| King Gendel | |
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 Gendel as depicted in Game of Thrones: Histories & Lore. | |
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| Title | King-Beyond-the-Wall |
| Culture | Free folk |
| Books |
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Gendel was a King-Beyond-the-Wall, a title he shared with his brother, Gorne. He lived three thousand years ago[1] and led an invasion into the north with his brother.[2]
History
Maester Herryk's History of the Kings-Beyond-the-Wall has a transcription of a wildling song about Gendel and Gorne in which the brothers mediated a dispute between a clan of children of the forest and a family of giants over control of a cave. After discovering the cave was part of a larger system of caverns which extended beneath the Wall, Gendel and Gorne resorted to trickery and convinced both parties to abandon the cave. Maesters are skeptical of the wildling tale, however.[3]
Three thousand years before the War of the Five Kings, Gendel and Gorne ruled as Kings-Beyond-the-Wall. The brother kings gathered the free folk to them and marched them through Gorne's Way, their path through caves beneath the Wall. The wildlings evaded the Night's Watch, but when they emerged on the far side, the King in the North was waiting for them and attacked them. Gorne slew the king from House Stark, but his son took up his crown and killed Gorne in turn. While the battle raged, the Night's Watch, made aware of the battle, sortied from their castles and took the wildlings in the rear. With the Starks to the south, the Umbers the east, and the Watch to the north, Gendel was also killed, according to the traditions of northmen[1] and of rangers.[4]
According to the free folk, however, Gendel survived the fighting. Cutting his way through the Night's Watch, he attempted to return beyond the Wall via the same route the wildlings had come. Gendel did not know the way as well as Gorne, however, and supposedly became lost forever trying to find his way out.[1]
Free folk legend says that the descendants of Gendel's people still dwell in those caves, attacking anyone who tries to find Gorne's Way and eating them.[1]
Recent Events
A Storm of Swords
Ygritte tells Jon Snow about Gendel and his folk while in a grotto.[1]
A Dance with Dragons
Bran Stark recalls Old Nan's tale of Gendel's children.[5]
Quotes
Jon: Gendel had the king to the south, the Umbers to the east, and the Watch to the north of him. He died as well.
Ygritte: You know nothing, Jon Snow. Gendel did not die. He cut his way free, through the crows, and led his people back north with the wolves howling at their heels. Only Gendel did not know the caves as Gorne had, and took a wrong turn. Deeper he went, and deeper, and when he tried t' turn back the ways that seemed familiar ended in stone rather than sky. Soon his torches began t' fail, one by one, till finally there was naught but dark. Gendel's folk were never seen again, but on a still night you can hear their children's children's children sobbing under the hills, still looking for the way back up. Listen? Do you hear them?
Ygritte: Some have searched for it. Them that go too deep find Gendel's children, and Gendel's children are always hungry. There's naught to eat in the dark but flesh.[1]
Jon: This way under the Wall was lost as well?
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 26, Jon III.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 23, Jon III.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, Ancient History: The Dawn Age.
- ↑ The World of Ice & Fire, The Wall and Beyond: The Wildlings.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 13, Bran II.