With help from giants and the Children of the Forest, the Wall was raised to bar their return. In a conflict known as the Battle for the Dawn, the living won a decisive victory and pushed the White Walkers far north to the Lands of Always Winter. The people of Westeros soon realized they had to rally together or the White Walkers would kill them all.

In the darkness and cold of the 'Long Night,' the White Walkers descended upon Westeros from the Far North, killing all in their path and reanimating the dead as wights to serve as mindless soldiers in their undead army. Įight thousand years before Robert's Rebellion, the longest winter in history fell on the entire world and lasted a whole generation. However, the White Walkers eventually broke free of the Children's control and became the most feared creatures in Westeros, posing a threat to all life. Born of powerful and untested magic, they were created to protect the Children of the Forest from the First Men, who had waged war on them ever since they had arrived from Essos. The White Walkers were thousands of years old, coming from the time preceding the Age of Heroes. However, most who live south of the Wall believed them to be nothing more than creatures of legend. After remaining hidden for thousands of years, they returned and were sighted by several sworn brothers of the Night's Watch and countless wildlings. The White Walkers were an ancient race of formerly-human ice creatures who came from the far north of Westeros.

They swept through cities and kingdoms, riding their dead horses, hunting with their packs of pale spiders big as hounds.' ― Old Nan ' In that darkness the White Walkers came for the first time.

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