Now that you mention it it really doesn't make sense in-story, real world issue might simply be that these are still real actors and they are probably filming in very cold weather so there's health issues.
Game Of Thrones Season 5 TV Only Discussion (Spoilers)
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Now that you mention it it really doesn't make sense in-story, real world issue might simply be that these are still real actors and they are probably filming in very cold weather so there's health issues.
I've written plenty on other sites, so I'll be very brief here: that was terrific and a top ten episode to be sure. It helps that I've been a Jon fan since before it was cool (see also: the hipster Jon Snow pic) and it's so effing gratifying watching it all come together over the past two seasons.
But yes, Tyrion/Daenerys is also spectacular.
But yes, Tyrion/Daenerys is also spectacular.
I sincerely doubt it was an issue of cold weather. They've made a choice and unfortunately that choice takes away a lot of the visual charm and inhuman mystery behind them. The one that Jon fought and killed seemed little more than a barbarian, with none of the previously seen alien grace. He even looked borderline "stocky" in comparison.
The Night King looks different from some of the other White Walkers so that might also be why. Personally, while I don't mind the Night King's design, I'm not a huge fan of the design for the White Walkers. I liked the book's depiction of them as beings of ice with a sense of beauty to them much better.
I'm not a fan of zombies, Wildlings or the Night's Watch....
...yet I have not enjoyed ab epsisode of the show so much as this one since Blackwater all the way back in season 2 (my absolute favourite episode).
Also glad to see Sansa not being broken and now having something more to fight for now that she knows that Bran and Rickon are alive.
The female Wildling was a good addition, though I think they should have introduced her a few pisodes earlier, given her a name and characterize her a bit, as to make it a bit more unsure whether she'd survive or not. This way she was just the typical token causality from every disaster/zombie/war movie ever.
All in all this episode is the first this season to do what I hoped the show would do with books 4 and 5; cut out all the unnecessary fluff and fat that has crept into the story and actually advance the plotlines that have been in preparation since the very beginning (Dany journeying to Westeros and the invasion fo the White Walkers)
...yet I have not enjoyed ab epsisode of the show so much as this one since Blackwater all the way back in season 2 (my absolute favourite episode).
Also glad to see Sansa not being broken and now having something more to fight for now that she knows that Bran and Rickon are alive.
The female Wildling was a good addition, though I think they should have introduced her a few pisodes earlier, given her a name and characterize her a bit, as to make it a bit more unsure whether she'd survive or not. This way she was just the typical token causality from every disaster/zombie/war movie ever.
All in all this episode is the first this season to do what I hoped the show would do with books 4 and 5; cut out all the unnecessary fluff and fat that has crept into the story and actually advance the plotlines that have been in preparation since the very beginning (Dany journeying to Westeros and the invasion fo the White Walkers)
I have been reading and watching a lot of reviews of this episode and the word zombie gets mentioned a lot. The Z word kinda irks me a little as strictly speaking, Whitewalkers and wights aren't the mindless, constantly hungry zombies as depicted in The Walking Dead.
They fall way closer to the fantasy/D&D trope of "the undead" and necromancy. As in there's usually a hierarchy which zombies don't have, ranging from lowly skeletons to wrights and spectres to undead leaders. And unlike zombies which are just a mindless force of nature, the undead are typically controlled and directed by some higher power for some very specific objectives.
While I agree that the Others (the blue skinned, white haired ones) are indeed more than mindless cadavers. With the wights I always (in the book and show) had the impression that they were little more than walking cadavers, with at best animal intelligence = Zombies. There's one exception in the books, but he is treated as exceptional.
The problem of course arises that the show doesn't seem to verbally distinguish much between the Others and the wights, labeling them both as White Walkers. But to me it was always pretty much "ice fey controlling hordes of zombies"
I got the impression that all of the White Walker leaders, including the Night King, were what became of Craster's sons after they were left in the woods. These guys are not spoken of in the books - at least, none of the ones that have been published to-date. These things are all new and we readers of the books are on the same footing as those who haven't.
There currently seem to be three, possibly four, maybe even as many as five tiers in the Others' hierarchy. At the lowest rung, there are the Whites - the undead that are killed and subsequently resurrected to fight the living. Then, within the ranks of the "main" Others, we have what I call the "soldiers" - the shirtless ones that go out and collect Craster's sons and occasionally run armies of whites on horseback. The one that Sam took down was one of these. There was another during the Whites' march on the Fist of the First Men. Then, there appear to be "generals" or "officers", like the one we saw take on Jon Snow. A second one appeared on the beach at Hardhome as Jon and the remaining survivors escaped. These might also be the same as the "soldiers" who just happen to be wearing armor, but I'm not 100% sure. Then we have the "royals". These, I think, are Craster's sons. There were many of them present torwards the end of "Oathkeeper", blurred in the background, when the final son was brought in. They all seem to be bald with ice spikes growing out of their heads as stylized crowns and were on the horses at the top of the cliff. Only one of that caste, possibly the eldest/first-born of them, is the "Night's King".
I am truly fascinated by these guys, and I'm hoping this is a major part of GRRM's actual intent for the story progression and not just a construct for the show. Considering the import and seriousness of their growing involvement, I'm pretty sure this was a part of "His Plan" from the beginning.
There currently seem to be three, possibly four, maybe even as many as five tiers in the Others' hierarchy. At the lowest rung, there are the Whites - the undead that are killed and subsequently resurrected to fight the living. Then, within the ranks of the "main" Others, we have what I call the "soldiers" - the shirtless ones that go out and collect Craster's sons and occasionally run armies of whites on horseback. The one that Sam took down was one of these. There was another during the Whites' march on the Fist of the First Men. Then, there appear to be "generals" or "officers", like the one we saw take on Jon Snow. A second one appeared on the beach at Hardhome as Jon and the remaining survivors escaped. These might also be the same as the "soldiers" who just happen to be wearing armor, but I'm not 100% sure. Then we have the "royals". These, I think, are Craster's sons. There were many of them present torwards the end of "Oathkeeper", blurred in the background, when the final son was brought in. They all seem to be bald with ice spikes growing out of their heads as stylized crowns and were on the horses at the top of the cliff. Only one of that caste, possibly the eldest/first-born of them, is the "Night's King".
I am truly fascinated by these guys, and I'm hoping this is a major part of GRRM's actual intent for the story progression and not just a construct for the show. Considering the import and seriousness of their growing involvement, I'm pretty sure this was a part of "His Plan" from the beginning.
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He may have changed from a spy to a follower but as Tyrion notes, he kept his past a secret from Dany, and there's nothing to show he's changed since she exiled him.
Yeah, first episode this season I felt was up to the task, up to the same caliber as previous seasons. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that it was one of the best of the entire series. But then, the other way around, it also emphasizes just how slow the others this season were, as if they were biding their time for this episode, with the writers going, "see? We knew we could blow your socks off..." Well, it also makes me wonder if the rest will be just as good, as the finale better be worth the slow buildup.
I don't see why you would think they're all Craster's sons, or that any of the leadership is for that matter. They've clearly been around a lot longer than the couple generations he was. He gave his sons to them as tribute to buy their mercy and keep all his women for himself. Some of them are apparently converted from those sons, but there is no reason to think they were the originals.
There is an intentional delineation between what happens to Craster's sons and what happens to other humans the Others run into who get killed and subsequently resurrected into simple Whites. The babies are not killed but converted. There is a definite difference in "assimilation" (for lack of a better word) of the living vs. resurrection of the dead. You're right in that there is no visible "proof" of such a metamorphosis, but considering they are magical beings, there is also no proof that they aren't taken in as infants and somehow quickly-aged to become the ruling caste of the Whites. Perhaps it's in the makeup, but the Night's King has less wrinkles and seems a bit younger than the other "generals" and "soldiers" who seem extremely old and wrinkled. I suspect that the "generals" and "soldiers" are the ones who have been around a long time, without leadership, struck a bargain with Craster in exchange for leaving him alone, knowing that the only way to replenish the highest rung of leadership is to convert living human infants. It seemed extremely important to the others that they continued to get these children. That was always my impression based on what was seen on-screen, in any case.
Sure, the baby was converted whereas the Wights are risen from the dead. Nothing suggests that Caster was their only source for these children though. If the Night's King is doing the converting then how was he converted? Having different castes would suggest to me that the wrinkly ones are more likely the converted humans, with the pure, hairless, more icy looking ones being the originals.
I think you're just reading too much into the "Craster's Sons" line. This is an ancient evil, going back before the First Men and possibly even the Children of the Forest. Craster even considered them gods and he probably wasn't the only one. His fear didn't seem like someone who had brokered a deal, but rather was desperately buying mercy.
I think you're just reading too much into the "Craster's Sons" line. This is an ancient evil, going back before the First Men and possibly even the Children of the Forest. Craster even considered them gods and he probably wasn't the only one. His fear didn't seem like someone who had brokered a deal, but rather was desperately buying mercy.
Perhaps. All those things are possible. Hopefully we'll get a little bit more on them in the final two eps of this season.
Whatever/whomever they turn out to be, I'm just glad they're finally starting to explore the more esoteric aspects of the world that, to date, the show-runners have generally avoided. Perhaps the success and critical acclaim they're sure to get from that one scene alone will send the message that their audience isn't afraid to embrace the more magical elements of GRRM's universe. This can only be a good thing, IMO.
Whatever/whomever they turn out to be, I'm just glad they're finally starting to explore the more esoteric aspects of the world that, to date, the show-runners have generally avoided. Perhaps the success and critical acclaim they're sure to get from that one scene alone will send the message that their audience isn't afraid to embrace the more magical elements of GRRM's universe. This can only be a good thing, IMO.
Is 'this' Night's King not the same as the one of legends?
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Night's_King
http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Night's_King
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