I think the whole fighting the Game of Thrones while Winter is Coming is actually tangential to the point Martin is trying to make, and what the article is highlighting - that violence (including those on the basis of revenge or vengeance) is self-defeating and merely leads to greater reprisals. It creates a cycle in which no one wins. When Winter does come, it will merely highlight that point.
The connections in the show that you put forth I don’t think showcase the futility of the cycle of violence. I think in some respects the show looks to violence for shock value and doesn’t reflect upon it - in the show Robb’s march South was noble and virtuous; in the books, Robb’s march South may have appeared noble and virtuous, but destroyed the lives of hundreds - and that was why A Feast for Crows was so utterly powerful (it became on of my favorite books in the series upon re-read).
A newspaper article I was reading speculating about episode 2 said “If Jon doesn’t get burned by nightfall he’ll be back as a White Walker.” The tone was as though they were pointing out something known to the viewers and to Davos and Jon’s buddies. I don’t recall this at all, could someone refresh my memory or assure me that the newspaper is mistaken.
I know they mentioned that the Free Folk burn their dead so they don’t come back, but don’t recall which episode it was. We’ve seen that custom among the Watch as well.
We’ve seen the Watch burn corpses, but I’m not sure if it was established that they know they need to do it to keep them from becoming zombies.
I mean, it may be that theyoriginally did it for that reason, but until recently they’d forgotten that there really were white walkers and zombies and so forth. And so it could simply have continued on because of tradition, or out of pure practicality. I mean, it’s easier to collect firewood than dig graves in frozen earth, yes?
Jon Snow established in Season 1 that people who die at the hand of White Walkers or their minions must be burned. I can’t recall anyone who rose after being killed by other people.
When they capture Ygritte, she tells them to burn the bodies of the other men that were with her, or they’d come back. When John kills Qorin Halfhand, Rattleshirt says something like “burn the body, you don’t want this one coming back for you”
There are probably at least a dozen references to burning bodies to prevent them from turning.
We don’t know. In the show cannon we know the Others can actively do it, but we don’t know that it’s required. In season 1 there is a wight that rises in Castle Black that tries to kill Commander Mormont. There certainly isn’t a White Walker with the corpse at the time of it reanimating. Maybe there was one just outside the Wall?
I suspect that the White Walkers can actively raise the dead and that north of the Wall corpses will passively be reanimated after some time. Perhaps the length of time depends on proximity to a White Walker or something else. I don’t think it’s established that it happens every nightfall.
After they emerge from the frozen river into the forest, Reek and Sansa take refuge under the fallen tree trunk. Moments later the baying of the hounds is heard, then five soldiers appear, led by the pack of hounds. The dogs find Sansa and menace her with growls and snapping jaws as she shrinks further back under the tree while Reek confronts the soldiers. Then the cavalry, in the form of Brienne and Podrick, ride in and save the day.
All the soldiers are dead. Hurrah! Only, what has become of the hounds? We don’t see any of them being felled by the cavalry. We don’t see them running away, which anyhow would be uncharacteristic for the breed because bloodhounds, once they find the scent and corner their quarry, don’t abandon the quarry until given leave to do so by their trainer (who’s dead.) Yet these dogs vanish.
If you want to review the scene, here it is: - YouTube
I don’t mean to deprecate the scene because the moment at the end of it when Brienne swears fealty to Sansa is one of the most moving moments in the entire series so far. The look on Brienne’s face when she makes her oath brought a lump to my throat. (Somebody give Gwendoline Christie an Emmy.) But, damn it, what happened to the flippin’ hounds?
The wight that wakes up in castle black could have easily been raised priorly and played dead. They found the body close to the wall when they were supposed to be long gone.
I don’t mean to be sarcastic here, but who cares? I didn’t even notice this before people started posting about it. Its not like we see every moment of every event. The hounds were chased off. Or something. They wouldn’t keep fighting once their handlers were dead. Or whatever. It doesn’t affect the story at all at this particular point.
Has anyone heard the theory that the direwolf names indicate what will happen to all the characters? I didn’t hear how Greywind is supposed to apply to Robb, but Sansa is supposed to become a Lady, Arya does something in Dorne, Bran defeats the White Walkers, and Rickon, with Shaggydog, doesn’t amount to anything.
DigitalC, well, Ghost finds the bodies and isn’t antsy around them, but become agitated and alerts Jon after Other reanimates. I suppose it’s possible, but it seems unlikely and we have no evidence for it. It’s mixing show and book canon a bit, but given how few Others there are, and how many wights there are, the logistics of raising them all from the dead if it requires direct action seems difficult. In the books we’ve never seen it done, so we’ll probably have to wait a while before any confirmation one way or the other.
Sansa: Lady (a bit on the nose)
Bran: Summer (opposite/enemy of winter?)
Arya: Nymeria (named after Nymeria of Dorne, the warrior-queen of the Rhoynar)
Jon: Ghost (Jon comes back from death?)
Rickon: Shaggydog (long-winded, pointless story)
Robb: Grey Wind (?)