| Note: The title of this article is conjecture and may be subject to change. |
| Conflict beyond the Wall | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | 296 AC-Ongoing | |||||||||||||||
| Location | Beyond the Wall | |||||||||||||||
| Battles | The Fist | Bridge of Skulls | Castle Black | the Wall | |||||||||||||||
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The conflict beyond the Wall takes place north of the Wall, the mightiest and oldest defensive structure constructed by men. Its main purpose was to shield the realms of men against the return of the Others, a race that emerged during the Long Night. Since then, the Night's Watch has stood guard for about 8,000 years, defending Westeros from threats from beyond the Wall. During that time, its initial task has generally been forgotten and instead they have been guarding against the human free folk (or wildlings) who hold the lands beyond. Occasionally forming raiding parties, the wildlings consistently try to cross the Wall into the richer and warmer lands to the south or to escape the unknown terrors of the far north.
The main events of this three-sided conflict take place in the far north of the Seven Kingdoms and are thus unknown or considered unimportant to the majority of its population, especially with the War of the Five Kings ravaging through the country.
Night's Watch Decline
Before the War of Conquest by Aegon I Targaryen, the Night's Watch boasted nineteen castles along the hundred leagues of the Wall, although they never manned more than seventeen at one time.[1] Over the last three hundred years, as the manpower of the Watch has dropped, most of these castles have been abandoned.[2] By the reign of King Robert I Baratheon, the Watch only manages to sustain three castles: Castle Black, located in the middle of the Wall with about six hundred men; the Shadow Tower at the west of the Wall overlooking the mountains, with about two hundred men; and the coastal Eastwatch-by-the-Sea with even fewer men. A bare third of them are fighting men.[3]
Since the manpower of the black brothers had declined over time, the 997th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont, agreed with the advice of his First Ranger, Benjen Stark, to give up the regular patrols used by his predecessor, Lord Commander Qorgyle, in favor of a more random system, varying the number of patrols and the days of their departure, to make it more difficult for the wildlings to know their comings and goings. Sometimes a larger force was sent to garrison one of the abandoned castles for a fortnight or a moon's turn to make wildlings unsure of the Watch's strength.[4]
The King-Beyond-the Wall and the Great Ranging
Ever since he deserted the Night's Watch, Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, has been gathering various tribes into one host, making peace between Harma Dogshead and the Lord of Bones, the Hornfoots and the Nightrunners, and the men of the Frozen Shore and the ice-river clans.[5] Opposed by five other would-be Kings-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance gained the support of Tormund of Ruddy Hall and Styr of Thenn and slew the three rivals who refused to submit.[6] He did all of this in an attempt to stave off attacks from the Others and recover the Horn of Winter, which was needed as a fail-safe against the Night's Watch, as it was reputed in legend to be able to bring down the entire Wall with a single sounding. While most thought that the Horn was just a myth, Mance believed not only that it was real but that he could find it, deep in the frozen mountains known as the Frostfangs.[7]
After the disappearance of a group of rangers led by Ser Waymar Royce,[8] a second group led by First Ranger Benjen Stark goes north to find their missing Brothers, which also disappears. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont receives reports from Cotter Pyke about mammoths and huge misshapen tracks near Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, and reports from Denys Mallister about wildlings abandoning their villages near the Shadow Tower, and also that Qhorin Halfhand, one of Denys's senior rangers, captured a wildling in the depths of the Gorge who says that Mance Rayder is secretly massing wildlings in some secret stronghold for an unknown purpose. These reports, coupled with nearly being killed by wights and the recent disappearance of both Ser Waymar and First Ranger Benjen, prompted him to announce his intention to lead an expedition beyond the Wall.[9] This great ranging of over 300 Brothers is the biggest one in living memory, consisting of nearly a third of the Night's Watch's strength. They set camp at an ancient settlement called the Fist of the First Men, a good defensive position located on Mance's only route to the Wall, east of the Frostfangs.[10] Mance sends Alfyn Crowkiller to scout along the Wall, but he is slain by Qhorin's men.[1]
The Lord Commander agrees with the Halfhand's suggestion to send scouting parties to the Milkwater, led by Thoren Smallwood, the Giant's Stair, led by Jarman Buckwell, and the Skirling Pass, led by Qhorin, who is accompanied by three other rangers and Jon Snow, a bastard of House Stark.[1] Qhorin's party discovers a vast wildling host deep in the Frostfangs, but the group becomes trapped by wildling forces and either killed or go missing one by one until only the Halfhand and Jon Snow remain. At this point, to ensure that someone survives to bring word back to the Lord Commander, Qhorin Halfhand instructs Jon to join Rattleshirt's band as a spy, attacking the youth and forcing him to kill him to ensure that Jon will be accepted by the wildlings.[11] With the destruction of Qhorin's party, and Snow's inability to escape in time, the Lord Commander receives no warning of the wildling host's purpose or composition, now numbering over a hundred thousand.
The Half-Hand and the Fight at the Fist
After the Night's Watch encamps on the Fist, a debate ensues among the Watch's leadership as to what the best course of action is to deal with the wildling threat. Some, such as Thoren Smallwood, advocate attacking Mance's large, uncoordinated host along its line of march, an argument approved by the lord commander, who proceeds to convince his men of the plan. It proves useless as the following night the group hears three horn blasts signifying Others, being attacked by a force of wights.[12] The Watch has some initial success with flaming arrows and spear walls, but the massive waves of wights overcome the Watch's defenses. Realizing that remaining on the Fist would result in the overrunning and ultimate destruction of his forces, Lord Commander Mormont orders the Brothers to retreat. Once mounted, the Brothers form a wedge and manage to fight their way off the Fist. During the retreat, Samwell kills a lone Other with an obsidian dagger given to him by Jon Snow.[13]
Mormont's savaged forces manage to make a long and grim march through the snow-covered wilderness to Craster's Keep, a wildling estate known to the Brothers to be friendly to the Watch. The Watch is harried and harassed all through the night as they make their retreat, and by the time that they reach Craster's Keep, less than one hundred Brothers remain of the original force. Craster holds a feast for the Watch on the eve of their departure, but several of the black brothers feel that Craster's offerings are meager and rebel. Dirk murders Craster, while Ollo Lophand kills the Lord Commander Mormont.[14] A small group of loyalists manages to escape the mutiny at Craster's Keep and make their way back to the Wall, bringing news of the disastrous expedition's fate.[15] Nine betrayers remain at Craster's Keep with his food and wives.[16][17]
The Battles at Castle Black, the Bridge of Skulls, and beneath the Wall
Mance Rayder, now knowing that the bulk of the Watch's fighting forces have been wiped out on the Fist by their mutual enemy, makes his way out of the Frostfangs and starts his march toward the Wall. Mance sends a force led by the Weeper to attack the Bridge of Skulls to divert the remaining fighting men from both Castle Black and the Shadow Tower to the far west so he can send a team led by Styr and Jarl to scale the Wall and take the unwalled Castle Black from the south by surprise; Styr has a hundred Thenns, five times as many raiders as Jarl, so he often acts as the sole commander.[4] Lord Steward Bowen Marsh takes Mance's bait by leading a force west to deal with the Weeper's diversionary force, leaving only the old, the green, and the sickly behind to defend Castle Black, appointing the ancient Ser Wynton Stout to command Castle Black in his absence.[15] However, Jon Snow, who had been sent with Styr's group,[5] escapes at Queenscrown and manages to warn the black brothers about the upcoming attack.[18] Since Ser Wynton seems to have forgotten his appointment, it is the smith Donal Noye and later Jon Snow who command the defense of Castle Black against Styr, whose Thenns are defeated.[15][19]
After Styr's attack fails,[19] Mance attacks the Wall with his main force. Despite his better numbers, the Night's Watch, under the command of Jon Snow, are successful in keeping Mance's forces at bay.[20][21] Aware of the low numbers of the Night's Watch, Mance eventually sends a request for a parley to Castle Black, requesting that an envoy be sent to him. Ser Alliser Thorne and Janos Slynt send Jon, secretly tasking him with assassinating the King-Beyond-the-Wall. Displaying a huge horn in his tent, Mance reveals that some free folk want him to use the horn to bring down the Wall, but Mance resists for fear that nothing could then stop the Others. Mance plans to offer the horn in exchange for letting his people pass through the Wall. If the Night's Watch refuses, however, Tormund Giantsbane is to sound the Horn at dawn three days hence.[6] During the parley, rangers from Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and the southern force of Stannis Baratheon unexpectedly arrive. Although Mance personally leads a wedge of mounted free folk against them, the disorganized wildling army breaks once Mance's horse goes down.[6]
The Lord Steward Bowen Marsh chases wildlings to the Shadow Tower and into the Gorge, defeating the Weeper in a fight at the Bridge of Skulls, but the Night's Watch suffers heavy losses.[21]
New Beginnings and Peace
With King Stannis Baratheon at the Wall, Mance Rayder captured, and Lord Commander Jeor Mormont dead, along with most of the senior Brothers killed at the Fist or the Gorge, the Night's Watch is left in a precarious position of having to not only elect a new Lord Commander but also preserve their political neutrality. In the voting, Janos Slynt gains ground on the leading candidates, Lord Denys Mallister of the Shadow Tower and Cotter Pyke of Eastwatch. Believing Janos would be a disastrous Lord Commander, Samwell Tarly approaches Cotter and Denys independently, lying to each regarding Stannis's intentions to name the other to the office, thus convincing them both to support Jon Snow as a compromise candidate.[22] Jon Snow is thus named the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.[23]
Jon means to garrison the abandoned waycastles, restore patrols on the Wall, and establish a line of beacon towers along the top of the Wall, until they have more maesters and ravens.[24] Free folk who submit to Stannis are allowed to pass through the Wall, but Mance himself refused to do so, causing Stannis to have Melisandre burn the King-Beyond-the-Wall, but Jon has his men kill Mance with arrows to end his suffering.[25] Some of the free folk accept Jon's offer to help man the Wall.[26]
While leading recruits to swear their vows in the haunted forest, Jon finds a small group of wildlings and the giant Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun at the weirwood grove, and he brings them back to Castle Black.[27] In order to learn more about wights, Jon consigns the corpses of dead wildlings in Castle Black's ice cells, hoping they will rise but be safely imprisoned.[27][28] Jon also sends Val to find Tormund Giantsbane in the haunted forest,[28] with Tormund eventually agreeing to pass through the Wall, leading over three thousand wildlings south.[29]
Captaining Talon, Cotter Pyke sails from Eastwatch towards Hardhome with eleven ships by the command of Lord Commander Snow.[30] He is to rescue the wildlings brought there by the vision of the woods witch Mother Mole, who saw in her vision that ships would come to take the wildlings south.[28] By the time Cotter arrives at Hardhome, he has lost five ships, the wildlings are eating their own dead, and the undead are lurking in both the woods and in the waters, so Cotter sends a raven to Jon Snow, pleading him to send help by land, since the weather was harsh on the seas.[29] Jon intends to rescue Cotter at Hardhome, but he is interrupted by a taunting letter from Ramsay Bolton that causes Jon to ride south to meet the Bastard of Bolton in the field of battle, and several wildlings join him. Bowen Marsh and several of his followers, however, fearing that the neutrality of the Night's Watch is being threatened by their Lord Commander's actions, kill him in the mutiny at Castle Black.[31]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 43, Jon V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 40, Bran III.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 21, Tyrion III.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 26, Jon III.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 15, Jon II.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 73, Jon X.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 30, Jon IV.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Prologue.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 70, Jon IX.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 13, Jon II.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 68, Jon VIII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Prologue.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 18, Samwell I.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 33, Samwell II.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 48, Jon VI.
- ↑ A Feast for Crows, Appendix.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Appendix.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 41, Jon V.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 55, Jon VII.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 64, Jon VIII.
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 69, Jon IX.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 78, Samwell V.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 79, Jon XII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 7, Jon II.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 10, Jon III.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 21, Jon V.
- ↑ 27.0 27.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 35, Jon VII.
- ↑ 28.0 28.1 28.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 39, Jon VIII.
- ↑ 29.0 29.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 58, Jon XII.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 49, Jon X.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 69, Jon XIII.