(Pictures: HBO)
We’ve got so many questions surrounding the White Walkers in Game of Thrones but the greatest mystery of them all came when Sam Tarly was spared by the army in season 2 and we never learned why.
Eventually, Sam went onto kill one of the ghoulish warriors as the unlikeliest of heroes in Westeros, but why would one White Walker go in for the kill while another just passed him by?
A fan on Reddit has come up with what is at this point the most plausible explanation, and fellow fans of the fantasy epic are really jumping on board.
User MyRoomWithAView began: ‘This is not a very fleshed out theory at all, but I just realised something very weird about the White Walkers. There seem to be hardly people who ever get away from them unscathed.
‘The only ones I can think of right now are Sam Tarly (after being separated from the others after the fight at the fist of the first men, I think S2E10) and the Ranger we get to meet in the very beginning of the series, who is later beheaded by Ned. For all others an encounter with the WWs seems to end with a fight to the death. Plus, by controlling the wights the WWs have literally killed thousands of innocent people. Strong and fierce warriors, but also women and children. ‘
They continued: ‘Young people and old people. Good people and bad people. The WWs don’t discriminate, so why were Sam and the Ranger spared? What makes them different, what did they have that all the others didn’t?
‘In my opinion, they were spared because they surrendered. They did not even attempt to take up arms and defend their lives. They didn’t scream for help or tried to run. They simply accepted their fates and waited to die. The Ranger in season one just drops to his knees in fear and resignation upon witnessing the death of his comrade. Sam also just cowers on the ground, completely paralyzed by fear. Both of them recognized and accepted the superiority of their opponent and prepared to die. And that’s why they didn’t.’
‘So my conclusion,’ they went on, ‘is that the WWs don’t really want to exterminate humanity, what they truly want is subordination. They literally want you to KNEEL. I’ve always liked the idea of the WWs being intelligent beings and having their own agenda apart from killing everything and everyone in sight.
‘This also seems much more in line with the story of their creation. The children of the forest seem to be quite peaceful in principle, and it wouldn’t make sense for them to create a mindless killing machine. They just needed some sort of power to keep the first men in check and preserve their environment. I don’t think that ending as many lives as possible was ever their intention.’
And others are totally shipping the theory, with fellow Redditor Jorvis posting: ‘I think that is an interesting idea. :).’
‘At first I thought this was a stretch but actually it is an interesting thought,’ agreed ralphieglasses, which was followed by: ‘So what your saying is they want submission? Nice idea, I like it. Doesn’t even sound that unlikely when you put it like that. ‘We’ve seen them kill everybody that doesn’t recognise and accept their dominion (only survivors are Sam, the ranger and Craster with his wives).
‘There’s also the potential of them using living creatures that would obey them, giant spiders for example, although that is only mentioned as a story.’
Regardless, we won’t be finding out anything whatsoever until Game of Thrones returns next year.
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