Use of the term 'The Others'

[Padraig]

I think there should be a distinction between the Others and the wighs. How they're called is a matter of debate, but at some point the term Others may have to be introduced. I don't think it'll be that confusing.

Not sure about that. I can't see why they'd use two names for the Others. White Walkers will do fine. It does mean that they can't use the word wights but that's not so bad.

[DragonAge93]

Don't they refer to the Others as white walkers in the novel, too? Because I just read the POV with Bran when he is riding with Robb in the woods and they mentioned white walkers around the Wall and such. So why is everyone worked up about it? I'm pretty sure they'll refer to them as Others too.

[Edward the Great]

DragonAge93, we are way ahead of you. Yes, of course the term "white walkers" is used in the books.

If the series eliminates the distinction between the Others and the wights it will jump the shark for me. They have already chosen to insult my intelligence with other changes; that would be too much for me to bear.

[Jack Sparrow]

If the series eliminates the distinction between the Others and the wights it will jump the shark for me.

I fully expect you to dislike the show, but, just for clarity, Ran has already stated a couple of times that he knows firsthand there are going to be both Others and Wights in the series.

[Lord Godric]

DragonAge93, we are way ahead of you. Yes, of course the term "white walkers" is used in the books.

If the series eliminates the distinction between the Others and the wights it will jump the shark for me. They have already chosen to insult my intelligence with other changes; that would be too much for me to bear.

I'm not sure you fully grasp what 'jumping the shark' means. Because changing a minor thing like that in an adaptation of a book is not jumping the shark.

[Areo]

I'm not sure you fully grasp what 'jumping the shark' means. Because changing a minor thing like that in an adaptation of a book is not jumping the shark.

Wow, that is definitely not minor. The Others are supernatural beings, the wights are dead people walking :D Both types of creatures play a role and combining them is, well, unnatural and may lead to difficulties later on. It would certainly upset a lot of fans and I think it is not the case - white walkers were mentioned, but a wight was shown on the last trailer, which is some (small) indication that both are present. Hopefully.

[Venardhi]

As far as I saw, all we glimpsed was a white walker, which looked undead enough that many though it was a wight.

[Padraig]

white walkers were mentioned, but a wight was shown on the last trailer, which is some (small) indication that both are present. Hopefully.

A White Walker was shown in the last trailer. But there is practically no chance that they are combining the two. I'm not even sure where the idea came from. I think its because White Walker sounds a lot like wight? Which is a daft reason to believe a daft idea. :)

[Brude]

I posted this in another thread, but here is the White Walker/Other from the trailer. I took this still from the trailer, photographed it right off my HDTV with my cell phone camera. It's bluer in the cell phone camera image than it appeared on screen, I wasn't able to fix that with the meager settings it has, but it's much higher resolution and clearer than any of other screen shots out there, so far.

As you can see, the face, though looking very skull-like, does not have the same structure as a human skull. It's not a dead human. Also, this image has been confirmed by Ran, who has seen the original concept art at the production offices for the show, to be one of the Others.

[Josiah Rowe]

If they were worried about "wight" being a homophone with "white", they could have used the Middle English pronunciation, with a short 'i' and the 'gh' pronounced as a velar fricative (the sound in Scottish "loch" or German "ich"). That would probably be reduced to "wick't" by most speakers of modern English, though.

[Horus Ex Machina]

heh, in all seriousness, I'm wondering as well if they will keep the name "wights". If we have "white walkers" and then "wights" it could confuse people. Might they be called just zombies? The undead? The Dead?

The term "thralls" could be used. But I like Josiah Rowe's pronunciation alternative and I could imagine them going that route.

[Edward the Great]

I like "minion"

[Padraig]

What else does that look to you apart from the slitted eyes? It looks exactly like a human head would look if that human would die, decompose for a while, got a visit from the crows and then froze.

Huh. Its like we are looking at 2 different pictures. :)

[mummer]

Huh. Its like we are looking at 2 different pictures. :)

Or a contrast-enhanced version of something that was almost totally in shadow, so you really can't tell what the hell it looks like. Seriously, this is like comparing notes on a Rorschach test-- if the inkblots were on black paper.

[Padraig]

Seriously, this is like comparing notes on a Rorschach test-- if the inkblots were on black paper.

Really? Picture seems pretty clear to me. :)

[lukahnli]

I also read on another board the change was made at least in part because Lost also had a group called the Others. Dunno if that's true. But it does also make sense to me just to clarify on screen, I'm fine with it. The Others always sounded off to me in the books anyway. Although if what we saw in the trailer was actually a White Walker, shouldn't it be more, you know, WHITE? Maybe Pale Walker would be better? I always pictured them as being extremely white in the books.

The 'Others' in Lost IMHO are likely why the change was made. Its a good idea. Besides "White Walkers" sounds pretty cool.

[lukahnli]

I posted this in another thread, but here is the White Walker/Other from the trailer. I took this still from the trailer, photographed it right off my HDTV with my cell phone camera. It's bluer in the cell phone camera image than it appeared on screen, I wasn't able to fix that with the meager settings it has, but it's much higher resolution and clearer than any of other screen shots out there, so far.

As you can see, the face, though looking very skull-like, does not have the same structure as a human skull. It's not a dead human. Also, this image has been confirmed by Ran, who has seen the original concept art at the production offices for the show, to be one of the Others.

Thx for that pic.

[Septon Meribald]

The idea of people being confused by the Others from Lost I guess there's not much you can do about. But the idea that calling them both white walkers and Others as they do in the books seems to give very little credit to people. White walkers sounds fine and all, but Others is the one that's capitalized, that's their name. White walkers is a description. 'The Others take you' is a pretty common curse and sounds great in my opinion I'd hate to lose it. Plus if you remove Others you lose Melisandre's association with the Great Other. If we're really worried that using two terms will confuse people then I hope there's never any talk of wolves or lions on the road. People might think there are packs of lions just roaming around instead of Lannister men-at-arms.

[lukahnli]

The idea of people being confused by the Others from Lost I guess there's not much you can do about. But the idea that calling them both white walkers and Others as they do in the books seems to give very little credit to people. White walkers sounds fine and all, but Others is the one that's capitalized, that's their name. White walkers is a description. 'The Others take you' is a pretty common curse and sounds great in my opinion I'd hate to lose it. Plus if you remove Others you lose Melisandre's association with the Great Other. If we're really worried that using two terms will confuse people then I hope there's never any talk of wolves or lions on the road. People might think there are packs of lions just roaming around instead of Lannister men-at-arms.

I don't think there is any way to capitalize the o in others when the lines are spoken instead of written. I am pretty sure that by the time the series progresses to the point where characters are referring to the heraldry to denote what faction they belong to the viewers will be wise to it.

[Horus Ex Machina]

The idea of people being confused by the Others from Lost I guess there's not much you can do about. But the idea that calling them both white walkers and Others as they do in the books seems to give very little credit to people. White walkers sounds fine and all, but Others is the one that's capitalized, that's their name. White walkers is a description. 'The Others take you' is a pretty common curse and sounds great in my opinion I'd hate to lose it. Plus if you remove Others you lose Melisandre's association with the Great Other. If we're really worried that using two terms will confuse people then I hope there's never any talk of wolves or lions on the road. People might think there are packs of lions just roaming around instead of Lannister men-at-arms.

They could always say "Walkers take you."