The Wall

The Wall is the defining geographical and symbolic structure of the far north of Westeros, a barrier of ice seven hundred feet high and a hundred leagues long, stretching from the Gorge in the west to the Bay of Seals in the east. Raised by Brandon the Builder and the children of the forest in the Age of Heroes, it is said to be woven with ancient spells that prevent the Others and their wights from passing. For eight thousand years, the men of the Night's Watch have manned its castles and walked its icy battlements, sworn to be "the shield that guards the realms of men." In A Dance with Dragons, the Wall is the seat of Lord Commander Jon Snow, a frozen frontier where the Watch's ancient oath is tested by the arrival of Stannis Baratheon's army, the surrender of thousands of free folk, and the growing threat of the Others beyond its northern face.

Physical Description and Construction

The Wall is a cliff of ice, not stone, and its appearance shifts with the weather. On cloudy days it looks like white rock; on moonless nights it is as black as coal; in snowstorms it seems carved of snow itself. But on bright days it shimmers like a septon's crystal, every crack and crevasse limned by sunlight, as frozen rainbows dance and die behind translucent ripples. Its base is a hundred leagues from end to end, and its height is seven hundred feet. The strength of the Wall is its height; the length of the Wall is its weakness. The tunnel through the Wall is narrow and twisting, and the gate is closed with bars of black iron as thick as a man's arm. The ice cells carved into its base are used for prisoners, and the cold within them is so bitter that even shit freezes solid. The Wall is not a single solid mass; it has moods, as the older men at Castle Black say: "The Wall has more moods than Mad King Aerys." It weeps when the weather warms, sending cold tears trickling down upon those who pass beneath it.

The Wall as a Military Fortification

The Wall is the most formidable defensive structure in the known world. Mance Rayder's host of thousands broke against it like a wave upon a stony shore, though the defenders were no more than a handful of old men, green boys, and cripples. The strength of the Wall is its height; climbers are desperately vulnerable whilst on the ascent, as stones, spears, and pots of burning pitch can be rained down on them from above. If climbers reach the top undetected, however, they can carve out a toehold and drop ropes and ladders for thousands more. That was how Raymun Redbeard did it, Raymun who had been King-Beyond-the-Wall in the days of Jon Snow's grandfather's grandfather. The Watch now has men in only three of the nineteen forts along the Wall, and Jon Snow works to garrison more, opening Icemark, Greyguard, Long Barrow, Sable Hall, and Deep Lake. The Wall is also a place of constant labor; builders push up a new switchback stair to join the remnants of the old, working from dawn to dusk, for without the stair there is no way to reach the top save by winch.

The Wall as a Political and Social Frontier

Beyond the Wall lies the haunted forest, the Frostfangs, and the lands of the free folk. The Wall is the line between the Seven Kingdoms and the wilderness, between law and chaos, between the living and the dead. Stannis Baratheon makes his camp at the Wall after his defeat on the Blackwater, and Jon Snow must navigate the competing demands of the king, the queen's men, the free folk, and his own brothers. The Wall is also a place of refuge; Jon Snow allows thousands of free folk to pass through its gates, settling them in the Gift and in abandoned castles, hoping to make common cause against the Others. The Wall is a place of death as well; the heads of rangers are impaled on spears beyond it, and the dead rise again as wights with black hands and bright blue eyes. The Wall is the last line of defense against the Long Night, and Jon Snow knows that if it falls, the realm falls with it.

The Wall's Magical and Symbolic Significance

The Wall is not merely a physical barrier; it is imbued with ancient magic. Melisandre of Asshai says, "Great was the lore that raised it, and great the spells locked beneath its ice. We walk beneath one of the hinges of the world." The Wall prevents the Others from passing, and the wights cannot cross it. The children of the forest and the First Men raised it together, and its foundations are sunk deep into the earth. The Wall is also a symbol of the Night's Watch's oath, a reminder of the duty to protect the realms of men. Jon Snow reflects that the Wall is his, and the Watch as well, and he must do what he thinks best, even if it means breaking the ancient traditions of the Watch. The Wall is a place of cold and darkness, but also of hope; it is the shield that guards the realms of men, and as long as it stands, there is a chance to survive the winter.