Words Are Wind: Wights and White Walkers

“Words are wind” is a common phrase in A Song of Ice and Fire, usually used to say “talk is cheap.” But that’s a view that underestimates both the power of words and wind themselves. In the “Words Are Wind” column, contributor Scott Andrews discusses some of the more important words in the world of Game of Thrones. For the winter solstice, Scott takes a look at the embodiments of Westeros’ chill….

“They wasn’t gone, old man. They was sleeping. And they ain’t sleeping no more.”

—Osha to Maester Luwin, Season 1, Episode 7

Now that winter is upon us (at least in the North), it’s time to explore the terrifying creatures so intimately connected with it — the White Walkers. We saw a glimpse of a White Walker in the very first scene of the Game of Thrones pilot. Prior to that, the Walkers hadn’t been seen for 8000 years. No wonder Ned didn’t believe that poor deserter.

Be advised: some links below may contain spoilers for the novels, but the text does not…

After their long absence, the White Walkers have become mythological, the subject of ancient tales like those told by Old Nan. In the third episode of the show, she told Bran about their last appearance: “Thousands of years ago there came a night that lasted a generation. Kings froze to death in their castles, same as the shepherds in their huts… In that darkness, the white walkers came for the first time. They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.”

Her story was about the War for the Dawn, in which the First Men battled the White Walkers during the “Long Night” and eventually won. It’s believed the First Men raised the Wall in order to prevent another such incursion.

The Other Others

Characters seldom refer to the White Walkers as such in the books. Instead, they are most often called “the Others.” This term is a curse in Westeros. Characters sometimes say, “Others take you” — a Westerosi variant for “Burn in hell.”

Why did producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss opt for “White Walkers” over “Others”? They revealed the answer in the commentary for the pilot: “We call them White Walkers in the show, more often known as the Others in the books, and the reason for the change is simply that people would refer to ‘the Others’ and viewers who didn’t know the books would think: ‘Which others are we talking about? The other whats?’”

The change might have also been the result of the term’s frequent use in another recent TV drama, Lost. In that show, characters called “the Others” were the mysterious people already living on the island when the survivors’ plane crashed there. Lost ended its run a year before the premiere of GoT, so it’s possible that David and Dan might have had Lost in mind when they made this decision.

Skroth for beginners

An interesting dilemma about language arose when David and Dan were making the show: What do the White Walkers speak? And what does it sound like?

According to the credits for Season 1, the language is called “Skroth.” David Peterson, the creator of the Dothraki and Valyrian languages, was acknowledged as the creator of Skroth, too.

However, we never heard the White Walkers speak in the first season. Perhaps the dialogue was written, but never filmed. When they finally do open their mouths in the Season 2 finale, their language sounds like nothing human. Instead, it’s a harsh mixture of sound effects created by sound designer Peter Brown. In a 2012 interview with Entertainment Weekly, Benioff said, “Peter Brown…is our hero because he finally came up with the ice-cracking chatter we had in our heads when we imagined the White Walkers speaking Skroth.”

Wight nights

Among their many powers, White Walkers are able to raise dead people and animals to serve them. Their eyes turn a luminous blue color. In Westeros, these reanimated creatures are called “wights.”

The word wight wasn’t invented by Martin. It’s a real word in English. Wight originally comes from the Old English wiht, which means a “person, creature, being, or thing.”

That definition is rather open-ended, though, and it has no real connection to anything undead. It took J.R.R. Tolkien to give it that meaning. His “barrow-wights” are actually cited in Wiktionary as the origin of wight as a wraith-like creature. In Lord of the Rings, the touch of a barrow-wight is icy. It’s not a big leap to imagine that Martin chose this word because of its fantasy origins and connection to the cold.

Dragonglass

Bran Stark learned first-hand during Season 4’s finale that wights can remain animated indefinitely, lying dormant for many years until they catch the smell of living blood. Wights will continue to attack even after you stab them or remove limbs. As Jon Snow discovered, fire is the only thing that will stop a wight entirely.

White Walkers are another matter. They can shatter traditional steel weapons with a touch, as Sam learned in Season 3’s episode “Second Sons.” But Sam also discovered their kryptonite: “dragonglass.”

Dragonglass is Martin’s word for a real type of glass called obsidian. (Maesters actually refer to dragonglass as obsidian in the books.) Obsidian forms when volcanic lava cools, creating a hard, brittle glass. With that kind of fiery origin, it’s no surprise that denizens of Westeros connect obsidian with dragons.

Obsidian’s edges are very sharp when fractured. On Earth, Stone Age humans used “dragonglass” for weapons, including knives and arrowheads like the ones that Sam finds on the Fist of the First Men. The Aztecs made obsidian swords called “macuahuitl.” Obsidian is so sharp that some ancient cultures even used it for circumcisions.

Night’s King

Many questions about the White Walkers remain unanswered. Do they bring the winter, or does the winter bring them? Why were they absent for so long? What is their ultimate goal? Did men build the Wall to keep White Walkers out — or did the White Walkers build it to keep men out of the North?

As of today, the show actually provides more information about the White Walkers than the books do. Season 4’s episode “Oathkeeper” showed us the fate of Craster’s sons — a plotline that the books have yet to address so directly.

In the episode, a White Walker delivers Craster’s last son to a remote, icy sanctum. There, a White Walker with some kind of built-in skull-crown lifts the baby and touches its cheek. The baby’s eyes turn blue, presumably becoming the world’s littlest White Walker — before the poor kid can even walk.

HBO’s Viewer’s Guide referred to this crowned White Walker as “Night’s King.” This reference was later edited out, which means we weren’t supposed to know that yet. The term was immediately recognized by book readers, but I won’t provide such spoilers here.

Suffice it to say that the history of the White Walkers is a fascinating one. We here at Winter Is Coming can’t wait to find out more!

• Published on 12/21/2014 at 12:00 PM CDT
• Last updated on 12/21/2014 at 12:00 PM CDT