Overview
The Night King is a fictional character appearing in the HBO high fantasy television series Game of Thrones, based on George R. R. Martin's novel series A Song of Ice and Fire. He is depicted as the leader and the first of the White Walkers, having existed since the age of the First Men, and is the most dangerous and powerful of his race. The Night King is an original creation of the television adaptation, thus far having no counterpart in the novels upon which the show is based.
The Night King was portrayed by British-American actor Richard Brake in seasons 4 and 5 and then by Slovak actor and stuntman Vladimir Furdik in seasons 6 to 8.
Description
In Game of Thrones, the Night King is physically distinguished from the other White Walkers by his "crown" of pointy, frosty horns.
In the novels
The "Night King", as presented in the show, has not appeared in A Song of Ice and Fire. In the novels, the title "Night's King" is given to the long-ago legendary 13th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, who supposedly married a female White Walker and led the Night's Watch to commit atrocities. Regarding whether the character in the television series is the same as the one in the novels, Martin said, "As for the Night's King (the form I prefer), in the books he is a legendary figure, akin to Lann the Clever and Brandon the Builder, and no more likely to have survived to the present day than they have."
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