Who is the Night King on ‘Game of Thrones’? Here’s Everything We Know

Looming over Westeros is one singular great and terrible threat: the Night King. Forget Joffrey or Ramsay Bolton, the Night King is the true existential antagonist of Game of Thrones. One problem: we don’t know who is actually is. Sure, Bran discovered that he started out as a normal human man before the Children of the Forest transformed him into a dreadful monster. But who is the Night King? Is he, as many fans have speculated, Bran Stark himself trapped forever in the mind of a ghoul? Is he a long-lost Targaryen? Is he anyone in particular?

Over the last 8 years, Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have left only a scant amount of clues as to the Night King’s true identity. They’ve done so subtly in their storytelling, and more blatantly in the “Inside Game of Thrones” episode breakdowns they’ve been doing for HBO since the series started. Going back and stringing these hints together doesn’t help us arrive at a singular subject, but it definitely helps us eliminate some popular guesses.

Here’s everything we know about the true identity and origin of the Night King on Game of Thrones. 

The Night King Was Created By the Children of the Forest

This is the easiest fact about the Night King to verify. In Game of Thrones Season 6, Episode 5, “The Door,” Bran Stark (Isaac Hempstead-Wright) discovers the harrowing truth about the White Walkers: the Children of the Forest created them by stabbing a Dragonglass dagger into the heart of a human man. When he asks why, one of them ruefully says, “We were at war. We were being slaughtered, our sacred trees cut down. We needed to defend ourselves.”

Bran asks, in a very grammatically correct way, “From whom?”

“From you,” the Child says. “From men.”

So the Night King was created at some point during a conflict between the Children of the Forest and men. Jon Snow explains to Daenerys in Season 7 that these men were the First Men, and the enemies put their fight aside to team up to take on the White Walkers. That may be true, but it could also be that the men in question were the Andals, whom we know invaded Westeros and cut down Hearttrees to make way for their religion, the worship of the Seven.

That said, the person who was transformed into the Night King was most likely a First Man. This is because we know this happened North of the Wall, both Northerners and Wildings are descendants of the First Men. It’s why they still keep Godswoods and worship the old gods.

THE NIGHT KING IS PROBABLY A FIRST MAN

The White Walkers Don’t Recognize Valyrian Steel

Recently some fans have begun to speculate that the Night King might actually be a secret long-lost Targaryen because they believe the spiral symbols the White Walkers are leaving behind look like the Targaryen sigil on the show. However, the White Walkers’ symbols have nothing to do with House Targaryen and everything to do with the ancient language of the Children of the Forest. If the Targaryen sigil resembles these designs, it might merely be the family riffing on the Children of the Forests’ symbols which are found all over Westeros, and are located on the Targaryen family’s first Westeros home, Dragonstone.

Here’s the other reason we know the Night King is not a Targaryen: he didn’t know about Valyrian steel before Jon Snow whipped out Longclaw at Hardhome. At least, that’s what Game of Thrones showrunners David Benioff and D.B. Weiss explained in the “Inside Game of Thrones feature following “Hardhome.” The showrunners highlight the moment that Jon Snow is able to shatter one of the White Walkers’ icy spears.

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“It’s a key moment,” Benioff says. “The Night King is watching all of this unfold, and it’s going pretty much according to plan until he sees this little living kid down there kill one of his lieutenants in an unexpected way…He’s seen White Walkers’ weapons shatter steel, except Longclaw does not shatter. And the Night King sees this and it’s kind of uh…This kid’s interesting. This kid’s actually possibly a threat for me.”

Weiss says, “The fight against the living is supposed to be very one-sided, I think, as far as he’s concerned. The idea that there’s any kind of meaningful resistance being put up is interesting to him because otherwise the whole scene is a complete slaughter.”

What this means is that the White Walkers knew they struggled with fire and Dragonglass — the weapons of the Children of the Forest and the First Men — but were not aware of Valyrian technology. That makes sense since Valyria was located on a separate continent and their arrival came way after the Long Night. It also means…

THE NIGHT KING IS NOT A TARGARYEN

The Night’s Watch Has Battled White Walkers in the Past

One reason we don’t know a lot about the Long Night is because it happened so long ago in Westerosi history. Dates back then are fuzzy, and George RR Martin has repeatedly stated that the Maesters aren’t sure how long ago events like the Long Night, the raising of the Wall, and the Andal invasion really happened.

However, we learned in Game of Thrones, Season 2, Episode 8, “The Prince of Winterfell,” that the Night’s Watch probably fought the White Walkers at some point. That’s because when Samwell Tarly, Dolorous Edd, and Grenn discover the cache of ancient Dragonglass at the Fist of the First Men, Sam recognizes that the weapons are wrapped in a Night’s Watch cloak. He’s also able to recognize that the symbols — CIRCULAR, BY THE WAY — chiseled into the rock were likely made by the First Men (who learned them from the Children of the Forest). These weapons are valuable to the fight against the White Walkers and it’s presumed they were left there after the Long Night was over to provide assistance to future generations facing the same fight.

So this tells us that the Night King might have been created at the same time, or after, the Night’s Watch. In the books, the Night’s King is a mythic character who was supposed to be the 13th Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch and that he turned into a White Walker-like figure when he fell in love with a beautiful woman cold to the touch with icy blue eyes north of the Wall. This has never been brought up in the show, but what it tells us is there is precedent in the series to link the origins of the Night King with the early history of the Night’s Watch. The Dragonglass discovery adds archaeological context for these stories.

THE NIGHT KING MAY HAVE BEEN CREATED IN TANDEM WITH THE NIGHT’S WATCH

So Who is the Night King?

Probably a Stark

The favorite, obvious fan theory is that the Night King was a Stark of Winterfell, or even a bastard Stark. This is because the Starks are so intrinsically linked to the folklore and history of the North, and because their forefathers accomplished magical feats like raising the Wall. Plus, from a storytelling perspective, there’s symmetry to it.

Possibly Bran Stark

Ugh, I mean, I suppose the “Bran Stark is the Night King” theory could be true. I don’t believe it is, though, if only because it doesn’t seem like Bran’s “time traveling” and warging abilities can work at the same time. (See: Hodor.) That said, it’s not outside the realm of possibility. However, it will take a lot of narrative finesse to pull off, and the clock is ticking on all the stray storylines that need to be wrapped up.

Possibly a Nobody

It would be hugely poetic if the Night King’s true identity was just a random Northerner who was transformed against his will into an agent of death and chaos.

Probably a Character We’ll Meet in the Prequel Series

Right now HBO is prepping to shoot a pilot this summer for an unnamed prequel series starring Naomi Watts and Josh Whitehouse. We know that the show is supposed to detail what happened to ruin the Age of Heroes, a time when the Children of the Forest and the First Men lived in harmony. The logline for the series is: “Only one thing is for sure: From the horrifying secrets of Westeros’ history to the true origin of the White Walkers, the mysteries of the East to the Starks of legend — it’s not the story we think we know.”

So it certainly sounds like the prequel series is going to tell us who the Night King really is.

My personal theory? I think the prequel series will deal with the Andal invasion of Westeros and how that unsettled the peace between the First Men and the Children of the Forest. I think the Andals, bringing steel, chivalry and their belief in the Seven Gods, will destroy the source of magic in Westeros, the Heart Trees and Godswoods, thus creating a huge magical imbalance in Westeros. (Think the wacky seasons and brutal cold North of the Wall.) The First Men will actually be the Children’s allies for the most part and a noble Stark will volunteer himself to become the Night King only for the magic to transform him into a monster.

At least, that’s what I think.

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