Learn to Ride Your Dragon and Write Your Own Story (How GOT Changed My Life)

I have a confession to make. (Please, don't kill me.) I have never watched Game of Thrones.

Well, not until recently.

I am not exactly sure why, but I have never had much interest in watching this show before. Maybe because I thought there was enough ugliness going on in the real world and I didn't feel the need to see more nasty scenes on TV. Perhaps, I was put off by the idea of witnessing favourite characters die on a regular basis, and so I didn't want to get attached.

But then, something changed.

Earlier this month, I finally decided to give GOT a try. Here's what happened.

A GOT Late Bloomer

First of all, the advantage of starting to watch Game of Thrones for the first time in 2019 is that you never have to wait for the next episode. And trust me, if it weren't for some other, rather annoying things to do, such as going to work, I would probably have binge watched the entire series in one sitting. Even so, I managed to see all of it in just a few weeks, so that I was able to catch the very last episode live.

The downside of such an enterprise of course is that you already know or at least anticipate some of the major twists of the story. Even for a person who has never watched a minute of the series, it is simply impossible to avoid learning something about it indirectly. GOT has been defining pop culture for the past decade. I have heard references to it mentioned on shows like the Big Bang Theory or SNL long time before I even understood what it all meant.

For me personally, it was probably for the best that I was somewhat ready for what was coming as I was watching the show. After all, I like to be able to stay on top of things. (Still, it caught me off guard on several occasions.) Anyway, the fact that I knew so much about the series before I even started watching it, and the fact that I simply couldn't stop watching, both show how great this show is.

So, what did I think?

It blew my mind.

As soon as I started watching Game of Thrones, I understood why it was such a big deal. It blew my mind.

As a history lover, I really enjoyed uncovering the various allusions to famous people, events and places from our past. Suddenly, many different exciting historical periods like the Roman time, the Vikings, Wars of the Roses, and more were combined into one awesome narrative set in a world geographically resembling our own.

Quickly, I also chose my favourite characters—Arya and Daenerys, obviously. If you ask why, the reason is simple. They both somehow managed to turn their weaknesses into their greatest strengths, and transformed from underestimated girls into powerful women. They are simply the coolest, and they are making us ladies feel inspired and empowered.

Needless to say, the art of storytelling and filmmaking of the GOT production is in a class of its own, and a pleasure for the viewers to immerse themselves in. Even though there are many different characters and storylines, in my view it is essentially about the whole of humanity. What other show can make you hate one character to the bone, and only a few episodes later feel great empathy for the very same character? By the way, they also make you learn a lot about your own personality. For instance, when you find yourself rejoicing over a sudden death of some unpopular character on the show, or realise that you don't mind looking at bloody war scenes but tear up when they want to kill off a wolf. Sure enough, GOT doesn’t show anyone as pure good or pure evil (even though some characters get pretty close), but it portrays the human nature in all of its different forms, with all the feelings, emotions and actions humans are capable of.

What's more, it so amazingly depicts the issues still relevant today and gives voice to members of various minorities. Wonderfully written dialogues that are sometimes touching, sometimes amusing, then make the icing on the bloody amazing (be careful if not poisoned) cake that is Game of Thrones.

Here comes the twist

Reading all this, you might have already guessed the biggest impact GOT made on me. It made me care.

A month ago, I wouldn't have believed it would come to this, but spending so many hours with these characters and sometimes even identifying with them as well, I was disappointed watching the last few episodes, like many other fans. I signed the petition and everything, I thought a lot about how I would like my favourite characters to end up. (Even though it wasn't easy to decide, I'm quite convinced I would have made the finale far more epic than it was. More dragons would have survived, for sure.) But it's all just a fantasy.

In the end, Game of Thrones gave me something other than a few new costume ideas for dress-up parties and more travel destinations on my bucket list. It made me realise something important: You are the writer of your own story. What would you like your epic ending to be like? Go ahead and write it.

Dracarys!