This is what happened the last time the White Walkers invaded the world of Game of Thrones

Everything is ready for the definitive end of Game of Thrones, in which Westeros is divided and an invasion of White Walkers approaches. However, it is not the first time that this threat attempts to eradicate humanity. This is what we know about the first human war against Walkers, and what it tells us about the upcoming season of the series.

Westeros before the Long Night

More than 8,000 years have passed since the White Walkers invaded Westeros, millennia before Aegon Targaryen reached its shores and conquered the region for his family. The Westeros we see in Game of Thrones is very different from the one that faced the so-called "Long Night" millennia ago, a land where magic and strange creatures existed in abundance.

The White Walkers came to Westeros after two millennia in complete peace. After the Children of the Forest and the First Men, those who first arrived to the mainland, signed a peace agreement known as the "Covenant," which allowed the two societies to live in harmony after men arrived and Cut the forests of the Children to get wood.

But the arrival of a very long winter, one that lasted several generations of Men and Children, brought with it a threat that almost ended both races completely.

The origin of "the Others" (a name used to refer to walkers and their army, which may include human zombies, giant zombies and frozen spiders, among others) is still unknown in the books, the only thing known Is that they come from the northernmost region of the world. They could simply be a species found in the coldest part of the world and almost never seen in history because of the icy conditions in which they live, or perhaps they are a tribe of First Men who was killed and revived thanks To a dark magic for some unknown reason. However, the long winter (known as the "Long Night") allowed the dead to march south to the lands occupied by the Forest Children and the First Men, plundering their villages and turning their dead into zombies .

The last hero

When the Others invaded the South for the first time the Children and the First Men were surpassed by a relentless army that could not die, and that also turned each victim into one of them. As a result, these societies were forced to flee further south to Westeros.

Legends of the northern regions tell that in the darkest days of the Long Night, the First Men discovered that they could kill the zombies using glass, the Forest Weapon's favorite weapon. A being known as "the Last Hero" supposedly crossed the regions occupied by the White Walkers to beg the Children to lend them their glass-guns, which would allow them to defeat the Others. All the companions of the Last Hero, including his dog, died on the way to meet him, but fortunately he succeeded in gaining the trust of the Children.

Now, with the ability to face the White Walkers, the alliance between the First Men and the Children of the Forest drove the Others back little by little. A group of men used the glass guns to confront the Others with the Last Hero, and they became the first version of the Night Guard.

Eventually, the White Hikers' horde was forced to retreat to the northern regions from which they came after a great battle known as the "Battle for the Dawn", which ended the Long Night and weakened the others. It was then that Bran the Builder, the legendary founder of the Stark House, allegedly erected the Wall, a structure of ice and magic of the Children that crosses Westeros from side to side, and appointed the Night Watch to watch over him That the Others could not threaten Westeros again.

The arrival of the King of the Night

Unfortunately, the Guard of the Night was close to failing in its mission shortly after its creation (little, only if we take into account that eight millennia have passed since then). The Thirteenth Guard Commander fell in love with a mysterious woman with pale blue eyes and icy skin, believed to be a White Walker. After making love, the Commander's soul bound to hers, and returned to the Guards to force their men to swear allegiance to them, the new Kings of the night.

When it was discovered that the Night King was making sacrifices for the Others beyond the Wall, the Free Peoples and the Stark allied themselves to defeat this King and his forces. When the Night Watch resumed its wakeful activities after the victory, the name and history of this Commander was removed from his records and it was forbidden to speak of him again. It was not until the recent events of Game of Thrones that the Others again threatened the peace of Westeros, after having spent thousands of years.

The television series has revealed that his version of the King of the Night was a human, who was turned into the first White Walker by the Children of the Forest to nail him a magical glass dagger in the chest. Its sole purpose was to be used as a weapon against the First Men, something that was revealed in the episode of the sixth season called "The Door". This version clearly contradicts the King of the Night mentioned in the books, since the Guard of the Night would not be created until many years later.

The Long Night Beyond Westeros

In modern Westeros (at least before Jon and his team brought back a zombie to show it to Cersei Lannister) the story of Long Night has become a fairy tale, and not only in the Seven Kingdoms are myths heard About the invasion of the Others. In Essos they believe that the Long Night was the event that caused the Rhoyne, one of the most important rivers to the west of that continent, to freeze completely, indicating that this winter even affected the regions beyond the Narrow Sea. In the Rhoynar floclore there is no mention of the arrival of the White Walkers during the winter, but it is believed that an unnamed hero united all the villages to sing a song that ended the Long Night.

Even further east in Essos, the tales of the Long Night are intermingled with the legend of Azor Ahai, the legendary warrior who carried a flaming sword called "Lady of Light." In Yi Ti, they believe the Long Night was created when a goddess called the "Maiden Made of Light" turned her back on the world, releasing the Lion of Night, a demon that plagued the world with cold and darkness until the Azor Ahai (Apparently confused with the Last Hero of Westeros folklore) united humanity to defeat the forces of this demon. Thanks to Melisandre we know that the legend of Azor Ahai came to Westeros and spread throughout the territory, along with the prophecy that his return will save mankind again when the Others return.

Although thousands of years have passed since the last invasion of the Others, it is difficult to say whether Westeros is more prepared now than he was during the Long Night thousands of years ago. In fact, this time there seems to be less hope. The end of the seventh season made clear how divided the powers are in Westeros, unlike when the First Men were united and therefore managed to repel the Others. Not only that, this time the Children of the Forest are not there to help them.

We will have to wait until the eighth and final season of Game of Thrones to know how humanity defeats the White Walkers for the second time, if they do. The odds are not in your favor.