Editing Haunted forest

[[File:Westeros - Byound the wall.jpg|400px|thumb|The major locations [[beyond the Wall]] (click to zoom)|link=Special:FilePath/Westeros - Byound the wall.jpg]]

The '''haunted forest''' is a vast forest [[beyond the Wall]] in northern [[Westeros]]. Located beyond the [[Seven Kingdoms]], it is inhabited by the [[free folk]] and is bounded to the west by the [[Frostfangs]] and to the east by the [[Shivering Sea]] and the [[Bay of Seals]]. North of the haunted forest is the unmapped [[Land of Always Winter]].{{Ref|TLOIAF}}

==Geography==
{{See also|:Category:Images of the haunted forest|l1=Images of the haunted forest}}
[[File:Juan Carlos BarquetThe Haunted Forest.jpg|thumb|The haunted forest, by Juan Carlos Barquet © Fantasy Flight Games]]
The wood is named the haunted forest by the brothers of the [[Night's Watch]], who traditionally have cut all trees within half a mile of the [[Wall]] for visibility and firewood. As the number of black brothers has diminished over the centuries, however, the treeline of the wildwood has crept closer to the Wall, aside from near the inhabited forts of [[Castle Black]], the [[Shadow Tower]], and [[Eastwatch-by-the-Sea]].{{ref|AGOT|21}}

From atop the Wall, the haunted forest appears as a vast green expanse when not covered in snow.{{ref|FAB|Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies}}{{ref|ACOK|34}} Types of trees in the forest include [[ash tree|ash]],{{ref|ASOS|26}} broadleaf,{{ref|ACOK|34}} [[chestnut tree|chestnut]],{{ref|ACOK|23}} [[fir]],{{ref|ASOS|26}} [[ironwood]],{{ref|ACOK|23}} [[oak]],{{ref|ACOK|23}} [[pine]],{{ref|ACOK|34}} [[sentinel]],{{ref|ACOK|23}} [[soldier pine]],{{ref|ASOS|7}} and [[weirwood]].{{ref|AGOT|48}} Wild white [[rose]]s grow on some chestnuts.{{ref|ACOK|23}} The haunted forest is the only known location where one can find more than two or three weirwoods in a single place.{{ref|AGOT|48}}  A [[weirwood grove]] is found near Castle Black.{{ref|AGOT|48}}{{ref|ADWD|35}}

Major rivers in the haunted forest include the [[Milkwater]] and the [[Antler River]],{{ref|TLOIAF|Beyond the Wall}}, and the wood also contains streams, brooks, deep lakes, flint ridges, and hills.{{ref|ACOK|23}}{{ref|ASOS|26}} Unlike in the [[Seven Kingdoms]], there are no ferries or bridges across the lakes and rivers beyond the Wall.{{ref|ASOS|46}} The woods are thinner near the [[Shivering Sea]], with more flatlands, rolling hills, and salt marshes than in the west.{{ref|ADWD|69}}

The haunted forest contains numerous [[free folk]] villages and settlements, such as [[Whitetree]],{{ref|ACOK|13}} [[Craster's Keep]],{{ref|ACOK|23}} and perhaps [[Ruddy Hall]]. The [[Fist of the First Men]], a great hill isolated near the Milkwater in the western part of the forest,{{Ref|TLOIAF|Beyond the Wall}} contains an abandoned [[ringfort]] of the [[First Men]].{{ref|ACOK|34}}

"Ranger's roads" are game trails and streambeds used by the [[rangers]] of the Watch to traverse the silent wood.{{ref|ACOK|13}} Few rangers have traveled further than fifty leagues into the haunted forest, however.{{ref|TWOIAF|The Wall and Beyond: The Wildlings}}

==History==
Blocks of ice from the haunted forest's lakes are said to have been used in the construction of the [[Wall]] centuries ago.{{ref|AGOT|41}}

King [[Theon Stark]] joined the [[Night's Watch]] for an expedition beyond the Wall which broke the power of the [[wildlings]] for a generation.{{ref|TWOIAF|The North: The Kings of Winter}}

Six hundred years ago, ashes from [[Hardhome]] rained down on the haunted forest and the [[Shivering Sea]] for near six months.{{ref|ADWD|39}}

In {{date|50}}, Lord [[Walton Stark (son of Brandon)|Walton Stark]] was killed by [[giants]] while pursuing Ser [[Raymund Mallery]]'s rebels in the forest.{{ref|FAB|A Surfeit of Rulers}}

Queen [[Alysanne Targaryen]] was escorted into the haunted forest by Lord Commander [[Lothor Burley]] and a hundred [[rangers]] in {{date|58}}.{{ref|FAB|Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies}}

==Recent Events==
===''A Game of Thrones''===
[[File:Patrick McEvoy nights watch.jpg|thumb|Man of the [[Night's Watch]] guarding the [[Wall]], by Patrick McEvoy © Fantasy Flight Games]]
While ranging in the haunted forest, Ser [[Waymar Royce]], [[Will]], and [[Gared]] are attacked by [[Others]], who had been believed extinct.{{ref|AGOT|Prologue}}

[[Benjen Stark]], the [[First Ranger]], leads a ranging party into the forest, but he does not return as expected.{{ref|AGOT|19}}{{ref|AGOT|21}}

[[Jon Snow]] and [[Samwell Tarly]] swear the vow of the [[Night's Watch]] in a [[weirwood grove]] just north of the [[Wall]] and [[Castle Black]].{{ref|AGOT|48}} The corpses of [[Othor]] and [[Jafer Flowers]], members of Ben's party, are found near the Wall. After being brought back to Castle Black, the bodies rise as [[wights]] and attack the Night's Watch.{{ref|AGOT|52}}

===''A Clash of Kings''===
[[Jeor Mormont]], [[Lord Commander of the Night's Watch]], leads a [[great ranging]] northwest from Castle Black into the haunted forest in search of [[Mance Rayder]]'s [[free folk|wildling]] host and the missing [[Benjen Stark]]. [[Samwell Tarly]] is frightened of the forest,{{ref|ACOK|6}} and even veteran brothers become more somber as they travel deeper into the wood.{{ref|ACOK|13}}

Each [[wildling]] village found by the ranging has been abandoned, and foragers find little game in the forest.{{ref|ACOK|13}} The Night's Watch stop at [[Craster's Keep]], and [[Craster]] explains that the villages have been emptied because Mance has been gathering the wildlings in the [[Frostfangs]].{{ref|ACOK|23}}

Lord Commander Mormont has the Watch encamp at the [[Fist of the First Men]], and foresters cut down trees for firewood. [[Jarman Buckwell]]'s sharpest-eyed men hide in trees as scouts. Near the base of the hill, [[Ghost]] leads Jon to a buried cache containing [[dragonglass]] knives, spearheads, arrowheads, and an old warhorn.{{ref|ACOK|34}} When [[Qhorin Halfhand]]'s men from the [[Shadow Tower]] arrive at the Fist, Qhorin explains they had been delayed by [[Alfyn Crowkiller]]'s band.{{ref|ACOK|43}} Jeor sends ranging parties led by Qhorin, Jarman, and [[Thoren Smallwood]] to scout in the nearby mountains.{{ref|ACOK|43}}

===''A Storm of Swords''===
[[File:Brittmartin Haunted Forest.jpg|thumb|[[Rangers]] encamped in the haunted forest, by BrittMartin © Green Ronin Publishing]]
The Night's Watch encamped at the solitary hill amidst the snowy forest are suddenly attacked by [[wights]] and overwhelmed in the [[fight at the Fist]].{{ref|ASOS|Prologue}} The scattered survivors make their way back to Craster's Keep, but many die from wounds or attacks by Others and wights along the way.{{ref|ASOS|18}} After an Other kills [[Small Paul]], [[Samwell Tarly]] kills the strange creature with a dragonglass dagger.{{ref|ASOS|18}} The brothers of the Night's Watch disperse further after the [[mutiny at Craster's Keep]], with only a few making it back to [[Castle Black]].{{ref|ASOS|48}}

Sam and the wildling [[Gilly]] flee from Craster's through the haunted forest. After being saved from wights by [[Coldhands]],{{ref|ASOS|46}} they reach the [[Nightfort]] in safety.{{ref|ASOS|56}}

Meanwhile, [[Mance Rayder]] has gathered the [[free folk]] and moves his host along the [[Milkwater]] through the forest toward Castle Black.{{ref|ASOS|Prologue}} [[Jon Snow]], having joined the wildlings by claiming to be a deserter, is part of the raiding party of [[Jarl]] and [[Styr]]. Jon sleeps with [[Ygritte]] during the journey south to the [[Wall]], including in a [[cave near Greyguard|cave grotto]],{{ref|ACOK|26}} and they climb the Wall{{ref|ASOS|30}} at [[Greyguard]].{{ref|ASOS|41}} Mance's host besieges the Wall,{{ref|ASOS|64}} but they are defeated in the [[battle beneath the Wall]] when the army of [[Stannis Baratheon]] unexpectedly attacks from the east through the forest.{{ref|ASOS|73}}

===''A Dance with Dragons''===
Mance's wilding host collapses after being defeated by Stannis and the Night's Watch. Those who are not captured at Castle Black flee throughout the regions [[beyond the Wall]],{{ref|ADWD|Prologue}}{{ref|ADWD|10}} but many free folk succumb to hunger, the cold, sickness, and [[wights]].{{ref|ADWD|Prologue}} [[Queen's men]] imprison "Mance", actually [[Rattleshirt]],{{ref|ADWD|31}} in a cage at Castle Black made from the forest's trees.{{ref|ADWD|10}}

Jon Snow, now Lord Commander, sometimes watches the forest from atop the Wall.{{ref|ADWD|7}} He sends three groups of rangers led by Ser [[Alliser Thorne]], [[Jack Bulwer|Black Jack Bulwer]], and [[Kedge Whiteye]] to scout north of the Wall;{{ref|ADWD|28}} Black Jack's group is killed by the [[Weeper]],{{ref|ADWD|31}} while nothing is known of the other two groups.

Jon leads recruits to swear their vows at the same [[weirwood grove]] where he swore his. Two of them, [[Jax]] and [[Leathers]], are wildlings who grew up in the forest. They find a small group of peaceful wildlings and the giant [[Wun Weg Wun Dar Wun]] at the grove.{{ref|ADWD|35}}

[[Val]] volunteers to search the forest for [[Tormund]],{{ref|ADWD|39}} and she eventually brings Tormund and his followers back to Castle Black.{{ref|ADWD|53}}{{ref|ADWD|58}} Tormund is to lead the Night's Watch in a ranging to rescue [[Cotter Pyke]] and the wildlings at [[Hardhome]]. Before they depart, however, Jon is attacked in the [[mutiny at Castle Black]].{{ref|ADWD|69}}

[[Bran Stark]] travels with his companions toward the [[cave of the three-eyed crow]], and he observes the stillness of the snowy forest. While Bran shelters in the longhall of an abandoned village, Coldhands kills the [[mutiny at Craster's Keep|mutineers]] from [[Craster's Keep]].{{ref|ADWD|4}} The party eventually arrives at the hillside cave, a cleft between weirwoods. Wights attack them as they climb, but they are saved by [[Leaf]].{{ref|ADWD|13}} While Bran learns from the [[three-eyed crow]], [[Jojen Reed]] sometimes spends hours looking out over the forest from the cave's mouth.{{ref|ADWD|34}} [[Summer]] finds no living game during his hunts.{{ref|ADWD|34}} As a [[skinchanger]], Bran enters a [[raven]] and flies over the hill.{{ref|ADWD|34}}

==Quotes==
[[File:Haunted forest.jpg|thumb|right|The haunted forest by Carlo Bocchio © Fantasy Flight Games]]
{{quote|The first time he had been sent [[beyond the Wall|beyond]], all the old stories had come rushing back, and his bowels had turned to water. He had laughed about it afterward. He was a veteran of a hundred rangings by now, and the endless dark wilderness that the [[southron]] called the haunted forest had no more terrors for him.{{ref|AGOT|Prologue}}|thoughts of [[Will]]}}

{{quote|Few axes had ever swung in ''that'' black wood, where even the [[moon]]light could not penetrate the ancient tangle of root and thorn and grasping limb. Out there the trees grew huge, and the [[ranger]]s said they seemed to brood and knew not men. It was small wonder the [[Night's Watch]] named it the haunted forest.{{ref|AGOT|21}}|thoughts of [[Tyrion Lannister]]}}

{{quote|Good men have gone into those woods before, and never come out.{{ref|AGOT|24}}|[[Yoren]] to a [[Night's Watch|black brother]]}}

{{Quote|[[Beyond the Wall]] the haunted forest stands as it stood in the [[Dawn Age]], long before the [[Andals]] brought [[Faith of the Seven|the Seven]] across the [[narrow sea]].{{Ref|AGOT|48}}|[[Jeor Mormont]] to [[Grenn]]}}

{{Quote|No one would admit to being afraid—they were men of the [[Night's Watch]], after all—but Jon could feel the unease. Four empty villages, no [[free folk|wildlings]] anywhere, even the game seemingly fled. The haunted forest had never seemed more haunted.{{ref|ACOK|13}}|thoughts of [[Jon Snow]]}}

{{Quote|''This is the haunted forest'', he told himself. ''Maybe there are [[ghosts]] here, the spirits of the [[First Men]]. This was their place, once''.{{Ref|ACOK|34}}|thoughts of [[Jon Snow]]}}

{{Quote|To south and east the wood went on as far as Jon could see, a vast tangle of root and limb painted in a thousand shades of green, with here and there a patch of red where a [[weirwood]] shouldered through the [[pine]]s and [[sentinel]]s, or a blush of yellow where some broadleafs had begun to turn. When the wind blew, he could hear the creak and groan of branches older than he was. A thousand leaves fluttered, and for a moment the forest seemed a deep green sea, storm-tossed and heaving, eternal and unknowable.{{Ref|ACOK|34}}|thoughts of [[Jon Snow]]}}

{{Quote|Jon took a breath of the crisp morning air and allowed himself to hope. The eastern sky was pink near the horizon and pale grey higher up. The [[Sword of the Morning (constellation)|Sword of the Morning]] still hung in the south, the bright white star in its hilt blazing like a [[diamond]] in the dawn, but the blacks and greys of the darkling forest were turning once again to greens and golds, reds and russets. And above the [[soldier pine]]s and [[oak]]s and [[ash tree|ash]] and [[sentinel]]s stood the [[Wall]], the ice pale and glimmering beneath the dust and dirt that pocked its surface.{{ref|ASOS|30}}|thoughts of [[Jon Snow]]}}

{{Quote|It was too cold to talk, and they dare not light a fire. [[Coldhands]] had warned them against that. ''These woods are not as empty as you think'', he had said. ''You cannot know what the light might summon from the darkness''.{{ref|ADWD|4}}|thoughts of [[Bran Stark]]}}

{{Quote|'''Jon''': My lady, you do not have to do this. The risk—<br>'''Val''': —is mine, Lord Snow. And I am no [[southron]] lady but a woman of the [[free folk]]. I know the forest better than all your black-cloaked [[rangers]]. It holds no [[ghosts]] for me.{{ref|ADWD|39}}|[[Jon Snow]] and [[Val]]}}

==Chapters that takes place in the haunted forest==
*[[A Game of Thrones-Prologue|''A Game of Thrones'': 0. Prologue (Will)]]
*[[A Game of Thrones-Chapter 48|''A Game of Thrones'': 48. Jon VI]]
*[[A Clash of Kings-Chapter 13|''A Clash of Kings'': 13. Jon II]]
*[[A Clash of Kings-Chapter 23|''A Clash of Kings'': 23. Jon III]]
*[[A Clash of Kings-Chapter 34|''A Clash of Kings'': 34. Jon IV]]
*[[A Clash of Kings-Chapter 43|''A Clash of Kings'': 43. Jon V]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Prologue|''A Storm of Swords'': 0. Prologue (Chett)]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 15|''A Storm of Swords'': 15. Jon II]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 18|''A Storm of Swords'': 18. Samwell I]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 26|''A Storm of Swords'': 26. Jon III]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 30|''A Storm of Swords'': 30. Jon IV]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 33|''A Storm of Swords'': 33. Samwell II]]
*[[A Storm of Swords-Chapter 46|''A Storm of Swords'': 46. Samwell III]]
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Prologue|''A Dance with Dragons'': 0. Prologue (Varamyr)]]
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 4|''A Dance with Dragons'': 4. Bran I]]
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 13|''A Dance with Dragons'': 13. Bran II]]
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 34|''A Dance with Dragons'': 34. Bran III]]
*[[A Dance with Dragons-Chapter 35|''A Dance with Dragons'': 35. Jon VII]]

==Behind the Scenes==
According to [[George R. R. Martin]], the densely-forested lands near the Wall are reminiscent of [[w:Boreal forest of Canada|Canadian forests]] near [[w:Hudson Bay|Hudson Bay]] and north of [[w:Michigan|Michigan]].<ref>SmarterTravel: [http://www.smartertravel.com/blogs/today-in-travel/game-of-thrones-exclusive-george-martin-talks-season-the-winds-of-winter-and-real-world-influences-for-song-of-ice-and-fire.html?id=10593041 George R.R. Martin Talks Season Two, 'The Winds of Winter,' and Real-World Influences for 'A Song of Ice and Fire'], March 26, 2012</ref>

==References==
{{references|3}}

{{Region Beyond the Wall}}

[[Category:Haunted forest| ]]
[[Category:Forests]]
[[Category:Places beyond the Wall]]

[[es:Bosque Encantado]]
[[fr:Forêt hantée]]
[[pt:Floresta Assombrada]]
[[ru:Зачарованный лес]]
[[zh:鬼影森林]]