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Game of Thrones fans have been wondering.
To begin with, everyone is aware that Game of Thrones is a show that has dragons, an army of the dead, resurrection, magic, and an attitude that incest is ok, so a landscape changing isn’t the biggest thing that fans are going to be fixated on.
The HBO drama is a fantasy show and the suspension of disbelief is inherent to the genre. We all get that.
However, another reason why Game of Thrones is so beloved is the fact that the show has consistently juxtaposed the more fantastical elements – dragons, ice zombies, priestesses, a 700-foot tall wall that’s made of ice – with the incredibly real and Machiavellian scheming that exists in the political sphere.
In some ways, the show is a vicim of its own success because the fantasy elements work so well due to the fact that the show is grounded in those dramatic moments that elevate it above the rest.
Things like plot, storyline, script, character arcs, logic were all given an incredible amount of importance.
Hell, there’s an endless amount of articles and columns that are dedicated to drawing comparisons between Westeros and political world of today.
Simply put, the action set-pieces work because we’re all invested in these characters. The ‘big moments’ in episodes like the Battle of the Bastards, Hardhome, and Blackwater are memorable because their pay-off has been well earned.
On this note, compare the moment when Viserion died in Beyond the Wall with how Rhaegal was killed by Euron Greyjoy in the most recent episode.
Rhaegal’s death seemed rushed and cobbled together. The showrunners even said that Dany simply ‘forgot’ about Euron’s fleet and while Euron is most certainly a fun character to see on screen, you can’t help but get the feeling that the attitude of the showrunners is ‘we need something to happen to fit the story that we’ve got in our heads. Hey, let’s get Euron to do it.’
The payoff was just flat.
On this note, something like the geography of King’s Landing really shouldn’t matter but at the present moment, it does because it’s symptomatic of an approach that the creators have towards wrapping everything up.
Take a look at the opening credits from Season 1 when compared to Season 8.
King’s Landing now seems to have shifted inland.
Global warming, perhaps?
Game of Thrones is that rare beast, it’s a show where the small things matter because over the previous seasons, the writers have been so clever in layering the show with subtle hints, clues, throwbacks, etc.
Forgetting something as simple as the geography of the capital of Westeros is something that’s bound to be noticed.
Granted, if the battle of King’s Landing in the next episode is the finest episode of TV that’s ever made, it’s very likely that Thrones fans will forgive this oversight.
It’s entirely possible that the showrunners just needed some open terrain so they could create the greatest battle in the show’s history. If that’s the case, the end could justify the means. Hell, who needs logic when we can have the biggest battle in history?
It should also be noted that sets in the show have consistently changed over the seasons – Winterfell being the most notable one – but the changes in King’s Landing have been far more noticeable.
For example, here’s Cersei looking out from the Red Keep window in the episode where the Sept Baelor is destroyed and an image from the most recent episode.
Here’s what the terrain of King’s Landing looked like in early seasons and the last episode.
Here’s hoping that the next episode makes use of all that open space.
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