When did The Others 'activate'?

[JonCon's Red Beard]

The Others have been active long enough for Mance to unite the Wildlings, and even before. That's why he did it, so... give it at least ten years before the current events.

[chrisdaw]

2 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

Why not? I don't rule out a Dany v fAegon clash, but I don't see fAegon as ultimately central to the climax. More significantly, if R+L=J is true, then the clash is the apocalyptic AA v TPTWP, Dany v Jon. If you want more literalism, other fans have theories re. ice dragons that I have thought through myself yet.

You are not keeping a straight train of thought. The post I quoted was criticizing the Westeros houses for fighting over the throne and stating Dany will be different.

[princess_snow]

On 21/05/2016 at 6:10 PM, JCRB's Honeypot said:

My theory is that they were always activate but had a deal with the Northeners, a deal that couldn't be fulfilled after Rickard and Brandon died.

Imagine this. Why is that a Stark has to always be in Winterfell? We don't know yet, but I doubt it's more than a saying. I think that had a purpose and a real meaning: a Stark needs to, yearly, make a pact with the Others, not differently from what Craster did. Rickard knew, and he told Brandon, but after they both died in KL, no one told the next Stark.

I think that would fit on how everything is related. The coming of the Others was caused by Fire, a Targaryen. And not just some Targaryen, but the father of the one Prince who wanted to stop it all and actually procreated the one who will be an important part on their defeat.

This is very very interesting. Have you written any more on this JCRB ? Id love to read it.

[Kyll.Ing.]

6 hours ago, JCRB's Honeypot said:

The Others have been active long enough for Mance to unite the Wildlings, and even before. That's why he did it, so... give it at least ten years before the current events.

Is it specifically stated anywhere that Mance began uniting the Wildlings because of the Others? He might as well have observed a Night's Watch in decline, and figured that the right man with the right leadership skills could carve out a sizable portion of the North for himself by controlling the Wildlings. The Others might have emerged as a reaction to some of the things he did when uniting the Wildlings, such as opening the graves in the Frostfangs.

[Not a kneeler]

I have come to believe that the Others are heat seekers. When everything around them grows cold, suppose that happens because they are drawing the heat out of the air for their own use? That's why they are extra active after a long summer. More heat past the wall. Would there have been enough heat from the explosion of Valyria, and possibly something that happened at Hardhome to reactivate them?

I confess to have been thinking about their nature and what may have made them come forth again. I think it might have been some pulse of heat of some sort and must have happened a while back. At any rate, it must have happened before the birth  of Dany's dragons. Also, there is a possibility that some magic spell may have been nullified. The CotF and the last hero did something to stop them but not destroy them thousands of years before. So we have to ask ourselves what has changed in the past few hundred years. Not the comet, possibly the death of the dragons are a factor. Maybe the death of the dragons signified a general loss of some type of magic  that also inhibited the WW. There are several types of magic and one could remain strong while another could fade. Maybe the loss of the weirwood trees in the south that were burned by the Andels decreased the effectiveness of the CotF's magic. Anyway, I believe it has been something that has been happening over a long period of time and not a sudden one-time event.

 

 

[House Beaudreau]

The Others Have always been active!  

Here is my reasoning for why I believe that the Others have always been hanging around and active in the land of always winter. stick with me because there is some explaining to do before I get right into the others.

1.The song of Ice and Fire is very much grounded in reality or at least a Sci-Fi/Fantasy reality.  GRRM was a science fiction writer for a long time before he wrote ASOIAF and he has stated that in all of his stories he tries to follow the laws of nature, physics and biology. In his Original drafts of "Game of Thrones" there were no dragons because he thought that it was too overtly magical, instead the Targaryens were "Pyro- Kinetics" (They had the ability to control fire using Telekinesis) Ultimately he decided that this was too much like Stephen Kings "Firestarter" novel, so thanks to Phyllis who I assume was an editor or friend that got to read an early draft made him put dragons in, which worked out great for all of us. However GRRM's dragons are unlike most classical fantasy dragons. they don't stand on four legs and don't have arms because there aren't any animals in the world that have four legs and wings. The also don't talk and guard treasure.  Now you may be asking why I am talking about all this when this thread is about the others, well its just to give you a look at how GRRM developed his story and how he bases it in the real world as much as he can.  

2.I assume everyone know about the email GRRM sent to a comic book artist about the Others. He roughly said that they are not undead zombies but closer to a mythical being that has its roots in Irish folklore. He describe them as beautiful as well. That right there should tell us that they are not what they appear to be, especially since the only thing we know about them is from the Characters in the books, which we know can be unreliable. 

3. This is where I might loose some of you... THE OTHERS ARE HUMANS. they have just adapted to living in extreme cold and most likely have some sort of telepathic/kinesis powers like Bran or Bloodraven which allows them to raise the dead and walk on top of the snow.  My reason for this is that in all of GRRM stories leading up to ASOIAF there is never two different species breeding together. GRRM has said as much that he hates SCI-FI stories where humans end up breeding with Aliens because its very unrealistic because human and alien DNA would never match even if the physical parts fit together.  We know that the Nights King took an Other for a wife, We know that Craster has been supplying the Others with Babies for years, most likely so they can expand their Jeyne Poole of wait sorry I mean Gene pool.  So we can probably assume the Others can breed with Humans, which makes them Humans! 

So why now after all these years are the Others starting to "activate" and move south.  Lets start from what I think the beginning of all this is. After the long night I'm thinking that some sort of arrangement was made between the Others and the First men possibly brokered by the Children of the forrest. The terms most likely had something to do with building the Wall to divide the territory and the creation of the Nights Watch to honor the deal from the humans side(but all talk about this further). Obviously not all humans bought into the deal because we have men living on the Other's side of the wall, which is a classic human move to break a deal for territory. I really like the idea of this deal having something to do with always having a Stark in Winterfell but i just don't know why that would matter to the Others. The last part of the deal that is possibly why some human refused to live in the kingdom was supplying the Others with fresh Genetic stock meaning babies so they could live on. The Nights watch was established to provide the Others with these babies and make sure the Others stay satisfied. Master Aemon, Sam and Jon all come to the same conclusion that the Nights Watch has forgotten their true purpose. They are half right, but they think that they were suppose to fight against the the Others but it was truly to give babies to the Others.    

This brings me to the good queen Alysanne Targaryen. She traveled all across the realm and was beloved by the smallfolk. On her visit to the North she met many of the smallfolk just south of the wall and then visited the Nights watch at the Night Fort. This Visit made her convince the old king to abolish the Lord's right of First Night. Basically the lord gets to bang any of his subjects wives first on their wedding night.  She also gave a bunch of land to the nights watch and her jewels so that they could close down the Night fort and open a new castle.  Why did she do this? its because she found out what was going on in the north. With the First night in play, it would mean that there is a good chance there would be a lot of unwanted bastards popping out in the North. These Bastards were most likely given to the Nights Watch. What did the Nights Watch do with them? I'm guessing that they took them down into the tunnels and put them through the Weirwood's door mouth(the one that Sam and Bran pass through in ASOS) as an offering to the Others to keep them at bay and honor the agreement . To the men of the Nights Watch and the Small Folk it would look like they were giving the bastard babies to the Old Gods. With First night ending and the Night Fort closing these sacrifices stopped all together or at the very least slowed way down. Roose Bolton says I believe in ADWD that the Boltons, Umbers, certain Mountain Clans and people of Skagos still practice the First Night. Other than the Skagosi these are the very same houses that would have had good land stolen from them with the New gift that was given to the Nights Watch and they also are the houses closest to the Wall, they were originally trying to keep the flow of babies going but eventually just became tradition because obviously no one is taking bastards to the nights watch anymore to be sacrificed.  The Others are having a genetic crisis. They have finally after all this time hit an inbreeding bottle neck in there civilization and have been seeking new blood to save there kind.  Which is why the Wil dlings have started to mobilize and moving south because the Others are killing them at taking the babies. yes they have been getting babies from Craster but this is poor inbred stock without a lot of genetic diversity. The Others are not pure evil, they are simply trying to save their own from extinction and are not the ones who broke the original deal man and the Others had.               

  

[Bowen Marsh]

19 hours ago, House Cambodia said:

Ha, well I suspect we'll find out within 2 or 3 weeks via the TV show which one of us is on the right lines!

Gentlemen, the show and the books are two separate stories. 

On that note, it is obvious to me that Dany is hero of the story.  She just fought to give freedom to several hundred thousand slaves.  You decide who the hero is based on their deeds, not based on prophecy.  And no deed is more indicative of being good than fighting to free slaves.  On that idea, I am in firm agreement with Franklin 6.  If there is the equivalent of an antichrist in the story (which I think is a pretty silly comparison, no offense), it would be Jon Snow.  He is the most likely to side with the Others.  Before we forget, Weymar Royce was out looking for Wildlings when the White Walkers just killed him, for pleasure.  Jon has a history of betraying people.  He falls into the role of Judas, it seems to me.  If Jon comes back from death it's due to necromancy, which is evil.

[One-eyed Misbehavin]

On May 21, 2016 at 4:10 AM, JCRB's Honeypot said:

My theory is that they were always activate but had a deal with the Northeners, a deal that couldn't be fulfilled after Rickard and Brandon died.

Imagine this. Why is that a Stark has to always be in Winterfell? We don't know yet, but I doubt it's more than a saying. I think that had a purpose and a real meaning: a Stark needs to, yearly, make a pact with the Others, not differently from what Craster did. Rickard knew, and he told Brandon, but after they both died in KL, no one told the next Stark.

I think that would fit on how everything is related. The coming of the Others was caused by Fire, a Targaryen. And not just some Targaryen, but the father of the one Prince who wanted to stop it all and actually procreated the one who will be an important part on their defeat.

I agree with the stark in winterfell theory except the part about a yearly deal with the others. Surely they would have told ned. To think otherwise doesn't make since at all. Idk what the words could mean except that maybe it prevents the others from coming through/under/up the winterfell crypts if there is no stark in winterfell. Would explain 1 family "having" to survive a couple of millenniums. IDK I don't have the answers 

[Endymion I Targaryen]

We still miss much information.It's a pity that Nan didn't end her story about the last hero.I believe that there are tides of magic in the world.When the last dragons died,magic was in its' lowest point.The storm during Dany's birth and the red comet were signs that magic starts to increase again.

My opinion is: When the Long Night ended,the Others were forced back to their homeland,having lost most of their powers.The Wall was a magical barrier and Children caves were beyond the Wall as "fortresses" to protect the Wall.They were not imprisoned or deactivated and the Children's powers didn't allow them to go south.Gradually they regained their strength while the Children were diminished.Probably they have different lifespan than men so they are slower in actions  and probably they are too few.They tried to increase their numbers with the Night's King but failed and finally made it with Craster.During ASOIAF, they have no real enemies:the Children are too few,same for the Night's Watch and the First Men have turned their focus on politics plus magic increases again.

[JonCon's Red Beard]

5 hours ago, One-eyed Misbehavin said:

I agree with the stark in winterfell theory except the part about a yearly deal with the others. Surely they would have told ned. To think otherwise doesn't make since at all. Idk what the words could mean except that maybe it prevents the others from coming through/under/up the winterfell crypts if there is no stark in winterfell. Would explain 1 family "having" to survive a couple of millenniums. IDK I don't have the answers 

It has to be more than just a Stark being there because Benjen was the Stark in Winterfell during the Rebellion.

I agree that Ned not being "told" is somehow too much, but it has to be something like that, something that wasn't "done" in time and Ned wasn't told because only Rickard and Brandon knew.

Maybe the Maester knew and tried on his own and died? That's why Catelyn arrived with a new one? The previous was murdered? died trying?

Whatever it is, I'm sure that the death of the two Starks had to do with it. They were needed for something, being both the Lord and his Heir, and couldn't be there when they had to.

[House Beaudreau]

I Just don't see why having a Stark in Winterfell would matter to the Others. If anything I would think that having a Stark in Winterfell would have to do with the Boltons or the Wildlings. The rivalry between the Starks and Boltons is well known and the Wildlings have plagued the North for centuries. Or it probably something they just say like "Winter is coming" or "The Lannisters always pay their debts" "Dark wings Dark word" Etc. 

[Winter Blues]

On May 21, 2016 at 3:10 AM, JCRB's Honeypot said:

My theory is that they were always activate but had a deal with the Northeners, a deal that couldn't be fulfilled after Rickard and Brandon died.

Imagine this. Why is that a Stark has to always be in Winterfell? We don't know yet, but I doubt it's more than a saying. I think that had a purpose and a real meaning: a Stark needs to, yearly, make a pact with the Others, not differently from what Craster did. Rickard knew, and he told Brandon, but after they both died in KL, no one told the next Stark.

I think that would fit on how everything is related. The coming of the Others was caused by Fire, a Targaryen. And not just some Targaryen, but the father of the one Prince who wanted to stop it all and actually procreated the one who will be an important part on their defeat.

This is my favorite theory, but I would like to tweak it:

 

The Last Hero wasn't a hero, but an expert negotiator. He didn't defeat every single Other and over come them; he made a negotiation, maybe signed by single combat, or just an agreement. I think there is a direct correlation between their "activation" and the birth of The Prince that was Promised/Azor Ahai/Last Hero (as I believe they are the same). 

Mance started gathering the Wildlings to migrate from the threat of the Others about eight-ten years before the events of GoT, but that doesn't mean that's when they came alive, for lack of a better phrase (based on him telling Jon he visited Winterfell when Jon was a kid). When he started gathering the Wildlings, they had already come in contact with The Others, else, he would have never gotten them together. This makes me assume that they had been active at least 15 years before GoT... 

The second coming of the Hero heralds the second threat of the Others...

 

 

[OuttaOldtown]

On 5/22/2016 at 10:36 PM, chrisdaw said:

Hah, so when Dany comes to Westeros she won't fight for the throne against any Westerosi but will just take her dragon(s) north and kill the Others?

"To go north..."

[Lordsteve666]

I don't know, there's no real event that you could really say activated them (assuming they were ever dormant). The one thing we know has been happening for some time in contact with them is Craster giving them his male children so it's a good measure of time for anything Other related in recent history.

I mean Craster must have been giving them his children for some time. At least one of his wives is an old woman which could mean he's been doing this for decades. There's no real timeline here but at least one of his wives has borne 6 children, so that's around 6 years at least and we also know he's "married" and had children with several of the daughters borne by his other wives.
So I think we're looking at quite a significant time period here, probably since long before event's that started Robert's Rebellion or when Danny was born.

Summerhall, the last time anything significantly dragon related happened in Westeros, happened 38 years previous to when Others were first seen again. So that would potentially be within the same time period as Craster was sacrificing babies to them, meaning they were already active.

The birth of Danny's dragons was much too recent to affect them, they were already active long before she was even born i suspect.

[Dorian Martell]

On 5/21/2016 at 0:14 AM, House Cambodia said:

Is there any information in the canon as to when the Others first 'awoke' this time around?

To rephrase the question, is there any evidence at all to contradict my hypothesis that they awoke at the birth of Daenerys? I want to pursue the theory that they have arisen to fight the antichrist, the mother of dragons, Azor Ahai who has come to herald the second Long Night.

Thanks.

Because there is nothing the books or show about it, all we have is Nan's tale about the last hero and what sam found in the archives. 
The others came a few thousand years after the pact with the CTOF.  Humans had no way to fight them. The Last Hero set out with his friends and dog (like Bran) and sought out the CTOF (like Bran) to learn how to fight them. The CTOF helped the Last Hero defeat them. We know that Dragon glass and Dragon Steel are effective weapons against them but nothing else works. 
Now, combine this with what we know about the magical beings of westeros. The CTOF are dying out. As far as we know, there is one settlement of them in the cave of the last greenseer.  They are the traditional enemy of the others. ( I do not subscribe to the "CTOF made them" theory because why drop the nuke 2000 years after you make peace with the enemy? And the show is not book canon.)  Magic has almost left the world after the doom and the death of dragons. The glass candles no longer burn, the pyromancers cannot make much wildfire ect. and the CTOF no longer bring obsidian weapons to the watch.
So with their ancient enemy and the last greenseer almost dead,  and humans having forgotten almost everything about them, the present time in the books is the perfect time for an invasion, so here they are
 

On 5/22/2016 at 7:27 PM, House Cambodia said:

Ha, well I suspect we'll find out within 2 or 3 weeks via the TV show which one of us is on the right lines!

Probably not. The show has gone completely off the book rails after season 4 

[Buried Treasure]

Craster's children earlier sons could have been taken by wolves or other predators, his primary reason for exposing them was to remove  male threats. The Others have a some sense of humour, based on their laughter after killing Royce, so it may have amused them to accept the sacrifices that Craster had already been making for years before they became active.

 

A very significant change that has occurred in the last <300 years is the decline of the Nights Watch. The Watch and the Wall were created with the purpose of defending against the Others so it may be that when the Watch was strong the Others declined to attack because the magical defences of the Wall & Watch were likely to defeat them. It could be that the Others have been active always and relatively recently decided the Watch is weak enough. I think the Others have been dormant, perhaps with a small number waking to probe when there is a deep Winter every century or two, and this is the first time they have woken to find the defences of the Wall weakened. 

 

Full Winter is only just about to arrive, which I believe means that most of the strength of the Others is still to awake. The attacks from the Others so far have been limited. Despite the many thousands of wildlings that were north of the wall until late in ADwD, full attacks by Others were rare, they mostly seemed content to let wights rise up among the wildlings. The exception is when men of the Nights Watch are north of the Wall, where attacks with engagement from the Others have happened. This would indicate that even in late Summer / Autumn when the Others were not ready for full invasion they were wanted to take the opportunity to kill NW men north of the Wall; because the magical defences of the Wall are stronger when sworn men of the NW are upon it. 

[Aetta]

On 5/22/2016 at 5:40 PM, House Beaudreau said:

The Others Have always been active!  

Here is my reasoning for why I believe that the Others have always been hanging around and active in the land of always winter. stick with me because there is some explaining to do before I get right into the others.

1.The song of Ice and Fire is very much grounded in reality or at least a Sci-Fi/Fantasy reality.  GRRM was a science fiction writer for a long time before he wrote ASOIAF and he has stated that in all of his stories he tries to follow the laws of nature, physics and biology. In his Original drafts of "Game of Thrones" there were no dragons because he thought that it was too overtly magical, instead the Targaryens were "Pyro- Kinetics" (They had the ability to control fire using Telekinesis) Ultimately he decided that this was too much like Stephen Kings "Firestarter" novel, so thanks to Phyllis who I assume was an editor or friend that got to read an early draft made him put dragons in, which worked out great for all of us. However GRRM's dragons are unlike most classical fantasy dragons. they don't stand on four legs and don't have arms because there aren't any animals in the world that have four legs and wings. The also don't talk and guard treasure.  Now you may be asking why I am talking about all this when this thread is about the others, well its just to give you a look at how GRRM developed his story and how he bases it in the real world as much as he can.  

2.I assume everyone know about the email GRRM sent to a comic book artist about the Others. He roughly said that they are not undead zombies but closer to a mythical being that has its roots in Irish folklore. He describe them as beautiful as well. That right there should tell us that they are not what they appear to be, especially since the only thing we know about them is from the Characters in the books, which we know can be unreliable. 

3. This is where I might loose some of you... THE OTHERS ARE HUMANS. they have just adapted to living in extreme cold and most likely have some sort of telepathic/kinesis powers like Bran or Bloodraven which allows them to raise the dead and walk on top of the snow.  My reason for this is that in all of GRRM stories leading up to ASOIAF there is never two different species breeding together. GRRM has said as much that he hates SCI-FI stories where humans end up breeding with Aliens because its very unrealistic because human and alien DNA would never match even if the physical parts fit together.  We know that the Nights King took an Other for a wife, We know that Craster has been supplying the Others with Babies for years, most likely so they can expand their Jeyne Poole of wait sorry I mean Gene pool.  So we can probably assume the Others can breed with Humans, which makes them Humans! 

So why now after all these years are the Others starting to "activate" and move south.  Lets start from what I think the beginning of all this is. After the long night I'm thinking that some sort of arrangement was made between the Others and the First men possibly brokered by the Children of the forrest. The terms most likely had something to do with building the Wall to divide the territory and the creation of the Nights Watch to honor the deal from the humans side(but all talk about this further). Obviously not all humans bought into the deal because we have men living on the Other's side of the wall, which is a classic human move to break a deal for territory. I really like the idea of this deal having something to do with always having a Stark in Winterfell but i just don't know why that would matter to the Others. The last part of the deal that is possibly why some human refused to live in the kingdom was supplying the Others with fresh Genetic stock meaning babies so they could live on. The Nights watch was established to provide the Others with these babies and make sure the Others stay satisfied. Master Aemon, Sam and Jon all come to the same conclusion that the Nights Watch has forgotten their true purpose. They are half right, but they think that they were suppose to fight against the the Others but it was truly to give babies to the Others.    

This brings me to the good queen Alysanne Targaryen. She traveled all across the realm and was beloved by the smallfolk. On her visit to the North she met many of the smallfolk just south of the wall and then visited the Nights watch at the Night Fort. This Visit made her convince the old king to abolish the Lord's right of First Night. Basically the lord gets to bang any of his subjects wives first on their wedding night.  She also gave a bunch of land to the nights watch and her jewels so that they could close down the Night fort and open a new castle.  Why did she do this? its because she found out what was going on in the north. With the First night in play, it would mean that there is a good chance there would be a lot of unwanted bastards popping out in the North. These Bastards were most likely given to the Nights Watch. What did the Nights Watch do with them? I'm guessing that they took them down into the tunnels and put them through the Weirwood's door mouth(the one that Sam and Bran pass through in ASOS) as an offering to the Others to keep them at bay and honor the agreement . To the men of the Nights Watch and the Small Folk it would look like they were giving the bastard babies to the Old Gods. With First night ending and the Night Fort closing these sacrifices stopped all together or at the very least slowed way down. Roose Bolton says I believe in ADWD that the Boltons, Umbers, certain Mountain Clans and people of Skagos still practice the First Night. Other than the Skagosi these are the very same houses that would have had good land stolen from them with the New gift that was given to the Nights Watch and they also are the houses closest to the Wall, they were originally trying to keep the flow of babies going but eventually just became tradition because obviously no one is taking bastards to the nights watch anymore to be sacrificed.  The Others are having a genetic crisis. They have finally after all this time hit an inbreeding bottle neck in there civilization and have been seeking new blood to save there kind.  Which is why the Wil dlings have started to mobilize and moving south because the Others are killing them at taking the babies. yes they have been getting babies from Craster but this is poor inbred stock without a lot of genetic diversity. The Others are not pure evil, they are simply trying to save their own from extinction and are not the ones who broke the original deal man and the Others had.               

  

Yeah, I saw that PJ video, too.

[House Beaudreau]

23 minutes ago, Aetta said:

Yeah, I saw that PJ video, too.

yeah some of his theories are a little out their and I think he assumes a little too much but He is pretty much right on with this one. Except he leaves out that the Nights Watch was Original established to provide the Others with babies and keep people out of the North. 

[Aetta]

6 hours ago, House Beaudreau said:

yeah some of his theories are a little out their and I think he assumes a little too much but He is pretty much right on with this one. Except he leaves out that the Nights Watch was Original established to provide the Others with babies and keep people out of the North. 

Now that's a nice add.  Hmmmm.  So, I can go a little crackpot with this and propose that Craster (a son of a NIght's Watchman) was meant to be donated to the Others himself.  But his moms tried to bring him back to the Watch, they ran her off, and then it became his mandate to give up his own sons.  Sorta like how the Faceless demand lives to replace those that were "stolen" from the Many Faced god.

 

[Curled Finger]

Wow.  Really good stuff in here.  I've enjoyed some interesting discussions with my book friends which of course are always overshadowed and undertoned concerning The Others.   I've been trying to explain my understanding of the World book that the 1st Men in the North were vastly magical themselves, independent of the COTF.   Warg Kings, Marsh Kings, Red Kings and Barrows Kings...yeah, I'm thinking they brought their magic with them when they came to Westeros.  Curious those Starks didn't appear to have a drop of magic in their blood until they began cultivating all their competitions' magics.   So how about The Others are just another 1st Men tribe that time forgot when they settled in the far North?   TLH is yet another Stark who defeats yet another magical family?  Perhaps daughters were given to bride and perhaps The Others retreated as far away from the Starks as they could get and remain on the continent?   The Thenns lived right next to them for thousands of years and didn't seem to have any real trouble.  The Thenns are said to be closer to untouched by time as any of the 1st Men.  Things were well enough for thousands of years but now even the Thenns want the hell out of the neighborhood.   Because the NW and Wildlings have developed such an adversarial relationship neither could or would extend aid or share intel.   It is as though those Wildlings are trying to cross some forbidden border in migrating south.   Those Wildlings seem to the be only thing on the NW's radar.   

Jeor Mormont is familiar with Craster's backwoods folk practice of gifting (yes gift, not sacrifice) his male infants to The Gods.   Not The Old Gods, but The Gods. Jeor Mormont has a magic sword and a potentially magic maester then gets a magic steward with a magic direwolf.  So what's the problem with Wildlings migrating south?   Yes they have a bad reputation among those established houses south of the Wall, but these are the same people fostering their children with former enemies and fostering the children of their former enemies.  There is a higher mind in this sort of transaction.  What's to say that the Wildlings wouldn't have eventually settled into society if given their own patch of land along a shore or some dense wood?  Is it really the Wildlings or just 1 tribe of blue eyed necromancers no one wants around?   

We are led to believe The Starks are the accumulation of all that wonderful magic many of their neighbors were born with.  The Starks are wargs and skinchangers and greenseers...and possibly practiced their own blood magic in their worship of The Old Gods.  Makes you wonder what God or gods they worshiped before that.   Could those gods have had blue eyes and a very cold touch?   If we are to believe the tale of the Nights King a human befriended and actually fell in love (or something) with one of these Others.   That didn't end well for anyone, but it does indicate that The Others are compatible with humans physically, perhaps mentally, spiritually and/or emotionally.  So what is making the Others a more prominent presence?  Probably loneliness.   When did they begin their reintegration attempt?  With the Nights King I imagine.   More recently?  I tend to side with those who believe there is a cosmic force that demands that heroes have villains and put it in the +/- 75 years group.