Game of Thrones - What Do The White Walkers Want?

oh my sweet summer child what do you know about fear fear is for the winter when the snows fall a hundred feet deep fear is for the long night when the Sun hides for years and children are born and live and die all in darkness that is the time for fear my little Lord when the White Walkers moved through the woods thousands of years ago there came a night that lasted a generation Kings froze to death in their castles same as the Shepherd's in their huts and women smothered their babies rather than see them starve and wept and felt the tears freeze on their cheeks so is this the sort of story that you like 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 what are you telling him now oh no what the little Lord wants to hear little is known about the White Walkers where they come from what they want and why they hate humanity what we do know is that they murder innocent people resurrect those people from the dead reproduced by transforming innocent babies into white walkers and have amassed an enormous army of undead wildlings and former men of the Nights Watch basically the people of Westeros are [ __ ] the White Walkers possess many magical powers the scope of their magical abilities is unknown but they have shown the ability to manipulate ice and cold weather whenever they approach a cold storm follows they wield Spears made out of ice that shattered the steel of any sword they come in contact with they also possess super strength and can effortlessly throw a grown man several feet but their most famous ability is Resurrection White Walkers can raise people from the dead and then add them to their ranks these resurrected dead are called whites who have no control of their actions and act as foot soldiers in the army of the Dead now the white walkers do have some weaknesses they can be killed by swords made out of Valyrian steel and even dragon glass is shown to be deadly when used against them both Valyrian steel and dragon glass are in short supply since they were originally made with the help of dragon fire george RR martin has described the White Walkers as beautiful and human elegant and dangerous suggesting there is a humanity to them they are shown to possess a form of language that is described in the books as ice crackling they have a humanoid appearance and are described as flesh and bones with ice running through their veins it is likely that they have some sort of civilization far north in the land of always winter in season 4 episode 4 Oathkeeper a white Walker is shown carrying Craster's last son north of the wall to an ice palace this ice palace could act as a place of worship or sort of a home base for the White Walkers this episode also marks the first appearance of the night the apparent leader of the White Walkers the knight King has been described by showrunners David Benioff and DB wise as a force of destruction the personification of death coming for everyone in the story on the outside the White Walkers are truly horrifying they appear to be brutally vicious ice demons who murder and then resurrect everyone in their path as we move towards the grand finale of Game of Thrones many people believe that the north and south will unite in the fight against the White Walkers and save Westeros Jon will lead the attack given his experience with the Nights Watch and with the help of Daenerys and her dragons the White Walkers will be defeated once and for all it's a great storybook ending our heroes unite and defeat the enemy but what if it's not that black and white Game of Thrones is a show that has subverted the major cliches of most fantasy epics george RR martin was heavily influenced by JRR tolkien but he's been critical of authors who imitate the good versus evil themes found in the Lord of the Rings series the climactic battle where good triumphs over evil he describes the wars in his books as morally complex which is clearly obvious I still don't know who I was rooting for during the battle at the Blackwater quoting one of his famous authors William Faulkner Martin believes that the only thing worth writing about is the human heart in conflict with itself we've seen this personified in characters like Jaime Lannister Daenerys Targaryen and even Arya Stark how many times have you heard someone say I used to hate Jaime in season one but now he's my favorite character go on any Game of Thrones subreddit or comment section and you'll find fans debating whether Daenerys is a righteous queen or an authoritarian nutjob like her father the Mad King most characters in Game of Thrones fall in between the moral spectrum of good versus evil why would the White Walkers be any different I mean how do you think this is going to end a classic tale of good versus evil the good guys team up the living triumphs over the dead Danny John and Tyrion ride the dragons with the help of a bran arias awnser Brienne and the Hound super team they defeat the white walkers kill the night's king take the Iron Throne and live happily ever after in this video I propose the idea that the White Walkers aren't just mindless killing ice demons hell bent on Westerosi genocide but living breathing intelligent creatures that wage war for a purpose whether it be revenge betrayal survival or conquest the White Walkers fight for something the question is what I don't think this is going to be the classic tale of good versus evil the living versus the dead I think there's a side to this story we haven't heard yet and in order to know what the White Walkers want we must see this story from their perspective which is almost impossible since we know so little about them but we can look to the past for answers twelve thousand years before Robert's rebellion the continent of Westeros was occupied by two groups the first men and the children of the forest for thousands of years the first men and the children fought for control of the Western continent after fighting to a standstill they eventually came to an agreement called the pact which was signed on the Isle of faces the pact stated that the first men would have domains to all open lands fields Shores and mountains while the forests would be the domain of the children for 4000 years the two races coexisted in peace with the first men converting to the religion of the children worshiping the old gods of the forest about a couple hundred years after the pact was signed the first men and the children of the forest came under attack from the White Walkers for the first time a race of ice demons from the far north of Westeros it is unknown why the White Walkers attacked the first time and nobody truly knows how they were defeated according to myth the White Walkers were defeated by a last hero of the first men when the long night fell upon Westeros for the first time and the White Walkers invaded the last hero and his companions went in search of the children the forest with the belief that the children's magic could help destroy the White Walkers the last hero was the only survivor and after fending off attacks from Giants White's and the walkers he finally reached the children of the forest and gained their help the Nights Watch was formed and the walkers were defeated and what became known as the battle for the dawn the war was over the walkers retreated to the far north of Westeros and the wall was built legend has it that with the help of the children of the forest bran the Builder the founder of House Stark built the wall to protect Westeros should the walkers ever return the wall is described as 300 miles long and approximately 700 feet high and according to legend the wall has old spells woven into it that keep the walkers from passing it but in reality it probably wasn't made by man they say that the wall was constructed by carving giant blocks of ice out of the frozen lakes in the haunted forest they used sledges to transport the ice blocks and stack them one on top of another even with the help of giants and the children of the forest the wall would have taken hundreds possibly thousands of years to build and according to legend the wall was built shortly after the battle for the dawn now wouldn't it make more sense if the White Walkers built the wall since they you know they kind of control ice I mean the children of the forest are children of the forest they possess magic but that magic is related to the earth and the weirwood trees their magic doesn't allow them to manipulate ice the wall is a massive structure and would have taken thousands of years for men to build it on their own but then that begs the question why would the White Walkers build a wall to protect men from themselves it's a little bit contradictory well what if the wall was part of some sort of agreement that dictates territory we know that the first men in the children of the forest Saund a peace treaty that dictated lands between the two people well what if the first men in the White Walkers did the same the story of the last hero that defeated the walkers says that he was surrounded by enemies before he reached the children of the forest and with the help of the children they halted the white Walker invasion but they didn't destroy them the White Walkers continued to live on after the battle of the dawn evidenced by their return so if the last hero found a way to halt their invasion why not destroy them altogether what if the first men in the walkers came to an agreement similar to the first men and the children thousands of years ago with the wall acting as a designation of land rather than a form of protection the first men would continue to control the lands south of the wall and the White Walkers would be entitled to all the lands north of the wall since you know they do well in the cold now I know what you're saying it seems impossible that men and white walkers can come to an agreement how would this even come to fruition well then comes the night's king not to be mistaken for the night King the night's king is the story of the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch after the construction of the wall the Nights Watch was formed the Nights Watch was once made up of great warriors and knights who would defend the wall should the White Walkers ever return according to legend the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch fell in love with the white Walker and named her his bride he named himself the night's king and together they ruled over the wall for 13 years enslaving the men of the Nights Watch and performing human sacrifices he was eventually defeated by German the king-beyond-the-wall and Brandon the breaker the king of the north now some people believe that the night's king wasn't just the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch but he was a stark and that his marriage to a female white Walker was part of the pact between the First Men and the White Walkers in order to keep the peace between these two worlds a marriage could have been arranged between a stark and a white Walker in this case the night's king and his bride a marriage between two noble houses is a very popular tradition in Westeros it's used to build alliances and keep peace between two great houses in season one Robert Baratheon and Ned Stark agreed to join their houses by marrying their son and daughter Joffrey and Sansa and belief that their marriage would keep the peace between the North and the South that obviously didn't work out and neither did the marriage between the night's king and his bride he was disposed of and the Nights Watch destroyed all known records of his 13-year rule people have also speculated that the night's king wasn't the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch but he was the first and only night's King together he and his bride ruled over the Demilitarized Zone that lies between Westeros and north of the wall the wall itself they ended up taking the Nightfort as their seat the night fort is a point of interest because it is the this castle on the wall it was built shortly after the walls construction in the current day the night fort is no longer manned due to the dwindling numbers of the Nights Watch but some believe that it holds a great secret of the night watches history now according to the myth the night's king and his bride were making human sacrifices at the night fort most likely to the White Walkers we learned in season 3 that the night fort has a secret passageway that leads under the wall so it makes sense that they would choose the night fort as their seat it's easy access beyond the wall the only character that we know for certain make sacrifices to the White Walkers is Craster he sacrifices his infant sons and the White Walkers leave him in peace what if the human sacrifices by the night's king and his bride were part of the pact between the First Men and the White Walkers from what we know it looks like the White Walkers can only reproduce by turning infant babies into White Walkers themselves george RR martin has referred to them in the past as unborn but always living it is proven by Craster that if you offer them sacrifices they will spare your life of course this probably didn't sit well with the original men of the Nights Watch from the perspective of the night's king he was only trying to keep the peace between two enemies that had fought viciously against each other for years from the perspective of the Nights Watch forming a peace with these super-powered magical beings could one day lead to them returning and conquering Westeros the night's king was trying to keep a peace between these two warring worlds but he was killed all the same remind you of someone we'll watch so in essence the pact between the first men and the White Walkers would contain three main clauses no men are allowed north of the wall and no white walkers are allowed south of the wall a stark will let a white Walker in order to keep the peace and the occasional human sacrifice will be made to ensure the survival of the white walkers as a species 8,000 years after the first long night the treaty has been broken hundreds of thousands of men are living north of the wall the human sacrifices to the White Walkers have ended set for a stir and his babies and the Starks and no longer rule Winterfell not only do the White Walkers feel betrayed by man but also threatened the one thing that is a threat to their existence has returned to the world from the very moment those dragons came into the world we as fans have expected a deadly confrontation between the worlds of Ice and Fire this is where Jon Snow comes in the White Walkers sightings began sometime near the end of Robert's rebellion which also coincides with the birth of Daenerys Targaryen Rob stark and Jon Snow now in the books all the stark children are wargs so for the sake of the show will replace Rob with bran the birth of these three characters also coincides with the rebirth of magic there hadn't been dragons for hundreds of years until Daenerys there hadn't been a stark ward for thousands of years until brand and John well John is a combination of both Daenerys his fire Magic has been on display since season one she is immune to fire evident by the birth of her three dragons in season one and when she murders the cows and faced author act by setting their Temple ablaze in season six in the books the Targaryen star described as having silver hair purple eyes traits that are not found in normal human beings they have a special relationship with fire magic through their Valyrian ancestry and they also have a special relationship with dragons with some people believing that Targaryen have dragon blood similar to the Targaryen s' the Starks also have a connection to magic in the earth through their ancestry that goes back to the first men and a possible magical connection to the far north and the White Walkers if the infamous night's King was a stark and his wife a white Walker their children would be half stark and half white Walker this relationship between a male stark and a female white Walker could explain why the Starks have such an affinity for cold weather and why they tend to be wargs and greenseers and the books all the stark children are warts they each have a special connection with their respective direwolves and they have shown the ability to warg into their dire wolves knowingly or unknowingly now I'm not suggesting that the Starks are related to the White Walkers and that the Targaryen czar related to dragons that they possess dragon blood but there is something fishy going on in Westeros in regards to magic and this is why Jon Snow is the perfect candidate to bring the worlds of Ice and Fire together in peace for an entire season and in the case of the novel's an entire book Jon Snow acts as a negotiator between the Nights Watch and the wildlings Mance Rayder tells John that he United the wildlings because he didn't want to see his people wiped out during the long night but the Nights Watch can only see them as wildling invaders enemies Jon Snow acts as a mediator between the two groups he tries to convince the Nights Watch that if the wild links are left beyond the wall they will be slaughtered and added to the army of the Dead on the other hand he must convince the wildlings that the Nights Watch can be trusted and won't slaughter them in their sleep he succeeds for the most part until he's killed what if Jon plays the same role during the long night acting as the bridge between the White Walkers and the people of Westeros uniting both sides to fight against the true enemy of both Daenerys Targaryen the mother of dragons Game of Thrones is a story of Ice and Fire two worlds on a collision course that can end the world as we know it and those two worlds of ice and fire run through the veins of John Snow through his stark ancestry John is connected to northern magic and the White Walkers he possesses the ice magic of the first men and through his Targaryen ancestry John is connected to old Valyria and their dragons he has the fire magic of old Valyria he is the perfect candidate to bring peace to both worlds is it coincidence that his father Rhaegar Targaryen a man obsessed with prophecy had a child with a stark woman Rhaegar believed his third son would be the prince that was promised and by birthing a child with Lyanna Stark Rhaegar gave life to the living breathing Song of Ice and Fire and quite possibly the only chance of uniting both worlds and bringing peace to Westeros so in conclusion I don't think the night King is a Dark Lord whose only ambition is absolute destruction george RR martin just doesn't create one-dimensional villains like that unless that villain is Joffrey or Ramsay but you know they're awesome I see the knight King as a scarier more powerful and less forgiving version of Mance Rayder a king who wants to see his people live the king who wants to see his people survive an ancient white Walker who believes that men can no longer be trusted george RR martin has stated several times that the ending to Game of Thrones will be bittersweet how bittersweet would it be if Jon Snow must save the world by killing Daenerys Targaryen thank you for watching this video guys this is a theory that's been floating around the internet for years so I put some of the references I used in the description below um some that agree with the theory some that outlined it pretty well and some that vehemently disagree so it's all very interesting make sure you subscribe to this channel and most importantly make sure you yell at me in the comments below thank you

Channel: Nerd Soup

Views: 7,860,623

Rating: 4.7889829 out of 5

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Id: 6qAHu2KifBQ

Length: 18min 44sec (1124 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 13 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/mambaGoat]

They were created by the children of the forest to kill men, specifically the first men. Thus, I believe that is still their mission, to kill all men. However they are intelligent and have been gathering their numbers waiting to strike, ever since they lost the first war. Caster gave them the necessary ammo, 99 sons who were presumably turned into white walkers.

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[u/DangerIsMyUsername]

It's pretty simple, they just want to kill everyone. For which, I am 100% on-board with. I can't wait for them to take out a bunch of those whiny cunts south of the wall.

[u/czj113]

I think they want to get back to the isle of faces and somehow reverse the magic