The next to the last season of the show Game of Thrones premieres tonight. The show has been a real game changer in the realm of premium made for cable serial television. The budget has been unprecedented and the writers have not shied away from killing off popular characters. The story is well written at all levels and from all perspectives.
On the individual episode level, each story is finely crafted and beautifully executed. Each episode advances each of several threads as they depict the development of each of the essential characters in the story. We see themes repeat themselves and future events foreshadowed.
Another ground breaking aspect of the Game of Thrones is the fact that it tells a story of a fixed length. The story has taken six seasons to tell so far and two more seasons are planned. Then this story will be told. There are plans to tell other related stories in the same universe, so called spin offs but they will be different stories.
There are many richly developed characters in the series. Some are central to the story while others are merely supportive. The interesting thing about Game of Thrones is that it isn’t clear which characters will become central and which are merely supportive until we have followed the story through a number of episodes. Sometimes noble characters are struck down by fate. They are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Other central characters are shown to have fatal flaws that are their eventual undoing in their pursuit of the Iron Throne that the King (or Queen) of the seven kingdoms sits upon. It is a sign of the literary acumen of the writers that each of the would be kings are shown to be good and noble on the one hand and yet be so despicable due to their respective short comings.
The result is the creation of a rich fantasy world inhabited by characters of mythological proportions. This style of fiction is known as mythopoeic and notable examples of it are Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, C. S. Lewis’ Narnia series, and most recently J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Such series are renown for their faithful fan following and Game of Thrones is no exception.
The series has attracted a huge and devoted fan following. There are many small groups that get together to watch each episode as it is shown. It is the subject of talk around the water cooler at work. It has become a popular pastime to theorize what is going to happen in future episodes based on clues that are liberally strewn throughout earlier episodes.
Whether you are a long term fan or you are just catching the Game of Thrones bug, the premiere is an exciting event that most of us have been waiting for a long time. Now, our wait is over. We are more than ready for it.
Sweet dreams, don’t forget to tell the ones you love that you love them, and most important of all, be kind.