White Walkers


 * This article is about the race. For other uses see White Walker.



"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

The White Walkers, referred to as the Others in the books, 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 furthest 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. {C}Eventually the peoples of Westeros rallied and in a conflict known as the War for the Dawn, the White Walkers were defeated and driven back into the uttermost north, with the Wall raised to bar their return. In the present day, most believe they never existed and are just the stuff of legends, and even the few who believe they did once exist think they went extinct thousands of years ago. Certainly, none has been seen for thousands of years.

According to legend, the White Walkers speak a language known in myth as "Skroth".

While held as myths and spoken of in the same breath as ghosts, goblins, "Grumkins and Snarks", there is a growing belief amongst the wildlings who live beyond the Wall that the White Walkers have returned.

Season 1
"The White Walkers have been gone for centuries."

- Eddard Stark

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.



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 fog envelops the entire plateau. He seeks refuge behind a rock as a White Walker, leading vast horde of Wights, rides past him atop an undead horse.

Appearances


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.

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.

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.