The Others: Discussion Thread

[Municipal Engines]

The biggest mystery in the books is—for me and I suspect a great many other people—the nature, origins and goals/purpose of the Others. I'm hoping to start this thread as a place for general discussion, theories and repository for links to essays and comments about them and the Long Night (the event they form a huge part of).

 

I've heard different theories about their origin, whether as actual minions of the Great Other or as creations of the CoTF or some ancient culture of men, or just as a simple non-human race. Personally I like many ideas in and the impetus behind Lord Martin's The Starks Are Not First Men. Instead of the Others being the creations, I prefer the (admittedly crackpot) idea that the Others were descended from some prototypical human civilisation—those who built with the oily black stone (I'm assuming the Dawn Age Asshai)—who dabbled in magic-assisted eugenics, necromancy and cold/ice/winter magic, much like how the proto-Valyrians dabbled in fire and blood magic and similar racial engineering practises. The faction of Dawn Asshai'i who would become the Others were either exiled or left their people of their own choice, moving ever northwards as they changed into something decreasingly human and more "Other", until they reached the Land of Always Winter and developed into the Others proper.

Also there are conflicting opinions about their nature, good or evil or in-between, and their goals (like what they want Craster's sons for). I've seen a theory that suggests the LH/AA was more of a diplomat than a warrior and negotiated a settlement with the Others, building the Wall as a delineation between the territory of Man and their own. Perhaps they are returning with the intent of driving humanity from their borders and punishing them for their transgressions of the treaty; perhaps it was a transgression or crime against them that prompted them to march south with the Long Night in the first place. Maybe an expansionist faction has achieved supremacy over an isolationist one after all these millennia; an icy Tigers to snowy Elephants in the internal politics of the Others. Maybe they see themselves as the true First Men of Westeros and have a manifest destiny over the continent.

 

But this is all mostly baseless conjecture and crackpot, yet the purpose of this thread is a pooling of ideas and interpretations to better understand the Others and the Long Night, or at least create some fun theories.

[FuzzyJAM]

I've never seen much likelihood in the Stark-Other origin/alliance that some people support, but this piece from AWOIAF at the start of the section on the North is at least interesting:

The old tales recorded in Kennet's Passages of the Dead claim that a curse was placed on the Great Barrow that would allow no living man to rival the First King.  This curse made these pretenders to the title grow corpselike in their appearance as it sucked away their vitality and life.  

An ancient curse that says that no living man could rule the North, and that those kings who did rule were "corpselike"?  Very odd...  Of course, it could be nothing - it could even just be a nod to fan theories and a bit of fun.  Or it could be a reference to the Others and the fact that they "ruled" (i.e. dominated) the North and this was a curse on the men who fought them - perhaps the First King was killed by the Others as the First Men entered the North.

I haven't read any truly convincing theory on what the Others are yet except for the obvious "They're a scary species that kills humans".  Why they're back or what their origins are or how they relate to the Wall, Starks, or whatever else - I think that's all pretty open right now.  We really don't have much information just yet.