In the heat of the now present, few people would call this the perfect ending, virtually no one would call it an expected ending. However it is an appropriate ending and you get this feeling that with time, it will be hailed as a great ending to one of our greatest stories.
The majesty of this ending lies in a number of small details. For a story that has a multiple number of polarizing directions to follow in ending, the manner little compromises have been reached between extreme alternate result possibilities is a masterpiece of the fine art of balancing
To illustrate; Jon could have ended up king (extreme result possibility considering circumstances,also very polarizing) or ended up with a life of misery on the night watch or killed(an alternate but equally extreme result possibility, also very polarizing) .So a compromise is reached: he escapes the night watch he’s banished to and becomes a wildings lord beyond the wall. Not as extreme nor polarizing as the other two choices, just appropriate.
Dany doesn’t get the throne and unleash her fanatical(if initially well intentioned) vision of a world order under her, but then her direct enemies and the man who killed her don’t end up on it either. And Drogon burns up the iron throne,the defining symbol of Deanery’s life struggle in a fitting reaction to Deanery’s death. Small details.
A dragon’s grief
These are not the only compromises this ending strikes as it navigates it’s way through a murky path of alternate possibilities.
One also has to applaud the emotionally intelligent way the ending reflects on the themes of loss, grief, conflict and penance. Bravo ending.
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