Always the Artists [book spoilers]

[theREALjonsnow]

The Fist of the First Men is an ancient ringfort built by the First Men in the Dawn Age. from the wiki

so this place is ancient beyond time so it makes sense that the White Walkers choose to march on this place & attatck. Did they know it would be so easy & the "fort" would be in disrepair? no. do they care? no. but let us remember that these mythical creatures do not have anyway of communicating with "men" from this "age." maybe the WW view it as "well shit we told you that winter is coming & yall didnt get the message!" looks like were gonna have to kill you now because this land is now ours & has always been. o yea and we really dont like that wall you built since the last time we vistied so that shit needs to come down

[DarkAndFullOfTurnips]

I was glad to see this thread, because I had a real problem with the 'Always the artists' line from Mormont.

From the books I always got the impression that to most people, the Others have almost become mythical. Most people barely believe in them. This is reinforced several times in the show. People dismiss warnings about them. The Starks dismiss Old Nan's tales.

The NW are not most people, but while they may realise that there is something cold and horrible North of the wall, they don't know much about it. Tarly has to go off and hunt through dusty books for knowledge about them that has been lost, and he doesn't find much. You would expect some sort of folk memory of the terrifying enemy to the North that their entire order was founded to keep out?

Specifically, the NW don't seem to have any folk memory that the Others are vulnerable to dragonglass, even though previous generations of the night watch knew it so well that they buried caches of dragonglass weapons at strategic locations. Now, how such a staggeringly important piece of information could be forgotten is odd - but thats actually a pretty common theme in all of the books - nobody remembers anything about dragons either for example.

But the problem is the rather resigned way that Mormont says 'Always the artists'. He's seen this before? So many times that it has become tiresome? It seemed during the wight attack at Castle Black that that was the first time Mormont have ever seen a wight, and until this ranging, its not clear that he's ever seen an actual White walker before, much less the mutilated corpse art they sometimes leave in the snow.

Anybody else? Is it just me? Have I missed something?

Well that's clearly not Mormont hanging out with Tormund Giantsbane, Ygritte, Orell, and a turncloak crow. I mean in that exact scene he refers to Mormont as having made a big mistake and possibly now being a wight.

Mance knows the Others well. Hence the whole, lets make an army and get the fuck out of dodge.

[Woman of War]

It's a spiral nebula and a hint to the galaxy the Others are coming from. If there were a competent astronomer among the free folk he'd trace them back to a small blue planet in a random solar system at the outer fringes of said galaxy......

[Woel]

I also love the mental image I have now of the White Walkers reading the equivalent of Martha Stewart Living, with various articles on how to create tasteful arrangements of severed heads for special occasions. Or White Walker Pinterest.

O, how I would like this if I could. Thank you for that mental image.

[I do not sew]

It's a spiral nebula and a hint to the galaxy the Others are coming from. If there were a competent astronomer among the free folk he'd trace them back to a small blue planet in a random solar system at the outer fringes of said galaxy......

I've often wondered how the fandom would react if the Others turned out to be straight up extraterrestrials. It'd be awful nonsense, for sure, and the most abrupt departure from tightly plotted storytelling ever, but holy fucking world expansion!

[Woel]

I've often wondered how the fandom would react if the Others turned out to be straight up extraterrestrials. It'd be awful nonsense, for sure, and the most abrupt departure from tightly plotted storytelling ever, but holy fucking world expansion!

I have read quite a few times on these boards that GRRM has stated that the abnormal seasons will have a 'magical' explanation, as opposed to a 'scientific' one. I think it lies quite close at hand to draw the conclusion that the Others will tie into that explanation, and thus also be of a magical nature (i.e. the Sidhe, which GRRM has himself compared the Others to)