Hi there, I'm One Dodgy Dude, and I'm here to help you write a great story.
In fleshing out a story, writers face a chief concern: hook their audiences into watching
what comes next.
To achieve this, many storytellers resort to the cliffhanger.
It can turn up in a season finale, the end of an episode, even the end of a scene.
Today we'll look at one example of how Game of Thrones nailed the cliffhanger, another
where it half-assed it, and wrap it up with an utter misfire.
A common misconception is to assume cliffhangers work because they present shocking developments.
For a suitable example, we don't have to go farther than the first episode: Jaime pushes
Bran Stark out the window.
The shock, however, wears off quickly.
The real draw for audiences is the speculation on what the fallout will be.
Will the Lannisters be caught right away?
Or will it take a long time?
Will the discovery lead to open war?
Maybe a trial?
Perhaps another attempt on Bran's life?
Will it create conflict among the Lannister siblings?
The amount of fascinating questions a cliffhanger generates is proportionate to how effective
it is.
When the possibilities are many and the stakes high, the tension between what has happened
and what might happen is considerable.
It's the psychological need to ease this tension that compels audiences to watch what
unfolds next.
Notice I never questioned that the Lannisters' involvement would come to light.
The only doubt entails the nature of the consequences.
Introducing this turn of events and not pursuing its potential would have set a bad precedent
and run the risk of losing the audience's trust.
Which can happen if you rely too much on the second kind of cliffhanger.
This one doesn't follow through with its potential, and while it can be disappointing,
it's not automatically a deal breaker.
At the end of Episode 2, Bran wakes up from his coma.
The obvious question springs to mind.
What will happen now that he can reveal Jaime Lannister tried to kill him?
Surprisingly, the story decides not to play this hand.
Instead, it erases the memory from Bran's mind, so the cliffhanger comes to nothing.
This decision is all the more irritating because his awakening happened at the end of an episode,
which typically indicates it's a big deal.
But the excitement dies on the vine in Episode 3, and disappointments like this damage the
writers' credibility.
That being said, it's not the end of the world.
This omission is tolerable because the missed opportunity is not that great.
Bran's awakening poses only one major question: will Bran tell?
There's plot potential, but not as much as the first cliffhanger had.
So we don't feel terrible if it fizzles out.
The Lannisters and Starks still go to war, just for different reasons.
If Bran had remembered the murder attempt, it could have allowed for a different storyline,
but not necessarily a better one.
So, while the sting of a missed opportunity is there, the existing story is great, so
it makes the sting more bearable.
But there's an even worse kind of cliffhanger, and Game of Thrones made use of it.
Even in a story that's not shy about killing off major players, the main characters are
usually untouchables.
If they die, they do so in the closing stages of the story.
Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen are definitely among the untouchables, so it strained credulity
when the show tried to sell Jon's alleged death as a cliffhanger.
It didn't help that the story had set a precedent for people returning from the grave.
And that a magic-wielding character happened to be in the general vicinity when Jon died.
Whatever hold the initial shock had on the audience, it faded quicker than normal, and
the tension between the event and the possible consequences was minimal.
It's fairly obvious Jon will come back to life, but what happens after that?
Will he behave differently?
Will he be more confident, perhaps?
Or more frightened?
Will he have seen something in the afterlife?
If he doesn't, will that make him more nihilistic?
These are all interesting avenues of storytelling and character development, but when Jon came
back to life, he was the exact same guy he'd been before.
No existential anxieties and no change in personality.
The only concrete fallout is that because he "died" he was technically able to desert
the Night's Watch without prejudice.
That's what the cliffhanger amounted to.
A legal loophole.
In general, Jon's behavior in Season 6 seems to indicate he never died, but instead that
he was attacked by his brothers and survived, and now he's had it with the Night's Watch.
It's not the death that affects him; it's the betrayal.
In other words, the biggest event in the cliffhanger has the least dramatic impact.
There's a critical lesson here.
Writers need to remember that just because they used a tool well in the past, it doesn't
mean they've mastered it.
The price of excellence is constant vigilance.
And the penalty for slacking off, is a loss of trust and respect.
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