Castle Black

Castle Black is the principal stronghold of the Night's Watch, standing at roughly the middle of the Wall and serving as the seat of the Lord Commander. It is the most populous and important of the three garrisoned castles along the Wall, the others being the Shadow Tower to the west and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea to the east.

Unlike a conventional castle, Castle Black has no encircling walls; the Wall itself is its northern defense, and it is open to the south, never having been built to repel an attack from the lands it guards. It is from Castle Black that the rangers, builders, and stewards of the Watch carry out their duties.

Geography and structure

Castle Black is a cluster of towers, halls, and outbuildings at the foot of the Wall, many of them old and falling into disrepair as the order has dwindled. Notable structures include the King's Tower, the Lord Commander's Tower, the common hall, the armory, the rookery, the sept, and the wormways, the tunnels and cellars beneath. The Wall looms over all of it, and a great wooden stair and an iron winch-cage carry men to its top.

A tunnel guarded by iron bars and gates runs through the Wall at Castle Black, the only gateway to the lands beyond for many miles. South of the castle runs the kingsroad toward Winterfell and the rest of the North; nearby lies the village of Mole's Town.

History

Castle Black is one of the nineteen castles raised along the Wall over the long history of the Night's Watch. As the order declined from many thousands of men to a few hundred, the Watch abandoned most of its castles and concentrated its strength in three, with Castle Black as the chief among them.

In the story

Jon Snow comes to Castle Black to take the black and is trained there under the master-at-arms Ser Alliser Thorne, befriending Samwell Tarly and other recruits. Lord Commander Jeor Mormont leads the Watch from the castle. Castle Black becomes the site of a desperate defense when the host of Mance Rayder assaults the Wall, and later the seat from which Jon Snow himself commands as Lord Commander.