3 major reasons why fans are dissatisfied with the Battle of Winterfell

(L to R) Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark, Kit Harington as Jon Snow, Isaac Hempstead Wright as Bran Stark,

and Maisie Williams as Arya Stark – Photo: Helen Sloan/HBO

Part Three: Progression

Everything mentioned so far is especially troubling when thinking of the implications this has on the rest of the season. The sentiment the audience is left to gather is that the annihilation of all of Westeros was just the warm up to the real threat: Cersei Lannister. Eight seasons and nearly a decade of building up the White Walkers as the literal apocalypse, only to have them play second fiddle to Qyburn and the Golden Company.

Most disappointingly of all, George R.R. Martin’s greatest subversion is minimized. The beauty in Jon Snow’s arc, and the Walkers in general, is that they require the settling of petty differences. The family on family conflict and vying for the throne are all insignificant in the face of the environmental destruction and overwhelming death coming. Those squabbles and material gains were shown to mean nothing, but now with Cersei painted as the last antagonist they mean everything again.

Martin’s thundering socio-political commentary is shattered, and the only thing that matters is the crown again, not pure and basic survival. If you are still not incredibly peeved,  imagine that your favorite characters defeat all-but-assured human extinction, kill the Night King, and prevent the Long Night, just so that in two weeks time they can be struck down at the smug hand of Euron Greyjoy.

I would like to end this zealous rant with a moment of recognition for those who did fall in the battle. I do not mean Theon, Beric, Edd, Lyanna, and Jorah. Their arcs had come to a close in a satisfying way, and I will miss them greatly. I instead want to highlight all of the nameless and faceless characters used as fodder in this episode. This show has always done a good job of reminding the audience of who truly suffers in these conflicts, but there was no plot armor protecting the thousands of Northerners, Wildlings, Dothraki, and Unsullied that were merciless thrown into the maws of death itself. We saw the end of entire cultures and peoples, nonchalantly slaughtered in the field.

I have never hoped more that Winds of Winter is finished in a timely fashion. The fans may have gotten a bit ahead of themselves theorizing over this battle in the first place. I saw hopes of Bran warging into a dragon, the Night King flying to King’s Landing, and Jon wielding Lightbringer. While a lot of potential greatness never materialized, I would have been happy if they had just stuck to the previous seasons’ precedents for thorough prophecy and history, and the unflinching way of handling character tragedies.

It seems the next three episodes will simply garner us a winner of the Game of Thrones, rather than add a haunting final verse to A Song of Ice and Fire.

If you disagree, please tell me why in the comments. I will be in there to discuss my positions, and elaborate on any controversial points.