Literally Everyone On Earth Has The Same ‘Game Of Thrones' Battle Of Winterfell Theory - Forbes

Game of Thrones

HBO

I just got back from Avengers: Endgame at 2 AM, an enormously emotional journey a decade in the making and man, I don’t know if I’m up for the Battle of Winterfell tonight in Game of Thrones, which looks to be similarly devastating, if not more so. Ah who am I kidding? Of course I’m up for it.

This is at least one of the climactic battles we will see in the final few episodes of Game of Thrones, perhaps the largest with the army of the Night King going up against pretty much every surviving character minus Cersei, all crammed into Winterfell, though even she might show up to help/backstab by the end.

While no one knows for sure who’s going to die because there have been no confirmed leaks and we are way, way past the books, there is one theory about the Battle of Winterfell I have seen written and talked about so many times this past week, it’s less of a theory and more of a sure thing.

The crypts ain’t safe.

All last week, various characters made a big deal about how the crypts of Winterfell will be the safest place to be, which is where they’re cramming all the non-fighting women, children and Tyrion as everyone else fights the Walkers and the dead inside and outside the walls.

While this might make sense for a normal battle, the crypt is underground and easily defensible with limited points of entry to outside invaders, this is…not a normal battle. This is a battle against magical beings who create their army from the dead and…guess what there’s a lot of in underground crypts? The dead. Specifically, Stark dead, generations of Stark kings and queens going back ages, so it stands to reason there are at least a few dozen sets of bones down there, including a few we know for sure are there like Ned and Lyanna Stark.

Game of Thrones

HBO

So, the theory here is a pretty obvious conclusion, the “safest place in Winterfell” will quickly turn into a dangerous trap as the Walkers bring the dead to life and those hiding down there have to defend themselves against not an army, perhaps, but a solid amount of zombies that are notoriously hard to kill in a very confined space.

I’m not sure I know the full list of who is down there in the crypt. Gilly and Little Sam. Tyrion. I assume Varys. That one girl with the burned face. Pretty much everyone else is outside though, so this seems like a moment where Tyrion will get to prove that he’s more than just a big brain like he did at the Battle of the Blackwater. Will defending the innocent cost him his life? I doubt it, as we need to see his feud with Cersei resolved still, but perhaps.

There are a few sub-theories to this “the dead will rise from the crypts” idea. One wild one I’ve heard is that the whole reason the Night King wants to come to Winterfell is not to murder everyone, but to be reunited with his long lost “Night Queen,” an ancient Stark queen who is buried in the crypt. I mean, I really doubt that, but okay.

Another theory says the undead Starks will rise up not to attack everyone in the crypt, but act as Winterfell’s defenders. Their special Stark powers (the kind Bran has) will allow them to resist the control of the Night King and Walkers and defend their home and the people in it. Wishful thinking if you ask me, as we haven’t seen any indication that zombie wights can act on their own accord, and I’m not sure “Stark magic” is enough to make that happen. Maybe Bran could control them? I don’t know.

Game of Thrones

HBO

Finally, there are far, far flung theories that this how we finally see Lady Stoneheart, aka resurrected Catelyn Stark who was cut from the books, appear at last. But there are a zillion problems with that given that among other issues, her body was never recovered/buried in the crypt as far as we know in the wake of the Red Wedding, and she was resurrected by the Lord of Light, not the Night King, as if she was, she’d be a wight, not a uh, Stoneheart, which is a different kind of undead…thing. Closer to Benjen, really. I don’t see this happening.

But while I don’t think these sub-theories will pan out, it seems beyond obvious that yes, the dead will rise in the crypt. I have to say I’m not a huge fan of this plot device as it seems very unlikely that literally no one would stop to think “hey, maybe we shouldn’t hide everyone in basement of skeletons when fighting an army that uses undead skeletons to fight for them?”

I would have preferred if the crypt was some sort of last-ditch retreat area, as in the *actual* safe place people were hiding was broken into, and then everyone had no choice but to flee into the crypts, only remembering too late what that meant. But strategically planning for this to be the “safest place” seems like a boneheaded move from pretty much every character left on the show, because no one thought to speak up about how dumb that is, given the enemy they’re fighting.

We’ll see what happens tonight, but it’s not going to be pretty, that much is clear.

Follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Read my new sci-fi thriller novel Herokiller, available now in print and online. I also wrote The Earthborn Trilogy.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paultassi/2019/04/28/literally-everyone-on-earth-has-the-same-game-of-thrones-battle-of-winterfell-theory/

2019-04-28 12:14:00Z
52780278583549