Game Of Thrones Ending: 12 Disturbing Implications You Probably Missed

11. Pretty Much None Of The Small Council Are Any Use

The Ending

In one of the biggest surprises, Bran's coronation includes him hiring part of a new Small Council, including Bronn as Master of Coin, Brinne as Lord Commander of the Kings Guard (and the entire army), Sam Tarly as the Grandmaester of King's Landing, Tyrion as the Hand and Davos as the Master of Ships.

Cue lots of fans saying how appropriate it was for George RR Martin's agenda of "bastards and broken things" that that group of underdogs would end up being the power players.

But Wait...

The Council really IS great, until you even remotely think about it. Because all of its members have been hired precisely because they're all horribly qualified to do the jobs. Bran specifically mentions Tyrion's mistakes as his qualifications. Bronn is rewarded for literally not killing the Lannister brothers ONLY because he's greedy and he's rewarded with the keys to the treasury, which he says he's going to spend on the key strategy of rebuilding the whorehouses of King's Landing.

Brienne is qualified to be the Lord Commander, obviously, but the show even undermined her by having her go a bit giddy for Jaime when she's been an island of stoic commitment before that. Sam, meanwhile, is as bad a maester as he is a Night's Watchman (more of which soon) and Davos' recent experience with ships (see Blackwater) wasn't exactly sparkling.

Yes, it's good to see underdogs doing well, but do you know what else is good for running kingdoms? Not being failures.