Wall

The Wall is a massive barrier of mostly ice stretching across the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, separating it from the wild lands beyond. The Wall is one hundred leagues long (three hundred miles) and reaches over seven hundred feet at his highest point, although some foundation blocks in hilly regions, such as near Greyguard, send it nine hundred feet in the air.

One of Lomas Longstrider's nine Wonders Made by Man, the Wall is defended and held by the Sworn Brothers of the Night's Watch, who patrol and guard nineteen castles from the Frostfangs mountain range in the west to the Bay of Seals in the east. Only the Shadow Tower, Castle Black, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea are garrisoned at the start of *A Song of Ice and Fire*. Those who join the Watch in order to avoid another punishment can be referred to as sent to the Wall.

## Layout

### Appearance

The Wall stretches for three hundred miles and is approximately seven hundred feet tall. It is made of solid ice, stone, and earth, and can be seen for miles round. It appears grey or blue depending on the weather and time of day. The top is wide enough for a dozen mounted knights to ride abreast and it is thicker at the base. The top is wider in man places than the kingsroad, and crushed stone is spread on walkways to aid with footing. According to myth, there are old spells woven into the Wall, to strengthen it and keep creatures of a magical nature such as the Others from passing it.

The Wall is straight like a sword from Castle Black to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, but runs like a snake between Castle Black and the Shadow Tower. Led by Othell Yarwyck, the First Builder, the builders of the Watch monitor and repair the Wall.

Windblown dirt covers the Wall like film, and it often appears pale grey or dull white. The Wall shines blue and crystalline in sunlight, glimmers palely in moonlight, and glows pink and purple at dawn. The Wall sparkles from melting ice on sunny days, with rivulets of water being compared to weeping.

Tunnels have been cut through the Wall at each castle of the Night's Watch. They are sealed with ice and stone wherever castles have been abandoned or in times of danger. Cells chiseled from the ice at the foot of the Wall are used as storerooms or prisons.

While Benjen Stark, the First Ranger, believes the Wall is the largest structure built by man, others say the Hightower in Oldtown is even taller, and that the Wall can allegedly be seen from the tower's top.

### Castles

The Night's Watch raised nineteen castles to guard the hundred leagues of the Wall, although they never manned more than seventeen at one time. Over the last three hundred years, as the manpower of the Watch has dropped, most of these castles have been abandoned; Old Nan refers to them as "ghost castles". The Nightfort was the first to be abandoned, in the reign of King Jaehaerys I Targaryen.

Only three castles currently remain in use, though sometimes a larger force is sent to one of the abandoned castles for a fortnight or a moon's turn. The manned castles are Castle Black, the largest-maintained castle, located at the northern end of the kingsroad and held by nearly six hundred Brothers, the Shadow Tower, the westernmost of the occupied castles, garrisoned by two hundred men of the Night's Watch, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, the port of the Night's Watch with the smallest garrison, located at the eastern end of the Wall.
The nineteen castles on the Wall, listed from west to east, are:

* Westwatch-by-the-Bridge
* The Shadow Tower, commanded by Ser Denys Mallister
* Sentinel Stand
* Greyguard
* Stonedoor
* Hoarfrost Hill
* Icemark
* The Nightfort
* Deep Lake
* Queensgate
* Castle Black, commanded by Jeor Mormont, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch
* Oakenshield
* Woodswatch-by-the-Pool
* Sable Hall
* Rimegate
* Long Barrow
* The Torches
* Greenguard
* Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, commanded by Cotter Pyke

### Defenses

The builders of the Night's Watch permit the forest to come no closer than half a mile to the Wall. However, over time forest has crept back closer to abandoned castles. Rangers patrol the lands beyond the Wall.

The top of the wall is studded with catapults, cranes, and trebuchets, but they are immobile. Additionally, some catapults and trebuchets have been dismantled for repair and never reassembled after being frozen in ice. The Night's Watch can reach the top of the Wall from the southern side via ramps of earth and gravel, winch-drawn cages, and steps of ice, stone, or wood.

The twisting tunnel through the Wall at Castle Black is secured by a thick oaken door and three grates with heavy iron bars, massive chains that must be unlocked, and murder holes, while the gate at the Nightfort had an iron portcullis. All tunnels have been sealed except for those at Castle Black, Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and the Shadow Tower, however.

The galleys of Eastwatch patrol the Bay of Seals in part to catch smugglers who bypass the Wall through the sea and trade weapons to wildlings. In the west the southern Frostfangs and the Gorge make the terrain impassable for all but small groups of raiders.
The Wall provides a tremendous tactical advantage to its defenders, enabling a small group to hold off a much larger force. Defenders are generally beyond the range of bow shot or catapult and in turn rely on archery, catapult, and dropped objects to deter an assault. In particular, barrels containing rocks frozen in ice are effective in dispersing a mass charge.
Attackers must rely on one of two tactics: a direct assault on one of the few well-defended gates, or scaling the Wall in small groups and attacking a gate from the rear. The gates have been designed with features such as murder holes and limited access that make them difficult to force. In an extreme case, gates can be filled with rock and ice, thus becoming as impervious as any other part of the wall.

Scaling the Wall involves similar difficulties. Wildlings climb the northern side of the Wall with hempen rope, stone hammers, ice axes, and spiked boots. A team of determined climbers can reach the top, but only if undetected by defenders, who can easily knock them off with dropped objects or archery. The Wall is thought to "defend itself", disgorging sheets of its own ice.

## History

The Wall was made to defend the realms of the First Men, and the men of the Night's Watch have reportedly defended the Wall against Others and other monsters for eight thousand years since the end of the Long Night.

According to legend, the Wall was built by Brandon the Builder with the assistance of children of the forest and giants, and it is protected with ancient spells and sorcery. Supposedly, Brandon placed foundations along heights wherever possible. Also according to legend, the Wall is vulnerable to the Horn of Joramun.

Maesters dispute if the base of the Wall was made of stone, but they generally believe builders of the Watch used sledges to transport ice cut from frozen lakes in the haunted forest. However, the severely-reduced Night's Watch at the present time is limited to maintenance duty.

Some Kings-Beyond-the-Wall have led hosts of free folk south, but all have been broken at the Wall by the Night's Watch or, if they managed to evade the Watch and pass south, by House Stark of Winterfell.

When King Jaehaerys I Targaryen visited Winterfell, Queen Alysanne Targaryen flew on Silverwing to visit the Wall. Her dragon's refusal to cross the Wall puzzled and disturbed the queen.