Quote Originally Posted by The Captain View Post
One interesting theory I saw somewhere that could shift the axis is the whole notion of a pact of an uneasy peace between the First Men, the Children of the Forest and The Others, to essentially mind each other's own business. The Wall is there to keep the men from conquering the far north since that is where non humans dwell and in the past, men have been known to slaughter and not be very interested in working together. It is not there just to protect from the Others coming down but also from humans going too far up. The Wildlings survive up there because they make sacrifices to the Others, paying them respect and fear.
To be honest, I'm not so keen on the idea of imbuing the White Walkers with so much motivation.

I think they work best as an essentially unknowable, implacable force. To me, they've always felt like a metaphor for the natural world, without reason and without remorse, marching on uncaring of the political struggles that dominate the human world.

More specifically, I always thought of the White Walkers as a metaphor for the Black Death, an unstoppable force beyond human understanding which swept over Medieval Europe, originating in a distant land. Even the names are somewhat similar.

Another idea which a friend suggested to me a while ago was that the White Walkers are a metaphor for climate change. This seems increasingly credible, given the strong connection we saw between the White Walkers and the weather in their attack on the Wildling camp. From this perspective, Game of Throne can viewed as a critique of our modern response to climate change: just as most of the Seven Kingdoms are too busy worrying about the throne to pay attention to the White Walkers, most of us are too busy with our own concerns to worry about climate change.

So basically, I'm all in favour of us NOT finding out more about the White Walkers. What's wrong with a bit of mystery?