History YMMV / GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall

** By removing and sidelining Tyrion's plot in ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' where he TookALevelInJerkass and became DarkerAndEdgier as a StoryArc to challenge reader sympathies, the writers probably didn't want to compromise what is after all their most popular and beloved BreakoutCharacter, but this came as a result of Tyrion being made into a sidekick for Dany and Jon's story without any of his own goals, ambitions, interests, and agency.[[note]]The whole villain arc in Book 5 was intended by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin for him to become, as one character notes, "A small man with a big shadow snarling in the middle of it all."[[/note]] Dany {{Lampshades}} this by noting that she likes Tyrion because he's not a hero (unlike Jon, and as implied later, her) and in the process Tyrion has become the very character archetype the author was trying so hard to avert and tear down, the fantasy dwarf sidekick who provides ComicRelief and serves as a SatelliteCharacter for the main leads.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: While the conflict between Sansa and Arya is probably intended with BothSidesHaveAPoint, Arya comes across as arrogant, condescending, and in general just outright unsympathetic to some. She accuses Sansa of betraying Ned and Robb, citing how Sansa just stood there at their father's execution wearing a pretty dress, which is odd because Arya was there when Sansa ''begged and screamed'' for their father's life and fainted when he was beheaded in front of her. Arya either forgets Sansa's own horrible experiences or overlooks them, blackmailing Sansa by threatening to show the letter to the [[FairWeatherFriend Northern lords]].
* WhatAnIdiot:
** Arya's threat to reveal Sansa's note to the Northern Lords comes off as this since, as Sansa notes later on in the episode, with the worst Winter in history coming -- the Northern Lords, [[FairWeatherFriend whose allegiances have flip-flopped all over the place]], are just looking for any excuse to go home, thus leaving Jon without an army to fight for him, their home, and the North.
** Sandor throwing rocks at the wights, eventually cluing them in on that the ice is thick enough to cross again, as opposed to using that hammer of his to weaken the ice around the rock. By the time he actually does do that, the wights are swarming and he only gets a few of them.
** Jon straying far away from Drogon even when everyone else has already climbed onboard and secured their wight prisoner, giving the Night King enough time to kill Viserion, getting himself tackled and dragged into the icy water while Drogon and everyone atop him is nearly killed by another ice javelin.
** Daenerys not bothering to take a shot at the Night King and his court despite them so conventionally clustering together in the open.
** The White Walkers themselves for not scattering the second the dragons entered the fray and leaving themselves open to attack.
** Sansa decides that the best person to talk to about her anxiety and trust issues is Littlefinger. At this point she should know that a perfect stranger would be better.
** Jon, king of a nation who have fought and lost too much to regain their sovereignty, surrenders it to Daenerys, when he has already gained what he wanted. Viewers are [[BrokenBase divided over this course of action]].
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* AscendedFanon: There was a fan-made [[https://9gag.com/gag/aeYbgz5/does-he-have-a-fking-undead-dragon poster]] released almost a year prior to the episode showing the Night King with a resurrected undead dragon.

** Viserion's death comes before he is given any real characterization or a major contribution to the plot beyond he and Rhaegal being [[ThoseTwoGuys the other two dragons who aren't Drogon]]. In the books, Viserion is, by far, the most timid and gentle of Dany's dragons (relatively speaking, of course) and it's hinted that Tyrion or Jon may end up riding him. His death here feels like a huge waste.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic:
** While the conflict between Sansa and Arya is probably intended with BothSidesHaveAPoint, Arya comes across as arrogant, condescending, and in general just outright unsympathetic to some. She accuses Sansa of betraying Ned and Robb, citing how Sansa just stood there at their father's execution wearing a pretty dress, which is odd because Arya was there when Sansa ''begged and screamed'' for their father's life and fainted when he was beheaded in front of her. Arya either forgets Sansa's own horrible experiences or overlooks them, blackmailing Sansa by threatening to show the letter to the [[FairWeatherFriend Northern lords]].

** Even the Night King himself gets a moment. Instead of shooting down Viserion, he could have easily killed Drogon, who wasn't even a moving target when the entire party started getting on his back. Or he could have simply sniped the stranded party from a safe distance before the dragons even arrived. On the other hand, there may be something else going on (see AlternateCharacterInterpretation above and Wild Mass Guessing).
*** The Night King appeared to be towards Drogon, but saw Viserion flying in his direction breathing fire so took care of the immediate threat instead. [[spoiler:However Season 8 reveals that the Night King is immune to dragonfire, bringing up this trope again. Perhaps his fellow Walkers lacked his magical protection and he was protecting them instead.]]

* EpilepticTrees: All kind of fan theories and justifications exist to explain away some controversial {{Plot Armor}}s heavily used in the episode, such as the Night King not going for a TotalPartyKill when Drogon is a sitting duck. Explanations range from psychological warfare (a.k.a. trolling) to ballistic handwaves. See the [[WMG/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall WMG subpage]] for more.
* HarsherInHindsight: Viserion was named after Daenerys's abusive brother, who raised her and threatened to cut her unborn baby out of her belly. She named him hoping he'd be a RedeemingReplacement, but instead he becomes the first one to turn on her.
* HilariousInHindsight: Just two days before this episode's airing came the release of ''Series/TheDefenders2017'', which centers around a group who's been using magic to resurrect each other suddenly finding themselves OutOfContinues.
** When Gendry asks how to keep warm in the freezing North, Tormund tells him any method of physical activity will work, but sex is best. When Gendry goes to Winterfell, he notes to Arya how cold it is, [[spoiler: and in the next episode the two of them ... [[UnusualEuphemism keep warm together.]]]]

* FridgeBrilliance: Why was this episode the first to demonstrate the KeystoneArmy traits of the White Walkers? If we presume the Night's King knows about it, and it stretches disbelief that he wouldn't know, then it makes sense that when possible he sends White Walkers out with Wights they ''didn't'' turn, so as not to expose this key weakness in their army.

* SpecialEffectsFailure: While the CGI and the choreography are well done, [[http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/game-of-thrones-season-7-episode-6-cgi-vfx-error-fail-wildling-fighting-air-white-walker-wights-a7896826.html someone unfortunately forgot to animate in some wights and it looks like a wildling extra is flailing his spear in the air]].

** When Gendry asks how to keep warm in the freezing North, Tormund tells him any method of physical will work, but sex is best. When Gendry goes to Winterfell, he notes to Arya how cold it is, [[spoiler: and in the next episode the two of them ... [[UnusualEuphemism keep warm together.]]]]

* CounterpartComparison:
** The entire episode plays like a {{Homage}} to ''The Fellowship of the Ring'' (especially the middle part of the first film when the Fellowship leaves Rivendell and after they escape the Balrog in the Mines of Moria). You have a group of mixed ages, led by a Ranger[=/=]King[=/=]King-claimant (Jon Snow[=/=]Aragorn), a wizard (Thoros of Myr who also dies in battle), a skilled warrior with good insight and judgment (Legolas[=/=]Lord Beric, Legolas's "elf-eyes" and Beric's keen insight into the relationship between the Wights and the Walkers), a grumpy warrior with a soft center (Gimli[=/=]The Hound), while Gendry is a good fit for the hobbits Merry and Pip with only Tormund lacking any direct parallel (though one can also see him as another Gimli-type). There's even a Balrog, but the inversion is that this time, Drogon and his brothers are there to save the heroes.

** Some note that a love-bond between Jon and Dany essentially shortchanges the debate among fans and InUniverse about whether either of them are better or more effective rulers, and that the implied and potential rivalry between these two UnexpectedSuccessor becomes defused, as is apparent when Jon Snow decides to bend the knee and become a VoluntaryVassal to House Targaryen again. When Dany asks about those who swore allegiance to Jon and Jon says they'll come to see Dany for who she really is, this does not take into account that it will be difficult to convince the Northern lords of Dany's character and commitment. The Northern lords have a negative view of Dany due to her being the Mad King's daughter as opposed to Jon's positive view of Dany based on his time with her and witnessing her commitment to defeating the army-of-the-dead. Even among fans who believe that a united Westeros under one leadership may provide the North and the rest of Westeros with its best chance to survive the Night King, there is a question of how Jon will convince his people of this when they themselves have neither seen Dany's commitment to defeating the army-of-the-dead, don't have Jon's positive view of her, and already distrust Dany based on [[SinsOfOurFathers her father's crimes]].

** It's also possible that Viserion was the only Dragon small and light enough for the chains be attached to, and also, The Night King most likely wanted a more agile ride.

** Viserion's death is not unlike [[Film/TheHobbitTheBattleOfTheFiveArmies Smaug's]]. He is hit in the chest with a spear, which seems to pierce his combustion organ, screeches and flails around in his death throes before crashing into a lake. However, this dragon is much more sympathetic.
** Jorah Mormont's arc in this episode draws some comparisons to Severus Snape. Both are men with grudges against the hero's father (Ned Stark, James Potter) and have cases of UnrequitedLoveLastsForever with women (Daenerys Targaryen, Lily Evans) who are not interested in them as romantic partners but only as friends. Unlike Snape -- who never gets over his grudge, never gets over losing Lily, and resents Harry Poter for the SinsOfOurFathers -- Jorah is respectful and honest with Ned's son Jon Snow. He owns up to his faults, and conveys that while he'll never fully reconcile himself with Ned Stark's memory, he admits that Ned was in the right and that he won't take his resentment of Ned out on Jon.
** Thoros and Beric, two cool religion-driven fighters who begin combat by igniting their swords in unison, have been compared to [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi Knights]]. On the other side, some fans who are unhappy with the quality of the brewing romance between Jon and Daenerys compare it with Anakin and Amidala.
** Arya is one to [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]], a committed determinator and badass who is TooCleverByHalf, who makes EntertaininglyWrong assumptions, easily manipulated by a schemer (Littlefinger[=/=]Ozymandias) and tries to affect heroic posture when the BoringButPractical types (Dan Dreiberg[=/=]Sansa) are focusing on their responsibilities and work to fulfil their roles in preparing for defense against upcoming conflicts.

** Some note that a love-bond between Jon and Dany essentially shortchanges the debate among fans and InUniverse about whether either of them are better or more effective rulers, and that the implied and potential rivalry between these two UnexpectedSuccessor becomes defused, as is apparent when Jon Snow decides to bend the knee and become a VoluntaryVassal to House Targaryen again. When Dany asks about those who swore allegiance to Jon and Jon says they'll come to see Dany for who she really is, this does not take into account that it will be difficult to convince the Northern lords of Dany's character and commitment. The Northern lords have a negative view of Dany due to her being the Mad King's daughter as opposed to Jon's positive view of Dany based on his time with her and witnessing her commitment to defeating the army-of-the-dead. Even among fans who believe that a united Westeros under one leader provides the North and the rest of Westeros with its best chance to survive the Night King, how will Jon convince his people of this when they themselves have neither seen Dany's commitment to defeating the army-of-the-dead or have Jon's positive view of her?

** Arya is one to [[ComicBook/{{Watchmen}} Rorschach]], a committed determinator and badass who is TooCleverByHalf, who makes EntertaininglyWrong assumptions, easily manipulated by a schemer (Littlefinger[=/=]Ozymandias) and tries to affect heroic posture despite the fact that the real heavy lifting has been done by BoringButPractical types (Dan Dreiberg[=/=]Sansa).

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Sansa asking Arya to be on her knees and thanking her as she is the one that won the North by gaining the Vale's support is supposed to come out as arrogant and showing Sansa's negative traits, especially since she conveniently forgets that she hid the Vale's support from Jon, which would have been great information to know before the battle. The problem is that Arya is being so mean-spirited by bringing back Sansa's childhood mistake that Sansa has been suffering with for six seasons. The stress Sansa is under by being in charge of the second line between the living and the dead comes off more like Sansa being fed up with her sister's antagonism and frustration over the situation.

** Did the Night King kill Viserion because he seemed like a more immediate aerial threat compared to Drogon and then later missed his second shot, or did he deliberately ignore Drogon and all the people onboard so as to advance a scheme to get past the Wall? This is the second time he chose a dramatic gesture over killing Jon (he waits until Jon is clear and ''then'' takes a shot at Drogon); does he need him alive for some reason? Considering that the Night King can pull a PokeInTheThirdEye on Bran, does he have greenseer abilities, did he anticipate Daenerys showing up and fashioned his ice spears in preparation? How else can one explain the ice chains that the wights just happen to either have, or prepared for the occasion? Or is he just sadistic and enjoys tormenting people slowly, providing a bit of horror with the implication over what else the chains were intended for.

* NoYay: The scene on the boat between Daenerys and Jon for some viewers. Aside from [[BrokenBase divided fan opinion over their chemistry]], she has shown herself to have rather skewed priorities compared to Jon's more altruistic nature (at least until she loses Viserion and realizes how dangerous the White Walkers really are). And even if they don't know it, ''she's his aunt''.

** To some, their romance is very rushed. In the space of five episodes, they've gone from meeting each other for the first time in which they butt heads and show skeptical dislike, to agreeing not to be enemies, to struggling to find a compromise between their interests, to a rescue-save at the 11th hour, to being in love. Some fans feel this is a checklist effect in which the showrunners are trying to get Jon and Dany from point A (skeptical dislike) to point B (love) as quickly as possible due to the shortened season. Some fans who have been wanting Jon and Dany to get together since the books are unhappy their relationship was rushed and feel this should have been handled by the showrunners more carefully.

* UnintentionallySympathetic: Sansa asking Arya to be on her knees and thanking her as she is the one that won the North by gaining the Vale's support is supposed to come out as arrogant and showing Sansa's negative traits, especially since she conveniently forgets that she hid the Vale's support from Jon, which would have been great information to know before the battle. The problem is Arya is being so mean-spirited bringing back Sansa's childhood mistake that she had been suffering for six seasons, and the stress of being in charge of the second line between the living and the dead comes off more like Sansa being fed up with her sister's antagonism and frustration over the situation.

** When Tyrion and Dany are discussing succession and Tyrion brings up electoral support, was he offering it out of good statesman thinking, a less-than-subtle way of nominating himself as Dany's successor (following Varys's suggestion in the previous episode that Tyrion needs to find a way to make Daenerys listen to him), or a combination of both? Is Dany's dismissal and insistence that she must get the Iron Throne first her way of keeping Tyrion in place as her second-in-command (a power move that takes Tyrion's notion that Dany is the head of a KeystoneArmy, and checks it by more or less [[BurningTheShips torching any lifeboats]] for her underlings) or a genuine expression of her support for autocracy? The scene is ambiguous likely because either alternative would make one or the other side be more in the right than the other, which is hard to do since they're both intended to be sympathetic good guys.

** Jorah Mormont's arc in this episode draws some comparisons to Severus Snape. Both are men with grudges against the hero's father and have cases of UnrequitedLoveLastsForever with a women who are not interested in them as romantic partners. Unlike Snape -- who never gets over his grudge, never gets over losing his love interest Lily, and resents Harry for the SinsOfOurFathers -- Jorah is respectful and honest with Ned Stark's son Jon Snow. He owns up to his faults, and conveys that while he'll never fully reconcile himself with Ned Stark's memory, he admits that Ned was in the right and that he won't take his resentment of Ned out on Jon.

** When Tyrion and Dany are discussing succession and Tyrion brings up electoral support, was he offering it out of good statesman thinking, a less-than-subtle way of nominating himself as Dany's successor (following Varys's suggestion in the previous episode that Tyrion needs to find a way to make Daenerys listen to him), or a combination of both? Is Dany's dismissal and insistence on focusing on getting the Iron Throne first her way of keeping Tyrion in place as her second-in-command (a power move that takes Tyrion's notion that Dany is the head of a KeystoneArmy, and checks it by more or less [[BurningTheShips torching any lifeboats]] for her underlings) or a genuine expression of her support for autocracy? The scene is ambiguous likely because either alternative would make one or the other side be more in the right than the other, which is hard to do since they're both intended to be sympathetic good guys.

** Jorah Mormont's arc in this episode also makes him like Severus Snape. A man with a huge grudge against the hero's father and who has UnrequitedLoveLastsForever with a woman who is clearly not interested in him as a romantic partner. Unlike Snape -- who never gets over his grudge, never gets over losing Lily, and resents Harry for the SinsOfOurFathers -- Jorah is respectful and honest with Ned Stark's son Jon Snow. He owns up to his faults, and conveys that while he'll never fully reconcile himself with Ned Stark's memory, he admits that Ned was in the right and that he won't take his resentment of Ned out on Jon.
** Thoros and Beric, two cool religion-driven fighters who begin combat by igniting their swords in unison, have been compared to [[Franchise/StarWars Jedi Knights]]. On the other side, the quality of the brewing romance between Jon and Daenerys has also drawn comparisons with Anakin and Amidala.

** In the space of five episodes they've gone from skeptical dislike to agreeing not to be enemies to now being in love, all done with minimal amount of scenes to show this progression (most of their scenes together have been about them trying to find common ground, her demanding that he bend the knee, and him brooding). Also, as mentioned above, the chemistry between the two actors is a point of debate between fans.

** Others also note that a love-bond between Jon and Dany essentially shortchanges the debate among fans and InUniverse about whether either of them are better or more effective rulers, and the implied and obvious rivalry between these two UnexpectedSuccessor gets defused, as is apparent when Jon Snow decides to bend the knee and become a VoluntaryVassal to House Targaryen again, with Dany reminding him that his people might object to it, to which Jon says they will fall in eventually. Even those among the fans who believe in the benefits of a united Westerosi state (mostly Stannis fans) would admit that this is rather weak statesmanship to base a momentous decision upon, and not exactly respectful of the Northern host who backed Jon.

** While the conflict between Sansa and Arya is probably intended with BothSidesHaveAPoint, Arya comes across as arrogant, condescending, and in general just outright unsympathetic to some. She accuses Sansa of betraying Ned and Robb, citing how Sansa just stood there at their father's execution wearing a pretty dress, conveniently overlooking the fact that Sansa ''begged and screamed'' for their father's life and fainted when he was beheaded in front of her. Arya also brushes off all the horrible things Sansa went through and even blackmails her, threatening to show the letter to the [[FairWeatherFriend Northern lords]].

** Arya's threat to reveal Sansa's note to the Northern Lords comes off as this since, as Sansa notes later on in the episode, with the worst Winter in history coming -- the Northern Lords, [[FairWeatherFriend whose allegiances have flip flopped all over the place]], are just looking for any excuse to go home, thus leaving Jon without an army to fight for him, their home, and the North.

** Daenerys not bothering to take a shot at the Night King and his court despite them so conventionally clustering together in the open. Of course, The Night King might have wanted that...
** The White Walkers themselves for not scattering the second the dragons entered the fray and leaving themselves open to attack. Then again, they only lost some wights and they did get a dragon in the bargain.