Construction of Deep Lake and Abandonment of the Nightfort

The construction of Deep Lake and abandonment of the Nightfort marked a practical intervention by Alysanne Targaryen on behalf of the Night’s Watch: she listened to its needs, then pledged her own jewels to replace a failing castle with a more manageable one. The new stronghold took eight years to build, and the Nightfort was abandoned before it was finished.

The case for a new castle

At Castle Black, Alysanne spent afternoons with Lord Lothor Burley and his officers discussing the wildlings, the Wall, and the needs of the Night’s Watch. She understood why the Watch required a castle between Snowgate and Icemark, but judged the Nightfort itself crumbling, overlarge, and ruinously expensive to heat. Rather than leave the Watch with a choice between maintaining an unsuitable fortress and going without a replacement, she proposed a smaller castle farther east.

Burley agreed with the need but pointed to the obstacle: the Night’s Watch lacked the coin to build new castles. Alysanne had anticipated this objection. She pledged her jewels to meet the cost, turning her assessment of the Watch’s needs into a direct commitment of royal resources. Her offer made the construction possible without requiring the order to fund the project itself.

Construction and abandonment

The replacement castle was named Deep Lake. Raising it took eight years, but the Nightfort was abandoned even before Deep Lake was complete, in keeping with Alysanne’s wish that the Watch leave the deteriorating stronghold. The transition therefore did not wait for the new castle to be finished: the decision to leave the Nightfort preceded the completion of its successor.

The project was accompanied by another change to the Wall’s castles. Lord Commander Burley renamed Snowgate Queensgate in Alysanne’s honor. At Deep Lake, a statue of the queen was placed outside the main hall and, according to the account, still stands there.

A queen’s attention made material

Alysanne’s role in the project grew out of her stated belief that a queen must know how to listen. At Castle Black, listening meant more than hearing the officers’ account of the Watch’s circumstances: she recognized the practical shortcomings of the Nightfort and answered its financial constraint with a personal pledge. The new castle, the abandonment of the old one, and the honors attached to Alysanne’s name give that exchange lasting physical consequences. Her intervention is remembered not only in the name Queensgate but in the statue at Deep Lake, set beside the stronghold her jewels helped bring into being.