(08-21-2017 06:05 PM)Attackcoog Wrote:  It wouldnt end the Night Kings war....just Laninsters. That said---the stationary target was easier----but it was also aware of his presence. Maybe his ice projectile would not fare so well when met with blast of dragon flame.

I'll have to disagree with you here, for a number of reasons, one of which you might find interesting.

First - If the NK has greenseer abilities, he knows exactly what his threats are. However, even if he doesn't, he has some ability that made him prescient enough to anticipate and likely set a trap for Dany's dragons. He knew those were the most serious threat, and he converted one to his use.

Second - He most assuredly knows about Azor Ahai, as that is who defeated him to end the Long Winter. He has also likely heard the prophecies about his return - eg the prince who was promised, and the other prophecies that foretell the return of his greatest adversary.

Third - And I'm cheating a bit here by going to the books, but you saw this play out on screen, albeit in less detail. It begins with the opening scene of the very first episode of the show, now commonly referred to as The Three Rangers. This scene is loaded with portent based on odd actions of the White Walkers. In it, Waymar Royce (the kinda Matt Damon looking snot nosed lordling Night's Watchmen, who happens to be the third son of Lord "Bronze" Yohn Royce, the only Knight of the Vale you probably recognize from the show) and two more Night's Watchmen are on a Wildling patrol north of the Wall.

Ser Waymar Royce, Gared, and Will:



Here's a short description of the scene as it plays out in the books (note, in the books the White Walkers are usually referred to as the "Others"):

Quote:The Three Rangers

One of the strangest and least understood events in ASOIAF happens right up front, before you even know what is going on in the prologue of A Game of Thrones; the death of Ser Waymar Royce and fellow ranger Will. A short summary, Waymar was leading a three man ranging party tracking a group of Wildling raiders through the Haunted Forest when Waymar is ambushed by six Others. Waymar utters his famous and incredibly bad ass line “Dance with me then” and duels with one of the Others. Waymar holds his own until the Other lands a hit, the Other mocks Waymar, then Wamyar's sword shatters. A piece flies into his eye and the remaining six Others stab him to death. Waymar is then raised as a wight and butchers his former companion Will. Their other man, Gared, escapes the attack and makes it all the way through the Wall and to a hold-fast near Winterfell before being caught and executed by Ned Stark for deserting the Night's Watch.

There is a fascinatingly detailed discussion of this encounter on Reddit:

https://www.reddit.com/r/asoiaf/comments...th_in_the/

It details the entire open of the show / books, including where they find the wildling camp, with the dead bodies laid out in one of the weird symbols we have been seeing more frequently in the show lately:



Anyway, the jist of that very in depth discussion is that the White Walkers, in addition to whatever unexplained ritual they were performing, were looking for something. Some think it was Bloodraven / The 3 Eyed Crow and his tree. However, there is a strong case made here that they were looking for Jon Snow, though they didn't know that name - just a general description of him. Here's an excerpt:

Quote:First off, they [White Walkers] set an elaborate trap using wights to fool the rangers. From this, we can reason out that they were expecting their target to be very cautious and intelligent. Otherwise, they could've just found them at night and snuck up. They believed they needed to trap the Stark they were hunting, that it would've been pointless to sneak up on them in the night. Second, the number of Others that show up. Six Others show up, a huge amount of them for a race that are seemingly expert swordsman. Later on in the story, the Others only send one to kill at least three Night's Watch members before Sam kills it with an obsidian dagger. For Waymar, they send six. If you wanted someone to watch the duel, you send an extra one or two Others. If you think the guy you're going to fight is really good and you might need back ups, you'd send an extra three or four. An extra five implies the person you're going to duel is going to be wildly successful. You're anticipating that this person is likely to kill several Others before the fight is over, they fear him. However, they discover this isn't true here (AGOT Prologue):

Quote:Then Royce's parry came a beat too late. The pale sword bit through the ringmail beneath his arm. The young lord cried out in pain. Blood welled between the rings. It steamed in the cold, and the droplets seemed red as fire where they touched the snow. Ser Waymar's fingers brushed his side. His moleskin glove came away soaked with red.

The Other said something in a language that Will did not know; his voice was like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, and the words were mocking.

The Other lands a hit, and you can almost tell what he is saying. “Isn't this guy supposed to be an amazing fighter?”. Then they execute another test (AGOT Prologue):

Quote:When the blades touched, the steel shattered.

A scream echoed through the forest night, and the longsword shivered into a hundred brittle pieces, the shards scattering like a rain of needles. Royce went to his knees, shrieking, and covered his eyes. Blood welled between his fingers.

The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voices and laughter sharp as icicles.

The signal, the reason the six Others decide to kill Waymar, is that his sword shatters in the cold. They are expecting Waymar to have a sword that will resist their cold attacks. When his sword doesn't, they are convinced that Waymar isn't who they want and kill him like an animal.

It's worth paying close attention to how odd these behaviors are based on how the Others attack as evidenced later on in the story. In their attack on the Fist of the First Men, there are no Others sighted, they exclusively use wights. Again, when they are picking off the stragglers and Sam kills one with his obsidian dagger, thy consider one Other as an appropriate attacker for three Night's Watch men. Similarly, their use of wights to chase Sam and Gilly from Craster's, no Others. Their attempt to kill Jeor Mormont and Jeremy Rykker, they entrust this mission with two wights. They operate like wraiths, killing in the shadows and picking off the people that strayed too far from the herd. Behaving more like assassins than anything else. They look to attack alone, unaware targets with stealth. But here, they totally abandon their stealth tactics. The Others show themselves and duel Waymar despite not being above sneaky, puppermaster tactics. This implies that this was incredibly important for them, and the set up feels like a ritual or ceremony of some sort. They couldn't send lackeys, it had to be themselves personally.

To summarize, they are looking for someone that fits these three descriptions.

1.Has the grey eyes, dark hair, and slender build typical of the Starks
2.Is a great, formidable swordsman
3.Has a sword that will resist their cold, likely dragonsteel/Valyrian steel.

An almost perfect description of Jon Snow after receiving Longclaw and training constantly in sword play. You can think of that being a three stage checklist. The first item is checked off is by Craster, who identifies Waymar correctly as looking like a Stark. But then Waymar fails the second one, and the Other remarks on it when Waymar's swordplay is overpowered. Finally, they are convinced Waymar is not who they are looking for after the sword shatters. Then the ritual or the test ends instantly after the sword breaks, and they execute the Ranger brutally and retreat, laughing at the dead man. There's no communication between them before the descend on the bleeding ranger, they all understand that Waymar is not their target and they as one run their swords through him.

I and many others believe that the NK, similar to Sauron pursuing hobbits in LOTR, knows generally what Jon Snow is (a northman, likely a Stark, but doesn't know his name), and has been looking for him.

Now reflect on the events of the trap and battle in this week's episode. Does this seem at all far fetched based on what we just saw from the NK? I contend that he has been looking for Jon and knew about the Dragons all along, and has been planning to deal with both accordingly. It is an amazing payoff for such a detailed story, so many years in the making.