Justified Death
Game of Thrones has a very unique audience, to say the least. I recently asked several fellow fans of the show for reasons why they watch it, and here are several of their responses:
“I think, like, the world the writer has created is so in-depth, and the characters are so well written that I can’t help but like it!”
“Dude, come on, there are naked girls all over the place. People fuckin’ all the time. I mean, have you seen that Khaleesi chick? Damn.”
“I’ve always been a nerd for medieval stuff, and that show presents the setting so realistically that it’s almost all believable.”
So obviously there are diverse opinions about why fans enjoy the show. That being said, there are a multitude of complaints about the show, the main complaint being the death toll among main characters. Off the top of my head, of the main cast presented in the pilot, at least four don’t make it to the season finale. Right now, at the end of season four, there are over twelve dead from that initial cast. Despite the absolutely massive cast of characters, the number of them rotting continues to grow.
But why is this death rate tolerated by fans when character depth is one of the show’s greatest strengths? The answer is much simpler than it might appear.
No character in Game of Thrones dies without reason. Some deaths seem random, but every character in dies because it makes sense for them to die. Some are killed because they stick their noses where they shouldn't, some die on the field of battle, and others are assassinated by those they least expected. But every death is justified.
And it’s this sense of sudden but “justified” death that keeps viewers engaged in the show. Because characters can die at any time, every moment is suspenseful. Every fight has the potential to be lethal. No man or woman will emerge unscathed from conflict. Because of this, viewers feel that characters are mortal, and grow greater attachment to them. In your typical action-drama show, very few of the main cast will die. Your average firefight will, at most, leave a cast-member wounded. This means that an individual’s attachment and concern for the characters is fairly minimal because few, if any, of the cast are actually in danger.
But in Game of Thrones, every moment can potentially be a characters last. This breeds a much stronger attachment to any given character. So, in a strange way, the audience of the show is okay with their favorite characters dying off through “Justified Death," which is extremely unusual for any fan base at all.
Game of Thrones has a very unique audience, to say the least. I recently asked several fellow fans of the show for reasons why they watch it, and here are several of their responses:
“I think, like, the world the writer has created is so in-depth, and the characters are so well written that I can’t help but like it!”
“Dude, come on, there are naked girls all over the place. People fuckin’ all the time. I mean, have you seen that Khaleesi chick? Damn.”
“I’ve always been a nerd for medieval stuff, and that show presents the setting so realistically that it’s almost all believable.”
So obviously there are diverse opinions about why fans enjoy the show. That being said, there are a multitude of complaints about the show, the main complaint being the death toll among main characters. Off the top of my head, of the main cast presented in the pilot, at least four don’t make it to the season finale. Right now, at the end of season four, there are over twelve dead from that initial cast. Despite the absolutely massive cast of characters, the number of them rotting continues to grow.
But why is this death rate tolerated by fans when character depth is one of the show’s greatest strengths? The answer is much simpler than it might appear.
No character in Game of Thrones dies without reason. Some deaths seem random, but every character in dies because it makes sense for them to die. Some are killed because they stick their noses where they shouldn't, some die on the field of battle, and others are assassinated by those they least expected. But every death is justified.
And it’s this sense of sudden but “justified” death that keeps viewers engaged in the show. Because characters can die at any time, every moment is suspenseful. Every fight has the potential to be lethal. No man or woman will emerge unscathed from conflict. Because of this, viewers feel that characters are mortal, and grow greater attachment to them. In your typical action-drama show, very few of the main cast will die. Your average firefight will, at most, leave a cast-member wounded. This means that an individual’s attachment and concern for the characters is fairly minimal because few, if any, of the cast are actually in danger.
But in Game of Thrones, every moment can potentially be a characters last. This breeds a much stronger attachment to any given character. So, in a strange way, the audience of the show is okay with their favorite characters dying off through “Justified Death," which is extremely unusual for any fan base at all.