Whitetree

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Whitetree
village
Westeros - Byound the wall.jpg
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Location Westeros, Beyond the Wall
Population 0, currently abandoned
Named for The giant heart tree in its midst

Whitetree is a small free folk village beyond the Wall. Its name comes from the giant heart tree that is located in its midst. The village is named on one of Castle Black's old maps. There are other villages south of Whitetree, at least three of them. To the north lies water, possibly a lake, and to the west some small hills.[1]

The village consists of four tumbledown one-room houses surrounded by an empty sheepfold and a well. The houses are constructed of unmortared stone, roofed with sod and empty windows shuttered with pieces of hide.[1]

Houses

Though there were still wildlings living in Whitetree in 298 AC, by 299 AC, all the houses in Whitetree have been abandonded, as is discovered by the Night's Watch during the Great Ranging. During the ranging, several brothers of the Night's Watch are sent to search through the houses, Jon Snow amongst them. Snow notes that the door of the house he searches through is low, and that the floors are packed with dirt. All the furnishing is gone. Except for the remaining ashes, the houses show no sign of having been lived in for quite some time. All that is left is dry star bedding in a corner.[1]

The heart tree

The Night's Watch inspecting the heart tree at the deserted wildling village Whitetree during The Great Ranging - by Matt Olson ©

Above all of those buildings towers an old, enormous heart tree, its limbs pale and its face having a hole large enough to place a sheep within for a mouth. Jon Snow notes it is the biggest tree he has ever seen. The trunk is nearly eight feet wide, the branches spreading so far that the entire village is shaded beneath their canopy.

The face of the tree is a rather disturbing sight. The mouth of the heart tree face is a jagged hollow, large enough to swallow a sheep. The inside of the hollow of the heart tree is coloured red with dried sap, and blackened by fire. There are bones of deceased wildlings inside the mouth.[1]


The wildlings burn their dead. We’ve always known that. Now I wished I’d asked them why, when there were still a few to around to ask.

Recent Events

A Clash of Kings

During the great ranging the Night's Watch men find the village abandoned by its inhabitants. Whitetree is the fourth village the Night's Watch has passed in total. Whitetree shows no signs of having been attacked.[1]


References and Notes