Would Ned Stark have been able to bring (at least some of) the free folk/wildings south of the Wall?

[Alex13]

I am guessing that some tribes/clans, such as the ones led by Tormund, Val and Mance are more practical and they might be more willing to integrate into northern society and adhere to their customs, then clans/tribes that are led by people such as The Weeper and Lord of Bones.

 

I imagine that virtually all of the northern houses would be against bringing wildlings into the North, although House Stark under Ned does seem to have pretty good political clout and they have good control over the North and their bannerman.

 

Would bringing the free folk/wildlings and settling them in the North be easier with or without the Others/White Walkers and with Ned being Hand of the King and in King's Landing or remaining in the North?

 

Or would bringing and integrating the free folk/wildlings into the North be impossible, due to their different views and the differing structure of free folk society, compared to northern society? Meaning lords, bannerman/liege's and so on.

[Nathan Stark]

Ned would be tempting fate if he backed something like what you're suggesting. Yes, he has good relations with most of his bannermen, and is well liked and all around respected. But even Ned would have a hard sell telling the Umbers and Mountain Clans that he's letting the King beyond the Wall come south. Doing this might very well make some of his bannermen rethink their loyalty to House Stark.

Not only that, but Ned strikes me as being a lot like Jeor Mormont. He is conservative by nature, wedded to the status quo. He would maybe be willing to make peace with the wildlings to fight the Others and the like, but he would see letting them south as an absolute last resort.

[Aebram]

IIRC Ned had expressed some inteest in resettling the Gift ... but not with wildlings.  The reason the Gift was deserted is that wildling raids were increasing.  I suppose this was related to the gradual reduction in the strength of the Nights Watch over many centuries.  So in order to resettle the Gift, it would be necessary rebuild the Watch as well.

[Universal Sword Donor]

16 hours ago, Nathan Stark said:

Ned would be tempting fate if he backed something like what you're suggesting. Yes, he has good relations with most of his bannermen, and is well liked and all around respected. But even Ned would have a hard sell telling the Umbers and Mountain Clans that he's letting the King beyond the Wall come south. Doing this might very well make some of his bannermen rethink their loyalty to House Stark.

Not only that, but Ned strikes me as being a lot like Jeor Mormont. He is conservative by nature, wedded to the status quo. He would maybe be willing to make peace with the wildlings to fight the Others and the like, but he would see letting them south as an absolute last resort.

Jon won over the Mountain clans by accepting hostages, which the chiefs noted was exactly what the Starks had done in years past. The umbers might be a bit different of a story but the Greatjon seems to be relatively straightforward to win over and he'd already followed Ned into battle 20 years ago.

Your last part definitely strikes a bit on the nose. He constantly reminds his family that winter is coming and the resettling being a "dream of spring" are definitely more indicative of a conservative mindset.