The White Walkers are similar in this respect. Their name is synonymous with winter, and winter, it turns out, is the oldest metaphor for death in the history of humanity. Warmth connotes the presence of life. Living without it, as we see with the Night's Watch, leads to a very depressing course of existence. The presence of death is always felt by the Crows, and they often worry about the White Walkers.
"They're never far, you know. They won't come out by day, not when that old sun's shining, but don't think that means they went away. Shadows never go away. Might be you don't see them, but they're always clinging to your heels." - A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 58
"Winter is Coming." The Stark words remind every generation of Northerners that they must never let their guard down. Even through many years of sunshine and happiness, the people must prepare for inevitable hardships. As death is a part of life, winter is a natural part of the changing seasons.
We find White Walkers so terrifying because of our own instincts about winter. In winter, resources are scarce, spring can be unpredictable and the weather can weaken or even snuff out entire communities. In the HBO series, they used a monologue delivered by Old Nan to reinforce our subconscious fears. Bran prefers the scary children's stories to regular ones, and so Old Nan prattles on about prolonged darkness, inescapable cold and women who would "smother their babies rather than see them starve."
"Fear is for the winter, when the snows fall a hundred feet deep. Fear is for the long night, when the sun hides for years, and children are born and live and die all in darkness. That is time for fear, my little Lord, when the White Walkers move through the woods." - Game of Thrones, Season One, Episode Four
There are some key differences between White Walkers and your typical zombie. They are supposed to be elegant and otherworldly. They are intelligent warriors, capable of necromancy, swordplay and horseback riding. The return of the dead can be prevented if you burn the bodies, we learn from the wildlings' customs.
The people killed by White Walkers are susceptible to becoming wights, a type of undead slave. They appear dead for a period of time, but they do not decay; Suddenly, they get up and kill. They acquire the same glowing blue eyes of the White Walkers. When a wight kills a person, that person may then become a wight. In this sense, the formula of their multiplication is very similar to that of traditional zombies. But they don't bite. They're too cool for that.
I like how the wights look in the show, but the mummified White Walker on the skeletal horse at the end of the second season looked ridiculous: like a villain from a video game made in the 1994. Yo, HBO! They are supposed to be beautiful. I envisioned something more like an anemic Targaryen with the eyes of a Djinn and the wan facial features of a heroin addict.
White Walkers truly capture the imagination. They are the perfect example of how a writer can take zombie lore and extrapolate on it to invent unique monsters. They have aspects of magical warriors, spirits, zombies and even human beings. These creatures, with their blue eyes that burn like ice as bright as stars, frighten me in a new and exciting way.
Survival Tip of the Day
Samwell Tarly strikes you as the type of Crow who would have been dead his first day North of the Wall. He survives, however, and becomes a leader and protector of others. How does he do it?
He is a well-read and scholarly young man. He has acquired experience from every ranger who survived the North long enough to write a book. Knowledge is power.
No comments:
Post a Comment