Hi and welcome to my channel. This is the first video I ever made for public consumption. But after watching Game of Thrones season 8 episode 3, I feel I have to discuss my absolute disappointment in what is supposed to be one of the biggest story arcs of the entire franchise. As the video title suggests, it's all about the Night King. For those who are completely unaware of who the Night King is, and it's hard to believe that someone who has no interest in the Game of Thrones series or books will be watching this, let's recap for a moment. For starters, the Night King is a character that, at least as of yet, is not depicted in George R.R. Martin's books. It appears that this character is the sole creation of the writers of Game of Thrones HBO series. There are probably a few reasons why this decision was made. First is that in the series of books the others or white walkers are a mysterious force of undead that water beyond the wall and pose a direct threat to mankind. Throughout the books they are mentioned but rarely seen, and as of this video they represent a storm on the horizon that only a few people even believe are real. This works fine in the novels since as the reader we are omnipotent and see all things happening as they unfold throughout the entire world. We can make connections that the characters themselves cannot because we have information that they do not know about. But making a TV show is quite different, unless you are prepared to fill your show with lengthy and boring exposition or direct narration, generally you keep things mysterious and hidden so that you can surprise your viewers with a big reveal or payoff later on. The Game of Thrones HBO series has masterfully crafted the books into a viewable experience for eight years. Doing so has been a monumental effort and success overall. And translating the books to an on-screen story that is both coherent and entertaining, the writers had to make various story decisions so that an average viewer could digest the sweeping epic over many years. In order to achieve this many characters from the novels have been cut or combined. And so comes the Night King. Unlike other characters that are in a malgamation of several characters in the books, the Night King is a direct creation. The writers probably felt that the nebulous threat of the white walkers needed a face or physical manifestation beyond a mindless undead horde. This gives the threat life and embodies its presence. However, the creation of a new character that is not part of the book presents a new problem. How does this character fit into the narrative as a whole? What is the character's motivation? Why do they exist? What part do they play that is an advancement of the story? Up until season 8, episode 3 of Game of Thrones, the Night King remained wrapped in a mystery. Some information was revealed about him throughout the series. He was a creation of the children of the forest and their war against the first men. He accepted a tribute of newborn male children from Craster, but largely his motivation was unknown. There were illusions of a connection between him and Bran. Some industrious people from online communities make connections between the Night King and a character of Game of Thrones lore called The Night's King and believe there was some reveal awaiting viewers about this history. Furthermore, many other videos and commentators have noted that George R.R. Martin has been quoted as specifically saying that he does not like evil characters that are evil, just for the sake of being evil. And his story thus far is supported this. Even the despicable Ramsey Bolton, formerly Snow, had an understandable albeit flawed motivation. He so wished to be legitimized as a Bolton that he flayed men as his house sigil depicted in an effort to legitimize himself, even if no one else would. Ultimately, this worked out for Ramsey as he was finally legitimized as a true son of Ruse. This is exactly why the Night King story is such an epic letdown. In the end, there was no big revelation about his existence. He was, in fact, evil for the sake of being evil. His sole motivation was to destroy the world of men. This and other factors have led to fairly robust criticism of what should have been a penultimate episode of The Game of Thrones. It is filled with mesmerizing scenes of battle and sacrifice. Jaw-dropping moments of anxiety is the dead swarm the castle and at time even fall from the sky like rain, but the simplistic and predictable death of the Night King and all of his thralls dampens the spirit of the story. Nothing is revealed. In episode 2 of season 8, the characters muse that killing the Night King, a persona of which they have no in-depth knowledge will kill all his followers. And this is proved 100% true, a lucky guess, I suppose. Toward the end of episode 3, the Night King stands over brand menacingly, a moment usually reserved for the villain to reveal his intentions, but then Arya Stark drops from above and kills him, shattering him in the entire story arc into a million pieces. Yes, the heroes have saved the world. Yes, now they can focus on Searsy and the Golden Company. But wouldn't the characters of the story themselves have some serious questions about what just happened? Look at the epic amount of sacrifice it took to get here. Look at the mountains of dead. What was it all for? Why did it happen? Who was this Night King character? Hey Sam, good guess about the dragon fire not being able to kill him, even though it could kill all his followers. And conversely, good thing that Valerian Steel could kill him, just like it could kill all his followers. In the end, it feels that the Night King did very little to advance the story, except killing a few relatively unimportant characters and reducing the number of soldiers available for the war to come. Although it's entirely possible, he has not even accomplished that. As we have seen in previous seasons, massive battles have been fought with immense loss of life, only to have the army's rebuilt in short order to march forward into the next meek rider. For example, Stanisleeds is a man in an assault on King's Landing where they are eviscerated in the Battle of the Black Water. But after a few months, he has built a new army and sails to the wall to help John Snow in his battle with the Wildlings. John leads an army of men in the Battle of the Bastards against the newly minted Ramsey Bolton, and his men are surrounded and slaughtered to such a degree that the bodies are piled 15 deep. He is ultimately saved by the Knights of the Vale, and a few months later, the army of the North is rebuilt, reinforced, and ready to fight the army of the Night King. The Lannisters fresh off their annihilation of House Tyrell are attacked by denieries and her dragons. The large portion of their forces and supplies are burned to a crisp. Several months later, Circe has rebuilt and reinforced her position with the Golden Company. There seems to be no shortage of men available for the endless slaughter. If in fact murdering, a lot of men was all the Night King could muster, then why does his story exist at all? So far the murder of men has filled the entire show and had very minimal impact on the main characters or story. Perhaps more will be revealed in the coming episodes since there was very little dialogue in this episode and Bran went away from most of the show warged into a murder of crows, but I find it doubtful that anything revealed will have much meaning at this point. The threat is gone, learning its purpose now seems a day late and a dollar short. If anything of great importance needed to be revealed, it should have been done when the stakes were at their highest. This would have led to a more fulfilling story arc for the Night King, and a better understanding by both the characters and viewers of exactly what was going on and why everyone was there. HBO is indicated that there is a prequel in the works called The Long Night, which will likely delve deeper into the existence of the Night King and fill in the necessary backstory that was thus far emitted. But I still contend this information would have been better served by being delivered at least in part prior to season 8 episode 3. Instead, viewers, if they still care and they probably do since the Game of Thrones has such a huge following, will have to wait several years for the prequel to be released. And that's if it ever does get released since show productions are cancelled all the time. All in all, I don't feel the rather shoddy story of the Night King harms the overall arc of Game of Thrones, but it does represent a low point in the otherwise rich storytelling the show has embodied. Thanks for watching.