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Night King
The Night King is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of 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.
In Game of Thrones, the Night King is physically distinguished from the other White Walkers by his "crown" of pointy, frosty horns.
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 (generations after the Long Night), 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."
Makeup artist Barrie Gower said the Night King used mostly practical prosthetic, but also incorporates some visual effects (VFX) to create a more icy look and feel. Gower said about the character's eyes: "The effects department alters the eyes in post-production. They give them that blue-glowy hue to them, which we can't really achieve with contact lenses." With regard to the overall prosthetic, "they've added this sort of icy layer over the top of him to create this—it's something incredibly difficult to achieve practically, prosthetics are cast in a translucent rubber, which can only give you so much of that icy quality, so visual effects help augment it a little bit further to give it more dimension." In the fourth and fifth season, the Night King was portrayed by Richard Brake, with a head mold of Brake being created in order to accurately mold the prosthetic to his face. In the sixth season he was portrayed by Vladimir Furdik after Brake was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts stemming from his participation in the TV series The Bastard Executioner. The White Walker army was first shot in front of a green screen in Magheramorne quarry, and according to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter "A scan was taken from a drone and used as the basis for a CG model of the location, which was augmented with VFX and joined with volcanic hills that were photographed in Iceland." Crowd replication was used to create the 1,000-man army, with special effects supervisor Joe Bauer saying "It's scans of those actors in the makeup and costumes, with variations we used to make a digital army that extends up onto the hills." Bauer also noted that VFX were used to create the weather conditions in the scene, noting "It's wind, mist, fog and heavy atmosphere that you'd get in a marine layer. The dramatic value is to say something's wrong; it's a mystery what they are facing. The temperature drops, and our characters can see their breath. The weather obscures their vision." Spain-based El Ranchito, one of several special effects companies used by Game of Thrones, was responsible for the White Walker army shots.
The Night King's first appearance is through a vision Bran Stark has with a Weirwood Heart tree. He experiences a flood of images from the past, present, and future, many of which he was not physically present for. He does not comprehend what all of these images are but, in retrospect, one of them is an image of the Night King picking up the last of Craster's sons off an ice altar.
After Rast leaves Craster's final son in the Haunted Forest, a White Walker retrieves the child. The Walker travels to the White Walkers' fortress in the Lands of Always Winter and lays the child on an altar made of ice. The Night King approaches and places his finger on the boy, transforming him into a White Walker.
The Night King appears again when Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane are coordinating the evacuation of Hardhome. While loading the ships with wildlings, Hardhome is attacked by an army of wights. While assisting in the defense of Hardhome, Jon and Tormund see the Night King observing the battle along with his generals. The Night King also observes Jon destroying a White Walker with his Valyrian steel sword Longclaw, appearing intrigued at the sign of resistance. Jon and his allies are forced to flee Hardhome after the walls fall to the army of the dead; as they sail to safety, they witness the Night King reviving the dead as wights.
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Night King
The Night King is a fictional character and the overarching antagonist of 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.
In Game of Thrones, the Night King is physically distinguished from the other White Walkers by his "crown" of pointy, frosty horns.
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 (generations after the Long Night), 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."
Makeup artist Barrie Gower said the Night King used mostly practical prosthetic, but also incorporates some visual effects (VFX) to create a more icy look and feel. Gower said about the character's eyes: "The effects department alters the eyes in post-production. They give them that blue-glowy hue to them, which we can't really achieve with contact lenses." With regard to the overall prosthetic, "they've added this sort of icy layer over the top of him to create this—it's something incredibly difficult to achieve practically, prosthetics are cast in a translucent rubber, which can only give you so much of that icy quality, so visual effects help augment it a little bit further to give it more dimension." In the fourth and fifth season, the Night King was portrayed by Richard Brake, with a head mold of Brake being created in order to accurately mold the prosthetic to his face. In the sixth season he was portrayed by Vladimir Furdik after Brake was forced to drop out due to scheduling conflicts stemming from his participation in the TV series The Bastard Executioner. The White Walker army was first shot in front of a green screen in Magheramorne quarry, and according to a piece in The Hollywood Reporter "A scan was taken from a drone and used as the basis for a CG model of the location, which was augmented with VFX and joined with volcanic hills that were photographed in Iceland." Crowd replication was used to create the 1,000-man army, with special effects supervisor Joe Bauer saying "It's scans of those actors in the makeup and costumes, with variations we used to make a digital army that extends up onto the hills." Bauer also noted that VFX were used to create the weather conditions in the scene, noting "It's wind, mist, fog and heavy atmosphere that you'd get in a marine layer. The dramatic value is to say something's wrong; it's a mystery what they are facing. The temperature drops, and our characters can see their breath. The weather obscures their vision." Spain-based El Ranchito, one of several special effects companies used by Game of Thrones, was responsible for the White Walker army shots.
The Night King's first appearance is through a vision Bran Stark has with a Weirwood Heart tree. He experiences a flood of images from the past, present, and future, many of which he was not physically present for. He does not comprehend what all of these images are but, in retrospect, one of them is an image of the Night King picking up the last of Craster's sons off an ice altar.
After Rast leaves Craster's final son in the Haunted Forest, a White Walker retrieves the child. The Walker travels to the White Walkers' fortress in the Lands of Always Winter and lays the child on an altar made of ice. The Night King approaches and places his finger on the boy, transforming him into a White Walker.
The Night King appears again when Jon Snow and Tormund Giantsbane are coordinating the evacuation of Hardhome. While loading the ships with wildlings, Hardhome is attacked by an army of wights. While assisting in the defense of Hardhome, Jon and Tormund see the Night King observing the battle along with his generals. The Night King also observes Jon destroying a White Walker with his Valyrian steel sword Longclaw, appearing intrigued at the sign of resistance. Jon and his allies are forced to flee Hardhome after the walls fall to the army of the dead; as they sail to safety, they witness the Night King reviving the dead as wights.