Others: what do we know about the white walkers?
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- čas přidán 1. 05. 2024
- The Others, or white walkers, are one of the biggest mysteries in Game of Thrones / ASOIAF. What are white walkers, and what are wights? How can white walkers be killed? And what do they want?
This video contains major spoilers for Book 5 / Season 5, including spoilers from the show that aren’t in the books.
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Created with Toon Boom Studio 8.1, Adobe Creative Cloud, a Wacom Intuos Pen Tablet, and a Blue Yeti microphone.
Images and video from Game of Thrones used here under fair use.
Pyramid image: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
Thanks to the following supporters on Patreon:
@MrFifaSA, xandria lenert, zyad aloqily, Fred Petty, Jason Rattray, Madeline Cockrel, staffio the seventh.
Thanks to @TurtleSergio for Russian subtitles and María Mariño Costa for Spanish subtitles.
Errata:
7:56 George Martin has said that Westeros and Essos are not connected (SSM 1207). That was back in 2002, though - maybe he hadn't written the Yi Ti and Five Forts stuff yet...
*bill Wurtz esque jingle* molotov cocktails
Logic aside, you win.
not to be that guy, but why did you capitalise the "W" and not the "B"?
@@Elias_rais it was likely a random typo. bill wurtz doesn't capitalize any part of his name of CZcams but there is always a chance of autocorrection
A Ta K with a flamethrower?
TheNecromancer6666 the others are fucking insane
"what could be more predictable than the good guys defeating the evil ice monsters in a big epic battle". oh, you sweet summer child...
Dan and David "But but we subverted da expectations. What we did totally wasn't utterly cliche and unsatisfying at the same time!!!"
@@cavs25100 subverting expectations in the worst way possible. Everyone: "Yo, D&D, you gonna make unpredictable endings to the story right?" D&D:" Yeah bro, we're gonna have Arya, someone who has no relation to the White Walker's arc or the prophesy of Azor Ahai kill the night king and end the walkers!!!!" Everyone: "that's not what I meant..."
The way subversion of the expectations was cheap and the whole prince that was promised was unanswered question.
Fear is for the Long Night... where the story is terrible and logic nonexistent.
How did the one living Stark that has had the least interaction with the whites kill their king like literally every living stark has had more interaction than Arya
"Things really won't be that simple..."
Greetings from season 8.
came back here for this
Well the TV show went to shit long before Season 8, so let's hope the books won't end up being stupid inconsistent pieces of shit :)
i was shocked by his death, felt like Disney movie plot
This video is hilarious now
@@helegis let's hope books to come :'(
David Benioff in Season 3: "It's not going to be your classic good-versus-evil conflict".
Season 8 trailer hype: The Battle of Winterfell: Good-Versus-Evil.
Nah, Cersei is the true evil and the main antagonist after all Kappa
@@misakimei4289 no.. the others were set up as the bad guy from the very first episode. Cersei wasn't really a big threat until half way through the first season.
Benioff kind of forgot about good storytelling
@S S Not entirely accurate. The scene in season 1 with Robert and Cersei was amazing, so were the Tywin+Arya scenes. And none of these were in the books.
@@someguyoutthere110 It wasn`t Benioffs story.
“Except things probably won’t be that simple”
Well, they will.
In the show.
*Have you read this book? I doubt it.* You're going by HBO as if George wrote all of it. Ignorance at it's finest
Queen Elizabeth II I’m obviously taking about the show, you dumb fuck
Still, the coolest thing ive ever watched on tv. How could they NOT take that oppurtunity?
I doubt it.
Martins books eclipse HBOs show, I suggest that you read them.
"Its not gonna be that simple"
They certainly subverted your expectations by making it simpler than that.
😂🤣😭
Maybe the reason the Night's Watch is prohibited from having children is to avoid another Night's King sacrificing those children to the Others.
+baronvonslapnuts that's a really interesting opinion and view on the subject!
+baronvonslapnuts And maybe one of the reasons they can't have wives is to avoid what happened with the original Night's King, who took a white walker as a wife
Erik Isidoro
So.. thanks for agreeing with me?
baronvonslapnuts No problem!
@Erik Isidoro
You two guys have really interesting and plausible opinions
All the book theories have aged like a fine wine.
All the show theories have aged like a glass of milk
speak for yourself I love myself a glass of filmjölk (a form of sour milk,resembles natural yogurt in flavor but way more liquid more like a thicker milk)
I don't htink that's entirely fair; no one can say how the book theories have aged because that bottle of wine has yet to be opened
14:30 a little note about something that everyone keeps forgetting. They didn't built the wall all in one sitting, but little by little. Jeor Mormont says that since the beggining, in the ages of splendor of the night's watch, one of the Lord Comander's duties were to "passing the torch" with the wall taller than they recieved it, and that was the principal function of the order of the Builders, but with the Night's Watch declination, they endup only fixing the cracks and keeping the buildings of Castle Black from falling apart.
It would be funny if the Wall was actually built by the Others to keep humans and their warm blooded expansion from reaching their realm.
We have seen how ambitious the Targaryens are with Aegon, the Conqueror. Maybe in the past, the Valyrians and their dragons tried to conquer the colder lands and this was an existential threat to the Others the same way their Winter is an existential threat to humans.
And this parallels the deadlock of the Cold War which GRR Martin grew up in - each side being afraid of the other, and having nukes pointed at each other.
@@abyrupus At the time the wall was built, the valyrians where sheppards, not dragon riders
@@thecountbrothers2287 Great empire of the dawn, my brother. Also, there are weirwoods in the wall. Not too big of an assumption either the weirwoods, the Others, or some combination stood against the GEOTD from destroying everything with dragons.
@@abyrupus Some claimed its even in the legends that the dragons avoid the wall and cant go further
@@gregorgerzson1767 Not even in the legends. Jahaeris wife's dragon refused three times to fly beyond the wall
"I am going to build a big wall to keep the Others out, and I'm going to make them build it."
Donald Trump was Azor Ahai confirmed.
build it pedro
+Kevin GT And they built a beautiful, yuuuuge wall. I can tell you that..
+Kevin GT Vote Trump to keep the long night away.
+Haagen A HYUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEEE, spectacular wall, the greatest wall in American history, everyone will love it.
+Kevin GT Donald Trump is Bran the Builder.
"An uncomfortable marriage"..
...3 years after The Great Compromise, Jon nags the Night King about how he doesn't care about his feelings and instead just watches TV.
+SovietWomble "for the stream"
+Bealio ...well I didn't get a flaming sword after that stabbing. But it does burn when I pee.
+SovietWomble This is the sense of anti-climax I worry about with a "Peace agreement" ending.
+SovietWomble You being a GoT fan just makes me love you even more, Mr.Womble.
Send Cyanide my regards.
+SovietWomble You just established my newest OTP. \m/
Lol, your sarcastic prediction of what you thought was going to happen in the war against the Others is exactly whats happening in the show.
Untill some shocking twist were everyone good dies
Ralph _ yea sure after tonight idk
@@__-on8rk That simply can't be the end of the Others' storyline in the show can it?!
@@User6468
:(
@@__-on8rk yeah... no twist here
I like how the war with others in the past lasted for a generation while the war in season 8 lasted for one night
that was a battle not a war, personally i think the war started when Othor and the other dead ranger came back to life at Castle Black
@@adammartincelusak886 ok, well the war then only last a few episodes.
"sir shia of house labeouf" too perfect.
+Ben Murphy time?
Kat2323 18:24
+Ben Murphy House words: JUST DO IT
Copperbeard and "don't let your dreams be dreams"
+Ben Murphy "nothing is impossible"
Lmao, when the sarcastic rant about the ending is 90% accurate though
but... this was before the battle with the wight walkers. Are you from the future?
@@noahmay7708 you sweet summer child, the signs were already there a long time before that
@@noahmay7708 its was pretty clear after s7 that the show will have that ending with the walkers
"Season 8 sends its regards."
Watching this now, can we all agree that Alt Shift X should have written the last two seasons?
Honestly, D&D have been taking the show to it's downfall from the very beginning as soon as they started to cut the stuff out. All those intricate nuances that should have formed one marvellous picture in the end. And they started taking pieces from it, reducing the quality and charm of the story with each season. There was no saving for Game of Thrones. The corruption of Benioff and Wice seept in it beyond return.
Right? I am so upset D&D didn't just say "Hey guys, we're burned out. We want to do something else so now we hire new writers to finish the show." It would have been so easy.
@@azlanadil3646 Naturally. But a lot of the stuff they cut were details that seemed inconspicuous, but were instrumental for the progression of the story.
The fact people didn't know Cers & Jamie were siblings in the original pilot should have been a red flag
@@kindred84 That's crazy
Let's be honest, we'd all like to see Rickon riding a unicorn into battle against the Others.
Well that would be... difficult... considering...
+EvanSol919 Rickon dies at season 6
Not in the book... Probably in the show they took Stannis' and Rickon's plot lines and gave them to Jon. I'm pretty sure in the 6th book there'll be a battle for Winterfell is well. But Jon is not going to invole in it. I think Northmen will find Rickon (he is the true heir of Winterfell) and with a support of Stannis (because he is still at the gates of Winterfell), Rickon will crash Boltons... Maybe it'll happen in very different way... We'll see...
+Vathek Samerra That comment was unnecessary, we were talking about the show, you just spoiled the books goddamnit.
How can i give a spoiler from the book that didn't release yet? My sentence was starting with "I think..." Its just my thought and prediction, not a fact.
Night's King: "We're gonna build a wall and make humans pay for it"
hilliuno "humans are rapists"
Which is so true in the GOT universe.
"Humanity just isn't sending its best"
"Grab him by the neck"
etc.
hilliuno make north great again!!
#makewestorosgreatagain
Man watching this 8 years later is so sad. All the potential they had to work with and how excited we all were to see what was going to happen in the show. Everything that was going to happen with Jon becoming Azor Ahai and figuring out the mystery with the Archmaesters on what the Long Night really was. So depressing. They had so much to work with and all we got was SHE IS MUH QUEEN I DON'T WANT IT SHE IS OUR QUEEEEN
Well, he and this entirely channel is about the books, not the show so we are good
@@andorea11 he sure shows a lot of stuff from the show.
@@matthewfors114he uses the show as a secondary source to the books. If they differ he defaults to the books.
The show still dropped the ball regardless. There was plenty to work with. Why even show us the white walkers home and creation.
@@tobysonline4356 thank you. these are the questions i have. As a hardcore LOTR fans this show/books always seemed hacky and cheap knock off so i always just made fun of the fans for not being smart enough to read real book like lord of the rings with all the nuances and amazing languages etc. The last few weeks ive been watching these types of vids and getting the lore down of this realm and its not even satisfying that i was right when i warned the fans.
Fans blame D&D but they didn't have anything to adapt so its also martins fault because according to all the fans they are good at adapting, not at creating and this show was going on while books were coming out. It can be done well as seen with "the expanse" so i blame all the writers.. this is what happens when boobs and gore and swear words are the main focus and not the plot.
For the show to start off with white walkers but have no real history of how or why the wall is built or what the motives of the white walkers may be. the fans all go on and on about "how nuanced" game of thrones is and its not "good vs evil" like LOTR yet the whole show has the white walkers which are basically orcs or dark elves being the real threat to humans just like in LOTR how all the humans werent united but need to to fight the common inhuman enemy. Oh, and lets not forget dragons which are very similar to the beats the nazgul ride. this show/book is an insult to tolkien lol
@matthewfors114 Wow! You make fun of ASoIaF fans for not being smart and reading "real" books like LotR. Your magic books are so much better than all those other magic books. Only smart people will understand how cool and not pretentious you are.
"Except things probably won't be that simple"
*deep, pained sigh*
50 cal sniper rifle with obsidian-tipped bullets.
***** Something like that.
+Docktor Jim Wildfire flame thrower for close combat.
melt down all valyrian steel you can find and reshape it into a full body armor
+Docktor Jim Incendiary rounds on a gatling gun.
+Docktor Jim Nothing to stop them making obsidian spears.
the dothraki sort of have a tale of the long night. the dothraki think the world will end by ghost grass a grass as pale as milk. the dothraki probably have never seen snow so this might be there interpretation of snow.
or frost
Well they did get decimated against white ghosts in the show...
Well Ghost Grass is an actual thing in Essos. It's an invasive plant that kills all other plant life.
I believe there are some more out-there theories about the ghost grass being the roots of the wierwood network poking out the other side of the world.
@@upstream5316 Can you shut the absolute fuck up? Your disgusting Islamophobia and Antisemitism is not needed on a post discussing fucking plants from Game of Thrones.
Yeah so much for that big threat they been beating us over the head with for 8 seasons. Turns out the white walkers suck and get beat overnight in their very first big battle. What a complete waste of time this whole storyline has been.
Well, technically, the Wight Walkers won the battle convincingly. But, in their infinite wisdom, the showrunners gave the Night King a plot-convenient and inexplicable hard on for Bran, and gave the entire zombie army a video game weakness of "kill the main guy, summons die" and that was that. Oh well. At least none of the really, really important characters died in the zombie apocalypse. We really needed them alive so that they could be wasted on the remaining episodes.
@@lMarcusl ehh jorah and theon were important. Theon's death was actually well executed
@@Blackhawk211 Jorah and Theon stopped being relevant a good 2-3 seasons prior.
Read the books then.
@S S Bran's going to become king, 100%. I think that was one of the things that they actually did adapt from the books, and the fact that it feels so shoehorned in is the reason that I believe it. But don't worry, George is going to do in a way that's a million times better than what they did in the show.
Oof this didn’t age well. Your videos are amazing so no criticism towards you. Rather the show runners
It will once Martin eventually releases TWOW, I'm guessing.
Matheus mnz you realize GRRM has stated the show and books are completely different
@@juniornisthal2216 He didn't say they're completely different. He said he gave out general pointers on where everyone would be at the end of the books to the show writers. And that some things in the show will happen in the books, some won't, some partially.
Matheus mnz no he basically insinuated everything will be different
Matheus mnz www.google.com/amp/s/www.rollingstone.com/tv/tv-features/george-r-r-martin-on-the-stark-sisters-and-ending-game-of-thrones-813890/amp/
Not sure how I feel about the fact that he just literally predicted season 8 of the show at 8:45...
Maybe Alt Shift X is some kind of greenseer on the internet age
Well he's wrong about the "it's not gonna be that simple" lmao
It's actually season 7
Play that seconds in 0.5 speed
These are the highest quality GoT videos on youtube. I can see the work you put into these and how you make them entertaining, objective and backed up by facts. Also your voice is very pleasant.
You rock
Thank you! Glad you enjoy them
+Alt Shift X Will stannis come back??
+Johan Strydom Stannis isn't dead in the books, as for the show, I certainly hope not. I couldn't stand another season of character botching. On a serious note, not likely his actor wasn't seen on any of the filming locations. It's not impossible, just very unlikely. I think the show is done with him.
+Johan Strydom the red woman may bring him back like she did with snow
Yeah this guy explains it the best.
Personally I like the Lich King theory. Jon Snow, like the old Azor Ahai, realizes that there must always be a Night King, and so replaces him. Every ten thousand years or so a great hero must sacrifice themselves for humanity and replace the Night King, whose humanity has by then completely eroded through the ages. Then he goes up North and remains inactive for millennia.
That would’ve been cool
Sounds like linking the fire in dark souls.
This would also makes sense in regards to what George RR Martin said about the endings of the books. He said it would be bittersweet. Jon saving the Kingdoms, by sacrificing himself would exactly be like that. Bittersweet.
@@mnmmcg3543 yeah, though this would actually achieve something lol. unlike linking the fire that only fucks things up even more with each link
While this is cool the problem is that it would not be a resolution but mearly kicking the can down the road,
Fun fact; at -50 C ice is harder than steel. Also most medieval fortifications had secret door on the wall for various purposes. And the Wall wasn't always this tall, it grows every year by the stewards constantly sprinkling gravel on the top
The wall was always that tall
It's hard and weak, because as with most hard things it's also extremely brittle, so that's irrelevant.
@@aceclover758jeor says part of the commander's duty is to leave the wall taller than when they started, but since the watch is on decline they dont have the facilities to do so (builders guild)
@@WhenDoesTheVideoActuallyStartthat’s a pretty simplistic retort.
It’s brittle so irrelevant?
What if it’s 10 feet thick, is it brittle then?
@@AB-ee5tb Yes. A three metre thick glass window will be as brittle as a very thin glass window. It's still made of the same stuff. Enough energy and it'll crack. Once a crack initiates, any additional energy will be expended in it's propagation. Best case scenario, if your opponent is really weak, it'll take three blows to break instead of one.
And if you're thinking about saying "muh bulletproof glass", bulletproof glass works by layering glass with a very ductile plastic material. All the energy of a projectile is expended shattering the first layer, and that energy is softened and distributed by the plastic. And even that will still turn to dust, given enough projectiles. A sufficiently thick steel plate would just deform.
If there's one thing I know about Jesus, it's that he has killer abs.
So does Jon,u ever seen Kit Harrington shirtless?
+SenpaiGuild Would go homo for him. Maybe.. Eventually... If he is Azor Ahai... #nohomo
+akrybion Sorry, I don't fuck homosexual , homeless males.
+SenpaiGuild have you ever seen Ramsey shirtless?
akrybion I know where to put it.
The Huns began their assault on the Roman Empire when the Romans ceased trading with them. They invaded partially to reestablish the original terms of their deals and get reparations for their lost income, which was particularly important to them because they were living on the inhospitable steppes of Eastern Europe.
Perhaps the Others have a similar motivation? The Wall and the Night's Watch had fallen into disrepair long ago and no one really cares about it anymore. If the Others were expecting payment in the form of regular sacrifice, and it stopped coming, they might want to invade Westeros to get it going again.
+Andrew Forrest Pretty much what I thought after watching this video. It would be interesting, but I feel like there has to be something more for it to be such a mystery.
***** Exactly. And the few babies Crastor was providing weren't exactly sustainable population growth. They mention that the Wall had been in disrepair for many years, and so they may have started building their army then.
+gdbalck and there is one baby at the wall (or in the show, he traveled with Sam & Gilly) that the Others feel is theirs, by rights.
Lol to solve this conflict, all you got to do is get a crazy guy like Craster to do more incest. Then everything goes back to normal in the north and Jon is dead forever. I love this ending better than a war :)
+Andrew Forrest Maybe the treaty was a life time supply of Doritos and they just ran out so they are all coming to the wall to get some more munchies.
8:43 - 9:09 you just predicted season 7 from the show
Kevin Pereira this is how bad it is
Well damn! He got about 75% right
Huh, the first part is on point
Really tells you something about the quality of the show nowadays
I do feel like the last 6 episodes are going to totally focus on the Others as just frozen devils and liches instead of exploring WHY they are acting and fighting?
That quote about the war vs White Walkers not being traditional good and evil war has to be one the biggest pieces of evidence that they had greater plans and just gave up and hastily rewrote everything so that they could be done with the show. It's popular to meme on them for not being able to do anything on their own but they did understand the lore to the extent that they figured out the whole RLJ theory on their own. They knew what they were writing is bullshit and in a way that's even sadder.
They literally were offered extra writers and another team to finish the series their reluctancy to leave the series in more capable hands is entirely theirs to blame
Your videos are the most comprehensive and well made. congratulations. And many thanks. Keep working
Cheers! Will do.
+Alt Shift X Cheers!
Agree
+edison duque Hodor
+edison duque Concur, the most consistently good, and interesting, commentary and analysis of "Thrones" on YT. Like your channel Mr Alt. Can't wait for analysis of Season 6.
Huh, one guy negotiating a peace deal _does_ sound more likely than one guy fighting back the hordes of evil single-handedly with a flaming sword.
+Penny Lane You are not into Dynasty Warriors?
orange Haha, if Jon Snow goes on that kind of rampage, I'm going on a rampage, too ;)
Penny Lane
You and most of the fans lol
But yes, Jon is a born diplomat, but I don't know what his motivations will be after he gets ressurected. Is he going to become more ruthless, like Stannis? His main problem in the books is that he tries to save EVERYONE...
orange Well, it's established that the longer a skinchanger stays in their animal after their death, the more their minds melt together. So it'll depend on how long Jon stays in Ghost but I think it's relatively safe to assume that he will be at least _somewhat_ more wild and wolf-like when he comes back. Even though the show seems to be gearing up for a really quick resurrection but then again, they didn't establish any ground rules for their warging so they can basically do whatever they want. Maybe they'll even leave Ghost out of it entirely, who knows. God, I really didn't like that last season.
Penny Lane
Yeah, that Varamyr chapter was nothing if not a precedent for what could happen to Jon. I can't watch the new show season now knowing it will just spoil the books...
oof wish the show writers watched this
They should have known all this, but what's worse is they knew more than we do being GRRM gave them all kinds of info for them to finish the show
He only gave them general outline of what will happen, and he doesnt want to get affected by the show or shit they do. Show already diverged so excessively far away from the books in many aspects, one of the biggest being Euron, Dorne and many other things they fucked up or oversimplified or just made completely different and idiotic(like Euron who is not just some pirate moron talking about bum fingering).
I know right, for years I was so psyched for the Walker peace treaty. Season 8 was a travesty.
My personal favourite theory from reddit is that the others are a civilisation much like the men, but dwelling only in the far north, probably farther into the Land of Always Winter, and the ones we've seen so far are the blood-thirsty ones (for comparison, like the ice-version of Ser Gregor Clegane), while the rest are only minding their business. And these others are not really the villains, the dragons are. These ice-creatures are only misunderstood for millenias. Goddamit, I really can't wait for Twow.
the others built the wall to keep the humans out
+James Buschell * To keep Stannis out!
+SerCambria358 Stannis is one of the best characters in the series, I really don't think he''ll burn his daughter in the books
What if they built it to stop themselves crossing and rhe nights watch the towers to stop the fighting
Ray William Johnson What if they built it to cut off Gondor's signal fires from the line of sight of edoras
Nugmaster224 What makes you say that?
5:22 "Their women lay with the Others in the Long Night to sire terrible half human children"
Remember Craster's wives? All of them decided to stay North of the wall after they got rescued by Jon and the night's watch and they worshipped the Others as Gods... it could be possible that...? :O
Many of women are the mothers to the White Walkers why would they touch their mothers they had a deal with Craster.
@@sophiawilson8696 how do you know they have same feelings for a biological mother as humans? Technically thier real mother is the night king or whoever turns them from humans to white walkers, so they would probably kill them too if they stop sacrificing more babies.
@@arhamsaa ok I don't know for sure but Craster knew if he kept up end of deal he be safe.
No, wait, what if the show showed us the Night King turning the baby into a white walker because the idea of showing a sex scene between a white Walker and a woman would be too unsettling for the audience?
@@alexlefay nah
D&D After season 5 :
Crap, we're out of book material. Now we'll have to write the rest of the seasons, what do we do?
8:36 - 9:10
D&D: write that down!, WRITE THAT DOWN!!
His ending would be better than the actual one. Then they would actually fight the others.
I literally don't even care about a prequel and just want the damn main series books to be finished. And I'm not the only one who thinks that
Prequel will get him too busy and we will wait even longer for Winds.
At this rate i worry if GRRM will have enough time to wrap it up in one book after. He already doubled original series of books from planned trilogy. If it will be more than one book after Winds he may not have enough years of his life to finish it if it takes as long as Winds, he would need to live till he's 110 "if story gets away from him" enough to warrant 1 more book.
Tho he might as well have everything for dream ready and it will be just couple years
I hope GRRM isn't too involved... I want him at home writing the book, not writing for a TV show.
From the books, I always pictured the Others as made of shimmering glass-like ice and darkness. Creatures that are ethereal. Definitely not wrinkly old men. The show failed in the character design. Anyway, you have great content.
The book others are like evil unknowable fae like beings, the show walkers are really old magical humans, which were very disappointing
Definately agree that this would be more interesting design, I imagine them more like elves then undead - but to be fair, the design they went with is pretty iconic in its own right and at least sticks out a bit to the avarage undead designs that are present in big media.
Jon Snow making a pact with the white walkers seems like the perfect candidate for the most "bittersweet" ending that GRRM mentioned.
Looks like they changed their minds and did all of the things they said they wouldn't do?
tHeY sUbVeRtEd ExPeCtAtIoNs
No he didn't, because he's talking about the books.
@@8mmkyle865 Nope, he literally used a quote from one of the showrunners in this video when he was talking about how the story wouldn't end with a war (and obviously the director is talking about the show), he also uses some quotes that are show only, though the creator of this vid was mixing information obviously presuming the book and show at that point would continue down roughly similar paths.
You see what happens when a fanbase is given a decade to theorise?
huh... looks like the ending you predicted so tongue-in-cheek is actually how the show is going to end
What if the ''Others'' are running from something ? Mind blown
+Kaloyan Vasilov That's some serious hype
+The Will of G they're traveling south to witness cleganebowl first hand
+Joe Green haha
+Cyu Agen Like US financed proxy war.
+Cyu Agen I was honestly just complaining to myself that everyone has the same damn theory about the series, but you sir have given me hope... I like the Jon snow thought at first but now its been so hyped up.... and im just hoping Martin does something different to shock us because I hate when people try to guess the ending ... Love your idea of running form someothing its fresh
Your commentary is intelligent, carefully thought out, well supported, insightful, and just all around fantastic. Cheers
Don't forget the eloquency
Sep he said D.G doesn't kill whight they do lol
I love how in the show, the skeleton wights are super fast and all that, but the fresh made wights, you know, the ones that still have muscle and tendons and stuff, are just Walking Dead zombies
just made popcorn and poured myself a glass of mountain dew to watch this video hahahaha!!
I prepared a very nice breakfast and some orange juice to watch this vid.
I made myself a good hot tea and bundled into my bed just to watch this vid. (y)
I orders some pizza
+movieguy43 Did you scratch your neckbeard too?
I got myself sausage egg and cheese on a cinnamon raisin bagel and a bottle of water to watch this vid.
8:59 In the books Rickon actually could get a unicorn. He's on Skagos at the moment and there are unicorns there. I think Jon had a wolf dream of Shaggydog fighting a wild unicorn on Skagos. So, Rickong riding into battle on a unicorn isn't all that implausible.
i know this is from 6 years ago but cmon bro why did you think he brought up the unicorn example
08:42 LMAO that's exactly how it went. "Things could be that simple?" --> YES
Except he's talking about the books. Try not to get confused because he's using the shows pictures LMAO
*Can be killed with obsidian*
Me and the boys in Tenochititlan: Quetzalcoatl sends his regards, white eye
I 100% agree with Alicia Guzzy - among the most intelligent, coherent, and well constructed ideas on the series. The quality of your videos are superb! Cheers and thank you!
+Peace Baby Thank you!
They are good I'm so behind with the books and the Tv show but with these videos help me to understand what's going on
What i find puzzling is why the wildlings were beyond the wall in the first place, imagine, the war for the dawn just ended, the white walkers that remained fled north, why would anyone follow them? Also, if it took centuries to build, why didn't the wildlings north of the wall just come back south before construction ended instead of just whining that the night's watch are horrible for keeping them out?
+Flying Spectacles Maybe the white walkers made the wall to keep the wildlings in the north, and told the humans they had to not ever let wildlings past the wall.
+Flying Spectacles they were those who would not kneel to the targs
Nicole Chansawang The wall was built thousands of years before the Targs invaded, even before Valyria found dragons
+Flying Spectacles I more meant thats how the wildlings ended up on the other side of it.
Nicole Chansawang There were no wildlings before the Targaryens? Interesting
A concept: What if it was humans that, thousands of years ago, encroached on the land of the others? Maybe when long nights come, food and resources become scarce, and humanity pushed further into the cold out of desperation and slaughtered the others. The others built the wall themselves to keep humanity away from them while they rebuilt their society, but always planned revenge. It would certainly fit with the theme of the good guys realizing they're not really the good guys and the muddling of good/bad in war.
8:43 Watching this after S8 Ep3 was hard.
Yup, thought so too
"Maybe an uncomfortable marriage"
You just gave the Night's King "Come at me, bro" a whole different meaning xD
dany is married to nights king and no one has to listen to her insufferable emoting and convince her against her stupid impulses ever again. night kign confirmed for hero of ice and fire
You should do a PhD in Fantasy History!
perhaps a Noble prize for his fantastic fanatic research!!
plz. pages arent indicated in the citations.
chapters are though
@@LattiMonstaaa that will depend on the edition I guess.
@@oscarquintero2209 LOOOOOOL HAHAHA
"Except things probably won't be that simple" - 4 years on, thats pretty much exactly what is happening. I guess you didn't predict just how much the showrunners would start pandering to the audience lol
What are white walkers, and what are wights?
D&D: Doesn't matter.
amazing video! thank you so much for your hard work on this one. really amazing stuff
+Nick Benvenuti Cheers mate
+Alt Shift X These videos are pure gold, and adding to the fact your voice is amazingly pleasant to listen to. Great work.
TabZa123 Thank you!
+Alt Shift X Adding to the praise - Everything is so nicely structured and these videos also have fucking fantastic editing.
+Alt Shift X Just wondering what your plans are for if and when you start running low on interesting ASOIAF theories? In particular, are there any other epic fantasy series that you think are worth analyzing? If you were to cover something like, say, Malazan (have you read those?) you wouldn't get as many views since clearly GRRM is dominating the market right now, but it would fit a niche that's yet to gain a significant CZcams presence.
Best of luck with whatever you decide, mate.
The question of whether the Others have control over the cold makes me wonder that if there was a deal between humans and the Others, then maybe the Others were supposed to keep the cold away and make the winters shorter. So they actually need the Others to keep the world from freezing and the reason why the winters have been getting longer is because the humans haven't been keeping up their end of the bargain.
Welp. i just watched Ep3 S8 and it turns out theyre just generic bad guys lmao.
In the show
I've read the books, and it turns out they're not.
@@8mmkyle865 I haven't read the books yet, do they want to wipe out humanity and then go back where they came from? I don't really think they want to rule over Westeros or something like that
@@ianvanderveer9094 we don't really know. The show showcases them WAY more than in the books. In the books, we've only seen them a few times, so we can only speculate
@@8mmkyle865 Oh is it strange that I prefer to see them less? XD I really liked the earlier seasons where the White Walkers were mysterious
13:30 might be why crows are not allowed to have babies. So the Others can't take them.
The grey waste is a dessert not a cold area. I for one wish we knew more about the far eastern land. Especially because its history seems to be so interesting.
The Grey Waste is described as a "freezing desert" in TWOIAF. But yeah, I'd love to make a vid about the far east some time (:
Alt Shift X oh, I must have missed that part on my read :/. Nevertheless I would love it if we could have like an encyclopaedia Britannica style book set for TWOIAF. kind of like the silmarillion for Tolkien's works but bigger
+Alt Shift X this video is truely one of your best ! love this brilliant analyse of what could be the end of this serie
+nilsp51 Thank you!
+Alt Shift X You totally should. The Yi Tish creep me out because I know so less about them
You sounded just like Preston Jacobs when you were sarcastically talking about Jon being reborn, Dany flying in and marrying him, Rickon riding a unicorn, etc. haha I'm pretty sure he had a similar line in one of his Jon videos. But anyone great work! :D
Anyway*
+Evan Barrera He sounded like preston talking about the finale of the series, with the end of the war
it sounds like he's been watching Preston's videos, which is a good thing, cos I think Preston's got the best idea of what's gonna happen
+fitzchivalry100 some of it is ridiculous some of its interesting to think about
+Evan Barrera Please no.
Preston is too much crackpot all on his own.
"is not going to be a classic good be evil conflict"
Yeah D&D kinda forgot about that.
"it's not gonna be your classic good-versus-evil conflict"
GoT season 8: yeah, the white walkers are just your regular dark lords that just want to see the whole world dead and erased from memory.
I wonder how he feel about the show, i mean really. he would say one things in interviews for several different reasons, like not wanting to put them on a bad spot, or being paid to speak only neutral and good things, or whatever else. but i highly doubt that was his intention for the white walkers.
If you watch this now you really realize that D&D have no clue what they've been writing for the last 3 seasons...
Lots of cunts..
Here for the future to tell everyone the show did, in fact, end in a generic good guys vs bad guys war… and it all ended in seemingly a half an hour
Damn, you know, it IS a little funny. Martin is quoted many places saying he thinks Tolkien shouldn't have resurrected Gandalf. That he should've stayed dead. Well, George, how's Jon Snow doing? Lol
Dead. He's dead.
Well, this theory is certainly more interesting than the show's conclusion...
I really wish Rickon won't be killed off and he will ride a unicorn!
Watched this a week after episode 9 and seeing Rickon was like noooo he died but of course this video was made ages agi
he should have zig zaged.
+Derfel And Sansa should have talked.
spoiler that doesn't happen
Sadly he was killed in the show. I don't know if he will be killed in the next book since Davos is on his way to the Island of Skagos. Unless if the Boltons get Rickon first but I don't think Jon will go to war in the books I think it will Stannis since he's still alive in the books.
"And Rickon could ride in on a unicorn," That sounds freaking majestic.
I've always thought of the Others as being ASoIaF's equivalent to elves and faeries, even moreso than the children of the forest. Their children stealing tendencies, ethereal beauty and otherworldliness, and weakness to steel and obsidian (could be interpreted as analogous to weakness to iron) just match up very well with old stories and myths about elves and faeries from ancient myths.
In regards to your theory, it rings true. If it is, I wonder if the Others are now on aggressive footing with humans due to some breaking of the pact that had been made millenia prior. Perhaps they are no longer getting the required sacrifice of human children or there are too many wildlings and night's watch north of the wall to their liking.
Regardless of the theory's validity, it brings to mind Tad William's Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy. GRRM has acknowledged those books as both favorites of his as well as inspiration for ASoIaF. When you read Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, the similarities, both thematic/general and specific, are fairly apparent.
In Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, the elves (sithi) were wiped out in centuries past by humans, and in the time of the books an irredentist faction of sithi known as the norns, pallidly beautiful creatures from the distant north, enact a ritual to wipe humanity out of existence in revenge for past faithlessness.
The similarities between the norns and the others might become more apparently in future books, particularly if this theory holds true.
They also resemble me the fallen angels or lil from Hebrew or mesopotamian lore
But I thin they're a reference to our view on morality as such and also like, humans vs nonhumans , antipodes by their nature without absolute good or evil being present
"it's not going to be your classic good vs evil conflict"
Benioff today: it wasn't me, it was my alter ego, here, take this Battle of Winterfell and go
I think White Walkers are also not as straight evil as they seem. I think they felt the return of the dragons and Azor Ahai, and considering their small numbers felt threatened to go extinct, decided to fix the problem the way they understand. With Cold Logic, pretty much like other cold minded beings like SkyNet from Terminator or any other. So far in the movie we ve seen characters doing horrible things or just being hostile to their assumed threats like Cercei and Margary. This could also be the case. White Walkers also could long erase the remains of the children of the forest but didn't do it, because they are not a threat for them.
ya George R R Martin himself says although he respects Tolkien he does not like the traditional drawing of pure evil vs pure good ones the concept of white and black. He creates his figures more link ying and yang; in every good there is evil and in evry evil there is something good. I also think that they maybe did not sense the dragons but the question is why were there no signs of the Others for like a thousands of years and suddenly they reappear. something must have happened. I assume that the Long Night was ended by a pact where the White Walkers were supposed to stay north and humans were supposed to stay south of the wall. humans are not purely good they fought the innocent Children of the forest and so the humans can easily be seen as bloody killers. also by the others. And maybe this pact was broken by the humans for example by the Wildlings crossing the wall and interfering in the white walkers area.
Coca Ina Children were not as innocent as you may think. They have performed both bloody and cannibalistic rituals.
predicted like 80% of the battle that just happened...(minus the unicorn) hope there is more to the story.
You thought so, didn't you?
Narrator: There wasn't.
The Dothraki DO have tales of the long night. I believe their tale of the ghost grass that will consume all other grass is a reference to it.
But they say that the Ghost grass comes from Asshai, not from the Eastern Yi Ti'sh side
Unless the area of others control/inhabitance extends to involve all east/southeast (that's where Asshai is) of essos and from there to the north/Northwest of westros (The Lands of Always winter)
Plus, the dothraki never said that "it happened before", they only prophesie that "one day, it'll happen", which can be interpreted to it happening elsewhere near or around them before and they got the tale, therefore waiting for their turn.
snow on the grass/frozen maybe
10:37 , this episode has aged well lol
No it's the show being shittilly written, in the books it definetly will not be like that
@@Kacpa2 Oh totally agree dude, hopefully it's better executed in the books 😁
Things were that simple
The show is steering exactly towards the "cheesy ending" you talked about at 8:45. sad to see
Thought the same. Hope its gouing to be different at the end. But now it has some sort of bitter aftertaste for me the way the show does it...
Maximilian I'm good with that, I like happy endings, also it sounds cool, I like the show and books in different ways
That would be so fucking lame. I'd rather it be the cheesy ending.
@Aljeane A i'd place my bets on THE TARGAERYANS being related to The Others. Volcano Dragon Valyria & Icy Wight Eternal Winter. They both have that whole magical albino thing going on (despite all the heat in Valyria making DARK skin more plausible).
Exploiting people & magic lead to Valyria's Doom so the Walkers might just be REALLY late to a "once every millenium" family reunion?
Well they are getting the biggest plot points from Martin himself so it wouldn't be just a show thing. I'm sure Martins ending will be different because we know how books have tons more characters who are alive and TV/movies just because you don't get the time to have every single 1 of them hell it's plenty enough characters already. But I'm betting ending wise it'll be closely related. Like the show won't have every single good/liked character live like Lord of the rings while the book will have every single person die. I doubt it'll differ THAT much.
"the world is round "
George R.Martin
Ta da it's confirmed
So there is no Americans west of Westeros?
@@sophiawilson8696 lol😂
There's a tiny detail that I came across re-reading the books: Remember the wight's hand Alliser Thorne takes along to King's Landing? And how *it rotted away* while he was waiting to be admitted to the king/Hand? Far away from the Wall?
Hmmmm.....
Doesn't mean much, it rotted away after a loooong time. It was still intact when he arrived in KL from the wall.
Why does the tunnel at the Night Fort have to be intrinsically nefarious? It honestly seems far more likely that it's just what Sam says it is, a secret sally port to emerge behind an attacking host and trap them in an envelopement.
This is the coolest theory on the end of ASOIAF i've heard so far, and backed up by facts too
It's really funny how Martin criticizes the Lord of the Rings for being a "genetic story of good vs. evil," a story written by an ex-soldier to comfort a nation torn apart by war that used expertise in language to help take down the Nazis.
A surprisingly high amount of that ramble starting at 8:50 has actually come to pass
At Shift X is the best GoT content provider because of the details he brings. Cheers mate
"They probably won't like dragons"
I am just waiting, WAITING for the Others to be completely immune to Dragon fire. Like, I know its almost impossible they're not immune. But I think it would be so fucking fitting, that they are just like "Huh. Dragons."
+The1Floyd that would be epic. Danerys just riding in on her dragon like "i shal save you all from these monsters" then her dragon spits out a huge plume of fire onto the white walker leaders, only for the smoke and flame to clear showing them unburnt and unharmed smiling.
+Bennett Wiancko that would be funny as hell especially seeing the reaction from big Daenerys fans.
+The1Floyd "Huh... Would you look at that. Dragons. Been a long time since I last saw those. How neat."
+The1Floyd S6E5 SPOILERS
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In the episode, we see that the white walkers sheer aura of cold extinguishes fire. Given that Dragonfire isn't really fire, but is magic, we'll have to wait and see.
+VintageLJ Yeah just saw that. but they were made by the children of the forest...
"Rickon could ride in on a unicorn" oh my sweet summer child.
watching this in 2019 is so ironic
"it's not going to be your classic good versus evil conflict" loool
no wonder GRRM can't be bothered to finish the series
Watching this video was bittersweet as hell, just like they said the ending would be... please bring on the books. I screenshot that same quote to my mate after last night's ep hahaha
You litteraly predicted everything that happened in season 7. WOW!
Because D&D based their storytelling entirely on fanservice, i.e. doing exactly what the fans want to get approval.
why is castle black called a castle? Looks like some planks stacked together in the show and seems pretty weak compared to the nightfort.
It reads better on the brochures.
It used to be much more of a castle when it was built. However, it was never the largest or strongest, and since the wall was built it has fallen almost into ruin. In the books it's even less well fortified than in the TV show.
It's not supposed to be defensible from the south, it's designed to defend the south from the north. I mean most of the castles are just really big gatehouses.
Pretty sure it once was a formidable castle but one of the Lord Commanders went rogue and the Starks had to kick him out again so they removed the walls so no one could defend against things already on the south side of the wall
Some castles are a bit shit and not very big. Loads of shit castles in England.
White walkers remind me of the frost giants of norse mythology. In Norse mythology the frost giants are roughly the size of people with the same pale white-blue skin that appears to be stretched over their musculature and also appears wrinkly. In norse myth they are said to be made of ice or shatter like ice when killed and speak a language that sounds like cracking ice.
I think I’m as excited to read Winds of Winter as I am to hear Alt Shift X talk about it
Excellent video as always. Just subscribed, can't wait for the S6E9 explained :)
BRILLIANT MATE!!!
+Douglas Lawlor cheers mate
I listen to these because the fan theories and analysis are so much more interesting than what we actually ended up with.
Eight "good guys could come together", six left now and they're all together, and jon and dany made out