雖然《權力的遊戲》大結局已經是一周以前的事情了。
但這部劇引發的熱議卻久久沒有停息。
這樣的大結局到底算不算爛尾？正方和反方吵得不可開交。
吵到現在這部劇的豆瓣評分已經只剩6.4了。
不得不承認，最後幾集在節奏上確實像按了快進，好像就是非要加速完結一樣。這一方面沒有辦法洗白。
但是，至於最後的劇情設置，是不是真的像很多人批評的那樣不合理？這就似乎沒那麼簡單了。
Vox網站最近就刊登了一篇深度影評，來論證龍媽其實並沒有瘋，她的做法很理智。
Daenerys was right:
King’s Landing had to burn
龍媽（丹妮莉絲）是正確的：
君臨城必須得燒掉
Game of Thrones』 Daenerys Targaryen was not a 「mad queen」 (and, indeed, it’s somewhat unclear how mad her supposedly insane father ever was), Jon Snow was wrong to stab her to death in the series finale, and the new elective monarchy set up by a hastily assembled Great Council of the Lords of Westeros represents a step back in terms of political development.
《權力的遊戲》中的龍媽（丹妮莉絲·塔格利安）並非一位「瘋女王」，（而且她那位據傳精神失常的父親曾經有多瘋狂確實不是很清楚）。在這部劇的結局中，瓊恩·雪諾把龍媽刺死是錯誤的。從政治發展的角度來說，由匆忙組成的維斯特洛領主大議會選出新的君主代表了政治上的一種退步。
Her death was a tragedy that reflects, on some level, the very same Stark family naiveté about politics that was such a heavy point of emphasis on the beginning of the series.
龍媽的死亡是一場災難，這從某種程度上反映了史塔克家族始終對政治抱有天真的想法，而這一點在這部劇開篇就已經強調過了。
And despite the Starks』 seemingly good-natured instincts on a personal level, their approach to leadership is going to accomplish nothing useful for the long-suffering ordinary people of Westeros.
雖然史塔克一家人從個人層面上來說似乎都天性善良，但對於維斯特洛大陸上長期受苦的普通人而言，他們的領導方式根本不起作用。
Some form of actual democratic governance — as proposed by Grand Maester Samwell Tarly — would have been an enormous step forward.
而實行大學士山姆威爾·塔利提出的某種真正的民主管理方式將會是向前邁進了一大步。
But it was laughed out of bounds by the high lords of the Seven Kingdoms who proceeded to set up a form of government that serves their narrow interests, while doing nothing to address the many serious problems afflicting the continent.
但山姆提出的這種管理方式卻被七大王國的大領主們取笑了，他們著手創立了一種滿足他們私利的政體，卻沒有採取任何措施來解決這片大陸上存在的眾多嚴重問題。
Daenerys isn’t crazy
龍媽並沒有瘋
The underlying presumption of the actions undertaken by Varys, Tyrion, and Jon over the course of Game of Thrones』 final few episodes is that Daenerys is in some sense unstable, as reflected by her willingness to harm the civilian population of King’s Landing.
在權遊的最後幾集中，蜘蛛（瓦裡斯）、小惡魔（提利昂）和雪諾採取的行動所基於的假設是，從龍媽想要傷害君臨城的普通百姓可以看出，龍媽從某種程度上是反覆無常的。
But this simply isn’t true.
但這其實是不對的。
Daenerys has an objective — to induce the Lords of Westeros to bend the knee and acknowledge her supremacy — and her attack on King’s Landing in 「The Bells」 was well-calibrated to achieve that objective.
龍媽有一個目標，那就是讓維斯特洛大陸的領主們屈服於她，並承認她的權威，而她在「投降的鐘聲」中襲擊君臨城就是有目的地去實現這個目標。
She had previously offered Queen Cersei the opportunity surrender, and Cersei refused — packing the city with civilians and ringing it with air defenses that pose a lethal threat to Drogon, Daenerys’s one remaining dragon.
先前，她給過瑟曦女王投降的機會，而瑟曦拒絕了，還讓平民來到君臨城，並在周圍布好了空防措施，而這種措施對龍媽僅剩的一條龍構成了致命威脅。
A combination of skilled piloting and poor marksmanship allowed Daenerys to overcome the city’s air defenses, destroy the Golden Company, and induce the Lannisters to attempt to surrender.
龍媽優秀的御龍技術以及君臨城空防糟糕的射擊水準使龍媽成功克服了君臨城的空防，摧毀了黃金團，還促使蘭尼斯特家族嘗試投降。
If Daenerys had simply allowed King’s Landing to surrender without consequences only after she evaded its air defenses, then every other recalcitrant lord in the Seven Kingdoms would have incentive to resist her.
如果龍媽在攻破君臨城的空防之後，讓君臨城不付出任何代價就接受其投降，那麼七大王國其他所有難以控制的領主都會想反抗她。
After all, it only takes a lucky shot or two to bring down the dragon — and the Queen riding him — and if she manages to burn your scorpions, you can always just surrender.
畢竟，只要一次或兩次成功的射殺就可以把龍以及騎著龍的女王幹掉，而且如果她試圖燒掉你的弩炮，你投降就是了。
The Breaker of Chains can be legitimately faulted for not explaining the strategic logic of her actions to key subordinates before the battle began.
而打破枷鎖的龍媽被指責沒有在大戰前向她的重要下屬解釋她的邏輯策略也是合情合理的。
But in her defense, those same key subordinates had spent the previous days spreading treasonous talk about Jon Snow being the rightful heir to the Iron Throne, so she can perhaps be forgiven for not fully taking them into her confidence.
但從她的立場上講，在過去的幾天裡，她的那些重要下屬都在散播雪諾是鐵王座的合法繼承人這樣的叛逆言論，所以她並不完全信任他們也許是可以諒解的。
Making an example of King’s Landing was a harsh decision. It was a cruel decision. And it’s certainly a decision whose morality one could question. But it wasn’t a 「crazy」 decision or the act of a Mad Queen — it was a rational calculation based on a clear-eyed assessment of the strategic situation.
拿君臨城開刀的決定很艱難，也很殘酷，而且這個決定肯定會使別人質疑龍媽的品行。但這並不是一個「瘋狂的」決定，也不是一個瘋女王的作為，這是基於對戰略態勢的清晰評估所做出的理性權衡。
One should further note that while Daenerys’s critics were obsessed with rumors that Jon was the trueborn son of Rhaegar Targaryen, they missed the fact that his newly revealed heritage implies that the Baratheon/Stark rebellion against the crown was based largely on fake news about Lyanna Stark.
人們應該進一步注意到，批評龍媽的人都沉迷於雪諾是雷加·塔格利安真正的兒子，但他們卻忽略了這樣的事實，新發現的關於雪諾的繼承人身份暗示著拜拉席恩和史塔克推翻瘋王的統治主要是因為有關萊安娜·史塔克的虛假傳聞。
That, in turn, raises the question of whether the entire 「Mad King」 narrative — and thus the supposed genetic infirmity that makes Daenerys so suspect — isn’t itself a bit of propaganda.
而這又進一步引出疑問，是否是因為對「瘋王」的所有描述以及所謂的基因疾病使龍媽這麼多疑，而不是這部劇本身有點誇大其詞。
The only real consistent through-line in all of this is that Westeros’s great houses oppose the creation of an effective central government.
這部劇唯一真正貫穿始終的就是維斯特洛的大家族都反對創立有效的中央政府。
The nobility likes a weak king
貴族喜歡軟弱的國王
Many fans have observed that there was no real reason for the participants in the Great Council to believe that Bran would be a good king, and that Tyrion’s arguments in Bran’s favor seemed extremely weak.
許多粉絲注意到，大議會的參與者並沒有真正的理由相信布蘭會是一個好國王，而且小惡魔支持布蘭的理由似乎特別站不住腳。
But that’s simply a matter of perspective. If what you mean by a 「good king」 is a king who will rule in the interests of the broad mass of people, then something like the Tarly proposal for a democratic election would make sense.
但這只是人們看待問題的角度不同罷了。如果你覺得「一個好國王」就是一個能夠考慮廣大人民群眾利益的國王，那麼塔利提出的民主選舉才合理。
But they of course rejected that out of hand. What they want is a king who will be good for the upper ranks of the nobility, which actually means a weak and ineffective king.
不過，他們當然會反對這種無法控制的局面了。他們想要的是一個對上層貴族友好的國王，而這其實意味著這個國王軟弱且不起作用。
Bran’s basic indifference to governance means that the likes of Edmure, Bronn, Gendry, and whoever is now running Dorne will have a free hand to rule their domains as they see fit.
布蘭對統治的漠不關心意味著，艾德慕、波隆、詹德利以及控制多恩家族的領主等人將可以自由地按照他們認為合適的方式來支配他們的領地。
That’s nice for them, and fine for the smallfolk who happen to luck into competent and moral masters, but it’s potentially a disaster for others.
這對他們以及有幸成為主宰的那些有能力且品行端正的小人物而言很不錯，但對於其他人來說，這可能就是一場災難了。
In a practical sense, ordinary Westerosi are shown to be much more vulnerable to the problems with weak central governance than to tyranny from King’s Landing.
從實際意義上來講，與君臨城的暴政相比，維斯特洛的普通民眾更容易因軟弱的中央政府存在的問題而受到傷害。
編輯：梅園西牆的王半仙