The Thrones Rewrite

I’m a big Game of Thrones fan. I read the books, the short stories, the prequel, watched the show, and even played the board game. With that being said, I’ve been highly disappointed in the last few seasons of Game of Thrones. The decline understandably happened during season 6 after they lost their source material due to the book series delay. Even though I really enjoy the show I believe the writers panicked. They started killing off characters  whose stories seemed too complicated (Littlefinger), did a whole lot of fanservice, and inorganically rushed the plot to its upcoming conclusion. I’ll say it again: I still enjoy the show. I just feel that all of this stole what made Game of Thrones special. It’s a show that has twists and turns and organically generates an insanely interesting plot.

When I told this to my friends, they mocked me and asked if I could do better so I gave it a go. I spent a solid week hammering away at it and it turned out better than I thought it would.  So without further ado, here is my Game of Thrones Rewrite. All of my changes will be made for seasons 6 through 8. I also don’t think this is how the books should play out. Over the rewrite I’m going to focus a lot on the Azor Ahai prophecy, time jumps, as well as a few twists. The changes start small but will slowly take form and make our story happen more organically. Things I don’t touch on mean that I would keep them the same. You’ll need to have watched seasons 1 through 5 in order to understand this and of course, spoilers ahead.

Season 6 starts in the room where Jon’s body was in the original season 6. The main change here will be instead of Melisandre cutting Jon’s hair, she will be salting Jon’s body and burning it because of course she would. She believes in the Red God whose main gimmick is fire. It would only make sense that she would use fire for the resurrection. Another thing I feel is necessary to do in Jon’s resurrection is sacrifice Ghost, Jon’s direwolf. A big problem with his ressurection was that there were no stakes. He was dead and then he wasn’t. There was no price that was paid so to fix that I’m going to make a call back to season one where the witch told Dany that “only blood can pay for blood.” Melisandra will say that and kill Ghost and throw the body on Jon’s burning body. The fire would fly wildly out of control almost burning down the room and then immediately extinguish. Ghost will be gone, but rising from salt and smoke (as the azor ahai  prophecy foretells) Jon Snow will be reborn with his hair completely burnt off. It will grow back quickly but instead of being Stark black, it’ll grow Targaryen silver. This will be one of a few changes that will make it easier for Jon and others to accept that he is the rightful heir, rather than it seeming like a power grab like it does now in the original season 8.

Change number two for season 6 will be speeding up Danny’s arrival to Westeros. I still want Jora and Dario to save her as well as Tyrion rules the city, and earning the title of Hand. However, I’d cut out some of the fluff so that Danny could be in Westeros by the end of season 6 where she’ll conquer Dragonstone with her dragons and the Greyjoy fleet burning down the entire Lannister army, as well as some of Euron Greyjoy’s fleet (why was there no fortification in Dragonstone for the actual show?). In this battle, Theon will be killed saving his sister Yara which will motivate her to kill Euron. The last change I want, to make to season 6, is that the Sand Snakes don’t perform their Coup. Instead, they assassinate Trystane Martell and blame the Lannisters. This pushes Doran to openly rebel against the Iron Throne which he starts doing by killing Myrcella. They will not join Dany (however the Tyrells still will). Other than that, season 6 plays out roughly the same. Jon (now with short barely grown silver hair and matching stuble) takes winterfell, Rickon dies, Jon becomes King in the North, and Cersei destroys the sept of Baelor (Credit where credit is due, the writers nailed Cercei in season 6 spot on).

Season 7 starts off a couple of months later. Episode 1 would be the final battle where Jamie gives up Lannisport to take High Garden, and The Queen of Thorns tells him that she killed Joffrey. Then, Dany comes with her dragon to reign fire on the Lannisters just like S7 ep 4 of the show. This will happen in concert with Arya finally taking out the Frey’s similar to how she did in S7 ep 1, only this time it will be to recapture the Riverlands in her brothers name (Also none of that Ed Sheeran shit). Jon has been King for a while and has been strengthening the Night’s Watch defenses. Danny has taken Storm’s End at this point and the Dothraki are pillaging the Storm lands. The end of the episode Jon will decide to head south to beg Danny for her support in the battle against the dead while Sansa rules the North. She’ll reunite with Arya and Bran as she did in original season 7. Cersei will be a threat because she’s utilizing wildfire (which for some reason she just stopped using after the real season 6). Jon will meet Danny and beg for her support which she’ll obviously only give after she beats Cersei and he bends the knee. Since my Jon, whose silver hair and beard have fully grown in, will be less consumed with his crown, he will offer Dany terms. Jon swears to bend the knee only after the Night King is dead. After some convincing Dany will agree to Jon’s terms, still hesitant. Her only issue is the threat of Cersei’s retaliation. This will send Tyrion, Varys and Davos on their mission to King’s Landing to arrange the meeting between Jon, Danny, and Cersei (I’m adding Varys because no one else knows how to sneak in and out of that city better than him, He should have been there in the original season). The trip will take a month, which will give Jon and Dany some time to form a relationship. The meeting is also going to happen before Jon goes beyond the Wall. When the meeting is finally arranged Cercei will deny the temporary truce.  She will demand proof which Jon will have to obtain beyond the wall. Dany and Jon will travel to the wall by boat where Jon plans to capture a White Walker as proof. Dany would come to fly Jon and the White back to King’s Landing in fear that it may not last. On the boat Dany and Jon will have an intimate conversation or two and eventually have sex. In bed they’ll talk about the possibility of marriage and life after the war.

The mission beyond the wall will pretty much go as it did it in the show only they will planned for Dany’s extraction with a flair system. The Hound would lead Jon to the White army where they capture a White but end up getting surrounded by the Whites for the night while Gendry runs to the mountain peak and signals Dany with the flair. The biggest change in this rewrite is that when Danny saves Jon beyond the wall she dies along with her dragon. Jon, the Hound, Tormund, and an unconscious Ser Jorah are the only survivors and the situation will force Jon to take a leap of faith and jump on a dragon for his first ride, escaping with two dragons, the Hound, Tormund, Jorah, and a White. It would make sense that the Night King would not want to ride a dragon because when riding a dragon he’d be an easy target for dragon fire which should be one of his weaknesses. That’s why he takes Dany too, making the Mother of Dragons a white dragon rider.

The season seven finale ends with a devastated Jon bringing the White to Cersei who agrees to the cease fire and to help Jon. Just like in the original season 7, Cersei does not plan on keeping her word which will push Jamie to abandon her and flee North. When Jon informs Dany’s men on Dragonstone and Storm’s End most of them abandon her cause. The Dothraki leave to continue plundering the lands around them and the sellsword companies sale to Bravos. The Unsullied agree to join Jon in the battle against the dead only thanks to an inspiring speech by Tyrion who calls Jon “the shield of the realms of men.” The episode ends with the Unsullied sailing to Winterfell and Jon flying overhead as Dany, the new “Night Queen” breaks the Wall allowing the Night King and his army into Westeros.

With all that we have built a more entertaining and intricate version of season 6 and 7 that fits with the unpredictability of the original seasons of the show. Jon has gained the power he needs to save Westeros but at a terrible price. He finally allowed himself to love someone again only to lose her to the enemy. Even worst, Jon will have to fight Dany in order to save the realm from destruction. All of this presents potential for an interesting and fun way to end the series in the final season which I will be going over in the in Part II of the rewrite (that’s the big twist. There’s two parts).

Click here to read the conclusion in Part Two of The Thrones Rewrite where I give my version of Season 8.

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