The Early Death of the Night King Ruined the Final Season of Game of Thrones

Game of Thrones was one of my most anticipated final seasons in television. I was really looking forward to the huge fight with the Night King, because he was considered to be the biggest threat among the Seven Kingdoms. I loved how there was so much conflict among the kingdoms in the early seasons, only for all these battles to mean nothing once the Night King arrived.

The Night King was so powerful, a foe that was already dead, a beast that was determined to wipe out all humanity, and I instantly knew this dead king was going to be one of my favorite villains.

I can't really put into words how disappointed I was, when the Night King was killed in a couple of episodes, and I was not surprised by the instant backlash from the fans.

The Night King should not have died in episode 3. He should have lived until episode 5, or even up to the finale. Like many fans, I assumed the Night King was going to be impossible to kill.

Here is what I wished happened with the Night King:

The Night King should have made it to King's Landing, to the Iron Throne.

Since the Night King was considered to be a tough threat to take down, I thought Jon Snow and his crew were going to lose the first fight in Winterfell. Jon Snow and Khalessi were going to have no choice but to have their use their dragons to save as many people as they could (most of them would probably be some of the main characters), and they would fly away, abandoning their dead and the fight.

This would be considered the mid-season fight against the Night King.

The crew would not know what to do any longer, each of them getting into constant conflicts, not knowing what to do. Maybe Jamie, (let's pretend the writers didn't suddenly butcher his character arc out of nowhere), would plead with the survivors they need to go to King's Landing, because they learn that the Night King is traveling in that direction. Even though many of them are aware they will die, they set forth on this journey, because what else can the survivors really do at this point?

They travel to King's Landing, barely beating the Night King's arrival before the final fight.

Jaime is desperate to warn his sister about the oncoming dangers, but as we fans know of Cersei, she most likely would not listen to anything the crew has to say. She would even refuse their entry into King's Landing, threatening to kill them. The Night King arrives to King's Landing, and everyone goes into a complete panic. Khalessi takes action with her two dragons, forcing Cersei to let the crew in.

The survivors all make a last stand during episode 5, fighting to the death.

Many of the main characters, including important side characters all get killed.

Then we would eventually get that crazy moment with Arya appearing out of nowhere, killing the Night King with the special knife.

I would 100% have excused Arya killing the Night King, because at least his death would have happened MUCH LATER.

The rest of the survivors are left to pick up the pieces, including Jon Snow and Khalessi. Cersei 100% would have died by the Night King, and she would have died in pure fear, leaving behind the Iron Throne. We would then get one more final death scene of a main character, with Khalessi still wanting the Iron Throne, despite everything they had gone through.

I feel this would have made sense for her character, since from the second season, Khalessi showed signs of being a bit crazy, since she doled out insane punishments to her enemies. Maybe one of her dragons would have died during the second fight, leaving her in a vulnerable state, as she pleads with Jon Snow why she must be the new ruler. After everything Jon Snow went through, it would also make sense why he would kill Khalessi.

This decision officially ends the Iron Throne conflict for good, and we would get the scene with Khalessi's last dragon destroying the Iron Throne.

The series ends with the remaining survivors moving on, and the ending with Jon Snow going to the other side of the wall, would definitely have been TEN TIME MORE IMPACTFUL, if the writers had gone down this route.

While I didn't mind the endings to several characters in the final season, for me, the biggest disappointment was the Night King death. He should have lasted until episode 5 at least, and I can't imagine how insane this season would have been if the Night King had been alive, continuing his final battle royale into King's Landing.

If only this was the final season that we got.

If only.

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Thank you for reading!

Emy Quinn