Sunny Sethi
Aug 26, 2017 · 4 min read

I won’t rain too hard on the GoT parade, mostly because it’s by far the best source of spectator entertainment available each summer ( especially pre-Michigan football), and the showrunners have delivered, on balance, a mesmerizing, well made and well executed product. BUT, I think the plot holes, logical inconsistencies, and bad dialogue are increasing both in number and overall effect.

Take for example this “mistake by the lake” sequence from S7E6. For us to believe that the Night King was laying a dragon trap we’d have to imagine:

A.) The Night King somehow knows Jon and Dany are now a thing and that she would risk her dragons to save him. Not impossible, especially if you assume he’s got some warging ability or greensight similar to Bran. Given the fact he can “see” Bran when Bran is doing his greenseeing thing on him, makes this believable.

B.) That he knew that Jon and crew would run onto this frozen lake when chased, and that the ice properties of said lake, would be sufficient for these guys to get to the island in the middle, but not allow for his wights to follow without sinking. That once on this island, they’d sit tight and we’d have a long and drawn out stand off, which would allow enough time for Gendry to run back to the wall, send a raven to Dany, and have her fly her dragons over. Oh yeah, he also had to assume they’d send one of their crew back (Gendry in this case) to the wall on foot for this whole plan to have worked. Otherwise Dany would have never known to have come by right then.

C.) And most improbably, that the Hound would throw that rock to demonstrate the lake was again frozen, which would alert the wights to attack with just enough time for them to lay siege upon the Suicide Squad in the middle, but not overtake them before Dany and her dragons arrive.

If the wights were really hanging back because they thought the lake wasn’t sufficiently frozen, and they really wanted to kill Jon & Co, they could have hurled rocks, spears, arrows, etc in their direction. Also, the Night King CONTROLS ICE, so why can’t he just freeze the lake and create a bridge for his homies to cross on? But they didn’t do either of those things, so it makes some sense they were waiting for some larger strategic reason (e.g., dragon trap). But if they were waiting for the dragons, then why attack only after the Hound throws the rock? They’d have to have known Dany was close enough for this attack to only be sufficient to cause her to stick around and leave her dragons vulnerable, but not so successful that they kill all of Jon & Co before Dany even arrives. That’s just nuts.

So while it makes the most sense that this stare-down was the result of some elaborate Night King plot to get a dragon, it still requires some absurd leaps of logic to get there (item C above being the most problematic).

On to some predictions:

  1. Jon becomes the Night King. This is the prediction that will make me famous if true, because no one else is on this wagon with me. The way I see it, the Night King/White Walkers are not evil. GRRM has said repeatedly that his world is filled with moral ambiguity and complex motivations. The idea that White Walkers are simply out to kill everything in their path for no apparent reason would run counter to the entire philosophy of the show. “Good vs. Evil” is way too simple a premise for George RR. Instead, these guys have some deeper reason for their march against the wall and their war with men. Perhaps some ancient truce between the two civilizations has been breached. Too many wildlings on the wrong side of the wall? No more children coming from Casters Keep to help the White Walker species survive? I’m frankly not sure. But once their true motivations become more obvious, I don’t think it will be as simple as blood thirst. This is where Jon comes in. Once it becomes apparent that peace can be achieved through diplomacy I think Jon will usurp the Night King, and lead the White Walkers back across the wall and into the lands of Always Winter. How exactly this happens from a mechanical perspective, I’m not sure. There’s a bunch of reasons why this doesn’t make sense, and that’s why it’s such a long-odds prediction…one I can solely claim as my own :)
  2. Dany does not survive the end of the series. And Jon is the one who kills her. I don’t have tons of evidence for this, but just a feeling that Dany sitting on the Iron Throne is not the kind of ending her character is set out for. It’s too linear. Instead, in the process of becoming the Night King, or bringing peace to the realm, Jon will realize that Dany will have to die. That her “fire only” mentality will not bring stability to the lands of Fire AND Ice. It also harkens back to the story of Azhor Ahai having to plunge his sword into his wife, Nissa Nissa, in order to bring his earth saving sword into being. This time Jon will have to kill his love, Dany in order to once again bring peace to the realm.

Characters that are still alive at the end: Jon (sortof), Brienne, Sansa, Arya, Tyrion, Gendry (King of Men?), Davos (Hand?)

Characters that are dead by the end: Littlefinger (I think dies in S7E7), Cersei, Dany, Hound, Mountain, Jorah, Jaime (least sure about him)

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    Sunny Sethi

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