The Wall

The Wall is a colossal fortification of ice that runs along the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms, separating the lands of Westeros from the wild country beyond. It is held and patrolled by the Night's Watch, the ancient order sworn to guard the realms of men against the dangers of the far north. The Wall is one of the great wonders of the world, said to be some three hundred miles long and seven hundred feet high.

The Wall was raised, according to legend, after the Long Night, in the age following the war against the Others. It is credited to Brandon the Builder, the same legendary figure said to have raised Winterfell, and the children of the forest and giants are sometimes said to have lent their aid. Magic is woven into its making, and the Others and their wights cannot pass it while it stands.

Geography

The Wall stretches from the Bay of Seals in the east to the Gorge in the west, where it meets the mountains near the Shadow Tower. Along its length stand nineteen castles, of which only three are still garrisoned in the time of the story: Castle Black near the center, the Shadow Tower in the west, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea on the eastern coast. The other castles stand abandoned and ruined.

The top of the Wall is wide enough to drive horsemen along it abreast. A great winch-lift raises men and supplies to its summit at Castle Black, and a single tunnel guarded by iron gates pierces it there. South of the Wall lies the Gift, lands granted to the Night's Watch for its support; north lies the haunted forest and the wild lands of the Free Folk.

History

The Wall was built at the end of the Age of Heroes, after the Others were driven back in the Long Night. For thousands of years the Night's Watch has manned it, originally a great and honored order of tens of thousands, dwindled by the time of the story to a few hundred men spread among three castles.

In the story

Jon Snow, the bastard son of Eddard Stark, takes the black and rises through the Night's Watch at the Wall. From its top and its tunnels the Watch contends with the wildlings led by Mance Rayder, who seek to pass south to escape the gathering threat of the Others. The Wall is the front line against the return of winter and the dead, and much of the story's supernatural threat presses against it.