At this point, is GoT’s story a tragedy? Is there any other way to read it?

As a starting point, I tend to think of things from Tyrion’s point of view. And this post is based on the idea that the character arc conclusions in the tv show are mostly accurate. Tyrion seems like the best overall point of view of the whole story because of the breadth of things he’s seen. (Maybe that’s a bit of recency bias.) You have the entire gamut of human beings in his lifespan: a manipulative father and murderous sister, a loved and almost-redeemed brother who can’t quite take the final step from his addiction, a high-minded-Targaryen-queen-turned-tyrant, a treacherous eunuch with the realms interests at heart, and the best man he knows (Jon Snow), who by rights should have the throne but doesn’t want it. Overall, the story appears to me to be a tragedy that’s is based on the idea that humans, for all their high minded beliefs, just on average can’t overcome their human needs and emotions, and the social pressures of their situation.

I think the hardest thing for me to reconcile is that GRRMs characters are so fricking believeable. I tend to be an optimistic dude and it’s easy to want a *mostly* happy ending. But this is not a happy ending. I guess this is the bittersweet one we were promised though.

Do you think GRRMs conclusion is correct? Are humans unable to overcome their circumstances and emotions? While I don’t think that means that everyone’s life is going to be a bad experience, I have a hard time disagreeing about people in general. I feel history bears this out. Is that terrible?