The question bugging Game of Thrones fans

SPOILER ALERT. This week’s Game of Thrones episode changed everything, and it’s all down to this chilled out weirdo. Here’s what you should know.

SPOILER ALERT: We’ll be discussing the events of episode eight here, so if you haven’t caught up yet, read no further.

RECAP: Everything that happened in episode eight

The White Walkers returned to Game of Thrones this week after a long absence, sending a distinctive chill through the air and raising a heap of questions.

For hardcore fans, it was an exciting moment, teasing at a plot thread that hasn’t been explored quite so extensively in the books. But for some more casual viewers in the news.com.au office, it felt more like a tired fantasy gimmick. Zombies invading the world — like we haven’t seen that one before.

Don’t dismiss the White Walkers so casually. Yes, they’ve been lurking at the margins of the story for five seasons, lost amid all the action south of the Wall, but that doesn’t mean their attack on Hardhome was an afterthought from the writers. Rather, it was the critical moment at which a vague, peripheral threat crystallised into something urgent and terrifying.

These weird creatures will play a central role in the rest of the plot, so it’s time to brush up on them. Here’s everything you need to know.

An exclusive photo of the writer as he watched the episode’s climax.

WHY ARE THEY IMPORTANT?

The White Walkers appeared in the opening scene of season one, before there was any mention of cunning Lannisters or vengeful Targaryens. They were the first villains we ever saw, and as Jon likes to remind everyone, they remain the world’s biggest menace.

Most of the bad guys in Westeros are deeply human. Think of Ramsay’s sadism, Cersei’s paranoia or Walder Frey’s treachery. These characters are often disturbing, but on some level they are all driven by basic, comprehensible human instincts.

The Walkers are different. We know nothing of their motives. They never speak, which makes their strange behaviour completely inexplicable. We have practically no idea what they are, where they came from, or what they want. How do you fight an enemy you can’t understand?

When their leader stood at Hardhome’s shore and reanimated thousands of corpses with a single gesture, you could almost hear the show’s writers chuckling to themselves. They’d made their point. Everything that’s happened throughout the first five seasons has been a distraction from the real threat.

Jon, before and after the attack. The White Walkers do that to people.

DO WE KNOW ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THEM?

George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series does drop a few vague hints, albeit scarce ones, about the nature of the White Walkers.

According to Westerosi legend, the Walkers first appeared during an especially long winter a few thousand years before the events of the show, and almost conquered Westeros. A legendary figure called “the Last Hero” helped repel them — the details of that victory are sketchy — and Brandon Stark constructed a massive wall of ice to keep them in the northern wilderness. The Night’s Watch has guarded it ever since.

We know the Walkers can resurrect corpses to serve as their Wights, which is why Jon embarked on his grand mission to bring the wildlings south — he knew that whoever remained north of the Wall, and at the Walkers’ mercy, would eventually become a foot soldier in the army of the dead.

The Walkers are practically invulnerable, and shatter any normal weapons upon contact. Only Dragonglass can kill them ... well, Dragonglass, and Jon’s Valyrian steel sword.

This random White Walker clearly isn’t impressed by the breadth of our knowledge.

WHO IS THEIR LEADER?

One of the Walkers clearly stands out — the one who has horns instead of the traditional, sixties-style hippie hair, along with an icy gaze that would make the late Tywin Lannister proud. He’s called the Night’s King.

In the books, several characters recall tales about the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, who was supposedly a Stark. According to the stories, he fell in love with a White Walker.

“Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well,” Old Nan tells Bran.

“He proclaimed her a queen and himself her king, and with strange sorceries he bound his Sworn Brothers to his will. For 13 years they had ruled, the Night’s King and his corpse queen, till finally the Stark of Winterfell and Joramun of the wildlings had joined to free the Watch from bondage.”

Though he sounds more like a myth, the Night’s King is still alive, and he’s popped up in the flesh a couple of times now: in season four, when he transformed a human baby into a White Walker by touching its face, and in the most recent episode, when he led the attack on Hardhome.

This is the Night’s King. He’s pretty chill.

WHO COULD DEFEAT THE WHITE WALKERS?

Earlier, we mentioned the “Last Hero”, who apparently drove the White Walkers away when they last invaded. Melisandre’s religion has a similar legend, which replaces this generic hero with a holy warrior called Azor Ahai. It teaches that Azor Ahai will be reborn to save the world again — and if you subscribe to a certain fan theory, that’s where Jon Snow comes in.

Melisandre is drawn to Jon. He keeps appearing in her prophetic visions, leading to this rather telling quote in the books: “I pray for a glimpse of Azor Ahai, and R’hllor (her God) shows me only Snow.” In the show, she tries to seduce him, though her motives are not made clear.

The events of this week’s episode added even more fuel to the “Jon as Azor Ahai” theory when he killed a White Walker using his Valyrian steel sword. The original Azor Ahai wielded a magical weapon against the Walkers, and according to prophecy, his reincarnation will do the same. Did Jon just fulfil that criterion?

There are other theories, of course. Some fans believe Daenerys could be Azor Ahai. Melisandre has been publicly insisting Stannis is the chosen one since season two. There are even suggestions that Azor Ahai isn’t a single person at all, but multiple characters working together. You can read about those theories in more detail here.

In the meantime, brace yourself for a stunning climax to the show’s fifth season. Winter is finally coming.

He’s more than a pretty face. Apparently.

What do you think? Discuss your own theories in the comments section below, or on Twitter: @SamClench

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