45. Beyond-the-Wall and the Wildlings

The final region of Westeros is the only one never included in the Seven Kingdoms: the lands Beyond-the-Wall. This is a wild, untamed region, too far north for regular agriculture, and only rarely politically united by a King-Beyond-the-Wall. The humans who reside in the far North are considered “Wildlings” by those to the south, although they prefer the term “Free Folk.”

Beyond-the-Wall is also the last consistent home of magic in the Seven Kingdoms. Human practitioners of magic, particularly wargs, who project their minds into animal bodies, are well-known in the region. It’s also the home of direwolves, giants, the last remaining Children of the Forest—and the White Walkers.

There are a few different regions Beyond-the-Wall. Directly facing the Wall itself is the Haunted Forest, where most of the scenes in the show take place—it’s where Craster’s Keep is located, for example. To the east lies the Shivering Sea, with Storrold’s Point jutting out into the ocean. This is the location of Hardhome, where the remnants of Mance’s army flee after his defeat, and where Jon goes to negotiate with them.

To the west are the Frostfang Mountains, glacial and foreboding. The Fist of the First Men, a hill with the remnants of an ancient fort, sits between the Haunted Forest and Frostfangs. It’s there that the Night’s Watch makes their camp, while Jon Snow and Qhorin Halfhand head into the Frostfangs to scout the Wildling Army. They travel via Skirling Pass into the Frostfangs.

And that’s really about it for the relevant, known regions Beyond-the-Wall. Beyond the Frostfangs lie the ominously titled Lands of Always Winter, reputed to be the home of the White Walkers. Deep in the Haunted Forest lie the lands of the Thenns, who consider themselves the last true First Men. Most everything else is shrouded in rumor and mystery.

The history of the region is also shrouded in myth and legend. The biggest invasions in Westerosi history all left their mark Beyond-the-Wall, that much is known. The First Men helped push the fantastic creatures and Children of the Forest into the far North.

This led the Children to create the White Walkers, who rampaged across Westeros in the Long Night (see Chapter 48), until the Children and the beginnings of the Night’s Watch defeated the White Walkers, and Bran the Builder put up the Wall to ensure that the Seven Kingdoms would have a defense against another Long Night.

It wasn’t long after that when the first King-Beyond-the-Wall, Joramun, is said to have risen. He both fought against the southerners and is said to have joined with them in order to defeat the corrupt Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, known as the Night’s King (who may or may not be the same as the villain of Game of Thrones).

Several other Kings-Beyond-the-Wall united the tribes and attacked the southlands, and all were turned back either by the Night’s Watch or the Starks and the lords of the North. These were rare events, but the last one before Mance was less than a hundred years prior, when Raymun Redbeard managed to cross the Wall and was defeated by the Umbers and Starks, led by Ned’s great-grandfather, Lord Willam.

The King-Beyond-the-Wall is not a hereditary position, but one that only comes when a strong enough personality manages to talk and fight his way into the role. Mance Rayder, the latest, holds his army together by sheer force of personality—as well as sheer force, supposedly having defeated the Magnar of the Thenns three times to convince them to join. Jon Snow realizes this, which is why, at the Battle of Castle Black, he believes that assassinating Mance is the only way to stop the invasion.

Jon fails, but Stannis Baratheon shows up in the nick of time, capturing Mance and dispersing his army. Following this, Jon joins with Mance’s lieutenant Tormund Giantsbane to attempt to unite the Wildlings, not as King-Beyond-the-Wall, but as Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, offering them land in exchange for an alliance. The difficulty Jon has during the negotiations at Hardhome ought to show just how much work it takes to become King-Beyond-the-Wall.

Mance’s death has left Tormund Giantsbane as the most influential Wildling leader left, and the most important on the show. There have been other major Wildling characters, but most are dead.

The first we meet is Osha, a Wildling woman who joins a group of bandits that attempt to kidnap Bran Stark. They’re defeated, and Osha is taken prisoner. She does befriend her captors, however, and eventually leads the youngest Stark children to freedom. Osha also serves as a Cassandra figure, telling everyone of the true threat of the White Walkers while none believe her. She refuses to return Beyond-the-Wall with Bran, instead taking refuge with the Umbers. She’s killed when the new lord of House Umber, the Smalljon, decides that his hatred of Wildlings trumps his support of the Starks, and gives her to Ramsay Bolton.

Early in the second season we meet another Wildling woman, Gilly, one of Craster’s daughter-wives. While the “Free Folk” often describe their way of life as far preferable to that of the southlands, Gilly’s story shows that it’s just as or more cruel. Craster rules his women with an iron fist, bedding all of them, then their daughters, then presumably a third generation. The boys, meanwhile, are left in the woods to die—although it becomes clear that it’s actually that he’s negotiated a treaty with the White Walkers. Gilly escapes when Craster is murdered and spends the rest of the series with Samwell Tarly, slowly becoming acclimated to life in the south

Finally there’s Ygritte, still the most important of the Wildlings. It is Ygritte who shows Jon Snow the temptations of freedom that Beyond-the-Wall can offer. Choosing his lord, meeting giants, gender equality, and most importantly for a teen boy, not having vows of celibacy. The extroverted Ygritte is a force of nature for the repressed Jon Snow, very nearly converting him away from his mission to scout Mance’s forces.

But their romance comes to an end when they, too, show the limitations of Wildling “freedom.” Their raiding party Beyond-the-Wall is supposed to sow terror, which even the good Wildlings, like Tormund and Ygritte, are more than willing to do. Jon, however, cannot, and flees back to the Watch. Ygritte continues, and her role in the destruction of a nearby village ends up dooming her: a surviving boy, Olly, takes up a bow in the Battle of Castle Black and kills her with an arrow.

At the end of the sixth season, Jon Snow has taken back the North with an army that includes all the Wildling fighters he’s brought south of the Wall. Although presumably individuals still live Beyond-the-Wall, the destruction of Hardhome has apparently destroyed any political power of Wildling groups in the far North. Whatever their future entails seems to hinge entirely on Jon Snow, Tormund Giantsbane, and the reborn Stark kingdom. But the White Walkers threaten them as well as Game of Thrones heads to its conclusion.