Cas Stark Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 It makes more sense to me that they would not decay and would stay in whatever form they were at the time they were killed and wighted, and not continue to decay, because yes, ice preserves. I also don't like the skeleton wights, they're super cheesy to me. And not sure about the NK now wearing regular clothing like a knight as opposed to what we saw before. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingelheim Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 It makes more sense to me that they would not decay and would stay in whatever form they were at the time they were killed and wighted, and not continue to decay, because yes, ice preserves. I also don't like the skeleton wights, they're super cheesy to me. And not sure about the NK now wearing regular clothing like a knight as opposed to what we saw before. Well, if you watch the Hardhome video in the GOT page on Youtube, you'll see they designed three kinds of "make up" for the Wights: one, for the recently dead (the Wights with human form), another for the ones who have been dead a few months (the Wights that looked neither as skeletons nor fully human), and the last for the ones who have been dead years (the skeletons). It's interesting because I don't know if the Book Others can make Wights out of any dead. I mean, could they go into a grave, hundreds of years old, and make a Wight out of the bones that are there? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lupercal Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Why wouldn't dead people decay? The only thing keeping them from decaying is the magic...so if there is no magic to keep them from decay, of course they will decay. Decay is in part the result of bacteria. Said bacteria would likely be unable to survive in the cold of the North, and the cold surrounding the Others. So decay would be halted somewhat. At the very least the corpses will become mummified due to the cold. They definitely shouldn't decay to skeleton's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotman74 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Really, there will be no answers here because we're not the author. THAT SAID, here's my two cents lol: First, in case you've missed it, and many on here have:White Walkers are The Others - a particular race.Wights are the reanimated dead - humans, animals raised and propelled by (cue the music) MAGIC. There are 2 possible explanations for the differences in wights. Either they are raised at different times and can decay, thus giving us the full range of fleshed to skeletons... OR the White Walkers can raise any dead thing, be it someone just killed, or a 200 year old corpse. Both ways allow for skeletons. It shouldn't be a problem. It's not for me, anyway, since it's fantasy and you don't have to explain it with blood, muscles, etc.. I do wonder about this, however: Is there a race of proper Others that is distinct from humans, while concurrently different White Walkers that are the transformed babies as we've witnessed on the show? This would allow for the difference in appearance between the White Walkers. Also it seems to me the more magical, dignified looking Others are the bosses, the Night's King being chief, while the White Walkers with a more common appearance seem to be more lieutenant-like in their jobs. Maybe these are the humans turned as babies and raised as White Walkers. Or maybe they are all just humans that were living, and changed into White Walkers, as opposed to the resurrected dead, which become wights. Confused yet? Oh, and Jon disarmed the White Walker, then shattered him. It was quick but clear. And it's not unreasonable to assume one boat was designated as the Lord Commander's, and was not to leave without him. No need for Deus ex Machina magic boat that just happens to be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Decay is in part the result of bacteria. Said bacteria would likely be unable to survive in the cold of the North, and the cold surrounding the Others. So decay would be halted somewhat. At the very least the corpses will become mummified due to the cold. They definitely shouldn't decay to skeleton's. North of the Wall isn't perpetually cold or perpetually winter. You have to go very, very far north before you reach that kind of geographical area. And in any case, areas near water would most definitely be more temperate than areas inland. There's no reason whatsoever to believe that those bodies couldn't have decayed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Well, if you watch the Hardhome video in the GOT page on Youtube, you'll see they designed three kinds of "make up" for the Wights: one, for the recently dead (the Wights with human form), another for the ones who have been dead a few months (the Wights that looked neither as skeletons nor fully human), and the last for the ones who have been dead years (the skeletons). It's interesting because I don't know if the Book Others can make Wights out of any dead. I mean, could they go into a grave, hundreds of years old, and make a Wight out of the bones that are there? The only way to get an answer to that would be to know what the magic that moves the wights is capable of...and I doubt we will ever find out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scotman74 Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 And not sure about the NK now wearing regular clothing like a knight as opposed to what we saw before. You can't really see what he's wearing in season 4. It's always out of focus or seen through the ice. Or do you mean what he wears is different from the other White Walkers? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragon Seed Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 The wights in this episode are older and have been decaying longer. The recently raised corpses at the end were fresh. Who says wights decay over time? Certainly not the books and we've seen no mention of this in the series thus far. I personally thing they made a mess of that entire battle and the way they portrayed the wights. Fuck, now they have them eating people. "The Walking Dead" meet Westeros. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Who says wights decay over time? Certainly not the books and we've seen no mention of this in the series thus far. I personally thing they made a mess of that entire battle and the way they portrayed the wights. Fuck, now they have them eating people. "The Walking Dead" meet Westeros. And who says that the dead were ALWAYS wights? I mean, the Others apparently have only started coming back just recently...and unless the Others have been magicking the dead all this time, of COURSE the dead are going to decay and rot away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSmith84 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I'm just disappointed in their failure to adhere to the rules that they set out i.e. that the dead can only be stopped with fire. It was incredibly strange to see not a single character in that battle attempt to use fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I'm just disappointed in their failure to adhere to the rules that they set out i.e. that the dead can only be stopped with fire. It was incredibly strange to see not a single character in that battle attempt to use fire. The Giant used fire. And fire is sort of difficult to use if you haven't prepared to use it, like soaking arrows in oil or resin or some other flammable liquid. Plus the snow and cold came in very quickly and everything was soaking wet (look at the characters' hair going from dry to wet in just a few minutes). You also have to take into account that these people were in chaos and running for their lives...there's nothing organized about their flight or fighting, it's simply an effort to get out of there. Individuals are smart...large groups of people are not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FreeParking Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Fire arrows would have made a negligible difference at Hardhome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WSmith84 Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 The Giant used fire. And fire is sort of difficult to use if you haven't prepared to use it, like soaking arrows in oil or resin or some other flammable liquid. Plus the snow and cold came in very quickly and everything was soaking wet (look at the characters' hair going from dry to wet in just a few minutes). You also have to take into account that these people were in chaos and running for their lives...there's nothing organized about their flight or fighting, it's simply an effort to get out of there. Individuals are smart...large groups of people are not. I was more annoyed by the fact that the dead appeared to be stopped with simple steel. I can accept that the wildlings might have been so panicked as to not use fire, though I would have expected to see one or two try, or at least someone yelling to use fire. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sj4iy Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 I was more annoyed by the fact that the dead appeared to be stopped with simple steel. I can accept that the wildlings might have been so panicked as to not use fire, though I would have expected to see one or two try, or at least someone yelling to use fire. The only real source of fire that I saw in that scene was the fire in the meeting hall...it looked like all of the other fires were doused. And of course, they didn't have lighters back then, so making a new fire in that kind I wouldn't say the steel 'stopped' them...more like slowed them down long enough for some people to get away- sort of like what happened in the LC's bedchambers. Look at what happened to Othor- Jon runs him through, he falls on the floor for a few seconds (long enough for Mormont to check and see what's going on) and Othor then rises again. So the show has set a precedent for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCasualObserver Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 My criticism is more focused on the Nights King. I love the look of the other Other who Jon killed. In comparison, the NK looks like a "beardless boy". With Darth Maul horns. Or Zabrak horns if you want to be nerdy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Khorkalba Posted June 4, 2015 Share Posted June 4, 2015 Normally i'm someone who hates the use of CGI over makeup and costume (example: Hobbit orcs vs LOTR orcs), however I thought the skeleton wights in episode 8 were very well done. A massive improvement on the earlier wights. There's very little in the horror genre I find cheesier than actors in makeup pretending to be slow moving zombies. Also, does it not make sense for wights to be in a greater state of decay further beyond the wall, compared to the ones near to the wall which are fresh kills? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domonju Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 So can we all agree that magic seems to be on the rise? If so, we should keep this in mind for both the humans and the powers available to the White Walkers. I believe that it was mentioned in the books that the power of magic began to increase in the world once Dany managed to bring the dragons back into the world. Perhaps before that the WW only had the ability to create wights from relatively fresh corpses. Perhaps their power was also on the wane up until the dragons reappeared in the world. Now that the levels of magic have begun to increase their powers have also increased, meaning that they are now capable of reanimating much older corpses and making them do things which were not before possible. I agree that there is a level of inconsistency in the show, however we are dealing with a fantasy world that is currently in a state of change. Magic had been relatively extinguished from the world for such a long time. I assume that after the Doom the levels of magic were dwindling as there were less dragons and less magical creatures. Now that trend has been reversed it is only fair to assume that things that were not possible are now possible so instead of bashing everything as being inconsistent keep in mind that the world is in a state of flux. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Domonju Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 And to everyone who needed to know what is the difference between a wight and a WW, why don't you just check the wiki? http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Wights Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravi Seaworth Posted June 5, 2015 Share Posted June 5, 2015 They brought ethnical diversity to the Wights. Minorities like the skeletal ones need to be represented. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadow Queen Medea Posted June 7, 2015 Share Posted June 7, 2015 Can we please stop with the posts that are trying to bring reality into a fantasy tv show? That's ridiculous. "Zombies can't exist".... yeah...okay Please explain how necromancy would work....as in how the WW raised the dead at the end of the show.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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