Game of thrones, an examination

An epic tale, famed for its intrigue and complicated plot (not to mention controversial levels of depravity). Slightly groundbreaking, especially in mainstream media due to its more complex, inverted treatment of characters. Game of thrones follows protagonists to logical tragic conclusions to teach the viewer firstly that life, and by extension his story, is not fair. All of his protagonists fall for the same reasons that villains in stories do - they all are bested due to some unforeseen weakness or 'blindness' brought on by their absolute virtue in a world that is equal parts good and bad.

The chief and foremost example of this eventuality comes at the (SPOILER ALERT) execution of Lord Eddard stark. His mistake came when he did not foresee the betrayal of Little finger at his attempted coup d'etat of the Lannister king. His wife had vouched for Little finger, while it was made obvious to everybody that little finger was in love with Eddard's wife (Lady Catlyn). Lord Eddard did not see the betrayal coming due to his unquestioning trust. This is a story usually told in the reverse, as naturally a story follows the protagonist's ability to see what a villain or monster cannot, which eventually leads to the protagonist's thrilling escape from death and defeat of the much more powerful villain.

More interestingly, the hole left by the departure of the original protagonist is filled by the family of his primary antagonists when the newly crowned king shows his true colours as an out and out monster and becomes the new antagonist. Thus begins their story of redemption and rebirth, throughout the story they maintain the position of antagonists to the remnants of the protagonist's forces, however only by proxy. At the same time more antagonists, ones that have absolutely no redeemable features and are un-treatable 'monsters' emerge from both a mystic background and from the remnants of the ex-protagonist forces. These could be seen to be the 'true' antagonists of the story, which would make everybody in the story who stands against them protagonists, regardless of the place before this new enemy revealed itself. This teaches that all people, regardless of their prior affiliation fight for life when it is collectively threatened.

The plot of Game of thrones is a story, like any other it can be examined and patterns drawn from it, however by reversing its primary focus to teach a lesson that is not heard very often is groundbreaking for socially accepted mainstream media, also it is not something I have heard before. It shows that the basic plots are a formula that can be changed so long as it maintains a balance.