Let me just once and for all explain why people are upset. And,
Morrigan can back me up if she thinks I'm hitting the mark. This is going to be my grand, end all be all, post on the subject so strap the fuck in. In this laborious post, I will be using examples from both the books and the show. This is to prove how it fails on both levels. And, to understand the extent to which the show failed to adhere to the point of the series/text. Accordingly, to avoid confusion, I'll be placing book reference in italicizes while show references will remain in regular text. Let's go:
The show might be called Game of Thrones, but the novels are part of a series titled
A Song of Ice and Fire. The series is not about the Iron Throne, the Throne is not important.
That is at least what Martin seems to be building towards. All of these petty lords and humans squabbling over a piece of iron while a true world ending threat is just outside their door step. This is why he has compared the WW threat to climate change. The world is about to be drowned in rising sea levels, but Republicans will still argue over taxes and regulations. The show and the books literally both start with the introduction of the White Walkers/The Others. It's what the series has
always been about.
We're told that long ago the White Walkers came and heralded in a Long Night that lasted a generation all across the world. Kings and Queens froze to death in their castles the same as lowly peasants in their hovels. And, whole people were born, lived, and died in the dark night, never seeing the sun. See (Old Nan Tale S1). It was at some point during these times that a Hero arose that fought back the Darkness. He/She rallied the forces of the world fighting against the WW's with a flaming sword called Lightbringer. This legendary figure's name is different in each culture/part of the world:
Azor Ahai, Hyrkoon the Hero, Eldric Shadowchaser,
The Last Hero, or The Prince that Was Promised. But all agree that they turned the tide in the conflict and ultimately won back the Day.
However, the threat was not outright defeated as the forces of the world clearly believed the forces of the Night would return again someday. Thus, in the West, the Wall was constructed and the Night's Watch was formed to "Guard the Realms of Men."
In the east, the Five Forts of Yi Ti were constructed. And, it is there in the East that the religion of
R'hllor, the Red God, birthed, spread, and prophesied that the Long Night would come again and usher in a
New War for the Dawn and that
Azor Ahai/The Prince That Was Promised would be reborn to lead humanity to victory against this conflict.
Why am I mentioning all of this? Who cares? Well, it's because for SEVEN SEASONS (and five books) we have been primed and prepared for the coming of the Long Night again. We've been told again and again that, "WINTER IS COMING." We've been told that nothing else matters, that this squabbling over the Thorne is meaningless and is blinding everyone from the true threat in the North. The last time the White Walkers came, the forces of Men at least had the Children of the Forest and their magic on their side. But, over the years, magic has faded from the world and the memories of men are fleeting. The Night's Watch has been reduced to an "army of undisciplined boys and tired old men" with less than "a thousand" left, so few The Watch can only man three castles across The Wall. See (Maester Aemon, S1E03). And, no one in the realm believes the White Walkers were even real to begin with but instead just another fairytale next to
the tales of Lann the Clever and Bran the Builder during the Age of Heroes. See (Maester Luwin S1). The stage is set for humanity to be hit with a rude awakening once Winter Comes as they are totally unprepared and unwilling to get prepared.
Now, let's fast forward to last Sunday's episode, the White Walker threat was completely eradicated in their first major confrontation/battle with the forces of Men. And, the Night King turned into little shards of ice after being jumped from behind. This great battle was waged by the battered remaining remnants of the Northern Houses who managed to survive two back-to-back civil wars; reinforcements from the Vale; and the surviving members of Daenerys Targaryen's Essos army who (much like the Northerners) were also diminished time and again by perpetual warfare and conquest.
No army South of the Neck joined the Battle. No River Lords, a half a dozen Iron Islanders, no Stormlanders, no one in the Marches, no one from the West (besides a one-armed Knight), no one from the South in either Dorne or the Arbor, no Sword of the Morning, no one from the Reach (besides a fat failed Maester), no one from any of the Free Cities of Essos, no group of Faceless Men, no contingent of Red Priests and/or Shadowbinders from Asshai or Volantis, no gang of Braavosi water dancers, not a single free company from Lys, Tyrosh, or Myr; NOTHING.
No one South of the Neck has even seen a White Walker, nor will they ever see one at this point.
No one South of the Neck had to risk anything, sacrifice anything, or suffer any consequences for ignoring the threat to the North. The Reach is an area of bountiful harvests, bursting with food. They will never know hunger or starvation or the effects of a hundred year long dark winter. They will only know Arbor Gold wine and fat stacks of bread. They contributed NOTHING to the eventual conflict that threatened the world and gained EVERYTHING.
And so now we cut to the especially hard truth of the matter,
nothing mattered. Every sacrifice was pointless and worthless. Benjen Stark ranging North of the Wall. Old Bear Mormont leading the majority of the Night's Watch North of the Wall. The FiSt of the First Men. Qhorin Half-Hand sacrificing himself to Jon Snow so word could reach back to the Watch. Stannis accepting the burden. Stannis forsaking the faith of the land and accepting the spread of
R'hllor/the Red God. Stannis killing his brother through shadowbinding. Stannis and Melisandre sacrificing folk to the flames. Daenerys Targaryen losing her unborn child. Daenerys Targaryen birthing dragons back into the world. Daenerys enduring the Red Wastes. Daenerys visions in the House of the Undying. Mance Rayder gathering the largest army the world has ever seen. Jon Snow watching Ygritte die. Stannis forsaking pursuing the Throne to aid the Night's Watch. Stannis leading his army North to take Winterfell. Mance Rayder choosing to be burned alive. Bran going North of the Wall. Jojen sacrificing himself for Bran. Bran becoming the 3ER. Hodor Holding the Door.
Jon giving The Gift to the Wildlings.
Jon harboring Alys Karstark. Jon Snow choosing to fight Ramsay Snow. Jon Snow dying and being resurrected. Berric Dondarrion being resurrected a dozen or so times. Daenerys Targaryen choosing to turn her army North instead of South to claim her rights by all the laws of Gods and Men. Jon Snow giving up his title as King of the North to gain Daenerys as an ally.
ALL OF THAT, PLUS MORE, that was all for NOTHING. These people were all idiots. They should have listened to Cercei and the skeptics this whole time, for
if they had done nothing, they would all be better off. The only exception perhaps being Mance Rayder, but if he had known the WW's were so easy a threat to be dismayed by a dragonglass/dragonsteel dagger to the heart of their leader, perhaps he would not have chosen to lead his army South.
The truth is that had everyone done nothing, the WW's would not have been able to breach the Wall. The Wall protected against the WW's crossing over for thousands of years, and as Benjen Stark noted, its magic protects undead from crossing over. It was only through the stupid act of doing something, of actually taking the threat serious, that allowed the NK to claim one of Dany's dragons and use it to knock down The Wall. But, if everyone had just sat down and done nothing, nobody would have needed to die. The World would have been safe.
Cercei was right.
And now we get to the crux of the antithetical nature of this resolution. Martin has compared the WW threat as being akin to Climate Change. But, according to this last episode, climate change skeptics are all right. Climate Change isn't that big of deal. We don't need the whole world working together to solve this issue. In fact, you just need a small band of dedicated individuals, including a savant child. They will sacrifice everything and solve the issue. Meanwhile, you can sit back and race your Hummers down the highway all you want, guzzle down gallons of gas, pump more and more toxins into the sky to produce ever more junk, throw your plastic trash into the sea, and deregulate the entire environmental protection laws and agencies. You were a fucking idiot to believe you had to sacrifice anything to make the world a better place, all it ever took was a sacrifice from a few individuals whom you've never heard of and will likely never hear of. They solved everything while you sat back and relaxed, unaware there was even a problem in the first place. And with climate change forever solved, they too can get back to squabbling over taxes and pieces of imaginary lines on a map.
Hoooray, did we subvert your expectations?
This isn't about Arya jumping the Night King from behind, it's the underlying message behind it all. Nothing that we saw in the past seven seasons meant anything, all of those sacrifices and pains were for naught. The WW's were not some end of the world threat that required everyone in the world to pay attention and work together to solve. They were a minor inconvenience that affected only the North and were defeated without ever leaving the North.
I could keep going since idiots keep thinking that the book prophecies are actually all dumb and meaningless. News flash, they aren't. But, that's a whole separate topic and veers too hard into the books. What I've just laid out is the real reason people hate the episode. And, we haven't even gotten into the actual nitpicky nonsense regarding the actual battle of the episode. Artillery in the front lines. Cavalry charging in the dark into the front lines of the enemy instead of waiting on the flanks. No hot oil to repel climbing invaders. A comically small moat of fire. No proper barricades of the main entrance. No one realizing that a dude that can raise the dead can actually raise the dead and thus sticking everyone in the crypts is a bad idea. Just LOL.
But, but Mr.
BossAttack , this series is called Game of Thrones, it's actually always been about the politics. Fuck you and STFU. No, it's not. The show hasn't been about "complex politics" since it ran out of books to adapt. It's why every political character turned into a DUNCE with an extra big D on their hat the moment they left Kings Landing. Varys, Tyrion, Littlefinger, all of them turned into slack jawed yokels that couldn't rub to pennies together in their heads once the books dried up. Even worse, they made decisions that flew in the face of all political acumen and logic in the world. Littlefinger openly gives Sansa to Roose Bolton. Sansa! A declared traitor to the Crown that Cercei has demanded the head of, LF gives her up openly despite owing all his lands and titles to the Crown which they can easily snatch from him. He does this to gain…oh that's right to gain fuck all because it was all a contrivance to have Sansa raped for shock value.
Now that the NK is gone you expect me to get invested back in the politics of the world when the politics haven't made sense for five seasons? How can I get invested with Cercei as the main villain? Cercei makes no sense. I can't invest myself in an enemy that adheres to no logic. How does Cercei have any allies or power? She blew up the holiest site in Westeros along with the Pope and all the great Nobles Houses are like, "okay, cool." And, all the superstitious peasant folk that incited a small uprising that ousted the previous Pope and installed a People's Pope are equally just okay with what Cercei did. Cercei also has gold and resources to back her that just spring from nowhere. The Iron Bank are also keen to back her. Why? At least if this was the books we could justify it by saying that the Iron Bank despises the return of dragons. But the show never set this up, so it's irrelevant. Why should the Iron Bank back a crazy lady when Daenerys seems a more stable ruler and under her father's reign the Crown's coffers were overflowing and the Crown's debts were being paid on time?
Tell me again, how do I invest in such a comical enemy when nothing about her makes sense? The NK was at least nice because you didn't have to think, he was just pure evil. He didn't speak and he had one goal, kill everything. You didn't have to think about the dumb politics or logistics. It was an enemy made for D&D (hell, one they made up) and now he's gone. Now, we have to go back to an enemy you do have to think about and who makes no sense.
Do you understand the problem?
