What will happen to Samwell Tarley?

Okay, so I needed a day to think about the finale of Game of Thrones, season two. Basically, everything happened...not as I remember it from the book. Not at all. I still liked the season. It had the flavor of A Clash of Kings, but honestly, I'm confused at what will happen to Samwell Tarley. Why did the writers do what they did to him at the end of the show? How can he expect to get out of this situation?

For those of you who haven't read the books, I'm going to talk about something that could be considered a spoiler. But not really...as they seem to be changing everything, and I have no idea what is going to happen next season.

In A Clash of Kings, the White Walkers attack the Fist of the First Men enmasse and destroy the entire Night's Watch (all 300 men). There are some that flee into the woods (there are no woods in the scene in the HBO drama) and Samwell is tracked by one White Walker which he kills using a weapon made of dragon glass (obsidian).

But in the season finale, Samwell is on a snowy plateau...no woods are nearby, and the White Walkers surround him with an army numbering in the hundreds. LIKE WTF?!? How can his character possibly survive? The White Walker obviously saw him. He's surrounded by hundreds of wights. I don't see anyway out of this.

I will be disappointed if he kills one White Walker and the entire army dissipates because they are afraid of his dragon glass weapon.

I will be disappointed if they kill Samwell as he is still alive in A Dance With Dragons.

I will be disappointed if they ignore Samwell because the White Walkers don't ignore humans. They kill everyone, unmercifully.

So what will happen to Samwell Tarley? I'm so irritated by this choice that the writers of the show made. They could easily have had Samwell back at the Fist of the First Men when the attack started. Then he could have been a coward, slipped away, and got trailed by one White Walker that he kills off in the woods with the dragon glass dagger. But I just see no way out of this "Battle of Little Bighorn" that he finds himself in.

Any thoughts? Sigh. Checkout the scene below as it appeared Sunday night. I so would not want to be part of the Night's Watch about now.

Tomorrow I shall post for the Insecure Writers Support Group (June 2012 edition) and then I shall be taking a blog break until the following Monday to entertain out-of-town friends. Alex C., I shall be wanting to compare Prometheus notes next Monday with you. :)

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