The larger ones were Wights of Giants, Snowbears, Mammoths, Boars, and Shadowcats.
The smaller ones were human Wights. Their blue eyes represented the deathly stillness brought from Beyond the Wall.
The White Walkers' first charge temporarily subsided as the Ice Dragons and the White Walker hornblower shattered.
Yet alarming gaps and cracks remained in the Wall. These scars would become the next focal points of the struggle between the Wight Horde and humanity.
The self-destruction of an Ice Dragon hundreds long, that world-destroying blue-white breath, was shocking and paradigm-shattering to anyone who had experienced it.
Like Magic Dragons, Ice Dragon White Walkers were revolutionary weapons of war, representing a tide of magic and elements.
King Tower truly had a king in it now, a first in living memory. The commander's tower had already been set alight and burned down because of the earlier resurrection of the Wights.
Flags now flew atop Long Spear Tower, Hardin Tower, Grey Castle, Shieldhall, and other buildings abandoned for years.
The largest, with its golden field, represented the Royal House. There were also banners bearing runic pebbles, Ravenfall, Redfort, the Nightingale Banner, black and white swans, and others.
Gendry set foot on the grounds of Castle Black, which were already covered in tents. More people sheltered in the Wormways or underground to escape the wind and snow.
The soldiers had only just recovered their senses after the fierce fighting and were still shaken.
Morale had to be raised, not allowed to drain away. Fighting Wights was a repetitive kind of war.
Gendry understood that this prolonged positional warfare would inflict tremendous psychological wounds on the soldiers.
Perhaps this was inevitable, a sacrifice for victory, a choice made without an alternative.
Gendry entered Shieldhall. Many shields hung here once more, bearing the family sigils of the