#old queen winning. these characters are comparable in terms of villainy you all just like them more because they're younger.

[grandmofftarkinsuggestions]

wait you don't all want to fuck that old man.

[daphenomenal-1]

Avengers Endgame vs Game of Thrones: How to Pay-Off Storytelling

Well, Game of Thrones is over. And as per usual, nobody is happy with how this story ended. Even the die-hard fans admit that this season was the worst season by a country mile for a myriad of reasons. Along with Game of Thrones, another franchise met its end in Avengers: Endgame. And judging by the response and how much money it made, people really like Endgame. So, as Thrones’ last episode aired, I thought it would be cool to analyze some of the arcs from both Endgame and Game of Thrones (and their biggest moment in each) and begin to piece together how to do a big pay-off for long term storytelling. (WARNING: SPOILERS FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME)

Iron Man/Captain America vs Jon Snow/Daenerys Targaryen

I decided to lump these four into one category because, despite the response from people on social media, these pairs are the main heroes of their respective shows. Jon and Daenerys are the main heroes of Game of Thrones, while Tony Stark and Steve Rogers were the focal points of the MCU. And these characters had their stories wrap up in their respective final outings. However, only one of them was met with praise, while the other was met with scorn. Why?

In Game of Thrones, the show had basically set up for 7 seasons that Daenerys Stormborn of House Targaryen, First of her Name - blah, blah, blah, you get the picture - was going to be the one to sit on the Iron Throne and rule over Westeros. And the showrunners, up until this point, did a decent job both setting up that and also alluding to her becoming the Mad Queen. However, due to the speed of this season, the pay off failed because there wasn’t really any build to her snap in episode 5, and her subsequent actions didn’t make her look any better. Nobody would want to support a person who would willing burn innocent people who are in her path. And her death, while feeling like it wasn’t earned, was really the only way this show was going to end. Jon, on the other hand, the guy who was supposed to be the most virtuous living person, who didn’t care about thrones and only cared about fighting the dead and defeating the Night King, came off as a bit of a ass that didn’t care about anyone except for himself and really nobody else. And his banishment to the North to be with the Wildlings was just not the ending that really paid off the character of the orphan Targaryen. Now, let’s look at Avengers: Endgame.

Tony Stark and Captain America have been set up to both give up and gain something towards the end of their respective runs. The giving up of one life and the gaining of a new one. And the reason that Endgame was so fulfilling in its pay off is because it called back to its roots from The Avengers. That argument between Tony and Cap from The Avengers served as the pay off for these two iconic heroes. Captain America - that one kid from Brooklyn that was only special thanks to the Super Soldier Serum - ended up being the only other one worthy to hold Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. And at the end, he got to go back and have a life with the love of his life. And Tony Stark - the man who survived in a cave and built himself out, the man that wasn’t a hero and wasn’t pegged to make the sacrifice play to save other - ended up giving his life to save the universe. That’s why this worked and Thrones didn’t: the Russo brothers gave Tony and Steve the endings that these characters deserved. 

Thor vs Jamie Lannister

Both of these characters have one thing in common. A common theme: redemption. Redemption for their failings and an attempt to make things right. However, only one of them really fulfills that redemption arc. Thor, after the events of Avengers: Infinity War, is in a state of disarray. He couldn’t stop Thanos from wiping out half the universe, but now with one more chance to turn back what happened, he failed again. In his rage, he kills the Mad Titan. He goes through a state of depression, gaining a lot of weight and drinking his pain away. But in one of the most empowering scenes in Endgame, while conversing with Lady Frigga, Thor once again was able to call upon his trusty hammer. He was still worthy, even after failing over and over again. His redemption arc has reached its peak. 

Jamie’s story just...just fucking sucked. Jamie, someone who was so loyal to Cersei Lannister, opted to leave her and go to the North to face off against the dead. His story was setting up for what was going to be a good ending for his character: Jamie becoming the Queenslayer and kill Cersei Lannister. But no, he goes back to her and dies with her in his arms. He gets buried with Cersei, just like everyone didn’t want. It seemed like the character regressed so far back that it was nowhere near salvageable. 

Thanos vs Cersei Lannister

Every hero has his or her villain. Someone for the heroes to overcome, despite the challenge they present. The MCU’s version of this character get is the Mad Titan Thanos. And with Thrones, it’s the Queen Bitch of Westeros - Cersei Lannister. Their degrees of villainy are comparable in that these are villains that were both consistent in their intentions and are fairly consistent in ther convictions. I think there’s not much for me to complain about Cersei Lannister and Thanos.

Throughout the entire span of Game of Thrones, if there is one way to describe Cersei Lannister, it is this: she was a bad bitch. Like she was a real one. However, this show didn’t really give her the shine that she deserves. Yeah, she ordered the execution of Missandei. But there was still some untapped potential with how to take her character and how much of a good villain Cersei was. She was just evil. I don’t like that Cersei died in the arms of Jamie and was buried with him. I would have liked to see her get paid what she owed, but she was still a solid villain in her own right. 

Same with Thanos. I know people call him a “Mary Sue”, in that he’s overpowered for the sake of the plot and wins because plot reasons. But Mary Sue characters don’t get killed 15 minutes into their next appearance. What made Thanos interesting in Infinity War was that he was so indoctrinated by his conviction adn saw it through. For the first time in the MCU, the villain won. In Endgame, 2014 Thanos saw that he won. That his goal was complete and that his destiny is also to die after he balances the universe. But what makes him different here is that there is a level of pettiness to Thanos in Endgame that raises the stakes just a bit higher. Yes, future him balanced the universe. But those that survived - i.e.: the Avengers - became ungrateful. They did not see the good that his universal level balancing act did for this planet, so instead he will destroy this universe with the Infinity Stone collected from throughout the years and then restart the universe. And despite having victory in his grasp, he still falls to the Avengers. 

The Battle of Winterfell vs Avengers Assemble

To wrap this up, I could go on and on about other characters, but it is only right that I compare the two big battles of these franchises: the Long Night and the Battle on the Avengers Compound.

I remember watching the Battle at Winterfell and immediately, something felt off. Something wasn’t right. The battle started and it was barely lit, the action sequences were very shaky, so I could barely see the fighting. Even the cool moments like Lady Lyanna Mormont slaying the giant with her dying breath felt less impactful than her “King in the North” speech from season 6. The battle just felt lackluster. The end didn’t feel deserved and the White Walkers - what was being built up to be the biggest threat that the show has ever faced - ended up being nothing more than just another zombie horde like in The Walking Dead. And don’t get me started on the Night King.

The Battle on the Avengers Compound, on the other hand, had so much going on. There was the beginning, where the heroes are scattered as Hawkeye is trying to run away with the gauntlet. There was Thor, Captain America and Iron Man going toe-to-toe with Thanos. There was Captain America wielding Mjolnir and beating Thanos’s ass with it. All of it was culminating in a moment that can never be forgotten. When after standing in front of Thanos’s army, every single hero that was dusted in Infinity War came back and stood alongside Captain America. And then, after 22 movies and 11 years, Captain America - with the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe behind him - finally said one of the most iconic battle cries in comic book history:

That is how you pay-off long term storytelling. That is how you give your fans that have been following your franchise for over a decade pay off. Moments like this. Any genre franchise from here on out should learn from what the MCU did. And the battle was a visual marvel. It was lit in the best way, you could see the action, it was crisp, every hero got some form of spotlight throughout the entire battle and the way it ends feels right and perfectly encapsulates what this saga was about, or rather who this saga was about. At the end of the day, though, it needs to be said that this moment has been said to be one of the best fight scenes in movie history. 

Conclusion

This post was really long. Probably the longest post I’ve made and I probably did leave some things out about certain characters. Was this written because I really wanted to talk about Avengers Endgame again? Yes. Will people actually look at this? Probably not. Ultimately though, the moral of this is that Avengers Endgame did in 3 hours what Game of Thrones couldn’t do in 1 season. And it says a lot when a film that features a giant purple alien with 27 chins and heroes ranging from an old steroid ridden soldier from the 40s to an actual talking, gun-wielding raccoon told a more satisfying story than one of the most sound and cohesive shows on TV today. This year feels like the year of passing the torch for entertainment: the original 6 Avengers pass their torch to the new heroes, and Game of Thrones passed the torch for other shows to capture audiences like they did. However, one did it really well and the other didn’t.

Two great franchises. Two great sagas. And only one worked. That’s a damn shame.

(Also feel free to add anything I didn’t say, because there is a lot)