I'm With Geek
  • Home
  • Geekery
    • TGH
    • Creative
    • IWGCast
  • Film
    • The Essentials
    • Hit Play/Hit Stop
    • Trailer Parks
  • TV
  • Games
  • Comics
  • Books
  • About
  • Our Team
  • Contact
  • Editors Blog

Game of Thrones Season 3: The Wildlings and the Watch Predictions (Spoilers)

3/30/2013

 
Picture
By Jamie Kennett

It’s been an interesting time for the Night’s Watch. Mance Rayder’s amassing a huge army of wildlings beyond the Wall, dead people keep coming back to life, and now white walkers have begun marcher ever-closer to civilisation. When we left the band of sworn brothers at the end of season two, they were fortifying themselves on the ancient landmark that is the Fist of the First Men. Jon Snow had gone off on a reconnaissance/assassination mission with a squad of rangers that included the near-legendary Qhorin Halfhand, and Sam Tarly was left to steward for Commander Mormont in Jon’s absence. Now, the Halfhand is dead, Jon has been taken captive by a band of wildlings, and Sam has made a mess in his trousers after coming face-to-face with an army of white walkers. What lies in store for all them now?

Picture
Jon Snow

Jon has gone from being the steward to Aemon Targaryen, to a double agent involved in a ploy to infiltrate Mance Rayder’s massive army of free-folk. Last we saw of Lord Snow, he was standing atop a cliff with Ygritte as they looked down into the valley of the Milkwater and the enormous camp Mance and his wildlings had set-up within it. Her last words to him were “time to meet the King-Beyond-The-Wall”, as they began to make their way down the cliffside.

Jon may have been forced to kill Qhorin Halfhand, but that’s earned him the trust of a great many of the free-folk, including Mance himself, and now he’s ready to get all sorts of dirt on the wildlings for his brothers back in the Night’s Watch. Or so the plan goes…

Jon is introduced to Mance a short while after he and his former captors make their way into the camp. The King-Beyond-The-Wall is a rather unassuming man; he is sitting in the corner of his tent playing a lute and singing “The Dornishman’s Wife” when Jon first enters, and at first Mance is almost almost completely ignored by him. After some time alone with the King, however, Jon soon earns the trust and respect of the leader of the free-folk. After a short while, Jon is dispatched on patrols with the likes of men like Tormund Giantsbane, and has a number of further run-ins with Ygritte, who has genuinely fallen in love with the apparent turncloak.

Picture
From watching the trailers alone, most of us have already noticed that it doesn’t take all-too-long for Jon to break the words he said upon joining the Night’s Watch; we’re treated to a number of brief shots that allude to some rather lewd scenes between Ygritte and him, as is the fashion now in Game of Thrones. Could it be that Jon, in the typical story of a man undercover, is duped into abandoning the Night’s Watch altogether? I had a feeling the moment he killed Qhorin Halfhand that Jon Snow might not come out of the other end of this scheme of theirs as a man of the Night’s Watch. He may be slowly-but-surely lost to the wildlings altogether; he was at least considering it when Ygritte was teasing him all that while she was his prisoner in season two.

That being said, the reason Jon abandons the Night’s Watch may be a completely different reason altogether. White walkers are marching towards the wall, and thus the Seven Kingdoms. With Mance’s army heading in the same direction with ultimately the same goal, there is a chance the two factions may run in to each other. The wildlings do stumble upon the recently-ruined remains of the Fist a short while into the book, so there is a possibility they may catch up with the roving army of Others that are but a few leagues in front of them. In trailer two, Jon is seen saying to someone “I want to fight for the side that fights for the living”, so could it be he chooses to eventually side with the wildlings simply because they’re an army of the living that is soon to be at war with the dead?

Picture
Mance Rayder and his clan of wildings

The King-Beyond-The-Wall dreams of taking back the North for the people who rightfully own it, which is why he has assembled a force beyond reckoning to breach The Wall and reclaim the land below it.

At the start of season three, Mance and his people are making the long march towards the Kingdoms and have all but around two-hundred men of the Night’s Watch between them and the wall. Even with the garrisons at Castle Black and the Shadow Tower, I doubt the small forces of rangers and watchmen would be able to hold off the onslaught of twenty-thousand wildlings that are soon to be knocking at their doors. That is, of course, unless they bump into the horde of white walkers along the way…

It would at least explain why Mance wants to light “the biggest fire the North has ever seen”; white walkers don’t like fire, and they’re immune to steel and arrow. The only weapon that can bring them down in a fight is one made from dragonglass, and none of Mance’s soldiers have any.

It would seem a great deal of Mance’s clansmen don’t actually reach the Wall, and rather remain in the frozen wastes battling both the living and the dead. That’s not to say they never get there at all though; some of his men do reach the Wall at some point soon, as you can clearly see Tormund Giantsbane and some other of the more hardcore wildlings scaling up the side of it with pairs of ice axes.

Picture
Sam Tarly and the men of the Night’s Watch

Our last sighting of Sam had him hiding behind a boulder with an army of white walkers heading straight towards him. His future remains a mystery after we see him make eye contact with a peculiar looking fellow on a zombie-fied horse. All I know is in the book he survives, but instead of first seeing the walkers from behind the pathetically ambitious safety of a boulder, he has to pay witness to a complete slaughter on the Fist of the First Men as the horde of undead make their way up the mountain, near unstoppable with the rangers’ weaponry. He makes it out alive with a handful of other rangers, including Commander Mormont and some of the more seasoned of the Watch’s troop. Naturally, they flee the area, and attempt to pull back to the Wall with what they have left.

Sam nearly gives out from a combination of the cold and the long slog through the wilderness, and starts to warm to the idea of simply lying down in the snow and dying a quick death. He survives that as well, after being picked up by Small Paul and carried like a pig. They slowly lose track of the rest of the rangers however, and end up on their own in the middle of the forest. A walker catches up with them, kills Small Paul, and is about to put an end to Sam when he charges at the Other with the dragonglass dagger Jon had given him a week or so prior, and drives it square into its head. It’s at this point he realises they can actually be killed with such a weapon, and the walker melts into the snow and evaporates in an icy light-blue mist. Sam, having nearly lost hope, regains some confidence about his current position and he is a bit more motivated in his march back to the Wall.

What happens to the rest of the rangers, however, is a mystery, but the army of walkers and zombie bears that ravaged them at the Fist is right behind them. If they slow down, or stop for any reason, it goes without saying they shan’t live for much longer.


Comments are closed.


    TV Editor: Graham Osborne
    Picture

    TV 

    Reviews on the best TV has to offer, as well as retrospective looks at the shows of yesteryear we miss so much. 

    Regular features include: 

    Have you seen...? - We take a look at TV shows you may not have seen, but should really check out?
    Retrospectives - We look back the shows that have ended.
    From the Trenches - Matthew Howe shares his hilarious experiences from the Trenches of the Media Industry.
    Catch it on Catch-Up - A run down of some quality TV that you may have missed first time around.
    Turn Off - The very worst that television has to offer.
    Doctor Who - The latest News, Reviews and features on the 50 year sci-fi giant!

    Email: [email protected]

    Categories

    All
    12-monkeys
    Adventure-time
    Agent Carter
    Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.
    AKA Jessica Jones
    Alex Doust
    Almost-human
    Amazon Instant
    Amazon Studios
    American Horror Story
    Arrow
    Atlantis
    Avatar The Last Airbender
    BAFTA
    Banshee
    Bates Motel
    Batman
    BBC
    Ben Mapp
    Beth Rogers
    Better Call Saul
    Big Bang Theory
    Black Mirror
    Boardwalk Empire
    Breaking Bad
    Bring Back...
    Britta Lundin
    Broadchurch
    Callum Armour
    Catch It On Catch Up
    Catfish
    Catherine Wignall
    Chasing Life
    Childhood Tv
    Christian Kern
    Christmas
    Community
    Companion Faceoff
    Constantine
    Cookie N Screen
    Cookie N Screen
    Coupling
    Critics Choice Awards
    Cuckoo
    Cucumberbananatofu
    Daniel-franco
    Daredevil
    David Tennant
    Detestable Tv
    Dexter
    Discworld
    Doctor Who
    Doctor Who
    Downton Abbey
    Dracula
    DVD
    E4
    Elementary
    Emmy Awards
    Essentials
    Family Guy
    Fargo
    Father's Day
    Finale
    Firefly
    Flash
    Friends
    From The Trenches
    From The Trenches
    Galavant
    Game Of Thrones
    Game Of Thrones
    Gemma Williams
    Gemma-williams
    Georgia Thompson
    Girls
    Gloria Danielsmoss
    Gloria Daniels Moss
    Gotham
    Graeme-stirling
    Graham Osborne
    Graham Osborne
    Gravity Falls
    Grimm
    Halloween
    Hannibal
    HAPPYish
    Have You Seen
    Have You Seen...?
    Hayley Charlesworth
    Hayley-charlesworth
    Hbo
    Heather Stromski
    Helen Fulton
    Helen Langdon
    Helen Langdon
    Heroes-reborn
    Hitchhikers-guide-to-the-galaxy
    Homeland
    House
    House Of Cards
    How I Met Your Mother
    ICYMI
    In Memoriam
    Inside-no9
    Interview
    In The Flesh
    I Survived The Zombie Apocalypse
    IZombie
    Jack Edwards
    James Morgans
    Jamie Kennett
    Jane The Virgin
    Jenny Mullinder
    Jo Johnstone
    Josh Crooks
    Julia Lawson
    Kim J Osborne
    Laura Weaver
    Leah Stone
    Leah Stone
    Legends Of Tomorrow
    Liam-bland
    Liam Murphy
    Mad Men
    Mahesh Subramaniam
    Marvel
    Matthew Battles
    Matthew Howe
    Max Bosshart
    Melissa Haggar
    Melissa Haggar
    Michael Wilkinson
    Monty Python
    Movies In Motion
    National Towel Day
    Netflix
    New Tricks
    No Spoilers Please
    Once Upon A Time
    Orange Is The New Black
    Orphan Black
    OUAT
    Outlander
    Paul Costello
    Paul Robert Scott
    Phineas And Ferb
    Quiz
    Red Dwarf
    Retrospective
    Ripper Street
    Robbie Jones
    Robbie Jones
    Scott And Bailey
    Scream
    Sense8
    Shakespeare Day
    Sherlock
    Sherlock Holmes
    Sherlock Week
    Sleepy Hollow
    Sons Of Liberty
    Spin-Out!
    Star Trek
    Star-wars
    Star Wars Rebels
    St Patrick's Day
    Supernatural
    Teen Wolf
    Teen Wolf
    The 100
    The Box Set
    The Flash
    The Following
    The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air
    The Hour
    The Leftovers
    The Musketeers
    The Musketeers
    The Office
    The Originals
    The Originals
    The Simpsons
    The Sopranos
    The Spider
    The Tomorrow People
    The Vampire Diaries
    The-vampire-diaries
    The Walking Dead
    This-week
    Timmy Time
    Tomas Keavney
    Tom Sams
    Trends-in-tv
    True Blood
    True Detective
    Turn-off
    TV Awards
    Tv Intros
    Tv-intros
    TV Teaser
    TV Teasers
    TV Teasers
    Twin Peaks
    Valentine's Day
    Veep
    Verushka-byrow
    Vikings
    William John
    William John
    Witches Of East End
    Wizards Vs Aliens
    Wolfblood
    Xavier Gonne
    You Should Be Watching

    Archives

    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.