Ah so the white walkers are a metaphor for global warming
The White Walkers are metaphor for a world that existed long before nationed people were things and could potentially exist long after those nations are forgotten.
Oh so they're a metaphor for wakanda
They do have a big ass spirit tree, but they don't have a big ass cat
Somehow this never occurred to me: if whoever built the wall also knew how to build big-ass elevators to get people up the wall, why the fuck did they leave a tunnel with two gates if they could've used some kind of raising elevator-platform?
Imagine being hanged in a cage on "nonfriendly" side of wall, hoping that arrows shot at you form surface will nto reach your ass as you slowly get pulled upwards. Alot faster to run through a tunnel and shut behind doors.
Just armor the elevator, duh
White walkers were awesome until they revealed their backstory.
You keep mysterious/terrifying shit mysterious you dumb-fucks. Same bullshit in how Ridley Scott tried to explain the origin of the original Xenomorph
I think it works as a culmination of everything that is about the story of war crimes. It's an act of slavery using the powers of mind control. It brings together the story of Bran and Daenerys, arguably the most distant characters from the plot of Westeros. I agree in a certain sense of keeping it mysterious for a sense of horror, but being so integral to story gives need to explaining aspects such as their history.
I disagree, even though the White Walkers and their backstory are kinda lame, being shrouded in mystery is one of the worst aspects of The Others in the books.
Like they're the rad as shit and super interesting, and the mystery was cool at first, but it's been 5 books and we still don't know dick about the main antagonists. Please George give me something i'm fuckin starving here
Theirs more to them if the rumors about the next season are to be believed
I will say it is my personal preference. Since the concept of the White Walkers is this extremely ancient and barely known threat that is attacking the kingdom of Westeros. With little to no information or understanding of where they originated, why they are attacking, or what is their true purpose in their conquest of Westeros. Thats the entire reason why the White Walkers were so interesting and terrifying to me.
Also there's nothing wrong with backstory. But for the sake of the White Walkers, you want to give backstory, but in a way where it still stays mysterious. Like examples are second hand accounts from historic characters in the setting dating to the age of heroes or other times where they have witnessed actions or sightings of the white walkers. Where they try to attempt to piece together why exactly the white walkers exist, and why they are attacking. And certain Maesters that served under the night's watch coming up with multiple theories or hypothesizing the motivesor the origin of the white walkers, why they're able to bring the death back to life, their relationship with the Old God's magic, accounts from the Children of the Forest battling the White Walkers on their own, etc. You want to give at least enough information where the reader has a decent basic understanding of what the White Walkers are and what their relevance is to the history of Westeros and the rest of the world.
But flat out telling their origin completely kills the point of why they were terrifying. Cause the original idea is that we couldn't understand them, we can't speak to them, we can't enact diplomacy with them, they are openly hostile, and kill every single man, woman, and child they encounter and raise them from the dead to add to their Army of the Damned. But if you remove the idea that they're mysterious and unable to be understood, they lose every-bit of what is terrifying about them.
Overall. Provide enough backstory for a basic idea of what they are, but enough to keep the mysterious aspect of them and allow their "Origin" or "Purpose" up to the interpretation of the reader.
IMO it's fine to to write something to be mysterious, but if you don't uncover what the mystery is about by the end (or at least give clues), you're just a lazy writer.
Well depends. Since a number of writers keep certain things mysterious intentionally. Mostly in a way to allow the reader to come up with their own interpretation.
i really like that about them though. even the hugest dirtbags in the setting are still human and have more to them than murder-hoboing, but these guys are fundamentally supernatural and so all we can really understand about them, like with any magic in the series, is how it affects people. they're just living examples of how creepy and inexplicable magic is in ASOIAF, i think elaborating on them would kind of go against the point.
i don't mind the show giving them flashes of human emotion though, if they were totally inhuman that would probably also defeat their purpose.
You can end with a case like Lost where the supernatural elements where too mysterious and left the ending unsatisfying.
I still think theirs more too them then just what where shown, they've clearly had to evolve in some way to be what they are now.
Well Lost is more of not knowing where to take it and just falling apart.
I mostly just wanna see what they're deal is, why they're suddenly rising back up and maybe have beef with humans, and i feel this can be explained while still making them feel alien. though i don't think supernatural stuff in the series is necessarily inexplicable, just that nobody knows how to explain it except maybe the three eyed crow
Alt Shift X has some decent ideas about the white walkers, in that seeing as they specialise in ice magic, and the wall is made of ice, it's possible that the wall was made as a truce between the two races to stay the fuck out of each others' way. Also for a series that bangs the "war is hell" and "There is no black and white, just shades of grey" drums so hard as its main themes, it'd be odd that the series would end with a climactic military victory against literal irredeemable demons.
Except that's kind of the point, it's not that the walkers are some kind of ephemeral unknowable mystery, it's that their context goes well beyond Westeros; Westeros is basically the result of politics that happened thousands, up to hundreds of years ago while the Walkers are something way WAY beyond that. They're part of a cycle that didn't even involve men to begin with, so for men to try to wrangle that into something they can deal with should necessarily be cut and dried ...in the books.; as for the tv show, they have a half season of episode to sew most of the shit up, so at this point I would expect anything that makes that happen.
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