Melissandre Should Do More

Published April 29, 2019 · Updated July 6, 2022

Hi guys,

I’ve been listening to your podcasts for a while, particularly Game of Thrones and American Gods. Still processing last night and I know these are way too many thoughts for your show but I wanted to air these out and maybe they’ll give you more to talk about or line up with some of your own thoughts. Here are my quick thoughts and response that are partly in response to another friend’s initial thoughts:

The Good:
–Yes, the tension, suspense, and feeling of dread was extremely palatable (particularly in the opening before we ever saw any of the undead army). –The music was FANTASTIC. Ramin Djwadi did another standout track, clearly taking inspiration from his long slow build-up track from “The Winds of Winter” – the Season 6 finale when Cersei blew up the Sept of Baelor. It started the same way with the isolated, desolate piano solo and slowly grew in intensity and emotion. –Melisandre’s surprise arrival was totally unexpected and a great glimmer of hope, especially with the lighting of the Dothraki arakhs. Once they showed the shot of all the lights in the distance, I knew they would go out one by one and it was beautifully done. –Arya was an absolute badass the moment she started fighting the wights, it was so cool. Even when she was hurt and scared and overwhelmed, she was great to watch – particularly in the library. Re: Your thoughts on Arya at the end – She has the ability to sneak up on people without detection thanks to her Faceless Man training (just like she did in episode 1 for example, sneaking up on Jon in the godswood without making a sound – foreshadowing?) – getting past the whole rest of the army of the dead out there? Not sure exactly, maybe they were distracted with Dany, Drogon, and Jorah. It’s also impossible for her to use the face of a White Walker – for one thing, no White Walkers were killed this episode until the Night King was, and when they’re killed they shatter into ice so there’s no face to be cut off and used, which as we learned in seasons past requires careful cutting and preservation and all that anyway. The callback to Arya and Melisandre’s first meeting and conversation in Season 3, plus Melisandre’s mention of Syrio Forel’s “What do we say to the God of Death? – Not today” from Season 1 was really great attention to detail before Melisandre essentially sending her off to kill the all of the “blue eyes.” In addition, Arya’s dagger hand switcheroo was a callback to the move she pulled on Brienne while they were sparring last season and the use of the “Catspaw” dagger to kill the Night King that was once used to try to kill Bran was poetic. After Littlefinger gave it back to Bran, Bran gave it to Arya – did he know then? It was also poetic and fitting that Arya ends up being the one to kill the embodiment of death (The Night King + the army of the undead) as almost her entire story has been her facing off against death. But, I still have thoughts on this ending, which I’ll get to soon… –The pacing of the episode was great and they masterfully cut from intense action to slower paced and quieter scenes to ease the constant intensity. Sansa and Tyrion’s scenes were particularly great and touching in the crypt, and even Varys got a quick line of humor in. –I would have been fine if Lyanna Mormont was just killed outright, but they made a point to give such a great little actress a memorable and big death scene and it was cool. –Re: Jorah – He definitely came out of nowhere to save the day but he’s always been keen on protecting Dany and he died just as he would have wanted, saving her and dying in her arms.

(Disclaimer on my issues – I absolutely loved like 95% of the episode and think they did an amazing job on it, but there are a few things I’m going to nitpick, particularly as a book reader and lover of the series lore, and one big thing in particular…)

My issues:
–After being brought back to life so many times and having the power of fire and a flaming sword, I expected Beric to go out in some other kind of blaze of glory. Yes, he sacrificed himself to save Arya and “fulfilled his purpose” as Melisandre said and he fought like a champ in that, but I just expected something bigger, more magical, or along the lines of my prediction with The Hound, giving his life to bring back someone else. Like, it could have been any other minor character that helped get Arya to safety down there… –Re: Lord of Light – it was definitely helpful to have Melisandre light stuff up and especially get the trenches lit (it at least bought them some time to breathe and rest?), but yes I also expected something a little bit more from her in that sense. She birthed a shadow monster to kill Renly for Stannis and she returned to Volantis last season to do what? Gain the ability to light stuff on fire only? Have more visions to know that Arya was the one to kill the Night King and end the Long Night that wasn’t so long? That being said, I thought her peaceful death and “rest” was a beautiful scene. –Re: The Ending – As awesome as the episode was and as surprising, badass and even fitting in a certain way that Arya was, I just can’t see that being the end of the Night King’s threat. I just don’t think this whole big mystery with the Night King and the White Walkers ends that quickly, you know? Obviously there has to be time for aftermath of this battle and regrouping and planning for the battle for the Iron Throne, but are we really going to have 3 80 minute episodes now of just dealing with every major character and all the northern armies left versus Cersei, Euron, The Mountain, and their armies? Cersei deserves a big ending after all the build-up with her but does that really seem as climactic as the impending doom of an endless night, winter, and death? The first scene ever of the show opens with the White Walkers to show us that they are the true threat and enemy in this series that is literally called “A Song of Ice and Fire” and we spend 7 seasons building up to this climactic battle and it ends in one episode and now it’s just back to the political war bullshit of the Seven Kingdoms? Sidebar, does anyone else think it’s surprising that DRAGONFIRE didn’t do a damn thing to the Night King but Arya’s little Valyrian Steel dagger (FORGED BY DRAGONFIRE) killed him instantly with one stab in the gut? Also, they made all that ose obsidian weapons and none of it was necessary because none of the actual White Walkers fought ANYONE AT ALL – the wights/undead army can be killed by anything (regular swords, fire, dismemberment, etc.). There’s just so much more to this lore about the white walkers and this whole series is about sacrifice and only death can pay for life and “the Prince who was Promised”… Melisandre has clearly been wrong many times – first she thought Stannis was the savior, then Jon, then Jon and Dany, and then all of a sudden Arya? Why was Jon brought back to life if not to have a bigger role in the war against the White Walkers? Just to be “the rightful heir” to the throne as the last male Targaryen born? Dany didn’t need him to ride a dragon in order to have the other dragon rain down fire and fight. There have been literal seasons now of Jon and the Night King staring each other down, heavily implying a connection and a showdown between them. And then Jon charges at the Night King and the Night King chooses to raise all of the dead to delay and distract Jon rather than simply kill Jon like he so easily does to Theon charging at him…that also seems suspicious to me -it’s almost as if he didn’t want to kill Jon, again making me think there’s more with Bran too. Re: Bran – Yes, what exactly did Bran do this whole time? He did nothing to use his powers or knowledge to fight in any way (unless we are taking into account what I said earlier that he gave Arya the dagger knowing it would serve this purpose later). I thought it was very interesting and maybe even suspicious that we didn’t see the Night King this episode until 30+ minutes in when Bran said to Theon “I’m going to go now” and warged into some ravens and flew into the winter weather where we see the Night King riding the dragon. So for the remainder of the episode, Bran is still in warg mode, but doing what? We don’t see the ravens again, nor Bran’s POV, nor do we see the Night King do anything about the ravens flying around him – like when Bran used the ravens to spy on the Night King’s location last season, the Night King looked up at the ravens and they immediately scattered and flew away, which snapped Bran out of the warging. I have to think that Night King returns in some way and that there’s more to do with Bran and his ultimate purpose and power – after all this, and if this is the end, what is Bran to do now? Just relax and be an all-knowing tree wizard for the rest of his life because the threat of the Long Night is over? The Three-Eyed Raven told Bran that he will never walk again “but you will fly” – did he literally just mean by warging into ravens? I still think Bran is more connected to the Night King than we know or IS the Night King or WILL BECOME the new Night King or something. Like, for as long as the Three-Eyed Raven/Bran lives, the Night King is trapped and will continue to come back, which again makes me feel like Jon has to be the one to do something about that.

That’s basically all I have been thinking about for now. I am well aware that I may be in denial and thinking too deeply into it simply because I find that particular ending unsatisfying. This could end up being very much like in Season 6 when Arya was stabbed multiple times in the gut by the Waif (in Braavos), then managed to jump into a dirty river, and run through the streets to a hiding place, not to mention get stitched up and parkour through the streets the following episode. So many of us were CONVINCED that it was a plan by Arya to trick the Waif, that it wasn’t really her, that she couldn’t be so stupid to be out in the open like that and get stabbed, and meanwhile it turned out, yup that’s really how it was and there was nothing more to it and the Faceless Man storyline ends kind of abruptly and without as much closure and satisfaction. So, it’s totally possible that the show decided this was how it ends and I’m not unhappy about it, but I just find it odd based on everything I know and have read in the books and followed on the show – this is particularly the case because they have said that they were going to have more or less the same ending that Martin has for the book, and I can’t imagine it ending this way in the book, which again makes me circle back to thinking that’s not the end of the Night King…Anyway, I still loved it…just hoping for something more…

Thanks!

Mike B

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