re: Game of Thrones Re-Read/Re-Watch Project (Multiple Book Spoilers)

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Prologue: One of the questions I always have after reading this (fricking awesome opening BTW) is do the wights and Others bring the Winter or does the Winter bring the Others and the wights?

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I would compare the Others with a blizzard. The Winter is already there but the Others are a harsher manifestation.

My big question about the Others pertains to their armor and weapons. They are described in detail during the prologue as

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seem[ing] to change color as it moved; here it was white as new-fallen snow, there black as shadow, everywhere dappled with the grey-green of the trees.[Page 8-9]

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And further on Page 9 they describe the Others weapon as

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a longsword like none Will had ever seen. No human metal had gone into the forging of that blade. It was alive with moonlight, translucent, a shard of crystal so thin that it seemed to almost vanish when seen edge-on....

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So my question is where do they get outfitted? We know that they don't magically receive them when they are transformed because Ser Waymar Royce is described as still wearing his tattered cloak and moleskin gloves when he turns. Plus he strangles Will instead of using his sword to kill him. So, is there an Other stronghold an "8 or possibly 9 day" ride from the Wall?