Sunday night fans of
Game of Thrones were finally rewarded with the battle they had been waiting seven seasons to see. However, there was quite a twist in the episode that many fans did not see coming as as such there have been some complaints regarding the direction taken.
Obviously, if you haven't seen the episode, you shouldn't read any more. As it turned out, Arya Stark was the one who wound up taking out the Night King, not Jon Snow as so many people had theorized. Maisie Williams, who plays Arya, had the following to say about the way it made her feel and how much she worried about the way fans would receive it.
“It was so unbelievably exciting. But 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 has 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.’ You gotta make it cool. And then I told my boyfriend and he was like, ‘Mmm, should be Jon though really, shouldn’t it?’”
This also marks a first for Arya as it is her first battle. Normally she isn't involved in the fighting but she was required to be around for the grueling 55 days of shooting in Northern Ireland rain.
“I’ve never been in a battle before. Arya’s never in it. Episode 9, I skip every year. Which is bizarre since Arya’s the one that’s been training the most. I’ve never been around that way of working. I feel like I’ve always been part of this big show but in terms of being part of the episodes that really define us, this is my first taste of it. And I’ve been thrown in the deep end, as well … You try and you train but nothing can prepare you for how physically draining it is. It’s night after night and again and again and it just doesn’t stop. And you can’t get sick — you have to look out for yourself because there’s so you have to do that nobody else is going to … But the sense of achievement after a day on set is unlike anything else. One of those really tough days, you know it’s going to be part of something so iconic and it will look amazing.”
How does Jon Snow feel about being one-upped by his little (adopted) sister? This is what Harington had to say.
“I was surprised, I thought it was gonna be me! But I like it. It gives Arya’s training a purpose to have an end goal. It’s much better how she does it the way she does it. I think it will frustrate some in the audience that Jon’s hunting the Night King and you’re expecting this epic fight and it never happens — that’s kind of Thrones. But it’s the right thing for the characters. There’s also something about it not being the person you expect. The young lady sticks it to the man.”
He does have a point there.
Game of Thrones has always followed a pattern of setting things up and then forcing the story in another direction. Director Miguel Sapochnik commented on the episode as well.
“I thought, ‘Hmm, if I see Arya running then I know she’s going to do something.’ So it’s about almost losing her from the story and then have her come in as a surprise and pinning all our hopes on Jon being the guy going to do it — because Jon’s always the guy. So we follow Jon in a continuous shot I want the audience to think: ‘Jon’s gonna do it, Jon’s gonna do it…’ and then he fails. He fails at the very last minute. So I’m hoping that’s a nice switch that no one sees coming."
While this episode was tough to watch due to the losses, there will be plenty more where this came from, so be sure to check out the trailer for the next episode below!
In Season 7, Daenerys Targaryen has finally set sail for Westeros with her armies, dragons and new Hand of the Queen, Tyrion Lannister. Jon Snow has been named King in the North after defeating Ramsay Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards and returning Winterfell to House Stark. In King's Landing, Cersei Lannister has seized the Iron Throne by incinerating the High Sparrow, his followers and her rivals in the Sept of Baelor. But as old alliances fracture and new ones emerge, an army of dead men marches on the Wall, threatening to end the game of thrones forever.
Game of Thrones returns with a brand new episode May 5