Skip to main content

game of thrones - Why do White Walkers wear clothes? Or why were they once (nearly) naked?


White Walkers in the first and second season were nearly naked.


This guy from the start of the first season wears a raggy loin cloth, a vambrace, and boots. His three brothers in the background wear similar loin cloths and nothing on their chests.


enter image description here


This walker from the end of the second season has a vambrace on his forearm and not much else.


enter image description here


Later in the series, they are wearing clothes and even armor.


Fast-forward a few seasons to the Battle of Hardhome, and we see multiple walkers and the Night King all wearing clothes and armor. (Never guessed he was just a little vain enough to wear a decoration on his upper chest.)



enter image description here


We saw 4 walkers and the King in the Battle of the Tree all wearing armor.


enter image description here


Why did they start wearing armor? (Related questions: Why would they even care to wear clothes at all? They don't need clothing to protect them from blizzards. Do they make their own armor and clothes?)


I prefer answers from the book (even if the answer says the question is based on a false premise) more than answers from the TV series.


Edit to add: I am not asking about the wights, just the White Walkers and the Night King. I assume the wights and skeletons have whatever clothes they wore at the moment of re-animation and will wear those until the clothes are so shredded they fall off.



Answer



Since you have added the books tag, I will avoid the show heresy and answer this from the books.


What do Others aka White Walkers wear?


In books, others do not run around naked. They are dressed in a special magical armor which camouflages them into their surroundings.



From wiki:



"Had many talks with George. He told me of the ice swords, and the reflective, camouflaging armor that picks up the images of the things around it like a clear, still pond. He spoke a lot about what they were not, but what they were was harder to put into words."
-Tommy Patterson (Comic book artist for the series)



Also:



A shadow emerged from the dark of the wood. It stood in front of Royce. Tall, it was, and gaunt and hard as old bones, with flesh pale as milk. Its armor seemed to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the deep grey-green of the trees. The patterns ran like moonlight on water with every step it took.
AGOT - Prologue




So while we may not know what exactly do they wear due to reflective nature of their garb, we know they wear an armor so presumably some other garment underneath as well. Therefore, The idea that they run around naked or with minimal clothing is absurd.


As far as books are concerned, they always wear armor (Except maybe when it is a nice sunny day, then I presume they go sunbathing on the Frozen shore).


A depiction of Others from The World of Ice and Fire companion book:


enter image description here


Why did the Show depict them as a naturist club in the beginning?


enter image description here


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more