Questioning the Game of Thrones S8,E3 has wrongs

It is not the first time I responded with paragraphs to a WhatsApp message. The last time I did it, it was on a political situation. This time, it is political from another perspective! Game of Thrones.

I have been following Game of Thrones for a while now. I was not fan of it till Season 6 came along. Then out of curiosity, I watched the first season and I was hooked. I binged watched all six seasons to be ready for season seven and now, when the season eight is here, I have been seeing it along with many from the rest of the world every Monday mornings.

Season Eight is here

With the Episode three of the most awaited Season Eight, the Finale, is poised to be the most expensive to shoot, and the most expansive for the story. Two wars, the first for survival and the second, for the Throne. It is evident from the name of the series that the whole story is not about the Night King but that of the Iron Throne.

So when the Episode Three aired on the Long Night War at Winterfell between the Army of the Dead and Living, it was to be a feast for eyes. Alas, it was gory but well composed. It could have been better, however there are already many who are not happy with it. Some of the questions I got did not make sense, and I decided to follow up on them with my own responses.

Questions raised against GOT Episode Three of Season Eight

1) Sending your entire unarmored cavalry into the darkness head on and losing that cavalry and your only direwolf within minutes.

Response:

1. Why would you want to wait for the Night King and Army to come to you when you know they outnumber.
2. You have more people to save at the castle, than out there far ahead.
3. You need your strongest yet to be closely guarding. Dhothrakhi are merciless, and would have fought a great war (that we didnt get to see).
4. Attack is the best defence at times when you are yet to ascertain the exact strenght.
5. You know well who the Night King was after, and that he is the real end game, not his army

2) Having two full grown dragons on your side and keeping them on a cliff side instead of them manning the battlements of the castle on both flanks and burning down the oncoming horde.

Response:

Bran knew the night king was coming for him, upfront. This was the basis for the entire strategy, and hence it was important to be around and not too far till they know where the Night King was and to kill him the earlierst to avoid further deaths. Niether Bran nor Danny or Jon knew if Night King will fall on Dragon Fire, though we have seen in earlier episodes he does not get effected by fire (caracters cannot see what we see)

3) Letting the incoming horde break through your fire pit and climb the walls and letting undead giants break in and breach entirely while one dragon is AWOL and another sits on the wall WATCHING AND DOING NOTHING!

Response:

With such a huge attack, the director can only show one fight at a time in the limited time the show is screening. The dragon may be fighting a war somewhere else. Plus, there was already a defence in place knowing well that they are heavily outnumbered. The dragons could be looking for the Night King because he is the end game.

4) Chasing the night king in the ice storm with both dragons and then running away from him instead of attacking.

Response:

The Night King had spread the mist of snow making it difficult for Jon and Danny to see or chase and fight him. Hence the natural response by both of them to go above the clouds to see more clearly. As both predicted, Night King does come after them, and then they chase him down. Don’t understand what is wrong with that?

5) Letting an undead dragon besiege the castle while Danaerys is absent entirely. And then trying to burn the Night King with dragon fire in spite of being told it won’t work. And then landing your dragon later to be stabbed by countless undead because you didn’t fly it away.

Response:

Danny trying to kill Night King with dragon fire was because no one knows that if fire or dragon fire will kill the Night King as it does the undead. No one alive in the 7 kingdoms has fought the Night King with a dragon to date, neither did Danny attack Night King with fire before.

Even Bran, with his three-eyed skills, does not know if the Night King can be killed using Dragon fire. Dragon fire is said to be more intense and powerful than the normal fire. It is natural for her with her biggest asset of a weapon to try and kill the Night King with dragon fire.

6) Taking the undead down to the crypts where, no shit sherlock, the undead in the crypts just randomly kill everyone because why not.

Response:

The Night King did make all dead in and around Winterfell undead – which means, yes the ones in the crypt too would become undead. Of course, Night King wanted to have more soldiers for himself right there when he felt he needed, and with powers bestowed to him by George R R Martin, he can and he did.

Sometimes, you should stop questioning the story. Before you ask, the dead in the crypt are like Egyptian Mummies from the Pyramids 🙂

7) Bran just sits there in a trance doing nothing and we don’t even get a reason why the Night King was coming for him, and Theon dies for nothing at all and Bran let’s him die in vain. Please don’t tell me the Night King trying to erase all memory was the be all end all motive because that’s weak and the way it was executed was weaker still.

Response:

1. The first part, Bran knew well why the Night King was coming for him and if you had missed the episode two, watch it again to know why! Bran said he’s the Night King’s target in Season 8, Episode 2. “He’ll come for me,” he said. “He’s tried before, many times with many Three-Eyed Ravens.”
2. Bran isn’t Bran Stark anymore. He is the 3-eyed Raven. Duh! He won’t kill or protect anyone. He is mere a story teller who tells history and assumes predicting based on history to others do the right thing.
3. Killing the three-eyed Raven will ensure that no living will be able to know how to defeat the White Walkers or the know the history at all. This will also mean that the Night King’s target is to destroy the whole world and establish endless night, as a revenge. No one knows the Night King’s side of the story. He was also a human before the Children of the Foresh created him as the White Walker by ploughing in the dragon stone when he was tied to the tree.
4. Theon, in his capacity, the last thing he could do to protect Bran was to kill the night king. Of course, he died stupid and could have done something else than just ramming into the Night King. But he knew well that it would lead to his death. He could have waited for the Night King to come to him and then attack as well. But then, it was Arya Stark who would get the honor. His death reflected his entire life, didn’t it?

8) Arya pulling off a stealth stab and killing the Night King who just walked slowly and said nothing and it was just done.

Response:

So many things wrong with this question…

1. Arya Stark killing Night King: Season 3, Episode 6. Melisandre had told you so. Arya appears to jumps out of no-where, but one of the White Walker feels the movement of his hair against a small breeze denotes Arya’s arrival. May be a skill that she learned as Faceless (wo)men. We have seen her train around that skill in Bravos when The Waif is chaising her.
2. Have you ever heard the White Walkers speaking?
3. Arya could have disguised herself, others could have not noticed her given they were all waiting for the Night King’s next move. When Night King is around, the others have never acted anything on their own.

9) Letting so many characters die without doing anything remotely heroic and letting them die just like that.

Response:

Here is a list of main characters that were dead in the war and all of them did something heroic.

1. Beric Dondarrion, died saving Arya, was heroic for sure. We know what Arya did, after being saved!
2. Eddison Tollett, died saving Sam, was heroic for sure.
3. Theon Greyjoy, died saving Bran after putting up a great fight against the undead (could have died in a better way), was heroic for sure.
4. Lady Mormont died killing a gaint (she was young child) was an extremely heroic death, nonetheless
5. Jorah Mormont, died saving Queen Danny in her arms, was heroic for sure.
6. Melisandre killed herself by taking off the necklace that stopped her death not before bringing fire power to Winterfell. She could have chosen not to, but she did. Of course, Ser Davos would have killed her anyways, but she chose to die herself, which in itself was badass.