In the last article I talked
about The Wall and briefly mentioned what it is but its history and
purpose is very important and deserves a dedicated article. Those
of you who watch the show may know some of the functions for the Wall
such as defense,but it is also home to the Night's Watch...
a brotherhood sworn to protect the Seven Kingdoms from the Wildlings
population.
History and appearance
Some eight thousands years
before the War of the Conquest, Westeros suffered a terrible winter
that lasted many years. During this winter, a darkness fell across
all Westeros ( and even the East ) for a generation. This period is
known as the Long Night. In this darkness the Others came from the
far North , a demonic race of humanoids
The native population of
Westeros, the Children of the Forest ( who are reputedly extinguished
) allied with the First Men ( humans coming from the east who settled
in Westeros, the northerners are their descendants ) and defeated
them during the War of the Dawn. This may seem difficult to
understand, if you don't it does not really matter. You can still
search for more detailed article about the Children of the Forest,
the First Men and the Long Night on A Wiki of Ice and Fire.
In order to prevent any
other invasion from the Others. Brandon “ the Builder “ Stark (
the supposed founder of House Stark ) decided to raise a Wall between
the North and the far North. A 300 miles long and 700 feet high
fortification made of ice ( and maybe magic ) with nineteen castles
to garrisoned the brothers of the Night's Watch. Some tunnels have
been made through the Wall to allow the Night's Watch to patrol
beyond the Wall.
If the said purpose of Wall
was at the beginning to protect the realms of men from any incursion
by the Others, it started to be a protection against the wildling
clans that settled outside beyond it. These wildling clans are spread
in the harsh lands beyond the Wall and spend most of their time to
hate and fight each other. It happened several times through history
that the clans would unit under a “ a King Beyond the Wall “ and
try in vain to force the defences of the Night's Watch but more often
they attempt to raid the North by sneaking through the Wall.
The Night's Watch
The Watch is a brotherhood
of men wearing black and sworn to defend the realms of men from the
Wall. Once you join the Watch you will wear black for the rest of
your life and desertion is punishable by death. In a first place,
their principal objective was to prevent Others' attacks but since
they never appeared again after the Long Night, they mainly deal with
the Wildlings.
The Night's Watch is the
oldest military order of Westeros and their survival through 8,000
years of wars and political troubles is due to the fact that they
never involved the order in the matters of the realms.
Anyone can join the Night's
Watch, from the peasant to the knight or high born, a place will be
given in the order.
The “ Black Brothers “
are under the leadership of a Lord Commander ( generally elected by
his own men ) who sits in the biggest of the Wall's castles, Castle
Black. The other castles are commanded by a Commander who takes his
orders from the Lord Commander. Once a man has finished his training,
he will be assigned a position in one of the three groups :
- The stewards, led by the First Steward. They are in charged of the good working order and daily needs of the Wall such as tending the horses, cooking, farming, smithery, squiring for the Lord Commander...etc. The administration is oft given to literate stewards.
- The builders are under the charge of the First Builder. Their task is to make sure the Wall stays as much as much possible in a good states. They can be masons, carpenters,..Etc.
- The rangers are led by the First Ranger. Despite all the brothers are trained to fight and patrol the Wall, the rangers are the main fighting force. They are trained to survive and scout in the most hostile environments beyond the wall. Their missions can last for months.
As I said, all men can be
given a place in the Night's Watch and it use to be a honourable
vocation “ to take the black “. Many commoners travelled North to
join the Watch in order to have a roof and a meal everyday as well as
nobles who will never rule their family's lands or landless knights.
Once the manpower of the
order was near ten thousands but after Aegon's War of the Conquest,
the number of Black Brothers decreased dramatically. During the
events depicted in the books, hardly a thousand men stands to protect
the Kingdom of the Iron Throne. When once people considered the
Night's Watch as a honourable order, the recruits are more often
coming from the lord's dungeons and thus many Black brothers are
rapists, murderers or thieves sentenced to the Wall.
By the time of the books,
the manpower of the Watch is so low that they abandoned most of their
fortresses and only three of them are garrisoned ( Castle Black,
East-Watch-by-the-Sea, and the Shadown Tower ).
The Night's Watch is
brotherhood and the men are sworn for life. Any brother caught after
desertion is beheaded or hanged.
If knights and high-born are
generally already trained by the time they join the Wall, commoners
are trained to the art of fighting. Once the Master-at-arms
considered a class of recruits to be trained, they are assigned to
one of the three groups and they are asked to pronounce an oath
before their gods. Once a brother has pronounced his vow, if he was
willing and not sentenced to take the Black, he can't go back. He is
sworn for life. The oath of the Night's Watch is as follow :
Night
gathers, and now my watch begins. It shall not end until my death. I
shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children. I shall wear
no crowns and win no glory. I shall live and die at my post. I am the
sword in the darkness. I am the watcher on the walls. I am the fire
that burns against the cold, the light that brings the dawn, the horn
that wakes the sleepers, the shield that guards the realms of men. I
pledge my life and honour to the Night's Watch, for this night and
all nights to come.
” And now his watch is
ended “ are the traditional words the brothers pronounced when one
of their companion dies.
No comments:
Post a Comment