We explain all the alleged plot holes in “Beyond the Wall”

“Beyond the Wall” has proved a divisive episode of Game of Thrones. It brought us some spectacular action, but many fans have dinged it for what they see as a critical mass of implausibilities, conveniences, and plot holes. Some of those complaints even reached the ear of director Alan Taylor, who admitted to Variety that the timeline of the episode — which involves Gendry running to Eastwatch, sending off a raven, Dany receiving the raven, and Dany flying to wherever Jon’s group of wight-hunters were beyond the Wall, all in the time it takes ice to freeze — was “straining plausibility a little bit.”

Are these fair criticisms? We thought we’d walk through some of the alleged holes in this episode and try to justify them, aided by our wonderful commenters.

Does the timeline work?

Let’s start with the timeline issue. Is it possible for everything that happened with Gendry and Dany to happen? Unsurprisingly, the internet is all over it. Below, Redditor MiUniqueUsername posted an explanation for how the timeline could make sense.

"Someone on 9GAG did math. from freefolk"

Personally, the timeline didn’t bother me. As the math above shows, it more or less works. And remember: the ice doesn’t have to freeze to the point where it can support one guy without cracking; it has to freeze to the point where it can support an entire army. That would take a while. It was unclear exactly how many days passed while the guys were waiting for Daenerys, and according to Taylor, it was left vague on purpose. I’m okay assuming they waited however many days it took Dany to get there.

I’m also not bothered by questions of how the group could have survived while they waited. They were all wearing packs and knew they were going on a journey, so it’s reasonable to assume they brought food and water with them. (Plus they could have eaten Thoros — I doubt it, but I kind of love that the possibility is out there.) Meanwhile, their thick winter clothes can protect them from hypothermia, and they always have Beric’s flaming sword in a pinch.

Why didn’t the group bring horses with them and why were there so few men?

One thing that might have helped alleviate questions about Gendry’s lightening-quick trip back to Eastwatch is a horse. If he’d ridden one, fans could more easily believe that he’d make it back there in time. But Jon’s SEAL Team Six didn’t bring any horses with them. Why not? Commenter Ida had an idea:

"My feeling was – the horses would have to be fed, watered, and rested, kept warm…How would they do that in snowy and bad weather — looked like a blizzard there for awhile? The Night King and wights would take them as well. A small mission kept as simple as possible, even accepting the possibility they may not return in some cases, because they’re going to need their armies elsewhere too."

Clearly there are ways of keeping a horse alive beyond the Wall — Benjen seems to manage alright — but I can accept that the team would want to keep the mission small and lean. And it’s not like it’s the first time a group of fantasy adventures opted to go on a quest on foot — I remember the fellowship marching over the Misty Mountains in The Lord of the Rings.

As for why Jon didn’t bring more men, it stands to reason that the more men he brought, the more opportunities there were for them to be turned into wights and added to the army of the dead. Bringing a lot of men north of the Wall was what Lord Commander Jeor Mormont did back in season 1, and that ended terribly. Perhaps Jon learned from his mistake.

Why didn’t Benjen join Jon on the horse?

When Benjen Stark shows up to save Jon Snow from the wights, he hops off his horse, boosts Jon into the saddle, and tells him to “ride for the pass.” (There’s always a pass.) Jon asks Benjen to come with him, but Benjen says “there’s no time” and sends Jon on his way.

Then, there passes a several-second period where Jon rides away, Benjen turns around, and Jon watches him get overcome by wights from a safe distance. I’m sorry, Uncle Benjen, but there was very clearly time.

Helen Sloan – HBO

So why didn’t Benjen ride with Jon to safety? Maybe the extra weight would have slowed the horse down too much. But then again, both Bran and Meera rode alongside Benjen when he saved them from the army of the dead in season 6’s “Blood of My Blood,” so I don’t know how far that argument will get us.

Commenter Mistress B. has a character-driven explanation:

"He clearly wants to die. Where is he going to go with Jon? Back to the wall he cannot cross. The guy has been in purgatory for years now, living alone amongst the dead. He has saved Bran, Meera and now Jon. Makes sense to me that he has done all he could and wants an end to his horrific existence."

I guess…I dunno — this is one of the points where I’m still not satisfied. I agree that Benjen would be up for ending his torturous existence, but back in the season 6 finale, he told Bran and Meera that he still fought for the living and would “do what I can as long as I can.” Even if he can’t cross the Wall, surely he’d be able to help the living more if he wasn’t dead…or permanently dead.

I don’t think I succeeded in plugging this particular hole. Anyone else have ideas?

Why didn’t the wight disintegrate when the Brotherhood took it south of the Wall?

Sticking with Benjen, remember that he also told Bran and Meera that he couldn’t cross the Wall because of magic spells that were woven into it. Benjen is a wight, albeit one made by the Children of the Forest rather than the White Walkers. We assume that no wights can cross the Wall — although we have no proof, I imagine that if they try, they experience what we saw when a few wights tried to enter the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave back in season 4’s “The Children”: they detonate on impact.

And yet, at the end of “Beyond the Wall,” we see the Hound loading the wight the group captured (let’s call him Biff) into a boat on the south side of the Wall. How was the wight able to circumvent those spells?

I’m hoping this isn’t so much of a plot hole as just something we don’t have a full explanation for yet, but here are some theories:

• First of all, this isn’t the same situation from season 1, where a wight awoke in Castle Black. In that case, the rangers found a dead body, brought it through the tunnels, and it only rose once it was safely on the other side of the Wall. The White Walkers rigged that dude like a time bomb.
• Maybe the spells only work on wights trying to pass through the tunnels. Dany flew Biff over the Wall, so they might not have had an effect.
• One terrifying possibility: when the Night King touched Bran back in season 6, he and his army were able to enter the Three-Eyed Raven’s cave. Did Bran inadvertently remove the Wall’s magical protection when he passed beyond it in the season 7 premiere?

More or this question later, I hope.

Wasn’t it awfully convenient that only ONE wight was left standing after Jon killed that White Walker?

I mean…yeah, it was.

So Jon and his band of merry men attack that small group of wights, led by a White Walker. Jon kills the White Walker with Longclaw. Immediately, all but one of the wights fall to ground, which tells us something very important: if you kill a White Walker, all the wights he or she raised go down as well.

I was on board with all of that, but the fact that ONLY one wight remained left “alive” was a bit of an eye roll moment. I don’t think it’s a plot hole — Biff just happened to be traveling that day with a White Walker who didn’t raise him — but it does seem like a convenience thrown in to move the story along. Would it have been so hard to have, like, two-thirds of the wights go down and for Jon and company to kill all but one of the survivors?

It’s a minor point, but it rankles a bit.

Why didn’t the Night King target Drogon?

The banner moment of the episode was when the Night King took down Viserion with an ice javelin. But some wondered why he chose to spear Viserion, who was flying around the lake, rather than Drogon, who was closer, bigger, and stationary. Beyond the cheat answer (Because if he killed Drogon the heroes would die and then the story would be over), why would the Night King choose the harder target?

This one’s pretty easy to answer, I think. Yes, Drogon was easier to hit, but he wasn’t torching any of the Night King’s army at the moment. Viserion was the one doing the real damage, so the Night King went after him.

As for how the Night King could throw the javelin so well, commenter AinoKyllikki  has a terrific take:

"I live in a country where javelin throw is the second most revered form of sport after ice hockey (perhaps the White Walkers could have made some skates to get across the lake! :P). Even my father, who is just an ordinary farmer, could get the javelin across the 75 metre line in his 20’s. Javelins can also also be used with great accuracy. There are actual competitions where you need to hit a target at a long distance. I have also seen some comments about the javelin being made out of ice being ridiculous (not in this thread but elsewhere). In my country, several people die every year because they foolishly stand beneath eaves and get their head pierced by a falling icicle."

Combine that with whatever superhuman powers the Night King possesses, and you’ve got a stew going.

Why didn’t Jon get on the dragon when he had the chance?

After Dany lands her dragon, Jon declines to get on board immediately, instead choosing to take out wights. According to showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss, he was doing that to protect his friends while they hopped aboard, which…sure. The way it’s filmed, the dragon doesn’t look like it’s in any immediate danger from the wights, and Jon seems to get farther away from Drogon than is advisable, but sure. I can buy he’d do that.

Then, after Viserion gets taken out, Jon keeps slashing at wights, and has a long stare-down with the Night King before finally turning back and making a bee-line for Drogon while yelling “Go! Go now! Leave!” Then a couple of wights tackle him into the water and Dany gets the hell out of there before the Night King can spear Drogon.

Mileage may vary on this one. I think it’s possible to watch and just accept that this is what Jon would do — after all, it’s what he did. But I think it could have been directed more smoothly. Maybe have him charge the Night King in attempt to end things right then and there, a la Jaime charging Dany at the Loot Train Attack? Or have a bunch of wights block his path to Drogon so it seems less odd that he’s not hopping on board. It is what it is, though.

After Jon is knocked into the water, he chills there for a bit before emerging and dragging himself onto the ice. He wasn’t wearing as much armor as Jaime was when he took his dip back at the end of “The Spoils of War,” but some fans still found it hard to believe that he came out the other end of this experience little worse for wear. Mistress B. has one explanation:

"You seem to forget that Jon is not a normal human anymore. He is a fire wight of sorts. A re-animated, not completely alive being. It makes sense to me that someone like that would not be affected to the same degree or as quickly as a human would be to icy water. His damned heart may not even be beating anymore for all we know."

Zombie Jon Snow is tougher than we realize.

Where did the White Walkers get those chains?

When the Night King killed Viserion, the dragon sunk into the lake. At the very end of the episode, the wights pulled Viserion’s body out of there with a giant chains, and some fans wondered both how they got them and how they attached them.

First: where did the chains come from? This question actually didn’t occur to me — I just assumed the White Walkers picked them up somewhere during the thousands of years since the last Long Night — but enough fans have wondered about it that it’s worth addressing. Commenter Gail Anne Rhodes thinks they could be giant in origin, which is interesting. We did see a few giants among the army of the dead in the premiere — might the White Walkers have pilfered some of their handiwork after destroying their society?

As to how the wights attached the chains to Drogon, I’ve got to assume that they walked on the surface of the lake and pulled the chains with them. It’s made clear that the wights can’t swim — otherwise they would have swam across to Jon Snow and company — but nobody said they couldn’t move around down there. “Dead things in the water,” to quote A Dance with Dragons.

Of course, if you assume that, then you have to wonder why the Night King didn’t just pile his army into the lake until they stood piled high enough to reach Jon and company. The lake couldn’t have been that deep. Maybe the wights decompose in water and he didn’t want to lose soldiers when he could just wait Jon and company out?

Finally, let’s address the theory that the Night King didn’t act immediately because he was waiting for Daenerys and her dragons to show up. Commenter JonAhai sums it up:

"If the Night King is a greenseer, couldn’t his plan have been to ambush Dany and her dragons? Maybe they weren’t outwitted by the water, but simply waiting for the dragons to show up. The NK and all his crew were armed with ice spears, something I don’t think they’ve had before."

Lots of theories link Bran and the Night King. Add this to the pile.

So those are our explanations. Do any of them hold water? (Also, you may have noticed that we didn’t say anything about all the Arya-Sansa drama at Winterfell. If we did, this article would double in length. We wrote up some separate thoughts about that here.)

My feeling is that, while some of the alleged plot holes and inconsistencies can be explained away fairly easily, they shouldn’t have to be. It’s the job of the writers and directors to answer these questions in the episode itself. If fans are picking up the slack, that’s a sign the episode should have been tighter.

Next: We break down the trailer for 'The Dragon and the Wolf' shot by shot

There’s also the matter of the whole wight hunt not making a ton of sense to begin with. I feel like that’s encouraging fans to dig deep into the episode’s problems, because the foundation was shaky from the start. We’ll see if Game of Thrones can stick the landing with “The Dragon and the Wolf,” airing this Sunday.

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