Game of Thrones’ Night King isn’t a character known for his friendly face and adorable smile, and the extra-weird look he gave Bran Stark during the Battle of Winterfell had everyone wondering what was going on in his frosty brain. Here’s what was really going on during that eerie exchange.
You probably remember how the scene went down: Bran sat beneath the weirwood tree in the godswood of Winterfell, awaiting the Night King’s arrival. When the icy villain finally approached, he ambled toward the youngest living Stark man before stopping and staring into his eyes with an eerie look on his face, an expression most fans took as clear intent to kill Bran, a.k.a the Three-Eyed Raven.
According to the Night King himself, Slovakian stuntman Vladimír Furdík, that isn’t exactly what was going on in his own head. Furdík recently revealed to Vulture the real reason why the Night King looked at Bran like he wanted to turn his insides to icicles.
As it turns out, the Night King’s glowering glare at Bran wasn’t solely motivated by a desire to kill an enemy. In actuality, the strange look he gave Bran was mostly the result of some interesting direction Furdík got ahead of shooting the scene.
The director of the Battle of Winterfell episode, Miguel Sapochnik, instructed Furdík to walk toward Bran Stark actor Isaac Hempstead Wright and imagine him as a cake that he desperately wanted to eat.
Kind of weird, right? When Furdík breaks it down, though, it’s actually not the oddest direction in the world, and he was clear in the interview that he considers Sapochnik a, quote, “great director,” who gave him “very good direction.”
The actor explained,
“I remember a couple of times when I did the walk, and I go for my target, which was Bran, and he said, ‘Bran, he is not man. He is a cake. And you would like to eat this cake. And I would like to see you acting, you’re walking to him, you’re walking like you’re looking for that cake, which is waiting for you under the tree.'”
Furdik continued to elaborate on the direction, saying,
“Adults never run for the cake. They walk. You can see from an [adult’s] body, they’re going for a cake from grandmom, and they’re looking forward to eating this cake. When I walk, you can see what Miguel said: ‘Don’t be a soldier. No. Just walk, confident. There’s a cake.'” Keep watching the video to find out why the Night King gave Bran that weird look!
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