After Game of Thrones Season 6, I created a “music video” with the aim of weaving some of the most memorable cinematographic moments from this gorgeous series into an articulation of what I liked most about the narrative.
As in much great literature or Greek tragedy, for many Game of Thrones characters, every choice and action is bound to one inescapable, defining flaw or personal catastrophe. Ned Stark’s honor, Lord Varys’s castration at the hands of a sorcerer, or Tyrion’s being “on trial” all his life simply because he was born a dwarf. This helplessness is their shared condition, and though they may be sworn enemies in mortal life, on a higher plane they are kindred spirits in that struggle against fate (or whatever other name it’s given).
Game of Thrones dramatizes so well how the inescapable must become vital. It shows the importance of metamorphosis — through the circumstances that break us and shape us for our destiny. Yet despite whatever changes we undergo, often there is some important aspect that must stay the same, that cannot be forgotten.