xylem Posted February 15, 2013 Share Posted February 15, 2013 yes - that was my assumption as well: that BenJen joined when he was young and impulsive, out of a sense of the glory and honour of defending westeros against threats beyond the wall (or from an adventurous spirit of wanting to explore / range beyond the wall).I think he saw a lot of himself in Jon, and was aware of how his own dreams of joining the night watch differed from the reality of serving for life... and wanted Jon to be aware of the enormity of the decision he was making. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angalin Posted March 6, 2013 Share Posted March 6, 2013 This is the Still Reading subforum, posters. No spoiling. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
podrick_payne45 Posted March 13, 2013 Share Posted March 13, 2013 As far as i know we do not specifically find out. But one can assume that he joined because in the North it is viewed as a honorable act (like Jeor Mormont joining). Also, because of him being the youngest of his brothers, there is a chance that he saw this as his oppertunity to distinguish himself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
olisaurus Posted March 26, 2013 Share Posted March 26, 2013 Like others, I'm assuming that Benjen was the youngest of the three Stark boys. Perhaps it was a tradition for one of the youngest sons (either for the Starks in particular or the North in general) to join the Nights Watch like it was for younger noble sons to join the Church back in the day? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grod823 Posted April 20, 2013 Share Posted April 20, 2013 Being that he was the youngest child and had no claim to the throne could be why he took the Black. I am genuinely curious as to why he did, especially when he tried to somewhat deter Jon Snow from doing so. It seems in that sense his hand was forced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlackBrother55 Posted May 19, 2013 Share Posted May 19, 2013 The Starks had been kings/wardens/whatever of north for thousands of years. For that to be possible all the extra Stark males had to go somewhere. Otherwise there'd literally be millions of them running around.I imagine after the succession is secured the spare heir would be told he could join the watch or some other no-marriage monestary, or he could go under the knife.Benjen would also have been pretty young when he first went onto the Wall, maybe even younger than Jon was. But he probably joined the NW because it was an honorable position, he had no claims to Winterfell, and if he had stayed would probably have just gotten married off somewhere. This would also be about when the rebellion first started, so that may have something to do with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hodoris Posted August 19, 2013 Share Posted August 19, 2013 I havent seen any menion in the books as of now. The Starks have always joined the wall , so that must be one reason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The one they call Kevin Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 The biggest thing keeping me from accepting the "he was the third born with little chance of inheriting the seat of winterfell and went to seek honor through other means" theory is that the wiki still claims his exact reason for joining the NW is not known. I know we can't take the wiki as gospel but there's never an end all be all reason given by any characters. Just their speculation really and one must remember the trouble with unreliable narrators. Another little ironic tidbit that I like to buy into a little more than I probably should, is that had Benjen never taken the black, he would probably currently be sitting the throne of Winterfell. Or would at least have the best claim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonCon's Red Beard Posted April 19, 2015 Share Posted April 19, 2015 The biggest thing keeping me from accepting the "he was the third born with little chance of inheriting the seat of winterfell and went to seek honor through other means" theory is that the wiki still claims his exact reason for joining the NW is not known. I know we can't take the wiki as gospel but there's never an end all be all reason given by any characters. Just their speculation really and one must remember the trouble with unreliable narrators. Another little ironic tidbit that I like to buy into a little more than I probably should, is that had Benjen never taken the black, he would probably currently be sitting the throne of Winterfell. Or would at least have the best claim. The Wiki doesn't say, but the app does. He joined because he "felt the calling", so to speak, during the Tourney of Harrenhal, when one man from the Watch made a plea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben H'gahr Posted June 30, 2015 Share Posted June 30, 2015 I always thought that maybe he felt guilty for Lyana's death and this is why he joined. But there is not real evidence to support this, just a supposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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