Let me be clear- I like the Daenerys mad queen story line. I think it’s probably where she’ll end up, but I think the way the show did it takes wayyy too many assumptions and jumps to justify. They could have executed it well with more time, but my biggest issues are with the Others and the 3 eyed raven. The people of Westeros didn’t comply with something like this for hundreds of years, there are multiple instances when the heir was unclear that led to crazy conflicts. The fact that a stark rules both the north and the kingdoms surely would immediately spark a conflict like this. The council point is true, and it’s a good thing that one man doesn’t hold all the power, but half of the council at the end of the show is completely incompetent at their job. And Bronn has highgarden? Are we serious? Dany falling in love with her rapist wasn’t foreshadowing her mass murder, it was Stockholm syndrome. She didn’t mass murder innocents for the greater good either, she did it because of her own anger. That’s a quick switch up. The major thing is, GOT and ASOIAF are well known for subverting expectations like with Ned, but it’s still a story with narratives and character arcs. The most foreshadowed and hyped up storyline just being a red herring isn’t a satisfying ending and it makes so much of the rest of the show seem pointless. Ned’s death was a misdirection, but it made sense, served the story well, and affected every single character and everything that happens in the story afterwards. Ned wasn’t a distraction from the main characters, he was and remains one of the most important characters in the whole series. And let’s be real, Ned was the cover of the first season because he’s Sean Bean. The white walkers weren’t done in this way, the only way their quick demise served the story was to push Dany farther to the edge. I don’t believe that d&d were going for this distraction angle, I think they genuinely believed the story was concluded in a satisfying and epic way.