*Spoilers ahead for Game of Thrones season 8 episode 2*
So the White Walkers and their great leader have been defeated in the Battle of Winterfell, which we are definitely happy about. The thing we are not all happy about is the lack of complexity or fulfilment of the White Walker narrative.
Fans dreamed up all kinds of theories to do with the White Walkers’ motivation to march South, the origin of the Night King, the connection of the wights to the Targaryen house, the hidden existence of the Mad King among their ranks, and plenty more.
By comparison, the actual show barely skimmed the surface of what we wanted from the White Walker narrative, and it’s disappointing to think that we are finished with it.
Even though a lot of fans have expressed that the fight for the living was always a bigger deal than the fight against Cersei – ‘the Last War’, as Dany called it in the latest episode trailer – by the sounds of things, the undead narrative really is over.
The Night King seemed to confirm that himself when the actor Vladimir Furdik spoke to Hollywood Reporter following the airing of the Battle of Winterfell. When asked if he was told much about the character, “his motivations, his goals”, Furdik’s answers indicated that those never even really existed in the show’s universe.
“No, they didn’t give me [much]. There were a couple of discussions with the directors, but nothing particular about what he was supposed to do. They built the Night King step by step. It’s something like how you put a plant in the ground, and you’re waiting to see how the plant [turns out].” He said.
Unless more complexity about the wights unravels in the following episodes -which seems unlikely considering the trailer focuses on Cersei – the White Walker narrative is officially an anticlimactic disappointment of Game of Thrones.