Monday, September 17, 2018

Is there an inverse relationship with the quantity of dialogue a villain has and how otherworldly that villain is supposed to be?

Undead wights under the supervision of a White Walker using chains that they got from somewhere to pull the
dead dragon, Viserion, out of the frozen lake. 
I had this random thought on Friday night as I was trying to get to sleep: where did the White Walkers get the chains that they used to raise Viserion's lifeless corpse up from the frozen lake so that the Night King could resurrect the dragon into an ice dragon? If you don't know what I'm talking about, you probably haven't watched season 7 of Game of Thrones. Anyway, I don't know why it bothered me on Friday night. I wasn't watching Game of Thrones, but this kind of thing does vex me just a wee bit because I have a lot of faith in the Game of Thrones franchise and the detail probably has a source somewhere.

So here's what I come up with. The White Walkers probably got them from a ship at Hardhome, which they sacked sometime in season five. But it still doesn't answer how they knew to bring them along, so maybe they went back and got them or they just decided to bring them along.

Is it ridiculous to think that the White Walkers communicate with each other the same way humans do? "Hey, I think we should bring these chains along. You never know when they will come in useful." Or the Night King turns to one of the White Walkers and states, "I told you that these chains would come in useful," and then the White Walker shrugs and says, "Yup. I guess that's why you are the king." But having those kinds of conversations would get in the way of being big, bad, and scary if people could hear them.

For example, would Darth Maul have been so scary in the Phantom Menace if he had a lot of dialogue and banter with people? Probably not. But for what it's worth, the emperor in the Return of the Jedi had a ton of dialogue and his on screen scariness didn't diminish one bit. But then again, he looked just like a really old man (not otherworldly).

So it makes me wonder...are there certain kinds of villains that we just shouldn't hear speak because it ruins a suspension of disbelief? And what qualifies as that kind of villain? Maybe there's an inverse relationship with how otherworldly the villain is supposed to be to how much dialogue they should actually have in the script. As one goes up, the other goes down and vice versa.

What do the rest of you think?

5 comments:

  1. Some villains are scary because they speak, like Hannibal Lector.

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  2. If it had been season 5 it probably would have taken the Walkers the whole year to get the chains but they rushed a lot of season 7. Apparently George Lucas didn't think Ray Park's voice was scary enough. In horror movies Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers never speak while Freddie Krueger talks a lot and they're all scary.

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  3. You hit the points. I am eagerly waiting for season 8. My closet has every GoT tee made, I swear.

    You should check this out: https://youtu.be/ntnUuBjAZ7A

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  4. Very clever of you to wonder where the White Walkers got those chains, and you're probably right about where they got them. If I had been paying closer attention I would've wondered too. I've learned to really appreciate shows or flicks that tie up all the loose ends, but when I don't pay close enough attention details slip right by me.

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  5. I think it depends on the villain.

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