And here it is! The final game in Fantasizr‘s weekly Game of Game of Thrones fantasy league. This game wasn’t as high-scoring as some of the other contests we’ve seen this season, but there were still some surprising plays that shuffled around the league standings in significant (and disappointing) ways.
Before we dig into the details of this final installment of the final Game of Game of Thrones, it goes without saying (but I’m going to tell you anyway) that spoilers exist just below. If you have not yet seen the final episode titled “The Iron Throne,” I implore you to proceed with caution!
The Night Kings pulled out all the stops for the final game and came out way on top this week with 445 points. The team’s win was led by Bran Stark—now king Bran the Broken—with 270 points. Turns out we were all fooled and the “Kings” portion of the Night Kings name referred to any King of Westeros, not just the leader of the dead. Bran earned 200 for being named King of the Seven Six Kingdoms, 20 points for surviving to the end, 10 points for a wry comment about why he made the journey to King’s Landing (he knew the outcome all along!), and 10 points for telling Tyrion he’s going to make up for all his mistakes. Bran earned a final 30 status points for finishing the series as a seated king. Mercenary-turned-noble Bronn brought in 50 points—25 for being appointed to the Small Council, 20 points for living, and 5 points for his biting retort to Davos Seaworth’s pedantic grammar correction. Podrick Payne delivered 25 points for his elevation to a member of the King’s Guard as well as his 20 points for staying alive through to the end. Lastly, Tormund Giantsbane, Gendry Baratheon, Ghost, and Hot Pie all ran in 20 points for not dying.
The Nighsthade Ninjas claimed second place this week with 235 points. The lead scorer for the Ninjas was Grey Worm with just 55 points—10 for random kills as he continued his violent dissolution of the remaining Lannister forces, 25 points for earning a big promotion with a lot of titles as the head of the Mad Queen’s army (short lived though it was), and the obligatory 20 points for living through to the end of the game. Davos Seaworth brought in 50 points—20 for managing to live through the last episode and 25 points for taking a seat at the small council as Master of Ships, plus an additional 5 points for casting his vote for King Bran (even if he wasn’t sure he even got a vote). Samwell Tarly scored 45 points—25 for being named to the Small Council and 20 for surviving. Alas, he didn’t earn anything for suggesting the first democracy in Westeros. Maybe because the suggestions was soundly laughed down by all in attendance. Daenerys, who has been a powerhouse for the Ninjas for weeks now, managed to score just 25 points this week for her ignoble death at the hands of her nephew/lover. Finally, Drogon, Nymeria (the wolf), and Gilly all nabbed 20 survival points.
My Harrenhal Halberdiers managed a third place finish in this final game with Sansa Stark’s 80 points leading the way. In addition to her 20 surviving player points, she earned 25 for taking over the now-independent Kingdom of the North, 5 points for telling her uncle, Edmure Tully, to sit down (and stop embarrassing himself) and 30 points for ending the game sitting on a throne. Arya, one of my most consistent players, scored 55 points—20 for remaining alive, 10 points for uttering “I came to kill Cersei. Your queen got here first,” to Jon Snow, 5 points for her comment about Sansa’s certain disapproval of Daenerys as queen of the Seven Kingdoms, 10 points for threatening Yara Greyjoy at the summit meeting, and a final 5 points for the callback to her line from season six, “What’s West of Westeros?” Support players Willa, Yara Greyjoy, Meera Reed, and Martha each earned me 20 final game survivor points.
Ending the week in last place is the normally top-performing No Ygrittes with just 180 points. Stalwart Tyrion Lannister earned 80 points—20 for surviving, 20 for being named the episode’s MVP, as well as 25 points for being named King Bran’s Hand. But he also lost 25 points for resigning as the Hand of Queen Daenerys. However he brought in 40 for using his wits, including 10 for his quip to Daenerys about her slaughtering a city, 5 for asking Jon if he brought wine during the makeshift prison visit, 5 points for saying Varys would be telling him “I told you so” in his grave, 10 points for urging Jon to action, and 10 more for dropping the line, “Sometimes duty is the death of love.” Brienne earned 45 points—25 for being named the head of the Kings Guard (or maybe for being on the Small Council… she should have gotten 50 points maybe) and 20 for finding her way through to the end of the game alive. Jon Snow, one of the game’s most ineffective players, earned just 35 points this week. He scored 25 for killing Daenerys and a bonus 15 for betraying his queen. He lost 25 for being knocked back to the Night’s Watch, but gained 20 for making it to the end alive. And, finally, the heretofore nonscoring Sarra nabbed 20 points for making it through alive.
Which means our final league standings look like this:
- Nightshade Ninjas: 1,545 points
- No Ygrittes: 1,350 points
- Night Kings: 1,175 points
- Harrenhal Halberdiers: 1,075 points
No surprise that the Nightshade Ninjas came out on top, though it was touch-and-go between them and No Ygrittes for a few weeks. With that final game, the Night Kings leapfrogged right over the hapless Harrenhal Halberdiers into third place, meaning I, like our Game of Thrones contest during season six, ended up in last place. Turns out I’m no better at fantasy Game of Thrones than I am at fantasy football.
Let’s take a look at one final statistic: the highest ranking player on each team. As you might suspect, the Nightshade Ninjas win in this category too, with Daenerys (480 points). The Harrenhal Halberdiers came in next with undead-killer Arya Stark (385 points), followed by the Night Kings with Bran Stark (360). Finally, the top scorer for No Ygrittes was Tyrion Lannister (240 points).
And that’s the end of Game of Thrones and the Game of Game of Thrones (at least until the series spin-offs… or an HBO movie). Thanks for following along week after week, and thanks to the folks at Fantasizr for making it possible and to Julia Alexander for her painstaking scoring totals each week. You can read her final points summary at The Verge.
