His Watch Has Ended: Night King
Vladimir Furdik as the Night King on Game of Thrones.
Game of Thrones has entered its final season and that means it’s time to take stock of the show as a whole. But rather than do a set of episode reviews, we decided to take a little inspiration from the books for our post-mortem. George R.R. Martin’s still unfinished series features chapters based on the point of view of its characters, so each of these posts will review their individual journeys in the show as they come to their end, whether peacefully or violently - this is Thrones, after all.
We’ll ask the same set of questions for each character, reflect on where they came from, where the events of the series took them, and where we leave them. How effective was the show’s approach to the character, and is their ending satisfying? What purpose did each character serve throughout the series?
If it isn’t already obvious, this is MEGA-SPOILER territory, so beware if you’re not fully caught up on the show.
See also from this series:
Melisandre
Theon Greyjoy
Lyanna Mormont
Jorah Mormont
NIGHT KING
Where did the Night King come from?
For many seasons the Night King was a big mystery, really taking center stage only after Season 3 following the conclusion of the War of the Five Kings. For the first couple seasons they were the unseen and unheard threat, and only in Season 6 when Bran becomes the Three-Eyed Raven do we get to understand them a lot more.
The Night King is the creation of the Children of the Forest, the original inhabitants of Westeros who were at war with the First Men thousands of years before the events of Thrones. The war raged for hundreds of years, and in an effort to defeat the First Men, the Children captured one of them and turned them into a White Walker by stabbing them with a dragonglass dagger in the chest. The White Walkers were supposed to aid the Children but they turned on their creators, forcing the Children to join forces with the First Men. The White Walkers were defeated in the War of the Dawn, and the Night Knight retreated to the Lands of Always Winter until their return in Season 1’s cold open (pun intended).
Where did the show take the Night King?
South.
Where does the Night King’s story end?
At the Godswood, in front of a weirwood tree, on which faces were carved into the bark by the Children of the Forest. There’s a part of me that wonders if the Night King is really done for good, and as long as Bran is alive, we won’t know for sure until the show concludes. He’s been withholding important information the entire time; I wouldn’t be surprised if he did it again.
For now, the Night King’s story ends in Winterfell — literally where winter falls — slain by Arya of House Stark with a Valyrian dagger first used in an attempt to murder Bran. Poetic.
Is the Night King’s ending satisfying?
Surely the Night King wanted more than just the complete annihilation of the living? I’m not convinced the show is completely done with the Night King, but it also wouldn’t surprise me if that really was the end of the threat from the North, leaving Cersei as the final boss in the Game of Thrones. The Night King cared nothing for the Iron Throne, and the show started off as a political drama before transforming into a fantasy epic, and there are only three more episodes left. But we wanted more, didn’t we?
What of Azor Ahai being reborn as The Prince That Was Promised? Was it not Jon that the prophecy spoke of? Is it not Jon who is destined to protect the realm from the White Walkers? Instead, he yelled at a dragon. And with all this talk about fire and the Lord of the Light, the Night King died of Valyrian steel, and the episode even made a point about how the Night King is immune to dragon fire, a trait supposedly only shared in Targaryen bloodlines.
There’s a double-edged sword with the Night King. Revealing too little makes him a boring character, and revealing too much kills the mystery. I am disappointed the Night King didn’t symbolize anything more than just death and emptiness, and that his only motivation (according to Bran) was simply to “erase” the memory of man (even though they were literally the First Men?). In a show that features complex villains, the Night King is simple and contrived without deeper meaning, and for all the show’s emphasis on magic, fantasy, destiny and prophecy, he is no better than a really, really mean popsicle.
What role did this character player in the overall storytelling?
The Night King feels like a MacGuffin because we know so little about him. What does he really want? What knowledge does he possess? Why go after Bran now and not anytime before? Despite the audience and the characters (except Bran) knowing so little about him, the Night King is an influential force, especially with storylines concerning Jon; almost everything he does is done in reaction to the Night King.
Game of Thrones made a point about making bold decisions with their major characters, and yet the death of the Night King failed to make any bold statements. We return back to where we started, with a threat in King’s Landing, a Targaryen line of succession in dispute and a cast of characters whose purposes seem to have already been fulfilled. What’s changed?
How does the Night King’s death impact the story?
We don’t know for sure yet, but the remaining survivors will have to regroup quickly and face Cersei Lannister and Euron Grejoy and the Golden Company. It’s a numbers game, and Cersei has the upper hand.
Best Moment On The Show
Definitely Hardhome, where Jon sees him raise the dead en masse for the first time. Honourable mention to his best Ichiro impression and the icicle javelin that brought down Viserion.