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Ok, question is - does Daenerys know about White Walkers/Others and more specifically that they are a danger to Westeros? Has she ever mentioned them or been told about them? I thought Jorah the Explorer might have had a line or two about them since his father was Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch but, in the series at least, I can’t find anything.
As far as I can recall the closest she’s come to seeing the threat from beyond The Wall is in the House of the Undying vision where she sees the ‘winter has come’ version of the throne room, but there’s not much indication that she understood the significance of it. I’ve not read all the books though, is the case different there?
I believe everyone in universe knows about White Walkers just like everybody in reality knows about zombies. Whether she believes that they are real or knows that they are a threat— good question!
Reason I ask is of the one king and two queens left in power, Jon obviously knows about them and takes the threat seriously, Cersei obviously doesn’t give a flying toss and classes the threat of the dead along with “grumkins and snarks”. Of the three Dany with her dragons is the best placed to handle the threat (fire kills wights and dragons are ‘fire made flesh’, along with the WW’s weakness to obsidian - dragonglass - and Valyrian steel which was perhaps made with dragon fire), but where does she lie between Jon’s maximum awareness and Cersei’s “…every confidence that the brave men of the Night’s Watch will protect us all”?
The impression I got was that Danaerys hasn’t been taught the same “old wives’ tales” that people in Westeros know thanks to not being raised there.
But she probably at least knows some stories about them. I don’t recall if she had someone telling her lore and such in the books.
At this time I don’t think she knows they are on the move or that they’re actually real. She is fully focused on conquering the realm. So technically on the same side of the spectrum as Cersei.
However, I’m sure that at some point she’ll find out what’s happening and then gets a nice briefing and suddenly sees it as her duty to stop them.
(wait…that wall is gone? ice monsters! The TRUE queen must act!")
All signs do hint at the dragons playing a part in the fight against the White Walkers.
Because ya know…song of ICE and FIRE.
Speaking of that, I expect Davos will probably be sent on a smuggling mission in the coming season, or at least that’s what they seemed to be hinting at back when Stannis told Jon that there are piles of obsidian over at Dragonstone.
Most people have not heard of them, even in Westeros. The few that do, are from the North, and consider them old wives’ tales like Chupacabra. There are maesters who consider the “Long Night” story to be based on some historical fact, but probably fantastically exaggerated. I think there are some parallel stories in Essos that correspond to the same time frame in prehistory, but they aren’t taken seriously either. The Freefolk and the few remaining Night’s Watch are the only people who know they aren’t just a tall tale.
In the show, I don’t think Dany has any inkling of them. In the books I think someone might have idly mentioned it around her once. In either case, it’s not really on her radar yet. She still thinks she’s going to win her throne back from a Baratheon and rule happily ever after.
The White Walkers are a Westeros phenomenon, Dany grew up in Essos and I very much doubt Viserys talked about Northern myths. She’s probably heard about them in passing, but I doubt she’s spent much time thinking about them.
If Jon ends up talking to her, I think she’d be inclined to believe him given that she’s been exposed to far more magic than Ned was or anyone in King’s Landing was when they were warned about the White Walkers.
Those who know seem to just think of it as any other threat from the North, like the Wildlings: unimportant and the Night’s Watch’s Problem. There’s a line where Cersei basically says s much with a snide “I’m sure the Night’s Watch will be more than up for the task” (paraphrase) when Tyrion mentioned something.
