After Rewatching Game of Thrones, I Realized Exactly When the Show Fell Apart (& Here Are the Episodes That Prove It)

Game of Thrones is one of the most beloved shows ever made, yet it has one of the most hated series finales of all time. In fact, the entire final season of the show is widely regarded as its worst, with many fans claiming it ruined the series. A part of the audience is even harsher on the fantasy show, saying both Seasons 7 and 8 are terrible. To be fair, there is a clear moment in Game of Thrones when writing shifted, and the scripts moved away from the source material. In fact, the criticism over the writing quality came earlier than Season 7.

George R. R. Martin’s novel series A Song of Ice and Fire started with the book A Game of Thrones, published in 1996. Book two, A Clash of Kings, was published in 1998. The third, A Storm of Swords, was in 2000. The fourth, A Feast for Crows, was in 2005. Book five, A Dance with Dragons, was in 2011. But the sixth and the seventh out of the seven planned novels haven’t yet been published. When the Game of Thrones TV show came out in 2011, the creators expected George R. R. Martin to finish the novels soon. The author didn’t, so the show carried on without him. Now, some fans think he may never finish the novels.

Game of Thrones Continued Beyond What Martin Wrote

The Author Gave HBO Some Ideas To Go on Without Him

Many Game of Thrones fans wonder why the show’s writing got so bad in the final seasons. The simple answer is that it outpaced the novels it is based on, and the show’s writers couldn’t wrap it up. Some fans also question why George R. R. Martin is taking so long to finish the novel series. From a marketing perspective, it makes sense to hold the books for a few years, considering Game of Thrones quickly became the most popular show on television.

To have the books competing for audience with the show would probably bring nothing but comparisons that invite unfair criticism to both. In reality, the author saw himself having to decide: he could either rush the two final novels, or let the showrunners know his general plans and finish their own version first. From a storyteller’s perspective, both options are not ideal, but it’s understandable that he has chosen the latter.

Season 5 is the last season of Game of Thrones that stayed relativaly close to source material. The season primarily adapts the storylines from A Feast for Crows and A Dance with Dragons, Martin’s fourth and fifth novels in A Song of Ice and Fire. The last episode to be solely based on Martin’s original work is the Season 5 finale, Episode 10, “Mother’s Mercy”. It’s the episode where Brienne finds Stannis on the battlefield and executes him for Renly Baratheon’s murder. But most importantly, it’s the episode where Jon Snow is apparently stabbed to death — the exact same cliffhanger in the final scenes of the fifth book, A Dance of Dragons.

Jon Snow is seemingly dead in the novel after being stabbed by members of the Night’s Watch, but it’s heavily implied he may have warged into his direwolf. From this point on, all that HBO knew was the author’s broad view of how the story would end. A lot of what Martin and HBO discussed has been shared by the showrunners and the author himself over the years, giving fans and critics some insight into what the show ultimately added on top of what had been planned for the novel series.

Season 6 Is When Game of Thrones Begins To Derail

Until Season 5, It Was Not So Different From the Books

Season 6 is where Game of Thrones differs from the source material. This one is a mix of events from the fourth and fifth books that hadn’t made it to the previous season with original ideas by the show’s writers. Seasons 6, 7 and 8 do all have some input by George R. R. Martin, who laid out his most relevant plans for the novels to HBO. But the final seasons become progressively more and more an original work, rather than an adaptation.

For example, Season 6, Episode 5, “The Door” is one of the best in the season. Hodor’s backstory and the meaning of his name was completely George R. R. Martin’s idea, and had been planned since the start of the novel series. Showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have stated that they have known about this revelation since their early meetings during the development stage. From Jon Snow’s apparent death to Hodor’s “hold the door” scene that revealed his warging abilities, the most impactful events in Game of Thrones are mostly from the books or one of Martin’s ideas for the upcoming releases in his series.

In contrast, some of the fans’ least favorite arcs are heavily altered, or not in the books at all. But in fairness, the show came up with some interesting additions that elevated the source material to new heights. Some of the best fight sequences take place in Season 6, for example. Many viewers criticized Seasons 6, 7 and 8 for focusing on battles a lot more than earlier seasons. The Battle of the Bastards, or the destruction of the Great Sept of Baelor, are incredible moments in Season 6 that are not in the books, and should be included in the upcoming ones.

While Season 6 is where the show officially began to upset and divide fans, it is only Season 7 that represents a drastic shift in quality. Unfortunately, no event in Season 7 felt as thrilling as Season 6’s most important moments. And until the Season 6 finale, the shift towards more battle scenes and less character development was not as noticeable.

The Season 6 Finale Is the Last Great Game of Thrones Episode

Game of Thrones Completely Fell Apart in Season 7

Season 6 may not be the best season of Game of Thrones, but it ends with a brilliant episode. Season 6, Episode 10, “Winds of Winter” sees Cersei destroying the Great Sept of Baelor using wildfire, killing the High Sparrow, the Tyrells, and many others. Young King Tommen commits suicide, and Cersei later crowns herself Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. In parallel to these great additions by the show’s writers, there are also the developments in Bran’s arc that come mainly from Martin’s idea of how to end the series. In a vision, Bran sees how Ned Stark found Lyanna Stark as she died after giving birth to Jon Snow during King Robert’s rebellion.​​​​​​​

This major revelation feels rushed into the narrative, but it finally brought some deeper meaning to Jon Snow’s role. Jon Snow had been one of the major protagonists since the pilot, and George R. R. Martin had always planned for him to be a Targaryen. But how Jon Snow discovered this may not have been the best, or how the author would have gotten there in the books. There is no way of knowing how exactly the author planned to finish the novel series, and if he is still following his original plan.​​​​​​​

Perhaps the show helped him test certain ideas which he can perfect in the final books, now that he knows the public’s reception. They will likely still have the same overall events, but fans still have hope that these two books will be better than the two final seasons of the TV show. When it comes to Jon Snow specifically, he is completely cast aside as a character in Seasons 7 and 8, until it is time for him to stop Dany from committing more massacres. Hopefully, the books will give him more agency and importance in the events leading up to the tragic death of his doomed love interest.

Instead of finally developing its (arguably) most important character — Jon Snow — Seasons 7 and 8 spend too much time on supporting characters. Jon Snow’s arc ended in a way that felt incomplete and anti-climatic. At least Dany got to partially achieve her goals, after having more screen time than any other protagonist. Still, many fans believe George R. R. Martin will never finish the novel series. But he never explicitly said this, and in an interview with Collider in March 2025, the author emphasized he “has to finish the books.”