Gwendoline Christie sounds off on the end of Game of Thrones and that meme-worthy moment

The finale of Game of Thrones has now come and gone (and was watched by a record number of viewers), and many of the show's actors are weighing in on how everything ended up, especially since they are no longer bound by the shackles of secrecy. Gwendoline Christie (Ser Brienne of Tarth) is one of them.

In a new interview with Variety, Christie reflects on her character's journey, as well as a pivotal moment from the finale that the internet has really gone to town with. She also sheds some wisdom on what the finale was all about on a deeper level.

**WARNING: Spoilers incoming for the finale of Game of Thrones. If you are not caught up and do not wish to be spoiled, click away. Also, good luck and get watching.**

Christie says that she was surprised that in the end Brienne largely got what she wanted. "She was made a knight and then a member of the Kingsguard," she says. "To be commander of the Kingsguard was what she wanted from the very first moment we saw her in Season 2. She wants to be part of Renly’s Kingsguard, so she bests the Knight of the Flowers." She adds, "It surprised me she ended up receiving that. It also surprised me that she ended up traveling all the way through the series to the final episode and being a part of the future of Westeros."

Fans were delighted when Brienne was knighted by Jaime Lannister (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) in the second episode of the final season, and some fans were even more excited when Jaime and Brienne's ship finally sailed a couple of episodes later. The two characters finally became intimate, but Jaime shut Brienne down almost immediately afterward, and he got on the first horse that he could find to run back to his sister, Cersei (Lena Headey). The soon-to-be commander of the Kingsguard cried when he left, but she didn't go in for any petty revenge in the finale.

Part of the commander's job is to maintain the "White Book," which contains the deeds and records of all Kingsguard members. Brienne finishes Jaime's entry (which he himself said, in an earlier season, was not very long), and though some fans wanted her to write "hit it and quit it" in big bold letters, Brienne went another way.

"What I thought was interesting about that scene was Brienne has achieved the position of commander of the Kingsguard and she decides to take the higher ground," Christie says. "She uses her power in a positive way, in the way I feel Brienne has always done, to look beyond the surface of who someone is and to examine their deeds and morals. I think what she did was perform an act of respect for someone whom she did love."

If for no other reason than this, there is no one more deserving of the position than Ser Brienne. As for the series as a whole, Christie shared some insight there as well.

"What I think we see in the culmination of the series and the final episode is that it’s been about examining humanity and all of its flaws," she says, adding, "It’s about the fact that people don’t always win and things don’t always turn out well. That is the mystery and complexity of life. Life is very inconsistent, and all we can do is learn from the stories of the past and correct our future."

Now that there's someone on the throne who can quite literally see every little bit of the past, that shouldn't be too tall an order. While on the subject of the new king and his family, however, we said at the beginning that Christie isn't the only one letting the secrets fly like ravens now that the end of the show has been seen. The new Queen in the North has given us an interesting new look at Westeros' new ruler.

A recent photo on Instagram from Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark) reveals Maisie Williams (Arya Stark) wearing shades that are way too cool for school, Turner herself having a lovely pull on a vaping device, and the newly minted King Bran the Broken (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) crossing his pants-less legs. Kings don't have to wear pants anymore, we guess. The caption simply reads, "The pack survived."

We're sure that this news of survival, shades, vapes, and no-pants policies would be news to Robb and Rickon Stark, RIP. They're doubtlessly writing furious journal entries from beyond the grave right now, and they probably aren't taking the high ground like Brienne did.