Where did the Others come from?

Potential Spoilers Below

TWOT: How the Trollocs and Myrddraal were created

A Myrddraal leading Trollocs

The Dark One's greatest need was for soldiers. Before the war, his scientists set about combining living human and animal genetic material to create the ultimate warrior, something that was powerful and fierce in battle, fast, hard to kill, and intelligent enough to fight well and take orders. They used naturally aggressive animals such as boars, bears, wolves, goats, wildcats, rams, and eagles in combination with human stock to produce this soldier.  The resulting man-beasts each with face and characteristics of the particular animal from which he was crafted, were called Trollocs."

Representation of the Dark One breaking free

“The Trolloc was and is certainly large and powerful. Standing eight to ten feet in height, with the body of an overlarge, extremely muscular man, they were stronger than either the human or animal part of their heritage and almost as fast as a horse. Vicious by nature, they manifested plenty of ferocity, killing for no other reason than the pure pleasure of it. And their size and strength made them extremely difficult to kill.

However, as an ultimate fighting machine the creature was initially a failure. Trollocs simply did not have the crucial discipline, or the ability to take orders, that characterizes an efficient soldier. Instead, they had the instincts and drives of animals combined with the worst human characteristics and a very limited (by human standards) level of intelligence. They could perform only comparatively simple tasks, and they had extremely deceitful and unstable personalties. As soldiers they were usually unable or unwilling to follow orders unless driven by fear. Even then, if the Trollocs were more afraid of the foe than of the commanders that drove them, they often turned and ran, sometimes trampling or killing those commanders in the process.

The men and women who first faced these creatures were terrified. Their towering coarse-haired bulky forms loomed over any human, while intelligent human eyes glared evilly out from faces that often bore horns or tusks, and bestial muzzles full of gnashing teeth, or snapping sharp beaks. Some even had the hind legs of the animal they resembled, with hooves or claws in place of feet, though almost all had humanlike hands with thick, heavy nails—the better to carry their deadly weapons. And if they lacked a soldier’s true discipline, sheer numbers made up for a great deal.

Their lust for killing made it very difficult for their commanders to take live prisoners, or to use Trollocs in situations that required them to distinguish between friend and foe. It was easier to let the beast-men run free, killing—and often eating—whomever they found, than to use them where any restraint or discrimination was required. Trollocs were omnivorous, but preferred meat: animal, human, or even Trolloc—it did not matter.

Shadowsworn researchers struggled to find a way to make use of the Trollocs’ few assets. There had to be a way to motivate and control these killing machines for the benefit of the Great Lord. Ironically, it was the Trollocs themselves that provided the solution, by way of their throwback offspring: the Myrddraal.”

“Trollocs do not always breed true; instead they sometimes produce throwbacks to either the animal or the human side of their genetics. The throwbacks to the animal half die, but the throwbacks to the human side usually survive, though corrupted by the evil of their original makers, and are called Myrddraal.

Also known as Shadowmen, Halfmen, Lurks, Fetches, Fades, and Neverborn, the Myrddraal resemble men much more closely than do their Trolloc parents in size, appearance, and level of intelligence.  Though their names are always in the Trolloc tongue, they are nonetheless vastly different from either human or Trolloc, for the darkness twists them. With tall, muscular, coldly handsome bodies, each of the Myrddraal is as like the others as if poured from the same mold. They move with sinuous grace beyond the capability of any human, and strike with the speed of a serpent. Their skin, instead of being pink brown, black, or even golden, is the dead fishbelly white of a slug found under a rock, while the blood that runs beneath it is corrosive, and black as the Lord they serve. Black hair, lacking all hint of human gloss or texture, covers only their heads, leaving their pale faces bare.

The most chilling difference between humans and Myrddraal is in their faces, so like a human face but for the complete lack of eyes. Not even a slight indentation mars the cruel smooth planes of Myrddraal faces to mark where eyes should be, yet these creatures can see like eagles in brightest sunlight or darkest shadow. Thus were they also called “the Eyeless.”

Sight without eyes is not their only inhuman ability—they can also vanish wherever there are shadows, and travel far distances by stepping into any area of shadow, only to suddenly appear elsewhere, in a shadow far away. Even Aginor, who made the Trollocs and thus, indirectly, the Myrddraal, was not able to discover how they could use shadow to transport themselves.

Possibly the manner of their creation causes them to exist only partly in this world, for mirrors reflect nothing but a misty form where a Myrddraal stands, and their cloaks always hang motionless from their shoulders, no matter how fierce the gale around them, as if the wind of this world dares not touch them. Their only known weakness is a fear of running water. Whenever possible they avoid crossing or traveling on any kind of stream, river, or channel. Only the greatest need can force them to overcome this reluctance. Their fear will not save one who is a direct target for the Shadowman, but often stops any more casual pursuit.

Perhaps their most potent weapon is their eyeless gaze. The stare from one of those cold, merciless faces causes paralyzing fear. Even the most courageous warrior has been known to cower beneath a Shadowman’s glare.

It was the Myrddraals’ ability to cause fear that helped solve the Trolloc problem. Even Trollocs were (and are) terrified of Myrddraal, and the Halfmen were quite capable of taking and following orders. So it was that the Trollocs were salvaged as soldiers, with the Myrddraal as their commanders. The Halfmen drove them into battle and controlled them there with fear.

In time it was discovered that a Myrddraal could link with a number of Trollocs, completely overriding their bestial nature and taking control of their minds and wills, to create a deadly, well-disciplined fighting force almost as effective as was originally intended. Unfortunately, the Myrddraal was then the weak link. If it was killed, the Trollocs sharing the link died with it.

Together Trollocs and Myrddraal made a fearsome foe. Organized in fighting units, called fists, of between one and two hundred Trollocs, usually under the command of a Myrddraal, they swept down on many unsuspecting regions, wreaking destruction on anything that stood before them. To a population new to war, the Trolloc armies seemed the personification of the Dark One himself.

While it is certain they wielded more deadly weapons in the Age of Legends, in the present day Trollocs make their own weapons and armor, crude and unfinished compared to the products of human armorers, but quite deadly. They wear no helmets because of the difficulty in crafting adequate protection for the wide variety of misshapen bestial faces. Some Trollocs demonstrate individual preferences through tattoos, carved bone adornments, and the way they wear their hair.”

“Outside of the military unit of the fist, Trollocs are divided into tribelike bands. The known tribes include the Ahf’frait, Al’ghoi, Bhansheen, Dhjin’nen, Ghar’ghael, Ghob’hlin, Gho’hlem, Ghraem’lar, Ko’bal, Kno’mon, Dha’vol, and the Dhai’mon. They are the only constructs from the War of the Shadow known to have developed a social structure and tribal system.

As in the Age of Legends, only male Trollocs fight or hunt. Female are cloistered, serving as little more than breeding machines. Fortunately female Trollocs enjoy being pregnant. Trollocs can inter-breed with humans, but apparently prefer humans as food. In any case even if the human mother survives to give birth, the resulting offspring are usually stillborn, and the few born live do not survive long.”

“Although Myrddraal are the offspring of Trollocs, they bear little similarity to them, other than having Trolloc names. So far as is known all Myrddraal are male, probably sterile due to their hybrid nature, and completely lacking in individualistic expression, such as ornamentation or variations in armor or clothing. Where Trollocs have a vile and violent sense of humor, Myrddraal have none. The Shadowmen prefer a comparatively solitary existence and are seldom seen in large groups, avoiding all purely social interaction. They usually hold themselves somewhat apart from the Trollocs they command. Unlike Trollocs, they are capable of working alone with great stealth and cunning to achieve an ordered objective. They are also harder to kill than Trollocs. Even when mortally wounded they do not die completely until the setting of the sun.

Their weapons, armor, and fighting style are much more sophisticated than that of their parents. Instead of crude chain mail and leather they wear black articulated plate designed in multiple overlapping strips over black gambeson and breeches, which gives maximum protection and freedom of movement while enhancing their serpentlike demeanor. A black cloak with deep cowl is worn over the armor and often covers the sword—their primary weapon—as well.

Myrddraal swords are very specialized weapons. Unlike cruel Trolloc blades, hammered out from any type of usable metal, these blades are only made at one place in all the world, a gray-roofed forge on the slopes of Shayol Ghul at Thakan’dar, mere yards away from the entrance to the Pit of Doom itself. No mortal smith crafts such foul blades. Only shadow-forgers, animated man-shaped beings apparently hacked from the mountain stone, can work the deadly steel. Though not truly alive, they perform their only task with great skill. Each black shadow-blade is carefully fashioned, quenched in the ink-dark, tainted streams of Shayol Ghul, and seasoned with a human soul.

The smallest wound from any of these corrupted blades brings death to the victim; the wounds fester and will not heal without the aid of the One Power. With such a weapon, little skill is needed, yet the Halfmen are agile fighters and would be formidable foes armed with even plain steel. The black blades make (and made) them almost invincible to the common soldier. But their weapons do wear out, after a time, and must be replaced, and the demand for Myrddraal swords is (and was) not always matched by the availability of materials or live prisoners.”

ASOIAF: How I believe the Others and Wights were created 

Other

Wight

Other leading Wights

As my theory has always said you take what has happened in TWOT and use it and throw in a 180 degree difference at the key juncture to throw off those who might make the connection.

I believe that when the First Men first encountered the Children of the Forest they weren’t enemies.  But as the First Men began cutting down Weirwood trees that became the straw that broke the camels back.  The COTF probably tried to reason with them but the First Men didn’t back down and continued cutting down the weirwoods for building material and clearings for their homes.  That is when the war began.  I believe that the real story of what happened next was lost to time.  Fortunately we have a handy dandy time traveller named Bran who will show us the true story.  I believe that men being bigger and stronger gave them an advantage so the COTF had a great need for soldiers that could do what they could not.  I believe it was then that they used their version of blood magic and created warriors that could stand against the First Men where they couldn’t. 

The First Men cut down and burned Weirwood trees leading to war

Leaf; a child of the forest

A Weirwood tree

Where in TWOT the Dark One’s scientists used humans and animals to create the Trollocs I believed the COTF did something similar.  They used human skinchangers to create their armies; men who could control animals.  Unlike the Trollocs in TWOT the Others were a success.  They were intelligent and took orders and were deadly in the fight against men.  A byproduct of them being skinchangers was that they could telepathically link with the fallen dead; whether human or animal; and add them to their numbers the way a warg could link with a live animal.  Being created in the north they also had an affinity with ice; though the COTF could never figure out why.  They had the ability to form blades sharper than steel with their very will.  There numbers were small when compared to men and they couldn’t reproduce.  This is 180 degree opposite from the Trollocs who seemed to breed like rabbits.  Though we are told that their voices are said to sound like the cracking of ice; I believe it to be the that of the Old Tongue just like it was the language of the COTF and the First Men.  The COTF had to have a way to communicate with them and since they spoke the Old Tongue I believe the same will be true with the Others.

Skinchanger: Varamyr Six Skins

The First Men were horrified when they faced these creatures in battle as their most experienced fighters were struck down like green squires fighting full-fledged knights.  The Others were superior swordsmen in every way; being faster and stronger.  The appeared like ghosts emerging from nowhere.  To me this is similar to the Myrddraal using shadows to move from one location to another as if by magic.  The fact that they leave no prints to mark their passage seems to say they may be able to use shadows like Myrddraal.  Another theory I think more credible is that they use the “wolf dream” to move about freely.  I believe that they are able to shift between the real world and the “wolf dream” in the flesh like Perrin Aybara.  See my blog “The Night’s King identity?” for more on this concept.  Being able to enter the “wolf dream” in this manner would account for them seeming to be in one place and then another without leaving any footprints.  With them also came the cold.  Their swords were so cold that they shattered the swords of men when they were used in battle against them.  Where the Myrddraal swords were black the Others swords were just the opposite and appear white.  Their reflective armor shifted color with their every step blending into the environment providing excellent camouflage.  This is similar to the color-shifting cloaks worn by Warders in TWOT.  Like in TWOT the eyes set the Myrddraal apart from humans as they had none.  The eyes of the Others set them apart from men in that their eyes are described as “blue, deeper and bluer than any human eyes, a blue that burned like ice.”  The skin of both the Myrddraal and the Others is described similarly.  Myrddraal flesh is said to look like the dead fish belly white of a slug found under a rock.  The Others’ flesh is described as being pale as the moon or milk.

Everything was going in favor of the COTF until one day the Others just up and disappeared from the battlefield.  Neither the COTF nor the First Men could say why or knew where they went.  I believe that since the Others were intelligent beings they discovered that they were being used like pawns and didn’t think it their fight so they left the fight between the COTF and the First Men.  This is when I believe that “The Pact” was struck and a peace was made.  Both sides feared total destruction.  The First Men at the hands of the Others and the COTF because of the absence of them.  When the Andals came and the peace was broken I believe that the COTF tried again to recruit the Others this time in the “wolf dream” but they refused to take part as they felt a connection to men much more than that to the COTF. 

COTF and the First Men making a truce

The Pact agreed upon

The Andal invasion

It is then that using their magic the COTF brought about the Long Night and it was then that the first hero set out to find allies in their fight against them.  When all seemed lost it was then that the Others decided to step in.  They teamed with the First Men and banished their creators the COTF to a territory that existed between where "The Wall" currently stands and that of the Land of Always Winter where they reside.  The Wall itself was created by the Others using their ability to manipulate and create with ice.  When asked if he knows what substance an Other sword is made from Martin answered, “Ice. But not like regular old ice. The Others can do things with ice that we can’t imagine and make substances of it.”  It was they who I believe gave the first hero or Azor Ahai Lightbringer; the red sword of heroes.  If you have been keeping up with my theory you know that I believe that Lightbringer is currently called Dawn. The Others also helped to infuse spells within the walls of the structures that they helped to create to bar the COTF from interfering with the realms of men.  Thus another “Pact” was established in the time that coincides with Bran the Builder. 

The First Hero: Azor Ahai

Wildlings descending upon the Wall

Ser Arthur Dayne holding Dawn

Bran the Builder

I also believe that the Others go into a hibernation like state where they are totally cutoff from the world as we know it.  The COTF used this to their advantage.  They used time to do their work for them.  Over the millennia men forgot the truth of the past.  The COTF introduced stories in the form of visions to men; making themselves out to be the salvation of man.  They also made the Others out to be the enemy and even started giving men dragonglass arrowheads and daggers to combat this enemy when they awaked again; making enemies of allies.

Dragonglass along with what I believe to be the Horn of Winter

In TWOT we know that the Myrddraal’s only known weakness is a fear of running water and crossing it.  We also know that a Myrddraal or Trollocs will only do this in a situation of great need.  This brings me to the question of why the Other/Night’s King in the TV show seemed to allow Jon Snow to escape when he could have sent Wights in to tip their boat and kill them.  This to me is just a nod to the lore in TWOT.   I am also curious to know if an Other is killed who controls a group of wights will they die like the Trollocs linked with a dead Myrddraal will.  I believe that this will also prove true.  We also see in the TV show that a group of 13 Others appear in the distance.  When one of them, the Night's King, the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch, approaches an altar and takes the baby into his arms. He touches the baby on the cheek and apparently transforms him into an Other.  In TWOT there is something called the "13 X 13 trick" where 13 Myrddraal combined with 13 Dreadlords can turn anyone capable of using the One Power, against his/her will, to the Dark One. Is this ASOIAF's version of the "13 X 13 trick"? The 180 degree change IMO between the Myrddraal and the Others is that you knew the Myrddraal were the bad guys from the onset of the story.  I believe the Others will be proven not to be when all is said and done.

The Night's King?  The 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch

Jon Snow watching the Night's King raise the dead

13 Others; One being the 13th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch

Completes the "13 X 13 trick" in my book by turning the baby into one of them.  Since I don't believe the Others to be the "bad guys" that we think they are does that make Craster misunderstood?

Comments encouraged.  Love to hear the ideas of others.  Most believe that since I present my ideas as “fact like” I’m not open to change my viewpoints, which is far from the truth.  I simply look at the information presented and go from there.  If you can shine a light on another way of thinking that opens the door to debate.