Wiki of Westeros

Dueling Trailers Choose your trailer. Green vs. Black. Two sides. One war. June 16.

READ MORE

Wiki of Westeros
Register
Wiki of Westeros
No edit summary
No edit summary
 
(317 intermediate revisions by 99 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
  +
{{Canonicity|Canon}}
::''This article is about the race. For other uses see [[White Walker]]''.
 
{{Culture infobox
+
{{Culture
| Title= White Walkers
+
| Title = {{PAGENAME}}
  +
| Type = Walker
| Image= White Walkers.png
 
  +
| Image = WhiteWalkersandArmy.png
| AKA=
 
  +
| AKA =
| Status=Active
 
  +
| Status = Extinct
| Predecessor=
 
| Location = [[Lands of Always Winter]], <br>[[Beyond the Wall]], [[Westeros]]
+
| Origin = Near the [[mountain like an arrowhead]], [[beyond the Wall]]
| Ruler=
+
| Predecessors =
| Society=
+
| Successors =
  +
| Location = [[Land of Always Winter]], [[beyond the Wall]], [[Westeros]]
| Language= [[Skroth]]
 
  +
| Ruler = {[[Night King]]}
| Religion=
 
  +
| Society =
| Features= Glowing blue eyes<br>Pale, gaunt, mummified appearance.
 
 
| Language = [[Skroth]]
 
| Religion =
 
| Features = Glowing blue eyes<br>Pale, gaunt, mummified appearance
 
}}
 
}}
 
{{Quote|In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.|[[Old Nan]]|Lord Snow}}
 
{{Quote|In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.|[[Old Nan]]|Lord Snow}}
  +
The '''White Walkers'''{{Ref|GOT101}} were an ancient race of formerly-human ice creatures who came from the [[Land of Always Winter|far north]] of [[Westeros]]. After remaining hidden for thousands of years, they returned and were sighted by several sworn brothers of the [[Night's Watch]] and countless [[Free Folk|wildlings]]. However, most who live south of the [[Wall]] believed them to be nothing more than creatures of legend.
   
  +
The White Walkers were thousands of years old, coming from the time preceding the [[Age of Heroes]]. Born of powerful and untested [[magic]], they were created to protect the [[Children of the Forest]] from the [[First Men]], who had waged [[War of the First Men and the Children of the Forest|war]] on them ever since they had arrived from [[Essos]]. However, the White Walkers eventually broke free of the Children's control and became the most feared creatures in Westeros, posing a threat to all life.<ref name="E55">"[[The Door]]"</ref>
The '''White Walkers''' are a mythological race mentioned in ancient legends and stories from the time of the [[First Men]] and the [[Children of the Forest]]. Eight thousand years before [[Robert's Rebellion]], a winter known as [[the Long Night]] lasted a generation. In the darkness and cold of the Long Night, the White Walkers descended upon [[Westeros]] from the farthest north, the polar regions of the [[Lands of Always Winter]]. None knew why they came, but they killed all in their path, reanimating the dead as [[wights]] to kill the living at their command. Eventually the peoples of Westeros rallied and in a conflict known as the [[War for the Dawn]], they managed to defeat the White Walkers and drive them back into the uttermost north, with [[the Wall]] raised to bar their return.
 
   
  +
Eight thousand years before [[Robert's Rebellion]], the [[Long Night|longest winter in history]] fell on the entire [[Known world|world]] and lasted a whole generation. In the darkness and cold of the "Long Night," the White Walkers descended upon Westeros from the Far North, killing all in their path and reanimating the dead as [[wight]]s to serve as mindless soldiers in their undead army. The people of Westeros soon realized they had to rally together or the White Walkers would kill them all. In a conflict known as the [[Long Night|Battle for the Dawn]], the living won a decisive victory and pushed the White Walkers far north to the [[Land of Always Winter]]. With help from [[giants]] and the Children of the Forest, the Wall was raised to bar their return. The Night's Watch was founded to guard the Wall and the realms of men should the mysterious threat ever rise again.
In the present day, most believe they never existed and are just myths, spoken of in the same breath as ghosts, goblins, [[grumpkins]], or [[snarks]]. Even the few who believe they did once exist think they went extinct thousands of years ago. Certainly, none were seen for thousands of years after the Long Night.
 
   
[[File:WhiteWalkersAwake.jpg|thumb|300px|The White Walkers have risen again]]
+
[[File:WhiteWalkersAwake.jpg|thumb|180x180px|The White Walkers have risen again.]]
  +
Although the White Walkers have faded into legend over the centuries, disturbing reports began to reach the Night's Watch, just before the outbreak of the [[War of the Five Kings]]. The return of the White Walkers was confirmed during the [[great ranging]] undertaken by [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch|Lord Commander]] [[Jeor Mormont]], and by an [[Massacre at Hardhome|unprecedented attack]] by the wight army on the wildling settlement of [[Hardhome]].<ref name="E48">"[[Hardhome (episode)|Hardhome]]"</ref> Despite repeated pleas for support from the Night's Watch, the rest of the [[Seven Kingdoms]] turned a blind eye to the return of the White Walkers as they remained embroiled in their own civil wars, believing the White Walkers to be purely mythological, much like giants and Children of the Forest, who have also faded into legend.
   
  +
The ultimate goal of the legendary White Walkers was the end of every living thing in existence, which they planned to achieve by killing the [[Three-Eyed Raven]] and creating an endless winter to eclipse the known world. However, their plans were thwarted when [[Arya Stark]] killed the [[Night King]] at the [[Battle of Winterfell]], resulting in the permanent extinction of the White Walkers and the end of the [[Great War]].
Just before the outbreak of the [[War of the Five Kings]], however, disturbing reports began to reach the [[Night's Watch]] from the [[Free Folk|wildlings]] who live beyond the Wall that the White Walkers had returned. Having enjoyed a decade-long summer, Westeros seemed due for an equally long winter, and the White Walkers seem to be spreading with it. With the Seven Kingdoms embroiled in a petty civil war, the dwindling and under-supported Night's Watch realize that they are all that guards the realms of men against the return of these legendary demons of ice and death.
 
   
  +
==Appearance and characteristics==
==Characteristics==
 
  +
[[File:Whitewalker.jpg|thumb|180px|White Walkers have a mummified appearance with long wispy white hair.]]
While having an overall humanoid appearance, White Walkers differ greatly from humans. They are taller than humans and have long wispy white hair. They have pale grey-white skin which is wrinkly but stretched taut across their frames, giving them a somewhat gaunt and mummified appearance despite their overall bulky size. Their most notable trait, however, are their glowing blue eyes.<ref>"[[Valar Morghulis]]"</ref><ref>"[[Second Sons (episode)|Second Sons]]"</ref>
+
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.<ref name="E20">"[[Valar Morghulis]]"</ref><ref name="E28">"[[Second Sons (episode)|Second Sons]]"</ref>
   
  +
White Walkers seem to have divisions, or ranks within their army, with the ones at the top likely having reanimated many wights, while the ones at the bottom seem freshly created. At the end of [[Oathkeeper (episode)|Oathkeeper]], a White Walker donning black armor appears holding Craster's last son, which likely denotes him as having a high position in the Night King's army. The Night King's lieutenants also seem to stay close to him, riding on undead horses.
A second type of White Walker (revealed at the end of the episode "[[Oathkeeper]]") also exists, which may form some sort of ruling or priestly caste. Their number is unknown, and they are immediately distinguishable from their cohorts by icy horns around their heads, resembling a crown of ice. All those seen so far all wore black armor. When [[Craster's last son]] is carried into the Lands of Always Winter by a White Walker, he is placed upon an icy altar in the middle of the White Walker's lair where thirteen of these ruling White Walkers are revealed to be standing in a horizontal line in the distance. The White Walker standing in the middle of the line, speculated to be the [[White Walker's master]], approaches the altar, and with a touch of his finger turns the baby into another White Walker.
 
  +
  +
The Night King is the supreme commander of the White Walkers, possessing the ability to directly control anyone in his army. It is implied that the White Walkers and Wights have a hive mind, being able to "see" through each other's eyes and sensing when someone in their army dies.
  +
 
According to legend, the White Walkers speak a mythical language known as "[[Skroth]]", which purportedly sounds like the cracking of ice.
  +
  +
===Numbers===
  +
The show never stated how many White Walkers existed in total or showed all the White Walkers in one onscreen shot. Usually a single White Walker or small groups were shown at one time, making it hard to establish how many White Walkers existed. Twelve White Walkers are shown in the background when the Night King turns Craster's last son. However, it is known that Craster sacrificed 99 sons to the White Walkers. Additionally, four White Walkers were killed on screen at different points in the series: one killed by Sam with a [[dragonglass]] dagger, one killed by Meera with a dragonglass spear, and two by Jon with Longclaw. During the Battle of Winterfell, twelve White Walkers enter Winterfell along with the Night King to kill [[Bran Stark]]. All the White Walkers were destroyed after Arya killed the Night King.
   
 
==Powers==
 
==Powers==
  +
White Walkers have a very strong affinity with ice magic and coldness. They are physically far stronger than humans, capable of effortlessly tossing people back tens of feet in the air.<ref name="E48" /> Since they are inhuman, White Walkers have no physical restrictions. As such, they do not require food or water and seem to be immune to disease, fatigue, extreme cold and extreme heat. White Walkers are immortal. Their arrival is usually accompanied by blizzards and sudden temperature drops.<ref name="E48" /> Because of this, they can spread extreme cold wherever they go. The White Walkers wield [[crystal sword]]s and spears.
White Walkers possess the magical powers related to ice and cold. Their arrival is usually accompanied by blizzards and the dropping of temperatures. They can also freeze anything they touch, as one froze Sam's sword to the point that it shattered. White Walkers also have superhuman strength, as one managed to toss Samwell Tarly several feet away with a single back-handed punch. They wield swords and spears made from unique ice crystals. 
 
   
However, one of their most deadly abilities is to reanimate the dead as their servants, known as [[Wights]]. They are actually capable of reviving ''any'' dead animals as wights, as a few White Walkers have been seen riding undead horses. They cannot, however, revive a corpse into servitude if the fallen creature have died by fire. Once the Wights have been risen to serve the White Walkers, their eyes turn an icy blue, similar to the White Walkers' own eyes. Wights can only be killed by fire and serve the Walkers without question. 
+
However, one of their most deadly abilities is to reanimate the dead as their servants, known as wights.<ref name="E48" /> They are capable of reviving ''any'' dead creature as wights, including horses, giants, and even dragons.<ref name="E66">"[[Beyond the Wall (episode)|Beyond the Wall]]"</ref> They cannot, however, revive a corpse into servitude if it has been burned.<ref name="E20" /> Once a wight has been created, its eyes turn an icy blue, similar to the White Walkers' own eyes. Wights serve their masters without question.
   
​As previously mentioned, one White Walker, speculated to be their master, possesses the ability to change humans into White Walkers, demonstrated at the end of [[Oathkeeper]] when he takes Craster's son into his arms and places a single finger upon its cheek, causing the baby's eyes glow blue and his skin to grow pale, taking on the appearance of the White Walkers. Whether or not this ability extends to only this White Walker, all of the White Walkers amongst his caste, or all White Walkers in general remains to be seen. 
+
The Night King, leader of the White Walkers, possesses the ability to change humans into White Walkers.<ref name="E34" /> He picks up Craster's son from an icy altar and places an index finger on its cheek, causing the baby's eyes to glow blue and his skin to grow pale, taking on the appearance of the White Walkers. Whether or not this ability extends only to the Night King, all of the White Walkers amongst his caste, or all White Walkers in general is unknown.
   
  +
During the Massacre at Hardhome, White Walkers are shown to be resistant to fire due to the extreme cold they radiate, which snuffs out any flames in their vicinity.<ref name="E48" /> They can also freeze normal weapons they come into contact with, causing them to shatter and break.<ref name="E48" /> White Walkers are invulnerable against even highly concentrated dragonfire.<ref name="E70" /> It is unknown if they are also immune to [[wildfire]].
According to legend, the White Walkers speak a language known in myth as "[[Skroth]]", which sounds like the cracking of ice.
 
   
 
==Weaknesses==
 
==Weaknesses==
  +
[[File:White walker shatters S3E8.jpg|thumb|A White Walker falling apart after being stabbed by Dragonglass.]]
[[File:White_walker_shatters_S3E8.jpg|thumb|A White Walker falling apart after being stabbed by Dragonglass.]]The only known weakness that the White Walkers have shown thus far is the ability to be killed instantly when struck with weapons made of [[dragonglass]]. Upon being stabbed by dragonglass, a White Walker's body will begin to freeze into ice from the point at which it is was stabbed, causing the Walker great pain. Finally, it will begin to fall apart, as its now icy body shatters until there is nothing left but powder.
 
  +
The only known weaknesses of White Walkers are weapons made of [[dragonglass]]<ref name="E28" /> or [[valyrian steel]].<ref name="E48" /> Upon being stabbed by dragonglass, a White Walker's body will begin to freeze into ice from the point at which it was stabbed, causing the Walker great pain. Finally, it will begin to crack and fall apart, eventually shattering into ice. Valyrian steel has the same effect, but works much more rapidly. These materials are also resistant to being frozen and shattered on contact with White Walkers, unlike regular weapons.
  +
  +
White Walkers are "glass cannons", possessing incredible strength and power but being very vulnerable. Any injury, no matter how minor or significant from weapons made of dragonglass or valyrian steel, will result in their death and the deaths of all things they have reanimated. Because of this, White Walkers tend to stay behind their undead wights or far away from conflict.
  +
  +
Since the Night King was the first White Walker ever created, his death will cause the death of all other White Walkers, and subsequently, their wights. As such, he is simultaneously the strongest and weakest part of the undead army.<ref name="E70" />
   
 
==History==
 
==History==
===[[Season 1]]===
+
===Background===
  +
The White Walkers' origins are a mystery to most humans. Only the ancient Children of the Forest remember the truth of how they came to be.
[[File:Whitewalker1.png|thumb|A White Walker, carrying the severed head of [[Gared]] in "Winter is Coming".]]
 
At the start of the series, there have been peculiar rumors from over the Wall mentioning the White Walkers. According to [[Will]], a renegade from the [[Night's Watch]] taken captive near [[Winterfell]], his patrol was ambushed by several White Walkers and his comrades [[Gared]] and Ser [[Waymar Royce]] were killed by them. Prior to this, the White Walkers had massacred a tribe of wildlings and left the corpses out as a warning. His story was not believed by Lord [[Eddard Stark]], who executed him as a deserter. The White Walkers showed an ability to animate the corpse of a dead wildling child as a [[wight]].<ref>"[[Winter is Coming (episode)|Winter is Coming]]"</ref>
 
   
  +
Over eight thousand years before the War of the Five Kings, the Children of the Forest were locked in a [[War of the First Men and the Children of the Forest|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 [[Arm of Dorne|land-bridge]] linking the two continents and reducing it to a [[Stepstones|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.
[[Lord Commander]] [[Jeor Mormont]] and Maester [[Aemon]] of the Watch ask [[Tyrion Lannister]] to persuade his sister to send them reinforcements. They claim there is something other than the wildlings beyond the Wall and it's been growing in influence for some time. With winter coming they fear this unseen enemy will make its move.<ref>"[[Lord Snow]]"</ref>
 
  +
[[File:Night's King when Human.jpg|thumb|White Walkers' creation]]
  +
Out of desperation, a small group of [[Greenseer|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 [[Night King|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 creators as well.<ref name="E55" />
   
  +
Soon the Children saw that their creation had grown beyond their control, and forged an alliance with the First Men to avoid mutual destruction. In what would become known as the "[[Long Night|Battle for the Dawn]]", the alliance beat the White Walkers back to the [[Land of Always Winter|far north]], where they vanished. This victory led to a lasting truce between the Children and the First Men; the Children would keep their forests, and the Men could keep their farms, towns, and cities. The truce also marked the creation of both the Wall and the Night's Watch, the latter having been armed by the Children with dragonglass blades, in case the Walkers should ever return.
A band of wildlings fleeing south of the Wall passes close to Winterfell. One of them suggests taking a Stark captive for [[Mance Rayder]], the King Beyond the Wall, but the others refuse to return north due to the dangers posed by the White Walkers<ref>"[[A Golden Crown]]"</ref>, instead asserting they should head as far south as possible.
 
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 1|''Game of Thrones'': Season 1]]===
[[Osha]], one of the wildlings taken prisoner at Winterfell, reveals to the Stark household that she and her companions were fleeing South to escape the Walkers. She also reveals the Walkers are nocturnal and sleep in the day and hunt at night. When her words are dismissed by Maester [[Luwin]] due to the belief the Walkers are long dead, she reveals that they were only sleeping and "they're not sleeping now".<ref>"[[You Win or You Die]]"</ref>
 
 
[[File:Whitewalker1.png|thumb|A White Walker, carrying the severed head of [[Gared]] and several more White Walkers behind him]]
 
At the start of the [[Game of Thrones|series]], there have been peculiar rumors from [[beyond the Wall]] mentioning the White Walkers. According to [[Will]], a renegade from the Night's Watch taken captive near [[Winterfell]], his patrol was attacked by the White Walkers and his comrades [[Gared]] and [[Waymar Royce]] were killed by them. Prior to this incident, the White Walkers had massacred a tribe of [[Free Folk|wildlings]] and left the corpses out as a warning. His story was not believed by [[Eddard Stark]], who executed him as a deserter. The White Walkers showed an ability to animate the corpse of a dead wildling child as a wight.<ref name="E1">"[[Winter Is Coming]]"</ref>
   
 
Jeor Mormont and [[Order of Maesters|Maester]] [[Aemon]] of the Watch ask [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion]] to persuade [[Cersei Lannister|his sister]] to send them reinforcements. They claim there is something other than the wildlings beyond the Wall and it's been growing in influence for some time. With winter coming they fear this unseen enemy will make its move.<ref name="E3">"[[Lord Snow]]"</ref>
The bodies of several rangers are discovered a short distance north of the wall and are identified as Night's Watchmen who have been missing for weeks. Despite this Sam notes that the bodies show no signs of rot and appear in perfect condition. Later that evening one of the bodies reanimates as a [[wight]] and attempts to attack the masters. The creature is stopped when Jon discovers the creature's weakness is fire.<ref name="E8">"[[The Pointy End]]"</ref>
 
   
 
A band of wildlings fleeing south of the [[Wall]] passes close to [[Winterfell]]. One of them suggests taking a Stark captive for [[Mance Rayder]], the [[King-Beyond-the-Wall]], but the others refuse to return north due to the dangers posed by the White Walkers<ref>"[[A Golden Crown]]"</ref>, instead asserting they should head as far south as possible.
After disposing of the remaining bodies, Sam tells Jon that he read that only the touch of a White Walker could do what they have seen tonight. A worried Sam notes the weakness of the Night's Watch and if the White Walkers decide to come in force then they are in real trouble.<ref name="E8"/>
 
   
 
[[Osha]], one of the wildlings taken prisoner at Winterfell, reveals to the Stark household that she and her companions were fleeing South to escape the Walkers. She also reveals the Walkers are nocturnal and sleep in the day and hunt at night. When her words are dismissed by Maester [[Luwin]] due to the belief the Walkers are long dead, she reveals that they were only sleeping and "they're not sleeping now."<ref>"[[You Win or You Die]]"</ref>
After recent events Lord Commander Mormont decides to mobilize the Night's Watch to head out beyond the wall to assess the situation and if necessary make a preemptive strike against their enemies. He explains to Jon that the war in the South is of little concern in relation to the threat of the returning White Walkers.<ref>"[[Fire and Blood]]"</ref>
 
   
 
The bodies of several rangers are discovered a short distance north of the wall and are identified as Night's Watchmen who have been missing for weeks. Despite a corpse's prolonged absence, Sam notes that the bodies show no signs of rot and appear in perfect condition. Later that evening one of the bodies reanimates as a wight and attempts to attack the Lord Commander. The creature is stopped when Jon discovers the creature's weakness is fire.<ref name="E8">"[[The Pointy End]]"</ref>
===[[Season 2]]===
 
Jon Snow follows [[Craster]] into the woods and sees him placing a newborn baby, one of his sons, into the ground and leaves. Moments later a [[White Walker (The Night Lands)|figure with]] glowing blue eyes appears and takes the baby away.<ref>"[[The Night Lands]]"</ref>
 
   
 
After disposing of the remaining bodies, Sam tells Jon that he read that only the touch of a White Walker could do what they have seen tonight. A worried Sam notes the weakness of the Night's Watch and if the White Walkers decide to come in force then they are in real trouble.<ref name="E8" />
After Craster discovers Jon, attacks him and orders the Night's Watch to leave his [[Craster's Keep|roof]], [[Lord Commander]] [[Jeor Mormont]] confronts Jon, though he also admits he's aware that Craster worships the White Walkers and sacrifices his newborn sons to them in exchange for safety for him and his daughter-wives.<ref>"[[What is Dead May Never Die]]"</ref>
 
   
 
After recent events Lord Commander Mormont decides to mobilize the Night's Watch to head out beyond the wall to assess the situation and if necessary make a preemptive strike against their enemies. He explains to Jon that the war in the South is of little concern in relation to the threat of the returning White Walkers.<ref name="E10">"[[Fire and Blood]]"</ref>
[[Samwell Tarly]], [[Grenn]] and [[Eddison Tollett]] gather dung around the [[Fist of the First Men]] when they hear a horn being blown and believe [[Jon Snow]] and [[Qhorin Halfhand]] have returned. Then they hear a second blow, the signal for incoming [[wildlings]], and draw their swords for battle. Then they hear a third blow, the signal for White Walkers. The three run to the [[Night's Watch]] camp but Samwell is left behind, while a blizzard envelops the entire plateau. He seeks refuge behind a rock while a White Walker, leads a vast horde of [[Wights]]. The White Walker sees Sam but ignores him, riding past him atop an undead horse and leading the horde for an invasion. <ref>"[[Valar Morghulis]]"</ref>
 
   
===[[Season 3]]===
+
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 2|''Game of Thrones'': Season 2]]===
 
[[Jon Snow]] follows [[Craster]] into the woods and sees him placing a newborn baby, one of his sons, into the ground and leaves. Moments later a figure with glowing blue eyes appears and takes the baby away.<ref name="E12">"[[The Night Lands]]"</ref>
A white walker attacks [[Samwell Tarly]] and [[Gilly]] when they are seeking refuge in a destroyed cabin. Samwell tries to stop the white walker with this sword, but the walker shatters his sword and throws him aside. The walker then approaches Gilly, as if going for the baby that she is holding. Samwell is on the ground and finds the dragonglass dagger that he found at the [[Fist of the First Men]]. He attacks the walker from behind with it. The walker then falls to the ground and seems to freeze after which he shatters in a cloud of icy dust.<ref>"[[Second Sons]]"</ref>
 
   
 
After Craster discovers Jon, attacks him and orders the Night's Watch to leave his [[Craster's Keep|roof]], Mormont confronts Jon, though he also admits he's aware that Craster worships the White Walkers and sacrifices his newborn sons to them in exchange for safety for him and his daughter-wives.<ref name="E13">"[[What Is Dead May Never Die]]"</ref>
===[[Season 4]]===
 
  +
[[File:4.JPG|thumb|180x180px|White Walkers lead the army of the dead to the Fist of the First Men.]]
 
[[Samwell Tarly|Sam]], [[Grenn]], and [[Eddison Tollett]] gather dung around the [[Fist of the First Men]] when they hear a horn being blown and believe Jon and [[Qhorin]] have returned. They then hear a second blow, the signal for incoming wildlings, and draw their swords for battle. A third hornblast is heard, the signal for White Walkers, which has not been blown in thousands of years. The three run to the Night's Watch camp but Samwell is left behind, while a blizzard envelops the entire plateau. He seeks refuge behind a rock while a White Walker leads a vast horde of wights. The White Walker finds Sam but for reasons unknown ignores him, riding past him atop a wight horse and leading the horde for an invasion, emitting a screeching roar with another White Walker far behind.
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 3|''Game of Thrones'': Season 3]]===
[[Rast]] sets the last son of Craster on the ground in the [[Haunted Forest]]. A [[White Walker (Oathkeeper)|White Walker]], riding an undead horse, takes the baby to a mysterious place in the far north, and sets him on an altar made of ice. A White Walker with pointed horns on its head approaches, picks up the baby, and touches him on the face below his eye. The baby's eyes turn bright blue, similar to that of the White Walkers.<ref>"[[Oathkeeper]]"</ref>
 
 
A White Walker attacks Sam and [[Gilly]] when they are seeking refuge in a destroyed cabin. Sam tries to stop the White Walker with his sword, but the Walker shatters it and throws him aside. The Walker then approaches Gilly, seeming intent on seizing her [[Sam|baby]]. Sam, on the ground, grabs one of the dragonglass daggers that he found at the [[Fist of the First Men]]. He attacks the Walker from behind, stabbing it in the shoulder. The Walker screeches in pain and quickly begins to freeze, shattering soon afterwards.<ref name="E28" />
==Gallery==
 
<gallery>
 
White_Walker_2x10.jpg|The revised look for the White Walkers revealed at the end of [[season 2]].
 
whitewalker2.jpg|A White Walker shrieking a battle cry during the Battle of the Fist of the First Men
 
walker.jpg|A White Walker carrying Craster's son to an alter made of ice in the lair of the White Walkers
 
-220806_w654.jpg|Craster's son being approached by one of the leaders of the White Walkers
 
</gallery>
 
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 4|''Game of Thrones'': Season 4]]===
== Appearances ==
 
  +
[[File:Capture-1.JPG|thumb|180x180px|The White Walkers receive Craster's last son as a sacrifice.]]
<p style="border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;font-style:inherit;font-weight:inherit;margin-top:0.4em;margin-right:0px;margin-bottom:0.5em;margin-left:0px;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-bottom:0px;padding-left:0px;vertical-align:baseline;">{{Season One Appearances|1=yes|10=}}{{Template:Season Two Appearances||yes||||||||yes}}{{Template:Season Three Appearances|yes|||||||yes|||}}{{Template:Season Four Appearances||||yes}}</p>
 
 
[[Rast]] sets the last son of Craster on the ground in the [[Haunted Forest]]. A [[White Walker (Oathkeeper)|White Walker]], riding a wight horse, takes the baby to a mysterious place in the far north, to the Land of Always Winter, and places him on an altar made of ice. [[Night King|Another White Walker]] with pointed horns on its head approaches, picks up the baby, and touches him on the face below his eye. The baby's eyes turn bright blue, similar to that of the White Walkers.<ref name="E34">"[[Oathkeeper (episode)|Oathkeeper]]"</ref>
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 5|''Game of Thrones'': Season 5]]===
==Behind the scenes==
 
  +
[[File:Capture-0.JPG|thumb|180px|The White Walkers witness the massacre at Hardhome from high up in the cover of a blizzard.]]
  +
The White Walkers launch an attack on Hardhome as the Free Folk board ships provided by [[Stannis Baratheon]] bound for [[Castle Black]]. During the attack, Jon fights one of the White Walkers, discovering their vulnerability to Valyrian steel, and kills it with his sword [[Longclaw]], bringing him to the attention of the Night King. The wight army overwhelms the defenders and sends a panic through the settlement, and wildlings try to swim to the ships instead of boarding rowboats. Those that die are reanimated as wights by the Night King, who looks on intimidatingly as Jon, Eddison Tollett, and [[Tormund]] row away.<ref name="E48" />
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 6|''Game of Thrones'': Season 6]]===
[[File:White Walker.jpg|thumb|The original White Walker design, barely glimpsed in "[[Winter is Coming]]".]]The appearance of the White Walkers in the TV series isn't quite the same as in the books. They weren't fully revealed until the Season 2 finale, only quick shots mostly in the shadows in the premiere episode of Season 1. Freeze-frame shots of this display an early working-model design for the White Walkers, but given that it only flashed on-screen for a fraction of a second, this may never have been intended as their final appearance. This early design was almost skeletal, without noses. This original version really appeared too briefly to be seen without taking screenshots, but as this was the only glimpse of the White Walkers in the first season, fansites (and wikis) heavily circulated these screenshots, somewhat obscuring the fact that the White Walkers' "official" design hadn't been firmly established yet.
 
  +
The [[Three-Eyed Raven]] shows Bran a vision of a [[heart tree]] amid spirals of standing stones in lush green valley. He spies [[Leaf]] and other [[Children of the Forest]] talking amongst themselves, then looking eagerly at a captive - a [[First Men|First Man]] - bound to the tree. Leaf approaches and slowly forces a dragonglass dagger into the captive's chest. The captive screams, but does not die, instead becoming the first White Walker: the Night King.
  +
[[File:White Walkers arrive.JPG|thumb|180x180px|The White Walkers arrive at the Weirwood tree.]]
  +
Bran immediately confronts Leaf about creating the White Walkers in the first place. Leaf tries to explain that they were at [[War of the First Men and the Children of the Forest|war]] with the [[First Men]] and were desperate to protect themselves from the invaders of their [[Westeros|lands]]. Later, Bran is the only one in the cave awake and is anxious to warg back into the Weirwood tree. Unfortunately, the Night King is able to see him and grabs his arm, branding him with an icy mark. He breaks out of the vision with a scream. The Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran, [[Meera Reed|Meera]] and [[Hodor]] that the Night King is now able to locate Bran and bypass the barrier keeping the White Walkers and wights out of the cave. The Children of the Forest use magic projectiles and incendiaries to fend the Walkers off, but are overwhelmed. They light a fire around the entrance which prevents the wights from entering, but the Walkers extinguish a pathway and walk through. The wights climb on top of the Weirwood, dropping through the top of the cave. Meera desperately tries to get Bran out of the vision and attempts to get the frightened Hodor to carry Bran away to no avail. Meera kills the first White Walker that enters with a dagger of dragonglass, as she fights alongside the remaining Children of the Forest to try to fend off the wights until Bran wakes up. Wights begin to swarm the cave, killing all of the Children of the Forest except for Leaf, as Meera starts yelling at Bran to warg into Hodor. Hodor in the cave puts Bran's body on a sled and starts hauling him towards the exit at the back of the cave with Leaf and Meera, as [[Summer]] is killed attacking the wights. As the wights are closing in on them, Leaf sacrifices herself, using magic to cause a huge explosion, buying the other three a significant amount of time. While the Three-Eyed Raven and Bran are still sharing a vision, the Night King kills the Three-Eyed Raven, and his figure within Bran's vision blows away as ashes and rags.<ref name="E55" />
   
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 7|''Game of Thrones'': Season 7]]===
According to [[Pixomondo]], the TV series's special effects studio, there was indeed a complete redesign of the White Walkers between the barely glimpsed early concepts in Season 1, and the fully revealed version introduced in the Season 2 finale: "The producers and creatives were not happy with the White Walker costumes from season one; they wanted to redesign the look and it took a bit longer than expected." Only one full version of the redesigned White Walker costume was made by the Season 2 finale, thus the large shot of multiple White Walkers in the shot is just one stunt man doubled up many times. CGI enhancements were used to give the effect that wisps of cold air are emanating from the White Walkers' bodies, as well as to make their abdomens much more gaunt than human physiology.<ref>[http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681718/collaboration-isnt-always-pretty-behind-the-emmy-winning-vfx-for-game-of-thrones?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fastcocreate/feed+%28Co.Create%29#1 Fastcocreate.com] "Collaboration Isn’t Always Pretty—Behind The Emmy-Winning VFX For “Game Of Thrones”</ref>
 
  +
Somewhere beyond the Wall, the Night King and his White Walkers continue their march south through a snowstorm. As a sign of their growing strength, they have added at least three Giants to the ranks of their army of the dead.<ref name="E61">"[[Dragonstone (episode)|Dragonstone]]"</ref>
   
  +
[[File:WW Carving.png|thumb|180x180px|Carvings of the White Walkers are found in the dragonglass mines on Dragonstone.]]
The final version introduced at the end of Season 2 is closer to how they appear in the books. Some differences remain, in that White Walkers are said to wear much more armor in the books, made out of a strange reflective metal that almost acts like camouflage. Further, the White Walkers in the books are described as "gaunt" but they don't seem to have quite so much of a mummified appearance. They are actually said to have an otherworldly, icy beauty to them.
 
  +
Jon takes Daenerys down into the caves on Dragonstone after she allows him to mine the dragonglass. However, his ulterior motive is to show her the carvings on the cave's walls, which depict the Children of the Forest and the First Men fighting the White Walkers together. One of these carvings strongly resembles the Night King.<ref name="E64">"[[The Spoils of War]]"</ref>
   
  +
Bran Stark wargs into a flight of ravens that fly over the Wall into the Land of Always Winter. Through the ravens, he sees the army of the dead led by the White Walkers and the Night King, traveling south towards Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Unfortunately, the Night King spots Bran, causing him to quickly disperse the ravens.<ref name="E65">"[[Eastwatch]]"</ref>
Author [[George R.R. Martin]], when discussing with comic-book artist Tommy Patterson what the White Walkers were supposed to look like in the comic-book adaptation of the story he was drawing, said that: "They are strange, beautiful...think, oh...the ''Sidhe'' made of ice, something like that...a different sort of life...inhuman, elegant, dangerous." Martin also confirmed that the White Walkers are not "dead", just an inhuman kind of life.<ref>[http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/The_Others#Characteristics AWOIAF article on The Others]</ref> The ''Sidhe'' are a kind of otherworldly fairy creature from Irish mythology, said to inhabit burial mounds, etc., not unlike the Barrow-wights of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.<ref>[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD ]</ref>
 
  +
  +
As part of their plan to [[Wight hunt|capture]] a wight as proof of existence of the army of the dead, Jon Snow and his men ambush a group of Wights led by a [[White Walker 1 (Beyond the Wall)|White Walker]], lighting a campfire to get their attention. Jon himself kills the White Walker, at the same time destroying all but one of the wights under his command. While taking refuge from the wights on an island in the middle of a frozen lake, [[Beric Dondarrion]] advises Jon to kill the recently arrived Night King, potentially ending the threat of the Walkers and their army. As Daenerys and her dragons arrive to rescue the party, the Night King hurls an ice javelin at [[Viserion]], killing him and sending him crashing into the frozen lake. He throws another at [[Drogon]], but the dragon narrowly avoids it and escapes. Jon stays behind and fights his way to the Night King, only to fall beneath the ice of the lake. Later, after wights haul Viserion's corpse out of the lake, the Night King resurrects him, bringing the beast under his control as an undead [[ice dragon]].<ref name="E66">"[[Beyond the Wall (episode)|Beyond the Wall]]"</ref>
  +
  +
The White Walkers and the army of the dead finally reach the Wall where Eastwatch-by-the-Sea stands. The Night King uses Viserion to [[Breaching of the Wall|burn]] the Wall, nullifying its magic and allowing the White Walkers and their wights to cross into the [[Seven Kingdoms]].<ref name="E67">"[[The Dragon and the Wolf]]"</ref>
  +
  +
===[[Game of Thrones: Season 8|''Game of Thrones'': Season 8]]===
  +
The White Walkers quickly advance south and [[Fall of Last Hearth|attack]] [[Last Hearth]], massacring the population and adding them to the army of the dead. [[Ned Umber]] is found pinned to a wall in the middle of severed arms arranged in a spiral, which Beric Dondarrion deduces is a message from the Night King.<ref name="E68">"[[Winterfell (Game of Thrones)|Winterfell]]"</ref>
  +
  +
The White Walkers and their army quickly move further south. They arrive at [[Winterfell]] a half day after Tormund, Edd, and Beric bring word of the [[Fall of Last Hearth]].<ref name="E69">"[[A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (Game of Thrones)|A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms]]"</ref>
  +
  +
[[File:White-walkers-ep03-the-long-night.png|thumb|The White Walkers march into Winterfell.]]
  +
The White Walkers finally arrive at Winterfell for the Battle of Winterfell. As the living assemble for the final battle, the White Walkers lead their army on their undead horses. The White Walkers send out their army to destroy the living and attack the castle while they hang back at the tree line. When Jon and [[Rhaegal]] try to attack them, a massive blizzard slams into them, preventing direct engagement with the White Walkers. The Night King, riding Viserion, commands the wights to scale the castle walls and break down the defenses. The Night King then battles Jon and [[Daenerys Targaryen|Daenerys]] and their dragons. The two living dragons manage to overwhelm their dead brother and the Night King is thrown from his mount.
  +
  +
Daenerys finds where the Night King landed and commands Drogon to burn him with dragonfire. To her shock and dismay, he emerges from the inferno unharmed and she retreats before he can strike her from the sky.
  +
  +
Jon, whose severely injured mount barely manages to land safely, rushes towards the Night King, intent on ending the battle. But before he can get close, the Night King raises all of the corpses around him and walks off to find Bran, the new Three-Eyed Raven.
  +
  +
[[File:GoT S08E03 AKNK.png|thumb|The destruction of the Night King caused the extinction of the White Walkers.]]
  +
The rest of the White Walkers enter the castle and rendezvous with the Night King before entering the [[godswood]]. The Walkers stand aside as the Night King kills [[Theon Greyjoy|Theon]] and walks towards Bran. Before the Night King can draw his blade and kill Bran, Arya attacks him with her [[Valyrian steel dagger]]. He grabs her midair, but through sleight of hand, Arya stabs the Night King in the heart. The Night King explodes into ice, causing the other White Walkers to explode and their entire wight army to crumple.
  +
  +
With the death of the Night King, the White Walkers are now extinct and their magic ceased after thousands of years.<ref name="E70">"[[The Long Night]]"</ref>
   
 
==Quotes==
 
==Quotes==
{{Quote|The White Walkers have been gone for thousands of years.|Eddard Stark|Winter is Coming}}
+
{{Quote|The White Walkers have been gone for thousands of years.|[[Eddard Stark]]|Winter Is Coming}}
  +
{{Dialogue a-b-a-b-a|Osha|There's things that sleep in the day and hunt at night.|Luwin|Owls and shadowcats.|I'm not talking about owls and shadowcats.|The "things" you speak of, they've been gone for thousands of years.|They wasn't gone, old man. They was sleeping. And they ain't sleeping no more.|[[Osha]] and [[Luwin]] discuss the White Walkers|You Win or You Die}}
{{Quote|Always the artists.|Mance Rayder on White Walkers' habit of arranging the bodies of the dead into special patterns|Walk of Punishment}}
 
  +
{{Quote|The wildlings serve crueler gods than you or I.|[[Jeor Mormont]] to [[Jon Snow]], regarding [[Craster]] sacrificing his sons to the White Walkers|What Is Dead May Never Die}}
 
{{Quote|Always the artists.|[[Mance Rayder]] on White Walkers' habit of arranging the bodies of the dead into special patterns|Walk of Punishment (episode)}}
  +
{{Dialogue a-b-a-b|Bran Stark|It was you. You made the White Walkers.|Leaf|We were at war. We were being slaughtered. Our sacred trees cut down. We needed to defend ourselves.|From whom?|From you. From men.|[[Bran Stark]] and [[Leaf]], after the former [[Sight|witnesses]] the [[Children of the Forest]] curse the [[Night King]]|The Door}}
  +
 
==Behind the scenes==
  +
[[File:White Walker.jpg|thumb|The original White Walker design, barely glimpsed in "[[Winter Is Coming]]."]]
 
The appearance of the White Walkers in the TV series isn't quite the same as in the books. They weren't fully revealed until the Season 2 finale, only quick shots mostly in the shadows in the premiere episode of Season 1. Freeze-frame shots of this display an early working-model design for the White Walkers, but given that it only flashed on-screen for a fraction of a second, this may never have been intended as their final appearance. This early design was almost skeletal, without noses. This original version really appeared too briefly to be seen without taking screenshots, but as this was the only glimpse of the White Walkers in the first season, fan sites (and wikis) heavily circulated these screenshots, somewhat obscuring the fact that the White Walkers' "official" design hadn't been firmly established yet.
  +
 
According to [[Pixomondo]], the TV series's special effects studio, there was indeed a complete redesign of the White Walkers between the barely glimpsed early concepts in Season 1, and the fully revealed version introduced in the Season 2 finale: "The producers and creatives were not happy with the White Walker costumes from season one; they wanted to redesign the look and it took a bit longer than expected." Only one full version of the redesigned White Walker costume was made by the Season 2 finale, thus the large shot of multiple White Walkers in the shot is just one stunt man doubled up many times. CGI enhancements were used to give the effect that wisps of cold air are emanating from the White Walkers' bodies, as well as to make their abdomens much more gaunt than human physiology.<ref name="VFX">[http://www.fastcocreate.com/1681718/collaboration-isnt-always-pretty-behind-the-emmy-winning-vfx-for-game-of-thrones?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+fastcocreate/feed+%28Co.Create%29#1 Fastcocreate.com] "Collaboration Isn’t Always Pretty—Behind The Emmy-Winning VFX For “Game Of Thrones”</ref>
  +
  +
The final version introduced at the end of Season 2 is closer to how they appear in the books. Some differences remain, in that White Walkers are said to wear much more armor in the books, made out of a strange reflective metal that almost acts like camouflage. Further, the White Walkers in the books are described as "gaunt" but they don't seem to have quite so much of a mummified appearance. They are actually said to have an otherworldly, icy beauty to them. The White Walkers in Season 4 wear more armor than those glimpsed in Season 2, but generally maintain the established appearance. Their armor is black and dark grey, of some unknown material, as opposed to the reflective metal described in the books. Weiss and Benioff suggested in the "Inside the Episode" for "[[The Door]]" that the White Walkers began wearing the armor only after Sam killed one of them, and that this incident reminded them that there were things that could still harm them (in that episode, the armor is shown to be strong enough to repel dragonglass projectiles, "Hardhome", shows it is useless against Valyrian steel). Michele Clapton also operated under this assumption, and told Weiss and Benioff that her thinking was that the armor was actually scavenged bits of art and architecture from some long-forgotten culture of the far north.<ref name="Style">[http://nymag.com/thecut/2014/12/style-to-expect-when-game-of-thrones-returns.html]</ref>
  +
 
Author [[George R.R. Martin]], when discussing with comic-book artist Tommy Patterson what the White Walkers were supposed to look like in the comic-book adaptation of the story he was drawing, said that: "They are strange, beautiful...think, oh...the ''[[Wikipedia:Sidhe|Sidhe]]'' made of ice, something like that...a different sort of life...inhuman, elegant, dangerous." Martin also confirmed that the White Walkers are not "dead", just an inhuman kind of life.<ref>[http://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/The_Others#Characteristics AWOIAF article on The Others]</ref> The ''Sidhe'' are a kind of otherworldly fairy creature from Irish mythology, said to inhabit burial mounds, etc., not unlike the Barrow-wights of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.<ref name="Tolkien">[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aos_S%C3%AD]</ref>
   
 
==In the books==
 
==In the books==
In the ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' television show, the term "White Walkers" is used as an alternate name for a species called '''the Others''' in the books. They are held to be fairy stories by most of the people of Westeros. According to legend, the Others were creatures of ice and cold who, more than eight thousand years ago, came from the uttermost north during a winter that lasted a generation and a night that covered the world, the Long Night. The Others were defeated in the War for the Dawn by a great hero wielding a sword of flame. After the Others' defeat, Bran the Builder constructed [[the Wall]] with magic and artifice to ensure they could never return to threaten the people of [[Westeros]] and the world beyond. The War for the Dawn apparently unified the peoples of [[the North]] under the rule of the [[Starks]] and saw [[Winterfell]] built shortly thereafter.
+
In the ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' television show, the term "White Walkers" is used as an alternate name for a species called '''the Others''' in the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' novels. They are held to be fairy stories by most of the people of Westeros. According to legend, the Others were creatures of ice and cold who, more than eight thousand years ago, came from the uttermost north during a winter that lasted a generation and a night that covered the world, the Long Night. The Others were defeated in the Battle for the Dawn by a great hero wielding a sword of flame. After the Others' defeat, Bran the Builder constructed the [[Wall]] with magic and artifice to ensure they could never return to threaten the people of [[Westeros]] and the world beyond. The Battle for the Dawn apparently unified the peoples of the [[North]] under the rule of the [[House Stark|Starks]] and saw [[Winterfell]] built shortly thereafter.
   
The [[Night's Watch]] was founded to guard against the return of the Others, but this task is generally forgotten today. The Watch is instead believed to be guarding against the human [[Wildlings]] who hold the lands beyond and occasionally try to raid across the Wall into the richer lands to the south.
+
The [[Night's Watch]] was founded to guard against the return of the Others, but this task is generally forgotten today. The Watch is instead believed to be guarding against the human [[Free Folk|wildlings]] who hold the lands beyond and occasionally try to raid across the Wall into the richer lands to the south.
   
The White Walkers are always accompanied by cold temperatures, and coming from the [[Lands of Always Winter]], it would seem that they prefer cold climates. They might even have difficulty surviving in warmer climates. Characters within the narrative debate whether this is because White Walkers actually generate cold and might even cause winters (such as the Long Night), or because they simply wait for the next winter cycle and move south when the temperature drops (in which case they didn't cause the Long Night, but seized on the opportunity it provided).
+
The White Walkers are always accompanied by cold temperatures, and coming from the [[Land of Always Winter]], it would seem that they prefer cold climates. They might even have difficulty surviving in warmer climates. Characters within the narrative debate whether this is because White Walkers actually generate cold and might even cause winters (such as the Long Night), or because they simply wait for the next winter cycle and move south when the temperature drops (in which case they didn't cause the Long Night, but seized on the opportunity it provided). White Walkers do not leave footprints in snow.
   
 
Some of [[Old Nan]]'s fairy tales say that wildling women have been known to mate with the Others to produce half-human children, but this is an unsubstantiated rumor.
 
Some of [[Old Nan]]'s fairy tales say that wildling women have been known to mate with the Others to produce half-human children, but this is an unsubstantiated rumor.
   
It is stated in the books that they fear the day and only come out at night. However, in both the season premiere and the season 2 finale, they seem to appear during the day. The season 2 finale may simply have been brighter to emphasize the size of their army of wights, even though the sun can be seen through the clouds at the end of the scene. Most likely this is a canon oversight.
+
It is stated in the books that they fear the day and only come out at night. In "[[Valar Morghulis]]", however, they are seen in the twilight hours when the sun (hidden by heavy clouds) hasn't completely set yet. The reason for this was most likely practical: the White Walkers in the novels have only appeared in near pitch-darkness, and in the visual medium of television it would be difficult to strictly match this (i.e. even night scenes set in a forest seem curiously well-lit by the moon, so we the audience can see what is happening). The White Walkers again seem to appear during the day, albeit a completely overcast day, in "[[Hardhome (episode)|Hardhome]]."
   
  +
There is no mentioning in the books that the Others arrange the bodies of their victims in any pattern.
When stabbed with a dragonglass blade, an Other will melt into a pool of cold liquid. In the series, they shatter and crumble into dust when coming into contact with dragonglass.
 
  +
 
When stabbed with a dragonglass blade, an Other will melt into a pool of cold liquid. In the TV series, when they are stabbed by dragonglass they painfully freeze into ice, and quickly shatter and crumble into pieces.
  +
  +
In the fourth novel, Jon and Sam find literary references to "dragonsteel", which is also lethal to Others, and assume (but have not yet confirmed) that it refers to Valyrian steel. In the series, Jon discovers quite by accident that Valyrian steel is indeed deadly to White Walkers.
  +
  +
It is unknown whether Others can be destroyed by fire. In the old records Sam finds, it is briefly mentioned that "fire will dismay them."
  +
  +
===Origins and reproduction===
  +
Nothing is currently known about the origins of the White Walkers, simply that they came from the polar regions of the Land of Always Winter. Nothing is mentioned of them ever attempting to directly communicate with humans.
  +
  +
There actually are female White Walkers, if the legends about the [[corpse queen]] are true, but whether they actually reproduce with each other biologically, or if there are ever White Walker children is never mentioned whatsoever.
  +
  +
[[Craster's wives]] do say that they ''believe'' that [[Craster's last son|the infant sons]] that Craster gave the Others as sacrifices were turned into new White Walkers - but it wasn't clear if this is what ''actually'' happens, or if it was just the wild suspicion of Craster's frightened, isolated wives. When Samwell is told to flee with Gilly and her newborn son, Gilly urges that if he doesn't "they" will come for him. When he asks who "they" are, another wife says: ''"The boy's brothers...Craster's sons. The white cold's rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons."''
  +
  +
Confirmation of what exactly happens to Craster's sons has not occurred in the books yet, but the Season 4 episode of the TV series "[[Oathkeeper (episode)|Oathkeeper]]" revealed that the White Walkers do turn in fact Craster's infant sons into new White Walkers.
  +
  +
When George R.R. Martin was in the very early stages of starting work on the novel series, he sent a three page pitch memo to his agent giving a very rough idea of what the overall story would be like - back when he envisioned it as merely a ''trilogy'' of novels ([[Tywin Lannister]]'s death at the end of book three/Season 4 is essentially the end of what would have been the original first novel out of three). ''Many'' ideas from this pitch memo were later heavily revised and bear little resemblance to the final version. When Martin briefly described the Others/White Walkers in this memo, he also referred to them using an alternate name never used in the main novels: '''The Neverborn''':
  +
  +
:''."..half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman Others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything we would consider life."''<ref name="RFTIT">[https://racefortheironthrone.wordpress.com/2015/02/04/quick-analysis-of-the-ur-text/ Race for the Iron Throne]</ref>
  +
  +
While these ideas in the pitch memo were tentative, they do seem to fit with what was revealed in Season 4 of the TV series - implying that the White Walkers are actually never "born", do not reproduce biologically as their own independent race, but "reproduce" by turning select humans into new White Walkers.
  +
  +
This brings up another vague comment made by Martin about the White Walkers. Early in production on Season 1, the TV series had to make its own costumes and weapons for the White Walkers, and Martin was asked if it fit well with his mental vision of what the White Walkers' material culture is like. Martin responded that the White Walkers don't really ''have'' what we would call a "culture." What he meant by this is unclear: the novels also say that the White Walkers have their own language, weapons, armor, etc. so they have some vestiges of such things.
  +
  +
Taken together, the fact that the White Walkers don't reproduce naturally, and don't really have their own "culture"/society, seems to indicate that they were never an independently existing race the way that humans, giants, and Children of the Forest were. It vaguely seems that they are more like demonic or magical spirits somehow housed within human bodies which they possess and turn into "White Walkers." How the first White Walker was created to begin with was later explained in the show, with a vision of Bran showing the Children of the Forest creating the Night King as part of their war efforts against the [[First Men]].
   
 
===Naming===
 
===Naming===
The White Walkers are often known as "the Others" in the novels, and were still known by this name in the first draft of the pilot script. In the books, "white walkers" is the name given to the creatures by wildlings, and with only a few wildling characters, the term is heard only seldom. The name is also used in Westeros, though mostly by older characters such as [[Old Nan]], Maester [[Aemon]], and Lord Commander [[Jeor Mormont|Jeor&nbsp;Mormont]].
+
The White Walkers are often known as "the Others" in the novels, and were still known by this name in the first draft of the pilot script. In the books, "white walkers" is the name given to the creatures by wildlings, and with only a few wildling characters, the term is heard only seldom. The name is also used in Westeros, though mostly by older characters such as [[Old Nan]], Maester [[Aemon]], and Lord Commander Jeor Mormont.
   
Fan speculation was originally that the name was changed to avoid confusion with the faction of the same name in the television series ''Lost''. However, the producers later stated in the Season 1 Blu-ray commentary that the change was more to avoid viewer confusion between the specific name "Others" and the generic use of the term: book-readers can tell that "Others" is treated as a capitalized proper noun, but TV-viewers cannot. It sounded like actors saying, "He says he saw the others" - "other soldiers"?, "other horses"? - so the term was just too confusing in the audio-visual medium of television.
+
Fan speculation was originally that the name was changed to avoid confusion with the faction of the same name in the television series ''Lost'' (at a convention panel after Season 5 aired, George R.R. Martin did say that this concern was at least a factor in why the name "Others" was not used).<ref name="Others">[http://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/12432]</ref> However, the producers stated in the Season 1 Blu-ray commentary that the main reason they made the change was more to avoid viewer confusion between the specific name "Others" and the generic use of the term: book-readers can tell that "Others" is treated as a capitalized proper noun, but TV-viewers cannot. It sounded like actors saying, "He says he saw the others" - but viewers had no way of telling if they simply meant "other soldiers", "other horses", etc. - so the term was just too confusing in the audio-visual medium of television.
   
==See also==
+
==Gallery==
 
<gallery>
* {{AWOIAF|The Others}}
 
 
White Walker 2x10.jpg|The revised look for the White Walkers revealed at the end of the second season.
 
whitewalker2.jpg|A White Walker shrieking a battle cry during the Battle of the Fist of the First Men.
 
walker.jpg|A White Walker carrying Craster's son to an altar made of ice in the lair of the White Walkers.
  +
White-Walkers-on-Horses.jpg|Walkers on horseback.
  +
WhiteWalkersHorseback.png|The Night King and White Walkers on horseback.
  +
White-walkers-s08-ep02.jpg|The White Walkers lead the army of the dead to Winterfell.
  +
White Walkers S8 E2.jpg|The White Walkers arrive at Winterfell.
  +
White-walkers-wights-ep03-the-long-night.jpg|White Walkers leading wights in Winterfell.
 
</gallery>
  +
 
==Appearances==
  +
{{IncompleteList}}
  +
*{{GOT|Winter Is Coming}}
  +
*{{GOT|The Night Lands}}
  +
*{{GOT|Valar Morghulis}}
  +
*{{GOT|Valar Dohaeris}}
  +
*{{GOT|Second Sons}}
  +
*{{GOT|Oathkeeper}}
  +
*{{GOT|Hardhome}}
  +
*{{GOT|The Door}}
  +
*{{GOT|Dragonstone}}
  +
*{{GOT|Eastwatch}}
  +
*{{GOT|Beyond the Wall}}
  +
*{{GOT|The Dragon and the Wolf}}
  +
*{{GOT|A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms}}
  +
*{{GOT|The Long Night}}
   
 
==References==
 
==References==
{{Reflist|2}}
+
{{Reflist}}
  +
{{Peoples}}
 
  +
==External links==
[[Category:Non-Human Races]]
 
 
*{{AWOIAF|Others}}
[[Category:Legendary and Magical Creatures]]
 
  +
  +
<!--Navboxes-->
  +
{{Cultures and peoples}}
  +
  +
<!--Categories-->
  +
[[Category:Featured pages]]
 
[[Category:Legendary and magical creatures]]
  +
[[Category:Magic]]
 
[[Category:Non-human races]]
 
[[Category:White Walkers| ]]
 
[[Category:White Walkers| ]]
  +
  +
<!--Languages-->
  +
[[de:Weiße Wanderer]]
  +
[[es:Caminantes Blancos]]
  +
[[fr:Marcheurs Blancs]]
  +
[[he:מהלך_הלבן]]
  +
[[it:Estranei]]
  +
[[pl:Inni]]
  +
[[pt-br:Caminhantes Brancos]]
  +
[[ro:Ceilalți]]
  +
[[ru:Белые ходоки]]
  +
[[uk:Білі ходоки]]

Latest revision as of 03:46, 15 March 2024

"In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds."
Old Nan[src]

The White Walkers[1] were an ancient race of formerly-human ice creatures who came from the far north of Westeros. After remaining hidden for thousands of years, they returned and were sighted by several sworn brothers of the Night's Watch and countless wildlings. However, most who live south of the Wall believed them to be nothing more than creatures of legend.

The White Walkers were thousands of years old, coming from the time preceding the Age of Heroes. Born of powerful and untested magic, they were created to protect the Children of the Forest from the First Men, who had waged war on them ever since they had arrived from Essos. However, the White Walkers eventually broke free of the Children's control and became the most feared creatures in Westeros, posing a threat to all life.[2]

Eight thousand years before Robert's Rebellion, the longest winter in history fell on the entire world and lasted a whole generation. In the darkness and cold of the "Long Night," the White Walkers descended upon Westeros from the Far North, killing all in their path and reanimating the dead as wights to serve as mindless soldiers in their undead army. The people of Westeros soon realized they had to rally together or the White Walkers would kill them all. In a conflict known as the Battle for the Dawn, the living won a decisive victory and pushed the White Walkers far north to the Land of Always Winter. With help from giants and the Children of the Forest, the Wall was raised to bar their return. The Night's Watch was founded to guard the Wall and the realms of men should the mysterious threat ever rise again.

WhiteWalkersAwake

The White Walkers have risen again.

Although the White Walkers have faded into legend over the centuries, disturbing reports began to reach the Night's Watch, just before the outbreak of the War of the Five Kings. The return of the White Walkers was confirmed during the great ranging undertaken by Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, and by an unprecedented attack by the wight army on the wildling settlement of Hardhome.[3] Despite repeated pleas for support from the Night's Watch, the rest of the Seven Kingdoms turned a blind eye to the return of the White Walkers as they remained embroiled in their own civil wars, believing the White Walkers to be purely mythological, much like giants and Children of the Forest, who have also faded into legend.

The ultimate goal of the legendary White Walkers was the end of every living thing in existence, which they planned to achieve by killing the Three-Eyed Raven and creating an endless winter to eclipse the known world. However, their plans were thwarted when Arya Stark killed the Night King at the Battle of Winterfell, resulting in the permanent extinction of the White Walkers and the end of the Great War.

Appearance and characteristics

Whitewalker

White Walkers have a mummified appearance with long wispy white hair.

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.[4][5]

White Walkers seem to have divisions, or ranks within their army, with the ones at the top likely having reanimated many wights, while the ones at the bottom seem freshly created. At the end of Oathkeeper, a White Walker donning black armor appears holding Craster's last son, which likely denotes him as having a high position in the Night King's army. The Night King's lieutenants also seem to stay close to him, riding on undead horses.

The Night King is the supreme commander of the White Walkers, possessing the ability to directly control anyone in his army. It is implied that the White Walkers and Wights have a hive mind, being able to "see" through each other's eyes and sensing when someone in their army dies.

According to legend, the White Walkers speak a mythical language known as "Skroth", which purportedly sounds like the cracking of ice.

Numbers

The show never stated how many White Walkers existed in total or showed all the White Walkers in one onscreen shot. Usually a single White Walker or small groups were shown at one time, making it hard to establish how many White Walkers existed. Twelve White Walkers are shown in the background when the Night King turns Craster's last son. However, it is known that Craster sacrificed 99 sons to the White Walkers. Additionally, four White Walkers were killed on screen at different points in the series: one killed by Sam with a dragonglass dagger, one killed by Meera with a dragonglass spear, and two by Jon with Longclaw. During the Battle of Winterfell, twelve White Walkers enter Winterfell along with the Night King to kill Bran Stark. All the White Walkers were destroyed after Arya killed the Night King.

Powers

White Walkers have a very strong affinity with ice magic and coldness. They are physically far stronger than humans, capable of effortlessly tossing people back tens of feet in the air.[3] Since they are inhuman, White Walkers have no physical restrictions. As such, they do not require food or water and seem to be immune to disease, fatigue, extreme cold and extreme heat. White Walkers are immortal. Their arrival is usually accompanied by blizzards and sudden temperature drops.[3] Because of this, they can spread extreme cold wherever they go. The White Walkers wield crystal swords and spears.

However, one of their most deadly abilities is to reanimate the dead as their servants, known as wights.[3] They are capable of reviving any dead creature as wights, including horses, giants, and even dragons.[6] They cannot, however, revive a corpse into servitude if it has been burned.[4] Once a wight has been created, its eyes turn an icy blue, similar to the White Walkers' own eyes. Wights serve their masters without question.

The Night King, leader of the White Walkers, possesses the ability to change humans into White Walkers.[7] He picks up Craster's son from an icy altar and places an index finger on its cheek, causing the baby's eyes to glow blue and his skin to grow pale, taking on the appearance of the White Walkers. Whether or not this ability extends only to the Night King, all of the White Walkers amongst his caste, or all White Walkers in general is unknown.

During the Massacre at Hardhome, White Walkers are shown to be resistant to fire due to the extreme cold they radiate, which snuffs out any flames in their vicinity.[3] They can also freeze normal weapons they come into contact with, causing them to shatter and break.[3] White Walkers are invulnerable against even highly concentrated dragonfire.[8] It is unknown if they are also immune to wildfire.

Weaknesses

White walker shatters S3E8

A White Walker falling apart after being stabbed by Dragonglass.

The only known weaknesses of White Walkers are weapons made of dragonglass[5] or valyrian steel.[3] Upon being stabbed by dragonglass, a White Walker's body will begin to freeze into ice from the point at which it was stabbed, causing the Walker great pain. Finally, it will begin to crack and fall apart, eventually shattering into ice. Valyrian steel has the same effect, but works much more rapidly. These materials are also resistant to being frozen and shattered on contact with White Walkers, unlike regular weapons.

White Walkers are "glass cannons", possessing incredible strength and power but being very vulnerable. Any injury, no matter how minor or significant from weapons made of dragonglass or valyrian steel, will result in their death and the deaths of all things they have reanimated. Because of this, White Walkers tend to stay behind their undead wights or far away from conflict.

Since the Night King was the first White Walker ever created, his death will cause the death of all other White Walkers, and subsequently, their wights. As such, he is simultaneously the strongest and weakest part of the undead army.[8]

History

Background

The White Walkers' origins are a mystery to most humans. Only the ancient Children of the Forest remember the truth of how they came to be.

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.

Night's King when Human

White Walkers' creation

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 creators as well.[2]

Soon the Children saw that their creation had grown beyond their control, and forged an alliance with the First Men to avoid mutual destruction. In what would become known as the "Battle for the Dawn", the alliance beat the White Walkers back to the far north, where they vanished. This victory led to a lasting truce between the Children and the First Men; the Children would keep their forests, and the Men could keep their farms, towns, and cities. The truce also marked the creation of both the Wall and the Night's Watch, the latter having been armed by the Children with dragonglass blades, in case the Walkers should ever return.

Game of Thrones: Season 1

Whitewalker1

A White Walker, carrying the severed head of Gared and several more White Walkers behind him

At the start of the series, there have been peculiar rumors from beyond the Wall mentioning the White Walkers. According to Will, a renegade from the Night's Watch taken captive near Winterfell, his patrol was attacked by the White Walkers and his comrades Gared and Waymar Royce were killed by them. Prior to this incident, the White Walkers had massacred a tribe of wildlings and left the corpses out as a warning. His story was not believed by Eddard Stark, who executed him as a deserter. The White Walkers showed an ability to animate the corpse of a dead wildling child as a wight.[9]

Jeor Mormont and Maester Aemon of the Watch ask Tyrion to persuade his sister to send them reinforcements. They claim there is something other than the wildlings beyond the Wall and it's been growing in influence for some time. With winter coming they fear this unseen enemy will make its move.[10]

A band of wildlings fleeing south of the Wall passes close to Winterfell. One of them suggests taking a Stark captive for Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, but the others refuse to return north due to the dangers posed by the White Walkers[11], instead asserting they should head as far south as possible.

Osha, one of the wildlings taken prisoner at Winterfell, reveals to the Stark household that she and her companions were fleeing South to escape the Walkers. She also reveals the Walkers are nocturnal and sleep in the day and hunt at night. When her words are dismissed by Maester Luwin due to the belief the Walkers are long dead, she reveals that they were only sleeping and "they're not sleeping now."[12]

The bodies of several rangers are discovered a short distance north of the wall and are identified as Night's Watchmen who have been missing for weeks. Despite a corpse's prolonged absence, Sam notes that the bodies show no signs of rot and appear in perfect condition. Later that evening one of the bodies reanimates as a wight and attempts to attack the Lord Commander. The creature is stopped when Jon discovers the creature's weakness is fire.[13]

After disposing of the remaining bodies, Sam tells Jon that he read that only the touch of a White Walker could do what they have seen tonight. A worried Sam notes the weakness of the Night's Watch and if the White Walkers decide to come in force then they are in real trouble.[13]

After recent events Lord Commander Mormont decides to mobilize the Night's Watch to head out beyond the wall to assess the situation and if necessary make a preemptive strike against their enemies. He explains to Jon that the war in the South is of little concern in relation to the threat of the returning White Walkers.[14]

Game of Thrones: Season 2

Jon Snow follows Craster into the woods and sees him placing a newborn baby, one of his sons, into the ground and leaves. Moments later a figure with glowing blue eyes appears and takes the baby away.[15]

After Craster discovers Jon, attacks him and orders the Night's Watch to leave his roof, Mormont confronts Jon, though he also admits he's aware that Craster worships the White Walkers and sacrifices his newborn sons to them in exchange for safety for him and his daughter-wives.[16]

4

White Walkers lead the army of the dead to the Fist of the First Men.

Sam, Grenn, and Eddison Tollett gather dung around the Fist of the First Men when they hear a horn being blown and believe Jon and Qhorin have returned. They then hear a second blow, the signal for incoming wildlings, and draw their swords for battle. A third hornblast is heard, the signal for White Walkers, which has not been blown in thousands of years. The three run to the Night's Watch camp but Samwell is left behind, while a blizzard envelops the entire plateau. He seeks refuge behind a rock while a White Walker leads a vast horde of wights. The White Walker finds Sam but for reasons unknown ignores him, riding past him atop a wight horse and leading the horde for an invasion, emitting a screeching roar with another White Walker far behind.

Game of Thrones: Season 3

A White Walker attacks Sam and Gilly when they are seeking refuge in a destroyed cabin. Sam tries to stop the White Walker with his sword, but the Walker shatters it and throws him aside. The Walker then approaches Gilly, seeming intent on seizing her baby. Sam, on the ground, grabs one of the dragonglass daggers that he found at the Fist of the First Men. He attacks the Walker from behind, stabbing it in the shoulder. The Walker screeches in pain and quickly begins to freeze, shattering soon afterwards.[5]

Game of Thrones: Season 4

Capture-1

The White Walkers receive Craster's last son as a sacrifice.

Rast sets the last son of Craster on the ground in the Haunted Forest. A White Walker, riding a wight horse, takes the baby to a mysterious place in the far north, to the Land of Always Winter, and places him on an altar made of ice. Another White Walker with pointed horns on its head approaches, picks up the baby, and touches him on the face below his eye. The baby's eyes turn bright blue, similar to that of the White Walkers.[7]

Game of Thrones: Season 5

Capture-0

The White Walkers witness the massacre at Hardhome from high up in the cover of a blizzard.

The White Walkers launch an attack on Hardhome as the Free Folk board ships provided by Stannis Baratheon bound for Castle Black. During the attack, Jon fights one of the White Walkers, discovering their vulnerability to Valyrian steel, and kills it with his sword Longclaw, bringing him to the attention of the Night King. The wight army overwhelms the defenders and sends a panic through the settlement, and wildlings try to swim to the ships instead of boarding rowboats. Those that die are reanimated as wights by the Night King, who looks on intimidatingly as Jon, Eddison Tollett, and Tormund row away.[3]

Game of Thrones: Season 6

The Three-Eyed Raven shows Bran a vision of a heart tree amid spirals of standing stones in lush green valley. He spies Leaf and other Children of the Forest talking amongst themselves, then looking eagerly at a captive - a First Man - bound to the tree. Leaf approaches and slowly forces a dragonglass dagger into the captive's chest. The captive screams, but does not die, instead becoming the first White Walker: the Night King.

White Walkers arrive

The White Walkers arrive at the Weirwood tree.

Bran immediately confronts Leaf about creating the White Walkers in the first place. Leaf tries to explain that they were at war with the First Men and were desperate to protect themselves from the invaders of their lands. Later, Bran is the only one in the cave awake and is anxious to warg back into the Weirwood tree. Unfortunately, the Night King is able to see him and grabs his arm, branding him with an icy mark. He breaks out of the vision with a scream. The Three-Eyed Raven tells Bran, Meera and Hodor that the Night King is now able to locate Bran and bypass the barrier keeping the White Walkers and wights out of the cave. The Children of the Forest use magic projectiles and incendiaries to fend the Walkers off, but are overwhelmed. They light a fire around the entrance which prevents the wights from entering, but the Walkers extinguish a pathway and walk through. The wights climb on top of the Weirwood, dropping through the top of the cave. Meera desperately tries to get Bran out of the vision and attempts to get the frightened Hodor to carry Bran away to no avail. Meera kills the first White Walker that enters with a dagger of dragonglass, as she fights alongside the remaining Children of the Forest to try to fend off the wights until Bran wakes up. Wights begin to swarm the cave, killing all of the Children of the Forest except for Leaf, as Meera starts yelling at Bran to warg into Hodor. Hodor in the cave puts Bran's body on a sled and starts hauling him towards the exit at the back of the cave with Leaf and Meera, as Summer is killed attacking the wights. As the wights are closing in on them, Leaf sacrifices herself, using magic to cause a huge explosion, buying the other three a significant amount of time. While the Three-Eyed Raven and Bran are still sharing a vision, the Night King kills the Three-Eyed Raven, and his figure within Bran's vision blows away as ashes and rags.[2]

Game of Thrones: Season 7

Somewhere beyond the Wall, the Night King and his White Walkers continue their march south through a snowstorm. As a sign of their growing strength, they have added at least three Giants to the ranks of their army of the dead.[17]

WW Carving

Carvings of the White Walkers are found in the dragonglass mines on Dragonstone.

Jon takes Daenerys down into the caves on Dragonstone after she allows him to mine the dragonglass. However, his ulterior motive is to show her the carvings on the cave's walls, which depict the Children of the Forest and the First Men fighting the White Walkers together. One of these carvings strongly resembles the Night King.[18]

Bran Stark wargs into a flight of ravens that fly over the Wall into the Land of Always Winter. Through the ravens, he sees the army of the dead led by the White Walkers and the Night King, traveling south towards Eastwatch-by-the-Sea. Unfortunately, the Night King spots Bran, causing him to quickly disperse the ravens.[19]

As part of their plan to capture a wight as proof of existence of the army of the dead, Jon Snow and his men ambush a group of Wights led by a White Walker, lighting a campfire to get their attention. Jon himself kills the White Walker, at the same time destroying all but one of the wights under his command. While taking refuge from the wights on an island in the middle of a frozen lake, Beric Dondarrion advises Jon to kill the recently arrived Night King, potentially ending the threat of the Walkers and their army. As Daenerys and her dragons arrive to rescue the party, the Night King hurls an ice javelin at Viserion, killing him and sending him crashing into the frozen lake. He throws another at Drogon, but the dragon narrowly avoids it and escapes. Jon stays behind and fights his way to the Night King, only to fall beneath the ice of the lake. Later, after wights haul Viserion's corpse out of the lake, the Night King resurrects him, bringing the beast under his control as an undead ice dragon.[6]

The White Walkers and the army of the dead finally reach the Wall where Eastwatch-by-the-Sea stands. The Night King uses Viserion to burn the Wall, nullifying its magic and allowing the White Walkers and their wights to cross into the Seven Kingdoms.[20]

Game of Thrones: Season 8

The White Walkers quickly advance south and attack Last Hearth, massacring the population and adding them to the army of the dead. Ned Umber is found pinned to a wall in the middle of severed arms arranged in a spiral, which Beric Dondarrion deduces is a message from the Night King.[21]

The White Walkers and their army quickly move further south. They arrive at Winterfell a half day after Tormund, Edd, and Beric bring word of the Fall of Last Hearth.[22]

White-walkers-ep03-the-long-night

The White Walkers march into Winterfell.

The White Walkers finally arrive at Winterfell for the Battle of Winterfell. As the living assemble for the final battle, the White Walkers lead their army on their undead horses. The White Walkers send out their army to destroy the living and attack the castle while they hang back at the tree line. When Jon and Rhaegal try to attack them, a massive blizzard slams into them, preventing direct engagement with the White Walkers. The Night King, riding Viserion, commands the wights to scale the castle walls and break down the defenses. The Night King then battles Jon and Daenerys and their dragons. The two living dragons manage to overwhelm their dead brother and the Night King is thrown from his mount.

Daenerys finds where the Night King landed and commands Drogon to burn him with dragonfire. To her shock and dismay, he emerges from the inferno unharmed and she retreats before he can strike her from the sky.

Jon, whose severely injured mount barely manages to land safely, rushes towards the Night King, intent on ending the battle. But before he can get close, the Night King raises all of the corpses around him and walks off to find Bran, the new Three-Eyed Raven.

GoT S08E03 AKNK

The destruction of the Night King caused the extinction of the White Walkers.

The rest of the White Walkers enter the castle and rendezvous with the Night King before entering the godswood. The Walkers stand aside as the Night King kills Theon and walks towards Bran. Before the Night King can draw his blade and kill Bran, Arya attacks him with her Valyrian steel dagger. He grabs her midair, but through sleight of hand, Arya stabs the Night King in the heart. The Night King explodes into ice, causing the other White Walkers to explode and their entire wight army to crumple.

With the death of the Night King, the White Walkers are now extinct and their magic ceased after thousands of years.[8]

Quotes

"The White Walkers have been gone for thousands of years."
Eddard Stark[src]
Osha: "There's things that sleep in the day and hunt at night."
Luwin: "Owls and shadowcats."
Osha: "I'm not talking about owls and shadowcats."
Luwin: "The "things" you speak of, they've been gone for thousands of years."
Osha: "They wasn't gone, old man. They was sleeping. And they ain't sleeping no more."
Osha and Luwin discuss the White Walkers[src]
"The wildlings serve crueler gods than you or I."
Jeor Mormont to Jon Snow, regarding Craster sacrificing his sons to the White Walkers[src]
"Always the artists."
Mance Rayder on White Walkers' habit of arranging the bodies of the dead into special patterns[src]
Bran Stark: "It was you. You made the White Walkers."
Leaf: "We were at war. We were being slaughtered. Our sacred trees cut down. We needed to defend ourselves."
Bran Stark: "From whom?"
Leaf: "From you. From men."
Bran Stark and Leaf, after the former witnesses the Children of the Forest curse the Night King[src]

Behind the scenes

White Walker

The original White Walker design, barely glimpsed in "Winter Is Coming."

The appearance of the White Walkers in the TV series isn't quite the same as in the books. They weren't fully revealed until the Season 2 finale, only quick shots mostly in the shadows in the premiere episode of Season 1. Freeze-frame shots of this display an early working-model design for the White Walkers, but given that it only flashed on-screen for a fraction of a second, this may never have been intended as their final appearance. This early design was almost skeletal, without noses. This original version really appeared too briefly to be seen without taking screenshots, but as this was the only glimpse of the White Walkers in the first season, fan sites (and wikis) heavily circulated these screenshots, somewhat obscuring the fact that the White Walkers' "official" design hadn't been firmly established yet.

According to Pixomondo, the TV series's special effects studio, there was indeed a complete redesign of the White Walkers between the barely glimpsed early concepts in Season 1, and the fully revealed version introduced in the Season 2 finale: "The producers and creatives were not happy with the White Walker costumes from season one; they wanted to redesign the look and it took a bit longer than expected." Only one full version of the redesigned White Walker costume was made by the Season 2 finale, thus the large shot of multiple White Walkers in the shot is just one stunt man doubled up many times. CGI enhancements were used to give the effect that wisps of cold air are emanating from the White Walkers' bodies, as well as to make their abdomens much more gaunt than human physiology.[23]

The final version introduced at the end of Season 2 is closer to how they appear in the books. Some differences remain, in that White Walkers are said to wear much more armor in the books, made out of a strange reflective metal that almost acts like camouflage. Further, the White Walkers in the books are described as "gaunt" but they don't seem to have quite so much of a mummified appearance. They are actually said to have an otherworldly, icy beauty to them. The White Walkers in Season 4 wear more armor than those glimpsed in Season 2, but generally maintain the established appearance. Their armor is black and dark grey, of some unknown material, as opposed to the reflective metal described in the books. Weiss and Benioff suggested in the "Inside the Episode" for "The Door" that the White Walkers began wearing the armor only after Sam killed one of them, and that this incident reminded them that there were things that could still harm them (in that episode, the armor is shown to be strong enough to repel dragonglass projectiles, "Hardhome", shows it is useless against Valyrian steel). Michele Clapton also operated under this assumption, and told Weiss and Benioff that her thinking was that the armor was actually scavenged bits of art and architecture from some long-forgotten culture of the far north.[24]

Author George R.R. Martin, when discussing with comic-book artist Tommy Patterson what the White Walkers were supposed to look like in the comic-book adaptation of the story he was drawing, said that: "They are strange, beautiful...think, oh...the Sidhe made of ice, something like that...a different sort of life...inhuman, elegant, dangerous." Martin also confirmed that the White Walkers are not "dead", just an inhuman kind of life.[25] The Sidhe are a kind of otherworldly fairy creature from Irish mythology, said to inhabit burial mounds, etc., not unlike the Barrow-wights of J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.[26]

In the books

In the Game of Thrones television show, the term "White Walkers" is used as an alternate name for a species called the Others in the A Song of Ice and Fire novels. They are held to be fairy stories by most of the people of Westeros. According to legend, the Others were creatures of ice and cold who, more than eight thousand years ago, came from the uttermost north during a winter that lasted a generation and a night that covered the world, the Long Night. The Others were defeated in the Battle for the Dawn by a great hero wielding a sword of flame. After the Others' defeat, Bran the Builder constructed the Wall with magic and artifice to ensure they could never return to threaten the people of Westeros and the world beyond. The Battle for the Dawn apparently unified the peoples of the North under the rule of the Starks and saw Winterfell built shortly thereafter.

The Night's Watch was founded to guard against the return of the Others, but this task is generally forgotten today. The Watch is instead believed to be guarding against the human wildlings who hold the lands beyond and occasionally try to raid across the Wall into the richer lands to the south.

The White Walkers are always accompanied by cold temperatures, and coming from the Land of Always Winter, it would seem that they prefer cold climates. They might even have difficulty surviving in warmer climates. Characters within the narrative debate whether this is because White Walkers actually generate cold and might even cause winters (such as the Long Night), or because they simply wait for the next winter cycle and move south when the temperature drops (in which case they didn't cause the Long Night, but seized on the opportunity it provided). White Walkers do not leave footprints in snow.

Some of Old Nan's fairy tales say that wildling women have been known to mate with the Others to produce half-human children, but this is an unsubstantiated rumor.

It is stated in the books that they fear the day and only come out at night. In "Valar Morghulis", however, they are seen in the twilight hours when the sun (hidden by heavy clouds) hasn't completely set yet. The reason for this was most likely practical: the White Walkers in the novels have only appeared in near pitch-darkness, and in the visual medium of television it would be difficult to strictly match this (i.e. even night scenes set in a forest seem curiously well-lit by the moon, so we the audience can see what is happening). The White Walkers again seem to appear during the day, albeit a completely overcast day, in "Hardhome."

There is no mentioning in the books that the Others arrange the bodies of their victims in any pattern.

When stabbed with a dragonglass blade, an Other will melt into a pool of cold liquid. In the TV series, when they are stabbed by dragonglass they painfully freeze into ice, and quickly shatter and crumble into pieces.

In the fourth novel, Jon and Sam find literary references to "dragonsteel", which is also lethal to Others, and assume (but have not yet confirmed) that it refers to Valyrian steel. In the series, Jon discovers quite by accident that Valyrian steel is indeed deadly to White Walkers.

It is unknown whether Others can be destroyed by fire. In the old records Sam finds, it is briefly mentioned that "fire will dismay them."

Origins and reproduction

Nothing is currently known about the origins of the White Walkers, simply that they came from the polar regions of the Land of Always Winter. Nothing is mentioned of them ever attempting to directly communicate with humans.

There actually are female White Walkers, if the legends about the corpse queen are true, but whether they actually reproduce with each other biologically, or if there are ever White Walker children is never mentioned whatsoever.

Craster's wives do say that they believe that the infant sons that Craster gave the Others as sacrifices were turned into new White Walkers - but it wasn't clear if this is what actually happens, or if it was just the wild suspicion of Craster's frightened, isolated wives. When Samwell is told to flee with Gilly and her newborn son, Gilly urges that if he doesn't "they" will come for him. When he asks who "they" are, another wife says: "The boy's brothers...Craster's sons. The white cold's rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons."

Confirmation of what exactly happens to Craster's sons has not occurred in the books yet, but the Season 4 episode of the TV series "Oathkeeper" revealed that the White Walkers do turn in fact Craster's infant sons into new White Walkers.

When George R.R. Martin was in the very early stages of starting work on the novel series, he sent a three page pitch memo to his agent giving a very rough idea of what the overall story would be like - back when he envisioned it as merely a trilogy of novels (Tywin Lannister's death at the end of book three/Season 4 is essentially the end of what would have been the original first novel out of three). Many ideas from this pitch memo were later heavily revised and bear little resemblance to the final version. When Martin briefly described the Others/White Walkers in this memo, he also referred to them using an alternate name never used in the main novels: The Neverborn:

."..half-forgotten demons out of legend, the inhuman Others, raise cold legions of the undead and the neverborn and prepare to ride down on the winds of winter to extinguish everything we would consider life."[27]

While these ideas in the pitch memo were tentative, they do seem to fit with what was revealed in Season 4 of the TV series - implying that the White Walkers are actually never "born", do not reproduce biologically as their own independent race, but "reproduce" by turning select humans into new White Walkers.

This brings up another vague comment made by Martin about the White Walkers. Early in production on Season 1, the TV series had to make its own costumes and weapons for the White Walkers, and Martin was asked if it fit well with his mental vision of what the White Walkers' material culture is like. Martin responded that the White Walkers don't really have what we would call a "culture." What he meant by this is unclear: the novels also say that the White Walkers have their own language, weapons, armor, etc. so they have some vestiges of such things.

Taken together, the fact that the White Walkers don't reproduce naturally, and don't really have their own "culture"/society, seems to indicate that they were never an independently existing race the way that humans, giants, and Children of the Forest were. It vaguely seems that they are more like demonic or magical spirits somehow housed within human bodies which they possess and turn into "White Walkers." How the first White Walker was created to begin with was later explained in the show, with a vision of Bran showing the Children of the Forest creating the Night King as part of their war efforts against the First Men.

Naming

The White Walkers are often known as "the Others" in the novels, and were still known by this name in the first draft of the pilot script. In the books, "white walkers" is the name given to the creatures by wildlings, and with only a few wildling characters, the term is heard only seldom. The name is also used in Westeros, though mostly by older characters such as Old Nan, Maester Aemon, and Lord Commander Jeor Mormont.

Fan speculation was originally that the name was changed to avoid confusion with the faction of the same name in the television series Lost (at a convention panel after Season 5 aired, George R.R. Martin did say that this concern was at least a factor in why the name "Others" was not used).[28] However, the producers stated in the Season 1 Blu-ray commentary that the main reason they made the change was more to avoid viewer confusion between the specific name "Others" and the generic use of the term: book-readers can tell that "Others" is treated as a capitalized proper noun, but TV-viewers cannot. It sounded like actors saying, "He says he saw the others" - but viewers had no way of telling if they simply meant "other soldiers", "other horses", etc. - so the term was just too confusing in the audio-visual medium of television.

Gallery

Appearances

References

External links