Considering the direction the franchise has taken, Game of Thrones has become known for its dragons. In the original series, Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) hatches the only three in the world at the end of Season 1, and they grow in size and importance as the story goes on. However, the dragons are not the only magical creatures in Game of Thrones. Second only to the Targaryens’ fire-breathing weapons are the Starks’ direwolves. In the very first episode, Ned (Sean Bean) and his sons find a dead direwolf with six pups, one for each Stark child, including the bastard, Jon Snow (Kit Harington). Rescuing them, the Starks raise the direwolf pups. However, as the series went on, the direwolves were grossly mistreated.
Rather than becoming the force they could have been, the direwolves were killed off or ignored, even worse is that the series cuts the element that makes them so significant. The symbol of the Warden of the North and an impressive creature in its own right, the direwolves were extinct in Westeros at the beginning of the story (a problem that has been fixed in our own world). But besides being larger than the average wolf, they don’t seem innately magical, until you look at the bond they have with the Starks, which the show minimizes. Grey Wind, Lady, Nymeria, Summer, Shaggydog, and Ghost deserved better than what they got in Game of Thrones, as did the entire species of the direwolves.
‘Game of Thrones’ Killed Off Direwolves Rapidly and Brutally
Perhaps it shouldn’t be surprising that a show that made a name for itself by proving no character is safe would let most of the loyal direwolves be among the casualties, but even if they have to die, the direwolves should have gotten better. Two of the direwolves are killed off far too early, which is tragic in itself, but the way they die makes it worse. Sansa’s (Sophie Turner) Lady is the first direwolf to fall in only Episode 2, and the incident isn’t her fault. It’s Nymeria who bit Joffrey (Jack Gleeson) – and who can blame her – but when Nymeria escapes, Cersei (Lena Headey) targets Lady, and Ned Stark has to put the innocent direwolf down.
Lasting until Season 3, Grey Wind goes with Robb (Richard Madden) as he wages war and gets more to do, but his death is horrific. Not only is he massacred along with the guests at the Red Wedding, but the Freys behead the direwolf and attach it to Robb’s body in a gruesome display. Grey Wind’s end is changed slightly from the book, where he gets loose and fights back, tearing the arm of the kennelmaster off before he is killed. However, Game of Thrones fails Grey Wind by not allowing the poor direwolf to fight back as he is killed in a cage. This change makes for a disappointing end for Grey Wind, especially when he is brutalized afterward.
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Some of ‘Game of Thrones’ Direwolves Don’t Get the Impact They Should
Lady and Grey Wind are not the only direwolves to die, but their deaths at least had an emotional impact. Sansa struggles with Lady’s unjust death, while Arya (Maisie Williams) sees Grey Wind’s end, signaling to her the loss of her brother. However, when Summer’s turn, in Season 6, the heroic direwolf is quickly forgotten. Summer sacrifices himself for Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) as they escape the White Walkers, but he gets overshadowed by the reveal that comes along with Hodor’s (Kristian Nairn) death. It’s also a shame that, because of Bran’s emotionlessness as the Three-eyed Raven, he doesn’t have a reaction to the loss of his companion, giving it little focus. In the final seasons, even Bran seems to forget about Summer, and only Meera (Ellie Kendrick) brings up the direwolf’s sacrifice.
Meanwhile, Shaggydog, like Rickon (Art Parkinson) himself, is written off until they need him to die. Rickon and Bran go their separate ways in Season 3, when Rickon and Shaggydog seek refuge with the Umbers. After that, they are not seen again until Season 6, after Shaggydog is killed off-screen. Rickon is given to Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon), and Shaggydog’s head is used to prove Rickon’s identity. The issue with Summer and Shaggydog’s deaths is that they have little lasting impact, not doing justice to the creatures.
‘Game of Thrones’ Ignores the Surviving Direwolves
Only two of the six direwolves survive until the show’s ending, but that doesn’t mean they have a larger role. Nymeria appears in only three episodes because she and Arya split so early. The direwolf leads her own pack in the Riverlands, but has little effect on the story. Even when Arya and Nymeria briefly reunite, Nymeria chooses her freedom, reflecting Arya’s nature. Yet the fact that a direwolf is running around the Riverlands for most of the series, and no one seems to notice, is a disservice to Nymeria.
Ghost, on the other hand, was a large part of Jon’s storyline at the Wall, but becomes progressively less important throughout the series. Ghost was the first to realize something was wrong when the wight attacked Commander Mormont (James Cosmo) in Season 1, leading Jon to save the Lord Commander. However, he is slowly written out of the series, and when it comes to the Battle of Winterfell, he doesn’t get a meaningful role, charging into battle and then not appearing again until the fighting is over. Then Jon sends Ghost north as he goes to King’s Landing, eventually reuniting with the direwolf. Like Nymeria, Ghost could have been an incredible ally in the later conflicts, but was pushed to the side. Of course, the VFX were complicated by the growing size of the direwolves, but the show underestimated the importance of these creatures.
‘Game of Thrones’ Cut the Thing That Makes the Direwolves So Important
The biggest offense against the direwolves is that the show never used them to their full potential. Only Bran develops a unique connection with his direwolf, learning to warg into Summer and live in that body for a time. With Bran being the only one to do so, it seems connected to his Three-eyed Raven abilities, while that is not the case in the Song of Ice and Fire books. Jon and Arya clearly share these abilities, while Robb, who is not a point-of-view character, is rumored to. Even Rickon shows signs of having this connection with Shaggydog despite his youth and smaller role. Only Sansa, who is the first to lose her wolf, doesn’t demonstrate these abilities.
Cutting the warg storyline for so many of the characters decreased the direwolves’ roles significantly. While this is in keeping with the show, which intentionally cut many of the magical elements, it hurt the Stark storyline overall. Despite the significance in the first episode, by the end of Game of Thrones the direwolves were an afterthought, and the majestic creatures deserved better than that.
Game of Thrones is streaming on Max in the U.S.
