George R.R. Martin’s long-planned White Walker story could fix Game of Thrones’ biggest mistake

HBO's popular fantasy drama series, Game of Thrones, wrapped up in 2019, but the buzz surrounding the franchise remains strong. With George R.R Martin still working on The Winds of Winter, the sixth and the penultimate novel of the fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire, readers are eager to find out how the story unfolds in the books.

The White Walkers, commonly known as Others in the novels, have been portrayed as one of the greatest threats in Westeros. From the beginning of the series, they were presented as an unstoppable force that has the ability to change the fate of Westeros forever.

However, several fans were left disappointed with how the HBO series handled the White Walkers storyline. Game of Thrones series kicked off with a chilling cold open where some creatures attacked members of the Night's Watch, setting up the White Walkers as the show's ultimate threat. While the HBO series built the suspense around them, the ending/finale fell flat and rushed. The long-awaited conflict ended during the Long Night's Battle of Winterfell, with Arya Stark killing the Night King and thus destroying the White Walkers.

Now readers are hoping that George R.R Martin's upcoming books, A Dream of Spring and The Winds of Winter, might give them a more satisfying storyline than the HBO Game of Thrones adaptation. George R.R Martin's plans for The Winds of Winter suggest that the books will take a different approach and delve deeper into the mysterious creatures.

Here's more about it.

Game of Thrones: George R. R Martin plans to explore The White Walkers' homeland in The Winds of Winter

While Game of Thrones delves into several details about the White Walkers, including that the Night King was created by the Children of the Forest, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series takes a different approach. The Night King does not exist in the novel series. Instead, it's mentioned that the Others are supernatural creatures that emerged years ago and were apparently defeated by the alliance between First Men and the Children of the Forest.

One location that has always kept the viewers hooked is The Land of Always Winter, the northernmost part of Westeros. As the name suggests, this part beyond the walls remains frozen. Many believe that this region is where the White Walkers emerged. Speaking to Smarter Travel in 2012, Martin confirmed,

"What lies really north [The Land of Always Winter] … We haven't explored that yet, but we will in the last two books."

Exploring the Land of Always Winter's storyline could fix the biggest issue with the White Walkers plot. In fact, Martin had already laid the groundwork for it. In the A Game of Thrones novel, Bran Stark has a dream in which he apparently sees an isolated, frozen location and senses the presence of the Others. He describes the deep-frozen forests and lakes, an overall terrifying space in the heart of winter (via ScreenRant).

"And he looked past the Wall, past endless forests cloaked in snow, past the frozen shore and the great blue-white rivers of ice and the dead plains where nothing grew or lived, to the curtain of light at the end of the world, and then beyond that curtain."

Whether the location is explored through Bran's visions/supernatural abilities or any characters traveling north, the books could answer the biggest mysteries surrounding the Others.

Martin's upcoming books have the advantage of not relying on a central villain. Since the Night King is not introduced, the Others are still a mysterious force whose motives remain unknown; Martin has more room to explore their origin, motive, and what role they play in the larger history of Westeros.

Martin's comments suggest that the White Walkers' story is far from over. By taking the readers to The Land of Always Winters and expanding the mythology surrounding the Others, the upcoming novel could deliver depth and payoff that the Game of Thrones fans felt was missing from the series.

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Also Read: My top 5 Game of Thrones characters will not have Jon Snow (& one of the many reasons is the unnecessary plot armor)

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