The Others POV

[gregory]

I find it curious that people want to see more of the Others when they seem to go against everything that has made this series so interesting-- that is, they are pure evil, basically the orcs of Westeros. While I hope that they turn out to be interesting, what we've seen of them so far gives no indication that any of them will come close to being three-dimensional.

[Michael Snow]

There are probably good Others and bad Others the way there are so many different types of people. I remember the one fighting the Night's Watch Knight in the GOT prologue was laughing at him, and generally being a dick about the situation. They certainly do consistently come across as malicious and cruel, and Old Nan's stories suggest they may enjoy inflicting suffering. You know, now you've got me thinking... I really do wish we knew more about the Others at this point... Oh well, we'll get an update in four(ish) years!

[ImpBeyondTheWall]

I highly doubt it that GRRM worked 5 books to show that not everything is black and white to show up with a pure evil race now.

True

[ImpBeyondTheWall]

There are probably good Others and bad Others the way there are so many different types of people.

True

[ImpBeyondTheWall]

According to the legend of the Night's King, he fell in love with a woman "with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars", and "her skin was cold as ice"... which matches the description of an actual Other.

The legend says he married that woman. If it's true that means the Others can treat with human beings. Which means they are capable of knowing how to love and hate as well as humans do.

[Jabronius Maximus]

The Others' language crackles like ice, which is similar to the descriptions of the Old Tongue (also a harsh sounding language). The True Tongue is musical, and any Essosi language showing up that far north is very unlikely. That leaves the Old Tongue, which is likely what the Others speak.

In the books we see the foreign languages translated because the PoV character knows both that language and the common tongue. Tyrion knows a bit of Valyrian, which is why we see some translated in his chapters. Dany knows many languages, so those are translated as well. The Others, who know the Old Tongue, likely do not know the Common Tongue. So there's no one there to translate for us. This is the reason I don't see a White Walker PoV happening (unless they actually do know the common tongue, just feel like they're too cool for it :cool4:). There's just no interpreter available to us.

Or is there? There is Coldhands, who speaks both the common and (most likely) Old Tongue. He also just happens to be a sentient wight. If he's in possession of his own mind (i.e. not under BR's control), then we have a potential PoV to have a look at the Others. But if he does get a PoV, then I can only see it as a prologue or epilogue, where he ends up experiencing a final, Varamyr-esque death at the hands of the Others (of course after they converse with him).