Game Of Thrones: Age Of Heroes & The Long Night Explained

2. White Walker Origins And The Long Night

After around 2,000 years (although it might be 4,000) of relative peace, there came a season of winter that lasted an entire generation, where some claims suggest there wasn't a single day of light ever seen.

It was here, under this veil of cold and darkness, that the White Walkers emerged. Hailing from the Land of Always Winter, they sought to extinguish light and warmth from the world, doing so by riding into battle with ice spiders as big as hounds, resurrected horses, and with an undead army to do their bidding.

How they were ultimately defeated is another matter of legend. The North tells of the Last Hero, others name Azor Ahai, Hyrkoon the Hero, Yin Tar, Neferion, and Eldric Shadowchaser, often a lone warrior with a flaming sword. There are also tales of the first men of the NIght's Watch beating back the White Walkers in the Battle for the Dawn, with Ahai riding into the battle with Lightbringer to win the day, which is the kind of potentially epic set-piece you'd think this show will build towards.

As for their origins, we had a hint of this in Season 6, seeing the Children of the Forest create a White Walker. The series, then, will surely have to further explain why this happened (likely as a weapon against the First Men), and how things turned against them.