In the very first chapter of A Song of Ice
and Fire and the very first sequence of Game of Thrones, we see mysterious icy figures
called “white walkers”, or “Others”. At first, we know nothing about them. Now,
five books and five seasons later, we… still know almost nothing. But we “do know some
things”, so let’s look at what we’ve got and try to work out what the Others are,
what they want, and what’ll happen. The Others appear as “white shadows” “in
the darkness”, “Tall” and “gaunt” with “Bright … blue” eyes. They “come
when it’s cold”, in the night, or else they bring the cold and darkness when they
come. Old Nan calls them “dead things”, Sam calls them “monsters”, and Stannis
calls them “Demons made of snow and ice and cold”, but when one’s killed we see
they’re “creatures” made of “blood” and “flesh” and “bone”. George Martin
has said that they’re “not dead” but “a different sort of life” – “strange,
beautiful … inhuman, elegant, dangerous”. In the show, the walkers look more or less
like really old men with wrinkled skin, white beards, black nails, and bad teeth. Either
way, the Others clearly aren’t “dead things” or “demons” but living creatures. They
speak, in a language of their own. They laugh, they “screech” in pain , in the show
they show shock and anger. They make things out of ice. So the Others are intelligent,
with emotion and maybe culture. They might not be the monsters that they seem. That said,
they do a lot of killing. The Others wear “rippl[ing] … shift[ing]”
armour that can make them near-“invisible”, and wield “strange pale sword[s]” so
sharp they can “slice … through ringmail as if it were silk”. They fight effortlessly, mercilessly, “lightning quick” and with the strength, in the show, to throw men
like ragdolls. “their … swords are so cold they shatter steel”, and their armour
protects them from most blades – they seem unstoppable. But they can be killed with obsidian,
also called dragonglass. Sam stabs an Other with an obsidian dagger, and the walker “melt[s]
away“, its fingers smoking where they touch obsidian. It’s also hinted that Valyrian
steel swords can kill walkers , and we see this in the show – Jon Snow’s Valyrian
steel sword disintegrates an Other into icy CGI. Others also apparently “don’t like
fire” – which probably means they’d really hate dragons.
The Others resurrect the dead as “wights”, basically zombies controlled by the Others. Wights are “slow clumsy things”, “with blue eyes and cold black hands”, though
in the show they’re sometimes skeletal and fast . Wights don’t speak , and seem to
have no humanity left – though they seem to keep some memories. The Others make wights
out of “men … women … children” – and animals – walkers “ride dead horses”, send a bear into battle , and animate a raven. The Others use wights to fight for
them, and they’re very dangerous. Wights seem stronger than living men, able to “[lift
a man] in the air by the throat and near [rip] the head off him”. In the show they tear
through timber with their bare hands, they fall off a cliff and keep on running. They
don’t seem to feel pain. Even losing their head won’t stop them , and if a hand is
cut off, the hand will keep moving. Unlike the Others, wights aren’t hurt by obsidian. The only way to stop them is to chop them into bits , or to burn them. Wights are really
flammable, “burst[ing] into flame” from even a little touch of fire. So one wight
isn’t all that bad, but at the Fist of the First Men, and at Hardhome in the show, they
come in a huge “swarm”, an unstoppable “tide of [the] living dead”, all controlled
by the icy white walkers. So what do the Others want? What are they
doing? Well, they’ve been killing a lot of humans. In Book 1 they kill some wildlings,
and some men of the Night’s Watch , and they send wights after the Lord Commander
and acting First Ranger at Castle Black. In Book 3 they use wights to kill hundreds of
Night’s Watchmen at the Fist of the First Men , then Sam kills a walker, and later wights
are sent after Sam and Gilly. In Book 5 wights attack Bran and company , and attack Hardhome. We also learn the Others have been attacking wildlings for years , forcing them to flee
south and “hide behind [the] Wall”. So the Others are killing humans of many different
groups on a large scale, and are building an army of the dead .
But that’s not all they’re doing. The wildling Craster refers to the Others as “gods”,
and has a sort of an agreement with them. They don’t attack him and his wives , and
in return, Craster gives them his male children, leaving the newborns in the snow to be collected
by the Others. In the show, there’s a scene where an Other takes one of Craster’s sons
to a kind of an altar in what looks like the far-north Land of Always Winter. There, the
baby is changed into what looks like an Other. One of Craster’s wives refers to the Others
as “Craster’s sons”. So it looks like the Others can transform humans into Others,
and that some people give their children to the Others as a religious offering. It’s
probably not just Craster doing this. There are all sorts of “strange” wildling cultures
further to the north, and some of them are rumoured to worship “gods of snow and ice”. Sacrifice to the Others may be a widespread thing. The word Others is used as a curse,
like a swear word, and the phrase is almost always “The Others take you”. It’s
not ‘the Others kill you”, or ‘the Others steal your stuff’ – it is sometimes ‘the
Others bugger you’ – but it’s almost always “the Others take you”, suggesting
that the Others have a history of taking humans. We also hear stories of “wildlings who would
lay with the Others to birth half-human children”, which sounds like a different thing, but
either way, the Others clearly don’t just want to kill humans, but also want to use
them make more Others. Maybe that’s the only way Others can reproduce, maybe this
is part of some kind of natural cycle. For now, we don’t know. What we do know is that
the Others are killing people, they’re building an army of the dead, and winter is coming. Melisandre says they’re “marshalling” their “evil” “power” and will wage
“a war for life itself”, that they’ll bring a “night that never ends”, unless
“true men” can fight them in a “great battle” called “the war for the dawn”. Stannis calls the Others “The only enemy that matters”. Jon calls them the “real
foe” and says “they will come for us”. Everyone’s expecting war between humanity
and the Others. Which could make sense, because a “war for
the dawn” has apparently happened before. We’re told legends of “the Long Night”
– a dark winter, thousands of years ago, that lasted a generation. It’s said that
“In that darkness, the Others came”, to “extinguish all light and warmth”. “They
swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms, felled heroes and armies by the score, riding”
“monstrous ice spiders and the horses of the dead”, “leading hosts of the slain”. When “the realms of men” were almost at “an end”, Westeros was saved by the
“last hero”, who, with the “help” of the children of the forest – who might
have given him obsidian – established the Night’s Watch, and defeated the Others in
battle. After this victory, the Wall was built to make sure the Others could never
came back. So that’s the story in Westeros. Across the Narrow Sea, the Rhoynar have legends
of a darkness, but there’s no mention of the Others or a battle. In central Essos,
the Dothraki and the cultures of Slaver’s Bay seem to have no tales of the Long Night.
But in the far east, there are legends very similar to the one of the “last hero”
and the “battle for the dawn”. The YiTish say that during the Long Night they were attacked
by the “Lion of Night” and his “demons”, who were defeated when a hero called Azor
Ahai forged a burning sword and led humanity into battle. Now, huge mysterious citadels
called the Five Forts stand to keep the demons out, dividing the “realms of men” from
the Grey Waste beyond . Which sounds a lot like the Wall, right? And the “demons”
of the “Lion of Night” sound a lot like the Others. Isn’t it super weird that such
similar things happened on apparently opposite sides of the world? George Martin has said
that his world is round, so if you went far enough east you must eventually find Westeros. Maybe these two places, the Grey Waste and the Land of Always Winter, are connected.
Maybe the Others of Westeros and the “demons” of Yi Ti are one and the same, based in some
place between the Wall and the Five Forts. That would make this area a centre of cold
in this world, leaving Valyria – where the Targaryens and apparently dragons come from
– a centre of heat. This gives a sense of order to the fire and ice in this world, and
might explain why the Long Night affected Westeros and Yi Ti so badly without affecting
central Essos apparently at all. This could also be related to the irregular seasons,
which George Martin has suggested will eventually be resolved somehow. Anyway, the main legends
agree that the Long Night ended with a battle led by a hero now prophesied be reborn and
save the world once more. Which, y’know, could happen. Jon Snow could
be reborn with a flaming sword as Azor Ahai, he could unite the Night’s Watch, the wildlings,
and the north, and lead them to war, killing Others with obsidian from the children of
the forest – or from Stannis’ mines – and Daenerys could fly in with her dragons, to
burn away the dead, and Tyrion could ride one of the dragons, and Bran could warg one
of the other ones, and Rickon could ride in on a unicorn, and all the good guys could
come together and kill all the bad guys, and Daenerys and Jon could make out, and rule
together as Queen and King, as fire and ice, for ever and ever, the end.
Except things probably won’t be that simple. Does it really make sense for this story to
end with a war? We’ve seen so much war already, and most it achieves nothing but suffering.
Look at Robb Stark’s campaign, Daenerys’ conquests in Slaver’s Bay, Stannis’ invasion
of Blackwater Bay – they’re all seemingly just wars waged by seemingly good people,
but they all fail their original goals and cause a huge amount of suffering, not just
for the nobility, but for the common people. Look at Arya’s chapters at Harrenhal, Jaime’s
chapters in the riverlands, at Septon Meribald’s speech – we’re shown over and over that
war is terrible and wrong and pointless . George Martin himself was a conscientious objector
to the Vietnam War, and many of his other books also have a strong anti-war theme . So
how can a story filled with terrible, unjust, pointless wars end with a great war that saves
the world? A “war for the dawn” would also be too
obvious. George Martin has said that “part of the thing [he] always strive[s] for in
[his] books, is not to be predictable”. And what could be more predictable than the good
guys defeating the evil ice monsters in a big epic battle? Martin has specifically criticised
the Lord-of-the-Rings-style war between good and evil. He says “We don’t need any more
Dark Lords, we don’t need any more” “good guys battling bad guys”, “the wars in
my books are much more morally complex”. Showrunner David Benioff has said “it’s
not going to be your classic good-versus-evil conflict”. So the writer of the series
and the creators of the show, as well as the series itself make it clear that this story
won’t end with a righteous war between good guys and bad guys.
Which makes you wonder – maybe that’s not what happened last time either. Legends
of the Long Night and the “battle for the dawn” are ancient , and weren’t even written
down until thousands of years after they supposedly happened. We’re warned over and over not
to trust these tales. So while the Long Night did seem to have happened, and the Others
clearly are real, the “war for the dawn” might not have happened the way we’re told.
After all, it’s pretty hard to believe that humanity could’ve defeated the Others – we’ve
seen how dangerous they are. Would a hero with a flaming sword have been enough to win
the war? A popular idea in the fan community is that the Long Night ended with some kind
of peaceful agreement between humanity and the Others. Hints of this can be found at
the Nightfort. The Nightfort is the oldest and the largest
of the castles on the Wall, the “chief seat of the [Night’s] Watch” for “thousands
of years”. Now, it’s abandoned, and notorious as a “haunted” and “dreadful place”. It’s the subject of horror stories and strange legends, some of which hint at a
connection between the Night’s Watch and the Others. This brings us to the story of
the Night’s King. To clear something up real quick, this white walker in the show
is referred to as the “Night King” by HBO, but it’s probably not the same figure
as the legendary Night’s King, at least not in the books, so keep that in mind. The
story of the Night’s King goes that thousands of years ago, the thirteenth Lord Commander
of the Night’s Watch loved a woman “with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue
stars” – which sounds like an Other or a wight. He “gave his seed to her [and]
his soul as well”, he “proclaimed her a queen and himself her king”, he “bound
his Sworn Brothers to his will” “with strange sorceries”, and “ruled” “For
thirteen years” until the Starks and the wildlings “joined” together to cast him
down. It was then found that the Night’s King had been making “sacrifice[s] to the
Others”, which might mean giving them babies, like Craster. The Night’s King was doing
this at the Nightfort, and the Nightfort just happens to have a super creepy underground
“hidden” magic door called the Black Gate that lets Night’s Watchmen through the Wall. It’s likely that the Night’s King was using this sneaky door to make his secret
sacrifices. And the thing is – the Black Gate is as “old as the Wall itself”. Why
does “The greatest and oldest” of the Night’s Watch’s castles, its “chief
seat” for “thousands of years”, have an in-built sneaky hidden door to beyond the
Wall? Maybe it had always been used for secret sacrifice to the Others. There are several
other legends connecting this castle to the Others – one about a “hero” with suspiciously
blue eyes , another about a “thing that came in the night”. It definitely seems
like some kind of shady shit involving the Others was going on at the Nightfort in the
early years of the Watch. The HBO Viewer’s Guide hints at a “secret” at the Nightfort
– and this secret may soon be uncovered, because in Dance the Night’s Watch starts
to restore the castle for habitation. Maybe they’ll find that the Watch has a history
of sacrifice to the Others. You’ve gotta wonder about the Wall itself
– we’re told that it was built to keep the Others out after their defeat in the “battle
for the dawn”. But why would you build a wall made of ice to stop creatures of ice?
And how could it have been built? We’re told that the First Men cut the ice from frozen
lakes into huge blocks, dragged them along on sledges and stacked them up into the Wall. Can you imagine how long that would take? The Great Pyramid of Giza took decades to
build that way, and the Wall is as long as two thousand Great Pyramids , much taller
too. Even with the help of giants , the Wall would have taken centuries or millennia to
build. Doesn’t it make more sense for the Others to have built the Wall – you know,
the ice creatures who we know can make things out of ice? The humans, meanwhile, could have
built the nineteen castles along the Wall – the structures that actually look like
they could have been built by humans. Maybe the Long Night ended not with war but with
co-operation. We know from Craster that peaceful agreement between humans and Others is possible,
and we have another precedent in the Pact, which was a peaceful agreement between the
First Men and the children of the forest after their long horrible war. Under the pact, the
children were given the forests, and the first men given everything else. Maybe, similarly,
the humans and Others agreed to give the land north of the Wall to the Others, and the land
south of the Wall to the humans. A bit of sneaky human sacrifice through the Black Gate
might have been part of the deal. Of course, if there ever was an agreement between the
Others and humans, it seems long forgotten now, everyone’s gearing up for war, but
– we actually have the perfect hero to make peace possible again.
Jon Snow is the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. He’s been on or beyond the Wall for
almost all of the series and it’s hinted pretty explicitly that has some special destiny. He probably has the blood of the Targaryen dragon kings as well as the Stark Kings of
Winter, he may be the prophesied Azor Ahai, and he’s got some definite similarities
with Jesus. However you look at it, Jon seems to be the guy who will deal with the Others.
And the thing is – Jon has a lot of experience in making peace between peoples. He spends
almost all of Dance trying to reconcile the Night’s Watch and the wildlings – two
groups who hate each other, have been fighting for thousands of years , and seem totally
foreign to each other. Jon works to achieve peace because he realises it’s best for
everyone. He tries to understand and sympathise with the wildlings – and, similarly, he
tries to understand the Others. He keeps some wights for observation, and gets Sam
to research the Others in the Castle Black library . One of Stannis’ knights mockingly
asks if Jon would offer the Others hospitality at the Wall. Maybe that’ll actually end
up happening. Jon is, of course, currently bleeding in the
snow with four stab wounds, but he’ll probably be resurrected by Melisandre. In the other
resurrections we’ve seen, people change when they come back from the dead, they seem
to become less human , so maybe Jon will too. He’ll certainly feel alienated from the
Night’s Watch who betrayed him, and he might feel somehow closer to the Others. His last
line in Dance says “He never felt the fourth knife. Only the cold”. Jon Snow is someone
special in this story. He’s a hero, and a bastard in black . He’s honourable, and
he breaks his vows. He’s the son of a Stark and, probably, a Targaryen. There’s a duality
in him, a meeting of ice and fire, which makes him perfect to make peace between humanity
and the Others. It won’t be easy – there’ll be tough choices, compromises, sacrifices,
maybe an uncomfortable marriage , but Jon Snow seems the perfect person to do it. So
maybe, when Jon is reborn, he won’t be a warrior with a burning sword, but a different
kind of hero, a greater kind of hero. Someone who’ll work not to rule or destroy, but
to co-operate, and understand. Maybe Jon will bring peace, and balance, to the world of
ice and fire. We first saw the Others in A Game of Thrones,
nineteen years ago. And we still don’t really know what they are and what they’re about.
But we can work some stuff out. The Others are living creatures of ice that resurrect
the dead. They’re dangerous, they’re killing people, and building an army of wights, but
they’re also using humans to reproduce – so they’re probably not trying to wipe humans
out. Some expect a battle between humanity and the Others, which has apparently happened
before, but it’d make no sense thematically for the story to end with war. An alternative
is peace, and there are hints at the Nightfort and the Wall that humans and Others somehow
got along in the past. Jon Snow might be the perfect person to bring a new peace. That’s
one possibility, anyway – for more theories and discussion you might like to check out
the A Song of Ice and Fire subreddit and the westeros.org forums.
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