Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-5308269-20160828024721/@comment-5308269-20160828142205

Wights are the undead. The zombie Night's Watch and Wildlings, and the re-animated skeletons. White Walkers are not undead as such. George R.R. Martin describes them as being "a different kind of life".

Only the Night King and Benjen Stark are the way they are because of enchanted dragonglass. The rest of the White Walkers are so created by the Night King's own touch. While the undead are animated by the sheer will of the Night King. As we saw in Season 5's Hardhome episode, the Night King merely made a gesture to re-animate the bodies of the freshly-slain Wildlings in the camp.