That’s how it started, that’s how it will end. That’s why it’s a Game of Thrones.
As writers, we work with what we have. Looking at the myriad possibilities, it makes sense to have Gendry, the true heir to the Iron Throne as Robert Baratheon’s bastard (certainly more of a claim than Jon Snow who is one king back from that) and Arya, who doesn’t want to be a lady, but has experienced the full gamut of the kingdoms in her travels, becoming the Hand.
The reason GOT can’t wrap up as well as, say, Breaking Bad, is that Breaking Bad had a clear lead character: Walter White. One of my favorite series endings was Justified, but, again, a clear protagonist. People still argue whether Tony Soprano was killed– duh. Yes!
GOT never had a clear protagonist. The character with the most screen time has been Tyrion who has been getting dumber as time goes on. He’s not the protagonist, though. In essence, the throne is.
The first season of GOT I could barely tell people apart. Especially the Stark brothers. It’s a muddle of characters and subplots and the writers are catching hell from fans with their magical transports of people all over the kingdom while trying to wrap things up. I’ve run into that logistical problem– when I simply can’t make characters be where I want them to be when I want them to be there given the limitations of time and space. In a book it’s deadly because readers will go back and re-read and say “Hey!” It’s getting that way in film with DVRs and streaming. “Hey! What’s the coffee cup doing there?”
Also, don’t forget the ‘tell’ from the opening scene of the last episode when Varys is writing someone– I believe that was Gendry, who, BTW, was not in the Dresden Clusterfrak at Kings Landing. Also, Varys told his little bird, Martha, to try again and left her payment, his ring, in the cup which she would collect to clean at kitchen staff. Poison, most foul. Which reminds me of Livia in I, Claudius, bemoaning how much it difficult it was to poison Tiberius by putting the poison in the figs still on the tree. But that’s another throne and story.
It’s a story. There are dragons. There are zombies.
Relax and enjoy.
If I’m right, buy my next book, New York Minute. If I’m wrong, buy my next book, New York Minute. It’s a game and that’s how it’s played.
It’s a game.
I think Sansa Stark ends as queen. Maybe married to Gendry, I don’t know. He’s a real contender, but not sure how he keeps anyone in line.