game of thrones

Everything to Know About the Nighttime Rex, White Walkers, and Wights

In Game of Thrones, the White Walkers have morphed from a seldom-seen myth to the greatest enemy in Westeros. The Night Rex's ground forces of the dead has moved very, very slowly, marching south from Hardhome to breach the Wall with the help of an ice dragon at the end of season 7. Now, they're on the verge of sacking Winterfell itself and ushering in the Long Nighttime, a mythical winter that would wipe out nigh life in Westeros.

Jon Snowfall, Daenerys Targaryen, and the nerveless forces at Winterfell are on the verge of a dandy battle with the icy-eyed, sword-wielding undead — the biggest battle Game of Thrones has ever shown — and its outcome could determine who lands on the Atomic number 26 Throne. (Assuming that Cersei Lannister doesn't outlast them all, anyhow.) With that in mind, here's everything you need to know near the Night Rex, the White Walkers, and the wights.

Long story curt, they used to be humans and now they're ice monsters. They don't appear to speak to i another, but they exercise use some sort of nonverbal advice. In George R.R. Martin'south books, they're a much more reputable-looking bunch with chameleon-similar armor that perfectly reflects their surroundings. They're pretty ragtag on the testify, although some clothing leather armor. They're been marching south under the orders of the Night King (nosotros'll get to him later), and they're willing to destroy anyone who gets in their way. They aren't indiscriminate, though: The Walkers created some sort of truce with Craster the wildling, who gave them his baby boys in return for beingness left in peace.

Unclear. They may age and grow upwardly — either as wights or White Walkers, we can't say for sure — or they may be in an elaborate undead nanny share.

Someone is probably writing her Ph.D. thesis on this topic right now — that's how much data we accept on the White Walkers. Allow's merely stick with the basics. Nosotros showtime met the Walkers in the opening scene of the series, when iii Nighttime's Watch rangers discovered a bevy of expressionless wildlings in the woods across the Wall. 2 of them were ripped to shreds by the Walkers, and the tertiary fled s to desert the Watch. (Call back how Ned beheaded a guy in front of his children? That was the same guy.)

Though the Walkers weren't seen for centuries, they have been a part of Westerosi lore for just as long. Old Nan describes them to Bran in spooky tales about the first Long Dark that took place millennia ago, in which "kings froze in their castles" and "mothers smothered their babies to keep them from starving." Unfortunately, few of Old Nan'south contemporaries believed that the stories have any ground in reality.

Based on what we've seen, the White Walkers are at to the lowest degree 8,000 years old: In season six, we learned that the Children of the Forest created the very first Walker as a weapon to combat the first men to go far on Westeros. (They did then past plunging a slice of dragonglass into a man'south heart.) That Walker somewhen turned on them, simply we don't know why. It eventually led to a massive war between the Walkers and the First Men, which ended with the defeat of the Walkers at the Battle for the Dawn. Afterward, the Wall was built by the founder of House Stark — a homo named Brandon Stark, a.k.a. Bran the Architect — in guild to keep the White Walkers from returning south. Around the aforementioned time, the Night's Sentry was formed to serve every bit guardians of the realm.

Recollect of the wights every bit the GOT version of zombies: They're the undead hordes who fight for the White Walkers. Nosotros don't know exactly how wights are controlled, but the power to raise the dead is one of the Walkers' greatest weapons, since every fallen soldier tin bring together their war against the living.

The animals are just another form of wight. Any dead animal can be brought into the servitude of the Night King, even a dragon. (RIP, Viserion.)

That's a tricky question! We know how the very first Walker was created, simply we don't know if that's the but fashion. Information technology's assumed that the Children of the Forest made a small ground forces of the Walkers to fight the First Men, but then they rebelled against them. These days, White Walkers can turn whatsoever expressionless torso into a wight, but it's worth noting they tin also do something similar to living people, too. In season four, the Nighttime King turned Craster's son into something with icy bluish optics; whether the child became a wight or a Walker, it's bad news for anyone who gets in his fashion.

Sam Tarly is the one who unwittingly discovered a way to kill White Walkers: dragonglass, which is basically the GOT version of obsidian. In flavor ii, he found a cache of dragonglass at the Fist of the First Men while he hid from a swarm of Walkers, which suggests that Westeros's ancestors used information technology as a weapon during the Long Night. In season 3, Sam stabbed a White Walker in the shoulder with the dragonglass and the creature instantly shattered. More recently, through a combination of absurd practiced luck and dedicated library time, Sam learned that a literal mount of dragonglass was hiding on, wait for it, Dragonstone. Jon Snowfall's men dug information technology out and brought information technology to Winterfell, where Gendry has been forging it into weapons ahead of the big battle.

The second weapon known to destroy White Walkers is Valyrian steel. Unfortunately, there are just a few Valyrian steel weapons left in Westeros: Jon Snowfall's Longclaw, Jaime Lannister's Widow'southward Wail, Brienne of Tarth'south Oathkeeper, Sam Tarly's Heartsbane (which he gave to Jorah Mormont), and Arya's Valyrian steel dagger.

It doesn't seem similar fire can impale a Walker — to say nothing of dragonfire, which burns much hotter — but it'due south notwithstanding a valuable weapon in whatever boxing against them. Every bit Jon discovered back in season one, fire is the easiest mode to destroy a wight. (That'due south why the Night's Watch burned corpses.)

That's the Night King. You tin tell him apart from the other Walkers by his pointed crown. He appears to control the wight population through some sort of telepathy — or possibly something alike to Bran's warging ability — and he tin can raise scores of the expressionless at once, equally demonstrated at Hardhome in season 5.

After Bran flashed dorsum to the Children of the Forest creating the get-go White Walker, GOT seemed to confirm that the first Walker is also the Night King. However, Martin has suggested that the electric current Nighttime Rex is non the same as the first 1. (According to the books, the Nighttime King of legend was an early commander of the Night's Scout, though the show hasn't followed that route.) In that location are a ton of theories about who the Night King is — including an absurdly popular one that says he's a time-traveling Bran — only if we're sticking to the testify, it's pretty articulate that the Night King is the guy from Bran'due south vision.

Presumably, the Night King tin be killed with dragonglass or Valyrian steel like any other White Walker. Simply allow's be honest: It'll accept a lot more than that. It wouldn't be surprising if he possesses magical powers beyond what we've seen, plus he's great at throwing those giant icy spears and he has a dragon of his own. If Jon or any other mortal comes face-to-face up with him during the Battle of Winterfell, it'south hard to know if they could win.

But when Jon'due south crew was trapped beyond the Wall concluding flavour, Beric Dondarrion made an intriguing ascertainment: When a White Walker is killed, the wights he created immediately die as well. "Kill him," Beric said, pointing toward the Night King. "He turned them all." The grouping surmised that by killing the Night King, the entire army of the dead would dice besides. In other words, he'southward like the flaw in the Death Star's construction: It volition be mighty tough, but if someone tin take him out, the entire army will come up crashing downwards.

It seems that way, right? All we've seen them exercise is kill. But their deal with Craster indicates some power to form alliances. They may put those logic skills to use over again in the future, possibly with Cersei Lannister, the only ruler who hasn't yet sworn state of war confronting them. A fascinating theory from Reddit user JoeMagician explains that the Walkers' actions are much more targeted than they appear on the surface, only until we have more reasons to believe otherwise, that'southward merely a theory.

Everything to Know Near the Night Male monarch and White Walkers