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BY ANGELICA LOUISE PFLEIDER
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Thursday. September 14, 2017
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IT HAS BEEN more than two weeks but so many fans feel the absence of one of the best series to ever hit television: “Game of Thrones.”
Maybe it was coincidental that the Season 7 finale aired on the same day the Philippines celebrated National Heroes’ Day. But perhaps the universe was trying to send us a message here.
One of the centralizing themes in “Game of Thrones” besides the well-known dragons and incest is the struggle Jon Snow (Whoops, I mean Aegon Targaryen) is going through to unite all his rivals to fight the Night King and his army of the dead. At least now that Daenerys Targaryen is on his side (in more ways than one) his forces have become stronger.
I want to compare this aspect of “Game of Thrones” with what the Philippines is going through. We are a nation of very diverse people who all have their own beliefs and opinions and as a result we tend to clash with each other. The most prominent you can see now are the “Yellow Army Loyalists” versus the “Dutertards” constantly at each other’s throats and publicize the smallest mistakes of the opposing parties.
This is so much like what the different houses in “Game of Thrones” are like. Northerners would never dream of working with the Southerners because they each have different attitudes and beliefs. Even their gods are different. Jon and Dany reflected this when they refused to bend to the other’s will and surrender. However, after the expedition to Eastwatch Jon realized that one of them had to give and he bent the knee to Daenerys.
Though we don’t have Ice Zombies or Zombie Dragons in the real world, the struggles we face are just as dangerous. Poverty, extrajudicial killings, rape, theft, oppression – these are all very real threats that the living have to face. The only way we can face this enemy is if we set aside our personal prejudices and bring our strengths together. Jon and Dany were even willing to compromise with Cersei Lannister, someone who they both hate, to build the strength of their forces. If she only kept true to her promise to help, they would have a better probability of defeating the army of the dead.
Sadly this is something Filipinos find hard to do. Our heroes were great men but they didn’t always have the best relationship with each other. The Katipunan and the Ilustrados, the pro- and the anti-Americans. They set the stage for the golden age in our history but so many of these men died horrible deaths at the hands of their own countrymen.
That is why I think it was a positive sign that the season finale just so happened to air on Aug. 28 in the Philippines. It’s a wakeup call to all of us. We are all heroes and though we have different beliefs and opinions, we need to work together to defeat the common enemy./PN
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