Fire and ice: Chinese fans love, loathe GoT finale

SHANGHAI: Chinese fans lapped up the climactic “Game of Thrones” finale, with online discussions viewed more than 200 million times despite the episode’s release in China and rights-holder Tencent abruptly delaying its broadcast.

Easily dominating the discussion on popular platform Weibo was the death of top character Daenerys Targaryen, which generated the hashtag “#DragonMotherDies#” that briefly was the platform’s mostviewed topic yesterday.

It was viewed more than 230 million times by early afternoon and generated nearly 50,000 comments, with many mourning the loss of the dragon-riding, slave-emancipating “Breaker of Chains” whose quest for the Iron Throne drives much of the plot.

“This kind of junk scriptwriter should be killed by a dragon,” said one comment, echoing disappointment expressed by fans worldwide over the final season.

Season eight has been widely panned as rushing to a climactic conclusion, with fans particularly objecting to the Mother of Dragons’ rapid descent into madness and tyranny.

“#DragonMotherDies# 2011-2019, I’ve been following the show for eight years, now this is what you got to show me?” said one angry commentator.

“Game of Thrones” has been hugely popular in China, spawning online fan organisations and group screenings.

This despite much of the show’s notorious sex and gore being relegated to the cutting room floor by China’s censors, prompting many to download pirated, uncensored versions.

“I think (censorship) is acceptable since we don’t have a rating system here in China, so some of the bloody and violent scenes are not very suitable for young audiences,” said fan Jia Wang.

Chinese Internet giant Tencent, which has shown censored versions online, announced yesterday morning just before it was expected to air the finale that it would be delayed.

It said a new broadcast time would be announced later, giving no further details.