Eight seasons of Game of Thrones have offered questions, answers, and other unresolved curiosities: one, for instance, would concern a decision taken by the White Walkers toward Sam, the character portrayed by John Bradley. Perhaps you recall an episode at the end of the second season of Game of Thrones, when Sam survives a White Walker who spots him hiding behind a rock. Despite everything he decides not to kill him, moving on, but why? Years later, it was John Bradley who offered a possible solution to the dilemma.
Game of Thrones, why didn’t the White Walkers kill Sam? John Bradley’s hypothesis
Set in Westeros and drawn from the A Song of Ice and Fire chronicles by George R.R. Martin, Game of Thrones has introduced numerous characters over the seasons, but one of the most appreciated for his genuineness is certainly Samwell Tarly, faithfully portrayed by John Bradley. Like Jon Snow, Sam was sent to the Wall as a member of the Night’s Watch, but, unlike his comrades, Sam does not feel able to take up arms and go into battle. During the finale of the second season, a White Walker on horseback spots Sam curled up behind a rock, but decides to move on, sparing his life.
The reason has never been revealed, but fans have wasted no time devising several theories. The same John Bradley, years later, offered a possible explanation in an interview with Kiss: “My theory has always been that Samwell was one of the very few people capable of reading and writing. He could spread the word. They want people to know of their existence. It’s a kind of negative public relations machine. They wanted Samwell to be their PR department. To let the world know that we do not mess around with them.”
The moment depicted in the second season sparked debate among fans because it is not present in George R.R. Martin’s novels, making it an original TV series addition that to date has never offered an official answer. In any case, it is Sam, in both the novels and the TV series, who discovers that the dragonglass can kill the White Walkers, a detail that then pushes Jon Snow (in the TV series) to travel to Dragonstone to mine that resource and turn it into a weapon. Sam’s role is also crucial in the defeat of the White Walkers.
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