Everything You Need to Know About ‘Game of Thrones’ White Walkers

Game of Thrones definitely left its mark on tv (thank the Outdated Gods, the New Gods, the Lord of Gentle, the Many-Confronted God, and The Drowned God), spawning the profitable prequel, House of the Dragon, and lots of more upcoming spin-offs. All through the present, one of many issues that stood out most was the many terrifying villains. From Ramsay Bolton (Iwan Rheon) to Cersei Lannister (Lena Headey), there was by no means any scarcity of threats. However one enemy was arrange from the very starting. Keep in mind probably the most essential components of Sport of Thrones, The White Walkers?

Let’s have a look again at these bone-chilling villains. The traditional, terrifying, mummy-like antagonists with their ice zombie military turned more and more very important as Sport of Thrones raced towards its inevitable conclusion. Solely these creatures may unite the warring Westeros and the Free People as they threatened a whole continent. Although they start as a mysterious enemy, so previous that the world has forgotten them, the present reveals the White Walkers’ origins, targets, talents, and weaknesses because the characters uncover these information. Right here’s the whole lot you want to find out about The White Walkers.

Who Are the White Walkers?

The White Walkers are a frozen-looking enemy seemingly intent on destroying the world of males, who management an ice zombie horde often called “wights.” They arrive from the far North, deep past The Wall, however below the management of the Night King, they’re making their means south to Westeros, killing all of their path. Believed to be nothing greater than an historic legend in Westeros, the monsters have been silent for generations, however their motion caught the eye of the Wildlings, who responded by making an attempt to flee over The Wall. Because the White Walkers invade, the Wildlings, Jon Snow (Equipment Harington), and the Night time’s Watch should work to get others to take the menace severely.

The place Did the White Walkers Come From?

The White Walkers had been created by the Kids of the Forest 1000’s of years in the past as a type of safety towards the First Males who had been reducing down their sacred timber and slaughtering their tribe. (Impolite). The White Walkers had been initially First Males themselves, earlier than the Kids of the Forest captured them and reworked them into weapons. Urgent dragonglass daggers into the chests of those First Males, the Kids of the Forest created the primary White Walkers, however little did they know that they had simply made themselves a robust enemy. Moderately than perpetually defending the Children of the Forest, the White Walkers rebelled, Cylon-style, from their lives of compelled war-making. However as they had been created for battle, they determined to make struggle on their very own phrases, attacking the residing indiscriminately and turning into probably the most feared creatures in all of Westeros. Or so the legends say. We’ve but to listen to the White Walkers’ facet of the story, however, primarily based on their function in Sport of Thrones, it is arduous to see them as something however the villains.

Who Is the Night time King?

The Night King, typically known as Night time’s King, is probably the most recognizable of the White Walkers. You’ve in all probability seen this icy dangerous man in a meme or gif, elevating his arms in an “Are you not entertained?” gesture as he resurrects a complete horde of fallen Wildling corpses into wights. As a result of that’s one thing he can do. The Night time King was the primary of the White Walkers created by the Kids of the Forest, and now leads the others. He has the facility to show human infants into White Walkers, as we noticed with Craster’s (Robert Pugh) sons who got as sacrifices to the Night time King in return for Crasters’ and his brood’s security. He additionally raised the dragon Viserion from the lifeless and rode him whereas destroying the Wall, making the Night time King one of many few dragonriders within the present. Discuss flex.

What Do the White Walkers Need?

I imply, they’re in all probability fairly mad about that enforced slavery factor. Additionally, they had been created with a singular objective — struggle — utilizing untested magic because the instrument. In different phrases: The Kids of the Forest had been simply form of desperately winging it. They had been enjoying with fireplace (or, on this case, ice) and most undoubtedly received burned. Now, they’re getting everybody else burned, too. Maybe, given their origins, the White Walkers are incapable of wanting something apart from to beat. Or possibly they’re simply actually offended. Frankly, that is the Kids of the Forests’ fault, although it looks as if a low blow to harp an excessive amount of on this level, given that the majority of them are lifeless, many by the hands of The White Walkers themselves.

Have the White Walkers Attacked Westeros Earlier than?

Roughly 8,000 years in the past, throughout the longest winter in recorded historical past, which lasted a whole era, the White Walkers struck Westeros. It was a darkish time, however, finally, the folks of Westeros joined forces and, with the assistance of the Kids of the Forest and the giants, drove the White Walkers again into the North. The Wall was constructed to maintain the zombie horde at bay, and the Night time’s Watch took their first pledge. Since then, the White Walkers have pale into fantasy and most of the people on the planet of males assume they’re merely a scary story made as much as maintain youngsters in test. This battle would have been explored in the cancelled prequel series Bloodmoon.

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What Do We Know of the White Walker Tradition?

Little is thought in regards to the White Walkers apart from their warlike methods. However, we all know they converse a language known as Skroth, which writer George R.R. Martin describes as sounding just like the cracking of ice. Among the White Walkers now we have seen on the present have crown-like horns of ice, suggesting they’re a part of some form of ruling class. This type of White Walker has at all times been seen carrying black armor. The Night time King leads them. It is also revealed that their numbers develop by way of the taking of Craster’s sons. What do the White Walkers consider in?

Melisandre (Carice van Houten) claims the White Walkers worship a god known as the Nice Different who’s the Lord of Gentle’s enemy. It’s unclear if the Nice Different is said to any of the many other religious deities now we have heard about on this present to this point. In Season 8, Bran (Isaac Hempstead Wright) reveals that the Night time King needs to destroy him as a result of he holds all of the history of man in his position and the Three-Eyed Raven. Evidently, the Night time King has tried to return for different Three-Eyed Ravens for a similar cause, however now that he has marked Bran, it appears clear that the White Walkers wish to destroy any remaining semblance of the residing and their world and the historical past of it.

What Powers Do White Walkers Have?

As probably the most memorable magical beings in Game of Thrones, the White Walkers have a number of talents that make them formidable. White Walkers are tremendous robust and likewise appear to have some type of skill to control the climate. They normally seem accompanied by a blizzard and dropping temperatures. That’s simply how White Walkers roll. The Night time King known as down a mighty, zero-visibility blizzard that threw the Battle of Winterfell into chaos and confused each Daenerys (Emilia Clarke) and Jon and their dragons. White Walkers can even freeze something they contact, as we noticed in Season 2 when a White Walker froze Sam’s (John Bradley) sword to the shattering level. Maybe most terrifyingly, the White Walkers are in a position to reanimate the corpses of fallen males, turning them into wights and making an undead military. Wildlings have taken to burning their corpses to forestall them from being added to the White Walkers’ ever-growing ranks.

The Night time King, specifically, has demonstrated additional energy. Along with his aforementioned skill to show human infants into White Walkers, he can flip a whole bunch of corpses into wights with the elevating of his arms (the wights then act in a singular hive-mind, and are available to save lots of others who’re in peril), trigger fissures within the floor, and mark an individual for pursuit as he does with Bran in Season 6. Oh, and he can even reanimate lifeless dragons into wight/undead dragons. Yeah. (Bears, too, however c’mon. Dragons!) Within the Season 7 finale, we noticed the reanimated Viserion as a mount for the Night time King, in a position to destroy the Wall along with his blue fireplace.

Can White Walkers Be Killed?

Yeah, it’s not straightforward, as Sam found the terrifying means. White Walkers are susceptible to blades made from dragonglass or Valyrian steel. Jon Snow makes use of his Valyrian metal sword Longclaw to take out a White Walker on the battle of Hardhome in Season 5. Sadly, the artwork of forging Valyrian metal has been misplaced, which implies there are a restricted variety of Valyrian swords left on the planet. In contrast to wights, who’re susceptible to fireplace, it’s a lot more durable to burn a White Walker as a result of they’re so chilly, although there may be hypothesis that dragonfire would possibly do the trick.

When a White Walker falls, nonetheless, the wights they resurrected lose their mobility mojo. This was beforehand solely seen throughout Season 7, Episode 6 “Past the Wall” however performed a giant half within the survival of the folks of the North. Arya’s (Maisie Williams) deathblow to the Night King together with her Valyrian steel dagger not solely turned the icy chief to powder, it causes his whole military to crumble into uselessness. Useful, that!

— Dave Trumbore and Abby Cavenaugh contributed to this report.

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