Warning: Spoilers if you have not seen up to the season six finale, or read all the books! If you don't like spoilers stop here.
Since "Game of Thrones" has come out on TV, it has been my favorite show of all time. With the first season being almost perfectly matched up with the books, I thought I was in for the wonderful recreation of the masterwork novels. Soon I realized that the show would, in fact, take on a mind of it's own being very similar, but different. A lot of it was minor differences, like the characters age, or where the book went into pages of detail, the show didn't or couldn't. After Jon Snow's death the show was at a standstill with the books with major plot devices, but there was a new season coming out before George R.R. Martin was going to be finished the sixth book. I was worried I wouldn't like the show because it was getting ahead and too far off from the books.
This is where talking to friends made all the difference. The books and the TV series are two different entities entirely. The more I treated them as the same thing, the more I began to dislike them because they were different. Going into this season, they were different, and I have never enjoyed a season so much. It could be because this was, in my opinion, the best season to date, but also because I came in blind. From Tyrion's council, to saving Mereen to council to Daenerys at the end of the season, and Jon Snow's resurrection to his taking of Winterfell with Sansa -- I loved it.
The "Battle of the Bastards," the fight for Winterfell between Jon Snow and Ramsay Bolton was my favorite open field battle scene in anything. The fact that they didn't shy away from the reality of a medieval battle made it better. Horses running into each other at breakneck speed, and bodies forming a giant wall is not the easiest thing to watch, but it is real and makes the show better.
The presence of female characters is another enhancement to the show, with the true power they possess. Daenerys, with the seeminly undefeatable army, and advice of the smartest man in the world. Asha Greyjoy, who leads the ironfleet. Arya Stark, who is learning to be one of the best assassins. And Cersei Lannister, who is hated, but has been the most powerful woman in Westeros and has now become the most powerful person in Westeros. The show does not shy away from anything, and nothing will stop it from steamrolling ahead to become one of the greatest shows of all time.
"Game of Thrones" has cemented itself at the top of my list for favorite TV shows, and "A Song of Ice and Fire" has cemented itself at the top of my favorite book series. I just don't know what to do when it is all over.
For season six, my shout outs go to Lady Lyanna Mormont; the 10-year-old female leader of a noble house, might be the most badass character in the show. Cersei Lannister, for cemeting why she is the most evil character of all time with the wildfire destruction of the Sept, and about 10 major characters -- including the Queen Margaery. Jon Snow for reclaiming Winterfell as a Stark and becoming King in the North. Tyrion Lannister for being himself, and probably the most universally loved character in the show. Lastly -- to the white raven because winter is coming.
