Editing A Game of Thrones (section)

===On the Wall===

In the lands [[beyond the Wall]], three men of the [[Night's Watch]] stumble across the massacred bodies of [[free folk|wildlings]]. Ser [[Waymar Royce]] is confronted by several creatures of ice, the fabled '[[Others]]' of legend. He fights one, but is killed. The second man, [[Will]], investigates Waymar's corpse only for it to come to life and strangle him. The third, [[Gared]], is so terrified of what he sees that he flees south to the Wall and then beyond.  He is the deserter executed by [[Eddard Stark]] in the first chapter of the book.

[[Jon Snow]] chooses to join the Night's Watch when his father departs for [[King's Landing]] and travels north with his uncle [[Benjen Stark]], the [[First Ranger]] of the Watch. At the Wall Jon finds that the Watch is beset with problems. A new [[King-Beyond-the-Wall]] has arisen in the [[Beyond the Wall|far northern lands]] to rally the wildlings to his banner. This man, [[Mance Rayder]], was once a brother of the Watch before fleeing to join the wildlings. Jon also learns that the Watch is grievously under strength, mustering barely a thousand men to cover the three hundred miles of the Wall, and its manpower is now made up of murderers and criminals who chose the Wall over execution or imprisonment. Some time after Jon's arrival, Benjen vanishes whilst on a ranging beyond the Wall.

Jon and many of the other younger men are remorselessly bullied by the master-at-arms, [[Alliser Thorne]], but Jon concocts a plan for them to stand up to him. Jon wins the friendship of [[Samwell Tarly]], a craven but intelligent boy from the [[Reach]], and also that of Maester [[Aemon Targaryen (son of Maekar I)|Aemon]]. Jon is startled to learn that Aemon is a member of [[House Targaryen]], the grand-uncle of the now-deposed Mad King [[Aerys II Targaryen]], and the oldest man alive in Westeros.

The [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]], [[Jeor Mormont]], is attacked by a corpse which suddenly comes back to life. Jon burns the [[wight]], saving Mormont's life. Shaken, Mormont resolves to lead the Watch beyond the Wall in strength to test Mance Rayder's strength. Although news of his father's death and brother's war causes Jon to doubt his calling, he decides his place is with the Watch.