The New Gift was a further strip of land south of the Wall, secured for the Night’s Watch during Queen Alysanne’s northern journey. Added to Brandon’s Gift, it doubled the land available to the Watch, answering concerns about how the order could be sustained through winter.

Setting and purpose

Brandon’s Gift was land south of the Wall granted to the Night’s Watch for its support and sustenance. When Alysanne visited it, she judged the existing provision inadequate: the soil was thin and stony, the hills were unpopulated, and the Watch lacked coin. Winter threatened to make its shortage of food still more severe.

Alysanne’s proposal

Alysanne proposed extending the Gift with a further strip of land to the south. The proposal depended on Lord Alaric Stark, whose cooperation mattered because the lands in question were currently held by lords. Although Alaric was a strong friend to the Night’s Watch, he recognized that those lords might object to losing their lands without consent.

Agreement and significance

Alysanne persuaded Alaric that he could win the landholders over, and he agreed to undertake that task. The account gives no precise boundaries or acreage for the New Gift; it records the result instead: the size of the Gift was doubled. The grant linked the queen’s concern for the Watch’s resources to the cooperation of the northern lord whose support could help make the expansion possible.