Wolfswood

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The north and the location of the wolfswood
The north and the location of the wolfswood
Wolfswood
The north and the location of the wolfswood

The wolfswood is a large forest in the north named for the great many wolves one can hear howling in the night.[1]

Layout

The wolfswood stretches across the northwestern part of the north.[2] It extends as far west as Sea Dragon Point and nearly as far south as Torrhen's Square. It is bounded to the north by the Bay of Ice and to the northeast by the lands of the northern mountain clans. To the east the wolfswood reaches Winterfell and extends north and south of the seat of House Stark. North of Winterfell are a series of hills in the forest. In the southeastern corner of the wolfswood south of Winterfell is a lake and a tributary of the White Knife. The kingsroad also travels north through the eastern edge of the wolfswood.[3]

The wolfswood is made up of oak, evergreen and black brier,[1] as well as sentinels, soldier pines, and hawthorn,[4] beech, ash, chestnuts, ironwoods, and firs.[5] Weirwoods are occasionally found isolated or in pairs.[6] It contains abundant timber[7] and stone.[8] Besides wolves, other animals living in the wolfswood include badgers,[4] bears,[4] boars,[9] deers,[4] elks,[10] fish,[11] foxes,[4] rabbits,[4] and treecats.[10]

People

Hunting party in the wolfswood, by Tomasz Jedruszek © Fantasy Flight Games

Even in the deepest parts of the wolfswood, there are crofters, foresters, and hunters.[12] Some wolfswood men are accomplished at ice-fishing.[11] Deepwood Motte, the wooden fastness of House Glover, sits on a hill within the forest near the Bay of Ice.[13] Families or clans sworn to Deepwood Motte include Houses Forrester, Woods, Branch, and Bole, all of whom are skilled woodsmen.[14] The Starks of Winterfell often hunt boar in the forest.[9]

History

According to the traditions of House Blackwood, the family once controlled most of what is now the wolfswood before being driven from the north by the Kings of Winter, the Starks of Winterfell. The Blackwoods then settled at Raventree Hall in the riverlands, where they ruled as kings before the coming of the Andals.[15] The Glovers of Deepwood Motte in the western wolfswood were also once kings during the Age of Heroes, but they were reduced to vassals of Winterfell.[15]

Parts of the wolfswood were reduced to ashes by Harrag Hoare, King of the Iron Islands.[15]

When Queen Alysanne Targaryen visited the north in 58 AC, she hunted elk and wild boar in the wolfswood with Lord Alaric Stark.[16]

Jory Cassel once brought Robb Stark, Bran Stark, and Jon Snow into the wolfswood to fish for trout in a rushing stream near Winterfell.[17]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

En route to Castle Black, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister travel on the kingsroad through the eastern wolfswood. They are met by Yoren at a wooden holdfast near the edge of the forest.[1]

Bran Stark is attacked by deserters of the Night's Watch and wildlings, including Osha, while riding in the wolfswood near Winterfell.[17]

A Clash of Kings

Theon Greyjoy leads a group hunting Bran and Rickon Stark, by Marc Simonetti ©

After hearing of the ironborn threat to Torrhen's Square, Maester Luwin sends ravens to White Harbor, the barrowlands, and the deepest parts of the wolfswood with instructions to summon their levies.[18] The ironborn capture Winterfell and Deepwood Motte, however.[18][19]

After Bran and his companions, Osha, Hodor, and Meera and Jojen Reed, vanish from Winterfell, Theon Greyjoy follows a trail that leads north by northwest into the misty wolfswood. His hunting party passes near treacherous gullies, stony hills, a deserted crofter's cottage, and a flooded quarry.[4] Unbeknownst to Theon, however, Bran and his friends have hidden in the crypts of Winterfell.[10]

Summer and Shaggydog hunt down an elk in the wolfswood and defend their catch from a treecat.[10]

A Storm of Swords

Bran and his companions travel north to the Wall. Rather than take the kingsroad from Winterfell, they detour around the western edge of the hills found north of the castle.[20] Bran is protected within Tumbledown Tower while Summer hunts in the eastern wolfswood. While in Summer's mind, Bran considers himself to be "prince of the green, prince of the wolfswood".[12]

A Dance with Dragons

At Deepwood Mootte, Asha Greyjoy is unable to see the Bay of Ice only five leagues away because of the thick forest.[5]

Jon Snow learns in a letter from Stannis Baratheon that crofters from the wolfswood have joined his army after the fight by Deepwood Motte.[21] Because of a blizzard, the host of Stannis travels slowly in their march on Winterfell, where Lord Roose Bolton has his own army. Stannis's men are forced to make camp at a crofters' village in the eastern forest.[14][11]

Chapters that take place in the wolfswood

Quotes

The wolfswood, by Eric Lofgren © Fantasy Flight Games

With the mountains a wall to the west, the road veered north by northeast through the wood, a forest of oak and evergreen and black brier that seemed older and darker than any Tyrion had ever seen. "The wolfswood," Benjen Stark called it, and indeed their nights came alive with the howls of distant packs, and some not so distant.[1]

—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister

The wolfswood is full of danger; your last ride should have taught you that.[22]

Wisps of pale mist threaded between the trees. Sentinels and soldier pines grew thick about here, and there was nothing as dark and gloomy as an evergreen forest.[4]

—thoughts of Theon Greyjoy

The sea was closer, only five leagues north, but Asha could not see it. Too many hills stood in the way. And trees, so many trees. The wolfswood, the northmen named the forest. Most nights you could hear the wolves, calling to each other through the dark. An ocean of leaves. Would it were an ocean of water.[5]

—thoughts of Asha Greyjoy

Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series

In Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series, House Forrester's seat of Ironrath is located at the edge of the largest ironwood forest in Westeros. The Forresters control most of the wolfswood's ironwoods and they are rivals with House Whitehill.[23]

References