Unnamed Journal Volume 4, Issue 3 | Page 43

in Lord of the Rings, not even the distrust of Denethor towards Aragorn, comes close to the cruelty with which Stark and Lannister and Tyrell and Martell and the rest play the game of thrones. Even that phrase implies a shallowness, an amoral reality where only actions and emotions are real. When you play, says Cercei Lannister, you win or you die. Jon Snow escaped death, but his finale fate is bereft of any kind of victory. The powers that be have slightly different names when its all over, and an old throne was melted, but apart from that and the thousands of deaths nothing has really changed. They survived the Ice and Fire, for a time, and that is all. UJ