Wolfswood
The wolfswood is a large forest in the north named for the great many wolves one can hear howling in the night.[1]
Contents
Layout
The wolfswood stretches across the northwestern part of the north.[2] It extends as far west as Sea Dragon Point and nearly as far south as Torrhen's Square. It is bounded to the north by the Bay of Ice and to the northeast by the lands of the northern mountain clans. To the east the wolfswood reaches Winterfell and extends north and south of the seat of House Stark. North of Winterfell the forest meets the foothills of the northern mountains. In the southeastern corner of the wolfswood south of Winterfell is a lake and a tributary of the White Knife. The kingsroad also travels north through the eastern wolfswood.[3][1] The edge of the wolfswood is two miles away from the winter town near Winterfell.[4]
The wolfswood is made up of oak, evergreen, and black brier,[1] as well as sentinels, soldier pines, and hawthorn,[5] beech, ash, chestnuts, ironwoods, and firs.[6] Weirwoods are occasionally found isolated or in pairs.[7] It contains abundant timber[8] and stone.[9]
Besides wolves, other animals living in the wolfswood include badgers,[5] bears,[5] boars,[10] deers,[5] elks,[11] fish,[12] foxes,[5] rabbits,[5] treecats,[11] black squirrels,[4] and empress spiders.[4]
People
Even in the deepest parts of the wolfswood, there are crofters, foresters, and hunters.[13] Some wolfswood men are accomplished at ice-fishing.[12] Deepwood Motte, the wooden fastness of House Glover, sits on a hill within the forest near the Bay of Ice.[14] Families or clans sworn to Deepwood Motte include Houses Forrester, Woods, Branch, and Bole, all of whom are skilled woodsmen.[15] The Starks of Winterfell often hunt boar in the forest.[10]
History
According to the traditions of House Blackwood, the family once controlled most of what is now the wolfswood before being driven from the north by the Kings of Winter, the Starks of Winterfell. The Blackwoods then settled at Raventree Hall in the riverlands, where they ruled as kings before the coming of the Andals.[16] The Glovers of Deepwood Motte in the western wolfswood were also once kings during the Age of Heroes, but they were reduced to vassals of Winterfell.[16]
Parts of the wolfswood were reduced to ashes by Harrag Hoare, King of the Iron Islands.[16]
When Queen Alysanne Targaryen visited the north in 58 AC, she hunted elk and wild boar in the wolfswood with Lord Alaric Stark.[17]
Jory Cassel once brought Robb Stark, Bran Stark, and Jon Snow into the wolfswood to fish for trout in a rushing stream near Winterfell.[4]
Recent Events
A Game of Thrones
Lord Eddard Stark leads a party to a holdfast in the hills north of Winterfell to execute a deserter from the Night's Watch. While returning south, they find a dead direwolf with six pups near a bridge in the woods.[18]
En route to Castle Black, Jon Snow and Tyrion Lannister travel on the kingsroad through the eastern wolfswood. They are met by Yoren at a wooden holdfast near the edge of the forest.[1]
Bran Stark joins his brother Robb and Theon Greyjoy when a hunting party ventures into the wolfswood near Winterfell. After Bran becomes separated from the main party, he is attacked by six deserters from the Night's Watch and wildlings. Robb, Theon, and the direwolves Grey Wind and Summer save the crippled Bran from the outlaws, however.[4]
A Clash of Kings
After hearing of the ironborn threat to Torrhen's Square, Maester Luwin sends ravens to White Harbor, the barrowlands, and the deepest parts of the wolfswood with instructions to summon their levies.[19] The ironborn capture Winterfell and Deepwood Motte, however.[19][20]
After Bran and his companions, Osha, Hodor, and Meera and Jojen Reed, vanish from Winterfell, Theon Greyjoy follows a trail that leads north by northwest into the misty wolfswood. His hunting party passes near treacherous gullies, stony hills, a deserted crofter's cottage, and a flooded quarry.[5] Unbeknownst to Theon, however, Bran and his friends have hidden in the crypts of Winterfell.[11]
Summer and Shaggydog hunt down an elk in the wolfswood and defend their catch from a treecat.[11]
A Storm of Swords
Bran and his companions travel north to the Wall. Rather than take the kingsroad from Winterfell, they detour around the western edge of the hills found north of the castle.[21] Bran is protected within Tumbledown Tower while Summer hunts in the eastern wolfswood. While in Summer's mind, Bran considers himself to be "prince of the green, prince of the wolfswood".[13]
A Dance with Dragons
At Deepwood Mootte, Asha Greyjoy is unable to see the Bay of Ice only five leagues away because of the thick forest.[6]
Jon Snow learns in a letter from Stannis Baratheon that crofters from the wolfswood have joined his army after the fight by Deepwood Motte.[22] Because of a blizzard, the host of Stannis travels slowly in their march on Winterfell, where Lord Roose Bolton has his own army. Stannis's men are forced to make camp at a crofters' village in the eastern forest.[15][12]
Chapters that take place in the wolfswood
- A Game of Thrones: 13. Tyrion II
- A Game of Thrones: 37. Bran V
- A Clash of Kings: 50. Theon IV
- A Storm of Swords: 9: Bran I
- A Dance with Dragons: 42. The King's Prize
- A Dance with Dragons: 62. The Sacrifice
Quotes
With the mountains a wall to the west, the road veered north by northeast through the wood, a forest of oak and evergreen and black brier that seemed older and darker than any Tyrion had ever seen. "The wolfswood," Benjen Stark called it, and indeed their nights came alive with the howls of distant packs, and some not so distant.[1]
—thoughts of Tyrion Lannister
He knew this wood, but he had been so long confined to Winterfell that he felt as though he were seeing it for the first time. The smells filled his nostrils; the sharp fresh tang of pine needles, the earthy odor of wet rotting leaves, the hints of animal musk and distant cooking fires.[4]
—thoughts of Bran Stark
The wolfswood is full of danger; your last ride should have taught you that.[23]
—Luwin to Bran Stark
Wisps of pale mist threaded between the trees. Sentinels and soldier pines grew thick about here, and there was nothing as dark and gloomy as an evergreen forest.[5]
—thoughts of Theon Greyjoy
The sea was closer, only five leagues north, but Asha could not see it. Too many hills stood in the way. And trees, so many trees. The wolfswood, the northmen named the forest. Most nights you could hear the wolves, calling to each other through the dark. An ocean of leaves. Would it were an ocean of water.[6]
—thoughts of Asha Greyjoy
Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series
In Game of Thrones - A Telltale Games Series, House Forrester's seat of Ironrath is located at the edge of the largest ironwood forest in Westeros. The Forresters control most of the wolfswood's ironwoods and they are rivals with House Whitehill.[24]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 13, Tyrion II.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Map of the North
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, Westeros.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 A Game of Thrones, Chapter 37, Bran V.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 5.7 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 50, Theon IV.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 26, The Wayward Bride.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 48, Jon VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 66, Theon VI.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 37, The Prince of Winterfell.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 19, Arya V.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 69, Bran VII.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 62, The Sacrifice.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 A Storm of Swords, Chapter 9, Bran I.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Map of the North
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 42, The King's Prize.
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 The World of Ice & Fire, The North: The Kings of Winter.
- ↑ Fire & Blood, Jaehaerys and Alysanne - Their Triumphs and Tragedies.
- ↑ A Game of Thrones, Chapter 1, Bran I.
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 A Clash of Kings, Chapter 46, Bran VI.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 56, Theon V.
- ↑ The Lands of Ice and Fire, Journeys.
- ↑ A Dance with Dragons, Chapter 35, Jon VII.
- ↑ A Clash of Kings, Chapter 4, Bran I.
- ↑ The Telltale Blog: Your Story Begins: First details on 'Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series'