Editing Free folk (section)

==Culture and Customs== 
[[File:Wildlings.jpg|thumb|350px|The free folk, from ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' Blu-ray]]
The [[Wall]] which separates the free folk from the rest of [[Westeros]] in many ways defines them. The free folk refer to themselves as such to differentiate themselves from "[[kneelers]]," the people south of the Wall subject to lords and kings. The free folk view "kneelers" as lacking freedom, whereas the people of the [[Seven Kingdoms]] to the south view "wildlings" as lawless and primitive killers, rapists, and thieves.{{Ref|AGOT|1}}{{Ref|ASOS|41}}

Due to their isolation, the free folk remain a people free of states, nobles, kings, and [[law and justice|laws]] but those of their own choosing, following whichever leader they please.{{Ref|aSoS|15}} The free folk believe that the gods made the earth for all men to share and when the kings came with their crowns and their [[steel]] swords, they stole it by claiming it was all theirs and theirs alone.{{Ref|aSoS|41}} There is little in the way of law or property rights in the lands of the free folk. They take what they can and keep what they can defend and have little interest in marriage.{{Ref|aSoS|15}}

===Society===
[[File:Lucas Soriana Wildling Bard.jpg|thumb|A wildling bard, by Lucas Soriana © Fantasy Flight Games]]
Free folk society is made of many tribes and clans, each with their own peculiarities and customs. Some recognize chieftains, while others exist in a perpetual state of conflict, warring against each other and themselves. The free folk place importance in a man keeping his word.<ref>[[So Spake Martin]]: [https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/1154/ Wildlings in the North (April 23, 2001)]</ref> Some clans are led by clan mothers or [[magnar]]s.{{Ref|ASOS|15}}

Some clans live in small villages in the [[haunted forest]], such as [[Whitetree]], while others reside in halls such as [[Craster's Keep]] or [[Ruddy Hall]]. [[Thenns]] live in a [[Thenn (valley)|hidden valley]] in the [[Frostfangs]]. Some are semi-nomadic loners, held down only by their own needs. By "[[kneeler]]" standards, strange clans include the [[Hornfoots]], the [[Nightrunners]], the [[men of the Frozen Shore]], the cannibal [[ice-river clans]], and the [[cave dwellers]].{{Ref|ASOS|15}}

[[Skinchanger]]s and [[warg]]s are more accepted north of the Wall than in the Seven Kingdoms.{{Ref|ADWD|Prologue}} Wildlings burn their dead.{{Ref|ACOK|13}}

===Languages===
The free folk keep to the ways of the [[First Men]] and there are many languages beyond the Wall, including the [[Common Tongue]]. The [[Old Tongue]] of the First Men is still spoken by some, such as the [[Thenns]].{{Ref|aSoS|64}}

===Music===
The free folk have their own musical traditions, including bawdy songs{{Ref|ASOS|7}} and ballads.{{Ref|ACOK|51}} Known topics include the [[winter rose]],{{Ref|ACOK|51}} the [[Horn of Winter]],{{Ref|ASOS|73}} the [[Red Raven (free folk)|Red Raven]],{{Ref|ADWD|69}} and "[[The Last of the Giants]]".{{Ref|ASOS|15}} The songs of the legendary [[Bael the Bard]] are said to be known to all free folk.{{Ref|ACOK|51}} [[Mance Rayder]] is able to sing in the [[Old Tongue]].{{Ref|ASOS|15}} Instruments used by the free folk include drums and pipes.{{Ref|ASOS|64}}{{Ref|ADWD|49}}

===Enmities ===
[[File:Ryan Valle Duel.jpg|thumb|350px|Wildling duel, by Ryan Valle © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The free folk do not hate [[northmen]] as much as they hate the black-clad [[Night's Watch]], who prevent free folk from crossing the [[Wall]] and whose [[rangers]] venture [[beyond the Wall]]. The free folk do not spare brothers of the Night's Watch, whom they call "[[crow]]s"{{Ref|AGOT|60}} or "black crows",{{Ref|AGOT|37}} unless they break their oaths and prove it.{{Ref|aCoK|68}} [[Alfyn Crowkiller]] and the [[Weeper]] are fierce enemies of the Watch, and the free folk have a hatred for the ranger [[Qhorin Halfhand]].{{Ref|ACOK|43}}

However, free folk and the Watch are not beyond some form of cooperation. The two groups sometimes trade at [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]],{{Ref|ADWD|Prologue}} lost brothers have been aided by free folk, and the Watch sometimes take free folk children and raise them to be members.{{Ref|ACOK|53}}

There is also fighting and raiding by the various tribes and clans of the free folk north of the Wall. [[Nightrunners]] fight [[Hornfoot]]s,{{Ref|ASOS|15}} while factions of the [[men of the Frozen Shore]] feud amongst each other.{{Ref|ADWD|58}}

===Religion===
Most free folk worship the [[old gods]].{{Ref|ADWD|49}} The [[Thenns]] view their [[Magnar of Thenn|Magnar]] as closer to a god than a [[lord]], however.{{Ref|ASOS|15}} The [[men of the Frozen Shore]] believe in gods of snow and ice, while crab gods may also be worshiped at [[Storrold's Point]]. [[Cave dwellers]] allegedly worship dark underground gods.{{Ref|TWOIAF|The Wall and Beyond: The Wildlings}} [[Gilly]], one of [[Craster's wives]], speaks of [[Others|cold gods]] who take boys.{{Ref|ACOK|23}}

===Spearwives===
In keeping with the spirit of free folk independence, women are welcome to take up arms and fight alongside men. Such women are called [[spearwife|spearwives]], and are known to be every bit as ferocious as their male counterparts.{{Ref|aCoK|51}}

===Marriage===
In [[marriage]], free folk men are expected to be forceful with women, going so far as stealing them from their home or clan. The women, in turn, are expected to put up a fight every step of the way.{{Ref|aSoS|15}} It is believed that a true man will steal a woman from afar to strengthen the clan. Men must steal daughters, but not wives of other men. When the [[red wanderer]] is within the [[Moonmaid (constellation)|Moonmaid]], it is considered a propitious time for a man to steal a woman.{{Ref|aSoS|26}}

Women who bed [[incest|brothers or fathers]] or clan kin are believed to offend the gods, and are [[curse]]d with weak and sickly children.{{Ref|ADWD|10}}

===Naming===
Because infant mortality is common in the harsh environment [[beyond the Wall]], it is believed to be bad luck to name a child before he or she reaches two years of age.{{Ref|aSoS|46}} A temporary "[[milk name]]" or nickname can be given to a child prior to the official naming.{{Ref|ADWD|39}}<ref group="N">The custom of assigning temporary milk names to infants exists in the real world in [[w:Chinese name|Chinese culture]]. These names are typically either abandoned following the official naming, or survive as familial nicknames. These pet names are known and used only among closely related family members.</ref>

===Raiding===
[[File:Vincent Dutrait Over the Wall II.png|thumb|350px|Free folk raiders scale the [[Wall]], by Vincent Dutrait © Fantasy Flight Games]]
Raiding south of the [[Wall]] is a large part of free folk culture. Raiders start at a young age, as little as twelve years.{{Ref|aSoS|26}} Raiders either climb the Wall or use little boats to cross the [[Bay of Seals]] around it. Climbing the height of the Wall is an exercise that can take most of a day and [[rangers]] of the Night's Watch often find the broken bodies of those who have fallen.{{Ref|aSoS|30}} 

To climb the Wall, the free folk use the aid of huge ladders of woven hemp, boots of supple doeskin spiked with iron, bronze, or jagged [[bone]], small stone-headed hammers, stakes of iron and bone and horn, and antlers with sharpened tines bound to wooden hafts with strips of hide serving as ice axes.{{Ref|aSoS|30}} 

Over the decades, with the weakening of the [[Night's Watch]], the free folk have found it much easier to either climb the Wall or paddle small boats through the Bay of Seals, growing  bolder they raid as far as the [[House Umber|Umber]] lands, the [[northern mountain clans]], or [[Bear Island]], instead of the usual villages and holdfasts in the [[Gift]].
 
Raiders cross the Wall to steal swords and axes, [[spices]], [[silk]]s, furs, and any valuables they can find. They are known to take women in any season to carry them off beyond the Wall.{{Ref|aSoS|41}}

===Armament===
Most free folk warriors wield [[armament]] wrought of stone, wood, and bronze, such as axes and flails, fire-hardened spears and lances, and bows of wood and horn. Their bows are outranged by the yew longbows of the south, but can seemingly shoot an arrow as high as seven hundred feet.{{Ref|aSoS|55}}{{Ref|aSoS|64}} 

The free folk do not mine nor smelt and there are few smiths and fewer forges north of the Wall; the only metal armor that they wear are bits and pieces looted from dead [[rangers]]. Most will wear boiled leather or sewn sheepskins and use crude round shields of skin stretched over wicker, painting them with figures such as skulls and bones, serpents, bear claws, twisted demonic faces, and severed heads.{{Ref|aCoK|68}}{{Ref|aSoS|55}}{{Ref|aSoS|73}}

The [[Thenns]] are more well-armed and armored than most free folk, with bronze helms, axes, short stabbing spears with leaf-shaped heads, shirts sewn with bronze discs, and plain unadorned shields of black boiled leather with bronze rims and bosses.{{Ref|ASOS|26}}{{Ref|ASOS|55}}

Free folk [[horse]]s are surefooted, but scarce.{{Ref|ACOK|68}}