The Night's Watch numbers don't make much sense

[Trigger Warning]

Perhaps kings were more willing to send people to the wall in a dickswinging contest with their rivals pre conquest and as has been pointed it out its reputation for being an honourable pursuit for the nobility has diminished and landed on the side of a penal colony. Not to mention the drop in prisoners of war and defeated and dishonoured nobles the conquest must have caused by bringing relative peace.  

Or perhaps there never were 10,000.

[Kaibaman]

I think this has been covered many times before. Before the unification the Watch mainly acted as a dumping grounds for POWs. With several kingdoms having to war against one another endlessly, the kings back them must have racked up a lot of captured POWs that had to be fed and guarded by their soldiers as well as having enough room to house them in their dungeons. I suppose they just found it a lot more affordable to ship them off to the Wall along with whatever other prisoners they may have rather than have to pay for their upkeep. Well since there have been no more wars, POWs have been in short supply and the only convicts getting shipped up there are the worst kind. This in turn also makes it harder for the Watch to recruit new members as I doubt too many people are eager to spend the rest of their lives with rapers and murderers.

[Runaway Penguin]

Well, a force of 10k dropping to 1k over 300 years can happen easily. The real question is how did they maintain the 10k for millenia before

 

In any case, one of reasons may be that the failure of NW to stand up to a supernatural invasion (dragons) did lead to everyone just dismissing them. I mean... They boast their main job is defence against monsters, then monsters show up and they go... "Hey, 7k, his is your problem!"

Still... The world building around the Wall is kinda shoddy, starting with the Wall itself (GRRM himself admitted that the 700 feet was based on the value of cool without thinking much about the real world implications and that it gots in the way later on). Same goes for the mostly deserted Gift - I mean, it seems to be pretty rich and Watch was able to sustain itself out of there, it is more a separate kingdom - sounds like ideal place to settle if you are tired with the 7k conflicts. Would few raiding parties be enough to depopulate it? I hardly think so - the Thenn raiding party could be held off by a small castle or even wooden keep - definitely long enough for a garrison from a Watch castle to arrive to relieve the siege. Hardly worse than brigands around Kingswood etc. Yes, winters are harsh, but a 700-ft high mountain range (ie the Wall) would be a nice windbreak, making the area possibly more hospitable than more Southern parts of Northern North. Few ill-armed raiders are not gonna change this.

Same way, NW would not leave old libraries . And NW would not be wanting of conventional weapons and arms - for Gods Old and New's sake, you have at least 9,000 spare sets, no? I mean yes, leathers and stuff would probably go bad with disrepair, but steel would not.

 

Not to mention Watch lacks logistical background. The logical way would be a central garrison BEHIND the Wall, with good network of roads (to allow action even if Wildlings cu the Wall by lodging on it). And don't get me started on the "No fortifications" rule - I mean it is easy to have fortifications that are enough to prevent a raiding party from storming a Watch castle fromt he rear, yet weak enough to make sure the King of Winter can smash the gate and crack heads if need be.