The first image from the 2019 Emmy Awards was a striking one: the knighting of Ser Brienne of Tarth by problematic favorite Jaime Lannister. It was the high point of the rocky final season of Game of Thrones, the biggest show of the year—of the decade. But despite massive wins at the Creative Arts Emmys last weekend and an air of celebratory farewell surrounding the series, a massive sweep for Thrones was not in the cards on this especially unpredictable Emmys night. Early, surprising losses for HBO favorites like Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Jared Harris made a big win for the odds-on favorite Thrones uncertain, and it only got shakier from there until, in the final moment, the show walked away with the crown.

But it was a muted victory. Thrones did, in the end, secure another statue for Peter Dinklage and the top prize for outstanding drama, but it still needed one more win to break the record for the most Emmys won by a single show in one year. True, it’s a record that Thrones itself already holds, but with a staggering 32 nominations, the show missed out on what should have been a landslide victory lap because, just as the show did in the final season, the powers that be at HBO seemed to forget what made Game of Thrones so beloved in the first place.

The spectacle of the final Thrones season was undeniable, and it deserved every single win it took home at the Creative Arts Emmys. But that spectacle alone isn’t why viewers fell so hard for Game of Thrones, even as it seemed to be what HBO prioritized in the episodes submitted for Emmy consideration this year—the four splashy wartime episodes, which included plenty of fire-breathing dragons, a lethal Jon Dany breakup, and that famously divisive finale. Just imagine if they had included the quiet, character-focused episode “A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms” (aka the one where Jaime knights Brienne). Actress Gwendoline Christie, who stole the show from her costars, had to submit herself for Emmys consideration after HBO left her out in the cold. And she still got a nomination! How’s that for an argument the episode is well-remembered anyway?

Or look at the awkward mid-ceremony Game of Thrones celebration where, after longtime fan Seth Meyers took the stage to declare “[Thrones] set the standard for storytelling and it will be missed,” all nine of the nominated actors from the show took the stage. The crowd cheered for all of them in turn as they read out the nominee for supporting actress in a limited series or movie, but the biggest roar by far went to Christie.

From Meyers’s glowing intro—which contradicted some of his public critique of how the series ended—to the cast’s stumbling over teleprompter lines like “I think we all agree how amazing the last season was for us,” the tribute was an odd moment in an awards show full of them. But other moments felt much more honest, like John Oliver grasping his umpteenth Emmy and saying: “Thank you to Game of Thrones for the lead-in over the years.” There remains genuine affection for Game of Thrones, both inside the Emmys auditorium and among the viewers at home who swooned to see Christie in her gown worthy of a religious icon, or Kit Harington all cleaned up in a tuxedo. But the episodes submitted for nominations made precious little room for those characters, and made it that much harder for the actors to compete in their final go-round.