Red crabs and spider crabs and conquerors.
Please note: this theory is no longer valid in the way I present it here. New discoveries suggest the crab metaphor itself is valid but does not represent classes of Others in terms of White Walkers. Feel free to read it or leave it – I’ll post new thoughts as soon as I have sufficient support for my recent findings.
Introduction
While investigating one of Patchface’s “prophecies”, I happened on a passage in Davos’ first chapter in ADWD, one that covertly reveals that there are two classes of Others. We also learn more about their associates. The evidence was so tantalizing that I had to put Patchface aside in favour of pursuing this new project.
George hasn’t given us much information on these feared and mysterious foes. We know a little about the Others from Old Nan’s tales, from Ser Waymar’s experience in the prologue and of course via the Night Watch’s interactions with them. I’ve always felt there must be more information hidden in the story so far.
This essay is divided into the following sections:
- Old Nan’s Tales in quotes: skip this if you are familiar with her stories.
- What we know about the Others: a summary of everything we know about the Others during the Long Night, present day Others, wights including Coldhands
- Red Crabs, Spider Crabs and Conquers: clues to the Others and their associates
- Generals, White Walkers and Giant Spiders – a breakdown of the clues
- Conclusion
Old Nan’s Tales
Feel free to skip the quotes in the hidden text if you are familiar with them
Old Nan’s Tales
“Oh, my sweet summer child,” Old Nan said quietly, “what do you know of fear?
Fear is for the winter, my little lord, when the snows fall a hundred feet
deep and the ice wind comes howling out of the north. Fear is for the long
night, when the sun hides its face for years at a time, and little children
are born and live and die all in darkness while the direwolves grow gaunt and
hungry, and the white walkers move through the woods”
AGOT, Bran II“The Others,” Old Nan agreed. “Thousands and thousands of years ago, a winter fell that was cold and hard and endless beyond all memory of man. There came a night that lasted a generation, and kings shivered and died in their castles even as the swineherds in their hovels. Women smothered their children rather than see them starve, and cried, and felt their tears freeze on their cheeks.” Her voice and her needles fell silent, and she glanced up at Bran with pale, filmy eyes and asked, “So, child. This is the sort of story you like?”
“Well,” Bran said reluctantly, “yes, only …”
Old Nan nodded. “In that darkness, the Others came for the first time,” she said as her needles went click click click. “They were cold things, dead things, that hated iron and fire and the touch of the sun, and every creature with hot blood in its veins. They swept over holdfasts and cities and kingdoms, felled heroes and armies by the score, riding their pale dead horses and leading hosts of the slain. All the swords of men could not stay their advance, and even maidens and suckling babes found no pity in them. They hunted the maids through frozen forests, and fed their dead servants on the flesh of human children.”
Her voice had dropped very low, almost to a whisper, and Bran found himself leaning forward to listen.
“Now these were the days before the Andals came, and long before the women fled across the narrow sea from the cities of the Rhoyne, and the hundred kingdoms of those times were the kingdoms of the First Men, who had taken these lands from the children of the forest. Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch.
So as cold and death filled the earth, the last hero determined to seek out the children, in the hopes that their ancient magics could win back what the armies of men had lost. He set out into the dead lands with a sword, a horse, a dog, and a dozen companions. For years he searched, until he despaired of ever finding the children of the forest in their secret cities. One by one his friends died, and his horse, and finally even his dog, and his sword froze so hard the blade snapped when he tried to use it. And the Others smelled the hot blood in him, and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—”
AGOT, Bran II
What we know about the Others
A listed recap what we know about the Others so far.
THE OTHERS DURING THE LONG NIGHT
- They appeared during a generation-long winter known as the Long Night.
- They were cold, dead things.
- They were nocturnal.
- They hated iron and fire.
- They were silent.
- They hated all creatures with hot blood in their veins, presumably both men and animals.
- They rode dead horses.
- They hunted maidens through the forests.
- They fed the flesh of human children to their dead servants.
- They stalked men with spiders as large as hounds.
- They mated with wilding women to produce half-human children.
- They resurrected the dead.
- They led the dead against men.
- The swords of men were ineffective against them.
- The swords of men became brittle and broke because of the freezing cold.
- They are susceptible to dragonsteel.
- Old Nan also refers to the Others as ‘White Walkers’.
PRESENT DAY OTHERS
- They appear when winter is on its way.
- They are nocturnal.
- They have bright blue eyes.
- They have pale blue blood
- They are pale as ice, graceful, sword-slim and milky white.
- Their bones are like milkglass, pale and shiny
- They speak a language, which sounds like the cracking of ice.
- They are silent and leave no footprints.
- Their armour ripples and shifts when they move.
- Their crystal swords have ice-blue blades, are very thin and sharp and gleam with a faint blue glow
- They resurrect and ride dead horses
- They resurrect dead humans and use them as an army.
- Temperatures drop drastically in the areas where they appear.
- They freeze and shatter steel swords.
- They kill men via freezing.
- They can be killed with dragonglass blades (obsidian) and are possibly susceptible to fire.
- Their skin smokes when touched by obsidian. They dissolve into water and mist, leaving a puddle.
- They accept sheep, dogs and male babies as an offering from Craster.
- Gilly refers to ‘the cold gods’ and the ‘white cold’.
- Gilly and Craster’s wives say that his brothers (Craster’s sons) will come for Gilly’s baby boy.
- Craster says there won’t be any attacks from the Others at his keep because he is a godly man and has no cause to fear. He tells them hat swords and fires won’t help when the white cold comes.
- LC Mormont, Osha, Jon and others refer to the Others as ‘White Walkers’.
WIGHTS
- Humans resurrected from the dead by the Others are known as wights.
- They are controlled by and are servants of the Others.
- They are nocturnal, inactive during daylight hours.
- They have bright blue eyes.
- Their hands and feet are black with congealed blood.
- The rest of the body is white as milk.
- They neither eat, breathe nor speak.
- They appear to retain memory of people and places.
- They are malevolent and cannot be vanquished in normal combat.
- Their cut off body parts remain active and capable of attack.
- To ‘kill’ them, they must be hacked to bits and their bones cracked.
- They can be killed by fire
- Their bright blue eyes turn black once killed by flame.
- They are immune to obsidian blades, which shatter on contact.
- It smells ‘cold’, of death, when they are near.
- Animals become very nervous in their presence and try to flee.
COLDHANDS – A SPECIAL WIGHT
- Coldhands is a wight who leads Bran and his party to the three-eyed-crow North of the Wall.
- He wears the garb of a Night’s Watchman.
- He speaks, is intelligent and benign.
- He is active both during the day and at night.
- He does not breathe.
- His hands are black and cold.
- In contrast to the Others and the wights, his eyes are black.
- He speaks a blessing in a tongue unknown to Bran and his companions.
- He rides a huge elk.
- Ravens accompany him.
- He cannot pass through the Black Gate at the Nightfort, due to the Wall’s magic.
- He kills the traitors responsible for the mutiny at Craster’s Keep.
- He fights the wights lying in wait in front of Bloodraven’s cave.
- He cannot enter the cave.
- He was killed long ago.
A comparison of the above list reveals some differences between Old Nan’s account of the Others during the Long Night and those we’ve been introduced to in the story. We have not seen present day Others hunting maidens with the help of giant spiders nor do we have evidence that they feed their wights the flesh of human children. Sam finds past records of a material called dragonsteel, an effective weapon against the Others. Jon thinks this might be Valyrian steel but there has been no opportunity to test this.
These lists sum up what we know about the Others and their associates so far.
Red crabs and spider crabs and conquerors.
The Others and their associates
The term ‘Others’ is used by the people of the Seven Kingdoms, often as a curse.
Most wildlings and some members of the Night’s Watch also refer to ‘White Walkers‘: Osha and the men she came south of the wall with, Lord Commander Mormont, Maester Aemon, Jon, Coldhands and even Sam, who remembers hearing tales of them as a boy talk about White Walkers. It is not clear if the terms are interchangeable, but perhaps they are indicative of two classes of Others. Whatever the case may be regarding terminology, GRRM does provide us with subtle evidence for the existence of a ‘leader class’, a subordinate ‘ranger class’, the wights and giant spiders.
Consider this description of Sister’s Stew from Davos’ first chapter in a ADWD:
There’s three kinds of crabs in there. Red crabs and spider crabs and conquerors. I won’t eat spider crab, except in sister’s stew. Makes me feel half a cannibal.” His lordship gestured at the banner hanging above the cold black hearth. A spider crab was embroidered there, white on a grey-green field
ADWD, Davos I
This is Lord Godric Borrell of Sisterton on Sweetsister describing sister’s stew, which is served up for dinner. The ingredients of Sister’s Stew seem trivial; a mere sea-food dish after all. Strangely, he feels like half a cannibal when he eats spider-crabs in particular, apparently because crab is his sigil.
Sister’s Stew and its ingredients will give you indigestion if you pay close attention to the conversation before and after this passage however!
Borrell tells Davos that he only has daughters:
I used to curse the gods who gave me only daughters until I heard Triston bemoaning the cost of destriers.
The food that is served up is described in more detail and we also find out that Borrell’s daughter’s daughter made the stew.
“We have a guest to feed. Bring beer and bread and sister’s stew.”
The beer was brown, the bread black, the stew a creamy white. She served it in a trencher hollowed out of a stale loaf. It was thick with leeks, carrots, barley, and turnips white and yellow, along with clams and chunks of cod and crabmeat, swimming in a stock of heavy cream and butter. It was the sort of stew that warmed a man right down to his bones, just the thing for a wet, cold night. Davos spooned it up gratefully.
“You have tasted sister’s stew before?” “I have, my lord.” The same stew was served all over the Three Sisters, in every inn and tavern.
“This is better than what you’ve had before. Gella makes it. My daughter’s daughter. Are you married, onion knight?” “I am, my lord.” “A pity. Gella’s not. Homely women make the best wives.”
ADWD, Davos I
Borrell has no sons, only daughters. He refers to the woman who made the stew as ‘my daughter’s daughter’. A couple of paragraphs down, he uses he uses this term in reference to another granddaughter and emphasises that this is not the one who made the stew. In fact, this other daughter’s daughter has ‘the mark’ – her hands are webbed, as are Lord Borrells:
The woman brought them a fresh loaf of bread, still hot from the oven. When Davos saw her hand, he stared. Lord Godric did not fail to make note of it. “Aye, she has the mark. Like all Borrells, for five thousand years. My daughter’s daughter. Not the one who makes the stew.” He tore the bread apart and offered half to Davos. “Eat. It’s good.”
Doesn’t all this remind you very strongly of Craster and his wives and daughters? Why does Borrell refer to his granddaughters as his ‘daughter’s daughters’? After mentioning his ‘daughter’s daughter’ he tells Davos that homely women make good wives. Like Craster’s wives, half of whom are ‘as old and ugly as Craster’, Borrell’s ‘homely’ daughter is not very attractive. I think the use of ‘daughter’s daughter’ and the mention of wives serve as clues to remind us of Craster and his daughter wives. Sisterton is also depicted as a vile town, small and mean. Ser Borrells hall is gloomy and poorly lit, and a storm is raging outside when Davos arrives. Sounds very much like the conditions at Craster’s Keep.
The most remarkable part of the conversation between Lord Borrell and Davos is the description of the food.
The black bread served with the creamy white stew invoke wights while the different species of crab take on new meaning. Borrell feels ‘like half a cannibal’ when he eats spider crabs and from the sigil, we know they are white. He states that he only eats these particular crabs if they are served in sister’s stew, implying that he does not trust other dishes containing the crab. In fact he implies that, barring sister’s stew, eating spider crabs make him feel like half a cannibal. After all GRRM’s allusions to Craster and his daughter wives, one cannot help but feel that the white spider crabs are a metaphor for Craster’s white Other sons.
There’s three kinds of crabs in there. Red crabs and spider crabs and conquerors. I won’t eat spider crab, except in sister’s stew. Makes me feel half a cannibal.” His lordship gestured at the banner hanging above the cold black hearth. A spider crab was embroidered there, white on a grey-green field
ADWD, Davos I
We can explore this idea further by considering a tale Nimble Dick tells Brienne.
Nimble Dick tells her a story about ‘squishers’. These strange beings are said to have webbed feet and hands. They steal children, keep the girls to breed with and eat the boys. Borrell bears webbed hands and so do his daughters. If squishers even exist only in legend, he would know about them. If spider crabs represent the boys that are eaten, we can understand why Borrell feels like a cannibal. Additionally, he will eat spider crabs only if they are in sister’s stew. We can therefore infer that sister’s stew alone can be trusted not to contain the flesh of stolen boys.
“Best we keep a watch tonight, m’lady,” Crabb told her, as she was struggling to get a driftwood fire lit. “A place like this, there might be squishers.”
“Squishers?” Brienne gave him a suspicious look.
“Monsters,” Nimble Dick said, with relish. “They look like men till you get close, but their heads is too big, and they got scales where a proper man’s got hair. Fish-belly white they are, with webs between their fingers. They’re always damp and fishy-smelling, but behind these blubbery lips they got rows of green teeth sharp as needles. Some say the First Men killed them all, but don’t you believe it. They come by night and steal bad little children, padding along on them webbed feet with a little squish-squish sound. The girls they keep to breed with, but the boys they eat, tearing at them with those sharp green teeth.” He grinned at Podrick. “They’d eat you, boy. They’d eat you raw.”
AFFC, Brienne IV
The clues given are not absolute one on one parallels between Craster and Borrell but they serve to identify the white spiders as boys and since Borrell only has daughters, we can assume that white spiders represent sons.
I’m not going to speculate on whether or not Lord Borrell sacrifices his sons to the Others but the above passages clearly serve to establish a connection between white spider crabs and Craster’s sacrificed sons. The conquerors (conqueror crabs) are easily identified. They characterize the big bosses, the leaders of the Others, perhaps the very ones Old Nan talks about. The red crabs represent spiders (or perhaps wights).
We can assume the following hierarchy:
Conquerors: Generals of the Others (have appeared only in Old Nan’s tales of the Long Night).
Spider Crabs: Regular Others, perhaps the mentioned ‘White Walkers’, most likely Craster’s sons
Black bread and creamy white stew: Wights.
Red Crabs: White Spiders ridden by the Conquerors.
Generals, White Walkers and Giant Spiders
The Generals – the ‘Conquerors’
It makes sense for the Others to have leaders entrusted with the coordination of their war effort against humanity. I suspect these are the Others Bran hears about from Old Nan. If so, we must assume they are keeping a low profile until some event triggers their appearance on the stage. The prospect of these entities riding giant spiders that also serve as ‘bloodhounds’ is rather terrifying. One only has to observe a normal spider to imagine what the Others might be capable of with these creatures in their service. Climbing up sheer, steep surfaces for instance. Hanging from the ceiling, stalking, silent and deadly, pouncing out of the gloom. Does this imply that the giant spiders weave webs as well? Oh my, the implications!
White Walkers (Craster’s Sons) – The Spider Crabs
I’m quite certain that the sons turned Other originally born to Craster serve as a counterpart to the Night’s Watch. These are the Others that we have seen in the story so far. The name ‘White Walker’ is actually a fitting term in this regard. I think of them as ‘White Watchmen’, a play on words. Night’s Watchmen patrol (they walk) the Wall and go on rangings into the Haunted Forest, essentially keeping watch, clearing the expanse of land before the Wall for better visibility and hunting down wildlings raiders. I think GRRM gives us a hint here as well. Gilly specifically says that her baby’s brothers will come for him. Once a man speaks his vows, the Night’s Watch becomes his family and all watchmen are his brothers. Notice that the white brothers are the opposite of the black brothers.
The Others’ ‘White Watch’
I believe the White Walkers are tasked with ‘ranging’ and scouting. Their duties include recruiting their army by killing and raising humans north of the wall. While they also kill small groups of wildlings and stragglers on the outskirts of Mance’s train, their prime initial goal was to eliminate as many Black Brothers as possible. The attack on the Night’s Watch at the Fist of the First Men was a concerted and successful effort to achieve this. The appearance of such a large crew of Night’s Watchmen must have felt like Christmas to them. Further evidence in this regard are the two dead brothers (Othor and Jafer Flowers) taken back to Castle Black after their discovery close to the Wall. Sam rightly pointed out that they must have been dead for some time and that they were probably dragged to that designated spot. Those bodies were placed there so that they would be found and taken back to Castle Black. We all know what happened in the night. The wights were definitely on a mission to kill Lord Commander Mormont and other leading members of the Night’s Watch.
Training grounds: Ser Waymar’s fateful encounter
Ser Waymar’s fateful encounter provides further evidence of the ranging and training activities of the WW. This is the only time a group of Others are seen to attack. The scene opens the first book, at a time when all of Westeros is oblivious to their existence. They obviously have a leader who comes forward to face Waymar, while the other five wait silently in the shadows. Of note here is that those waiting are referred to as ‘watchers’, perhaps a clue that this group is a counterpart of the NW in terms of their duties. The WW who fights Ser Waymar is comparable to a First Ranger of the NW. He does not attack outright but takes time to observe Waymar’s sword as if trying to determine something, probably what the sword is made of. Presumably, he deals the opening blow after he is satisfied by what he sees. His companions wait in the shadows, not interfering until Waymar is badly injured, his sword shattered. Only then do all come forward to butcher him. The entire scene feels like a lesson; a leader takes up the foe, trainees watch and wait on the side lines until an unseen command allows them to move into action.
The Other halted. Will saw its eyes; blue, deeper and bluer than any human eyes, a blue that burned like ice. They fixed on the longsword trembling on high, watched the moonlight running cold along the metal.
<snip>The watchers moved forward together, as if some signal had been given. Swords rose and fell, all in a deathly silence. It was cold butchery. The pale blades sliced through ringmail as if it were silk. Will closed his eyes. Far beneath him, he heard their voices and laughter sharp as icicles.
AGOT, Prologue
The Wights – Black Bread and Creamy White Stew
My first assumption was that the red crabs in the Sister’s Stew represent wights. But where does the red colour fit in? It does not. Careful examination of the text reveals that the wights are dealt with in this sentence:
The beer was brown, the bread black, the stew a creamy white
Black bread and creamy white stew describe the black hands and white bodies of wights respectively. The brown beer (a liquid) is reminiscent of the colour of dried blood. Dead Othor is described in this passage:
His flesh was blanched white as milk, everywhere but his hands. His hands were black like Jafer’s. Blossoms of hard cracked blood decorated the mortal wounds that covered him like a rash, breast and groin and throat.
Additionally, the text makes mention of Lord Borrell tearing the bread loaf apart and offering half to Davos, akin to Ghost tearing off dead Othor’s black hand. The bread is torn in two halves, an allusion to two black hands. GRRM also gives the bread an active role – the bread mops up stew and swipes the trencher with the bread.
He tore the bread apart and offered half to Davos.
He mopped at his stew with a chunk of bread
The lord tore off another chunk of bread to swipe out his trencher.
I think these quotes firmly establish the identity of the wights in this allegory.
If the red crabs do not indicate wights, what do they represent then? From the available evidence, I believe GRRM is telling us that they are the spiders ridden by the Other generals, the leaders.
White Spiders – Red Crabs
When Davos meets Borrel, he notices the lord’s webbed hands. Davos also notices this trait on Borrell’s ‘daughter’s daughter’.
Borrell tells us that members of his family have exhibited ‘the mark’, webbed hands and feet, for five thousand years.
His nose was lumpy and red with broken veins, his lips thick, and he had a sort of webbing between the three middle fingers of his right hand. Davos had heard that some of the lords of the Three Sisters had webbed hands and feet, but he had always put that down as just another sailor’s story.
ADWD, Davos I
I don’t have to tell you that spiders weave webs. Old Nan talks about the Others riding white spiders as big as hounds during the long night. The red crabs must be the clue for the white spiders mentioned by Old Nan.
All the swords of men could not stay their advance, and even maidens and suckling babes found no pity in them. They hunted the maids through frozen forests, and fed their dead servants on the flesh of human children.”
“And the Others smelled the hot blood in him, and came silent on his trail, stalking him with packs of pale white spiders big as hounds—”
AGOT, Bran II
Perhaps you are not convinced yet. If not, consider the parallels between Ramsey Bolton and the Others who stalk with white spiders as big as hounds.
I think we all agree that Ramsey Bolten is one of the truly sinister characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. He upholds the ancient Bolton tradition of flaying and does not hesitate to inflict dreadful torture upon his victims. One of his more monstrous pursuits is hunting – hunting young women, to be precise. The unfortunate girl singled out for his sport is granted a head start, after which Ramsey and his hounds, his bitches, set off in pursuit. The hounds inevitably catch up with most victims. Ramsey rapes the girls before killing them. He names bitches after a girls who give him ‘good sport’. Compare these quotes with excerpts about the Others hunting maidens from Old Nan’s tales above.
Ben Bones, who liked the dogs better than their master, had told Reek they were all named after peasant girls Ramsay had hunted, raped, and killed back when he’d still been a bastard, running with the first Reek. “The ones who give him good sport, anywise. The ones who weep and beg and won’t run don’t get to come back as bitches.”
ADWD, Reek III“Ramsay will use your women as his prey,” he told the singer. “He’ll hunt them down, rape them, and feed their corpses to his dogs. If they lead him a good chase, he may name his next litter of bitches after them”
ADWD, TheonRed Jeyne loped over to lick at his hand, and Helicent slipped under the table and curled up by his feet, gnawing at a bone. They were good dogs. It was easy to forget that every one was named for a girl that Ramsay had hunted and killed.
ADWD, The Turncloak
Not only do we have Ramsey stalking and killing young women with his dogs, we are also told that he keeps bitches. Theon, who has to sleep with the dogs and fight with them over food, refers to Ramsey’s bitches as ‘the girls’. There is no mention of male dogs in the pack. We are reminded of Craster and his wives yet again and the victimised girls are ‘reincarnated’ in the form of Ramsey’s bitches. Another parallel to Craster’s sons who are ‘reincarnated’ as Others. Gilly tells us so when she says her baby son’s brothers will come for him.
I think this is too great a parallel to be discounted but here is more:
One of the dogs is named Red Jeyne. The name invokes both Red Crabs (my designated spiders) and poor Jeyne Poole, our false Arya, who is currently married to Ramsey. Red Jeyne is mentioned quite a number of times in Theon’s chapters. In addition there is also foreshadowing pertaining to Jeyne’s possible fate:
She was not pretty now. He could see a spiderweb of faint thin lines across her back where someone had whipped her.
ADWD, The Prince of Winterfell
Another of Ramsey’s bitches, Grey Jeyne, is quite a wily creature. I think she represents Arya and foreshadows Arya’s involvement in the fight against the Others:
The bone was beyond him, though, so he tossed it to the dogs and watched Grey Jeyne make off with it whilst Sara and Willow snapped at her heels.
ADWD, A Ghost in WinterfellBy the time Ben Bones pulled them off, Grey Jeyne had eaten so much of the dead man’s face that half the day was gone before they knew for certain who he’d been …
ADWD, A Ghost in Winterfell
Red Crabs in Real Life
A quick look up suggests that GRRM possibly models his mythical spiders on the Christmas Island Red Crabs. Follow the link for more information on them. I’ll only provide a summary of what might be of interest here.
Red crabs are rather large. They are diurnal but avoid sunlight. Their natural habitat is dense forest but they migrate annually to the sea to mate and lay eggs. The timing of their migration is linked to the phases of the moon. They are omnivorous scavengers. They eat anything including fruit, vegetables, dead animals and other red crabs (cannibals). There are an estimated 43.7 million red crabs on Christmas Island (EEEEK!)
Conclusion
Discovering all this provides plenty of fodder for more thought and theories. I’m certain there is more supporting evidence in the source text but this already serves to illuminate some of what we can expect in the next book. My mind is doing overtime in all kinds of directions. On a personal note: I normally regard the theories which I read and those that I myself come up with as inconclusive but this is one that I feel is very close to fact.
GRRM has not given us outright facts on the Others, their hierarchy or their helpers. He’s chosen to hide much from us but as we all know, “seek and you shall find.”
I’ll leave you with one last quote from an Arya chapter in ADWD.
Arya Forshadowing
The old man’s hands were the worst thing about him, Cat decided the next day, as she watched him from behind her barrow. His fingers were long and bony, always moving, scratching at his beard, tugging at an ear, drumming on a table, twitching, twitching, twitching. He has hands like two white spiders. The more she watched his hands, the more she came to hate them.
ADWD, The Ugly Girl
A lovely creepy metaphorical description of spiders. The term ‘white spider’ appears only twice in all five books.
I’d love to read your comments on this essay. Feel free to do so below.
Credits
Images:
Ramsey Bolton and his bitches by Olivietta
White Walker from the Game of Thrones Wiki