The ‘Game’ of excitement has ended

As the war for the Iron Throne finally came to a close, HBO’s “Game of Thrones” has officially wrapped its run on television. A controversial last season notwithstanding, Game of Thrones has proven to be one of the most popular shows ever created.

Some of the original fans of the show and the original books by George R. R. Martin have been waiting since the ‘90s for the reveal of the victor of the quest for the Iron Throne. The end of the seventh season came in the summer of 2017 which meant that fans had to wait almost two years for the six episode season to reveal the victor of the games.

Many people who do not watch the show have been a little confused about all of the hype around the show because it may seem like just a show about dragons to some people but the die-hard fans live for the fantasy world of kingdoms and war.

Senior Ally Schachtel is a huge supporter of the show after only recently becoming part of the fandom. “I binge watched it to be part of all of the hype last season” Schachtel said. “Game of Thrones is also known for having an addictive quality. I watched the whole show in 15 days.”

Binge watching ‘Thrones’ is popular as many of the show’s episodes end on tantalizing cliffhangers.

‘Thrones’ fanatic and Accounting teacher, Andrea Mondadori-Llauget has a passionate view of the show’s final season.

“I think the show has gotten really popular because the character development over time and the show costs a lot of money to make so it’s like watching a movie every Sunday night” Mondadori-Llauget said.

Although the final season was only six episodes, each episode totaled up to be at least $15 million. The battles and special effects were really amped up during the final battles for the throne including the dark battle of Winterfell. Whatever the reason so many have started to watch the show mostly everyone agrees that the stunning effects and production values have a large role to play.

English supervisor Stacy Casais makes up the smaller percent of fans at West Essex that read the books first.

“I read the books before the show even came out so I’m thrilled that this nerdy little fantasy series has become so popular,” Ms. Casais said. “I think HBO and the production quality has a lot to do with it.”

With so many characters constantly being killed and killing others, it’s hard to keep track of whose side you are on as loyalties between characters shift often, sometimes in single episodes.

Sophomore Matthew Santaromita is another binge watcher of GOT who watched the whole series just in time to watch the finale live and felt strongly about the show’s characters.

“My favorite character is Jon Snow, he plays a very major role in the show. He never gives up and is an all around great character” Santaromita said.