Editing Wall (section)

==Layout==
===Appearance===
:''See also: [[:Category:Images of the Wall|Images of the Wall]]''
[[File:The WallSabin Boykinov.jpg|thumb|left|The Wall by Sabin Boykinov © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The Wall stretches for three hundred miles{{Ref|AGOT|48}} and is approximately seven hundred feet tall.{{Ref|AGOT|26}} It is made of solid ice, stone, and earth,{{Ref|ASOS|30}} and can be seen for miles round. It appears grey or blue depending on the weather and time of day. The top is wide enough for a dozen mounted [[knight]]s to ride abreast and it is thicker at the base.{{Ref|AGOT|19}} The top is wider in man places than the [[kingsroad]], and crushed stone is spread on walkways to aid with footing.{{Ref|AGOT|21}} Led by [[Othell Yarwyck]], the [[First Builder]], the [[builders]] of the Watch monitor and repair the Wall.{{Ref|AGOT|41}} According to myth, there are old [[magic|spells]] woven into the Wall, to strengthen it and keep creatures of a [[magic]]al nature such as the [[Others]] from passing it.{{Ref|aSoS|56}}<ref>[[So Spake Martin]]: [https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/The_Wall/ The Wall (September 09, 2000)]</ref>

The Wall is straight like a sword from [[Castle Black]] to [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]], but runs like a [[snake]] between Castle Black and the [[Shadow Tower]]. This is because west of Castle Black the Wall runs through the foothills of the Frostfang mountains, and Bran the Builder tried to place the foundations on geographic heights whenever possible. Thus there are some parts of the western Wall which are actually closer to 800 feet above sea level, technically the same elevation as the [[Hightower]] in Oldtown, though the height from the base is the same because these sections are built atop hills.{{Ref|aSoS|30}} The zig-zagging path of the western Wall becomes particularly notable on maps from [[Greyguard]] to the Shadow Tower, with a large southern bend at Greyguard itself. 

[[File:Patrick McEvoy nights watch.jpg|thumb|Man of the [[Night's Watch]] guarding the Wall, by Patrick McEvoy © Fantasy Flight Games]]

Windblown dirt covers the Wall like film, and it often appears pale grey{{ref|AGOT|19}} or dull white.{{Ref|ADWD|69}} The Wall shines blue and crystalline in sunlight,{{Ref|AGOT|19}}{{Ref|ASOS|30}} glimmers palely in moonlight,{{Ref|AGOT|21}}{{Ref|AGOT|26}} and glows pink and purple at dawn.{{Ref|AGOT|48}} The Wall sparkles from melting ice on sunny days, with rivulets of water being compared to weeping.{{Ref|AGOT|48}}{{Ref|AGOT|52}}

Tunnels have been cut through the Wall at each castle of the Night's Watch. They are sealed with ice and stone wherever castles have been abandoned or in times of danger.{{Ref|ASOS|41}} [[Ice cell|Cells]] chiseled from the ice at the foot of the Wall are used as storerooms{{Ref|AGOT|52}} or prisons.{{Ref|ASOS|69}}{{Ref|ADWD|49}}

While [[Benjen Stark]], the [[First Ranger]], believes the Wall is the largest structure built by man,{{Ref|AGOT|19}} others say the [[Hightower]] in [[Oldtown]] is even taller,{{Ref|ASOS|41}} and that the Wall can allegedly be seen from the tower's top.{{Ref|AFFC|Prologue}}

===Castles===
The [[Night's Watch]] raised nineteen castles to guard the hundred leagues of the Wall, although they never manned more than seventeen at one time.{{Ref|ACOK|43}} Over the last three hundred years, as the manpower of the Watch has dropped, most of these castles have been abandoned; [[Old Nan]] refers to them as "ghost castles".{{Ref|ASOS|40}} The [[Nightfort]] was the first to be abandoned, in the reign of King [[Jaehaerys I Targaryen]].{{Ref|ASOS|56}}

Only three castles currently remain in use,{{Ref|AGOT|21}} though sometimes a larger force is sent to one of the abandoned castles for a fortnight or a moon's turn.{{Ref|ASOS|26}} The manned castles are [[Castle Black]], the largest-maintained castle, located at the northern end of the [[kingsroad]] and held by nearly six hundred Brothers,{{Ref|AGOT|21}} the [[Shadow Tower]], the westernmost of the occupied castles, garrisoned by two hundred men of the Night's Watch,{{Ref|AGOT|21}} and [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]], the port of the Night's Watch with the smallest garrison, located at the eastern end of the Wall.

[[File:Castle Black and The Wall, Ted Nasmith.jpg|thumb|[[Castle Black]] and the Wall by Ted Nasmith ©]]

The nineteen castles on the Wall, listed from west to east, are:
* [[Westwatch-by-the-Bridge]]
* The [[Shadow Tower]],  commanded by Ser [[Denys Mallister]]
* [[Sentinel Stand]]
* [[Greyguard]]
* [[Stonedoor]]
* [[Hoarfrost Hill]]
* [[Icemark]]
* The [[Nightfort]]
* [[Deep Lake]]
* [[Queensgate]]
* [[Castle Black]], commanded by [[Jeor Mormont]], the [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]]
* [[Oakenshield (Wall)|Oakenshield]]
* [[Woodswatch-by-the-Pool]]
* [[Sable Hall]]
* [[Rimegate]]
* [[Long Barrow]]
* The [[Torches]]
* [[Greenguard]]
* [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]], commanded by [[Cotter Pyke]]

There are no inns or towns in the shadow of the Wall,{{ref|AFFC|5}} but a narrow track always visible from the Wall runs from one castle to the next.{{ref|ASOS|75}} There are also [[ranger]]'s roads found north of the Wall.{{ref|ASOS|75}}

===Defenses===
[[File:The Wall top warming shed .jpg|thumb|350px|left|Warming shed on top of the Wall, from ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' Blu-ray]]
The [[builders]] of the Night's Watch permit the forest to come no closer than half a mile to the Wall.{{Ref|AGOT|21}}{{Ref|AGOT|41}} However, over time forest has crept back closer to abandoned castles.{{Ref|AGOT|21}} [[Rangers]] patrol the lands [[beyond the Wall]].{{Ref|AGOT|41}} Rangers and builders patrol the Wall on sure-footed [[mule]]s bred at [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]].{{ref|ASOS|26}}

The top of the wall is studded with catapults, cranes,{{Ref|AGOT|19}} [[trebuchet]]s,{{Ref|ASOS|64}} and [[scorpion (weapon)|scorpions]],{{Ref|ASOS|64}} but they are immobile.{{Ref|ASOS|64}} Additionally, some catapults and trebuchets have been dismantled for repair and never reassembled after being frozen in ice.{{Ref|AGOT|21}} The Night's Watch can reach the top of the Wall from the southern side via ramps of earth and gravel,{{Ref|ASOS|56}} winch-drawn cages,{{Ref|AGOT|21}} and steps of ice, stone, or wood.{{Ref|ASOS|56}} 

The twisting tunnel through the Wall at [[Castle Black]] is secured by a thick oaken door and three grates with heavy iron bars, massive chains that must be unlocked, and murder holes,{{Ref|AGOT|48}}{{Ref|ASOS|64}} while the gate at the [[Nightfort]] had an iron portcullis.{{Ref|ASOS|56}} All tunnels have been sealed except for those at Castle Black, Eastwatch, and the [[Shadow Tower]], however.{{Ref|ASOS|56}}

The galleys of Eastwatch patrol the [[Bay of Seals]] in part to catch smugglers who bypass the Wall through the sea and trade weapons to [[wildlings]].{{Ref|aSoS|54}} In the west the southern [[Frostfangs]] and the [[Gorge]] make the terrain impassable for all but small groups of raiders.<ref>[[So Spake Martin]]: [https://www.westeros.org/Citadel/SSM/Entry/Many_Questions1/ Many Questions (December 28, 1998)]</ref>

[[File:Wall IceGate by Kim Pope.jpg|thumb|350px|Tunnel through the Wall, barred by heavy iron bars, by Kim Pope for ''[[Game of Thrones]]'']]
The Wall provides a tremendous tactical advantage to its defenders, enabling a small group to hold off a much larger force. Defenders are generally beyond the range of bow shot or catapult and in turn rely on archery, catapult, and dropped objects to deter an assault. In particular, barrels containing rocks frozen in ice are effective in dispersing a mass charge.{{Ref|aSoS|64}} 

Attackers must rely on one of two tactics: a direct assault on one of the few well-defended gates, or scaling the Wall in small groups and attacking a gate from the rear. The gates have been designed with features such as murder holes and limited access that make them difficult to force.{{Ref|ASOS|64}} In an extreme case, gates can be filled with rock and ice, thus becoming as impervious as any other part of the wall.{{Ref|ADWD|17}}

Scaling the Wall involves similar difficulties. [[Wildlings]] climb the northern side of the Wall with hempen rope, stone hammers, ice axes, and spiked boots.{{Ref|ASOS|30}} A team of determined climbers can reach the top, but only if undetected by defenders, who can easily knock them off with dropped objects or archery. The Wall is thought to "defend itself", disgorging sheets of its own ice.{{Ref|ASOS|30}}

Wildlings believe that the hundreds of caves north of the Wall all connect, and that [[Gorne's Way]] is a subterranean passage which runs underneath the structure.{{Ref|ASOS|26}}