Night King
The Night King is a male television character who features in Game of Thrones.
Contents |
Biography
The Night King was originally one of the First Men of Westeros who had been captured by a tribe of the Children of the Forest. Among their number was Leaf who pressed a dragonglass dagger in his chest which turned his eyes blue and made him the first of the undead White Walkers. The reason behind his creation thousands of years ago was because mankind had invaded the lands of Westeros. This saw the First Men cutting down the sacred trees and slaughtering the Children of the Forest who sought a force to protect them from the invaders. Thus, they created the White Walkers to fulfil this task but the undead soon turned against their creators thus beginning an era that came to be known as the Long Night. This period came to end with the First Men and Children of the Forest's victory against the White Walkers in the War for the Dawn. Despite their victory, the Night King survived and retreated with his forces into the Lands of Always Winter where they faded into legend and myth. Though obscure, his existence was still a legendary figure known by name to some of the noble houses of the North.
A vision of the Night King was seen by Bran Stark at the Weirwood Heart tree. He experienced a flood of images from the past, present, and future, many of which he was not physically present for. He does not comprehend what all of these images are but, in retrospect, one of them is an image of the Night King picking up the last of Craster's sons off an ice altar.
After Rast leaves Craster's final son in the Haunted Forest, a White Walker retrieves the child. The Walker travels to the White Walkers' fortress in the Lands of Always Winter and lays the child on an altar made of ice. The Night King approaches and places his finger on the boy, transforming him into a White Walker.
The Night King appeared again when Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane were coordinating the evacuation of Hardhome. While loading the ships with wildlings, Hardhome is attacked by an army of wights. While assisting in the defense of Hardhome, Jon and Tormund see the Night King observing the battle along with his generals. The Night King also observes Jon destroying a White Walker with his Valyrian steel sword Longclaw. Jon and his allies are forced to flee Hardhome after the walls fall to the army of the dead; as they sail to safety, they witness the Night King reviving the dead as wights.
The Night King appears in a vision being observed by Bran and the Three-eyed Raven, where they witness him as a human being forcibly transformed into the first White Walker by the Children of the Forest by impaling him with a dragonglass dagger. Bran subsequently confronts Leaf about creating the White Walkers. She explains that they were at war with the First Men and had no choice.
Later on, Bran decides to observe a vision without the Three-Eyed Raven. He witnesses a massive army of wights led by the Night King, who touches him whilst in the vision. Bran awakens to find a mark where he was touched, and the Three-Eyed Raven warns that he must leave, as the Night King is now able to bypass the magic protecting the Three-Eyed Raven's lair. The Night King and his army quickly arrive and the Night King kills the Three-Eyed Raven, but Bran and Meera Reed are able to escape.
Overview
Personality and attributes
In appearance, the Night King was a humanoid whose body was frozen where he possessed blue eyes. He was physically distinguished from the other White Walkers by a pointy crown frosty horns.
The religion of R'hllor claimed that he and the Walkers were servants of an evil god of ice and archenemy of the Lord of Light who was known as the Great Other. Red Priests claimed that only Azor Ahai reborn could stop them and the Long Night that Never Ends. It was shown that the Children of the Forest created him as the very first White Walker to defeat the invading humans known as the First Men.
Powers and abilities
Originally, he was an ordinary human being until he was transformed into the first of the White Walkers.
As a being of pure ice and cold, he was capable of freezing anything he touched. The height of this ability was the power to create massive blizzards.
He was shown as being the leader of the White Walkers and commanded them. It was shown that he had the ability to turn human infants into White Walkers by simply pressing the tip of his finger on their cheeks.
Notes
- The Night King was created by George R. R. Martin where he featured in the setting of A Song of Ice and Fire.
- The character appeared in the A Game of Thrones television series with no direct version appearing in the novels with there instead being a legend about a traitorous Night's King.
- Regarding whether the character in the television series is the same as the one in the novels, Martin said, "As for the Night's King (the form I prefer), in the books he is a legendary figure, akin to Lann the Clever and Brandon the Builder, and no more likely to have survived to the present day than they have."
In other media
Television
Appearances
- Game of Thrones:
External Links
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