sunny4156 Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Why didn't the 100000 strong willing army just bypass castle black? It was clear that they could have. If they did, there was nothing really that the night's watch could have done. The night's watch would had to have leave castle black and fight the willings within the wall on an open field. Why did Mance Rayder instead have only a few hundred willings when he could have circumvented castle black in the first place with basically no consequences? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artos Cold Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Because they had women, children and animals with them. They couldnt climb the Wall and i think most of the gates of the other castles had been sealed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floki of the Ironborn Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Because they had women, children and animals with them. They couldnt climb the Wall and i think most of the gates of the other castles had been sealed. True, but Mance still could have sent five thousand warriors to flank the Night's Watch's position at Castle Black. If he was patient enough to wait for those wildlings to move far enough out of the NW range, climb, and then travel all the way back to the Castle Black area. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Suburbs Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 He did. He sent the Magnar, Jon and his best climbers to scale the wall and then attack CB from the south. They failed, though (just barely), because Jon alerted the Nights Watch that the attack was coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idio Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 You could say that Mance should gave gone with the Casey Weinberger / Colin Powell doctrine of Overwhelming Force. He assumed he had the element of surprise but still could have had a larger force on the opposite side of the Wall, although who is to say a larger force would not have been noticed as well? Maybe it wouldn't have mattered if he had enough bodies on the unprotected southern side if they were noticed or not. Hindsight though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aryagonnakill#2 Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 There are 3 possible answers to this question and frankly everyone can pick whichever they like because it makes no difference.1. Mance is an idiot, seems unlikely.2. Mance did not believe he could safely split his group up, the WW's were nipping at his sides the whole time and we don't really know how bad it was. We do know that seemingly all the people who went to Hardhome are being overrun and Tormund was taking losses before coming south of the wall, 1 of his sons among them.3. Plot hole. I include this because imo it is frankly ridiculous that the wildling would climb up a 700 ft tall wall, and then climb back down and attack a castle from below, when they could have attacked from above, and even taking #2 into consideration, sending a few hundred more men should not have hurt them much, and would have insured the job actually got done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Mountain That Flies Posted November 13, 2015 Share Posted November 13, 2015 Time was of the essence for Mance. The Others were stepping up their activity, and the OP's plan would have taken time. Maybe only a few extra weeks, but that's weeks the women, children, and elderly are sitting on the wrong side of the Wall without their warriors protecting them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dorian Martell Posted November 15, 2015 Share Posted November 15, 2015 Moving a medieval army is major business, with trains and survival goods. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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