Perils of Self-betterment!

 I am a big Game of Thrones fan. The grandeur of the series, the massive sets, thousands of actors, and best of all, ever-changing characters. So much so, that I bought all the books to read them in detail and visualize them from the writer's point of view. Thanks to my laziness (or tendency to sleep after 10 pages) and eagerness, I ended up watching the whole series again. This was during my 'covid' recovery phase and I immersed myself into the characters and almost lived their life in my imagination. 

Watching it again made me look at characters in a very different way. Almost every character changed over a period of time and you could see how and why. This made me realize nothing is constant, life gets to everyone for good or bad. So many characters intrigued me and a couple of them just made me fall in love with them.

Cersei grew from a protecting mother who could do anything for her kids and power to a self-loving (dont care about the world) kinda person. Even though I could not relate much to her, I was amazed by the way she thought and nothing fazed her. She would hit back harder and become stronger by the day.

Jamie on the other hand (pun intended 💪) was portrayed as a cruel 'king slayer' who pushes a kid from a tower (things that people do for love) unfolded into a caring person who was torn between what is right and his love for Cersei. Even the story behind him killing the king made sense. I loved the chemistry with Brienne of Tarth. What started with hatred moved to respect and love. There are so many layers to a person which does not come out that easily.

Sansa went from an innocent girl with a dream of being the queen to actually understanding what it takes to be one. She was ready to go all the way to get it (circumstances helped or rather dint leave another choice). 

Arya was one of my favs - a rebel who wanted to become a fighter, who hated the princess life. Her journey from watching her father beheaded to the faceless person was incredible. Her way of remembering her list of people to kill was impactful. I was super happy that she got to become the 'hero'ine she deserves to be.

John Snow was probably one of the few characters that remained consistent throughout the series. He followed his heart, stood by the right thing, gave his life for it, and killed his love (literally, that too twice) for it. The frustration he goes through to choose between what is right and what he loves was interesting to watch.

Brienne of Tarth was a lovely character who was true to her thoughts, fought for them, and kept her word all throughout. Her journey with Jamie and the scene of her being knighted by Jamie was moving.

Dany Targaryen was awesome until the end which I wished was different. But thinking again, it was the right message. Someone who went from being sold by her brother to leading one of the biggest armies. Her thoughts of freeing the slaves, making the world free of masters were great (almost unthinkable even in today's times). This was then turned into fanatism which went on to destroy the only place she wanted to conquer and eventually turned her love to kill her. It doesn't take much to go from a hero to villain 😓 I wish she had read 'Think Again' back then 😅

The character I related to the most was Tyrion. Self-centered, drunk, whore monger to probably the most evolved over time. He became the most trustable and someone who tried to do the right and managed to survive. He grew with every situation, tried to use his knowledge to become a leader/advisor, trusted people, and failed, but in the end, survived. 

There are so many more that I will keep adding as I look at them from my point of view and grow with them. Learn from my situation, my thoughts and hopefully be able to see beyond my ways of imagination.

As Tyrion said, Cheers to the Perils of Self-betterment!!