Arya Killing The Night King

Published April 30, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hey guys,

I love your podcast. I really appreciated the military deep dive on The Long Night.

As to Arya killing the Night King, everyone is talking about the catspaw dagger, the dagger move showcased in the fight with Brienne, and the foreshadowing by Melisandre.

Why is no one talking about how she she did it? She essentially snuck up on the Night King and backstabbed him (ala the AD&D skill “Backstabbing”). How did she know to do that? Here’s how:

When she is in the library at Winterfell, she discovers that the wights need to see or hear the living in order to find them. Previously, she thought (as did I and perhaps others), that the wights would know where the living are by supernatural radar. But no. In the library she learns that they cannot detect her in the room just because she is alive. Rather, the wights need to see or hear her to engage. We see the wights milling about aimlessly in the library. Then we see the wight react as it hears Arya’s blood drop hit the floor. We see the wights reacting to the sound of the book that Arya threw as it hits the floor. Ever the quick study, we see Arya learn and use this learning about the wights immediately. We know that through her training with Serio Ferrell that Arya can move with stealth by being “quiet as a shadow”. She uses her stealth to escape the library.

Then Arya applies this learning to her attack on the Night King. She moves undetected into the Weirwood. She moves quickly creating a breeze noticed by a White Walker. Yet she uses stealth to move until she is nearly upon the Night King and screams. It is only after she screams that the Night King detects her, turns, and engages. And then, or course, she shuts his eyes.

I am curious your guys’ takes.

Thanks for an awesome podcast.
James
Boulder, Colorado

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