Ask Game of Thrones fans about the final episode and you’ll get an earful. There’s no shortage of opinions on social media. While the finale might be debated for years, what isn’t up for debate is that the show scored a home run for HBO, setting a record with 19.3 million viewers.
It also contained one of the best speeches I’ve heard on the topic of storytelling—and it rings true.
In brief, here’s what happened. And you don’t have to be a Game of Thrones viewer to appreciate it. The speech came courtesy of Tyrion Lannister, played by award-winning actor Peter Dinklage. In the scene, the lords and ladies of the fictional land of Westeros had to find a new ruler to command the Seven Kingdoms. Tyrion made a surprise—and compelling argument— in support of a character named Bran Stark.
According to Tyrion, Bran has a special power that would make him a great ruler—he was the keeper of the kingdom’s stories.
“What unites people?” Tyrion asked. “Armies? Gold? Flags?” No. It’s stories, he said.
“There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story. Nothing can stop it. No enemy can defeat it. And who has a better story than Bran the Broken? The boy who fell from a high tower and lived… He’s our memory. The keeper of all our stories. The wars, weddings, births, massacres, famines, our triumphs, our defeats, our past. Who better to lead us into the future?”
Never mind how Bran learned the history of Westeros—he was taught by the Three-Eyed Raven in Season 6. Seriously. What you need to know is that Tyrion’s speech worked. He won his case.
The Game of Thrones writers are experts in storytelling, of course, and it makes sense that they would hand the reigns of the kingdom to a storyteller-in-chief. The Seven Kingdoms don’t really exist, but Tyrion’s logical appeal was historically accurate. Storytellers have always been the ones considered the best people to lead us into the future.
Storytelling around the campfire lit our imagination
Anthropologists point to fire as the spark that ignited human evolution. Once our ancestors gained control of fire, they could cook food, ward off predators, and tell stories around the campfire.
Social anthropologists like Polly Wiessner at the University of Utah believe storytelling played an important role in the evolution of society. Storytellers were the keepers of the tribe’s memory—its culture and history. “Appetites for firelit settings for intimate conversations and for evening stories remain with us today,” Wiessner reminds us.
Like today’s communicators, some ancient storytellers were more skilled than others. The good ones were widely admired for their ability to hold an audience’s attention, to keep them laughing, and for entertaining as well as informing. According to Wiessner, “Stories told by firelight put listeners on the same emotional wavelength, elicited understanding, trust, and sympathy, and built positive reputations for qualities like humor, congeniality, and innovation.”
The best storytellers were admired for engaging their audiences. Their reputations spread beyond the tribe as people came from near and far to listen to them. While the tools of communication have changed, the human brain has not. We are a storytelling species. We think in story, talk in story, and admire those who keep and spread our stories.
In her book, Leadership for Turbulent Times, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote about a leader who was so admired for his verbal skills, he “drew crowds from the countryside eager to be regaled and entertained by a master storyteller.” The storyteller was Abraham Lincoln. “He understood early on that concrete examples and stories provided the best vehicles for teaching,” writes Goodwin.
In the corporate world, storytellers keep the brand’s history alive.
For example, Nike designates some executives as storytellers. “As Nike gets even bigger, its storytellers feel that their mission becomes even more critical,” according to a Fast Company feature on the Nike storytelling culture. At Nike, the heroics of the past inspire the innovations of the future. “The best way for a company to create a prosperous future is to make sure all of its employees understand the company’s past. That’s why many veteran execs at Nike spend time telling corporate campfire stories.”
Tyrion would agree.
I don’t know if Bran Stark will be the best ruler of the Seven Kingdoms (six, actually, since Sansa Stark decided to keep the North independent). But by putting their faith in a storyteller, the lords and ladies of Westeros are honoring the single greatest tool that leaders have to inspire future generations—the power of story.