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Do we find out why Benjen Stark joined the Night Watch?


Zenefertiti

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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.

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  • 3 weeks later...

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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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?

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  • 4 weeks later...

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.

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  • 4 weeks later...

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.

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  • 1 year later...

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.

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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.

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