Can the Stark Sisters Give Hope for Episode 3

All week I’ve been that horrible friend commenting on everyone’s Game of Throne threads with very helpful things like “They’re all gonna die.” Usually my comment is right below your other helpful friend who wants you to know that they’ve never watched a single episode of Game of Thrones. Meanwhile, you just wanted someone to give you some hope. All your favorite characters are in one place. The zombie army is coming. The zombie army wasn’t stopped by The Wall, and Winterfell seems puny in comparison! You think Winterfell and everyone guarding it is toast, but surely we can hope for something!

I personally, at 6AM this morning, decided to put some hope in the Stark sisters. I know that these writers didn’t tell us the real battle plan. Possibly they told us the only battle plan that most of the defenders know about, but there are other battle plans. I’m trusting that the don’t-take-orders-from-men-and-idiots Stark sisters are the ones making them.

The odds are bad

This will not be your standard battle. Tactics that all the experienced Game of Thrones characters have used to defend castles are useless against an army of dead so vast, it can just stack itself up and over the castle walls. Add to that that since this is an army of the dead, the rank and file soldiers won’t care about dying, and they’ll be fine stacking themselves up the wall, while on fire, while the living desperately hack at them. I’m imagining this battle more like trying to stop the ocean, that you lit on fire because it seemed like a good idea at the time, from crashing over the walls and drowning/burning/smothering you all.

Adding to this unhappy picture, the White Walkers controlling the army don’t care about losses either. They can add to their army just by killing more living. Meanwhile, we all saw everyone sizing up that little girl last episode when she said she wanted to fight. I mean they considered it! Also, all the people who’ve never fought who were handed weapons they don’t know how to use. Adding to the army of the living definitely takes longer.

Given that this isn’t your standard castle defense battle, and that there are dragons on both sides, I’m suddenly finding hope in our creative thinkers. Sansa has a history of when she’s displeased with a battle plan, just adding an extra army at the end to rescue the first one. I’d like to think Arya can just waltz into White Walker camp and do an assassination mission on the top leadership, but she was busy doing other things last episode…

I know our standard fighters will do a great job, and have many brave moments. Brienne is going to lead an insane fight outside the walls, that has no chance of making a real difference, but will still convince us it might. They’ll heroically buy time for other plans to work, probably with their glorious deaths. Every moment the dead don’t literally cover all of Winterfell is a chance for another plan to work.

Sansa Stark

Sansa Stark has come a long way from being excited that someone complimented her stitches. She has proven herself to be driven to survive, and to help her family survive. These White Walkers may have a large force, but not much compared to the force of Sansa’s will.

I have my own head canon for Sansa Stark’s new circle necklace. It looks so much like a maester’s chain, that I’ve decided it is. Sansa Stark defeated one of the most devious minds George R.R. Martin created. She defeated him in battle, despite Jon ignoring her warnings, despite not even knowing what trick Ramsay would play. Without any real battle training, she found a way to win.

Now a novice maester gains a link in their chain each time they prove to the archmaester that they’ve gained sufficient knowledge of a subject. Sansa Stark does not need any maester or man to tell her when she’s proven her knowledge. She gave herself a link in her chain, and made it large enough for even the half blind to see. It is iron. It shows her knowledge in warcraft. She proved to the world her knowledge when she defeated Ramsay Snow.

That is all just head canon. I’m sure the show didn’t actually intend this message. However, it is beautiful and fitting head canon. She made her new necklace after the Battle of the Bastards. Sansa Stark is good at taking lessons from powerful men and then destroying those men. She’s also good at creating fierce fashion. Sometimes, her fierce fashion spits in the face of the traditions of powerful men who will all fall before her.

Not all men need to fall before her, though. Jon Snow and Bran are family, and fit into her small circle of things she must protect. As does Theon, who she never expected to see again. He gave her hope when she had none. Sansa is also slowly bringing Jon around to the concept that he should listen to her. Jon can ride dragons. Not that I think Sansa convinced him of a cool plan using dragons, but, well, I hope.

Arya Stark

Arya Stark has already shown us at least some of her creativity with her new weapon. She’s very adaptable in pursuit of her goals, however she’s always used finesse weapons before. Now, facing a hoard, she won’t have the time or the energy for finesse. Also, as anyone that’s played video games where you’re constantly outnumbered knows, in that type of fight, you need space. Arya’s new weapon will give her the space and time to kill the dead. Perhaps her plan is to simply survive and keep killing them for days. However, for Arya, staying alive is usually only step one.

Honestly, I think they’re exaggerating what killing the Night King will do. I think if it was that easy, why didn’t any of the generations that fought white walkers in the past manage it. However, there definitely are some other very important targets in this battle: a dead dragon, the Night King’s White Walker lieutentants, and those undead giants. Arya doesn’t usually like to go after just worker bees if she can help it. She prefers to murder from the top down. I’m expecting a lot from her, really. Please go murder some undead leaders and weaken their whole army. Or, if you get the chance to throw your weapon like a spear at the dead dragon, that’d be great.

Now there are some other creative thinkers. Three-Eyed-Bran never tells anyone everything. Probably because it’d take too long and they’d die of old age. Tyrion is always thinking strategy, and they have a dead dragon problem I know he’s worried about. Tyrion and Three-Eyed-Bran also recently had a conversation that could’ve generated all sorts of strategy. In fact, I’ll be disappointed if that doesn’t lead to something more than just the sharing of knowledge it appeared to be.

Jon Snow-Targaryen has been a creative thinker in the past, but he’s really been struggling lately. I’d love it if the man who figured out that this is a fight of the living versus the dead, and brought the Wildings into Castle Black showed up for Episode 3. It’s always hard to tell when someone will come out of a slump though. Will thinking about his family tree distract him from the real fight? I hope not.

I know in terms of the the prophecy, the hope has always surrounded a flaming weapon. Which of course made some people just light a sword on fire. Fans mostly agree the flaming weapon is dragons. Probably I should put my hope in dragons. I’ve been thinking about dragons all week, and how they’ll probably light the Godswood or the castle on fire by accident. Nope, my hope, my irrational hope for how anyone in Winterfell survives episode three is in the Stark sisters.

The Ladies of Winterfell: Long may they reign.