The Not-So-Long Night
In October 2009, filming began for the pilot episode of a new HBO medieval fantasy series. Little was known about this series, except that it was based on the popular Song of Ice and Fire book series by George R. R. Martin. Upon the conclusion of principal photography, it did not take long to realize that the pilot was an unmitigated disaster, with reshoots becoming necessary to save the show. Thankfully, the reshoots were completed, and the final product was delivered to the small screen on April 17, 2011. Thus, Game of Thrones was born.
It is hard to imagine popular television culture without Thrones. The tight, witty dialogue, alluring characters, remarkably graphic violence and explicit sex scenes all served to draw in a passionate audience always hungry for more adventures in Westeros. This hunger was initiated right from the start, as the first scene of the reshot pilot episode presented a vague yet horrifying mystery.
Three rangers of the Night’s Watch, an organization stationed atop a massive ice wall to guard civilization from what lies north, are ambushed by a force of unknown, inhuman beings who kill two of the three men. These brutes are later revealed to be members of a species known as the White Walkers, who seek to return to the mainland of Westeros and wreak havoc on human civilization in an event prophesied as the “Long Night”.
Ironically, the White Walkers became the least interesting aspect of the show for most viewers, with the political human conflicts becoming much more engaging; that is, until they are reintroduced in a dramatic fashion with the arrival of their leader, the Night King, in season five. From then on, the White Walkers became a key aspect of the show, with the arcs of several main characters being closely tied to their inevitable arrival.
This shift in focus also introduced the central climate change allegory to the show. The White Walkers are an unstoppable force of unprecedented might with motivations no one can understand, to the extent that many flat out ignore or deny their existence altogether. Like the disaster that is climate change, the Long Night taps into some part of the human brain which finds it more comforting to disregard the presence of a threat rather than face it head on, which only ends up contributing to the lethal potential of the looming disaster. While some take a stand to prepare the world for the wars to come, most characters work to settle the insignificant human conflicts which take up the majority of the show’s runtime.
For the longest time, George R. R. Martin denied the validity of this comparison, insisting that he does not write his stories with intentional allegories in mind. However, as time went on and more evidence emerged from the show, the symbolism became too obvious to ignore. Martin has previously stated that his primary inspiration came from the works of J.R.R Tolkien and H.P Lovecraft. The White Walkers are prime examples of the type of inconceivable reality and existential horror which form the backbone of Lovecraft’s work in particular. The existentialist themes presented by the Night King and the Long Night provide the perfect backdrop for a more explicit focus on climate-based horrors.
The unintentional allegory Martin introduces proves remarkably effective and powerful for the vast majority of the show. Beyond the heightened focus on the White Walkers in the later seasons, the audience’s knowledge of their presence adds real tension to many scenes. The race against time to properly equip mankind to overcome the Long Night feels very reminiscent of our feeble attempts to reverse the human contributions to climate change via clean energy, forest conservation, recycling, etc. What’s more, the grim realities of living in the Long Night feel equitable to us trying to survive in a thoroughly climate-threatened world.
Explicit parallels can be drawn between certain characters and types of people living in a world molded by climate change. Jon Snow is the character with the strongest ties to the White Walker story. He is one of the first people to witness their potential as a threat firsthand, and he becomes the only character actively advocating for the seven kingdoms to come together to fight as one against the Night King. Like many informed climate scientists of today, Jon faces many deniers and rejectors who fail to acknowledge the dangers they face. Cersei Lannister becomes the prime example of a modern day climate rejector, as she gets to see proof of the Walkers’ existence for herself, yet chooses to not provide support for the war and ignores the common interest. Tyrion Lannister and Daenerys Targaryen act as skeptics; only coming around to support the cause once their goals are directly impacted by the presence of the Night King.
Up until the second episode of the final season, the allegory was working perfectly in favor of the plot. That episode in particular added another dimension to the Night King and the Long Night. Bran Stark, a character lacking emotion who can see all of time at once, reveals some motivation for the Night King. His target is Bran himself, who houses the memory of the world as a direct result of his supernatural abilities. Erasing that memory would nullify the existence of man in the first place, permanently instilling a “forever night”.
This concept contains direct relevance to a way in which we fear climate change. In his seminal work Don’t Even Think About It: Why Our Brains Are Wired To Ignore Climate Change, author George Marshall describes that we humans are able to cope with our inevitable deaths through the guaranteed presence of our “immortality project,” an achievement or process which ensures our lives will be remembered with some meaning. Due to the permanent nature of climate change, “…the ‘immortality project’ that compensates for our own deaths has been taken away from us”. (Marshall) This results in a fear that the human mind has never had to face before, and is thus unprepared to do so. It appears that the Night King has the intention to destroy the immortality projects of our beloved characters, something we dread happening to us.
So where did things go wrong? Unfortunately for the memory of the show, the allegory loses all its footing in the final episode where the White Walkers appear. Ironically titled, “The Long Night,” the third episode of the final season concludes with Arya Stark, an assassin with supernatural fighting abilities, killing the Night King with little to no effort. Thus, the White Walkers are destroyed in one fell swoop with relatively little consequences. Very few principal characters die in the battle, and not much feels lost in the war against a supposedly invulnerable force.
In the context of the show, this moment feels incredibly cheap with years of preparation and build up being undone by a sentient deus ex machina. More importantly, in the context of the climate allegory, it nullifies the effectiveness of the Long Night as an accurate comparison to the climate crisis. In reality, the multifaceted threat of climate change can not be resolved by the miraculous arrival of a gifted individual or resource. The long term resolution necessary to combat climate change is undermined with an ending such as this. What’s more is the fact that the years of work put into stopping the threat of the Long Night feels rather inconsequential when he was so easily defeated. By comparison, the dedicated life’s work of modern-day climate scientists will not go unnoticed should we manage to overcome the climate disaster we currently face.
So what approach would have been better? The writers were in a very tough spot in concluding this story, as few options would feel completely satisfying. Having Jon Snow, the conventional hero, fight it out with the Night King would feel narratively lazy and be no better at concluding the allegory. Destroying the Night King with the over-emphasized might of dragon fire would suffer from similar issues.
In reality, I see only two suitable, but still imperfect, outcomes. In theory, a collection of the show’s heroes could come together and fight the Night King at the same time while still suffering losses, placing a special emphasis on camaraderie in the face of oblivion. On the other hand, the most logical outcome would be for the Night King to win and succeed in initiating the Long Night. The characters we know best have never come together to solve anything, and there is no evidence to suggest they are capable of winning the day. It would be narratively fitting while perhaps providing the television viewing audience with a much needed wake-up call to the true dangers at hand. Besides, when the Long Night comes for us, there will be no Arya Stark to call upon to defy the harsh realities of climate change — there will only be winter.
