How would you defend the North? - Game of Thrones (2011) Discussion

[–] UncleRuckis (2637) 6 years ago

I wouldn't. I'd grab a bag of gold, head east until I hit the best whorehouse in Braavos, and enjoy myself until the night king shows up.

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[–] TexasJack (12516) 6 years ago

Nice 😂

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[–] dmac8 (5050) 6 years ago

That's what Bronn would've done with his prepaid gold. Screw the assignment.

He'd never head into the teeth of what's going on in the North.

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[–] RickSantoro (98) 6 years ago

And then when he does show up in Braavos, get on a ship with a ton of provisions on it and then just journey out to sea and live as song as you can at sea and maybe find an island somewhere.

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

If the Night King knows where you've sent your noncombatants, that might be his first stop. To make them combatants. I don't think they've said (most likely because the characters don't know) what the limits of his perception are. If you're hiding in a cave while the Night King passes by with his army will he be unaware of your presence, or sense you're in there?

Bottlenecks are of less value when they've got air support. Your first order of business has to be taking down the dragon. Something like Cersei's giant crossbow, bigger obviously since that didn't quite do it, shooting a bolt made of dragon glass. A bunch of that wildfire would come in handy. Seed it across a large field, in buried casks. Then set the whole thing off when it fills up with dead.

If we can cheat and use modern weapons, then .50 caliber machine guns with bullets made of dragon glass or Valyrian steel. And napalm. Lots and lots of air dropped napalm.

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[–] TexasJack (12516) 6 years ago

Good plan, especially the wildfire mines.

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[–] ATG6 (3000) 6 years ago

the two living dragons basically breathe napalm, fortunately

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[–] TearofLys (2666) 6 years ago

I would have had the maesters keep pumping out wildfire like crazy,
I would retreat and have the army of the dead chase me until I had them in an enclosed area, like a canyon, then I would have hidden forces seal the entrances and then would rain down dragonfire and wildfire on their heads. That would kill the wights, leaving the whitewalkers. Got plenty of dragon glass and Valyrian steel for them.

What I wouldn't do is just wait for them to show up at winterfell.

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[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 6 years ago

The maesters don't know how to make wildfire. That knowledge is jealously guarded by the Alchemists' Guild, who are in King's Landing and currently loyal to Cersei (in the show, that is; in the books it's not clear who is currently running things in King's Landing, after a major upset at the end of the last published book). The Alchemists' Guild are rivals of the maesters, and their power has declined since the maesters became the more influential order. The alchemists certainly wouldn't have let such valuable knowledge as how to produce wildfire fall into the maesters' hands, as that's all their guild really has left now.

But yeah, if they could get their hands on wildfire, that would be the best thing to use against the army of the dead.

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[–] papamihel (1616) 6 years ago

I bet Sam would have found some long lost recipe in the Citadel within an hour...

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Honestly, I don't see a way. If it weren't the dead of winter I'd set the dragons to burning the forests they're marching through, but everything is covered in ten feet of snow and nothing will burn on its own. But the humans are greatly outnumbered, they can't run from an army that never sleeps, they can't defend themselves from the Night King's death-winds except by hiding deep underground, and wherever they hide they can be surrounded and starved out.

Personally, I'd sell my mother and right kidney to get on a boat to Bravos.

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[–] TexasJack (12516) 6 years ago

All you need is one of those coins that got Arya there and then Mom and kidney could go with you.

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

I think those coins are only given to potential new recruits of the Faceless Men. Or carried by the Faceless Men themselves. Free passage to and from their stronghold in Braavos. That's why the captain honored it without question, you definitely don't want to get on the bad side of those guys!

It seems a little too easy to me, that just getting on an island would keep you permanently safe from the Night King's army. If his goal was really to kill everyone - which doesn't make a lot of sense considering the white walkers can't reproduce except by turning humans - you'd figure he would have a plan for getting across bodies of water. An interesting question to ponder: did he have another way past The Wall that he didn't end up having to use, or was luring Daenerys and her dragons there the plan all along?

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[–] winslow (1318) 6 years ago

They could put an island under siege. I doubt many of them could survive without regular supplies from the mainland.

Or wait for it to get so cold that a sheet of ice forms. There was a time when people thought he might go around east watch by freezing the water around the wall.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

Or the Armies of the Dead could possibly walk across the bottom of the sea, like the undead pirates in the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" film.

Which means that neither the Iron Islands nor Essos are 100% safe, but I'd still make getting to a hot part of Essos my top priority.

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[–] winslow (1318) 6 years ago

Kinda like how they got over the wall in World War Z. I don't think the Iron Islands are going to be as safe a retreat as Yara thinks they will be.

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

The wights can't move through water. Once immersed, they sink to the bottom and become inert. That doesn't mean the Night King doesn't have a way around this problem. They didn't think he could get past The Wall either.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

When was it established that wights become inert in water? Didn't some bust out of the water when Jon & Co. were fighting them on the frozen lake?

Honestly, I've forgotten the details of that fight.

Edit: Maybe the Night's King has no power in the realm of the Drowned God.

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

Edit: Maybe the Night's King has no power in the realm of the Drowned God.

Always possible.

Yeah, in that fight on the ice they were still struggling to get out. But the ones that lost their grip and sank into the water seemed to go limp and just float down. I don't think water destroys their bodies. The wights are basically appendages of the walker that raised them from the dead. They have no autonomy or free will of their own; they're like remote controlled drones, and water blocks the signal (so to speak). At least I think that's how it works. Never read the books.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

I did read the books, an experience I don't fully recommend, and it wasn't explained there and probably never will be.

So your theory is as valid as any.

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[–] Otter (24464) 6 years ago

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

You could grow crops and raise livestock in a place like the Iron Islands if you absolutely had to. And there are islands much better suited to agriculture, which would end up trading with the others in an island based civilization where the mainland was lost. But even getting to Essos would be impossible if the army of the dead couldn't cross water. Is being in water the only problem for the walkers or is merely passing over exposed water (i.e. the Night King on his dragon) impossible?

I guess it comes down to whether the Night King could actually create a permanent winter, as Bran seemed to suggest. If it's cold enough for long enough the oceans would start to freeze over. Of course, by the time he could go after the Greyjoys where they live everyone would already be dead from starvation. Why bother hunting down every last person? All he'd really have to do is keep the world in a deep freeze and not allow anyone to get in a growing season. Stockpiles (no matter how copious) eventually run out.

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[–] Kawada_Kira (7282) 6 years ago

"You could grow crops and raise livestock in a place like the Iron Islands if you absolutely had to."

It's established in the books that they do.

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[–] chrisjdel (2714) 6 years ago

They look like parts of Scotland and Ireland. Not the easiest places to farm, but farm they do. Fishing would also provide a good chunk of the protein in their diets. You probably couldn't support a large population though. At least not without importing some of your food from other islands.

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[–] ducksoup (3933) 6 years ago

I would send everyone to the crypt, where it's nice and safe.

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[–] ATG6 (3000) 6 years ago

yeah, fighting at Winterfell is stupid.
dig a big trench with obsidian spears at the bottom.
put Daryl on a motorbike and lead the zombies into it as he jumps the trench.

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[–] XblockbusterEMP (28) 6 years ago

hahah dude this comment got me lol - might as well bring Rick and the helicopter as well for back up

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