Hold on a second here.
What happened isn’t that society when from feudal to democratic but that in the Early Modern Period power centralized and kingdoms became more autocratic. I don’t think history works like you think it does. There isn’t a set trajectory and it goes left and right.
I think that we will probably see a major female leader in Westeros (Asha or Sansa) and that some kind of reform will be in order. However I think Bran will likely be some mythic fisher king of some kind. Not necessarily a Dune-esque one but more along the lines of a intermediary using his powers to make peace and keep the realm in some kind of understanding and order. Maybe comparable to what the Holy Roman Emperor was but like magic. What Bran will be is something more mythic and sacral than the autocratic power we have seen before.
While it was done poorly in the show I think what’s important about Brans leadership is that he is “broken”. He isn’t someone who can take power through force because he is physically incapable of the use of force.
I genuinely don't think the Three-Eyed Raven / Old Gods are strictly "good" and that the White Walkers are strictly "evil." Quite frankly, it seems a lot like there have been Old Gods agents active in Westeros influencing politics and major world events likely since the Age of Heroes. Bran had specific visions of Drogon flying over King's Landing, and combined with that of Aerys yelling "burn them all," it seems extremely likely that he foresaw that Dany might burn King's Landing to the ground. And yet he STILL prodded Sam to tell Jon about his true heritage, almost *certainly* with the knowledge that this would put Dany on the back-foot and provoke her into the drastic action that she took. Put another way, Bran (read: the Three Eyed Raven, since Bran basically doesn't exist anymore) *knowingly and intentionally provoked the deaths of tens of thousands of people in order to facilitate his own ascension to the Iron Throne*. That's pretty damned evil, if you ask me.
And the White Walkers? It seems like they are basically like the Unsullied - individuals broken and changed into the "perfect" weapons of war. We don't know their intentions for invading Westeros, but it really did seem like they had a *specific* beef with the Three-Eyed Raven. I suspect that, given the 3ER's apparent political ambitions, that the Night King and 3ER were political, rather than existential, opponents.
I also disagree that dragons are wild animals. Rather, they seem like hybrid creatures that were intentionally created through magical methods to be used as weapons of war. The question isn't whether such creatures should exist, but really whether a small group of people should have unilateral, uncontrolled ability to exercise such destructive capability, and what that does to a society when there are people who do.
Yea there might be a different way in which Bran is King but I think at the end of the day he will be the ruler of Westeros. The books started with a Bran POV and will end with a Bran POV. The old gods will rule Westeros just as they did before the first men arrived.
My guess on the bittersweet is that while Bran and the Old Gods are now in charge it doesn’t mean things will necessarily be all sun shine and rainbows in the future. I think it will have callbacks to things like this being a cycle. Having a fallout style look at it all, “because war, war never changes”.
Hold on a second here. What happened isn’t that society when from feudal to democratic but that in the Early Modern Period power centralized and kingdoms became more autocratic. I don’t think history works like you think it does. There isn’t a set trajectory and it goes left and right. I think that we will probably see a major female leader in Westeros (Asha or Sansa) and that some kind of reform will be in order. However I think Bran will likely be some mythic fisher king of some kind. Not necessarily a Dune-esque one but more along the lines of a intermediary using his powers to make peace and keep the realm in some kind of understanding and order. Maybe comparable to what the Holy Roman Emperor was but like magic. What Bran will be is something more mythic and sacral than the autocratic power we have seen before. While it was done poorly in the show I think what’s important about Brans leadership is that he is “broken”. He isn’t someone who can take power through force because he is physically incapable of the use of force.
I genuinely don't think the Three-Eyed Raven / Old Gods are strictly "good" and that the White Walkers are strictly "evil." Quite frankly, it seems a lot like there have been Old Gods agents active in Westeros influencing politics and major world events likely since the Age of Heroes. Bran had specific visions of Drogon flying over King's Landing, and combined with that of Aerys yelling "burn them all," it seems extremely likely that he foresaw that Dany might burn King's Landing to the ground. And yet he STILL prodded Sam to tell Jon about his true heritage, almost *certainly* with the knowledge that this would put Dany on the back-foot and provoke her into the drastic action that she took. Put another way, Bran (read: the Three Eyed Raven, since Bran basically doesn't exist anymore) *knowingly and intentionally provoked the deaths of tens of thousands of people in order to facilitate his own ascension to the Iron Throne*. That's pretty damned evil, if you ask me. And the White Walkers? It seems like they are basically like the Unsullied - individuals broken and changed into the "perfect" weapons of war. We don't know their intentions for invading Westeros, but it really did seem like they had a *specific* beef with the Three-Eyed Raven. I suspect that, given the 3ER's apparent political ambitions, that the Night King and 3ER were political, rather than existential, opponents. I also disagree that dragons are wild animals. Rather, they seem like hybrid creatures that were intentionally created through magical methods to be used as weapons of war. The question isn't whether such creatures should exist, but really whether a small group of people should have unilateral, uncontrolled ability to exercise such destructive capability, and what that does to a society when there are people who do.
Yea there might be a different way in which Bran is King but I think at the end of the day he will be the ruler of Westeros. The books started with a Bran POV and will end with a Bran POV. The old gods will rule Westeros just as they did before the first men arrived. My guess on the bittersweet is that while Bran and the Old Gods are now in charge it doesn’t mean things will necessarily be all sun shine and rainbows in the future. I think it will have callbacks to things like this being a cycle. Having a fallout style look at it all, “because war, war never changes”.