See 178, this isn’t the final battle to save Humanity... (I mean the author could make it that way) but it doesn’t make sense if it is, most of humanity would never believe the things even existed, if they are defeated in their first real confrontation with Humans in 1000 years, in the far north...
I would expect the final battle to be later, and closer to the heart of the continent, not some northern outpost, most of Humanity will never know or see.
If their numbers are what we would expect after thousands of years....Wouldn’t such a mass migration of white walkers be immediately spotted? I can’t imagine they ever really get far from the North unless they simply trample all of humanity.
“this isn’t the final battle to save Humanity... I would expect the final battle to be later, and closer to the heart of the continent”
Some speculate the God’s Eye, as the center of the weirwood network. It is in Howland Reed’s neck of the woods.
If Game of Thrones is based on the Norse myth of Ragnarok (there are very strong paralels), then most of humanity is killed off, down to almost just and Adam and Eve like set of survivors - Lif and Lifthrasir. But the story might just be about the ruling houses (the Gods), rather than all humanity, and Lif and Lifthrasir (literally Life and the Lover of Life) might be more figurative representations of humanity generally.
Most of the characters in GoT would represent the Gods in Ragnarok, if the theory is true. Although most die, many live - most of the Goddesses survive.
Ragnarok (Fate of the Gods, Twilight of the Gods) occurs within a cyclic pattern of periodic destruction and rebirth. You have the arrival of a long winter (Fimbulwinter) just before Ragnarok, you have the world tree (Yggdrasil) which magically connects the nine worlds (like a weirwood network), you have shapeshifters like Loki (wargs), you have great wolves Fenir and Garmir (Starks) and a mighty serpent Jormungandr (Dragons/Targaryeans) that sails in from the East.
There is an army from the land of the Giants (Wildlings) that sails from there to join forces. There is an army of dead warriors (from Valhalla), unleashed for the battle. There is even a dwarf (Fafnir) who kills his super rich father.
Long before the battle, the God Tyr (Jamie Lannister) a great champion of single combat “binds” (paralyzes?) a great wolf (Stark) Fenir, but loses his right sword hand. When Ragnarok is about occur Fenir breaks free.
A famous horn, Gjallarhorn (maybe the one Samwell Tarley, from Hornhill, has from the Fist of the First men - the Horn of Winter) is sounded by the watcher Heimdallr (who is associated with the wise beings, the Mimir (Maesters)), to announce the start of the battle. It awakens the Gods to join the battle.