The Season 7 finale of Game of Thrones ended on a gasp-worthy note. The Wall — which has been manned by the Night’s Watch for thousands of years came crumbling down. With the help of the reanimated corpse of Daenerys Targaryen’s dragon, Viserion, the Wall shattered in a heap of fiery blue flames, as the Night King and the White Walkers led their Army of the Dead north.
It was both shocking and horrifying, especially since we learned that Cersei Lannister has no real plans of protecting King’s Landing or the 1 million people who call the capital of Westeros their home from the impending doom the White Walkers will certainly bring.
Dany and Jon Snow have formed an allegiance (in more ways than one). However, the Starks and their allies, as well as the forces that fight for the Mother of Dragons, might not be enough to keep Westeros safe from the White Walkers and their terrifying army of wights.
While “The Dragon and the Wolf” episode will have to hold us over until GoT returns for an eighth and final season, we have a pretty good indication of what life in Westeros will be like without the Wall keeping everyone safe.
- Wights galore
A wight coming out of a crate on Game of Thrones
The Hound releases a wight out of a crate. | HBO
The White Walkers would be terrifying on their own, but it’s their Army of the Dead, aka wights, who really set our teeth on edge. After a harrowing battle beyond the Wall, Jon and his ragtag group of comrades were able to capture a wight and drag it with them to King’s Landing, with the hopes that they might convince Cersei to call a truce — at least until the White Walkers are defeated. After The Hound provoked the lifeless creature and it came barreling towards Cersei, even the most homicidal woman in Westeros had to take a pause.
As we’ve seen over the course of the series and most recently, with poor Viserion, the White Walkers only need to touch a corpse to bring it back to life. Human beings are easily killed, but wights can only be stopped with fire and dragonglass (as Jon so thoughtfully demonstrated in the season finale).
With the White Walkers still seen as just mythical beings, a shortage of dragonglass, and a lack of cooperation from those blondes in the South, Westeros is sure to be crawling with wights by the time Season 8 premieres. As Mance Rayder once said of the White Walkers, “We’re all the same to them. Meat for their army.”