Night's Watch

The Night's Watch is a military order dedicated to holding the Wall, the immense fortification on the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, defending the realms of men from what lies beyond the Wall. The order's foundation dates back to the Age of Heroes, at the time when the Others were pushed back. The men of Night's Watch wear only black, and they are known as black brothers. Recruits who join the Watch are said to take the black.

## Organization

### Structure

The Night's Watch consists of three orders: stewards, builders, and rangers. All are subject to the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and each of the three orders is led by its own officer, the Lord Steward, the First Builder, and First Ranger, respectively. These officers are appointed by the lord commander.

* Stewards are responsible for an assortment of critical functions, providing vital day-to-day services. They hunt and farm, tend horses, gather firewood, cook meals, make clothing, maintain weapons, and bring supplies needed by the Night's Watch from the South. Like other members of the Watch, the stewards must be ready to fight at a moment's notice, and all have received at least basic combat training. Bowen Marsh serves as the Lord Steward or First Steward.

* Builders are responsible for tending to and maintaining the Wall and its castles. The order provides masons, carpenters, miners, and woodsmen to this end. Othell Yarwyck leads them as the First Builder.

* Rangers are the main fighting force, adept at surviving in the wilderness and tasked with scouting and patrolling the haunted forest beyond the Wall. They actively defend the Wall and ride out to face the Watch's enemies, including wildlings and legendary Others. The First Ranger is Benjen Stark.

Recruiters for the Night's Watch are called wandering crows. The organization also includes septons, maesters, and, at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, sailors. Because brothers come from throughout the Seven Kingdoms or even Essos, there is an unspoken pact to not discuss politics or former loyalties. When war breaks out in the Seven Kingdoms, the Night's Watch tries to remain neutral by honoring all kings and obeying none.

One blast of a sentry's horn represents returning rangers, while two are used for wildlings and three for Others. Two long blasts followed by a short one are used as a call to mount horses.

While wildlings and the Watch are often seen as seen as ancient enemies, the black brothers are friendly with some free folk, such as Craster and Haggon. There is greater commerce between the two peoples than generally known, and some wildlings trade at Eastwatch.

### Recruitment

Once, serving on the Wall was honor and a sign of selfless devotion to duty, with many knights, honorable men, and nobles taking the black voluntarily. The Night's Watch is now often seen only as a way to avoid punishment, suitable less for knights than for the dregs of Westeros. These men are salvaged from dungeons by traveling recruiters known as wandering crows. Disgraced nobles, bastards, and the unwanted legitimate offspring of nobles can be encouraged to take the black, making many of today's Watch a surly and dissatisfied lot.

Those who come voluntarily are free to leave during any time of their training, but no man may leave after he has said vows. Any deserters are sentenced to death. After taking the vows, the men of the Watch cannot own any land, marry, or father children. Men are also encouraged to sever any ties left with their families, if they are lucky enough to have one.

### Vows

When recruits are considered ready to take the black, they say their vows either in a sept or before a heart tree. The vows are as follows:

> "Night gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I pledge my life and honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come."
>
>

Once a man takes his vows, his crimes and debts are forgiven. Brothers of the Night's Watch serve for life. It is customary to finish a black brother's eulogy with the words, "And now his watch is ended." Castle Black contains a lichyard, and knights can be laid to rest in ancient tombs near the lichyard or burned on a pyre.

## History

### The Long Night

The Night's Watch is one of the oldest orders in the Seven Kingdoms, as it survived the fall of the kingdoms of the First Men, the coming of the Andals, and Aegon's Conquest. It was founded over eight thousand years ago, at the end of the Long Night. Under cover of an endless night that lasted for a generation, the Others invaded from the Lands of Always Winter, laying waste to much of Westeros. The Others were finally defeated by the Night's Watch at the Battle for the Dawn, which is recalled in "The Night That Ended". The Wall was allegedly built by Bran the Builder in order to protect the Seven Kingdoms, with the brothers of the Night's Watch choosing their own Lord Commander since that time. During the Age of Heroes it was also recorded that the children of the forest gave the Night's Watch a hundred obsidian daggers every year.

Other than the corrupting of the thirteenth Lord Commander, the so-called Night's King, further attacks by the Others never came, however. Instead, the most frequent attacks came from the wildlings, sometimes led by their Kings-Beyond-the-Wall, and their constant attempts at raiding in the north. Little by little, the Night's Watch forgot that its main mission was not the fight against the wildlings, but against the Others.

### Targaryen Era

The Seven Kingdoms of Westeros were invaded by the Targaryens during Aegon's Conquest. Although Lord Commander Hoare was the brother of Harren the Black, King of the Isles and the Rivers, the lord commander maintained the neutrality of the ten thousand black brothers under his command, even when Harren died during the burning of Harrenhal. King Aegon I Targaryen became Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and ruled from the Iron Throne in King's Landing. Aegon's sister-wife, Queen Visenya Targaryen, modeled the vows of the newly-created Kingsguardon those of the Night's Watch.

In 43 AC, King Maegor I Targaryen suppressed the Oldtown chapter of the Warrior's Sons. When the king offered the two hundred knights the option of renouncing the Faith Militant and taking the black, or remaining loyal to their faith and face execution, three-quarters of the knights chose to join the Watch. Scores of Poor Fellows took the black when Poxy Jeyne Poore was hunted down in the kingswood two years later.

When Jaehaerys I Targaryen succeeded Maegor on the Iron Throne in 48 AC, four of Maegor's Kingsguard—Ser Olyver Bracken, Ser Symond Crayne, Ser Raymund Mallery, and Ser Jon Tollett—joined the Watch to avoid execution. Hundreds of Poor Fellows, including Rob the Starvling, also accepted the clemency of the new king and took the black. In 49 AC, thirty black brothers accompanied Lord Brandon Stark to King's Landing for the Golden Wedding. The following year, Ser Olyver and Ser Raymund led Rimegate and Sable Hall in rebellion against the Night's Watch. Most black brother remained loyal, however, and Rimegate was retaken with the aid of Winterfell, and Lord Walton Stark beheaded Olyver with Ice. Lord Stark pursued Raymund beyond the Wall, but Walton was slain by giants during the campaign. Wildlings eventually sent Raymund's head to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

During King Jaehaerys's royal progress to the north in 58 AC, Queen Alysanne Targaryen flew on Silverwing to visit Castle Black and the Wall. Lord Commander Lothor Burley escorted her into the haunted forest, and Benton Glover showed Alysanne the Nightfort, which she felt should be abandoned because of its poor condition. Alysanne paid for the construction of Deep Lake with her own jewels, and Lothor renamed Snowgate to Queensgate in her honor. Alysanne also visited Brandon's Gift, the land south of the Wall given to the Watch for their sustenance. Impressed by the Night's Watch but concerned about their lack of resources, Alysanne convinced King Jaehaerys and Lord Alaric Stark to double the lands with another twenty-five leagues, the New Gift. According to records at the Citadel, the Starks were reluctant to do so, fearing that the Night's Watch would neglect the Gift by focusing their attention beyond the Wall.

Lord Corlys Velaryon suggested that the greens, the rivals of Queen Rhaenyra Targaryen and the blacks, be allowed to join the Night's Watch amid the Dance of the Dragons. Rhaenyra and her husband, Prince Daemon Targaryen, decided that their enemies should not be pardoned, however. In the aftermath of the Dance, twenty-two men were arrested by Lord Cregan Stark for the death for King Aegon II Targaryen. During this Hour of the Wolf, nineteen of them, led by Ser Perkin the Flea, were sent to the Wall by Cregan, with only Lord Corlys being spared and Ser Gyles Belgrave and Lord Larys Strong instead choosing death. Grand Maester Orwyle deserted before setting sail on *North Star*, so Ser Medrick Manderly ordered the guard who had freed him to take his place in the Watch.

In 132 AC, the Night's Watch dealt with several wildling incursions as famine threatened during winter. The following year, a hundred rangers helped hunt down the raiders of Sylas the Grim after they overwhelmed Queensgate. A third of the Night's Watch died during the winter of 134 AC, and hundreds of the black brothers were killed fighting the thousands of wildlings who crossed the frozen Shivering Sea. In 136 AC during the regency of Aegon III, Ser Gareth Long, Lord George Graceford, and several gold cloaks and Fingers chose to take the black after the secret siege.

Guilty of treason after the Third Blackfyre Rebellion, Ser Aegor Rivers was commanded by King Aerys I Targaryen to take the black. Bittersteel was freed en route to the Wall, however, and he fled to the Free Cities. Bittersteel's rival, Lord Brynden Rivers, was sent to the Wall by King Aegon V Targaryen after the murder of Aenys Blackfyre. Bloodraven, many of his Raven's Teeth, and prisoners from the dungeons formed the two hundred men who accompanied Maester Aemon, Aegon's elder brother, to the Wall.

The black brothers arrived late at Long Lake, where Raymun Redbeard, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, was defeated by the Starks and Umbers in 226 AC.