Was Bridge of Skull the Official Border Crossing Between FM and WW?

[Corvo the Crow]

It is curious that a bridge exists there with no wall blocking the passage so far as we know. Could it be that it was made and left unwalled on purpose? Would it be unreasonable to think that a peaceful solution was found and the land divided between White Walkers and First Men, the Wall was a border and the bridge a border crossing?

Edited June 26, 2023 by Corvo the Crow

[Craving Peaches]

Could be. It must have been built quite a while ago as well, firstly because the Wildlings do not appear to have the technology or knowledge to build something like that for a while, secondly because the scale suggests a large construction project that certainly could not have been achieved without approval from whomever controlled the land. It also may suggest some sort of centralised authority at that time.

[astarkchoice]

1 hour ago, Corvo the Crow said:

It is curious that a bridge exists there with no wall blocking the passage so far as we know. Could it be that it was made and left unwalled on purpose? Would it be unreasonable to think that a peaceful solution was found and the land divided between White Walkers and First Men, the Wall was a border and the bridge a border crossing?

Could be dude

The bizzare thing is in all this time the watch hasnt secured it with say even a solid gate  or wall.

 

Or for giggles the fun imagining a cart with loaded scorpion one one side : )

or just throwing water from buckets all over it so people are forced to walk slowly  over the ice.

[John Suburbs]

3 hours ago, Corvo the Crow said:

It is curious that a bridge exists there with no wall blocking the passage so far as we know. Could it be that it was made and left unwalled on purpose? Would it be unreasonable to think that a peaceful solution was found and the land divided between White Walkers and First Men, the Wall was a border and the bridge a border crossing?

I might pre-date the wall. We don't have a real good description of it, other than it's a long drop to the bottom of the gorge.

But at the very least, it provides passage from one side of a largely impassible formation to another, and the most likely reason for this is trade.

[Corvo the Crow]

3 hours ago, astarkchoice said:

The bizzare thing is in all this time the watch hasnt secured it with say even a solid gate  or wall.

 

 

1 hour ago, John Suburbs said:

But at the very least, it provides passage from one side of a largely impassible formation to another, and the most likely reason for this is trade.

Yes, this would explain two things I think: Why it still remains as such and why the hill clansmen chiefs we see don't seem to be bothered that much with the wildlings coming south, with the exception of those like Weeper of course.

 

1 hour ago, John Suburbs said:

I might pre-date the wall. We don't have a real good description of it, other than it's a long drop to the bottom of the gorge.

 

But that still doesn't explain why it was left like that when the wall was first built.

 

Considering together with the facts below

1. The Wall is magically warded

2. Nightfort has a secret passage, the Black Gate

3. The Black Gate isn't just an ordinary gate but is magically warded just like the Wall itself

4.Some of the "forts" on the wall have been built long after the Wall was built and therefore their gates that were later filled with rocks and ice when they were abandoned must not have existed originally and were digged only later, 

I think the Wall originally had no gates on the wall itself. The Bridge of the Skulls served as the common passage to the lands beyond the Wall and the Black Gate served as a hidden one.

 

[astarkchoice]

Yeah maybe back when the nights watch was well staffed in all towers and thus the 2 'gifts' in the north where much safer there could have been trade between wildling and northmen. It also might nust exist as a way to get from back across the wall from one extremely mountainous area  wothout having to travel for milws and miles to find another gate through the wall or worse risking climbing it.

[Universal Sword Donor]

On 6/26/2023 at 7:47 AM, Corvo the Crow said:

It is curious that a bridge exists there with no wall blocking the passage so far as we know. Could it be that it was made and left unwalled on purpose? Would it be unreasonable to think that a peaceful solution was found and the land divided between White Walkers and First Men, the Wall was a border and the bridge a border crossing?

There's an abandoned fortress directly in the vicinity of the bridge. No need to build a fortress directly on it (a la the Twins) when you can control it just as effectively from an easier to build, nearby location. Temporary palisades and fortifications are a lot cheaper and easier to deploy than building and maintaining permanent ones.

[Corvo the Crow]

5 hours ago, Universal Sword Donor said:

There's an abandoned fortress directly in the vicinity of the bridge. No need to build a fortress directly on it (a la the Twins) when you can control it just as effectively from an easier to build, nearby location. Temporary palisades and fortifications are a lot cheaper and easier to deploy than building and maintaining permanent ones.

You don't need to erect a tower in the middle of the bridge, you can just wall off  the bridgehead and  place a gate.  It is quite interesting that it wasn't done in the first place.

[Alester Florent]

What is a White Walker?

[Jon Fossoway]

I don't find it that strange. The Wall shouldn't rely on small openings on its base to go north, they could be easily blockaded. Same as the bridge, sure, but at least that one is easy to defend. In a time, say, when lord commander Hoare had 10,000 fighting men at his disposal, that bridge could very well be guarded on a daily basis. In the end, the Wall is more a defensive position, from which the Watch can stage agressive movement towards the north if needed. And for this they actually need paths to go north. So they got the tunnels, the bridge, both ports and that weird computerized underground passage (I still think it is a computerized door that opens with a password, heh).

Edited June 30, 2023 by Jon Fossoway

[Aebram]

Let's remember that the Wall has two ends. The other end, at Eastwatch, is where it meets the sea. Wildlings in small boats do sometimes sneak past the Night's Watch here, but not in large numbers.

I imagine that the situation is much the same at the West end. The Gorge is deep and steep, and the bridge is long and narrow. The Weeper attacked there with 300 wildlings, and the men of the Watch defeated them, although not without cost.  And even 300 is a very small number, compared to the thousands that Mance brought against Castle Black.  So it seems that, at both the East and West ends, the Wall terminates at places where geography makes it impossible for either side to launch a large-scale attack against the other.