People who have watched this episode with more spoilers, more speculation, and less comments in this article will be stunned by the sudden turn of the painting style. Audiences used to the rhythm of HBO's "Game of Thrones" know that the show usually puts the big event in the original book - usually a battle or death - near the end to make a big news, such as S1E9's Ned Death, Battle of Blackwater River in S2E9, Red Wedding in S3E9, Battle of Castle Black in S4E9, Death of Tywin in S4E10, etc. The only two major battles in the show so far, both occurred in the ninth episode.
At the beginning of this episode, there was no sign of big news coming. The first half of the scene still jumps lightly between several story lines, laying out the changes in this world in an orderly manner:
"Little Devil" finally meets "Dragon Girl", and two people with similar fates begin to plan together to change the power of the world. Scales;
Arya accepts her first mission, she may become the feared Faceless of the dark night, but she doesn't know what the price will be;
Cersei is imprisoned, like a proud mother. The lion, still constantly roaring at his enemies, had to lick the dirty water on the ground when he was alone, and this time he was more like an animal;
"Stinky" changed back to Theon in an instant, revealing that to Sansa. Surprising secret: Her two younger brothers are still alive, while Ramsay is urging his father to strike Stannis head-on, eager to prove his abilities.
The plot of the play has been very different from the original plot, but it is not as different as the second half of this episode: Jon and Tormund the "Giant Buster" have arrived at the camp of savage survivors in Tough Tun, and finally They persuaded some of the wildlings to leave with them by boat, only to encounter a scene that was extremely terrifying for them and the audience: the attack of the White Walkers.
The White Walkers have only made two previous appearances in the show: at the beginning of S1E1, a White Walker attacks three Rangers of the Night's Watch; and in parts of S2 and S3, the White Walkers briefly show up with some ghouls. But it's the first time that it's overwhelming like this:
At first it was a violent blizzard and a bone-chilling cold, and the hounds barked in fear, and people knew they were coming. The horrified cries of the unfortunate people came from outside the closed gate, and a strange cold air permeated through the cracks of the gate, and then the cries all disappeared.
There is only terrifying silence.
And then there are the brutal attacks of these monsters that only appear in nightmares. They have blue eyes and come from all over the mountains. They were men, women, children, savages, night watchmen, but none of that mattered now. Their clothes are disheveled, their skin is torn, their bones are exposed, and they chase the living like wild beasts, stabbing with their knives, gnashing their teeth, and clawing their hands.
Most of the living people had urinated their pants, fled in panic, and jumped into the icy sea water. Only a few dared to take up arms to resist.
But those revolts were quickly over when the White Walkers with pale, haggard skin and murderous blue eyes came on the scene. The survivors were slaughtered by the seaside, and the ghouls were like stopped machines, standing on the seaside blankly, with a pair of godless blue eyes looking at the Valyrian steel sword "Longclaw" who narrowly escaped. Zed's Jon Snow.
The slaughtered battlefield suddenly quieted down without a trace of breath.
A White Walker came to the front, raised his arms slightly, and the victims who had just fought alongside Jon shook their heads and stood up one by one, joining the camp of the living dead. There are ghosts and shadows on the coast, the dead do not say a word, only the wind whistles. Jon turned his face away, terrified.
I believe the same is true for the audience in front of the screen.
It is worth mentioning that in the original work, Jon is based in Castle Black, so there is no such thing as a man-ghost battle. This is a forced rage brushing of the presence of White Walkers and ghouls. This episode must have added a lot of stunts and burned a lot of gold coins, so it played a role in making blood for the audience.
The creator's move was very bold, adapting the few words described in the letter from Carter, the night watchman sent to Difficulty in the original book, into a half-episode-length battle, which is already the highlight of a season with only ten episodes. In the fifth volume of the original work, in fact, it is still concerned about the political struggle. The number of appearances of the White Walkers is so small that the series can be faithfully restored (see how many human characters and plots have been cut off); and the creators dare to cut many When the plot of the original work is important, a small detail is expanded, and the fundamental contradiction of the story is introduced early: the contradiction between man and ghost. I have to say, this adaptation is quite touching.
This adaptation is also instructive for the direction of the series: thinking that the meeting between "Little Devil" and "Dragon Girl" has surpassed the development of the original plot, Sansa knew the truth of her "dead" brother early, and Caitlin did not become Mrs. Stone Heart, Mance Red didn't have a "Jingle Shirt" to die for, and James didn't go north to the river to besiege the remnants of the King of the North... The TV series without the burden of many branches obviously greatly accelerated the plot of the original book, This early arrival of the human-ghost battle is also evidence. When the audience is still concerned about the complicated political and military struggle between the living, this war has already told us that the arrival of winter with dark forces may come sooner than expected.
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