MovieChat Forums > Game of Thrones (2011) Discussion > What are the Night King's motives?

What are the Night King's motives?

posted 7 years ago by bokononharam (2)
33 replies | jump to latest

Seriously, I don't get this guy. What does he want? Why is he massing armies and marching on unconquered lands?

The Kings and Queens either want to improve the lives of their people and the people they'd conquer/liberate (good guys) or to enrich their own lives (bad guys). Neither of those motivations seem to apply to the Night King. His armies don't celebrate victories with weeks of feasting and frolicking. He himself doesn't seem given to feasting and frolicking. He doesn't need to feed his starving subjects. Their leisure activities seem to run the gamut from staring woodenly ahead to trudging woodenly ahead.

Is "I'm tired of staring at snow / trudging through snow" really a good reason to start a war?

[–] Eddym123 (156) 7 years ago

The books background on the Night king seems to make it a little sense. He was a Lord Commander of the Nights Watch had a White Walker Queen for a consort and they ruled castle until they turned on him. I do not believe that he was turned at that point, but when they were killing their subjects a Stark King went against them. I do not believe the books White Walkers were as zombie-like as the show. It seem like the show has them just killing and conquering for the hell of it, no clear goal. It seems more a nature than a specific goal they want.

[–] Goliard (1421) 7 years ago

. . .are you really asking what the "motivations" are for a zombie? Can't tell if you're serious.

Zombies don't have motives. They're essentially walking death; they want everything in the world to be dead. Endof.

This is repeated several times in both books and screen version of the story.

[–] chrisjdel (2714) 7 years ago

I still think it's more complicated than that. Remember when Sam saw the army of the dead? One of the Night King's generals looked right at him, then just took his army onward. He could have spared a single wight to go kill him (or recruit him, from the whitewalker point of view) but he didn't bother. Would that have happened if the walkers were ravening monsters, slaves to pure instinct? I think the Night King has specific objectives. He just doesn't feel the need to explain himself to mankind.

Remember that whitewalkers lack the ability to reproduce on their own. They turn infant humans. So wiping out the whole population would be a death sentence for their own kind. They need humans to keep having babies and supply them with corpses to replace the soldiers they lose by attrition through decomposition. My theory? He wants the Iron Throne. The Night King intends to establish an empire; in return for his protection (i.e. being allowed to live) human villages will provide a yearly tribute in the form of a certain number of little ones, along with regular collections of the recently deceased. No more burials or cremations. All the dead belong to their Emperor now.

The wights are mindless creatures under the control of the whitewalker who made them. They can't partake of physical pleasures but the walkers themselves are not dead, they're magically transformed humans who probably can enjoy the good life. Whatever that is for them.

[–] fc31 (5394) 7 years ago

I think it is about freedom, warlocks laid powerful magic on the wall and he was a prisoner of north. If I were him I'd make sure warlocks, the "children" and 3 eye raven are all dead.

Or maybe there is something in the south he wants.

[–] chrisjdel (2714) 7 years ago

Yeah, like I said before I'm pretty sure he wants control of the human realms. The whitewalkers can only reproduce by turning human children. Exterminating mankind makes no sense. He'd just want to break their power, so he could take the Iron Throne and rule as Emperor.

[–] fc31 (5394) 7 years ago

Question is why would he want to control human realms. It is not like he wants good food or chicks, needs organized labor to build his palace. He is an immortal and the only thing he did with human was turning babies into white walkers.

And why does god of light want to fight him? God of light sent quite few people to do that. What does God of light want? Is this a God's war to control human realms, to what end? None of the gods has ruled human realms before.

[–] chrisjdel (2714) 7 years ago

We have no idea what whitewalkers did up north by themselves for thousands of years. They must have some kind of culture. Maybe big frozen ice cities. Unlike their foot soldiers they aren't undead. They must eat something. Who knows, maybe they can eat regular food. We know almost nothing about them and they're clearly in no rush to make nice with humans or explain what they want. A desire to rule, lust for power - that's as good a motive as any. The whitewalker general who looked Sam in the eye and just kept going tells me their goal is more complicated than killing all humans. Otherwise why wasn't he killed (and raised) right there on the spot? Sam clearly didn't intend to interfere so he wasn't worth bothering over.

Who knows what the god of light wants? Or the death god worshipped by the Faceless Men? Mythical gods generally crave power too, although it's not usually tangible stuff like gold, land, or women. Sometimes their motives remain mysterious. You may come to know what it is they want, but still not understand why they want it. As a corporeal being (a human transformed by magic) I think the Night King's motives will be ones we can comprehend.

[–] asdf1234 (57) 7 years ago

it's like a virus: infest the host, takes over its cell, multiply itself and takes over more cells. until the host is gone.