After the fourth episode of Game of Thrones, many fans were upset by the way Jon Snow treated his direwolf Ghost. Now the show’s director is defending the decision.
Across social media, fans of Game of Thrones continue to dissect the fourth episode of the final season. And one moment that caused a lot of outrage came when Jon Snow gave his loyal companion, Ghost, away to his friend Tormund.
While the fact that Jon Snow wanted to give Ghost a better life by letting him run free in the North might have been a noble thing, it was hard to really look at this decision from that point of view when he didn’t even bother to say goodbye. It felt like he was abandoning his four-legged friend without any remorse, especially since he never even went up to the direwolf.
As so many people pointed out on social media, all it would have taken was a pet to the head to make this situation better. Instead, it felt to many viewers as if Jon Snow was ghosting Ghost.
But now, Game of Thrones director David Nutter is defending Jon Snow and this lack of goodbye. According to the Huffington Post, it seems the mystery of why Jon didn’t give a proper pet to Ghost has been answered, with Nutter saying that with the direwolves in the series being “kind of CG creations, we felt it best to keep it as simple as possible.”
This simple moment meant that all Ghost got was a look from Jon Snow, but the director feels that this was still a powerful moment. David Nutter said, “keeping Ghost off to the side, I thought that played out better.”
While we can understand the reason behind sending Ghost up to the North, the biggest disappointment is what felt like the lack of a proper goodbye. And even with this explanation, there are still some fans questioning the decision, with one Twitter user pointing out that in the third episode the series was able to have a giant pick up Lyanna. Plus, there are already gifs being posted showing Jon Snow petting Ghost in the past, which begs the question why this time was so different.
So, Jon supposedly couldn't embrace Ghost because of CGI. On one of the most expensive and elaborate series ever made, where they regularly came up with some pretty awesome-looking dragons, they couldn't find a dog that looked like Ghost? #GameofThrones
— Sam Spencer (@packerfansam91) May 8, 2019
And let’s not forget that after backlash over the Starbucks cup being left in a scene they were able to use CGI to get rid of it. Which of course a number of fans pointed out as well.
game of thrones edited out the coffee cup but didnt edit in Jon petting ghost what's the poINT
— Lyse's Wife 💖 (@ababypenguin) May 8, 2019
Honestly, it seems as if the director’s answer to why Jon Snow didn’t pet Ghost goodbye is not really going over well with Game of Thrones viewers. And while we can appreciate the fact there were budgets to contend with, after so many seasons at Jon’s side, we simply expected more for his trusty companion.
What do you think of this explanation? Do you agree with other social media users that more could have been done to say goodbye to Ghost? Tell us what you think in the comments.