White Walker
White Walkers are beings that feature in Game of Thrones.
Contents |
History
The Others were a race of undead beings that plagued the lands of Westeros. Their origins were largely a mystery with only the ancient Children of the Forest remembering the truth about them.
Over eight thousand years before the War of the Five Kings, the Children of the Forest were locked in a war with the First Men, who had migrated to Westeros from Essos. Despite resorting to powerful magic, which allowed them to flood the Neck and even destroy the land-bridge linking the two continents and reducing it to a chain of islands, the Children were losing ground; more and more of them fell to the First Men and their precious forests were being cut down. Out of desperation, a small group of Greenseers attempted to create a powerful new weapon against the humans. They bound a captive man to a weirwood and pressed a cursed shard of dragonglass into his heart. The unfortunate captive was transformed into a cold, heartless, deathless creature whose only desire was to consume all life. He would become the progenitor of the White Walker race and lead his kind on a campaign of destruction, not only against humans, but against his creator's as well. Archmaester Fomas speculates that the Others were a tribe of the First Men who had been living in the far north. Fomas suggests that the Long Night pressured these men, the ancestors of the current wildlings, to migrate south. Over the years, they became more and more monstrous in the telling of the tales about them, because the Night's Watch and the Starks wanted to seem heroic. However, Lies of the Ancients is little regarded nowadays, as it contains erroneous claims about Valyria, the Reach, and the westerlands.
After the Others were pushed back, the Children and the First Men raised The Wall, a vast barrier of stone, ice and magic from one coast of northern Westeros to the other, to bar the passage of the Others south.
The Night's King, the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, was said to have married a woman with pale skin and blue eyes, matching the description of the Others. Reportedly, she was a sorceress. He brought her to the Nightfort, where he proclaimed himself king and her his queen, and bound his Sworn Brothers in the Night's Watch to his will. After a thirteen-year reign, he was defeated by Brandon the Breaker, King of Winter, and Joramun, King-Beyond-the-Wall, after which it was discovered that he had been sacrificing to the Others.
During a ranging beyond the Wall, Ser Waymar Royce is confronted by a group of at least five Others who speak an icy language. Waymar duels one of the Others, but the ranger is blinded when his sword shatters. The laughing group butchers Waymar, who then rises as a wight to slay Will. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, in conversation with Tyrion Lannister at Castle Black, refers to white walkers being glimpsed by fisherfolk on the shore near Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Tyrion discounts them, however, by mentioning mythical merlings. Old Nan tells Bran Stark about the Long Night, when white walkers moved through woods. Traveling in the wolfswood, Bran encounters six wildlings and deserters from the Night's Watch, who discuss whether to take the boy hostage and return north to sell him to Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Out of fear for encountering the white walkers, one of the men decides not to do so. At Craster's Keep, Gilly tells Jon Snow that Craster gives up his infant sons to the cold gods; Jon determines she is speaking of the Others.
Overview
In appearance, White Walkers outwardly resemble humans but differ greatly from them in other aspects. They are as tall as most humans and have long wispy white hair, with some also having white facial hair. They have pale grey-white skin which is sinewy and stretched taut across their frames, giving them a somewhat gaunt and mummified appearance despite their overall bulky frame. Their most notable trait however, are their vibrant deep blue eyes.
The Others were shown to also be vulnerable to something called dragonsteel.
It was said that the Others hated every creature with hot blood in its veins.
They were noted for being superior swordsmen, wielding thin crystal swords. The pale swords were extremely sharp, capable of moving through ringmail as if it was silk. The swords were alive with moonlight and had a faint blue glow to them. When the sword touched a steel blade, only a high, thin sound, similar to an animal screaming in pain, could be heard instead of the sound of metal on metal. When the blades brushed the flames of a torch, a screech as sharp as a needle can be heard.
The Others were able to resurrect dead men or creatures as wights through necromancy. Only burning the bodies of the deceased could prevent the Others from resurrecting them.
They had their own language that was known as Skroth.
Members
- Night King :
- Night's Queen :
Notes
- The Others were created by George R. R. Martin where they featured in the setting of A Song of Ice and Fire universe.
- Within the novels, the creatures were known simply as the Others whereas the Game of Thrones television show gave them the name of White Walkers.
- The name of their language Skroth came from the Game of Thrones television series.
In other media
Television
- In Game of Thrones, the White Walkers appeared in the setting of the live-action television series adaptation.
Appearances
- A Game of Thrones:
External Links
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