Of Wights and Others

[Ted]

Spoiler alert! Please don't continue if you haven't finished ASoS.

So I've read all five books in the series so far and am currently rereading them. I understand what the Others are–the white walkers with blue eyes who are undead. They rose in the night to try to (view spoiler)[kill the Old Bear (hide spoiler)] and can only be 'killed' by fire, obsidian or valyrian steel.

In GoT at the beginning when three men of the Night's Watch go to look at a village littered with dead who then rise, are they Others?

Who are the wights?

[Kevin]

The Other's is what the White Walkers are most often refered to as in the books. The Wights are the people the Others/White Walkers bring back from death to augment their army. That was a Wight that tried to kill Mormont not a White Walker. It was one of the nights watch that went on a ranging that went BAD! That was a White Walker that got Ser Royce on the first episode.

[Mitali]

The Others/White Walkers are more like undead spirits. They can be killed only by obsidian or 'dragonsteel' (which might be Valyrian steel). They dislike fire, but are not necessarily afraid of it (based on the behaviour of the Other Sam kills).

The wights are the bodies of the dead that are raised up again by the Others. They can be human or animal. They can be killed by fire.

[Kirby]

I really wish we had been given more information about the wights and Others, and Coldhands in particular. It just seems that 5 books in, we should have a better idea of what's going on with all that...

[Gary]

I suspect that the Others/White Walkers are the undead versions of Children of the Forest, or that they will wind up to be corrupted versions of the Children in some sense. At least, that would seem to make sense given a few hints in the books, but that is speculation.

[Amber]

Kevin wrote: "The Other's is what the White Walkers are most often refered to as in the books. The Wights are the people the Others/White Walkers bring back from death to augment their army. That was a Wight th..."

This is a perfect explanation.


I have always felt the Others/Wights were based losely around the icelandic draugr. Give it a google, really really similar.