White Walkers

The **White Walkers** were an ancient race of formerly-human ice creatures who came from the far north of Westeros. They were lead by the Night King, and were the creators and puppet-masters of the wights.

They were originally created by the Children of the Forest during their fight against the First Men, but they soon grew beyond their control, forcing them to make peace with First Men, and later ally alongside them to drive them north in the Battle for the Dawn.

The Walkers returned eight thousand years later in the Great War, once again sweeping across Westeros and killing millions, until their final extinction following the death of their leader, the Night King, during the Battle of King's Landing.

## History

### Creation

When the First Men crossed the Arm of Dorne from Essos to Westeros during the Dawn Age, they soon came into conflict with the Children of the Forest native to continent. The Children found themselves outnumbered and outarmed by their opponents, resulting in them being pushed out to the northern reaches of Westeros. In a desperate attempt to combat the First Men, a group of Children led by Leaf kidnapped a First Man, and turned him into the first of the White Walkers by impaling within his chest a blade of dragonglass.

Having hoped to use the White Walkers against the First Men, the Walkers soon grew beyond the control of the Children of the Forest. Realising the threat the Walkers posed, the Children of the Forest and the First Men signed the Pact, ending the wars between them.

### Long Night

Two thousand years after the signing of the Pact, and eight thousand years before Aegon's Conquest, the Long Night began. During the generation-long winter, the White Walkers and their wight minions descended on the continent, killing scores of people and desolating the landscape.

The White Walkers were ultimately driven back into the far north whence they came after the First Men and Children of the Forest allied together in the Battle for the Dawn. In order to prevent any future invasions, the Wall was constructed and the Night's Watch established to remain on guard against the return of the White Walkers.

### Reemergence

After eight thousand years of absence, the White Walkers had long since faded into myth and legend, and the Night's Watch had shifted it's focus to defend the Seven Kingdoms against the wildlings (also known as the Free Folk); the descendants of the First Men who had been left trapped north of the Wall following it's construction.

Beginning around the Year of the False Spring, the Night King attempted to take control of the continent by possessing the body of Rhaegar Targaryen, the Prince of Dragonstone and heir to the Iron Throne. Unaware of the Night King's influence, Rhaegar grew increasingly obssessed with the Old Gods and the prophecised 'Second Long Night', and believed himself to be 'The Prince that Was Promised' that would serve to end it. Rhaegar's obsession with prophecy led him to abscond from court with Lyanna Stark, triggering Robert's Rebellion. As Rhaegar strengthened his connection to the magic of the Old Gods, the Night King came close to taking full control of Rhaegar's body, but was stopped short by Rhaegar's death on the Trident.

Seventeen years after Rhaegar's death, the Free Folk and Night's Watch first began reencountering the White Walkers and their wight underlings, but the Seven Kingdoms at large mostly dismissed the sightings, both because of their preoccupation with the War of the Five Kings and the prevailing belief that White Walkers were mere children's tales.

Following the Massacre at Hardhome, where the White Walkers killed thousands of wildlings and raised them as wights, the Free Folk and Night's Watch put aside their millennia of conflict and allied together under Jon Snow to face the Walkers together.

Jon Snow eventually allied with Daenerys Targaryen following her invasion of Westeros, and sought to present evidence in the form of a wight to Queen Cersei Lannister to secure her support. During the subsequent Wight Hunt, the Night King killed Viserion, one of Daenerys's dragons, before raising him as an ice dragon to serve as his personal mount.

### Great War

Riding Viserion, the Night King broke through the Wall and lead the Army of the Dead into the Seven Kingdoms, beginning the Great War. They faced the alliance of the Living in their first major pitched battle at Winterfell, where Viserion was killed after being speared by a dragonglass-tipped scorpion bolt. The White Walkers won the battle regardless, and the Night King was able to successfully reanimate Viserion for a second time.

As the survivors of Winterfell retreated south, the Army of the Dead swept over the length and breadth of the North, killing all in their path, and further swelling their numbers. Eventually, the dead succeeded in breaking through Moat Cailin and crossing into the Riverlands beyond.

The wights eventually encircled King's Landing, where the alliance of the living planned to make their final stand against the dead. The Night King, who had been left stranded on Dragonstone following a battle which saw the dead on the island (Viserion included) incinerated in a wildfire explosion, held off attacking the capital of the Seven Kingdoms until he could be returned to the mainland to oversee the battle in person.

In the meantime, the Army of the Dead swept over the entirety of the Riverlands, Crownlands, most of the Westerlands, and large sections of the Reach and the Stormlands, desolating the continent and killing millions.

The White Walkers finally met their end during the Battle of King's Landing. The Night King, whilst attempting to kill Bran Stark, was forcibly warged back in time into the body of Rhaegar Targaryen just as he was being struck down by Robert Baratheon. The action crippled the Night King in the present, and he was subsequently dealt a killing blow by Rhaegar's son, Jon Snow. As the Night King had created all the White Walkers, and collectively they had all created the Army of the Dead, the death of the Night King destroyed the magic animating both the White Walkers and wights, causing their sudden and simultaneous destruction across the continent.

## See also

* White Walkers on Wiki of Westeros
* Others on A Wiki of Ice and Fire