Battle of the Long Lake

The Battle of the Long Lake was the bloody climax of Raymun Redbeard's invasion of the north, a campaign that began when the King-Beyond-the-Wall led his host south of the Wall and ended with his corpse on the shore of the lake and the remnants of his army buried by the men of the Night's Watch. The battle is remembered not only for the destruction of the wildling host but for the way it exposed the Watch's weakness: the black brothers arrived too late to fight, and were given the task of burying the dead as a mark of Lord Stark's displeasure.

Causes and Background

Raymun Redbeard was a King-Beyond-the-Wall who, generations before the events of the main narrative, led a massive wildling host south of the Wall. His invasion followed the classic pattern of wildling assaults: a large, undisciplined force crossing the Wall and moving south through the haunted forest, seeking plunder and land in the Gift and beyond. The Night's Watch, under Lord Commander Jack Musgood—called Jolly Jack before the battle and Sleepy Jack forever after—failed to detect or stop the incursion in time. The Watch arrived at the battlefield only after the fighting was over, a failure that would haunt the order's reputation.

What Happens

The wildling host met its doom on the shores of Long Lake, caught between two northern forces. Lord Willam of Winterfell commanded the Stark army, while Harmond Umber—called the Drunken Giant—led the Umber forces. The two armies converged on Raymun's host and destroyed it. Raymun Redbeard himself was slain by Artos the Implacable, Lord Willam's younger brother, who fought with particular ferocity after his brother fell. The wildling dead were left scattered across the battlefield, their bodies covering the ground where the fighting had been thickest.

Consequences and Aftermath

The aftermath of the battle defined its legacy. The Night's Watch, having arrived too late to participate in the fighting, was assigned the grim task of burying the dead. Artos Stark, grieving over the headless corpse of his fallen brother Lord Willam, assigned this duty to the Watch in his wroth. Lord Commander Jack Musgood, who had been known as Jolly Jack before the invasion, was thereafter called Sleepy Jack, a mocking name that stuck for the rest of his life. The battle became a cautionary tale within the Night's Watch about the dangers of complacency and the cost of failing to guard the Wall. Jon Snow, reflecting on this history as Lord Commander, resolved not to be remembered as Sleepy Jon Snow, and used the memory of the battle to justify his aggressive garrisoning of the abandoned castles along the Wall.