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Game of Thrones and the massive world of A Song of Ice and Fire can be confusing, so we're here to help break down some of the storylines with some insight and context from a book reader. Here's the backstory on the "Oathbreaker" episode as it relates to the White Walkers and that baby, Tommen's cat, Bran beyond the wall, and where Littlefinger is headed. After you check out our recap, we'll guide you through what you may have missed. No spoilers, we promise.
The White Walkers' baby-changing powers
The books have given little information on the White Walkers and their powers, so book readers were just as surprised as show watchers when Craster's last baby boy was turned into a White Walker. We've known since the first scene of the entire show that the White Walkers can reanimate dead people into what they call "wights." But this is the first instance of them having the ability to transform a living human into what appears to be a full-on White Walker.
Though unexplored in the books, there is one small hint about this power to transform humans into the Others. When the Night's Watch mutinies at Craster's Keep, Gilly and one of Craster's wives/daughters implore Sam to take Gilly's baby boy away back to The Wall and to safety (via Reddit):
"If you don't take him, they will."
"They?" said Sam, and the raven cocked its black head and echoed, "They. They. They."
"The boy's brothers," said the old woman on the left. "Craster's sons. The white cold's rising out there, crow. I can feel it in my bones. These poor old bones don't lie. They'll be here soon, the sons."
The baby's brothers are coming, and so is the cold, she warns, suggesting that those brothers are White Walkers. We previously saw White Walkers take away another of Craster's sons in season two, an early hint that the show would emphasize this aspect more than the books do. An army of blue-skinned, blue-eyed Walkers is coming — and they just all might be Craster's children.