What is the motivation of the Wights/White Walkers?

[Noneofyourbusiness]

Which is what I said.

"unlike Ollie's folk."

It sounded like you were saying a difference between the show and the books was that Olly's folk were portrayed as farmers. So why mention them in the context of the wildlings, as opposed to farmers in general?

[tmug]

In regards to the vision that Dany has in the show where she steps out beyond the Wall, I have a theory that the peace will be brokered when she agrees to marry with the Nights King thus saving thousands of lives and ending the war.

Jon brokers the deal somehow (through Bran and Bloodraven) and remains in Westeros to rule. I think that all of Dany's dragons will die in the battle with the Others and then they would have no other choice but to broker for peace with the Others.

Remember the Nights King of old who was the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch married a female Other and they went off together. So its not crazy to see this happening again. Then the Others can use Dany to crank out more Others in the Land of Always Winter and Winter will be over.

I think the Others are dwindling in population, like there are as many true Others as lets say pandas, and they got pissed once Craster stopped sending babies. We have not seen the Others in a mass army, only the undead army that serves them. That is their only real power it seems.

I can see this happening possibly and it would truly be the Song of Ice and Fire because I believe that the Nights King may be a Stark and Dany is a Targaryen. There is too much of a focus on Jon and Dany where the fairy tale ending would be Jon and Dany marry and rule together - the Song of Ice and Fire. But as GRRM has stated many times, this is not like LoTR and Dany may have to make the ultimate sacrifice.

[metaphor]

It's a good question.

What is it they hope to gain from invading Westeros, how can their lives be improved by gaining more land and more wights, what do they desire?

There are no answers at the moment. We need GRRM to tell us more about the White Walkers.

[Ser Sinister]

This has probably been stated before in some form, but it seems like the power of the White Walkers grows when the Winter season arrives. That being said, some event (or someone) probably triggered their awakening, because there have been other Winters before this one. We just haven't been given enough information at this point to fully understand their motives.

[Lord Damian]

The Others (Night's King's Race) seem to be like battery sources for the wights (re-animated dead). Fire does not seem to bother them (direct dragon fire might) but fire destroys the wights or "alleviates" the magic that the Others have in re-animating them. The Others's motivations are actually not fully known. if I was to guess, they are looking for something or someone that they need etc (crash landed aliens? wild hunch? Starfall is the furthest South? "Dawn" sword of the morning? Lightbringer?. Sunlight will kill them but they can cause or bring a certain amount of Winter elements with them. There is a connection with their existance and their capabilites with Winterfell and the Starks in particular but the blood/dragon magic with Valyrian Steele (came into existance after the last time the Others attacked - 8k years ago) is a new element that they had never faced before. When they came the last time, dragon glass or what I think is fossilized dragon's blood was the weapons that were effective against the Others during the battle for Dawn 8k years ago. If the story of Lightbringer and Azor Ahai is true, then there may be some connection to the founding of House Stark and just maybe, J House Dayne or maybe, just maybe the eventual founding of Valaryia or the Valaryian people.

GRRM has stated that Dragons once existed in Westeros and in fact all over the world he created. They were like Dinosaurs in our world but the last known "collection" of them was in Valaryia and ofcourse, the surving 3 by House Targaryen and their clutches of eggs etc. Dany brought them back by "destiny/chance" and they are like batteries in their own right. Magic is returning. They Others resurfacing took place before her dragons were hatched but may have been hastened by an event that has occured either in this series of the imediate backstory that has not been brought fully to our attention yet, if it ever will be.

[Hodor's Dragon]

BRAAAAINS!

[ummester]

You know, the Others may just be coming to make sure the wall is manned correctly. It may just be a simple matter of humans not holding up their end of the deal for Pact version 2.0 and the Others have had enough.

Remember Pact version 1.0 was created to make sure the First Men left the wooded areas alone for the Children of the Forrest and the Giants, thus began the Age of Heroes. A lot of things happened in this Age of Heroes. The Andals probably began invading (exactly when they did is unknown) ,there was a Long Night, the Others came for the first time and the Wall was built. It seems a little ridiculous that the Wall is 6-8000 years old and it's only had 998 Lord Commanders - someone's maths is totally off.

What seems reasonable is that the First Men, Children of the Forest, Giants and possibly Others (which are kind of like the ASoIaF elves) worked out how to get along with a pact. They had relative harmony under their pagan Old God ways, with the Starks being the leader cast of the First Men. Then the Andals invaded and fucked the happy times up, which caused the Others to respond aggressively. The Others aggression was probably resolved with the Starks agreeing to be wardens of the North, keep the wall manned with good 'Old God' men, so that the Others and Children and Giants could have peace on the other side, whilst keeping the Andals in the south. But the watchers on the wall ain't what they used to be and there isn't a Stark in Winterfell, so I suspect the Others just want to sort that shit out and then return back to the north in peace.

[Gaz0680]

You know, the Others may just be coming to make sure the wall is manned correctly. It may just be a simple matter of humans not holding up their end of the deal for Pact version 2.0 and the Others have had enough.

Remember Pact version 1.0 was created to make sure the First Men left the wooded areas alone for the Children of the Forrest and the Giants, thus began the Age of Heroes. A lot of things happened in this Age of Heroes. The Andals probably began invading (exactly when they did is unknown) ,there was a Long Night, the Others came for the first time and the Wall was built. It seems a little ridiculous that the Wall is 6-8000 years old and it's only had 998 Lord Commanders - someone's maths is totally off.

8000/998 = 8.01 years. It doesn't seem ridiculous at all.

Jeor Mormont was Lord Commander from 288AC in the timeline until 299/300AC, meaning he was LC for 11-12 years.

It just means the average stewardship of a Lord Commander is about 8 years, which seems perfectly realistic to me. Some may be there for more than 8 years (like Mormont was) or considerably less.

There's probably not many (if any) that are Lord Commander for 25 years+ though.

[ummester]

8000/998 = 8.01 years. It doesn't seem ridiculous at all.

Jeor Mormont was Lord Commander from 288AC in the timeline until 299/300AC, meaning he was LC for 11-12 years.

It just means the average stewardship of a Lord Commander is about 8 years, which seems perfectly realistic to me. Some may be there for more than 8 years (like Mormont was) or considerably less.

There's probably not many (if any) that are Lord Commander for 25 years+ though.

Well I guess, if you look at it like that - like it's a manager position that few get to early. I guess in that way Jon's stint is also kind of telling :) Young LCs don't last long and old LCs don't have long left :D That does make sense.