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The Others article and SIFRP Night's Watch supplement (GoT Spoilers for Oathkeeper and Hardhome)


Former_Fiend

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The Wiki of Ice and Fire article on Others has a section on their portrayal on HBO's Game of Thrones, with several paragraphs dealing specifically with the episode Oathkeeper, ending in the line "In the novels, there has not yet been any mention of the Others having a leader or any kind of hierarchy."



This is true, but Oathkeeper isn't the first source to present this idea, either.



Green Ronin's Song of Ice and Fire Roleplaying game(SIFRP) released it's Night's Watch supplement in late 2012; well over a year before Oathkeeper premiered and, presumably, months before the episode was written, and nearly a year before it would have been filmed. The supplement is 129 pages detailing the Wall, the Watch, the Gift, the lands beyond the wall, the wildlings, and in the chapter "Lords of the Long Night", the Others.


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The chapter "Lords of the Long Night" details four unique Others and then presents an adventure scenario for the Narrator to run the players through involving one of them. The first of the four is particularly relevant here; the King of Winter.



The King of Winter, also called the Lord of the Long Night, is presented as the monarch of the Others, who lead them in their attempt to conquer Westeros and wipe out the Children and the First Men before being defeated by Azor Ahai. It is said that Bran the Builder took his crown for his own and that House Stark took the title of "King of Winter" from him. He is described as having a deformity on his head, where smoke rises from "a thin ring of flesh, indented as though missing a crown", that "constantly bubbles and steams". The illustration shows him wearing black plate armor.



Now, there are obvious differences between the King of Winter and Game of Thrones' Night's King; the King of Winter being a wholly original character while the Night's King is a known figure in Westerosi legend. But there are obvious similarities, as well; aside from their position as the leader of the Others - a position that isn't hinted to exist in the novels - they both have a deformity related to a crown(Night's King's crown of horns, KoW's smoking ring) and are depicted as wearing black armor. The King of Winter is also presented as a brilliant military mind, something that the Night's King demonstrates in Hardhome.



Now, Green Ronin admits in a sidebar in Night's Watch that by the "Lords of the Long Night" chapter, they are wholly making things up. Specifically, they say the following;





To be very clear, this chapter goes well into the terrain of non-canon. That is, the majority of the things described in this section are not taken from the Song of Ice and Fire series, being created for Narrators of the SIFRP gameto introduce additional elements of the Others into their game.


So, assuming they're telling the truth in that sidebar and George didn't give the good people at Green Ronin the same inside info he gave Benioff and Weiss, this leads to three possible conclusions.



1) Green Ronin guessed very close to the truth; assuming the Night's King as presented in the show will eventually appear in the novels, Green Ronin got surprisingly close to the mark with the King of Winter.



2) Benioff and Weiss decided to borrow Green Ronin's idea. Assuming the Night's King as presented on the show is purely an invention for TV to give the viewing audience a clear bad guy to focus on, it does seem a tad coincidental that the two "King Others" would be so similar. As stated, Green Ronin released Night's Watch well before production on GoT season 4 began, so it's possible they saw it, decided the idea would work for the show, and decided to adapt it, perhaps taking the character of the Night's King as that name would be more recognizable to book readers and show watchers who've seen the History and Lore of Westeros dvd extras.



3) It's pure coincidence. Both Green Ronin and Benioff & Weiss realized they were operating in media that demanded a more clear, focused villain than the vague, ominous threat the Others represent in the book and decided to craft a big bad that suits their needs. SIFRP is a fairly obscure game, all things considered - many major figures in the fandom are ignorant of it's existence, so it's hardly out of the realm of possibility that Benioff & Weiss were, as well. Black armor is hardly unique as far as fantasy big bads go, and while both figures do have crown-related cranial deformities, said deformities are very different(ring of horns, smoking ring of boiling flesh).



So, there we go. Figured I'd present this for the good people here at Westeros.org to review and see if it's worth mentioning on the wiki.

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