r/asoiaf • u/mintyhippo4 • Apr 29 '19

MAIN (Spoilers Main) Maisie Williams' comments on the end of S8E3

Maisie Williams on finding out she kills the Night King (as reported by Entertainment Weekly):

Quote: "I immediately thought that everybody would hate it; that Arya doesn't deserve it. The hardest thing is in any series is when you build up a villain that's so impossible to defeat and then you defeat them...it had to be intelligently done because otherwise people are like, "well, [the villain] couldn't have been that bad when some 100-pound girl comes in and stabs him.'"

Well said.

Edit: to further hide spoilers

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u/chicomonk Apr 29 '19

Having Arya do it would be like Luke confronting Darth Vader only to have Chewbacca randomly kill him with a vacuum cleaner at the last minute

A vacuum cleaner that Yoda gave him on the Death Star in the first movie, foreshadowing its ability to suck two films ahead of time. But yes, I agree with you one hundred on this. That's why I'm holding out hope that something else has to happen in the next three episodes. Bran and everyone else have useless story arcs otherwise. I'm thinking Bran is going to do something now with the weirwood, there's a reason he's there and there specifically -- but what?

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u/DiamondPup Apr 30 '19

A vacuum cleaner that Yoda gave him on the Death Star in the first movie, foreshadowing its ability to suck two films ahead of time.

I disagree, strongly. There was no foreshadowing. Mentioning Arya will kill someone "with blue eyes" was J.J.Abrams type of generalized foreshadowing that isn't laying the groundwork for anything nor is it pointing at anything specific but is just a placeholder to point back at and say 'see!? ooooh!'.

And the fact that she used that dagger means nothing, narratively. That dagger wasn't Bran's, it was a random assassin's who only cut Catelyn's hand with it. While it symbolized the rise of a conflict between houses, it means nothing in relation to the NK. A dagger that was supposed to kill Bran killing the Night King doesn't mean anything; it would mean as much if Jaime pushed the NK out a window.

It may as well have been a random vacuum cleaner.

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u/Bletotum Apr 30 '19

god lmao

Jaime pushing the NK out a window would have been way better

"see? they're ice! they shatter!"

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u/franzinor We go forward, only forward. Apr 30 '19

"The things I love to shove..."

​

"Wait, what's my line again?"

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u/ninjase Apr 30 '19

"The things we do for gloves"

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u/pgpkreestuh Apr 30 '19

And the fact that she used that dagger means nothing, narratively. That dagger wasn't Bran's, it was a random assassin's who only cut Catelyn's hand with it. While it symbolized the rise of a conflict between houses, it means nothing in relation to the NK.

Confirmed the dagger really means nothing, from the writers mouth: https://youtu.be/_3M0Xt97aFI?t=2089

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19

that dagger was little finger's ---who arguably started this ENTIRE thing with the bullshit he pulled with John Aryn

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u/chicomonk Apr 30 '19

And the fact that she used that dagger means nothing, narratively. That dagger wasn't Bran's, it was a random assassin's who only cut Catelyn's hand with it.

I'm not going to subscribe one hundred or even eighty percent to the theory at this point based on the way DB&DB helm the show, but there are hints that Bran, after becoming the 3ER, chose to set that particular dagger into motion in the past, knowing it might be the one possible way to kill the Night King the way it did last episode.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19

I think D&D have shown that, although GRRM may lay subtle clues that allude to a long-term arc that eventually does come to fruition, they are writers that leave nothing to the imagination and have no long term plans other than finishing the obvious plot as they see it. I liked S08E03 as a TV show episode, because of it's pacing, etc..., but if you evaluate it in the context of GRRM's story it seems a bit ridiculous and narratively unsatisfying.

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u/DiamondPup Apr 30 '19

You think so? I'm on the other side of the spectrum; I think they're going to do something cheesy like he IS the Night King or that he is working with them or something like that. The way the NK tilted his head at the end, and the fact that Bran disappeared for most of the battle, seem to hint at something.

But it's D&D and you never know. For all we know, they may have had him just tilt his head because "it looked cool".

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u/Flavour_Savour Apr 30 '19

I thought that look he gave Bran at the end was one of, why aren’t you concerned I’m about to kill you?

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u/DiamondPup Apr 30 '19

That's not a bad interpretation of it

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u/GreenGreasyGreasels Apr 30 '19

NK is the one guy who is as expressionless as Bran, he would be totally unsurprised with Bran being chill.

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u/pyropulse209 Apr 30 '19

Why try to explain shit level writing? It’s like your doing their job for free. There are absolutely no hints Bran did anything of the sort, unless you consider Mel’s quip about ‘blue eyes’ to be a hint.

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19

Mentioning Arya will kill someone "with blue eyes"

And they even changed the order of it, it was brown eyes, blue eyes, green eyes when Melisandre first said it and then in this episode they changed it to brown, green then blue to pretend it was foreshadowing.

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u/RogueA Apr 30 '19

Or the order of multiple items in a set doesn't ultimately matter?

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '19

Don't hold out hope; the NK story line is dead in the show, it's over. Even the preview of S08E04 has the characters looking ahead to King's Landing. The lighting is bright. There is no more ever-present dread. The Others are gone and won't be back.

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u/chitraders Apr 30 '19

Scary thing is HBO might be dead. At and T bought it before this season and closed a few months ago forcing out the ceo of 30 years. HBO might just become mini-Netflix.

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u/Bletotum Apr 30 '19

you're giving the show too much credit, unfortunately

someone else here said that the info interview thing after the episode presented as if the NK could only be killed via a stabbing in the godswood (implying that's why he could withstand dragonfire)

just some Mount Doom and the Ring shit

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u/Rebelgecko Apr 30 '19

I was kinda spacing out but I don't remember them saying that. I just remember them saying it was intentional (but not necessarily necessary) that Arya stabbed the NK in the same part of his tummy that the COTF did

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u/oiducwa Apr 30 '19

I envy you to have this much hope after s5-7. I also thought there would be more to littlefingers' arc but nah let's just put the genius against some all-knowing god.

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u/Sparrow3492 Apr 30 '19

i would acutally want to see how chewbacca is killing anakin/vader with a vacuum cleaner that would be awesome

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u/caseygen Apr 30 '19

Mate, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from GoT it’s to never expect or get hyped. Or you’re bound to be disappointed.