By Timothy Schmaltz

“You can’t always get what you want”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9sDn_2XkI

Loved the podcast, here are some of my own observations.  I really can say, I only watched the first and last seasons.

·         Loved the most human episode when they knighted the woman and faced their deaths this season, speaks the most of love and loss — and the quest for power,  the major themes it seems of the series .  

·         And that is what the last episode is all about.  

·         In life we live the paradox, life is bittersweet, really nobody wins — or loses.  Life just is — a grand adventure, full of love and loss, great joys, moments of great goodness and grace and powerful sorrows and losses. 

·         Death of one kind or another gets us all — in the end and that is what the decision scene is about.  Even in winning there is great loss.  

·         John Snow’s murder of Dani is most powerful symbol of that.  It seems  bit overdone in such obvious direct way, like hitting an egg with a hammer, but the point is made.  Huge victories achieved at high cost to others results in high cost to ourselves.   

·         The dragon’s destruction of the throne is the final symbolic seal of final vengeance — and loss for everyone.  The dream is dead too for everyone.   And everyone must let go of it. 

·         In the end, life is about loss, nobody quite gets what they want —- except for fleeting mystical moments where we sense our connection with one another, our deepest loyalties and yearnings.  

·         And in the end, the seven kingdom’s are not united, the iron throne proves to be an elusive fantasy of power and wealth — unity.  The final peace is achieved by human agreement, not by violence or even unity.  They — we have the power all along in our grasp, the violence and search for power is fantastical absurd pursuit — that is why the rock continues to fall back down the hill.  

·         The person who lost the most and appears the weakest becomes the leader/king.  Now that is almost biblical, but that may be stretching it.  That is the story the perseveres.  Look to the most vulnerable among you for your leadership.  That is the story of all of us.  The rest is fantasy.  

·         So in the end game of thrones is really about life and loss and moving on and life’s almost complete unpredictability — and the final lesson may be — be careful what you strive for, power and wealth never really overcome love and goodness — and a good story — in the end.  

·         Game of Thrones just created fantasy story to reveal these basic human truths, sometimes in powerful images, sometimes in heavy handed ways.  But it was fun ride. 

Love the podcasts.  You mother and I did not get any of the trivia questions.