170 replies to this topic

[Volantis]

Its obviously because he's an important character in the books

[Volantis]

Adar, on 01 October 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

My crackpot theory is because Sam forsake his father's religion and prayed to the Old Gods, to the godswood tree. I think the old gods of the children of the forest are strongly related to the White Walkers. The White Walkers are awake only now because the people of Westeros cut down the godswood trees and worshiped the Seven instead.

Leave your 'crackpot theories' to what happened in the books

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

baxter, on 09 June 2012 - 10:58 PM, said:

I've rewatched it several times, Sam and the Other make eye contact.  I think someone said it early in the thread, but it comes across to me as the Other thinks he is so pathetic it isnt even worth bothering with him.

Ewan, on 11 October 2012 - 03:54 PM, said:

Yeah, I think they leave cowards. Just like the person in the very first episode who they let free because he fell to his knees?

(I'm being only a little bit facetious)
My thought was that The Others might be so devious as to always leave one survivor.  To tell the tale.

Edited by ExileOnDaytonStreet, 21 January 2013 - 08:17 PM.

[Kasrith]

Smooth, on 05 June 2012 - 01:25 PM, said:

I definitely saw some Stark shields in there at the end though. Sort of odd, unless they're really old wights.

I don't see that being an issue at all. On the contrary, it would make sense that Starks from thousands of years ago who perished in battle were brought back as part of an undead army

Adar, on 01 October 2012 - 09:44 PM, said:

My crackpot theory is because Sam forsake his father's religion and prayed to the Old Gods, to the godswood tree. I think the old gods of the children of the forest are strongly related to the White Walkers. The White Walkers are awake only now because the people of Westeros cut down the godswood trees and worshiped the Seven instead.

The most of the NW, not to mention the wildlings, pray to the Old Gods but that doesn't seem to do them any good. If that were a reason for them not to attack, we wouldn't see any blood until they got south of the Neck

Edited by Kasrith, 21 January 2013 - 08:22 PM.

[The Others Take Ya]

I wondered if maybe Sam's vows are protecting him somehow.

First post ever and my crackpot theory is based on something in the book (specifically book 3/future season) so I'm going to encapsulate it in the spoiler text thing for the first time:

Spoiler

I just think his vows might be protecting him in a way that, even if he gets killed, he'd just end up undead but working for the other side (like Coldhands is somehow) and undead Sam would become more of a threat to the attackers then the way he is alive cowering behind a rock right now.
I thought the White Walker did see Sam, but took a gooood looooong magical look at him and went. "Nah better off leaving this one alive" because he can see Sam's vows are protecting him from becoming part of the White Walker's undead army. Why would you put a bunch of humans on a giant wall to protect yourself from the undead if they just end up becoming part of the problem when they die fighting them amirite? XD

Sam's relatively new to the watch, hasn't been whoring in moletown, gave his vows to the trees instead of in a sept like the other new brothers in his group (with the exception of Jon). So I think his vows are somehow "intact" and the White Walker guy, being a magical undead being himself, can see it. So he left him alone.

Anyway, I'm going with that for now, although its almost like the show could be hinting at something that isn't even explained in the the books if that's the case.

Edited by The Others Take Ya, 31 January 2013 - 12:06 AM.

[ExileOnDaytonStreet]

Sam's vows were given before the Old Gods, so there is viable reason for why that would matter to Sam and not to the Wights that attacked Jon and LC Mormont in season 1 (IIRC, those were dead NW).

Even still, I think there's validity in Kasrith's comment about how many of the Wildlings pray to the Old Gods, and it doesn't do them any good.

Whatever keeps Sam alive, it's probably similar to what kept Gared/Will alive in the AGOT proglogue/opening of the first season of GoT.

[Kasrith]

The Others Take Ya, on 31 January 2013 - 12:05 AM, said:

Spoiler

I just think his vows might be protecting him in a way that, even if he gets killed, he'd just end up undead but working for the other side (like Coldhands is somehow) and undead Sam would become more of a threat to the attackers then the way he is alive cowering behind a rock right now.
I thought the White Walker did see Sam, but took a gooood looooong magical look at him and went. "Nah better off leaving this one alive" because he can see Sam's vows are protecting him from becoming part of the White Walker's undead army. Why would you put a bunch of humans on a giant wall to protect yourself from the undead if they just end up becoming part of the problem when they die fighting them amirite? XD

I rather like the NW Oath to the Old Gods as being some sort of shield. Obviously it is far-fetched and crackpot, but for the sake of discussion I like it. Much like they (NW) are the "shield that guards the realms of men", so too can (perhaps) the Old Gods can be the shield that guards the NW - as long as they say their oaths to the trees. Not so much shield them from death, but at least from reanimation as wights. If the WWs understood how deadly a league of Coldhands could be against them - much more so than the wildlings/living Nights Watch - it would make some (crackpot) sense to spare them. Although I find it hard for them to be able to differentiate between those who swore oaths to the Old Gods and those who didn't...

This is different from simply praying to the gods, as the northerners and wildlings do. Instead here we're talking about giving oaths to sacrifice yourself for the good of the land, its people, and its riches, which may go a long way with the only true gods of land itself.

[mrlukeduke]

Honestly I just thought they were doing something out of the Predator movies. Like, they prefer to hunt moving/armed targets.

[PetyrBaelish]

I think they're just pretending that scene never happened and I'm OK with that.  There's no explanation for why a whole undead army would march past him, he then somehow gets away by his fat slow self, and then a loner wight who previously didn't want to kill him attacks him.

[mrlukeduke]

There are lots of ways one could justify, but yeah it really wasn't done very well IMO in the TV show.

[Darth Zyroth]

Why are all you guys arguing? I think the answer is pretty obvious, you just have to think a little. So, let's see! We know that D&D know the ending of the series, and that they like showing some kind of foreshadowings. So, this is clearly very strong foreshadowing. And this is the answer:

Sam is the Prince that was Promised, Azor Ahai reborn, and the Great Other. That is why the White Walkers didn't kill him.



ETA: Or maybe is option 2: just bad writing  

Edited by Darth Zyroth, 17 April 2013 - 06:31 AM.