Collectively, as a culture, we are at the end of the road with Game of Thrones. (Westworld and Watchmen anyone? Maybe even His Dark Materials? ) Frankly, this final season functioned as an example of what the show does best. Before I go on, of course, there are spoilers are ahead.

The achievement in gaining the throne requires a massive amount of violence. On a consistent basis, this television program has shown this to be true. Violence is often used to carve out a path for peace, but a palpable irony has always been coupled with this historical action. Violence as a means for peace, somehow begetting more peace. It hasn’t work in our world, why would it work in Westeros?

Remember when Dany killed the slave masters and properly freed The Unsullied in Meereen? (Meereen is a location a sea away from Westeros) We cheered for her because she was the protagonist. This act of violence was seen as liberation and a victory for those that have been trampled on, but it is violence nonetheless. Further, into the story, Dany begins to carve her path to Cersei, and we see a critical point made when she encounters Randyll and Dikon of House Tarly, who refuse to bend the knee. She gives them two options: go to Castle Black or pledge their allegiance. They refuse both because she is not their queen. So she ends up executing them.

If peace is to be accomplished another method has to be used. The old ways must die. Additionally, this scene goes to great lengths in showing the fear of all soldiers at Dany’s mercy, and Tyrion’s desperate desire to inject mercy into her conquest. Dany’s decision of using violence to complete her objectives is in line with her actions in “The Bells”. She bent the knee to the same violence and cruelty that has destroyed every other ruler that has sat on the iron throne. She and her greatest enemy used violence to gain and/or retain power. The only difference is, is that Dany is our protagonist, so the pill is easier to swallow

This entire season seemed to be dedicated to the rejection of violence and forced us to look at how we consumed the violence that the show has displayed. Did we cheer, to we recoil in disgust? Was Dany’s conquest “good”? Is another “winner of the throne” the way to end the cycle? The “Long Night” and the “The Bells” forced us to wrestle with these questions as we watched two battles being played out like horror films. (Ayra had two great solo sequences). I do believe that the best final seasons and finales allow for the entire series to be evaluated under a different lens, and this lens questions the game of thrones itself.

In the end, Jon kills Dany (in his own act of violence at that), by stabbing her mid-kiss. Imagine having a Tinder date ended in a similar fashion. After sacking King’s Landing with dragon fire, she was ready to continue her streak of conquest through the entire planet. Jon, after Tyrion’s persuasion, saw no other way. In order to break the wheel that the game of thrones has created, the last conqueror needed to be removed, and a new way to find peace had to spring forth.

Many plot threads were left unresolved but I honestly don’t see it as a knock against this season. In the end, they didn’t matter. Arya’s prophecy speaking of three pairs of eyes she will shut forever, who the Lord of Light actually is (I think that’s just me), and the fate of very specific characters. Even Jon being a Targaryen really didn’t amount to much. Bran becomes the ruler because he was the best-elected choice, not because of his name. Your ability to lead was what mattered, not who you are. I think the subversion serviced the story in an incredibly meaningful way. Weeding out what we would stereotypically see as expected for a finale and focus on showing how a better Westeros came to pass, through methods never used before.

Whatever your expectations, they should not get in the way of storytellers finishing a narrative that they put to screen. None of us “own” Game of Thrones. We’re simply consuming content, just like with any other show. What we want can easily blind us with what we can learn to appreciate and understand. And at the same time, I empathize with the critics. We have all been following these characters for years.

When it comes to a finale, we expect big throes of heroics, our favorite characters getting their happy ending, and maybe a favorite theory of ours being true. But this finale really parsed down to the idea of this being a story of Westeros. Not just our favorite characters. A story about how the old ways of the reigning were due to meet their end, showing mercy in a world where only two options seem clear, and peace coming in quietly.