The Night’s Watch

The Night’s Watch is an age-old order of men that has been around since the Age of Heroes. The Watch serves one purpose and one purpose only: to protect the realm from the horrors that lie beyond the Wall. The Night’s Watch is mainly made up of prisoners who chose to be sent to the Wall rather than have limbs amputated, be castrated, or be executed. The Night’s Watch is filled with rapists, thieves, murderers, and every other manner of criminals that one could imagine. But even if they are all criminals, the men of the Watch consider each other brothers in arms. They are all bound by honour not to kill another brother of the Watch, and they give up all rights to claim a wife, have a title, or hold land.

The men of the Watch are only relieved from their service once their watch has ended, which also means their life has ended. To desert from the Night’s Watch is to commit suicide, as they do not tolerate cowards. Most will not last more than a few years before succumbing to the cold, a violent death at the hands of the wildlings, or worse. Those that survive become hardened and tempered into men of steel. But even steel will give way to overwhelming force.

Most of those in the south view the Night’s Watch as overly superstitious and unimportant, saying that they only serve to protect the realm from imaginary creatures. However, the Night’s Watch has served to protect those in the south for longer than any of them have been alive, and now the cold winds rise again, and with them come the dead. For the south may enjoy fighting their wars with each other, but there lies a far greater threat beyond the Wall.

Location

The Night’s Watch is one of the minor factions in Westeros in the mod, A World of Ice and Fire.

The land beyond the Wall is a cold, frozen taiga; few forests and settlements are dotted around, and the weather gets no warmer as you head north.

Beyond the Wall are frozen ice sheets and forests of trees millennia old that serve the people beyond the Wall in ambushing brothers of the Watch. One large river splits the lands beyond in two.

The land guarded by the brothers of the Night’s Watch lies beyond the Kingdom of the North. Out of 19 castles once used by the Night’s Watch, fewer than 3 remain in use. On the far east, on the coast, lies Eastwatch. A small castle rumoured to be as old as the Watch itself, it has, like most castles of the Watch, fallen into deep disrepair.

Castle Black serves as the headquarters for all the brothers of the Watch and is the seat of whomever the Lord Commander may be.

Cutting the land in half from west to east, coast to coast, is the Wall. Built a thousand years ago, it holds back the wildling raids and a far greater evil.

Religion

Made up of volunteers and prisoners from all across Westeros alike, the religion of the Night’s Watch varies. Although many will worship the Old Gods, there can be knights and lords who took the black and swore an oath to the Seven, perhaps even those who pray to R’hllor.

Rulers

Lord Commander Jeor Mormont

Vassals

• Qhorin Halfhand

• Cotter Pyke

• Ser Denys Mallister

• Mallador Locke

• Jarmen Buckwell

Fiefs

Towns:

Castle Black

Castles:

Eastwatch, Shadow Tower, The Wall

Villages:

Queen’s Head, Moletown, Oldenoak, Sheepstow

Troop Tree

The Night’s Watch has some of the best archers in A World of Ice and Fire, able to kill wights and White Walkers; as such, they are centred around ranged combat. None of the brothers within the Night’s Watch wield a shield (which proves a problem against the equally ranged-centralised wildlings!). Night’s Watch rangers are best kept at the back of the fighting with your archers, or telling them to follow you and evading around the corners of the map. It is recommended to keep them out of big fights in case they die, as you will need them to fight wights.

Strengths

• Archers use one set of fire arrows.
• Archers have two sets of arrows; however, only one is fire arrows.

Weaknesses

• Bad armour.
• Low armoured horses.
• Archers only use hunting bows.

Recruiting from The Night’s Watch

Only brothers of the Night’s Watch can recruit from the surrounding villages of Castle Black; this is a permanent commitment, however. You may find and recruit brothers from wildling lords and raiding parties found beyond the Wall.

Extra Information

• The lords of the Night’s Watch faction are the only ones able to recruit Night’s Watch faction units from villages near Castle Black. To recruit from those villages, you must join the Night’s Watch yourself.
• Another way to recruit them is to free them from captivity. A good way to do so is to look for wildling lords or patrols with Night’s Watch units as prisoners.
• It is recommended to use heavy cavalry against wildlings, as they have a predominantly ranged army. The cavalry can get up close fast and mow them down because the wildlings have minimal armour.
• There are a few Night’s Watch units captured in a wildling cave just west of Thenn. If you free them, they will join you.