, I went through a myriad of emotions while watching everything crumble in less than 100 minutes. That’s how much I ended up investing in a show that I started to follow only after my husband coaxed me into it.
First of all, the episode obviously brought to the mind T S Eliot’s ‘The Hollow Men.’
The futility of it all is truly hard to miss. Be it in your heart, or the mind or that subconscious pricking you and shouting, “Eight years? For this?”
I believe it’s a beautiful message. Think about it. Go to your favorite character (not everyone will have The Khaleesi in mind) and tell me you’re not disappointed!
Investing so much time in someone or something is not a joke anymore. We are al trying to fit in a lot. The explosion of information all around us doesn’t let us breathe.
And yet, year after year, you chose this. Took time out to watch it more than once. To witness what in the end?
A beautiful battle, almost heavenly, (remember Drogon in the background while The Mountain and The Hound decided to fight it out one last time?) and those moments of human intimacy scattered all over. It all translated to just one thing — it doesn’t matter.
What matters is who you spent your last moments with (Jamie and Cersei) or who you showed gratitude to (Tyrion and Jamie’s last conversation) or whether you were able to let you go (Arya decides to leave after saying thank you to Sandor.)
For me, even before it has ended, I know the lesson GoT teaches me.
To never love a character too much and to always keep assessing what really matters.
Let’s keep it simple guys.
(I seriously laughed out loud when I saw the petition signed by fans to rewrite the end. So much for the love of violence.)
Can’t wait for the end!
Share your views with me at anoushkabhartia@gmail.com
