'Game of Thrones' Battle of Winterfell: Hiding in the Crypts Is a Mistake

All of Winterfell was preparing for the arrival of the Night King and his army in Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 2. While the key players made plans for the Great Battle of Winterfell, the women and children (and Tyrion) were relegated to the crypts for safety. However, these tombs under Winterfell may not be the safest place to hang out, especially if this theory about the Night King’s plans in Episode 3 turn out to be true.

Possible spoilers for Game of Thrones Season 8, Episode 3 ahead.

At the end of Episode 2, the White Walkers stand facing Winterfell, but the Night King is nowhere in sight. Redditor u/The_Saucequatch believes it’s because the Night King has already skulked off to the crypts to execute another plan: Expanding his army by turning those dead Starks in the crypts into more undead.

“The Night King, to invoke chaos, will raise the long deceased Starks of the crypt to attack and convert the women and children into white walkers,” they write. 

With so much emphasis on the crypts (Jon Snow revealed he was the last male heir to the Iron Throne to Daenerys there as well), Episode 2 pretty much played out like one big foreshadowing that the crypts are not actually the safest place in Winterfell. Jon, Daenerys, and everyone else forgot to take what’s inside the crypt into consideration. The crypts are where the Starks keep the bodies of their dead ancestors and, if it hasn’t already been made clear to everyone, the Night King enjoys turning the dead into the undead. Perhaps it’s something Jon should’ve thought about considering he’s seen the White Walkers in action more than almost anyone else.

While the rest of the White Walkers fight, the Night King is nothing if not a good strategist. What better way to bring more chaos to Winterfell than to turn the women and children (who are supposed to be safe) into the very things they’ll be fighting in Episode 3? This would make the battle all the more personal and much harder to fight considering who’s down there, like Gilly, Sansa, and Tyrion. Additionally, the Stark siblings would be surprised and pained to see Ned Stark’s corpse brought back only for him to be fighting alongside the Night King instead.

Episode 3 is set to feature the “longest consecutive battle sequence ever committed to film,” according to Entertainment Weekly, and with so many characters involved in the Battle of Winterfell (the most to be in one episode since the pilot), there’s no doubt the Night King won’t be making things easy. While it’d be great to see the long-dead Starks once again, it’s not exactly the family reunion fans had envisioned.

Game of Thrones Season 8 airs Sundays at 9 p.m. Eastern on HBO.