Neck
The Neck is one of the southernmost regions of the North. Covered in swamp and bog, it divides the North from the rest of the Seven Kingdoms.[1] West of the Neck is a large forest and a peninsula containing Flint's Finger, the Flint Cliffs, and Cape Kraken, while to the east is the Bite. North of the Neck are the barrowlands, while to the south are the Twins, Seagard, and the Cape of Eagles in the riverlands. The Green Fork of the Trident originates in the Neck.[2]
The Neck is inhabited by crannogmen, who are led by House Reed of Greywater Watch. It contains huge flowers, lizard-lions and many snakes. The trees are half-drowned and covered in fungus, and beneath the water, quicksand will drown anyone who attempts to walk the waters.[3] The Neck is considered the key to any assault on the North.[4]
The kingsroad passes through the Neck. Due to the difficult terrain it becomes the causeway, which is the only the safe route to travel through the swamps of the Neck during times of peace. At the northern end of the causeway stand the formidable ruins of Moat Cailin.
History
The Neck was originally an independent kingdom ruled by the Marsh Kings, until King Rickard Stark of Winterfell defeated the last Marsh King and married his daughter, annexing the Neck to the domain of the Kings of Winter.[5]
Quotes
The Neck is the key to the kingdom.[6]
- Lord Balon Greyjoy
A dozen streams drain the wetwood, all shallow, silty, and uncharted. I would not even call them rivers. The channels are ever drifting and changing. There are endless sandbars, deadfalls, and tangles of rotting trees. And Greywater Watch moves.[7]
- Lord Jason Mallister
References and Notes
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Map of the North
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 15, Sansa I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 24, Theon II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 66, Bran VII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 24, Theon II, p 395.
- ↑ A Storm of Swords, Chapter 45, Catelyn V.