Game of Thrones, NIS2 and the illusion of absolute security.

Spoilers for season 7 of the television series. The illustrations are original, not frames from the show.

The wall at the end of the world

The North. The cold. A stretch of snow where even sound seems frozen. At the edge of the landscape stands the Wall: so enormous that its defenders appear insignificant.

On its towers, the Night's Watch studies the horizon. Farther south, the powerful mostly study one another. Alliances must be broken, land conquered and a crown protected. The end of the world is distant. Distant problems can wait.

The Wall is still standing. It divides the known world from what nobody wants to know. Looking at it is enough to feel on the safe side of danger. But reassurance is not a property of ice. It is something people attribute to it.

The structure becomes a silent promise: whatever moves beyond the border, someone else will handle it.…