Strengh of night watch

[History]

What if the strenght of the night watch had not dwindled  and was  still 10000 strong at the begining of the war of five kings?how would this change the north and the wilding attempt to get across the wall?

[Ylath's Snout]

For one the North (mostly) would be worse off as plenty of capable warriors would be stuck at the Wall.

The Wildlings would have a hell of a time getting past and over all that is a pretty bad thing for the Watch as that would mean more zomboodoos for the Others.

[John Suburbs]

Lol, when I first saw this thread, I thought it said "Stench of night watch". Maybe only in Yoren's case.

[Stormking902]

Stannis might not have went North which would change the story a great deal, the Wildlings wouldnt have to face Stannis mounted charge so they would be in better shape BUT then they have to cross the wall with 10k Black brothers on guard which they would fail as well. 

[Canon Claude]

If they had 10,000 men, then Jon Snow does nothing and is just a random bastard amongst many. His story becomes far more mundane as he’s a glorified foot soldier (unless the 10000 men are all commoners).

[Leonardo]

4 hours ago, Stormking902 said:

Stannis might not have went North which would change the story a great deal, the Wildlings wouldnt have to face Stannis mounted charge so they would be in better shape BUT then they have to cross the wall with 10k Black brothers on guard which they would fail as well. 

The watch would have badass cavalry as well...

 

Jon Snow would still be a pretty high ranking noble as a son of Edward Stark, bastard or no. The watch knows the relationship with the North is of huge importance.

[Jon Fossoway]

Since I guess George's aim was to weaken the Watch (even more) during the story, I am thinking Jeor would have sent a lot of that strenght up north to be massacred again by wights. 

[Lord Lannister]

It might effect the story in other ways. For example you might not have Yoren running back and forth continuously to scrape the prisoners for warm bodies. This would have serious impacts on Arya's arc.

[Stormking902]

3 hours ago, Leonardo said:

The watch would have badass cavalry as well...

 

Jon Snow would still be a pretty high ranking noble as a son of Edward Stark, bastard or no. The watch knows the relationship with the North is of huge importance.

More men doesn't equal more horses,equipment, and skill the nights watch would still be going through problems even feeding all of there brothers. 

[Lord Lannister]

4 minutes ago, Stormking902 said:

More men doesn't equal more horses,equipment, and skill the nights watch would still be going through problems even feeding all of there brothers. 

Have those men chop down trees and ship them to Braavos to sell. They have ships. Financial problems solved.

[Free Northman Reborn]

The wildling numbers are simply so paltry, I don’t see how 10k men could be justified. The North has more soldiers than the wildlings had people in the host that Mance was able to reach the Wall with.

I doubt that Gorn and Gendel, Raymun Redbeard and any of the previous Kings Beyond the Wall even had 10k warriors in their respective hosts that reached the Wall. And any that actually got past the Wall by default were all on foot, with zero cavalry in their ranks. Heck, the Umbers alone could probably deal with them, maybe with the Karstarks joining them. You don’t need 10k men at the Wall for that.

The Umbers and Karstarks combined could easily raise 4000-5000 men, with maybe 500 heavy cavalry in that number.

That would shatter a ragged 8000 man wildling host of stick wielding infantry in the same way that Stannis’s force did with Mance’s much larger host.

You might as well ask, why have 10k men on a 700 foot wall guarding against a maximum of 10k primitive, under equipped infantry, when you have no Wall and zero dedicated men guarding the entire West coast against the Ironborn, who attack far more regulalry, with better trained and better equipped warriors and in greater numbers than the wildlings. 

Rather invest in more forts and men along the Stony Shore, where the greater threat lies.

[Corvo the Crow]

5 hours ago, Free Northman Reborn said:

The wildling numbers are simply so paltry, I don’t see how 10k men could be justified. The North has more soldiers than the wildlings had people in the host that Mance was able to reach the Wall with.

I suspect that 10k men could be a remnant from the long night. Like their wovs, they are clinging to havinf as many men as possible without actually knowing the purpose. With the arrival of Targs, however, things possibly changed.

[TheThreeEyedCow]

I imagine that those numbers would of emboldened Joer to act sooner. He could of dispatched Benjen with a greater force, and our story may of followed him into the Frostfangs. Either way I think we arrive at a similar outcome. The NW would be near depleted by the time winter rolls around. 

[Leonardo]

On 5/25/2018 at 9:07 PM, Stormking902 said:

More men doesn't equal more horses,equipment, and skill the nights watch would still be going through problems even feeding all of there brothers. 

Except it does, as the watch doesn't utilize even half of the gift, therefore more men means more income. Perhaps not at the same ratio of men to income as it does now, but with 10000 men Jeor would have been raising the wall higher.

[Stormking902]

1 hour ago, Leonardo said:

Except it does, as the watch doesn't utilize even half of the gift, therefore more men means more income. Perhaps not at the same ratio of men to income as it does now, but with 10000 men Jeor would have been raising the wall higher.

Why would he raise the wall higher?? Its already over 700ft lol, the time and energy it would take to build it higher could be better used somewhere else for sure. It takes money to properly plant seed and take care of the gift which is why it isn't used as we speak they have no seed and the land might be difficult to grow crops on anyways, the NW having 10X the amount of the current NW means 10x more mouths to feed, 10x more clothing and weapons, 10x more everything pretty much. Where does the extra income come from ? 

[Moiraine Sedai]

On 5/25/2018 at 6:04 PM, Canon Claude said:

If they had 10,000 men, then Jon Snow does nothing and is just a random bastard amongst many. His story becomes far more mundane as he’s a glorified foot soldier (unless the 10000 men are all commoners).

Jon's character would still try to desert his post.  But he would not be in a position to do as much damage as he did.  He's one bastard brother deserting to help the Starks instead of the commander who betrayed the watch to save a sister.

 

[The Lord of the Crossing]

On 5/21/2018 at 12:33 AM, History said:

What if the strenght of the night watch had not dwindled  and was  still 10000 strong at the begining of the war of five kings?how would this change the north and the wilding attempt to get across the wall?

That is not a lot when you consider the amount of wall to cover.  But a lot of mouths to feed.