Editing Moat Cailin (section)

===Ancient History===
Raised by the ancient [[First Men]],{{ref|AGOT|53}} it is claimed that Moat Cailin has defended against southern invasions for [[Timeline of major events|ten thousand years]].{{Ref|ACOK|66}}

According to myth, the [[greenseers]] of the [[children of the forest]] worked dark [[magic]] at Moat Cailin.{{ref|TWOIAF|Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men}} From the [[Children's Tower]],{{ref|AGOT|55}} they are said to have used the [[hammer of the waters]] on the [[Neck]]{{ref|ACOK|50}} to break [[Westeros]] in two,{{ref|ADWD|20}} separating the north from the south in the same manner they shattered the [[Arm of Dorne]]. The children failed and only succeeded in flooding it, however, creating bogs and swamps. Some scholars discount the legend, instead attributing the watery landscape to natural events.{{ref|TWOIAF|Ancient History: The Coming of the First Men}}

The [[Marsh King]]s and their [[crannogmen]] held Moat Cailin—sometimes with the assistance of the [[Barrow Kings]], [[Red Kings]], and [[Kings of Winter]]—against all attacks from the south.{{ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}} The Kings of Winter from [[House Stark]] eventually defeated the Marsh Kings, adding Moat Cailin to the realm of [[Winterfell]].{{ref|AGOT|66}} The swampy terrain was enough to prevent Moat Cailin from falling during the [[coming of the Andals]] to Westeros. It was a key defense of the north{{Ref|AGOT|66}} against which [[Andal]] armies threw themselves time after time with no success.{{ref|TWOIAF|Ancient History: The Arrival of the Andals}} 

The wooden keep rotted away "a thousand years past".{{refn|group=N|name=Catelyn|[[Catelyn Stark]] recalls the "wooden keep was gone entirely, rotted away a thousand years past" (''[[A Game of Thrones]]'', [[A Game of Thrones-Chapter 55|Catelyn VIII]]). It is unknown if this means one thousand years ago (seven hundred years before [[Aegon's Conquest]]) or if [[George R. R. Martin]] is being figurative.}} The three remaining towers are more than capable of defending the passage to the south, however, provided that they are fully manned.{{Ref|AGOT|55}} Moat Cailin has never been taken from the south, although it is vulnerable from the north and the east.{{ref|ADWD|17}}