HBO’s Game of Thrones wrapped up back in 2019, and some fans are still disappointed with how the last season turned out. Throughout the series, the writers set up multiple prophecies early on with the clear expectation that they would either pay off or at least be resolved in some fashion. Unfortunately, the last season focused on a prophecy that many fans did not give much credence to — the prediction that, like her father, Daenerys Targaryen would go mad. This meant that one of the most famous prophecies of the show, regarding Cersei Lannister’s death, was not fully resolved in Game of Thrones‘ final season.
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Game of Thrones spent a lot of the earlier seasons on the prophecy of Cersei’s death. When Cersei was a young girl, she had her fortune read by Maggy the Frog. She foretold Cersei would “wed the king,” making her queen until another “younger and more beautiful” woman casts her down and takes all that she holds dear to her heart. Maggy also predicted that all of Cersei’s children would die, and Cersei would die at the hands of her little brother, the “valonqar”. This prophecy guided much of Cersei’s behavior throughout the series, especially as certain aspects of Maggy’s prophecy started to come true.
Game of Thrones put a lot of stock into this prophecy, with Cersei questioning who the woman will be to cast her down. Originally, she thought it was the young and beautiful Margaery Tyrell who married her son, Joffrey. The marriage meant, upon his ascension to the throne, Margaery would become the new queen. While Cersei focused on this one element, her children began to die around her, starting with Joffrey. Because her children were royalty, they were all wrapped in golden shrouds, which was another key part of Maggy’s prophecy. All in all, the show set up the prophecy to pay off.
While her children died, Cersei’s preoccupation with Margaery caused her character to unravel, and her focus shifted to protecting her crown. The irony is that it was actually Daenerys who was the younger woman. However, Cersei was so obsessed with the prophecy that she couldn’t see the bigger picture.
But the biggest part of the prophecy, which predicted she will die at the hand of her little brother, was left unfulfilled. Cersei always thought that Tyrion, since he was the youngest sibling, would be the one to kill her, considering he always disagreed with her and sided with Daenerys when she came to Westeros. Lots of fans even theorized that her twin, Jaime, would kill her because he was technically born after his older sister. However, the series finale didn’t resolve this prophecy at all. Cersei and Jaime were crushed by a falling building, which was caused by Daenerys, not Tyrion.
While Cersei’s prophecy seemed vital to the integrity of her character arc and the finale, Game of Thrones decided to take another, less satisfying avenue. They focused on Daenerys becoming mad, just like her father before her. This was a disappointing premise, considering the show had taken care to give Daenerys such phenomenal character development that seemed to overcome this prediction. With every step in Daenerys’ journey, she continued to become a better version of herself. Only in the last few episodes did madness start to form in her psyche. It seemed rushed with little to no real reason for her sudden descent into madness, besides the weak link between her father and herself.
Daenerys’ ending is undoubtedly poetic, but it seemed inappropriate and wildly out of character for her. Instead, Game of Thrones should have focused on Cersei’s prophecy, which was already in the midst of playing out. It would have been much more satisfying to see Cersei’s karmic retribution for all of her terrible actions rather than Daenerys’ almost too-easy descent into madness. It seemed like a cheap cop-out that served the writers more than the fans.
Game of Thrones took some risky moves when writing their final season, ultimately choosing to focus on a previously unheeded prophecy for the sake of convenience and poetic justice. Cersei’s prophecy would have been more fulfilling, had it been properly played out. Daenerys’ descent into madness, like her father the Mad King, was too predictable and completely negated all the hard work her character had put in to distance herself from that history. This was part of the reason why the final season was so negatively criticized and contributed to the lackluster reviews. While both characters deserved to have proper endings to their stories, the unfulfillment of the prophecies was a huge letdown, considering how much time the sereis spent setting these prophecies up early on.