The Winds of Winter

The Game of Thrones Season 6 finale was shown on HBO last night. This is more about the finale, itself, although it will go into some of the generational observations made previously, and what we can tell about what is next. Mostly random observations, though - and spoilers abound, of course.

Members of the Prophet archetype generation don't fare well in Westeros, do they? First Ned, later Brother Ray, and now the High Sparrow have ended up dead when they wouldn't listen to warnings about over-reliance on their principles. 

Narratively speaking,  why is The Citadel a big deal? It is built up as a major location - perhaps the last new place to be seen.  In the longest episode to date of the series, several minutes were spent viewing it inside and out. All all that really happened, though, was that Sam had arrived, after a long journey. Why not simply have a scene where Jon Snow receives a note, saying he had arrived? There's probably a good reason for it...but what?

And a bit of research shows that the large tower is not the Citadel, and the location is actually called Oldtown. It was the center of the Faith of the Seven, until it was moved to... The Great Sept at Balor.

Who here thought the dark-haired serving girl at the Twins was from Dorne? A bit of a surprise, there.

A quick note to the Sand Snakes:  Their sire was killed in a legitimate trial by combat for which he volunteered and in which he was soundly defeated because he forgot to keep his distance from a man whose arms were as big as his head. Granted that he elicited a confession about a brutal war crime 20 years before - assuming they worry about war crimes in Westeros, which seems unlikely. 

The final episode of Season 1, Fire and Blood, was frequently referenced, for example:

• Petyr talks with Sansa about his dreams of sitting on the Iron Throne. Varys chatted with him about that subject previously. 
• The previous episode's title was said by Varys, in Dorne.
• Pycelle has a scene with a prostitute in both episodes.

Even though really melting down and reforging a blade wouldn't necessarily result in a new weapon with the exact properties of the original metal, it's implied that Oathkeeper is still Valyrian steel, with the ability to kill white walkers. When Sam retrieved the ancestral Valyrian steel blade from his home, he said there were very few such remaining. And where is there another source of such fine steel about? Fourth Turnings are about major changes to how the world works, in response to problems too long left alone. The next to sit upon the Iron Throne may consider its importance as a symbol less valuable than as a source of raw material. (Although it's also possible that no Valyrian blades were used in its creation.)

Tyrion's speech to Daenerys begins in a way that matches very precisely with how Strauss & Howe explained the Nomad/Reactive point of view:

For what it's worth, I've been a cynic for as long as I can remember. People ask me to believe in things — family, gods, kings, myself. It's often tempting, until I saw where belief gets people. So I said no thank you to belief, and yet here I am. I believe in you. It's embarrassing, really.

Consider this confirmation of him being a Nomad, along with his brother and sister. Note also that he is a valued councilor giving practical advice, as happens in such times. 

It looked like Walter Frey was served an otherwise traditional pork pie. Except to the extent that it wasn't.

Jon Snow is a Stark, it turns out, although not Ned's son. He's also a Targaryan. Wedding traditions probably don't preclude alliances between relatives, so it might work out for him and Danyrys. (Except that it seems likely one or the other will be sacrificed to let the world live. )

Lyanna was surprisingly protective of a child that was supposedly fathered forcibly after her abduction by Rhaegar. Which raises the possibility that she wasn't abducted nor raped, but eloped. 

Perhaps implicit but not brought up yet: a lot of troops have died in the last few years of war. The Battle of the Bastards was only a few thousand on each side to start, and most of those were dead by the end. There might not be more than a few tens of thousand troops left in all of Westeros, much less any as skillful as the Unsullied.

There are a couple of threads in the episode, so saying it's a single story mode may be over-simplifying. Still, it's one where change is possible, but redemption is unlikely - the Nomad version of tragedy, that is. Except for Daenerys, of the Hero generation, who makes a sacrifice that's required to win the prize she seeks.

Dearly departed Hodor and Lyanna were of the same (Prophet) generation as Ned Stark.  The ruthless Petyr Baelish, a suitor of Catelyn, likely is as well.  Perhaps it's a matter of not having principles...

Trainwreck

This should be quick, because the 2015 movie Trainwreck is quickly categorized in this generational framework. Even the title reveals where it is going.

If you haven't been here before, please take a look at the Introduction to Generations, the Generational Attributes and the Four Stories in order to get up to speed on how all this works, and the terms being used.

Trainwreck was directed by GenX filmmaker Judd Apatow (b. 1967) and written by comedian Amy Schumer, who also stars as the titular Younger Lady With Some Issues.  It's set in the current era, although without significant mentions of Crisis-related events such as terrorism or the Great Recession. For analysis purposes, the assumption here will be that characters are of the same generation as the actor they are portrayed by.

It's a Redemption Story, where the main character (based on Amy and named after her) is portrayed as flawed, in particular because of a bias against long-term relationships and toward one-night stands. Her attitudes were inculcated by her father, played by Boomer Colin Quinn (b. 1959). She eventually is redeemed by the love of a good man, played by Bill Hader (GenX, b. 1978).

Most of the characters, then, are Generation X, a Nomad archetype generation. Brought up in Awakening periods, these generations are never perceived as Good as the Prophet archetype that precedes them. Indeed, they are seen - even by their own members - as Bad (mal), at least to start. They tend to favor stories where these mal characters improve their lives and become better people.  Which may lessen any surprise from realizing that Amy Schumer (b. June 1, 1981) is Generation X as well.