Kirsten Gillibrand Torches 'Game Of Thrones' Writers Over Finale: 'I Hated It'

"My two favorite characters destroyed," lamented the New York senator and 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful.
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Like every dedicated “Game of Thrones” fan, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) has some strong feelings about the series finale that aired Sunday.

The 2020 Democratic presidential contender said she “hated” the last three episodes and ripped into showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss for ruining her two favorite characters: Daenerys Targaryen and Jon Snow.

“I hated it,” Gillibrand told Now This News. “My two favorite characters destroyed. I’ve been watching this series for many years and I was particularly upset about how the writers treated the character of Khaleesi.”

In the show’s final season, fans watched Khaleesi, aka Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), open literal fire on a town of innocent men, women and children with her dragon son Drogon before Jon Snow (Kit Harington) stabbed her to death.

“She came to power over many years and many struggles as the Breaker of Chains,” Gillibrand said. “She’s somebody who made sure the lowest income, the least empowered could have a voice, and that was who she was. Her goal was to break the wheel. Her goal was to reform government and make sure it represented the people first.”

“Why did the writers have to turn her into a mad queen?” she continued. “That was not part of who she was. And I get she has a history in her family, but they just in the last three episodes destroyed who she was and why she wanted to ascend to power. And I thought it was cheap and I was very unhappy. I’m angry and upset.”

Gillibrand’s interpretation of the character is not universal: While many “Game of Thrones” fans felt Daenerys’ tyrannical behavior in the show’s final stretch wasn’t true to her nature, others felt she had long been a morally suspect colonizer and a troubling “white savior” figure.

Meanwhile, at least two other Democratic presidential hopefuls have weighed in on the show’s epic final season.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Sunday retracted her previous support for Daenerys, telling campaign rally attendees that the Mother of Dragons was no longer fit to serve.

“Oh, I am so blue about Daenerys,” Warren said. “I’m trying to figure out who is gonna be on the Iron Throne, but it sure as heck can’t be Daenerys.”

Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, Indiana, said he too thought Daenerys would assume the throne, until she made “some highly questionable leadership decisions” over the last few episodes.

In the end, Bran Stark, aka the Three-Eyed Raven (Isaac Hempstead Wright), was crowned king in a plot twist most fans didn’t see coming.

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