Why did the Children of the Forest create the Night King?
Game of Thrones
Updated Aug 30, 2026
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Contains spoilers: Major spoilers through Game of Thrones Season 8.
Direct answer
In HBO’s Game of Thrones, the Children of the Forest created the Night King as a weapon against the First Men. The First Men were destroying the Children’s sacred weirwood trees, so the Children used dragonglass magic to transform a captive human into the first White Walker in a desperate act of self-defense.
## What the show confirms
In Season 6, Episode 5, “The Door,” Bran sees the Children bind a human man to a weirwood tree and drive dragonglass into his chest, giving him blue eyes. Leaf explains that the Children were at war with the First Men, who were cutting down their sacred trees, and that the Children needed to defend themselves. This man becomes the Night King.
## Why it went wrong
The Children intended the White Walkers to be weapons, not independent rulers or a new evil power. The plan ultimately backfired: the White Walkers became a threat to both humans and the Children. The series does not explain exactly when or why the Night King turned against his creators.
## What remains unexplained
The show never reveals why that particular captive was chosen, how the Night King became uniquely powerful, or the full process by which the other White Walkers were created. Later, Bran says the Night King wants to erase the world and kill the Three-Eyed Raven—the keeper of humanity’s memory—but that is his later objective, not the Children’s original reason for making him.
## Book-canon distinction
This origin is specific to the HBO series. In George R. R. Martin’s published A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Night’s King is a separate legendary figure: an ancient Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. The books have not confirmed that the Children created him, nor have they established a television-style Night King.
In Season 6, Episode 5, “The Door,” Bran sees the Children bind a human man to a weirwood tree and drive dragonglass into his chest, giving him blue eyes. Leaf explains that the Children were at war with the First Men, who were cutting down their sacred trees, and that the Children needed to defend themselves. This man becomes the Night King.
## Why it went wrong
The Children intended the White Walkers to be weapons, not independent rulers or a new evil power. The plan ultimately backfired: the White Walkers became a threat to both humans and the Children. The series does not explain exactly when or why the Night King turned against his creators.
## What remains unexplained
The show never reveals why that particular captive was chosen, how the Night King became uniquely powerful, or the full process by which the other White Walkers were created. Later, Bran says the Night King wants to erase the world and kill the Three-Eyed Raven—the keeper of humanity’s memory—but that is his later objective, not the Children’s original reason for making him.
## Book-canon distinction
This origin is specific to the HBO series. In George R. R. Martin’s published A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the Night’s King is a separate legendary figure: an ancient Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch. The books have not confirmed that the Children created him, nor have they established a television-style Night King.