Night King


 * This article is about a specific character. For other uses see White Walker

The Night's King is a recurring character in the fourth and fifth seasons. He is played by guest star Richard Brake and first appears in "Oathkeeper". He is the leader of the White Walkers.

Background
According to legend, the Night’s King lived during the Age of Heroes, not long after the Wall was complete. He was a fearless warrior, who was named the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. Later he fell in love with a woman “with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars,” he chased her and loved her though “her skin was cold as ice,” and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. He brought her back to the Nightfort and after the unholy union, he declared himself king and her his queen, and ruled the Nightfort as his own castle for thirteen years. During the dark years of his reign, horrific atrocities were committed, of which tales are still told in the North. It was not until his own brother, the King in the North, and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, joined forces that the Night’s King was brought down and the Night’s Watch freed. After his fall, when it was discovered that he had been sacrificing to the Others (possibly in similar way to Craster), all records of him were destroyed and his very name was forbidden. It is likely this led the lords of the North to forbid the Night’s Watch to construct walls at their keeps, ensuring the keeps would always be accessible from the south.

Season 4
This mysterious White Walker first appears in a vision that Bran Stark has, when he uses the Greensight and Wargs with a Weirwood Heart tree. He experiences a flood of images from the past, present, and future, many of which he was not physically present for. He does not comprehend what all of these images are. In retrospect, one of them is an image of the White Walker's master picking up the last of Craster's sons on an ice altar.

After Rast places Craster's final son on the ground in the Haunted Forest, a White Walker riding an undead horse approaches and takes the baby, carrying it towards a shattered mountain in the Lands of Always Winter. Once inside, the White Walker approaches an icy altar ringed by large icy spikes and places the baby upon the altar. In the distance, a group of thirteen black-garbed White Walkers are revealed to be viewing the proceedings from afar. One of them (the "White Walker's master") breaks from the middle of their number and approaches the altar, stopping to regard the human child for a moment before gently gathering him in its arms. The baby immediately calms, staring into the face of the White Walker, who is revealed to have a crown of horns jutting from its head. It places its index finger upon the baby's cheek, causing the child's eyes to slow turn to icy, depthless blue and his skin to grow pale, finally revealing the fate of Craster's other sons.

Season 5
The Night's King appears again when Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane are under attack at Hardhome just when the free folk started boarding a fleet of ships from shore. He appears to be leading the attack, and watches from up on a hill as Jon slays a White Walker with Longclaw. As Jon, Tormund and the remaining defenders leaves on the boat, the Night's King appears on the dock and locks eyes with Jon. He then raises his arms causing all the dead in Hardhome to rise up as Wights.

Appearances

 * Briefly appears in a vision

Behind the Scenes

 * The synopsis for "Oathkeeper" on the HBO Viewer's Guide originally listed this character as the Night's King, though this was later removed. The Inside the Episode for the episode Hardhome confirmed he is indeed the Night's King.


 * The actor who plays the White Walker's master is Richard Brake: he isn't very recognizable under all of the prosthetics he is wearing, but he is best known for his appearance in Christopher Nolan's 2005 Batman Begins film, in which he played Joe Chill, the street mugger that killed Bruce Wayne's parents.

Executive producers Benioff and Weiss discussed the appearance of the Night's King in a Season 4 featurette:


 * Weiss: "We wanted to kind of evolve the White Walker look. He is of a group of almost ageless creatures."


 * Benioff: "It's an interesting mix between something frigthening, obviously, but also regal, something aristocratic about Him. We wanted a distinction from the other White Walkers that we've seen."


 * Weiss: "And we went back and forth for a long time, until we hit upon something that was, if anything, moving in a more human direction, while maintaining a generally horrific look."

According to the Season 4 Blu-ray commentary, a lot more material was actually filmed with the Night's King in "Oathkeeper", but the production team then decided to cut it in order to keep his appearance brief and mysterious.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, there has not yet been any mention of the Others, who appear in person only very occasionally, currently having a leader or any kind of hierarchy. The Night's King is believed to be long dead.

The Night's King is a legendary Lord Commander of the Night's Watch who lived during the Age of Heroes, not long after the Wall was complete. According to legend, he was a fearless warrior named the thirteenth Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Later, he fell in love with a woman "with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars". He chased her and loved her though "her skin was cold as ice", and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well. He brought her back to the Nightfort and after the unholy union, he declared himself king and her his queen, and ruled the Nightfort as his own castle for thirteen years. During the dark years of his reign, horrific atrocities were committed, of which tales are still told in the North. It was not until Brandon the Breaker, the King of Winter, and Joramun the King-Beyond-the-Wall, joined forces that the Night's King was brought down and the Night's Watch freed. After his fall, when it was discovered that he had been making sacrifices to the Others, all records of him were destroyed and his very name was forbidden and forgotten. It is likely this led the lords of the North to forbid the Night's Watch to construct walls at their keeps, ensuring the keeps would always be accessible from the south.

One of the Stories Old Nan told Bran is about the Night's King. She said some people believe the Night's King was a Bolton, a Magnar of Skagos, an Umber, a Flint, a Norrey, or a Woodfoot. However, she identified the Night's King as a Stark of Winterfell and brother to the King of the North and hints his name was Brandon.

Similarly, the fate of Craster's sons is still unknown: Old Nan's tales allude to the Others' feeding human children to the wights, or that wildling women lay with White Walkers to make horrible half-Walker babies, etc. 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.