| LurkerJ said: I always thought the books and the show would've been better without the supra-natural elements. Non of them mattered in the end anyway. Daenerys dragons couldn't save her, the white walkers and the night king proved to be a weaker villain than silly Euron (not as silly in the books, admittedly). Jon's resurrection cheapened one of the strongest aspects of the books, not to mention, he's one of the most annoying black and white characters that gets to live, and him coming back to life was purposeless anyway, Arya would've killed Daenerys and her dragon if she wanted to. The red woman giving births to shadows (twice in the books) amounted to nothing as Stannis didn't get anywhere close to what he wanted. The three eyed raven turned Bran into a plot device who only got screen time in the 6th season to confirm theories and give us flashbacks. The mountain becoming Frankenstein had absolutely no meaning whatsoever, not once he had to defend Cersi from true dangers. Arya spent so much time learning how to become a faceless man for nothing. On the other hand, I was happy that Lady Stoneheart was dropped in the show. |
I was totally fine with the Others. It should have been the signature and only substantial supernatural presence in the novels, the lone source of "magic" in a world of blood and steel. It was the doom closing in on the kingdom while everyone squabbled and played their game of thrones. The reason GoT caught on was that it felt so gritty and realistic as opposed to the lack of logic and detail usually inherent in High Fantasy. The Others emphasised that. The dramatic tension they brought to the first novel created a truly cold and foreboding atmosphere.
Then suddenly we had dragons like every other fantasy series out there and Daenerys unrealistically banana-peeling her way to a massive amount of power in a short period of time. Her chapters felt like an entirely different novel, one more akin to standard fantasy than what was taking place elsewhere.
Loved most of what I read and GRRM is certainly one of the most talented and skilled authors I've ever come across, especially in the fantasy field. However, the series became far too diluted with "magic" and lost much of what made it special to begin with. The greatest moments in the novels almost always came from humans being unpredictable and savage creatures, not from cliched fantasy shenanigans.
