The Others: Why now?

[devilish]

1 hour ago, Holley 4 Barrel said:

I don't think the WW care about Rickard's execution.  Besides, why would they continue to advance even after Robert had taken the throne?  It doesn't make sense.  The Others were active at the start of AGOT while Robert's ass had been warming the throne for 15 years or more and the Starks had a secure hold on Winterfell. 

I'm choosing the Op's #6.  The climate shift.  They are creatures of the cold and follow the cold.  The shift in climate to a prolonged Ice Age will allow them to go to lands that were formerly too warm for them, too inhospitable, for them in the past.

 

Harsh winters had occured before. For example Aegon V sent supplies to the North during a harsh winter that lasted for 6 long years. There's no signs of Others during that period. 

The series is called a song of ice and fire. We know that the Targs has an affinity towards fire (Blackfyre, 'Fire and Blood', dragons etc). Using the same argument then the Starks are the ice equivalent (Ice, Winter us coming - the magical creature that goes missing). That's also hinted within the text. The alliance between Starks and Targs that paved the way to the hour of the wolf was known as the pact of ice and fire. 

Now we know from Melisandre that there's power in King's blood and that some sort of power is unleashed when you burn it. We also know that if you burnTarg'a blood, near dragon eggs then dragons might hatch. What happens if you burn the King of Winter's blood?

[Shi Qiang]

On 3/23/2017 at 1:04 AM, 300 H&H Mag said:

There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.  The Starks perform a ritual that either appeases the Others or repels them.  This could relate to #3.  But Ned was not the kind of man who would kill people for sacrifice.  We know then that human sacrifice had not been practiced by the Starks for at least as long as the time Lord Rickard has been dead and maybe even long before then. The timing is wrong unless the Others are just slow to react.  I will not rule this out, yet.  After all, Rickard expected to live longer and he had Brandon backing him up.  He could have shared the secret ritual with Brandon but both got executed and had not the chance to pass the information to Ned.

I like this.  Craster appeased the white walkers by offering his sons in exchange for the freedom to live in the far side of the north.    Mormont refused to stop Craster because the wildlings served a crueler god.  We can take from this that this god demanded the sacrifice.  The Free Folk offered unwanted children.  It's a blood offering.   Freedom must be paid for is an oft used idea in this story.  The Free Cities gave lavish offerings to the Khals to keep the Dothraki from invading them.  It's not strange at all to think that the white walkers would demand the same from the wildlings and the people of the north. 

I can't put most of the blame on Queen Allysanne because we know from Roose Bolton that the savage practices of the north continued even after they were outlawed.  "Where the old gods rule, old customs die hard".  Between the north getting rid of bastards and unwanted babies, the wildlings, Lord Craster, the Children of the Forest, and the Starks, enough blood offerings were given to keep the white walkers happy.  Call it rent and the white walkers are the landlords.  There is nothing in the prologue to AGOT to say that the white walkers wanted to invade the other side of the Wall.  What were they up to?  They were attacking a wildling village far from the Wall.  And they didn't exactly try hard to stop Gared from running back to the Wall.  Those are not the behavior you expect out of them if they were planning to attack the Wall.  Any intentions they had of attacking the Wall is very recent.  They were only attacking the wildlings, who presumably were not paying enough tribute.  All it takes is one loud wildling to say he's no longer giving up any of his children and many will follow his example. 

We believe Eddard Stark is a cool guy who would never make blood sacrifices to the trees.  But do we really know him?  We know little of his past.  Each time he cut off a criminal's head with Ice and allowed the blood to soak the tree roots, that is a blood offering.  Recent events took place to reduce the blood offerings.  Eddard went south to play at the game of politics.  Robb called the banners and soon after followed Eddard south.  With no criminals to execute, they all went south with Robb and less men to make babies, the blood offerings dried up.  Sort of like the number of coins in a church collection plate during an economic recession.  The man who passes the sentence must swing the sword.  Specifically, the lord of winterfell.  Humans may see this is an execution but the white walkers do not follow human laws.  They may see this is a blood offering.  What Eddard believed is a philosophy about justice may have meant something completely different in days past.  It may have meant the lord of winterfell must himself carry out the ritual of the blood sacrifice. 

[Shi Qiang]

3 hours ago, devilish said:

Harsh winters had occured before. For example Aegon V sent supplies to the North during a harsh winter that lasted for 6 long years. There's no signs of Others during that period. 

The series is called a song of ice and fire. We know that the Targs has an affinity towards fire (Blackfyre, 'Fire and Blood', dragons etc). Using the same argument then the Starks are the ice equivalent (Ice, Winter us coming - the magical creature that goes missing). That's also hinted within the text. The alliance between Starks and Targs that paved the way to the hour of the wolf was known as the pact of ice and fire. 

Now we know from Melisandre that there's power in King's blood and that some sort of power is unleashed when you burn it. We also know that if you burnTarg'a blood, near dragon eggs then dragons might hatch. What happens if you burn the King of Winter's blood?

Harsh winters occurred before but it's hardly worth the trouble of taking lands and then having to leave it behind to the enemy six years later.  They were waiting for a total climate shift that would last more than a man's lifetime. 

The phrase "a song of ice and fire" doesn't mean the elements have to mix.  I would go so far as to say the White Walkers don't want ice to mix with fire.  On the other side of the fence, Rhllor doesn't want fire mixing with ice.  Other than the timing, I do not see a problem with the cause being the birth of Jon Snow.  He would be seen as an abomination by the two sides.  Which fits his theme.  He's the lone wolf.  Ghost was found far away from the other pups, maybe shunned by them.  Jon will be shunned in the north if Ramsay ever chose to make his crimes public. 

Dragon eggs do not need human blood to hatch.  Dragons hatched on their own without human interference, thank you very much.  Dany's eggs were petrified and that was why it took a miracle to hatch them.   

I'm surprised the red comet wasn't mentioned.  It clearly was an important event.  Yeah it heralds the climate shift, maybe.  Maybe.  But it also opened the boundary between the living and the dead.  There is a boundary between the living and the dead.  Between the living world and the Nightlands.  The comet opened a crack in that boundary.  The result?  Thoros was able to raise Beric from the dead.  The Others are now able to raise the dead and skin change them.  The red comet will come again to close the boundary but until then, necromancy is possible. 

One possible explanation for the phrase, "there must always be a Stark in Winterfell":  The ancient Starks made a deal with the devil.  To put plainly, they made a deal with the white walkers.  We don't know yet what payment they were required to pay.  It may be the blood sacrifices I wrote about in another posting.  What Bran saw, the blood sacrifice to the weir wood tree, is important to the story.  In return, the white walkers would help the Starks win and keep control of the north.  Nothing at this point indicate the white walkers are interested in the lands south of the neck. 

This is tinfoil but suppose Eddard was obligated to sacrifice his first-born son, Robb, when the boy comes of age  But his southern wife would never understand.  Eddard didn't carry it out.  Robb rode south and died there, robbing the white walkers of their tribute.  Maybe Brandon was not Rickard's first-born.  The first-born was sacrificed.  The first-born doesn't have to be a non-bastard.  I doubt the white walkers would care about a person's legal status.  Maybe the lords of winterfell were fathering bastards and offering up those bastards instead of their true born sons.  And, consider this.  Brandon Stark was technically lord of winterfell after his father was executed.  If Brandon+Ashara=Jon is true, or even Brandon+Lyanna=Jon, that means Jon will have to be the sacrificial lamb to make peace with the others. 

[Targaryen Restoration]

3 hours ago, Allardyce said:

 

I'm surprised the red comet wasn't mentioned.  It clearly was an important event.  Yeah it heralds the climate shift, maybe.  Maybe.  But it also opened the boundary between the living and the dead.  There is a boundary between the living and the dead.  Between the living world and the Nightlands.  The comet opened a crack in that boundary.  The result?  Thoros was able to raise Beric from the dead.  The Others are now able to raise the dead and skin change them.  The red comet will come again to close the boundary but until then, necromancy is possible. 

So you're saying Thoros, Daenerys, and the Others have the power of necromancy.  They can call the dead back from the Night Lands.  Does that mean "light a fire" means to bring a dead person back to life?  That fits light a fire to love.  Her method require someone to get roasted though.  MMD got roasted and brought back the souls of Rhaegar, Viserys, and Drogo.  If the second roastee is an ironborn, who will come back to life for Dany to dread?  I find this interesting.

 

 

[Wm Portnoy]

17 hours ago, Allardyce said:

Harsh winters occurred before but it's hardly worth the trouble of taking lands and then having to leave it behind to the enemy six years later.  They were waiting for a total climate shift that would last more than a man's lifetime. 

The phrase "a song of ice and fire" doesn't mean the elements have to mix.  I would go so far as to say the White Walkers don't want ice to mix with fire.  On the other side of the fence, Rhllor doesn't want fire mixing with ice.  Other than the timing, I do not see a problem with the cause being the birth of Jon Snow.  He would be seen as an abomination by the two sides.  Which fits his theme.  He's the lone wolf.  Ghost was found far away from the other pups, maybe shunned by them.  Jon will be shunned in the north if Ramsay ever chose to make his crimes public. 

Dragon eggs do not need human blood to hatch.  Dragons hatched on their own without human interference, thank you very much.  Dany's eggs were petrified and that was why it took a miracle to hatch them.   

I'm surprised the red comet wasn't mentioned.  It clearly was an important event.  Yeah it heralds the climate shift, maybe.  Maybe.  But it also opened the boundary between the living and the dead.  There is a boundary between the living and the dead.  Between the living world and the Nightlands.  The comet opened a crack in that boundary.  The result?  Thoros was able to raise Beric from the dead.  The Others are now able to raise the dead and skin change them.  The red comet will come again to close the boundary but until then, necromancy is possible. 

One possible explanation for the phrase, "there must always be a Stark in Winterfell":  The ancient Starks made a deal with the devil.  To put plainly, they made a deal with the white walkers.  We don't know yet what payment they were required to pay.  It may be the blood sacrifices I wrote about in another posting.  What Bran saw, the blood sacrifice to the weir wood tree, is important to the story.  In return, the white walkers would help the Starks win and keep control of the north.  Nothing at this point indicate the white walkers are interested in the lands south of the neck. 

This is tinfoil but suppose Eddard was obligated to sacrifice his first-born son, Robb, when the boy comes of age  But his southern wife would never understand.  Eddard didn't carry it out.  Robb rode south and died there, robbing the white walkers of their tribute.  Maybe Brandon was not Rickard's first-born.  The first-born was sacrificed.  The first-born doesn't have to be a non-bastard.  I doubt the white walkers would care about a person's legal status.  Maybe the lords of winterfell were fathering bastards and offering up those bastards instead of their true born sons.  And, consider this.  Brandon Stark was technically lord of winterfell after his father was executed.  If Brandon+Ashara=Jon is true, or even Brandon+Lyanna=Jon, that means Jon will have to be the sacrificial lamb to make peace with the others. 

"But it also opened the boundary between the living and the dead.  There is a boundary between the living and the dead.  Between the living world and the Nightlands.  The comet opened a crack in that boundary.  The result?  Thoros was able to raise Beric from the dead.  The Others are now able to raise the dead and skin change them.  The red comet will come again to close the boundary but until then, necromancy is possible. "

I have to say, this is the best idea in a long time from the fandom.  I like it a lot.  It would answer a lot of questions if the door between the living and the dead can be opened and closed by an event. 

• Mirri pulled Drogo's soul from his body and sent it on to the Nightlands.  The gateway to the Nightlands opened in that tent and the shadows that Dany saw came from the nightlands.
• Dany reversed the process but Drogo's body was already gone.  The souls of those dear to Dany went into the dragons. 
• It also opens an opportunity for Drogo to come back in Drogon.  Drogo is back.
• Necromany is the magic that predate Asshai.
• Thoros has the power of necromancy but it only works when the door between the worlds is open.
• Marwyn and Qyburn know of the door between the worlds.  Necromancy can be learned.
• The dead kings calling out to Dany were her ancestors and previous incarnations of Azor Ahai.  She was reborn as the Azor Ahai in that flame beneath the "bleeding star".  The comet opened the doorway.  She is AA. 
• Bran Stark will learn necromancy from viewing the past.  I think it will be Bran who will attempt to bring back his family. He might even try to resurrect the old kings of winter beneath the castle. 
• Somebody will try necromancy on Jon.  I'm thinking the Others themselves will accidentally revive him or Mel might try to do it herself.
• The Others know necromancy and skin changing.  I think this is the importance of the Starks's skin changing abilities.  Bran can have some limited control over the wights. 
• Why do the Starks preserve the bodies of their lords?  The Starks of the present do not know but in prehistory, the Starks (like the ancient Egyptians) probably believed they will come back to life. 

[Good Guy Garlan]

Ygritte answered this for us:

Quote

"I'm crying because we never found the Horn of Winter. We opened half a hundred graves and let all those shades loose in the world, and never found the Horn of Joramun to bring this cold thing down!"

And yes, GRRM makes a point to differentiate between the walking dead and the Others: 

Quote

 "We have white shadows in the woods and unquiet dead stalking our halls, and a boy sits the Iron Throne," he said in disgust.

The shadows/shades thing is used more than once to describe the Others.

[devilish]

On 24/03/2017 at 8:47 PM, Allardyce said:

Harsh winters occurred before but it's hardly worth the trouble of taking lands and then having to leave it behind to the enemy six years later.  They were waiting for a total climate shift that would last more than a man's lifetime. 

The phrase "a song of ice and fire" doesn't mean the elements have to mix.  I would go so far as to say the White Walkers don't want ice to mix with fire.  On the other side of the fence, Rhllor doesn't want fire mixing with ice.  Other than the timing, I do not see a problem with the cause being the birth of Jon Snow.  He would be seen as an abomination by the two sides.  Which fits his theme.  He's the lone wolf.  Ghost was found far away from the other pups, maybe shunned by them.  Jon will be shunned in the north if Ramsay ever chose to make his crimes public. 

Dragon eggs do not need human blood to hatch.  Dragons hatched on their own without human interference, thank you very much.  Dany's eggs were petrified and that was why it took a miracle to hatch them.   

I'm surprised the red comet wasn't mentioned.  It clearly was an important event.  Yeah it heralds the climate shift, maybe.  Maybe.  But it also opened the boundary between the living and the dead.  There is a boundary between the living and the dead.  Between the living world and the Nightlands.  The comet opened a crack in that boundary.  The result?  Thoros was able to raise Beric from the dead.  The Others are now able to raise the dead and skin change them.  The red comet will come again to close the boundary but until then, necromancy is possible. 

One possible explanation for the phrase, "there must always be a Stark in Winterfell":  The ancient Starks made a deal with the devil.  To put plainly, they made a deal with the white walkers.  We don't know yet what payment they were required to pay.  It may be the blood sacrifices I wrote about in another posting.  What Bran saw, the blood sacrifice to the weir wood tree, is important to the story.  In return, the white walkers would help the Starks win and keep control of the north.  Nothing at this point indicate the white walkers are interested in the lands south of the neck. 

This is tinfoil but suppose Eddard was obligated to sacrifice his first-born son, Robb, when the boy comes of age  But his southern wife would never understand.  Eddard didn't carry it out.  Robb rode south and died there, robbing the white walkers of their tribute.  Maybe Brandon was not Rickard's first-born.  The first-born was sacrificed.  The first-born doesn't have to be a non-bastard.  I doubt the white walkers would care about a person's legal status.  Maybe the lords of winterfell were fathering bastards and offering up those bastards instead of their true born sons.  And, consider this.  Brandon Stark was technically lord of winterfell after his father was executed.  If Brandon+Ashara=Jon is true, or even Brandon+Lyanna=Jon, that means Jon will have to be the sacrificial lamb to make peace with the others. 

A winter of 6 years is pretty a long long time. If the others wanted to act at that time, then they would.

I find Jon Snow theory interested, although, TBF, the bloodraven is a mix between the blood of first men and Targs. The others didn't come because of it. Regarding the red priests, I think that they are being mislead. If the god of light granted resurrection to people he liked then he would have resurrected nissa nissa

Red comets pass quite often in Westeros. It also occurred during the war of 5 kings

Winterfell  was burnt to the ground by Royce II and Royce IV Bolton. Guess what? The world didn't shifted because of it

That's tinfoil

 

 

 

[BalerionTheCat]

The return of the Long Night was predicted. Azor Ahai reborn, some 4000 years ago. The Prince that was promised, some 1000 years ago. The Ghost of High Heart was a bit more precise: the prince would descend from Aerys and Rhaella. The prediction influenced Rhaegar. Mance Rayder must have understood something, because he worked for years uniting the Wildlings clans and preparing to take refuge south. The Long Winters come after Long Summers. So things started at least 10 or 20 years ago. But even if the event was prophesied long ago, it can still be an answer to something recent.

IMO, this Long Night comes for the same reason as the previous one: the Blood Betrayal. Most people speak of things angering the gods. The kinslaying, necromancy, forbidden magical practices. I would put slavery and criminal, unworthy kings in the lot. A king should protect his people, not treat them worse than slaves. I don't know if there is something specifically angering the gods. Maybe Euron, the RW, the dragons, Asshai and the Blood Mages. OK, similar things happened in the past. But I suppose it was not the time for retribution.

[The Commentator]

5 hours ago, Good Guy Garlan said:

Ygritte answered this for us:

And yes, GRRM makes a point to differentiate between the walking dead and the Others: 

The shadows/shades thing is used more than once to describe the Others.

Opening the graves is a desecration but it is pretty tame when you consider that more horrific crimes occur daily.  It could have a different meaning.  Wm Portnoy may be on to something.  This is a cyclical event.  The portal between the world of the living and the world of the dead opens and closes.  The trigger is cyclical.  The door opens in preparation for the many "souls" about to travel from one world to another.  The method of killing alternate between fire and ice.  Fire and ice take turns devastating regions.  Something happened in Asshai long ago that reduced the population.  Westeros was devastated by a lifetime long ice age.  The same thing happened in Old Valyria, except with fire.   It's ice's turn again to create the calamity that will send many of the living to the world of the dead.  

50 minutes ago, BalerionTheCat said:

The return of the Long Night was predicted. Azor Ahai reborn, some 4000 years ago. The Prince that was promised, some 1000 years ago. The Ghost of High Heart was a bit more precise: the prince would descend from Aerys and Rhaella. The prediction influenced Rhaegar. Mance Rayder must have understood something, because he worked for years uniting the Wildlings clans and preparing to take refuge south. The Long Winters come after Long Summers. So things started at least 10 or 20 years ago. But even if the event was prophesied long ago, it can still be an answer to something recent.

IMO, this Long Night comes for the same reason as the previous one: the Blood Betrayal. Most people speak of things angering the gods. The kinslaying, necromancy, forbidden magical practices. I would put slavery and criminal, unworthy kings in the lot. A king should protect his people, not treat them worse than slaves. I don't know if there is something specifically angering the gods. Maybe Euron, the RW, the dragons, Asshai and the Blood Mages. OK, similar things happened in the past. But I suppose it was not the time for retribution.

I am sorry Balerion, I do not share your opinion.  There are no gods.  There is Mother Nature.  Killing a kin is no different than killing an unrelated person.  One is no more wrong than the other.  Kinslaying, just like guest rights, is a manmade custom.  Nature does not judge the actions of humans based on human made laws.  If you want to take that direction, I would put more of the blame on Rickard Stark and his Southron Ambitions.  His family keep mumbling "winter is coming" and yet they've done everything except prepare for it.  If winter is coming, you prepare for it instead of playing at the game of thrones.  You make peace with people to prepare for it and put aside whether you like them or not.  His ambitions pushed his daughter into the arms of a man terribly ill-suited for her.  Ice and Fire do not mix.   If you go down the road that this started 10-20 years ago and gods exists, we must include Jon's birth as a possibility if he is the son of Rhaegar and Lyanna.  The gods are angry, such a child is accursed in both their eyes.  The kingdom is doomed because Rhaegar and Lyanna could not contain their passion.  Which, I guess, fits the theme of man creating his own problems and the battle within the human heart.  Rhaegar should have known better.  

Theorists like Smokescreen believe the answer is to find a balance.  The Faceless Men believe in balance, though they may no longer understand the reason why.  A big cataclysm is about to take place that will take many of the living.  For balance to exists, the same number of babies must be born or the same number of the already dead must come back to the world of the living.  If overpopulation is bad for the world of the living it stands to reason that it's also bad for the world of the dead.  I don't know about necromancy, even if it's clear Thoros accidentally performed it and the white walkers do the same with the wights.  Maybe it is inevitable that some of the dead will come back to balance things out.  I don't think it has to do with a sin from the very ancient past.  

 

 

 

[The Commentator]

1 hour ago, devilish said:

A winter of 6 years is pretty a long long time. If the others wanted to act at that time, then they would.

I find Jon Snow theory interested, although, TBF, the bloodraven is a mix between the blood of first men and Targs. The others didn't come because of it. Regarding the red priests, I think that they are being mislead. If the god of light granted resurrection to people he liked then he would have resurrected nissa nissa

Red comets pass quite often in Westeros. It also occurred during the war of 5 kings

Winterfell  was burnt to the ground by Royce II and Royce IV Bolton. Guess what? The world didn't shifted because of it

That's tinfoil

 

 

 

The Blackwoods may have the blood of the First Men but they are not the Starks.  Bloodraven doesn't count.  He is not of the blood of the kings of winter.  

[BalerionTheCat]

11 hours ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

I am sorry Balerion, I do not share your opinion.  There are no gods...

I could say "I am sorry Widowmaker 811, I do not share your opinion. There are gods". At this point, it is a question of opinion. Neither me nor you can prove his point. What makes me believe in a will behind all, is the fact the event was predicted. What makes me believe in gods rather than magicians, is the time span, 4000 maybe 8000 years from now.

OK, we can predict weather. If the Long Night was fully natural, we could predict it will return some day. But not with such predictions as AA Or we could call "Mother Nature" a god, with her own set of values. And it seems a bit what the Old Gods are for the Children. But it would still be a god, not just a blind set of physics rules.

I know we are led to believe the 7 are just in men's imagination. But there are people, Melisandre, Moqorro, others, who would have us question this conclusion. At least in involving other creatures with power: demons, shadows...Melisandre may serve a demon lord rather than a god if you prefer.

[Damon_Tor]

On 3/22/2017 at 10:04 PM, 300 H&H Mag said:

There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.  The Starks perform a ritual that either appeases the Others or repels them.  This could relate to #3.  But Ned was not the kind of man who would kill people for sacrifice.  We know then that human sacrifice had not been practiced by the Starks for at least as long as the time Lord Rickard has been dead and maybe even long before then. The timing is wrong unless the Others are just slow to react.  I will not rule this out, yet.  After all, Rickard expected to live longer and he had Brandon backing him up.  He could have shared the secret ritual with Brandon but both got executed and had not the chance to pass the information to Ned.

I think it's this, but not for the reasons you note.

My pet crackpot at the moment centers around the Hoare family, and tracking their descendants from house Hoare, to Lothston, to Whent, to Tully, to Stark. The Hoares were the result of a centuries-long breeding program by the Citadel to create a powerful "null": the special trait of the Hoare family is a magic/psychic (the difference is irrelevant) "dead zone" around themselves. Harrenhall is an amplifier for this field: the many years of Lothston and Whent rule over Harrenhall is the reason magic appeared to die, and returned when Lady Whent was driven from the castle by the War of the Five Kings.

But Harrenhall wasn't what was keeping the Others at bay. "There must always be a Stark in Winterfell" describes an important part of the treaty between the First Men and the Children of the Forest. The Starks are naturally prone to mental manipulation by the Children, so maintaining the Starks as the rulers of the North gives the children a "seat at the table" of human politics. However, all of Ned Stark's children have Hoare blood (Cat's mother was a Whent) which means they have a null-field protecting them from psychic contact. They don't "count" as Starks because of this.

Eternal Winter or The Others (or both) are a doomsday weapon on a dead-man's switch set up by the Children of the Forest, tied to the Stark-in-Winterfell provision. If the Weirnet loses psychic contact with Winterfell, the Long Winter begins. This is the function of Jon Snow: he is a Stark untainted by the Hoare null gene. It may not be enough to simply restore him (or more likely, his child) to Winterfell, but his presence there will be an important part ending the crisis.

[GloubieBoulga]

On 23/03/2017 at 6:04 AM, 300 H&H Mag said:

I read a lot of theories and honestly, I have not found a satisfactory answer to this question.  Why are the White Walkers/the Others attacking now?  I will try to tackle this question tonight. 

1. Birth of the Dragons.  I don't buy into this theory.  Dragons are not rare in Westeros.  The Targaryens brought their dragons over from Valyria long ago.  There were already dragons nesting on Dragonstone even before the arrival of the Targaryens.  Dragon eggs hatched regularly right until the last one died.  Dragons were present and reproducing all that time and no reaction from the others.  Besides, the timing is wrong.  The Others became active before Drogon, Viserion, and Rhaegal were born.  Dragons lived in high numbers in the past and the Others didn't seem to feel threatened, so why would three dragons upset them enough to mobilize them now.
2. Birth of Jon Snow.  This is possible, but we need to further explore why his birth would have meaning to the Others if we are to assume this is the cause.  It is clear the Others are not on a mission of peace so it is safe to assume they're mad about something.  The reaction is delayed by 14 years since the birth of Jon.  Perhaps, if you believe R+L=J, the mixing of fire and ice is offensive to the Others.  Some fans prematurely assume that a hybrid of ice and fire is a good thing.  It may not be.  The Others are coming for him.
3. Human sacrifice.  The north stopped killing people and offering their blood to the trees.  We don't have anything that tells us the Others worship the Old Gods.  I am not so sure why the stopping of human sacrifice to the tree roots would concern them.  It would concern the greenseers and perhaps that might cause them to weaken.  If the gs and the Others oppose one another, this is a possible reason the Others would think they can now oppose the gs.
4. There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.  The Starks perform a ritual that either appeases the Others or repels them.  This could relate to #3.  But Ned was not the kind of man who would kill people for sacrifice.  We know then that human sacrifice had not been practiced by the Starks for at least as long as the time Lord Rickard has been dead and maybe even long before then. The timing is wrong unless the Others are just slow to react.  I will not rule this out, yet.  After all, Rickard expected to live longer and he had Brandon backing him up.  He could have shared the secret ritual with Brandon but both got executed and had not the chance to pass the information to Ned.
5. Night's Queen/Night's King.  This theory proposes the body of someone important to the Others is held hostage by the humans.  This could relate to #4.  The body of one of these or both, lie hidden beneath Winterfell.  The Stark on duty can destroy the body should the Others attack.  The lord of the castle holds the threat over the Others.  The Starks lost sight of their duty and started looking south.  The Others practice necromancy and they can bring their king or queen back to life.  The dead direwolf and the cubs were warning signs that the Starks failed to heed.  The direwolf ventured south and died.  The Stark parents ventured south and died.  They were meant to stay in the north and should have stayed in the north to keep watch.  No one is watching now. 
6. The Others follow the weather.  The Others have no power to affect the weather.  They are moving now because the cold weather will permit them to do this.  Their weatherman predicted long winter and they follow the cold.
7. The Doom of Westeros.  There exists a cyclical purge.  The method alternates.  Fire and ice.  Fire wiped out the Valyrion Freehold, who practiced fire magic.  Perhaps ice will wipe out the followers of the Old Gods who hold cold in reverence.  Fire destroyed fire.  Maybe Ice will destroy ice.  One noble family survived fire.  Maybe one family will survive ice.
8. The wildlings are united.  The wildlings are united under one king and that makes them an enemy to be reckoned with.  I don't believe this.  The wildlings had been united before and the Others didn't feel the need to act.
9. An ancient pact was violated.  Mance spent time searching for the horn of Joramun.  He lied about its purpose.  Perhaps this horn is sacred to the Others.  Horns can communicate long distances and command armies in battle.  If so, why not attack while Mance and the horn was still on the far side of the wall.  I don't believe this one.  But I won't rule out the  wildlings may have done something to anger the Others.  Maybe they stopped giving their boys to the Others.  Craster kept them happy by giving them sons. 

The most probable reason to me is #6, they follow the weather.  Followed by 7, 4, 2, and 5.  Let me know what you think. 

Thanks for cheking a lot of different theories about the "return" of the Others. For me, no one is totally convincing, but that is obvious that GRRM let some trails which conduct to these different conclusions, probably because some elements have a link with the Others (even if they aren't a cause for their "waking up"). That make thinking a lot ! 

Without having an answer yet, I like this explanation : 

On 24/03/2017 at 0:23 AM, Bawn said:

My crackpot theory has always been to do with the crypts of Winterfell and how only the Lords of Winterfell are buried there.  When Ned buried Lyanna there he weakened or broke a spell of some sort that kept the others at bay.  I have no evidence to support this theory on hand.  It just always seemed to fit nicely.

Not for the same reason, in fact. I had read a theory about the possibility that Rhaegar's silver harp was buried with Lyanna. The theory was seducing (but i'm unable to find it now and to recall the arguments, I will looking for it), and imagining that the harp could be "magical" (=being impregnated with Rhaegar's blood, for example, like the horn Dragonbinder must be impregnated with blood to link a dragon to a specific person), the "song" of the harp (a living part of the soul of Rhaegar ?) could have waken the Other by penetrating the earth and almost the weirnet. 

i confess, it is an idea I improvised just now, I have not yet obvious textual elements to support (only some analogies). So don't take it as a truth ^^.

But I keep it in mind to explore this way... one day ! 

[devilish]

17 hours ago, Widowmaker 811 said:

The Blackwoods may have the blood of the First Men but they are not the Starks.  Bloodraven doesn't count.  He is not of the blood of the kings of winter.  

The bloodraven is a special creature indeed, who can harness pretty much the same powers Bran has. We don't know why the Starks are special. What we do know that the Starks used to marry the daughters of defeated Northern kings which means they have alot of first men DNA in them.

[The Lord of the Crossing]

On 3/23/2017 at 4:20 PM, The Hammer of Justice said:

On 3/23/2017 at 7:23 PM, Bawn said:

My crackpot theory has always been to do with the crypts of Winterfell and how only the Lords of Winterfell are buried there.  When Ned buried Lyanna there he weakened or broke a spell of some sort that kept the others at bay.  I have no evidence to support this theory on hand.  It just always seemed to fit nicely.

 

The direwolves were sent to warn the Starks not to go south.  They did anyway.  The Others were already coming due to the change in climate.  The Starks were supposed to prepare but they followed the Stag instead.  Ned failed in his duty to look after the north.  His father and older brother also failed.  They chose to join up with the Baratheon usurpers and that got them killed. 

[The Lord of the Crossing]

3 hours ago, GloubieBoulga said:

Thanks for cheking a lot of different theories about the "return" of the Others. For me, no one is totally convincing, but that is obvious that GRRM let some trails which conduct to these different conclusions, probably because some elements have a link with the Others (even if they aren't a cause for their "waking up"). That make thinking a lot ! 

Without having an answer yet, I like this explanation : 

Not for the same reason, in fact. I had read a theory about the possibility that Rhaegar's silver harp was buried with Lyanna. The theory was seducing (but i'm unable to find it now and to recall the arguments, I will looking for it), and imagining that the harp could be "magical" (=being impregnated with Rhaegar's blood, for example, like the horn Dragonbinder must be impregnated with blood to link a dragon to a specific person), the "song" of the harp (a living part of the soul of Rhaegar ?) could have waken the Other by penetrating the earth and almost the weirnet. 

i confess, it is an idea I improvised just now, I have not yet obvious textual elements to support (only some analogies). So don't take it as a truth ^^.

But I keep it in mind to explore this way... one day ! 

Rhaegar and Lyanna banging could be seen as a sin in of itself by the respective elemental "gods".  Then having a child together would be doubly offensive to their respective sides.

[Ckram]

@300 H&H Mag

10. The decay of greensight: Bloodraven, known by the CoTF as the last greenseer, is doing all he can to keep the others away (turning trees into warriors, sending beasts to fight, conjuring hammer-of-the-waters-like spells) but "there's too much to watch" and he can't help his own body from going into the trees. He greensees potential in a future Bran Stark and watchs him since he was born and visits his very first dream in order to summon him as soon as possible. However, now that "little strength remains in" Bloodraven's flesh, the Others grow stronger, but Bran still is a little boy. To make it worse, Bran becomes cripple due to a fall. Bloodraven fears for the worst and so contact Bran and the Reeds. Unfortunately, when Bran finally arrives at the cave "the hour is late". Bloodraven's watch is ending.

• Bran III, aDwD

"Most of him has gone into the tree," explained the singer Meera called Leaf. "He has lived beyond his mortal span, and yet he lingers. For us, for you, for the realms of men. Only a little strength remains in his flesh. He has a thousand eyes and one, but there is much to watch. One day you will know."

[Voice]

On 3/22/2017 at 10:04 PM, 300 H&H Mag said:

•  
• Birth of Jon Snow.  This is possible, but we need to further explore why his birth would have meaning to the Others if we are to assume this is the cause.  It is clear the Others are not on a mission of peace so it is safe to assume they're mad about something.  The reaction is delayed by 14 years since the birth of Jon.  Perhaps, if you believe R+L=J, the mixing of fire and ice is offensive to the Others.  Some fans prematurely assume that a hybrid of ice and fire is a good thing.  It may not be.  The Others are coming for him.
• Human sacrifice.  The north stopped killing people and offering their blood to the trees.  We don't have anything that tells us the Others worship the Old Gods.  I am not so sure why the stopping of human sacrifice to the tree roots would concern them.  It would concern the greenseers and perhaps that might cause them to weaken.  If the gs and the Others oppose one another, this is a possible reason the Others would think they can now oppose the gs.
• There must always be a Stark in Winterfell.  The Starks perform a ritual that either appeases the Others or repels them.  This could relate to #3.  But Ned was not the kind of man who would kill people for sacrifice.  We know then that human sacrifice had not been practiced by the Starks for at least as long as the time Lord Rickard has been dead and maybe even long before then. The timing is wrong unless the Others are just slow to react.  I will not rule this out, yet.  After all, Rickard expected to live longer and he had Brandon backing him up.  He could have shared the secret ritual with Brandon but both got executed and had not the chance to pass the information to Ned.
• Night's Queen/Night's King.  This theory proposes the body of someone important to the Others is held hostage by the humans.  This could relate to #4.  The body of one of these or both, lie hidden beneath Winterfell.  The Stark on duty can destroy the body should the Others attack.  The lord of the castle holds the threat over the Others.  The Starks lost sight of their duty and started looking south.  The Others practice necromancy and they can bring their king or queen back to life.  The dead direwolf and the cubs were warning signs that the Starks failed to heed.  The direwolf ventured south and died.  The Stark parents ventured south and died.  They were meant to stay in the north and should have stayed in the north to keep watch.  No one is watching now. 
• The Others follow the weather.  The Others have no power to affect the weather.  They are moving now because the cold weather will permit them to do this.  Their weatherman predicted long winter and they follow the cold.

 

 

What if the answer were numbers 2-6 combined?

http://thelasthearth.com/thread/386/ice-dawn-updated

 

They are coming now because Ned undid an ancient balance.

[Dorian Martell's son]

On 3/22/2017 at 10:04 PM, 300 H&H Mag said:

I read a lot of theories and honestly, I have not found a satisfactory answer to this question.  Why are the White Walkers/the Others attacking now?  I will try to tackle this question tonight. 

   There exists a cyclical purge

If we look at what we actually see of the others in the novels and disregard baseless speculation and theories based on theories, we know that it becomes extremely cold when they show up, they are extremely powerful, their swords are more than a match for even the best castle forged steel and they can cause the dead to rise to fight for them. They are also remarkably vulnerable to obsidian and their wights are easily killed by  fire. Both of those things are in abundance with the CTOF, in addition to spells that ward against them. 
It seems most likely that the others are an ancient enemy of the CTOF who every so often would move south seeking to destroy life as we know it. For as long as they existed,  They would have been easily kept in check by the Children, their magic and  their obsidian blades being alerted to their movements via weirnet and greensight.
Cue the dawn age when humans killed many children and cut down their weirwood. with their numbers greatly diminished, the were no longer able to resist, and humans, with their metal weapons and lack of magic were no match for the others, so the last hero had to seek out the children to learn how to fight them. the humans were successful, and the battle for the dawn was won.
Cue the andal invasion, even more weirwoods get cut down. All worship of the old gods below the neck ceases save for a house or two. This would also mean less greenseers. Over time as the number of children dwindle and stop delivering obsidian weapons to the watch, which was set up to fight the others and no longer remembers its purpose. Few weirwoods, 1.5 human greenseers, a watchin disarray. Now the cycle repeats and the world is in a worse situation than the last long night. 

[Lord Fauntleroy]

Might as well ask why hurricanes or earthquakes happen. 

I'm sure it's a mix of several things that built up to the current events.