*** Major Spoiler Alert for Game of Thrones ***
Well that’s a wrap of Game of Thrones Season 6! Winter is here, more houses and families are gone, body count was off the charts and more backstory about Jon Snow’s parentage is finally revealed. Now to wait a long 9 months for the season seven premiere…at least we don’t have to wait to see if someone is living or really dead this time! Thanks writers!
Typically episode nine is the biggest episode of the season, and the season finale usually just leaves everyone with a few cliffhangers; but The Winds of Winter did not get stuck in the shadow of the Battle of the Bastards! The body count just kept on climbing in the season finale…I honestly wasn’t expecting to see the Sept blow up, or Arya strike off another name from her kill list in spectacular Shakespearean fashion.
We knew we had to track the Twitter coverage again this week, and used our Twitter monitoring tool in MediaMiser Enterprise to monitor #GoT and track the minute-by-minute reactions over the 69-minute episode.
The Twitter buzz in the first 17 minutes of the episode was relatively quiet. Viewers began tweeting about the musical score during the trial of Loras Tyrell, noting that the music was stunning, and definitely setting up for something big! (Cue the shivers and everyone on the edge of their seats.)
Okay y’all know all this pretty music is a setup for something horrible! #GoT #Madqueen — watching Game of Thrones
— kaceegreen (@kaceegreen) June 27, 2016
Leading up to the first spike of the night the calming music was the perfectly partnered with the building panic inside the Sept when Margaery Tyrell realizes when Cersei Lannister’s absence signals something horrible is about to happen…then BOOM!
The explosion led to the largest spike in coverage for the episode. Twitter was wild with tweets about how quickly the body count in the finale was climbing. Cersei calculated the perfect revenge on the High Sparrow and his followers, while wiping out an entire faith, along with most of House Tyrell.
oh my gosh!!! wow, talk about massive massacre!! Cersei is a savage!! #GameofThrones #GOT #GoTFinale @GameOfThrones
— Ashley_Devi (@ashleysumasar) June 27, 2016
The second spike in coverage came just five minutes after the destruction of the Sept. Twitter was still abuzz when tweets spiked once again, following the suicide of King Tommen. The body count quickly surpassed the previous week’s on-screen count during the Battle of the Bastards.
#cersei just killed the entire faith #damn #GameofThrones #GoT #Shame #theMountain
— Joe Murphy (@the_Joe_8) June 27, 2016
God damn this episode already has a crazy high body count #GoT
— Brian Biscotti (@brianbiscotti) June 27, 2016
After the events in King’s Landing, Twitter quieted down quite a bit. The reactions to Sam finally reaching the citadel and the reveal of the library only saw a few users tweet about it. Same with the long awaited confirmation that winter had finally arrived (seriously, it’s been six years coming!). Compared to the rest of the finale, it wasn’t surprising that Twitter didn’t buzz on winter as much as the rest of the events during the night.
“Winter is here.”
Well, thank god it’s only taken about 6 whole seasons. #GoT
— Cole K (@hot_n_coleD) June 27, 2016
The third largest spike came at 9:55 p.m. when Arya checked another name off of her kill list. The ever clever girl finally got to the Frey family, exacting a long awaited revenge on the elder for orchestrating the Red Wedding. Honestly, I didn’t even see this one coming and I totally jumped off the couch cheering! Bring on the Stark reunion in season seven!
“The last thing you’re ever going to see is a Stark smiling down on you as you die.” *RAISES ARMS TO THE SKY IN PRAISE* #GOT
— Bri (@Steer_Displaced) June 27, 2016
The finale was a full 69 minutes long—the longest episode in GoT history—and it definitely did not disappoint! The final spike in coverage we uncovered was users reaction to the reveal of Jon Snow’s parentage. All season the writers alluded to Snow’s lineage through Bran’s Greensight visions and venturing into backstories that have yet to be fully explained. The internet has been buzzing about rumours of who his true parents are, and at the end of the episode we finally get confirmation that Snow is not actually a bastard…but rather a cousin of the Stark children.
I knew it! Jon is the cousin #thronesyall #gameofthrones #got
— T.B. Bond (@neverStirred) June 27, 2016
With Sansa Stark and Jon Snow finally back at Winterfell, we’re treated to a happy moment when the North finally unite back to the rightful royal family. Twitter perked up again here to celebrate and back the true king of the North: Jon.
Jon Snow is the King of the North. #GoTFinale #GoT #GameofThrones
— Mattisa M. (@kwillsmom) June 27, 2016
Overall, Twitter seemed to be happy with the finale. The episode brought together many storylines and pulled everything together for fans to now wait a long and grueling year to see how season seven will play out. Sadly we will have to sit idle, and fantasize about what the writers will bring us. We’ll be here, waiting to analyze the social buzz!
Winter IS indeed here.
What a finale!!! Special mention to the musical scoring lol Non-stop climax! One of my fave character died though. #GoTFinale
— Reverse Harem Garden (@Ayreesa) June 27, 2016
And that is how you end a season. Epic. A song of ice and fire indeed. ?#GameofThrones#GoT#WindsOfWinter#WinterIsComing
— Jenealyn Baylon (@ate_jenealyn) June 27, 2016
