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'Game of Thrones' season 8 episode 1 has shown us the Night King's first victim, and it is exactly what he wants

He was at first a human who was turned into a living dead, so it is only fair to consider the Night King is perhaps coming to seek what he thinks belongs to him.

The White Walkers are only a night away from entering Winterfell and their intention behind the massive invasion continues to remain a mystery. However, Episode 1 of 'Game of Thrones' Season 8 gave us sufficient clues to understand what the Night King truly wants - children. The children are the biggest victims of the Night King's invasion beyond the Wall and this fact was established way back in Season 3 where we saw the White Walkers being treated with newborns by Craster, in exchange to which they would not harm him and his wives. Episode 1 gave us several instances to consider the Night King's vengeance but the biggest clue was the way young Ned Umber was used by the Night King to give a message of his arrival.

When Tormund and Beric, entered the Last Hearth with the remaining Brothers of the Night's Watch, they witnessed a dead Ned Umber pinned to the wall. Ned was placed right in between a spiral-like pattern, an exact replica of the stone arrangement that we had seen underneath the Weirwood tree, where the first White Walker was created. The Children of the Forest had tied up a man against the tree and pierced a dragonstone right into his heart. This act was once more reflected in the way Ned Umber was pinned to the wall- a sword pierced right into his heart. The image of young Ned hanging at the center of the spiral almost gives away the Night King's intention to hunt down children. Earlier in Season 1, when the White Walkers were first introduced, a wildling child was also left hanging from the tree, in the exact same way.

Back in Season 4, we got a full glimpse into the Night King's process of turning a baby into a White Walker. When Craster had left his newborn son in the forest, a White Walker picked up the baby and took him to the Lands of Always Winter. After placing the baby on an altar made of ice, we see the Night King approaching the baby and touching its face. Immediately the baby's eyes turn blue, which indicates that it is now one of the White Walkers. But why is the Night King after children?

The answer is quite simple - to continue his legacy. However, there might be more personal reasons for it. The White Walker was, after all, a man who was turned into the living dead by the Children of the Forest. 

When that happened, a part of that man's consciousness perhaps survived making him seek revenge for the children's act. A Reddit user has an interesting theory about it, "When that dragon glass is plunged into a host, the children can control how much of his former self and his awareness they choose to leave in that body. In the case of the Night King, being in the middle of a violent war, the children turned the awareness down to a minimum to make him as much of an inhuman killing machine as they could...What if a shred of his former human consciousness remained in the Night King? What if the strongest will of the former owner of the body remained in this killing machine? Being at war with the Children, the First Man's strongest will would have been to kill the Children of the forest. Hence the Night King turning against its creators."

The Children of the Forest had created the Night King to help them win the war against the First Men but their creation soon turned against them, as the White Walkers gradually began to turn every living being into living dead. This was perhaps supposed to happen since the first White Walker was after all a man turned into a zombie and he has been trying to seek revenge for what was done to him. The Night King is only a night away from Winterfell, and chances are by the end of Episode 2 which airs on April 21, we will see him arrive with his army of the dead and an ice-breathing dragon. So, can it be said the Night King is coming to take Jon and Daenerys' baby?