Game Of Thrones Season 8: The Night King's Plan Explained
"That's what death is... Forgetting."
The exquisite, deeply-written brilliance of episode two of Game Of Thrones' final season - which continues to deliver on all hype that came before the show picked up after its extended break - is what has led to fans calling it one of the best the show has ever released.
It is an episode that defied all expectations by continuing the slow-burn, character-driven focus of the first episode in a way that was carefully and devastatingly aimed at making us love all of its characters anew. It wasn't so much the calm before the storm as the false sense of security before the doom. We know what's coming. And that's sort of why this episode was so instantly beloved, because it felt like a goodbye for a lot of characters.
When that goodbye comes, it will be orchestrated for most by the Night King. This is now his arena to dominate, his Great Game and he can sense victory is mere inches from his steel-cold grasp.
Up to now, the idea of the Night King's plot has been mostly shapeless. He's not a villain we particularly know, even though we saw his creation in flashback. He's the definition of one-dimensional, in the most horrifying way and there is no invitation to sympathise with him. To that end, it felt like all he wanted was to take over the Seven Kingdoms and wipe out all life, effectively converting the living into his followers as a means to swell his dominion.
Now, though, there is more shape to his plan because of "A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms." For instance, we know he has an actual plan and also the reason behind that. Bran reveals both as the War Council of Winterfell gather to discuss the coming invasion and what the hell they're supposed to do when the Dead Army arrives.
First, Bran offers the Night King's agenda:
"He'll come for me. He's tried before many times with many three eyed ravens."
That's another confirmation of the cyclical nature of time in this world and adds depth to the idea of the Ravens all living their times simultaneously. And then when Sam Tarly asks Bran what he wants, Bran explains the real reason he wants to kill him. He says he wants "an endless Night. He wants to erase its world and I am its memory."
As if that wasn't poetic enough, Sam then borrows the plot of part of Pixar's devastating Toy Story to confirm that Game Of Thrones is essentially a mortality anxiety story. In other words, it's written as a parable about the value of memories and passing them on through stories, books, legends and families:
"That's what death is, isn't it... Forgetting. Being forgotten. If we forget where we've been and what we've done, we're not men any more. Just animals. Your memories don't come from books. Your stories aren't just stories. If I wanted to erase the world of men, I'd start with you."
Sam and Bran are the closest representatives of George RR Martin in the text. Sam is deemed the writer of histories and one compelling theory suggests he will write the History Of The seven Kingdoms when all of this is over. Bran meanwhile is Martin as the great overseer. He keeps the histories just as Sam will record them.
In other words, neither of them can really be lost for this world to continue. So neither will die.
Bran continues to explain that the Night King will find him because he has marked him and "always knows" where he is (after his vision in The Door). That's where the suggestion to use Bran as bait comes from, to allow Dany and Jon to draw him to the Godswood and then fight him in close combat while the rest of their forces distract and try to hold off the sprawling masses of the Dead Army.
This is obviously all too simple and won't go to plan, but it's interesting to know that the Night King is all about destroying memory when the idea of time is what haunts so many of the main players still left in the Game. Whether through ominous prophecies, the sins of their fathers (or ancestors) or their own past misdemeanours, a good deal of the show's characters will no doubt wish their pasts COULD be erased, ironically.
But the Night King's wish is a firm reminder that to forget is to wipe out human existence entirely. And that's something worth fighting to the end for.
Unfortunately, given the fact that the show has already established that the Night King is impervious to Dragonfire, this plan has a very, very serious flaw...
Still, it was a nice thought. Just like every other plan Dany's alliance has made recently. Nice but not viable. So, in other words, something else is going to have to happen for the Night King's plan to wipe the memory of man from the Seven Kingdoms not to be successful.
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