Timeline for Why is The Wall still manned?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
19 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 8, 2017 at 2:15 | comment | added | user64742 | @Xophmeister a wall is not a defense any more then a mountain is a defense. If nobody watches said wall then how do you prevent an army climbing up the side and down the other side and invading? Magical ice or not, people have climbed mountains of ice. i.e. Mount Everest. | |
| Sep 7, 2017 at 11:48 | comment | added | Edlothiad | @Flater the unmanned castles all had their gates frozen shut, just FYI :-) | |
| Sep 6, 2017 at 7:31 | comment | added | Flater | @Graham: Wildlings raid south of the wall, meaning they take back stolen supplies. How is there no way to get back? What's preventing them from climbing the wall again from the other side? If anything, if the castles are unmanned, they could even just use the gate. So you'd only really need a few climbers to then open the gate for the others, if there's no Night's Watch, thus not limiting the numbers of the party in any way. | |
| Sep 6, 2017 at 2:37 | comment | added | Paul | It's a truism in most militaries that any obstacle is only as good as the direct and indirect firepower used to support it. Obstacles never stop, they only slow. If you don't have someone defending it, you might as well not have it. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 21:31 | comment | added | DariM | @Xophmeister Wildlings raids are considered a routine threat to people closest to the Wall. Mors Umber, for example, hates him passionately because his only daughter was carried off in a wildling raid. Mance Rayder was present at Winterfell (in disguise) when King Robert came to visit. There are people among the Wildlings who are considered specialised at climbing the Wall because they've done it so often before. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 19:49 | vote | accept | Xophmeister | ||
| Sep 5, 2017 at 17:45 | comment | added | Graham | @Flater It's not enough to keep out every wildling ever, but it's a seriously good deterrent against large numbers. Yes, we see them climb the wall, but we also see that it's extremely slow and risky. It limits wildling attacks to small groups of skirmishers - and since there's no way to get back or get resupplied, those attacks are basically suicide missions. Even with a full wildling army outnumbering the defenders by orders of magnitude, the only practical attack was on the tunnel. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:52 | comment | added | Flater | @Xophmeister: Your notion that the wall itself is enough to keep out the Wildlings is debunked by the fact that we actually see Jon, Ygritte, Thormund etc climb the Wall. We can argue about the efficiency of only having a few castles manned along the wall, but it does prove the point that wall is not enough in and of itself. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:31 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | @Xophmeister Yet even with the watch they still get through. The magic is only good against the dead not anyone else. And even with the watch, wilidings and magic the dead still got through. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:30 | comment | added | Xophmeister | A 300 mile x 700 foot magic wall of ice is a pretty good defence in its own right | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:29 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | @Xophmeister If you don't man it how do you defend it? | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:29 | comment | added | Xophmeister | @TheLethalCoder Obviously you wouldn't tear it down, but that doesn't preclude the need for manning said defence. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:28 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | @Xophmeister If you had a massive defence would you tear it down and put up something piddly because the threat was lowered or would you keep the badass defence? | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:26 | comment | added | Xophmeister | Are the Wildlings that much of a threat? Up until recently, they seemed like a disorganised bunch that never really warranted the military power of a 300 mile x 700 foot permanently-manned defence. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:24 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | Note that this question is about the shows though but in spite of the shows lacking information the books are good too :) | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:23 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | This site is very handy. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:20 | comment | added | Daishozen | @TheLethalCoder I do not have the books handy right now, and don't recall which book this was in in the first place, so unfortunately I don't have any quotes. Please feel free to add them if you have them. That is an invitation to anyone, not just TheLethalCoder. | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:18 | comment | added | TheLethalCarrot♦ | This seems to be the correct answer, do you have any quotes to back it up though? | |
| Sep 5, 2017 at 14:13 | history | answered | Daishozen | CC BY-SA 3.0 |