“Game of Thrones” has been the guilty pleasure of some 25 million loyal viewers who succumbed to the magic of the blending of the elements that make an amazing television series. Since its beginning in 2011, there has been something about the show that draws audiences who have become addicted to the irreverence, the blatant disregard for traditions, the sex the mystery and the action, and these are just to name a few. With the series ending on May 19, 2019 in its final episode, there is a lot that we’re going to miss as there will be no more episodes to look forward to. Here are the 20 things that we will miss the most.
1. The suspense
One of the most addictive elements about “Game of Thrones” has been the suspense that it generated. In fact, it’s one of the things that keeps people coming back just to make sure that they don’t miss the conclusion of the most recent cliffhanger. GOT has tortured viewers by leaving them hanging and it’s not enough to hear it from someone else. It’s a series that many a viewer has exchanged for outside invitations because they didn’t want to miss a climactic conclusion to whichever of the multiple battles and coupe’s they just happened to be drawn into at the time.
2. The building and tearing down of archetypes
From a psychological perspective, “Game of Thrones” has been magnificent as a show that is cleverly written to build archetypes such as Daenery’s innocence, and then tear them down as we see later in her appearance on the show. Whether we realize it or not, the imagery used indicates a pureness about her with the blonde hair and her sense of propriety, but one of the strengths of the writing is in building something up to dash it to pieces for the effect of creating disbelief or some other type of emotion in the audience and the rush that we get from changes in our body chemistry from the influx of emotions is precisely what we become addicted to and when deprived, we’ll miss it dearly.
3. The total flips in characters
Once you get used to watching Game of Thrones, you learn to expect the unexpected. When we see the characters, such as Daenerys, transform, at first it doesn’t seem right, but the repetition of this makes viewers question everything and start to guess what might happen because of the culture of the story. We see the best and the worst in people as portrayed through the majority of the characters on the show. It has a definite sense of realism and it makes the term “acting out of character” seem a bit outdated and somehow less useful. We’re going to miss watching these transformations because on some level, we can relate to the changes that take place and it makes us feel better about ourselves in some regard.
4. We’ll miss the unpredictability of “Game of Thrones”
You can read on the multiple forums and pore over the fan theories about what would happen next for as many seasons as the show has been aired and discover that most who attempted to use logic and their contemporary experience to guess which way the stories would go next were way off in their assessments. It’s as though the writers purposely deduced what viewers would expect, then they would do something that would either be the opposite or in a totally unexpected direction. We’re going to miss the excitement and thrill of trying to predict what would happen next only to have something that was satisfyingly horrifying take place.
5. The Wittiness
Regardless of who your favorite characters are, there is usually a witty exchange among the characters. W see this among friends, kinsmen and foes and the language used is something that we can all relate to. It makes us laugh and we feel relieved because there have been times in the show when there is little to laugh about, particularly when you’re feeling upset over the trickery or brutalization of one of your favorite characters. There is just the right amount of humor and witty banter dispersed throughout the script of the series and we’re really going to miss this.
6.The primal appeal
There is a lot about “Game of Thrones” that appeals to our primal nature. Even though we may deny it, this is something that is inborn and exists in all humans. We see the primal nature in man displayed quite openly with no apologies on the show. If we were to be honest, there are probably times in most of our lives when we’d like to give in to primal urges and just take what we want, tell someone what we really think about them or make someone shut their traps with physical force if needs be. It takes us back to our natural roots and shows us that sometimes you have to resort to what would now be considered as sub human behavior to survive.
7. We’ll miss the iconicism
Let’s face it, “Game of Thrones” is a part of the current pop culture. It’s far more than a weekly television series, it’s more of a “cultural phenomenon” and it’s something that the public has become familiar with and integrated into our everyday lives. A prime example is the term “Winter is coming” along with more. We’re passionate about our icons because they are the things that we love about our culture and our society. We love our favorite television shows as much as pro ball fans love their teams.
8. We’ll miss the actors
We’ve grown accustomed to seeing the actors who play our favorite characters in action. There is some fine acting on the show and they bring their characters to life in some very real and meaningful ways. We connect with them and we’re used to seeing them in their roles weekly. It’s not something that is easy to disengage from cold turkey. It’s almost as tough as saying goodbye to friends we’ve come to know. The finality of the last episode is going to leave fans feeling empty because we all know that there will be no more engagement with them from the television set. We’ll miss Peter Dinklage in his role of Tyrion Lannister and his savage appetites for revenge, the drink and the ladies in his role of the genius at getting others to do his bidding and Lena Headey as Cersei Lannisteer, whom so many women adore, and all of the others as well.
9. Escapism is of great value
“Game of Thrones” has provided viewers with an escape from the worlds that they live in for the duration of the episodes they watch. The show is so all consuming that you’re not thinking about problems at work or about problems with relationships, responsibilities that are weighing heavy or anything else for that matter. It’s a fantasy world that we get heavily caught up in and it shows how easily they solve their problems in some instances. Something we cannot do in the world that we live in without dire consequences, but it’s a form of escapism that we’re not going to have any more and we are certainly going to miss our weekly escape from reality.
10. The imagery
The imagery that is built into each episode of “Game of Thrones” is quite fantastical. We’re going to miss seeing the world in which dragons are a reality and the earth is still pure and unpolluted with the exception of the blood left behind after a massacre, but it soaks in and the world is pristine once again. We don’t have towering ice walls in the world that we live in and we’re going to miss becoming a part of the fantasy world that feeds our imaginations each week.
11. The rise of female power
Women love how the women on “Game of Thrones” overcome their subservient position in life with the men in power. It gives us a new perspective on how women are somehow programmed to do what is necessary to survive and to get ahead in life. The show has presented scenarios under which women can rise to positions of great power in a world that is dominated by men and it gives women who feel that they are in similar situations a great deal of hope, and we’re going to miss this aspect of the show as well.
12. Tyrion’s intelligence
Most of us are seriously going to miss Tyrion Lannister’s intellect and wit. He’s by far one of the most cunning and intellectually gifted characters on the show. His small stature has made it necessary for him to level the playing field with his ability to convince others and to strategically plan because he has neither the height nor strength to take on his adversaries in a physical battle. It’s a dangerous and violent world that he lives in but he’s doing just fine. He shows us all that much can be gained by foregoing the use of physical force and using our brains to figure things out. We’re also going to miss his smart ass mockery of others because it’s legitimately funny as hell.
13. The frequent power struggles
In life, most of us endure power struggles of some type and it’s something that we can relate to. When we connect with a character it’s usually because we see some elements of ourselves within them and when they’re embroiled in a struggle, we’re all in on an emotional level. When they win, we’re happy and when they’re defeated, we find ourselves trying to figure out what went wrong and how they could have done something differently to change the outcomes. We’re going to miss this aspect of the show very much because in an odd way, it helps us to develop our own problem solving skills more fully through practice in a make believe scenario.
14. The Intrigue
The story line is filled with constant intrigue. There are very few times in the series when we’re bored or when there’s nothing going on. The nobility, the good men, the charlatans, liars, schemers, knights and fight to gain control keep up embroiled in constant intrigue and it’s something that is highly addictive. This is one of the elements of the show that has kept the masses so highly interested and we’re going to miss the feeling of being intrigued.
15. The educational content
Martin captured some sense of the history of the times when he wrote “Game of Thrones.” There are many elements of folklore, history and mythology intertwined throughout the series. The stories are based upon events that took place in history such as the Wars of the Roses and the feudal states.
16. We’ll miss its liberal sprinkling of freedom of appetite
Even the most conservative viewers have a liberal side that is just itching to get out. We’ve seen just about every form of depravity imaginable and at times it has conjured feelings of disgust and embarrassment among viewers but we accept it as a part of the reality of the story. These are things that real people engaged in then and they do the same today, whether viewers actively participate or not. Some may connect with the vulgarity a bit more than others, but on some level, it taps into man’s more base nature and it fascinates us.
17. We’ll miss the bravado
There is no getting around the fact that you had to be tough to survive in the world that the “Game of Thrones” characters inhabited. We’ve seen our share of bravado exhibited by the characters of Peter Dinklage and Sean Bean, just to name a few and it makes us admire their coolness and self confidence. We’re going to miss seeing their daring and bravery.
18. We’ll miss the intellectual challenges
Just try to watch an episode of “Game of Thrones” without finding yourself trying to figure some aspect of the show out. It’s a show that triggers a series of cognitive processes to engage whether you intend for it to happen or not. It piques our curiosity and makes us wonder and when there is a mystery, we unwittingly try to figure it out. We’re going to miss feeling the challenges to sort out what’s going on in our brains and those of us who’ve had discussions with other viewers are going to miss the camaraderie of working out the jigsaw puzzles together.
19. The revenge
We’re also going to miss seeing the houses and individual characters get their revenge for the host of wrongs which occurred throughout the life of the series. There have been hundreds of injustices doled out and when it happened to your favorite character, you reveled in pleasure when the enemy got theirs. This is yet another aspect of the show that is relevant and that we can relate to and we’re also going to miss this as well.
20. It’s a part of our lives
“Game of Thrones” has been a part of our lives on a regular basis since 2011. Those of us who started at the beginning have been following it for nearly a decade. It’s an addiction that is going to be hard to let go and it’s going to feel like a part of our lives is missing. As with any habit, you move on, but it’s going to feel strange for a while because there won’t be another season to look forward to after May of 2019.
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