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| “ | Demons made of snow and ice and cold. The ancient enemy. The only enemy that matters. | „ |
| ~ Stannis Baratheon, to Samwell Tarly. |
The Others, also known as The White Walkers, are the overarching antagonists of the A Song of Ice and Fire novel series and its television adaptation Game of Thrones. They are an ancient, mysterious, and elusive race related to ice and the night. They are the creators and leaders of the army of the dead.
Before the events in the novel series, the Others had supposedly not been seen for thousands of years. So far, they have appeared in the flesh only twice in the entire series, and their purpose remains unknown at this time. They reside in the Lands of Always Winter, which are located in the farthest parts of the north beyond the Wall. Believers of the religion of R'hllor claim that the Others follow the Great Other, a god of darkness, ice, and death, who is locked in an eternal war with R'hllor, god of light, fire, and life.
While it is currently unknown if the Others have a leader of their own, in the TV show adaptation of Game of Thrones, the leader of the White Walkers is the Night King, who was created by the Children of the Forest as the first and original White Walker.
In the novels, the Others are capable of speech and can even laugh, but their language is incomprehensible to humans. In the television series, they are completely mute and show little emotion.
Characteristics[]
| “ | They wasn't gone, old man. They was sleeping. And they ain't sleeping no more. | „ |
| ~ Osha to Maester Luwin, talking about the White Walkers. |
Novels[]
The Others are described as tall, gaunt beings with pale white skin and eyes that are an inhuman shade of cold blue, said to be as bright as stars and colder than ice. Their blood is said to be pale blue, while their bones are as shiny as milk glass. George R. R. Martin describes the Others as "strange, beautiful… think, oh… the Sidhe made of ice, something like that… a different sort of life… inhuman, elegant, dangerous." In addition, though Old Nan describes the Others as "dead things," Martin stated that they are not dead.
The Others wear delicate camouflaging armor that can reflect their surroundings, constantly shifting colors and blending into the world around them. According to George R. R. Martin and comic book artist Tommy Patterson, the armor of the Others can pick up "the images of things around it like a clear, still pond."
The weapons of the Others are swords made of crystal, which glows like moonlight with a faint blue glow. Because they are extremely sharp, they are capable of passing through ringmail as though it were silk. When an Other's crystal sword makes contact with a steel blade, a shrill, high, and thin noise, akin to an animal screaming in pain, is heard. When it would brush the flames of a torch, this would emit a screech that was as sharp as a needle.
The Others' crystal swords radiate intense cold, so great that they can cover metal in frost to the point of shattering a steel blade. George R. R. Martin claims that the substance the crystal swords are made from is "Ice. But not like regular old ice." Martin further claimed that the Others can do things with ice that "we can't imagine and make substances of it."
The language of the Others is unnamed, but those that hear it describe the words as sounding like the cracking of ice on a winter lake, while their laughter is being compared to sharp icicles.
TV series[]
The White Walkers are shown to be tall, pale-skinned beings whose flesh is pulled over their form, lending them a mummified appearance. They are often seen with long, wispy beards and hair as pale as snow. Their skins are pale-grey, which is sinewy and stretched taut across their faces, which explains why they have a gaunt and mummified-like appearance. They also wear black leather armor, which may appear to represent a high position in the army of the dead.
Much like their novel counterparts, the White Walkers wield weapons made of crystallized ice, which include swords, spearheads, and javelins. Like in the novels, they are capable of shattering not only steel weapons but also bronze. In addition, the weapons of the White Walkers can even pierce the hide and scales of dragons.
While they are master swordsmen, they are also inhumanly strong, capable of throwing an adult man backward with a single blow. The language of the White Walkers is the same as in the novels but is called Skroth. The inhuman sound that emits from the language is "ice-cracking chatter."
Powers & Abilities[]
Wherever the Others go, intense cold follows, but it is unknown if they only appear when it is extremely cold or if they themselves bring it. While some stories claim that the Others will only come out at night, others still say that they bring the night. While wielding their crystal swords, they are shown to be superior sword fighters. The Others tread lightly in the snow, leaving no tracks to mark their passage, akin to that of ghosts, and moving, while graceful and swift, as fast as lightning.
By far the most insidious power they possess is their ability to resurrect the dead, turning them into undead creatures called Wights, who are described as having pale blue eyes just like their masters. As such, Wildlings burn their dead to ensure they do not rise as slaves to the Others' will. According to the Free Folk, the Others and the Wights can smell life, or rather, its warmth.
There are tales of the Others riding the corpses of dead animals such as bears, direwolves, mammoths, and horses. In addition to normal animals, some Tales also say that the Others also ride giant ice spiders.
Weaknesses[]
In the Novel series[]
The Others have a few known weaknesses that are recorded in ancient texts: One is obsidian, otherwise called dragonglass or "frozen fire." If an Other is stabbed with any weapon made of Obsidian, this will cause its flesh and bones to melt away, leaving only an icy puddle. Ancient texts also record a weakness for "dragonsteel", which several have taken to be Valyrian steel. Mance Rayder expressed the belief that magic wards in the Wall prevent the Others from crossing into the Seven Kingdoms.
In the television series[]
In the TV series Game of Thrones, ranging from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to capturing a wight beyond the Wall, it is shown that killing a White Walker will cause all the wights who had been resurrected by it to crumble upon their master's death. Furthermore, all wights and White Walkers are linked to the Night King, and if the Night King dies, the entire race of White Walkers and Wights will go extinct. This is shown as when Arya killed the Night King, all White Walkers exploded into ice shards, and all wights immediately crumbled.
While their crystallized ice weapons can destroy bronze and steel weapons, however, they are incapable of destroying weapons made of Valyrian steel. As a result, weapons made of said metal act as counter-weapons, making them a match for the White Walker's ice weapons.
Gallery[]
A Song of Ice and Fire[]
Game of Thrones[]
Trivia[]
- In the novels, the Others are sometimes referred to as "white walkers" by characters on a few occasions. The showrunners of the television adaptation chose this alternate nomenclature as the sole main name for the Others.
- As a result of their undead-like appearance in their depiction of the TV series Game of Thrones, a common misconception among those who are less informed is that the White Walkers are intelligent undead. They have also been mistakenly compared to the draug from mythology, and they even resemble the Draugr from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Others are a magical living race of the Known World, not undead corpses of any sort. George R. R. Martin stated, "The Others are not dead. They are strange, beautiful … think, oh … the Sidhe made of ice, something like that … a different sort of life … inhuman, elegant, dangerous."
- In the TV series Game of Thrones, the Others, who are only known as White Walkers, have a completely different appearance and behavior than what the novels A Song of Ice and Fire described them. Their respective portrayals differ, and their origins and goals may differ as well, depending on what will be revealed about them in the upcoming sixth novel, The Winds of Winter. George R. R. Martin promised much focus on them and their frozen lands in said installment.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, they are described as strangely attractive and beautiful, mysterious, graceful, and otherworldly. Even though their movements are elegant, they are constantly present in the night, always watching but never showing themselves, and only rarely attacking anyone directly. They appear to look down on humans, as they are seen mocking and taunting Ser Waymar Royce in their own language. They are magical creatures from thousands of years ago; their weapons are extremely icy and nothing human-like. Most humans believe they are demons of ice and winter. Some people, such as Craster and his family, see them as ancient gods, entities superior to human beings. The legend of the Night's King claims that the traitor of the Night's Watch fell in love with a blue-eyed and pale-white woman at first sight. The Others do not wear gloves or any clothing necessary for protection against the cold, as they are creatures of cold and ice themselves, and wherever they go, they bring an extremely higher level of cold that is abnormal in nature.
- In Game of Thrones, the White Walkers resemble the frozen corpses of human beings. They are not beautiful or graceful, and they are as evil and destructive as believers in R'hllor claim them to be. They use ordinary-looking weapons and wear ordinary-looking armor made of boiled leather with boots and gloves. They are a creation of the wood creatures known as the children of the forest, and their highest-ranking commander is known as the Night King. While George R. R. Martin has promised to reveal more about the Others and that the readers will finally "travel" to the Land of Always Winter in the icy further north of Westeros, in the TV show said lands are only featured in a single episode in Season 4, the White Walkers do not have any females, and the only child ever shown as one of them is a human infant, Craster's last son.
- In A Song of Ice and Fire, the Others are not mutes and have a language, and they have displayed a behavior of superiority. The aggressors of Ser Waymar Royce displayed a mocking and sadistic attitude toward him, toying with him and letting him take multiple swings of his sword at them before humiliating him, wounding him, and finally killing him. Both Will and Samwell Tarly describe the Others' movement as graceful, and their naked feet do not break the snow's crust. When they walk, they never make a sound, and they are described as "shadows." They are lurkers and stalkers, only living in the night, always watching anyone beyond the Wall, and hiding in the woods. That is how the Others also earned the nickname "white walkers of the woods".
- In Game of Thrones, all White Walkers are mute.
- While in the TV show, the White Walkers are led by the Night King, George R. R. Martin stated that his novels do not need a dark lord (just as he said, he does not want his story to have an "Aragorn," meaning neither Jon Snow nor anyone else will play the main hero, savior, or absolute "true heir"). The novels will not have an overall main antagonist for the story, so if the Others have any kind of hierarchy, it might differ from the television's portrayal.
- The legendary traitor Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, nicknamed "Night's King," was said to have allied himself with the Others a long time after the Others' first defeat in the Long Night. He also never became the leader of the Others, as he was simply a mortal man who declared himself king at the Wall, took the Nightfort for his seat, and offered sacrifices for them like Craster. His existence is questionable, and it is unknown if his story was based on anything true.
- The legendary wife consort of the Night's King, known as the "corpse queen," was likely associated with the Others, as the Night's King started making sacrifices for them as soon as he fell for the female being. Whether she was an Other or a sapient kind of ice wight is unknown. So far, the only known sapient wight related to Ice who ever appeared in the story is Coldhands, a black brother of the Night's Watch, whose counterpart in the TV show is the sapient undead Benjen Stark.
- Although they are considered by some characters and fans to be responsible for the Long Night in the world, no one can prove it's true. Some fans believe that the Long Night caused the Others to go south, rather than the Others causing the Long Night. The history and legends of the universe if Ice and Fire tell that thousands of years ago, the entire world was deprived of sunlight. Along with these stories, there are legends of other kinds of demons, besides the Others, coming from further east of Essos and the undergrounds of Yi Ti. In YiTish legends, the Bloodstone Emperor and his sorcery are blamed for the Long Night.
- George R.R. Martin has made it clear more than once that he does not plan for his novels to end after a great final confrontation against the Others. Furthermore, Martin does not want them to be the final enemy and then simply have the ending.
- In the upcoming sixth novel, The Winds of Winter, more history on the Others will be revealed, along with more of their kind. According to George R. R. Martin, it is currently unknown if the Others have their own culture.
- In the TV series, Gilly and all her family from Craster's Keep are the only characters known to have siblings and sons who are White Walkers. It is possible that this might be the case for the novels as well.
External Links[]
- The Others on the A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
- The Others on the Wiki of Westeros.
