The Night King appears in The Night King Was Created By The Children Of The Forest In HBO's Game Of Thrones
He walks into a grove surrounding the same heart tree he is sitting beneath in the present, but now, there is no snow in the lands beyond the Wall. Bran sees the Game of Thrones season 4, episode 4, "Oathkeeper". It’s revealed that the Children of the Forest are responsible for creating the White Walkers, beginning with the Night King.
When Bran returns to the present and confronts Leaf about what she did thousands of years ago, Leaf responds that they made the Walkers to "Defend ourselves from you." When the First Men came to Westeros, they fought the Children of the Forest. As a last resort, the Children created the White Walkers as a desperate gambit to destroy their enemies.
However, at some point, something went wrong. The Children of the Forest were pushed back to the lands beyond the Wall and fell into legend and folktale as the race of Men proliferated. The White Walkers turned on their creators, with the Night King seeming to have a particular enmity for the Children and their ally, the Three-Eyed Raven.
It’s an oft-repeated lesson in the series that magical power is not so easily controlled. This is a resonant theme that applies to both the "Ice" in the series, as well as the "Fire", as Jon Snow comes to understand with Daenerys Targaryen and her dragons.
The Night's King Was The 13th Lord Commander Of The Night's Watch In The Books
In her stories, the crimes committed under the Night’s King’s rule were so egregious that Brandon the Breaker, the King of Winter, and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, united the Stark men and their allies with the Free Folk to defeat the Night’s King. Afterward, all records of the Night's King’s reign and even his name were destroyed.
In the show, a similar alliance would be formed thousands of years later between Jon Snow and the Free Folk against the Night King. The legend of the Night’s King and his hidden backstory have led Northerners to theorize about the identity of the king. Some believe the Night’s King was a Bolton.
This would make sense considering the violent history of the House. A flayed man is on their banner for a reason, and the atrocities described in legend could very well include skinning sacrifices alive. Other theories about the Night’s King’s identity include him being a member of House Umber and House Flint.
However, Old Nan also says that the Night’s King could be a member of House Stark, maybe even a brother of Brandon the Breaker. House Stark historically ruled the North and were members of the Night’s Watch. It would take someone as respected as a Stark to lead a rebellion, evil or not.
This would also add an element of tragedy to the legend: how brother fought against brother. The Night King has yet to appear in George R.R. Martin's novels, but if and when he does, answers regarding the relationship between the Night’s King and the Night King from Game of Thrones should be made clear.
Did The Night King's Origin Ultimately Matter?
The Night King's true motivations were never made clear beyond that he wanted to (presumably) kill every living thing in Westeros. Just like Daenerys' dragons, audiences were satisfied with the fact that the Night King and White Walkers simply existed. They were a relic of a time when Westeros was far more rife with magic and other fantasy elements. They didn't need an origin per se, just like the Night King himself didn't need the complex motivations of other antagonists in the show, such as Cersei Lannister, Littlefinger, or Daenerys Targaryen.
The argument that the origins of the Night King were unnecessary for the show felt cemented when
- Release Date
-
2011 - 2019-00-00
- Showrunner
- Directors
- Writers
-
David Benioff, D.B. Weiss
David Nutter, Alan Taylor, D.B. Weiss, David Benioff
D.B. Weiss,
Jon Snow
Brandon Bran Stark
Based on George R. R. Martin's ongoing A Song of Ice and Fire novel series, Game of Thrones is a fantasy drama set in the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos. It follows noble families like the Starks, Lannisters, and Targaryen vying for control of the Iron Throne while a rising threat from the undead looms in the North.