"Game of Thrones" just wrapped up its sixth season last weekend, and it went out with a bang. Literally.
HBO’s "Game of Thrones" is one of the most popular shows on right now with the last episode having just short of 8 million people. The shows popularity has grown each season and for good reason. It is the best show in the history of television.
In most movies and shows, the hero wins and the guy gets the girl. The bad guy is defeated and everything is right in the world. Not in Game of Thrones. In Game of Thrones, the bad guys can win and the good guys die. The good guys die often.
The show is brutal. It depicts torture, rape, beheadings, blood, gore, massive battles and other highly offensive scenes. There is no lack of suffering in the show.
So why is Game of Thrones the best show ever? It has excellent directing, great production, amazing scenery and unparalleled acting. The real reason however is much more simple.
It’s realistic.
George R. R. Martin, the author of the best selling book, A Song of Ice and Fire, which inspired the series wanted to depict a realistic representation of what life was like in the middle ages. While there were no wizards and dragons in the actual middle ages, Martin and the HBO series capture how hard and brutal life could be.
Critics have claimed that the show is too violent or that it exploits women. George R. R. Martin has been quick to defend his books and the television series though. Martin claimed that rape and sexual violence were common in war and removing them from his novels would undermine many of the themes in his book. “The true horrors of human history derive not from orcs and Dark Lords, but from ourselves,” said Martin
The many, many characters in the show are smart and constantly scheming against one another, forming new alliances and betraying old ones. Honorable men like Ned Stark don’t stand a chance against the Lannisters who are liars and just all around terrible people, with the exception of Tyrion Lannister.
The greatest warriors in many shows always prevail in the end. In "Game of Thrones," they are just men. They can die just like any other man. It makes every viewer wonder if they’re favorite characters will live or die every episode. They sit on the edge of their seats, hoping that Daenerys, Jon, Tyrion, and others will escape death. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
If they survive, there is always a chance they die next episode.
Asides from the violence and almost certain death looming over every character, "Game of Thrones" is full of colorful, witty characters like Tyrion Lannister and Little Finger. Honorable characters like Jon Snow and strong, beautiful women like Daenerys and Cersei Lannister.
There has never been a show like "Game of Thrones" and it would be a hard show to replicate. While there will be a long wait for the next season, every fan will try to speculate what will happen next, who will die next and who will win the Iron Throne. Cersei perhaps says it best in the very first season. “When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.”
