How many people think the north will survive? Will there be anything left of the north? YouTuber Emergency Awesome pointed out that Bear island and the Karstarks and Umbers are going to get hit first.
shareI think those young noble lords are going to die, Lyanna Mormont, The young Umber Noble, and the young Karstark noble because they're getting hit first. They're the first stops between the wall and Winterfell.
On the other hand
If the NK is going straight for Winterfell, then he'd head southwest toward the Kingsroad and probably bypass Last Hearth and Karhold, which are kind of out in the middle of nowhere.
If he heads straight south, though, the Umbers are screwed.
The NK is likely to take one of two basic strategies next: Land or sea.
Really, he can cause local freezes, for all we know he can freeze the seas and march his army along the east coast of Westeros over flat, level, frozen ocean. That would lead him right to (dun dun dun) Dragonstone and King's Landing!
If he sticks to the land, he can head south, or west. West would lead him along the Wall, and if he wanted to destroy the entire Wall or the Night's Watch or just reach the west coast he'd do that. It's more likely that he'd head south, which could take him and his armies to any point in the North, including Karhold or Winterfell itself.
Personally, I hope he marches over the frozen seas, because I want to see a zombie apocalypse in King's Landing.
Hmmmm.
For nature, it’s a much harder job to freeze the open sea than to freeze a lake or a river. Especially when it needs to be frozen enough to allow thousands of wights to walk over it.
I can imagine that the same applies to the Night King: He might easily freeze the rivers that the wight army has to cross on their way south, but he can’t just let them walk over the Narrow Sea.
Of course, it IS possible that he’s up to the job. At Hardhome I think he wouldn’t have frozen the sea even if he is capable of that. He didn’t want to attack the south at that point anyway, so strategically it would’ve been unwise to reveal that he has that kind of power.
In terms of writing, i.e. thinking about what makes a great dramatic scene, it’d be highly desirable that he CAN freeze the sea.
As to whether the NK can freeze the sea... he may be able to freeze coastal waters far out enough for his army to pass, who knows. And there's also the question of the dragon - how DID the dragon destroy that piece of Wall? If it was flame colored blue then it'd be of no use there, but if the blue dragon "fire" was actually some kind of supercold force... how much water could the supercold force freeze?
Which could, I suppose, be a fulfilment of Miri Maz Duur's pregnancy about all the impossible things that have to happen before Dany can bear a living child. I've already figured out how mountains can "blow in the wine like leaves", and mayve if the seas freeze solid and snow spray drifts over a smooth surface like a frozen desert... it'll count as the seas going "dry".
Night King didn't even freeze that thinly frozen lake when Jon and company were trapped in the middle of it. Either he had time to waste waiting for ice to become thicker naturally, or he wanted to play the game of cat and mouse, or he can't do it. Either way, he missed this unique opportunity to kill Jon.
shareYou’re reight, he didn’t. But I favor the theory (which has been mentioned in other threads here) that the Night King has the Greensight and thus, he knew that simply standing there and waiting would bring him a dragon to kill and turn.
I missed that theory, but when I think about it, it makes sense. That would explain why Night King had those huge dragon-killing ice spears ready, and why he already had those big long chains prepared. Hmmm, this complicates things a lot. Our heroes will have to rely on Bran more and more to tell them the future, otherwise Night King will always be one step ahead of them.
P.S. On second thought, if Jon is Azor Ahai who is prophesied to kill off WW, and Night King knows it cause he can see the future, it would make more sense to kill him instead of getting a dragon, wouldn't it?
Yeah, the NK forseeing the chance to get the dragon is the only thing that makes sense. As for his greensight (or bluesight, I suppose), it might be like Bran's, and Bran doesn't always see what would be useful or understand what he does see.. I suppose the NK would be better at using his sight because he's had centuries more practice, but the we don't know how intelligent that frozen brain of his is. Does he understand anything about humans, enough to target population centers? And for that matter, can he tell one human from another?
If he can't, then he won't realize that Jon is a significant threat, Azor Ahai reborn or not.
Night King is still a mystery and we can only speculate what he knows and when he knows it.
There have been theories that occasionally WW target Jon specifically, as if they know he is a threat. I'm not sure what to think about that. Anyway, I tend to think that Night King recognizes Jon cause they've been in a staring contest several times. He took a good look at Jon. Probably also recognizes Bran.
Bear Island is on the other side from Eastwatch. They would have to split up to hit both them and the Umbers. Plus the whole island thing. I guess the dragon could fly over there and kill some people to turn them against the rest of the living.
Some of the northern houses will be wiped out early, but the survivors will probably all retreat to Winterfell. If the Night King knows Bran is in Winterfell, he might be heading that way.
He has lieutenants, it's perfectly feasible for him to split up his army.
shareThey have a problem with the Wall gone, to say the least. I would abandon the North and evacuate everyone south of Moat Caitlin:
https://i.imgur.com/bJ7Qmvs.jpg
Where Westeros narrows, begin repeated ambushes -- leave caches of wildfire everywhere and set them alight as the wights advance. Build hundreds of scorpions loaded with dragonglass arrows to take down Ice Viserion. Keep Drogon and Rhaegal grounded and build a mobile shield to protect them with openings for their mouths to spray fire at the wights. Fall back further south and repeat ambush until they are all toast.
If they evacuate the northern North, where are the refugees going to go? People in the serious-winter zone may not have enough food to get through the winter themselves so people in the southern North won't welcome refugees, and beyond that there's the Vale which is inaccessible in winter, and the Riverlands which are in chaos. There's been years of war there and Tywin Lannister had a scorched-earth policy there, agriculture was disrupted for years and the place must be at risk of famine. And south of that, you come to Cersei's territory, and she wants to see everyone in the rebellious North die. Sansa has been trying to prepare Winterfell to accept refugees, but how many people can one castle house and feed?
As to wildfire, does Team Danerys have any? Sure, Tyrion knows how to use it in warfare, but that doesn't mean he has access to any, or that the norther Maesters know how to make it, or that there are any alchemists in the North. And Cersei's not going to give them any of her stash, that's for sure.
I brought this up on another board but people think NK is just after Winterfell and all the other northern houses closer to the wall are safe. But that's just not likely.
shareIt would make strategic sense for the NK to take out some castles or towns on the way to his primary target, everyone he kills joins his army after all!
The one thing that does bother me though is that they made the NK seem too vulnerable. That has me worried about a anticlimactic battle.
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