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The Army of the Dead: What else is the Night King bringing in?
September 2nd, 1:43am September 2nd, 1:43am Abhinav Pathak22, Game of Thrones geek, Passionate Fiction Writer and the author of ‘Gopalkant’s Wife’.
The episode ‘The Dragon and the Wolf’ from Game of Thrones Season 7 ended with the Night King breaching the Wall with an undead Viserion. It hasn’t only given us chills but has also promised a much gorier Season 8 as we now know that the Night King is coming for all of Westeros. But, watching giant wights, undead polar bear, and ultimately a wight dragon in the Army of the Dead – makes us all wonder what else is the Night King bringing in? Read on.
“The same thing is coming for all of us – a general you can’t negotiate with, an army that doesn’t leave corpses behind on the battlefield…Lord Tyrion tells me a million people live in this city…they are about to become a million more soldiers in the Army of the Dead,” Jon said while explaining the threat of the White Walkers to Cersei Lannister.
We’ve long known the capability of the Night King of raising the dead especially from the ending scenes of episodes like ‘Hardhome’ and ‘Beyond the Wall’. Also, we’ve seen three giants in his army along with an undead dragon that he now owns. Let’s speculate on what else might the Army of the Dead be comprised of:
#More deadly undead creatures:
In the sixth episode of the seventh season, Jon Snow and the party went beyond-the-wall on their wight hunting expedition. They were first attacked by an undead polar bear. It wasn’t only massive in size but was entirely capable of doing some serious damage to some of the characters we love. Even after being set ablaze by Beric Dondarrion and Thoros of Myr, it still had the potential to kill them all. Although the bear was killed, it seriously injured Thoros, making him weak, and ultimately, killing him.
George RR Martin has been a huge fan of Tolkien’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy. So we assume, it won’t be surprising at all if the showrunners David and Dan decide to include even deadlier undead creatures in the final season. Old Nan had already teased this while narrating the stories of the Long Night to Bran Stark, in the first season. She said:
“In that darkness, the White Walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and Kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.”
With the insane budget being spent on each episode of the final season, it is safe to assume that more deadly wight creatures would be brought for the war between the living and the dead. What would they be – wolves, ice spiders, or mammoths?
#The remaining White Walker lieutenants:
The White Walker lieutenants are special soldiers in the Army of the Dead who possess traits similar to the Night King but can be killed through dragonglass or Valyrian steel. We’ve seen a few of them throughout the series but not all of them. People who think these are Craster’s sacrificed sons believe more can be present in the Land of Always Winter.
And, if the theory of the Night King being the Night’s King from the books is to be believed only eight out of twelve remain. Four others were killed off in the show – two by Jon Snow, one by Meera Reed, and one by Samwell Tarly – the one that came for Gilly’s baby.
#Some deceased characters we’ve known:
The Night King doesn’t leave corpses behind on the battlefield – we all saw how he raised the slaughtered wildlings from Hardhome. Now, we all know that he brings with him the undead Wildling soldiers – Karsi, the leader of the Thenns, and others. Also, this has been teased in the prologue of the first book – ‘A Game of Thrones’, where Ser Waymar Royce turns into a wight and kills Will.
Moreover, with the promised bittersweet ending, we can also possibly see a few of our favorite characters who died beyond-the-wall. Yeah, you’ve guessed it right – it can be Hodor, Summer, Leaf, and even Benjen Stark a.k.a. Coldhands, who died fighting the wights in the seventh season. This was foreshadowed back in season three, when Osha narrated the story of her deceased lover to Bran, Jojen, and Meera. She said:
“I had a man once…good man… Bruni, his name was…I was his and he was mine but one night Bruni disappears…people said that he left me but I knew him…he’d never leave me…not for long…he came in through the back of the hood…only it wasn’t Bruni…not really…his skin was pale like a dead man’s …his eyes were bluer than clear sky…he came at me and grabbed me by the neck and squeezed so hard that I could feel life slipping out of me… I don’t know how I got a knife…I stuck it deep in his heart…”
As weird and heartbreaking as it may seem but, it is entirely possible that Game of Thrones might bring them as wights in the final season as a part of the bittersweet ending. Some fans even think that the Kings of Winter might rise too from the Crypts of Winterfell.
So, what do else do you think will be the latest addition to the Army of the Dead in the final season of Game of Thrones? Tell us in the comments.
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