Was the Long Night…long?
(Game of Thrones Season 8 Episode 3 Review: with spoilers)
I watched the 3rd episode in the 8th season of Game of Thrones. The story was entertaining, the suspense and graphics were well timed. But the ending wasn’t satisfying.
People who aren’t Game of Thrones fans might not understand. They might see it as “just a TV series”. Yes, it might be, but I think there is more to that. A befitting Game of Throne finale is the triumph of good storytelling, something the show has been losing over the years. I love the show for its realism, its portrayal of reality beautifully mixed with fantasy and of the duality of our human nature. A scene that captured this was when Tyrion Lannister murders his father Tywin. What sparked that action on the surface was the father’s affair with his (Tyrion’s) mistress, Shae. But GOT fans know, there is more to that. Behind that action was a history of disappointment, expressed by the father. And this touches on some of the dark tension that exists between a child and the father as he/she seeks the approval of the latter. So fans even though they disapprove the murder of a parent, felt Tyrion’s pain and could emphatise with that action.
And that is what made the show great; its ability to recreate a likely human response, even in the most fantasy of environments. Good stories are well served if they end well; If they capture all the momentum garnered over the years and deploy, adequately.
The 3rd Episode in the eighth season was primarily about the battle between the team of the Night kings & his white walkers against an alliance from the kingdoms of Westeros that consisted of Daenerys, Jon Snow, Jaime Lannister, and the Stark household. After almost 120 minutes meandering through the story, we end up with Arya Stark stabbing the night king, a move that wiped out all the white walkers and saved humanity. It was entertaining, I must admit, but it failed to meet up to the standard and expectation we have had over the last 8 years of the Game of Thrones.
Who is the night king?
What is necessary to understand and appreciate this point of view is a little history lesson on the origins of the night king. The below are excerpts from the book series “Song of Ice and Fire”, the primary source material for the series.
Before there was a kingdom of Westeros, the area was inhabited by a species of small magical creatures called the children of the forest. The first men arrived and settled on the Island. Following the brutal traditions of men, they ravaged the lands and destroyed sacred trees belonging to the children of the forest. To protect their forest and lands, the children of the forest created the night king by stabbing into the heart of a man a dragon glass. This was a source of enchantment that turned his eyes blue and transformed him into who he became. The night king freed himself from the children of the forest and became a source of torment to them and also the first men. He was able to raise an army of white walkers from the corpses of people and animals who passed away. The children of the forest signed a pact with the first men and peace reigned.
After the pact, came the first long night! It was a long winter that lasted an entire generation. One so powerful that as kingdoms were weakened, the night king was empowered to take over the Westeros. His aim was to ensure that winter never ceases by wiping out the memory of day from the societies. The first men bounded together and drove the night king and his hoards to the northern hemisphere of the Island. Brandon Stark (Bran the Builder) built a 700 foot tall by 300-foot thick wall to protect the kingdoms from invasion by the white walkers. The realm further put together a group of mercenaries known as the nightwatchers with a cryptic oath that speaks of a duty to protect the civilisation of men from being overrun by the nightwalkers and creature from the other side of the wall. The creation of this forth established Winterfell in the north and also, the crown of the kingdom on the house of the Starks for generations. Fear of these nightwalkers forged their culture and ways of life. The slogan of their sigel read “Winter is coming” a reminder of their duty to protect the realm, and how vicious a winter can be especially after a very long summer.
Years passed and Westeros became ‘civilised’ and forgot about this history and stories of magical creatures became myths. Politics evolved and people became engrossed in a social narrative that thwarted issues that really mattered. The wall was assumed to be what protected the realms of men from the Wildlings (free folks as they called themselves), who were the people who at the time Bran built the wall, had opted to live without the laws of Westeros.
And to the series and my dissatisfaction
Following how much history was put into this story, you would expect a much longer episode to address this battle. But you will even be more astonished when you learn all that was mentioned so far, happened before the series!
The series started about 8,000 years after the wall was built and just at the tail end of a very long summer. A culture that assumed magic, children of the forest and dragons were myths was already in place. The society was caught up in advanced political maneuvering and rituals void of power or real significance.
Winterfell already began mild preparations for the coming winter. Given their proximity to the North, winter arrives in Winterfell earlier than in most of Westeros; thus and signs of changing times were already apparent. The Wildlings were trying to cross over as incidental attacks from the whitewalkers intensified. The whole realm had become aware of some growing tension up north, so much so that Stannis Baratheon came visiting sensing this as a bigger threat to their kingdom than the ongoing political crisis.
Jon Snow became more aware of the threat of the White walkers following his interactions with the Wildings. Upon being crowned King of the North, he sought alliances with the major powers to establish a united front against this existential threat. This brought in Daenerys, whose dragon Viserion was shot down by the night king. At the end of Season 7, we see the night king destroy the wall and storm into Westeros.
After all the hype, after 8 season it took a simple strategy, one episode and a Arya’s stab to kill the night king. Rather disappointing don’t you think so?
So what could have happened?
A story with such rich history required a much more robust final. This was going to be the entry of night king into Westeros after thousands of years, I think a bit more storytelling should be appropriate. Not something so atypical that vulture ranked this battle 4th out of a list of 11 battles that took place in the series.
I will blame the deviation from the book for this. After the series caught up with the book at the end of season 5, the writing became to a little bit more like the made for television stuff we see. The writers appeared more responsive to critics and ratings that to weave a good story.
An adequate story-line should have stretched for a season. It should have contained plots on the white walkers in the heart of Westeros. Monuments and cities should have been destroyed and many more people should have been killed beyond that the measly body count of principal actors. All the white walkers shouldn’t have disappeared immediately with the killing of the night king; the writers should have included a narrative that enabled them to exist a bit longer. The realm should have been left in ruins with Cersei (or Daenerys) defeated or in exile and the task of the next king would have been evident; rebuild Westereo.
Three episodes are still left in the final season…let’s just hope there is something we aren’t seeing that would remind us again why we swayed to the “Song of ice and fire”.
