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In the series, we see magic starts to come back with the birth of the dragons. We also see a resurgence of the Others as the series moves on.

Is there any correlation between these two events? Are the Others mystical creatures that exist only when magic does or have they just been amassing their strength until now?

Shevliaskovic
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Nicholas
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1 Answers1

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The shortest answer in both the books and TV series is "we don't know yet".

We do not know yet what the origin of the Others is. Some characters speculate that they appear in the coldest winters, and they seem to be related to ice and cold (probably the "Ice" part of the "Song of Ice and Fire" theme). They might or might not be related to the resurgence of magic in the world, but we at least know they predate the birth of the dragons, because we're shown an encounter with the Others in the prologue, before Daenerys' eggs hatch. I mention this because, in turn, some characters (e.g. the warlocks of Qarth) believe the return of the dragons brought magic to the world, but since we know the Others predate Dany's dragons, they must have been brought by a different kind of magic, if any.

Andres F.
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    Also, Craster has been dealing with them for quite some time. So they have never been really gone. – System Down May 12 '14 at 06:23
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    You bring up good point that I completely forgot about, the prelude included them prior to the dragons. – Nicholas May 12 '14 at 06:24
  • @SystemDown I know Craster was dealing with the wildlings, but with the Others?!? – major-mann May 12 '14 at 13:06
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    @major-mann Craster's dealings with the Others are explicitly shown in the TV show, and mentioned in the books. He is a "godly man" who "sacrifices" his sons to the "cold gods", as more or less explained by him and his daughter/wives. – Andres F. May 12 '14 at 13:15
  • @AndresF cool... Thanks... In my mind I had seen it as him sacrificing to the tree, I am definitely going to read over that again! – major-mann May 12 '14 at 13:21
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    @major-mann: I think the book is deliberately written so that it could be interpreted either way, so that people will at first think trees, and only much later realize the truth. – Mooing Duck Jun 05 '14 at 21:10