How did Gared and the Mother direwolf cross the wall?

[Lord Lannister]

7 hours ago, Mad King Bolton said:

The NW is not so vast in numbers and disorganization that a brother of 40 years out on a ranging and returning alone at night would be unreported. Even at night I’m sure horns blow foe returning rangers. And even if by chance it happened that way, Gared would come up in gossip or chatting around some hot breakfast the next morning or some other meal or chat eventually. He couldn’t stay a mystery.

”damn Royce, Gared, and Will ain’t come back yet”. 
“You mean Royce and Will.  Gared came back 3 months ago, he’s been catching up on his whoring I’m Moles town is all”.

Could be as simple as someone doing him a solid and letting him get a night of rest before reporting. When Gared is gone in the morning and doesn't show back up, he knows he's in for it if he admits he let him in so he stays quiet. 

[Aebram]

On 10/24/2021 at 11:09 AM, Tucu said:

Mormont says this to Craster:

Lord Mormont said, "Ben was searching for Ser Waymar Royce, who'd vanished with Gared and young Will."

I don't think Mormont saw Gared alive again.

Hold on a sec; something doesn't quite add up here.

After Ned Stark executed Gared, he would surely have sent a message about that to the NW. So by the time Mormont visited Craster, he should have known Gared's fate. This could be a slight continuity error by The George. Or there are other possibilities: the messenger (raven?) might have been killed on the trip from Winterfell to the Wall, the message might have been delivered to Bowen Marsh and he never mentioned it to Mormont, etc.

[Lord Lannister]

33 minutes ago, Aebram said:

Hold on a sec; something doesn't quite add up here.

After Ned Stark executed Gared, he would surely have sent a message about that to the NW. So by the time Mormont visited Craster, he should have known Gared's fate. This could be a slight continuity error by The George. Or there are other possibilities: the messenger (raven?) might have been killed on the trip from Winterfell to the Wall, the message might have been delivered to Bowen Marsh and he never mentioned it to Mormont, etc.

It could be as simple as Mormont not wanting to air the Watch's dirty laundry to Craster and over complicate the story.

[Ivan Tsarevich]

1 hour ago, Aebram said:

After Ned Stark executed Gared, he would surely have sent a message about that to the NW.

He did. AGoT Tyrion III.

The Lord Commander took no notice of the irritating bird. "Gared was near as old as I am and longer on the Wall," he went on, "yet it would seem he forswore himself and fled. I should never have believed it, not of him, but Lord Eddard sent me his head from Winterfell. Of Royce, there is no word. One deserter and two men lost, and now Ben Stark too has gone missing."

[Jaenara Belarys]

1 hour ago, Lord Lannister said:

It could be as simple as Mormont not wanting to air the Watch's dirty laundry to Craster and over complicate the story.

This, and Mormont knows about the baby situation so....best to keep it locked up tight.

[Mad King Bolton]

On 10/27/2021 at 10:10 AM, TsarGrey said:

He did. AGoT Tyrion III.

The Lord Commander took no notice of the irritating bird. "Gared was near as old as I am and longer on the Wall," he went on, "yet it would seem he forswore himself and fled. I should never have believed it, not of him, but Lord Eddard sent me his head from Winterfell. Of Royce, there is no word. One deserter and two men lost, and now Ben Stark too has gone missing."

Nice find.  I believe it’s a continuity error from Martin’s first book in the series much earlier in a distinguished career. He had no idea this would grow like it did. That being said, I do realize the point of these forums and the fun of it is to discuss in the spirit that what is written had a purpose and was completely and omnipotently created.

 

so I’m that being, I do not believe anyone could approach the gate and be let through in castle black whether it’s by a buddy doing a solid or otherwise as the horn blows before you can see who is at the gate. And Gared would have been in jo state of mind to be strategizing his desertion, was in a panic. So, it must have been through a different route or method.

that’s my opinion on it of course, wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong with it. Would be interesting to hear Martin’s take of course.

[Black Crow]

In story-telling terms the timing is important. The Starks leave Winterfell to attend to the reported deserter [Gared] immediately after the prologue. 

Returning to Winterfell they find the dead direwolf and her pups

Gared and the direwolf came through the Black Gate together. Then, sufficiently close to Winterfell [the children remember were "meant to have" the pups] Gared sacrificed the direwolf with an antler bone dagger [like Val has] and the rest is history.

[Ivan Tsarevich]

11 hours ago, Mad King Bolton said:

Nice find.  I believe it’s a continuity error from Martin’s first book in the series much earlier in a distinguished career. He had no idea this would grow like it did. That being said, I do realize the point of these forums and the fun of it is to discuss in the spirit that what is written had a purpose and was completely and omnipotently created.

It might be, but I think there's another possible explanation. As mentioned, Mormont might be hesitant to air the Watch's laundry to unsympathetic sort-of-ally, but besides that, there are other reasons to not be entirely forthcoming. He might simply put that out there to see what Craster says to it, if anything. Mormont doesn't trust Craster all that much. ACoK Jon IV.

"We know where the wildlings are massing," Mormont came back. "We had it from Craster. I mislike the man, but I do not think he lied to us in this."

He has also shown himself elsewhere to be a sort of man who may lay traps to the unwary. AGoT Jon IX.

"They killed my father. Did you expect me to do nothing?"

"If truth be told, we expected you to do just as you did." Mormont tried a plum, spit out the pit. "I ordered a watch kept over you. You were seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, you would have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unless you have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?"

"No." Jon felt like a fool.

Is there anything to be gained by such minor artifice? I don't know... but is there anything to be lost either? Craster does not need to know that Gared has resurfaced, or that Mormont knows that. Nor is it necessarily a relevant detail to be included in discussion, even if Craster was seen as a trustworthy ally.

12 hours ago, Mad King Bolton said:

so I’m that being, I do not believe anyone could approach the gate and be let through in castle black whether it’s by a buddy doing a solid or otherwise as the horn blows before you can see who is at the gate. And Gared would have been in jo state of mind to be strategizing his desertion, was in a panic. So, it must have been through a different route or method.

Besides Gared's state of mind, there's the matter of his desertion. The Black Gate lets through those who recite a part of the NW oath. Even if Gared were to do, would the Gate accept it? Or would it deem him an oathbreaker with no right to pass?

[Nadden]

Something to note:

Will immediately pulled his garron over after hearing the wolf’s howl. Here it is:

“Somewhere off in the wood a wolf howled. Will pulled his garron over beneath an ancient gnarled ironwood and dismounted.”

And consider the symbolic imagery created by Martin with the “great rock” in the AGOT Prologue. Here are the quotes:

“They put up a lean-to against the rock.”

“Moonlight shone down on the clearing, the ashes of the firepit, the snow-covered lean-to, the great rock, the little half-frozen stream.”

Compare and contrast that image with this from Bran 1, AGOT:

“Half-buried in bloodstained snow, a huge dark shape slumped in death.”

”Bran’s heart was thumping in his chest as he pushed through a waist-high drift to his brothers’ side.”

Analysis: A huge/great dark shape half snow-covered (snow drift) like a lean-to against a rock. Not moving and “hard beside a stream”, Will said.  Like a frozen dead direwolf by a river. 

Gared himself is not a bad metaphor for the Mother direwolf when you consider 2 ears, 3 toes, and the little finger from his left hand. From the Mother direwolf, she lost 2 female pups, 3 male pups, and a little runt. Gared, with ragged furs, like the Mother direwolf died from a throat wound.

I believe that the Mother direwolf was needex to get “Ghost” south of the Wall. To get a Norhtuos Southron. And like Gared said, they  “could be a fortnight getting back” or a nightfort getting back. 
 

The answers to the question lay somewhere in the symbolism, metaphors, and word play.