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After eight seasons of buildup and excitement, many fans were disappointed with how Game of Thrones ended.
Since the finale aired, countless think pieces have been written trying to break down what went wrong with the once-beloved series that seemed to leave such a bad taste in fans' mouths.
One fan may have actually found the answer.
By tracking how many words were spoken per episode and charting the trend on a graph, many believe this fan was able to explain the show's declining quality.
There it is. https://t.co/mTl6iJI9sU— Joanna Robinson (@Joanna Robinson)1558714427.0
The longer the show went on, the less the characters spoke.
@jowrotethis This says a lot... unlike the S8 episodes themselves ;)— ay98182 (@ay98182)1558745069.0
@jowrotethis @soniasaraiya I knew it! https://t.co/XaPxOO4Ou0— John Levenstein (@John Levenstein)1558790573.0
@jowrotethis “She’s my queen” or “you’re my queen” or “I don’t want it” = roughly 60 percent of Jon Snow season 8 dialogue?— Mike Lenahan (@Mike Lenahan)1558715381.0
Fewer words doesn't automatically mean worse episodes, but many thought the amount of dialogue indicated how much time the show spent on character rather than empty spectacle.
a) This isn’t INHERENTLY bad, obviously. I just like the earlier dialogue-heavy stuff so much personally b) I wonde… https://t.co/7I5AVFfhHG— Joanna Robinson (@Joanna Robinson)1558714700.0
Many fans were surprised to see how many words were in some of the earliest battle episodes as opposed to the nearly silent battle episodes of the final season.
@jowrotethis So, other than the overall trend, I find it surprising that 2.10 had less dialogue than 2.09 (Battle of Blackwater).— Robert Reed (@Robert Reed)1558715345.0
@robreedwrites @jowrotethis GRRM wrote it— Tom Pacheco (@Tom Pacheco)1558715758.0
@tpacheco92 @robreedwrites Plus Blackwater didn’t have the budget to be super duper spectacle heavy so there’s all… https://t.co/0eoMTSqwQA— Joanna Robinson (@Joanna Robinson)1558715885.0
Some fans thought the number of words spoken had nothing to do with the decline of episode quality.
@jowrotethis I’m interested to hear your conclusions. To me, this makes a lot of sense - you have to explain the st… https://t.co/nXdrpXCuFK— Kevin Harmon (@Kevin Harmon)1558720989.0
@jowrotethis This seems very appropriate given the increasingly cinematic nature of the show. When it followed the… https://t.co/N9V4M2HDE2— Jay Sherer (@Jay Sherer)1558715536.0
The shrinking amount of dialogue was most obvious among the show's female characters.
The final season of 'Game of Thrones' had the lowest % of female dialogue in the show's history, says an analysis b… https://t.co/EI0IIep1YL— AJ+ (@AJ+)1558644442.0
@jowrotethis I got the feeling there was apprehension writing dialogue for certain characters after they left the s… https://t.co/wTw7bnh9kn— Ryan Mongelluzzo (@Ryan Mongelluzzo)1558714891.0
@rymong @jowrotethis Lena Headey was criminally underused in season 8. She's a brilliant actress.— Maureen Collins (@Maureen Collins)1558807795.0
Some fans came to the show's defense, pointing out favorite episodes that had very little talking.
@jowrotethis The S6:E10 opening was one of the best sequences in the entire show, and there was almost no dialogue.… https://t.co/7eJxvUUKoh— hat. 🎓 (@hat. 🎓)1558796168.0
For better or worse, the show seemed to lean into the trend the longer it ran.
The thing I find most frustrating and damning about this is how the show’s popularity directly correlated with trad… https://t.co/8KxDGSfOBD— Jeff ㋐ Ruberg (@Jeff ㋐ Ruberg)1558714958.0
@jowrotethis Here it is in pictorial form https://t.co/ZAURKK0j3q— IrishGoggs🎮 (@IrishGoggs🎮)1558815936.0
@jowrotethis Can I get this graph but as average length of scene? It would be similarly telling.— Madeleine Roux (@Madeleine Roux)1558719386.0
And, whatever the critical reception may have looked like, there's no denying HBO got the viewers they wanted.
Game of Thrones live viewers: Season 8 finale: 13.6 million Season 7 finale: 12.1 million Season 6 finale: 8.9 mi… https://t.co/HiiQoyqtqW— Jon Erlichman (@Jon Erlichman)1558380861.0
Why not look on the bright side?
@jowrotethis considering how about the writing was shouldn't we be grateful that they gave us less of the crap than more?— Sitara Parker (@Sitara Parker)1558720065.0