The morality of 'Game of Thrones'

Hello my dear reader?

Have you seen 'Game of Thrones'? I have. However, I have not read the books so I have no opinion regarding how the series compares to the books; I am planning to read those later.

In his article Can a Christian watch 'Game of Thrones'?, David Gibson explores different points of views regarding this question. He says that the appeal of the series seems bound up in the senseless violence and amoral machinations – not to mention the free-wheeling sex – that the writers use to dramatize this brutish world of shifting alliances and dalliances. He also adds that for some, the most damning aspect of “Game of Thrones” may be the way that it subverts the work that it most closely tracks: J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings” saga that’s beloved by so many contemporary Christians.
I found that second point very puzzling because I was not expecting a Tolkien type of world, and in fact many 'contemporary Christians' that I know also never expected anything similar.

He quotes Jesuit priest Rev. Jim McDermott, who said that the series finds unlikely heroes among “the shattered, the shunned and the disregarded.” and that "salvation is not the purview of some elect, nor does grace inherently reside in a crown...As with horror, so hope springs from the most unexpected of quarters.”

What do you think of the series?