gash is back Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 ...about the threat from the north? (except stannis of course) i know they're all playing their cute little game of thrones, but at the end of ADWD, the whitewalkers thought to be long gone have not only been confirmed to exist, but a massive army confirmed moving south with seemingly no regard for human life and with the ability to raise dead humans to fight for them. how come not a single lord/house/character has said "fuck it you know we could be in real trouble here?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Starkgaryen Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Because to them the wights and the Others are just legends, like snarks and grumpkins. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gash is back Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 Because to them the wights and the Others are just legends, like snarks and grumpkins. in the first book yeah, even the first 3 books, but even now? makes no sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alester Florent Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 They don't know what we know. To them the Night's Watch are a weird anachronism that's useful for disposing of criminals and the rest of the time they're happy to ignore. Wights, Others, giants, and the like are fairy tales. Let's turn it round. What do they know, what have they heard, that should make them care? And there's a question of priority, too: even if they do care about some mythical monsters wandering about north of the Wall, their neighbour's trying to burn their winter supplies is probably more of an immediate concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bael's Bastard Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Hardly anyone knows or believes any threat, except wildlings, exists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Starkgaryen Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 in the first book yeah, even the first 3 books, but even now? makes no sense. The southorns have never seen an Other or a wight, so of course to them they are only legends that do not exist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EastTymor Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Nobody south of the Wall seriously believes in the Others existing at the start of the series. Over the course of the series, we see the Night's Watch gradually start to understand what they are up against when they come to face to wights and Others. Even then, they have trouble comprehending the scale of the menace and re-orienting their whole way of life to confront it. I don't recall if any of their ravens to the south mentioned wights or Others explicitly, but I do not think so. Thorne was an unpersuasive ambassador, and his (compelling) evidence spoiled before anybody could see it. Stannis heads to North because Davos wants him to fight Wildlings and Melisandre agrees. They don't know about the Others until they get there, although Melisandre may suspect. Nobody in the South has seen an Other or a Wight, so they have no reason to change their baseline assumption that such do not exist. Given the immediacy of the crises they face closer to hand, they are not going to be thinking about the threat of an invasion from beyond the Wall, and if they do, they will think it will be human wildlings and dealt with easily enough by those close to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sword of the Morgan Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I think that's a double negative. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tywin Smokin a Blunt Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 The Night's Watch has been asking for men and food and supplies for so long that most of the kingdom (especially those whose day to day security isn't threatened by wildling raids) have completely gone deaf to their pleas. Just part of the white noise of the process of running a hold. To them the Night's Watch is just a collection of the scum of the seven kingdoms who were sent there to suffer and die, and these stories of wights and Others are nothing more than an attempted shakedown. They haven't seen them, and the watch has no proof. Perhaps if the had been able to capture a wight whole, but Ser Alister's hand in a jar obviously wasn't enough, and eventually rotted away to nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeethGrinder Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 They were informed. They either didn't believe or didn't care. One King did. The King did. Mainly it's down to the reputation of the Night's Watch more than anything. Some still see it as an honourable and important institution. Most see it as a life sentence for degenerates. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Viserys - The last dragon Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I think that's a double negative. heh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trigger Warning Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Stannis only did because he had a doomsayer whispering chosen one in his ear. When the entire kingdom's at war you have more pressing concerns than what everyone believes are fairy tales, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twenty of House Goodmen Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Nobody in the North cares either, except for men of the watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oursisthefury69 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Because they live from their own perspective in the book universe, not yours in the show universe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hangover of the Morning Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 It would be really weird if they did given the lack of information. Even if they had accurate and reliable intel it is still a going to be considered a distant and thus low threat. Immediate problems will take precedence. I expect the mayor of my city to worry about local criminality and unemployment and not ISIS or Ebola. Edit: Grammar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodor knows Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Because seeing is believing. Besides, those in the South have more than enough to keep them occupied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Wraith Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 ...about the threat from the north? (except stannis of course) i know they're all playing their cute little game of thrones, but at the end of ADWD, the whitewalkers thought to be long gone have not only been confirmed to exist, but a massive army confirmed moving south with seemingly no regard for human life and with the ability to raise dead humans to fight for them. how come not a single lord/house/character has said "fuck it you know we could be in real trouble here?" Because to them the wights and the Others are just legends, like snarks and grumpkins. No one is worried about the invasion of snarks and grumpkins. They will soon see the error of their ways. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abandonship Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Probably because no one is really going to believe in the others without some proof, and South is experiencing its fair share of issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNorthRemember Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Martin fault for not miss this threat more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TeethGrinder Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Stannis only did because he had a doomsayer whispering chosen one in his ear. When the entire kingdom's at war you have more pressing concerns than what everyone believes are fairy tales, No evidence for this in the books whatsoever. In fact he completely puts it down to Davos' advice. The cart before the horse line. Stannis cared. Accept it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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