Moat Cailin and the Neck

[Leonardo]

On 4/26/2016 at 5:23 PM, James Steller said:

This is something I just realized while re examining the layout and history of the North. Apparently Moat Cailin has been held by the Starks multiple times in their history against invasions from the south. But how did those invading armies ever reach Moat Cailin, let alone besiege it?

To get to Moat Cailin you need to cross the entire length of the Neck. Hell, you'd pass by Greywater Watch before you ever even saw Moat Cailin. 

Time and again we are told of the natural defences of the Neck and how the crannogmen use them all to make the Neck virtually impenetrable, save for the Kingsroad. But the Kingsroad wasn't built until the time of the Targaryens.

So before the Kingsroad, how did any invading forces make it through the Neck to attack Moat Cailin? With all the ways a person could die in the Neck, the army would be demoralized and decimated by the time they reached the fortress. If any of them ever managed to reach it.

Because the crannogmen are low in numbers it seems; they don't seem to have a very unified army in the traditional sense either. They may bleed you, but if you march 10,000 men into the neck some are making it out the other side at the moat.

[Universal Sword Donor]

1 hour ago, Bright Blue Eyes said:

Well, "milestone 102.587 with fifteen dead" doesn't roll of the tongue like "Moat Cailin, 5,000 dead on the way in, 10,000 dead while sitting before it and 5,000 dead on the way back out".

If they didn't keep stopping at the fake toll booths, I bet they could get that number down to 3000.

[Clegane'sPup]

53 minutes ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

If they didn't keep stopping at the fake toll booths, I bet they could get that number down to 3000.

Oh, I can't help it. I think this is comical.

[Universal Sword Donor]

3 hours ago, Clegane'sPup said:

Oh, I can't help it. I think this is comical.

I wish to god we could post images, but: http://cdn.newsbusters.org/styles/blog_body-50/s3/images/Limb%20Hillary%20Bl%20Saddles%20fifth_0.jpg

[Minstral]

The causeway has probably been there for centuries, and it would have been in the advantage to the Crannogmen and the Northmen to mention it as the only viable route because it benifets both their positions. Forming up for a battle in the Neck is nigh impossible so you can only march through it, where supposedly the causeway is the only viable route due to terrain. The Crannogmen wont want the Neck to be their ultimate destination so filtering armies to Moat Cailin is a great strategy. Once a hostile army emerges from the Neck they need to either get into formations or set up camps, and this is denied to them by the towers. When they cannot make it through they will either be forced to retreat or the army will break.

[Universal Sword Donor]

1 hour ago, Minstral said:

The causeway has probably been there for centuries, and it would have been in the advantage to the Crannogmen and the Northmen to mention it as the only viable route because it benifets both their positions. Forming up for a battle in the Neck is nigh impossible so you can only march through it, where supposedly the causeway is the only viable route due to terrain. The Crannogmen wont want the Neck to be their ultimate destination so filtering armies to Moat Cailin is a great strategy. Once a hostile army emerges from the Neck they need to either get into formations or set up camps, and this is denied to them by the towers. When they cannot make it through they will either be forced to retreat or the army will break.

Beyond that, commerce clearly came into the North by means other than ship, so the causeway had to exist for that to happen post the Neck forming