In reading various sites or checking out videos concerning Game of Thrones with regards to the plot, I noticed that the vast majority of people are very focused on aspects such as Jon Snow’s mother, Tyrion’s true heritage, the Littlefinger scheme, etc. However, as the chapter on the Red Wedding has taught us about George RR Martin’s style of development, most of these things are a distraction away from some of the overarching elements that surrounds the books but periodically and subtly make entry here and there. The one major thing that people haven’t really talked about is the whole “Winter is Coming” part. And that’s what I will cover in this blog post.
Much of the fascination in the story over political intrigue, name dropping, who sleeps with whom, etc. are methods for George RR Martin to distract and perhaps even distance the reader from one of the biggest issues in the books: the White Walkers. With the few clues we’ve seen, the White Walkers are known to convert dead people into a form of a zombie. Hence, the people of the Night’s Watch and the Wildlings always burn bodies of dead, both friend and foe alike.
However, with the outbreak of the war of the kingdoms, one thing is certain: there’s a lot of dead bodies left around. And when winter comes (which it certainly is in the upcoming book), we most likely will see a White Walker invasion that will convert the entire lands into a single army containing one purpose.
I think a huge part of this plot will go back to a quote by Robert Baratheon in one of the earlier episodes where he challenged Cersei Lannister which is the bigger number: 5 or 1. Despite being a hedonistic king with an ill temperament towards his wife and disdain for the day-to-day realities of ruling a kingdom, Robert, by the nature of his quote, did understand the overarching principals of ruling. Unfortunately, everyone in the kingdom had become, similar to the readers, distracted by petty squabbles once their purpose as a kingdom was lost and even forgotten.
One of the most interesting questions if, indeed, the White Walkers make this gigantic impact as I predict, is how the kingdom as a whole will react. Will the kingdom suddenly forget their petty arguments and pride to unify and push back against this unnatural force? Will emotional wounds fester and continue to create internal turmoil that prohibit the kingdom from coming together? Will characters who seem lost with their flawed traits such as Cersei have a change of heart and rise up to transform once they see the true plight?
Thus far, the only hints we have towards the ending are the titles that containing each season. With The Winds of Winter as the next book, my guess is that the kingdoms will be ravaged by the White Walkers who will rise from the hundreds of thousand of dead from the war. The TV show in some way alludes to this notion when Dany receives a vision of the Iron Throne in ruin and immersed in snow as well as when she steps outside to see what appears to be the north covered in a remorseless winter.
Then we have the final book, A Dream of Spring, which obviously puts the story into full circle with regards to the metaphor of seasons. My interpretation of the title ties partly into Bran’s visions (hence the word “Dream”) along with connecting the word “spring” to rebirth. It’s impossible to say at this point whether the Long Winter will continue into the 7th novel as that partly would imply that the White Walker menace (or what we believe is a menace at this stage) has been dealt with. My feeling is that they will continue well into A Dream of Spring as they seem far too important of a plot device to suddenly sweep aside using something like dragons or Jon Snow with Lightbringer. In fact, there’s a good chance that winter will last far into the novel where we only can glimpse at spring towards the end (since winter can be interpreted as a negative force with connotations of death, decay and plight).
More importantly than these details is why is the idea of White Walkers and this underlying, subtle subject so critical as a theme? The reason why is that I think it’s George RR Martin’s way of portraying human qualities of pettiness and the possible unification of people through a common cause. Once people are reminded that they’re vulnerable, they, with a great and understanding leader, can come together as one in tackling challenges that threaten our existence. However, once those threats no longer exist, people grow lazy, petty, forgetful and ungrateful.
We certainly see these qualities of pride and arrogance in the Lannisters. People like Tywin and Cersei often lack more worldly insight and believe themselves impervious due to the sheer amount of wealth/power they wield. Then you have Jon Snow who is constantly chastised by his peers about his own overconfidence in his abilities, making him more willing to listen. Much of the downfall of the people in the novel is a result of their inability to communicate, compromise and most importantly listen.
Part of the purpose of the novels, in my opinion, is this allegory of the way our own world works where the lack of a common enemy has caused people to turn inward and create internal and unnecessary strife, especially as the wealth distribution increases, resulting in a general dumbing down in society through its decadence. We crave distractions that supersede common sense such as valuing the outrage of an idiot like Kanye West’s outbursts as opposed to focusing on ways of dealing with resource management, disease and poverty.