White Walkers is a separate race invented by George R. R. Martin in his book, A Song of Ice and Fire. They lived in the north of Westeros behind the Great Wall. Until a certain time, people believed that they were the living dead, and in fact they are fictional fairy tale characters.
Who is it?
White walkers, the photo of which confirms some similarities with humans, are a separate likeness of the human race. The race belongs to the humanoid, which is repeatedly confirmed in the book and in its film version of the series.
The similarity is only superficial. In fact, they are slightly higher than their prototypes (people), the skin on the face and the whole body is very light with a bluish tint, and the hair is white. Separately, it should be said about the eyes - in the dark they glow blue.
Separately, it should be said about the magical abilities that the white walkers possessed. The ability to make warriors from dead people allowed them to quickly expand their ranks. That is why people had a custom to burn the corpses of the dead.
“Winter is coming,” the book’s characters often exchanged such a phrase, without even thinking about its real meaning. "Dead" are able to appear only with the advent of cold weather and in the dark, and winter in the kingdom lasts a very long time.
Origin (according to the author)
George Martin explained their origin in this way: “White walkers are sids. According to the Celtic mythology, this is a rational race that lived on Earth until the appearance of the person who eventually supplanted them. Gradually, they were practically forgotten, but mythology spoke of their inhuman abilities. The life of the white walker (sid) is 1.5-2 thousand years, which strikingly distinguishes him from man. Thus, according to legends and traditions, they were presented as a deity. "
It was from this image that the author wrote about his “evil spirits,” which not a single living person living within the walls has seen for several thousand years. And all the references boiled down to intimidation of young children.
Hierarchy
The race of the undead has its lord, who unquestioningly obeys. This is clearly seen during the eighth episode of the fifth season of the series, in which there is an attack of others on the Severe House. At the moment when John Snow came to convince the feral to move behind the Wall, but he had to repel the attack of the army of others. Some time after the start of the battle, he sees a group of dead children converted to others and fighting against people. This makes a huge impression on him.
Human legends said that the leader of the white walkers is the Great Other, his name was forbidden to pronounce aloud, so over time it was forgotten. Some simply called him the Lord of Darkness, the Frozen Soul, the God of Night and Horror. It is he who reanimates the dead people, turning them into wreaths, ready to serve the darkness and fulfill the will of the white walkers.
Thus, one can divide a race into three categories:
- Leader.
- White walkers.
- Whirlwinds (ghouls).
Children
Many people wonder why white walkers need babies whom Kraster constantly sacrificed to the Lord of Darkness? Since neither the author nor the scriptwriters answered this question, two independent versions can be distinguished:
- It was in this way that the replenishment of the true white walkers occurred, loyal to their overlord, who turned them into his own kind.
- The walker that claimed the human baby did this for the sacrifice. And the goal is not the baby’s body, but precisely the fact that this creature is alive, it breathes, and its heart beats.
History
On the pages of the book about how the white walkers appeared, Martin tells the words of old Nan: “This is the thirteenth Lord Night Watch commander. He was not afraid of anything and this was precisely his vice. Once, from the Wall, the lord saw a beautiful girl with white skin, blue eyes and an icy body. He immediately fell in love with her and brought him to the Stronghold of Night, making him his queen. Over time, the lord was transformed, began to make sacrifices to others, and changed his appearance with the advent of twilight. This went on until one of the Starks and the Jaromun of the feral overthrew his reign. Then he left the wall and hid in the vast expanses of the north, vowing revenge. "
That is how old Nan recounted a fairy tale to little Bran, calling the thirteenth Lord Starck of Winterfell.
Deviations from the book
According to the script written by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, there are several significant deviations regarding walkers that are not related to the plot of Martin's books. Here are some of them:
- In the film, Sem meets a group of undead on foot and on horseback. The book says that whirlwinds are black and walkers are white. In addition, the former do not have the intellect and are not able to think, only to implicitly execute commands. At the end of the first season, they lay out a circle from the corpses of the wild (by the way, the meaning of this remains unrevealed).
- Whirlpools are slow and slow - frames from the film completely refute what was written. Ghouls are very fast, possess close combat techniques and are judicious.
- Walkers appear only in the book "Dance with the Dragons", before that there was practically no mention of them. In the series, the viewer can first see them at the end of the first season.
- White walkers, the photo of which was taken under daylight, disprove what Martin wrote in the book. He specifically said that they appear only with the advent of night and disappear with dawn.
In future seasons and books, we expect the next development of the plot related to the undead: a huge army of white walkers will soon reach the inhabitants of the Seven Kingdoms, having crossed the Wall. And then the great battle will begin. Moreover, all the pluses are on the side of others, since most people have never even heard of their existence and are not able to fend for themselves.