In Game of Thrones, one group of characters has the exclusive benefit of being dilemma-free
- the White Walkers.
They seem hellbent on death and destruction, and so far it’s a job they’ve accomplished
with phenomenal efficiency.
In many ways, the White Walkers feel rather out of place in the Thrones universe - which is
primarily defined by ambiguity.
So who are White Walkers?
And what are they truly after?
Both the books and the show open with a White Walker massacre, quickly establishing them
as among the main antagonists of the series.
In their brief appearance, the White Walkers exhibit a penchant for ritualistic cruelty,
excellent fighting skills, and the ability to re-animate the dead.
Wights - the “zombies” of the Thrones - operate on behalf of their overlords, rising
in the middle of the night and causing havoc.
The Watch and the Free Folk have to burn their dead to prevent reanimation and further troubles.
Despite the real and present threat they pose, the White Walkers are not taken seriously
by those from south of the Wall.
Ned Stark dismisses the ranger’s first-hand account outright,
and even Tyrion Lannister
remains deeply skeptical.
In fact, it takes the disastrous Great Ranging for the Watch themselves to realize what they’re
up against.
Even with the help of the Free Folk, the Watch goes on to suffer another major defeat at
Hardhome.
These are not entirely futile encounters, though, as The Watch, and we, get to learn more about
the White Walkers.
We see they are immune to conventional weaponry - which they shatter with ease - but highly vulnerable
to dragonglass, as proved by Samwell Tarly when he stabs a walker - and Valyrian steel,
as shown by Jon Snow.
We also witness the Night King 's powers, befitting his position as the leader.
And he shows that the White Walkers multiply using Craster's sons.
The origins of the White Walkers are finally explained in Season 6. In his vision, Bran witnesses their
creation by the Children of the Forest. who were desperately in need
of a powerful weapon in their war against men.
The ploy eventually backfired, and thousands of years later the Walkers are slaughtering
the Children and men alike.
The Walkers, or pure evil, being created by good, the Children, gets at a key thematic
focus of the show -- the interrelation of good and evil, and the balance between opposing
elements, such as fire and ice.
In a general sense, the threat of the mysterious Walkers represents our fear of the unknown
-- the thing we don’t even know to be afraid of.
They were gone for thousands of years, and when they do return, people remain in denial
despite ample evidence.
Adding to their mystery, they appear only sporadically, sending wights in their place, and are usually heard about
in disturbing, secondhand accounts.
The Walkers are also a direct representation of winter and death.
They slaughter anyone in their way, and they literally bring the storm.
In some ways, the Walkers seem to embody fate.
Like the winter that must eventually come, and death that must fall upon all living things,
the White Walkers are an advancing danger we can't stop or control, but must deal with.
A more timely interpretation of the White Walkers is as a metaphor for climate change.
They are invented to benefit their creators - just as coal, for example,
powered the development of modern industry - but end up backfiring and causing substantial
damages
like the unstable weather that results from climate change.
In addition to representing the backlash from our actions, they are an unstoppable force of nature.
And just as with weather changes, those most vulnerable to the elements are affected first,
while those who are wealthier living in developed areas have the luxury of being able to ignore the
problem.
Whether we associate the Walkers with climate change, winter, death, fate or evil, most
of all, , they’re a reminder of the bigger threat beyond our smaller in-fighting.
Instead of uniting in resistance, all of the affected parties within the show spend more
time bickering and focusing on their own short-term interests, or even denying that the problem exists.
Those at the front of the battle lines can’t turn back the tides alone, without the unified
help of all everyone coming together to face the bigger fight.
All of this leads us to circle back and ask, are the White Walkers really that dilemma-free,
after all?
Martin’s writing is all about subverting expectations and flipping the clichéd tropes
of fantasy, so he’s not going to give us a final climax and ending that’s just a
traditional showdown between easily defined good vs. evil.
Like other groups in Game of Thrones, the White Walkers may fear for their survival.
There are men living north of the wall, dragons are back in existence, and Valyrian steel
and Dragonglass -- the only weapons that kill White Walkers -- are forged in dragon fire.
And since they apparently need infant human sacrifices to procreate, the sons of Craster
may not be enough.
As we see Jon Snow lead the fight against the White Walkers, and Daenerys Targaryen get to Westeros,
we may discover that this fight of ice and fire has some unforeseen complexities.
And it’s unlikely that some of these characters will look up from their infighting any time
soon.