Night's Watch

The Night's Watch is a sworn brotherhood and military order which holds and guards The Wall in order to keep Wildlings, and now the White Walkers, from crossing into the Seven Kingdoms.

According to legend, the Watch was founded 8,000 years ago by

The order is a shadow of its former strength and its meager forces have been decimated by recent attacks from both wildlings and White Walkers. For the past couple of centuries, the order has been led from Castle Black.

The Watch is organized into three divisions: the Rangers, who defend the Wall and patrol the Haunted Forest; the Builders, who maintain the Wall and its main castles; and the Stewards, who support and feed the members of the Watch.

Background
According to legend, the Night's Watch was founded 8,000 years ago.[3] They now protect the Seven Kingdomsfrom threats beyond their northern border, such as White Walkers, wildlings and giants. They man a vast structure known as the Wall, a 700 foot tall and 300-mile long barrier which separates the Seven Kingdoms from the lands to the north. It is formed mostly from ice with small trenches and wooden fortifications covering the top. The Watch have built nineteen castles along the southern edge of the Wall to house their men, however, over the years many were abandoned. They also control a region south of the Wall known as the Gift, from which they obtain supplies and provisions. The region was donated to them by House Stark, the Kings in the North, at the time.

Members of the Night's Watch swear an oath of duty that prohibits marriage, family, and land ownership which lasts until their death. Recruits renounce all past allegiances and birthrights. Joining the Watch provides absolution for past crimes and immunity from further punishment. Brothers start with a clean slate and can rise within the ranks whatever their origins.

However, even though the Night's Watch vows are meant to be for life, it is possible for one to leave the organization without execution, so long as it is with the ruling monarch's approval. For instance, Stannis Baratheon, a claimant to the Iron Throne and the King in the Narrow Sea, offers Jon Snow a chance to leave the Night's Watch and serve him in exchange for legitimization, though this may partially be due to the fact that the Night's Watch is not taken as seriously by most as it once was, and Stannis was desperate enough to turn to Jon Snow for aid. Another instance is Samwell Tarly, who was allowed to leave for Oldtown, to become a master of the Watch by Lord Commander Jon Snow. However, he flees the Citadel after stealing some books, a punishable crime. After the assassination of Daenerys Targaryen, he is appointed the Grand Maester, having been freed from his oath.

They describe one another as "sworn brothers" because of the oath. Men of the Watch dress entirely in black, giving rise to the nickname "crows" - which is what the Free Folk commonly call them - or "black brothers."Members of the Night's Watch are not specifically forbidden from seeing their families, but they cannot leave the Wall without permission. Desertion is punishable by death. First Ranger Benjen Stark would often visit his family at Winterfell while representing the Night's Watch.

The Watch was once highly regarded and their ranks were filled with volunteers from noble houses, as serving was a sign of selfless devotion to the protection of the realm. However, while the Night's Watch still has noble-born sons and noble-blooded illegitimate sons from Great Houses, many recruits are now also criminals avoiding punishment, nobles avoiding scandal, orphans, and other social outcasts. Men known as wandering crows, such as Yoren, travel around the Seven Kingdoms gathering recruits for the Watch, offering them escape on the Wall. For some families, the Wall is a convenient place to exile embarrassing or disgraced family members. Samwell Tarly was disowned by his own father and ordered to join the Watch on threat of death, while Tywin Lannister had plans to exile his own son Tyrion to the Wall so as to avoid executing him for allegedly murdering King Joffrey Baratheon. However, other families, such as House Stark, view the Night's Watch as an honorable and noble calling. Generations of Starks have joined the Night's Watch for the sake of honor.

By the reign of King Robert Baratheon, the institution has fallen into disrepute and is largely ignored by the throne. It is severely undermanned; dwindling numbers have led to all but three of the Wall's nineteen castles being abandoned. The Night's Watch is now led from its stronghold at Castle Black. The Shadow Tower and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea are the only other castles that are still manned. Meanwhile, trouble is stirring beyond the Wall. A large wildling army under a new King Beyond the Wall, Mance Rayder, is advancing south, and there are rumors that the White Walkers, long since thought to be extinct, have returned. At the time Jon Snow arrives at Castle Black, the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is Jeor Mormont.

Although joining the Night's Watch is often a punishment for many, it can also be a positive thing in the long run; the Watch is highly egalitarian compared to the rest of Westeros, and in a rigidly hierarchical society, joining can offer a rare chance at redemption and turning one's life around. At the Wall, every man is given what he earns, no matter their status, and even lowborn or bastard recruits can become high-ranking officers and commanders for their service. However, the Night's Watch is not completely egalitarian; both noble-born sons and illegitimate sons of lords are typically favored for advancement over those with no noble blood, though this may also be for the practical reason that recruits from noble households are generally more familiar with the duties required of the Watch, such as combat skill. This is clearly demonstrated when Jon easily defeats the other recruits in sparring practice, and Tyrion points out that none of the others have had the kind of training Jon received from Ser Rodrik.

Season 1
Increased wildling activity beyond the Wall leads the Watch to send out several patrols to investigate. Some do not return. A three-man scouting party consisting of Ser Waymar Royce, Gared, and Will is one of those sent out, but only Will returns - then frantically tries to desert the Watch by running south but was caught. He rambles that the legendary White Walkers killed his companions, but he is disbelieved as a madman and beheaded by Lord Eddard Stark for desertion.

When Tyrion Lannister, younger brother of Queen Cersei, makes a visit to the Wall while traveling to Winterfell, he is met at Castle Black by Lord Commander Jeor Mormont and Maester Aemon. They implore him to bring news to the king that the Night's Watch is severely undermanned and undersupported: they are down to under a thousand members, and barely have the resources to feed and support the few men they still have. Mormont warns Tyrion about disturbing rumors coming from beyond the Wall, about missing scouting parties, and the one man who did survive an attack say it was the White Walkers finally returning, just before he was executed. Aemon warns that they have had a very long summer lasting for years, and that the coming winter may also be long and bitter - and only the gods can help them if they do not do more to prepare for what's coming.

Season 2
Jeor Mormont's Great Ranging travels far beyond the Wall, and sets up a base camp at the Fist of the First Men. Meanwhile, back in Winterfell, Maester Luwin advises a besieged Theon Greyjoy to flee to the Wall and join the Night's Watch so that he might save his life and redeem himself for his betrayal. Though Theon acknowledges his sins, he ultimately declines the suggestion partly out of fear that Jon Snow will try to kill him.

Season 3
The Night's Watch engages in the first open conflict between men and White Walkers in eight millennia when their position is assaulted in the Battle of the Fist of the First Men. They suffer heavy casualties, though a few dozen men led by Mormont manage to fight their way out, and retreat southwards. Mormont himself is then killed by his own men when they mutiny at Craster's Keep.

In response to the Night's Watch's calls for help, Tywin Lannister suggests that they allow the wildlings to destroy the Watch and settle in the North, hoping to use Mance Rayder as an ally to help them fight Robb Stark and Balon Greyjoy.

Season 4
With Jeor Mormont now dead, Ser Alliser Thorne becomes de facto Lord Commander. The Brothers of the Night's Watch are now reduced to around 100 men, and Mance Rayder and his army are fast approaching. Jon Snow is sent to find and kill the mutineers before Mance can find and torture out information from them. After this, the remainder of the Watch manage to fend off a wildling attack on Castle Black. Jon Snow travels north and treats with Mance, before Stannis Baratheon and his forces unexpectedly arrive, capturing Mance and forcing the rest of the wildling army to retreat.

Season 5
Following the defeat of the wildling army, Mance Rayder is executed for not bending the knee to Stannis. Jon Snow is elected as the new Lord Commander, and begins trying to make peace between the Night's Watch and the wildlings, beginning with allowing them to pass through the wall, in order to save them from dying and becoming part of the White Walker army.

Jon, Tormund Giantsbane, Edd and other Watchmen travel to Hardhome to transport the wildlings, but the White Walkers attack, causing many Wildlings to flee. Jon and his party return with a minimal number of wildlings and bring them south of the Wall. This decision is met with harsh criticism by many of the brothers of the Night's Watch including Alliser Thorne, Othell Yarwyck and Bowen Marsh, who believe him a traitor to both the Watch and the Realm. Jon is tricked by his steward Olly, and stabbed by his own brothers in a mutiny, and left for dead.

Season 6
The mutiny against Jon Snow has created division, between those loyal to Jon led by Eddison Tollett, and the mutineers under the command of Alliser Thorne. For days,

Following a brief scuffle, Eddison Tollett summons the wildlings back to Castle Black and with their support places the mutineers under arrest for their betrayal.

Jon is later revived from the dead by Melisandre, and after publicly executing the mutineers, Jon leaves the Night's Watch, giving the command to Edd Tollett, as his death, though temporary, marked the end of his watch (although Edd tries to argue otherwise).

Leadership

 * Lord Commander of the Night's Watch - Also named "Lord of Castle Black", the Lord Commander is the leader of the Night's Watch, and commands all three castles of the Watch. Like the High Septon and Grand Maester, a Lord Commander serves for life, and is democratically elected by other members of the Night's Watch. It is unknown if there is any formal procedure to depose a Lord Commander and elect a new one, in cases where the current Lord Commander violates his oaths or is deemed unfit to lead etc.

Divisions
Each castle of the Night's Watch also has a Maester assigned to it. These Maesters take the oath of the Night's Watch and are considered full brothers of the Watch, but are not considered part of the three orders. Given that there were never more than nineteen castles along the Wall, there were never more than nineteen maesters in the Night's Watch at any one time. Since there are only three active castles left on the Wall in modern times, there are now only three Maesters in the Night's Watch at a time.
 * Rangers - Led by the "First Rangers", these Night's Watchmen are expected to have some basic arms training and to take up a sword in defence of the Wall itself, the Rangers are the ones who are sent on dangerous scouting expeditions beyond the Wall, to track wildlings movements. When the Watch was more numerous in past centuries they formed the core fighting group sent to destroy large wildling warbands who attempted to pass south of the Wall.
 * Builders - Led by the "First Builders", these Night's Watchmen who physically maintain the structures of the Night's Watch, and repair the Wall itself.
 * Stewards - Led by the "First Stewards", these Night's Watchmen provide for the day-to-day needs of the Watch: gathering, cooking, and serving food, repairing clothes and equipment, tending to the horses and messenger-ravens, and gathering firewood. By far the largest of the three orders.

Recruiters
Also called the "Wandering Crows", recruiters, led by the "First Recruiter", will travel throughout the Seven Kingdoms collecting and transporting new members for the order, usually being given leave by the Lord Commander.

Castles
For centuries following the founding of the Night's Watch, there were nineteen castles spread out along the southern face of the Wall as bases for the Watch. Patrols from these castles would travel along the top of the Wall watching for threats from the north, or repairing damage to the Wall. Each castle also contained a tunnel cut under the Wall, through which scouting parties would travel to the north to track Wildling movements.

As the Night's Watch dwindled over the centuries, however, most of these castles were abandoned, and their tunnels sealed with ice. By the beginning of the reign of King Robert I Baratheon, only three major castles along the Wall are still manned, including Castle Black, the Shadow Tower, and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

The sixteen unmanned castles of the Watch include: Greenguard, The Torches, Queensgate, Deep Lake, Long Barrow, Westwatch-by-the-Bridge, Stonedoor, Greyguard, Sentinel Stand, Hoarfrost Hill, Icemark, the Nightfort, Oakenshield, Sable Hall, Rimegate, Woodswatch.

The Gift
The Gift is a region to the south of the Wall under the direct control of the Night's Watch. It lies at the northern edge of the region known as the North. It was donated to the Night's Watch by House Stark when the order was founded thousands of years ago, in order to support the Night's Watch with food and provisions. The Gift is officially not subject to the authority of Winterfell, and is technically not part of "The North", but is a special administrative zone directly ruled by the Night's Watch.

The Gift is sparsely populated by only a handful of smallfolk, as most have relocated to the south over the generations while the Night's Watch dwindled and wildling raiding parties over or around the Wall increased in frequency. The northern areas closer to the Wall are almost completely empty. The closest significant settlement near the Wall is Mole's Town, located a few miles down the Kingsroad from Castle Black.

Lord Commanders

 * {Jeor Mormont}, the 997th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. Killed by Rast during the Mutiny at Craster's Keep. Served as the Lord of Bear Island and head of House Mormont before joining the Watch.
 * Jon Snow, the 998th Lord Commander of the Night's Watch.

Rangers

 * Ser {Alliser Thorne}, First Ranger. Former Master-at-Arms and former acting Lord Commander.
 * Jaremy Rykker, newly-made First Ranger.
 * Ser {Waymar Royce}, the youngest son of House Royce. A ranger killed by White Walkers.
 * {Othor}, Killed by White Walkers and raised as a Wight. Destroyed by Jon Snow.
 * {Jafer Flowers}, Killed by White Walkers and raised as a Wight. Destroyed by members of the Watch.
 * {Grenn}, ranger. Killed fighting Mag Mar Tun Doh Weg during the Battle of Castle Black.
 * Benjen Stark, First Ranger. Went missing North of the Wall after leading a search for White Walkers. Unknown fate
 * Matthar, ranger. Unknown fate.
 * Balian, ranger. Unknown fate.
 * Aethan, newly-made ranger. Unknown fate.

Builders

 * Othell Yarwyck, the First Builder.
 * Halder, newly-made builder
 * Todder, newly-made Builder.
 * {Kegs}, slain by wildlings at Mole's Town.
 * {Black Bulwer}, slain by wildlings at Mole's Town.
 * {Mully}, slain by wildlings at Mole's Town.
 * {Cotter}, builder. Deserted the Night's Watch along with fellow brother Gared Tuttle. Mortally wounded by a wildling and either given Nightshade to end his suffering or butchered for Elsera Snow's blood magic.
 * Casper, builder. Currently at Castle Black.

Stewards

 * Bowen Marsh, First Steward at Castle Black.
 * {Pypar}, nicknamed "Pyp". Killed by Ygritte during the Battle of Castle Black.
 * Hobb, also called "Three-Finger Hobb". Currently at Castle Black.
 * Eddison Tollett
 * Arron

Maesters

 * {Aemon Targaryen}, Maester of Castle Black
 * Samwell Tarly is currently at the Citadel training to become the new Maester of Castle Black.

Recruiters

 * {Yoren}, Killed in the Riverlands by Ser Amory Lorch.
 * Conwy

Unknown Division

 * {Cooper}, killed in the tunnel fighting Mag the Mighty during the Battle of Castle Black.
 * {Donnel Hill}, killed in the tunnel fighting Mag the Mighty during the Battle of Castle Black.
 * Lord {Janos Slynt},  former commander of the King's Landing City Watch and former Lord of Harrenhal. Exiled to the Wall by Tyrion Lannister. Executed for insubordination by Lord Commander Jon Snow.
 * {Locke}, secretly an infiltrator sent by Lord Roose Bolton to find Bran Stark and Rickon Stark, and also assigned to kill Jon Snow. Killed by Bran while warging into Hodor.

At the Shadow Tower

 * Ser Denys Mallister, commander of the Shadow Tower.
 * {Qhorin}, called "Qhorin Halfhand", leading ranger of the Shadow Tower. Killed in a duel by Jon Snow, per Qhorin's instructions.
 * {Harker}, rangers led by Qhorin. Killed by the Lord of Bones' warband.
 * {Borba}, rangers led by Qhorin. Killed by the Lord of Bones' warband.
 * {Stonesnake}, rangers led by Qhorin. Killed by the Lord of Bones' warband.

At Eastwatch-by-the-Sea

 * Cotter Pyke, First Ranger at Eastwatch. Currently in command.
 * Borcas, First Steward at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.
 * Dareon, newly-made Steward. Unknown fate.

Deserters

 * {Mance Rayder}, became the King Beyond the Wall.
 * {Rast}, ranger. Mutinied at Craster's Keep. Killed by Ghost.
 * {Karl}, ranger. Killed by Jon Snow at Craster's Keep for betraying the Watch.

Historical Brothers of the Night's Watch

 * The "Night's King" - one of the early Lords Commander who, according to legend, lived eight thousand years ago. The legends say that he was seduced by a female White Walker, declared himself king of the Night's Watch, and conducted human sacrifices at the Nightfort. It took an alliance between the Stark King in the North and the wildling King-Beyond-the-Wall Joramun to overthrow him, and restore the Night's Watch.
 * Brynden Rivers - held the position during the reign of King Aegon V Targaryen.

In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, the First Ranger is Benjen Stark, while the Lord Commander is Jeor Mormont, the father of Jorah Mormont. The Night's Watch is grievously under-strength by the beginning of the book series, having fallen from 10,000 when Aegon the Conqueror invaded to less than 1,000, divided into three garrisons at Castle Black (600 soldiers), the Shadow Tower (200 soldiers) and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea (less than 200 soldiers).

Of these 1,000 men, almost 300 are killed in the Great Ranging, due to the disastrous Battle of the Fist of the First Men and subsequent Mutiny at Craster's Keep. This further reduced the Night's Watches ranks to only 700 men, and perhaps worse, killed off most of their senior officers and best warriors, including Lord Commander Jeor Mormont himself. The expedition force consisted of one hundred men from the Shadow Tower and two hundred men from Castle Black.

After the Battle of Castle Black, the Night's Watch takes a headcount: their entire manpower (including the garrisons at Eastwatch and the Shadow Tower) has been reduced to 589 brothers. Most of the losses are taken at the Battle of the Fist of the First Men, and more at the following Battle of the Bridge of Skulls and the Battle of Castle Black.

The oath used in the show leaves out one line from the oath in the books.

''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 honor to the Night's Watch, for this night and all the nights to come.''

The Night's Watch has no heraldic symbol, to emphasize its sworn duty to be removed from petty politics of one lordly House or another, but to defend the lands of men as a whole. Thus, the Night's Watch uses solid black on its banner and shields, which symbolize the erasure of any allegiance to noble Houses. Even the "uniform" of the Night's Watch is to wear solid black clothing; members from wealthier families often buy all-black clothing before leaving for the Wall, while poor conscripts have their clothing simply dyed black when they reach the Wall (clothing which isn't always well-suited for cold weather). Solid black specifically denotes the rejection of heraldry, and is therefore strictly speaking not a "symbol" in and of itself, but the absence of a symbol.