The Wall, the Watch and a heresy

[Black Crow]

So these are my ideas from this story and why I think it is indeed very relevant to everything that goes on in the north :)

The story has obviously become twisted over time and a useful parallel is the imaginative folklore surrounding Hadrian's Wall which was built "only" 2,000 years ago, let alone 8,000 years ago. This is why it's so pointless to simply sit back and say the Others are the embodiment of evil and intent on wiping out every living thing because that's what were told by Old Nan in AGoT.

Its also why its so much fun trying to figure out what's really going on because there are bound to be contradictions and red herrings and the trick is to make sense of it all.

So if we start from first principles. We have the Watch, which may not actually have been called the Nights Watch when it started up. That may have come later. Thirteen Lord Commanders are a bit hard to reckon in terms of time, but if we reckon on a century from foundation to the Nights King we probably aren’t too far off.

So what’s its (original) purpose? Using historical precedent they probably provided the interface between the Children and the First Men after the Pact, keeping the peace along the borderland and ensuring that no-one infringed the Pact by hacking out a farmstead in lands reserved to the Children - this may also have been the origin of the Free Folk (or Wildlings if you prefer), who did insist on making their homes in the reservation – sound familiar? At the same time if the frontier was patrolled on one side by the Watch, presumably it may have been patrolled on the other by the White Walkers.

With a common purpose that would explain the contact between them and ultimately the Nights King marrying what we presume to be a White Walker. Although in Old Nan’s tale she’s said to be dead I doubt if that was actually the case; it was just how the once human Walkers appeared to those not in the secret.

This scenario then provides a motive for the alliance between the Stark of Winterfell and Joruman of the Wildlings – they wanted to open up the north lands for settlers and the Watch were in the way. The discovery that the men of the Watch were giving up their children to be White Walkers, as Craster was to be doing thousands of years later, may have provided the justification afterwards.

Where the Wall comes into this bears some thinking with perhaps two scenarios; the first being that at this point it didn’t exist but in line with my OP was raised up by the Children afterwards to protect the frontier in the absence of the old Watch. The alternative is per the revised version that the Wall was raised up to hold back Winter itself. This would be consistent with the reference to the Nights King espying the woman from the Wall (I still don’t believe it but the association could be important) and with the secret portal under the Nights Fort which can only be accessed by true men of the Watch. It might also explain Joruman’s Horn. As discussed before I really can’t see blowing it physically bringing it down, but rather unlocking the magic, and perhaps it was by unlocking the original magic that the new Watch, the Nights Watch were able to drive those ground level gates through the Wall and let the Free Folk through to settle the lands beyond.

The Nights Watch would then have needed to go ranging beyond to protect those settlers from the Children’s rangers, the White Walkers. However with the old Watch no longer giving up (sacrificing) their children to become White Walkers they would eventually have been substantially killed off and with their original purpose gone the Nights Watch then started to feud with the Free Folk.

The question then arising is why Craster was giving up his boys to become White Walkers? Did a tradition of doing so still survive? Craster certainly seemed to reckon he was securing the protection of the Old Gods by doing so.

[Free Northman]

Look, everytime I step back from the forum for a while and come back, I am able to look at things a new as it were. And I just feel that you've got a great bit of conjecture here, which would make a fine tale for some other story, but that's not what THIS story is about.

This story is about a 700 foot Wall - the greatest man made structure on the planet - built on the edge of the world to protect mankind against the greatest threat to its existence bar none.

The whole point of the story up to now was really to juxtapose the insignificance of the Great Houses's petty game of thrones with the REAL threat, which is the Others.

I get that you would write the story differently, not liking the idea of the Others not being "grey" characters. But I honestly don't think you're going to turn out right about this at the end of the series.

Great theorizing, and some very imaginitive scenarios, that I freely give credit for. But I just don't think that's how this story is going to turn out.

But that's just me.

[Black Crow]

I get that you would write the story differently, not liking the idea of the Others not being "grey" characters. But I honestly don't think you're going to turn out right about this at the end of the series.

Perhaps not, but its GRRM who's said its all going to be be "grey", and there are an awful lot of contradictions and clues to those contradictions in the text, which point to things aint necessarily being so, which is what we're discussing here. And as I said, its fun.

[Free Northman]

Perhaps not, but its GRRM who's said its all going to be be "grey", and there are an awful lot of contradictions and clues to those contradictions in the text, which point to things aint necessarily being so, which is what we're discussing here. And as I said, its fun.

I agree, it's a lot of fun. And a lot of fascinating discoveries no doubt lie ahead in the future books.

[hotweaselsoup]

“No. This is the castle. There is a gate here.”

Yes, thought Bran, but it’s blocked by stone and ice.

As the sun began to set the shadows of the towers lengthened and the wind blew harder, sending gusts of dry dead leaves rattling through the yards. The gathering gloom put Bran in mind of another of Old Nan’s stories, the tale of Night’s King. He had been the thirteenth man to lead the Night’s Watch, she said; a warrior who knew no fear. “And that was the fault in him,” she would add, “for all men must know fear.” A woman was his downfall; a woman glimpsed from atop the Wall, with skin as white as the moon and eyes like blue stars. Fearing nothing, he chased her and caught her and loved her, though her skin was cold as ice, and when he gave his seed to her he gave his soul as well.

Scratch out the "skin was cold as ice" and replace it with "skin was hot as fire", and you basically have what Melisandre is doing to Stannis. (And swap out the "eyes like blue stars" for "eyes like red stars" as well.)

I know I could be guilty of trying to shoehorn everything into a Grand Unification Theory of the Supernatural, but I can't help but feel that it's all related somehow - that ice and fire magic is the same stuff, just manifested differently.

[Black Crow]

Absolutely, I've been arguing for a long time now that the White Walkers are the equal and opposite equivalents of Mel and Moqorro, both of them glamoured and working for Ice and Fire respectively.

There's also a certain symetry, intended or otherwise in the Black Watch and the White Walkers... ah no, nothing's black and white in this story :devil:

[hotweaselsoup]

Yep. And it is in line with a continuing storyline in the present Westeros and Essos: taking hostages from your allie, to be sure. This as well could have been conditions of the pact.

And in line with the idea that the "power of king's blood" is as much about the power you have over a former enemy when you hold his child hostage, as it is about its (supposed) power as a magical ingredient.

[kissdbyfire]

Yes, I get the impression there is a similarity or a parallel between Ice and Fire magic. Also, someone upthread raised the possibility of the NK's queen being similar to whatever Coldhands is, but I think not; the NK's queen has the bright blue eyes thing going whereas Coldhands' are black - or very, very dark. It would help to know how much/what parts of the NK's legends and tales are factual and what was added as the story was being passed down orally (and perhaps in runes - which is useless at the mo) through millennia... Of course, we won't learn any of that any time soon...

[Ibbison from Ibben]

Scratch out the "skin was cold as ice" and replace it with "skin was hot as fire", and you basically have what Melisandre is doing to Stannis. (And swap out the "eyes like blue stars" for "eyes like red stars" as well.)

I know I could be guilty of trying to shoehorn everything into a Grand Unification Theory of the Supernatural, but I can't help but feel that it's all related somehow - that ice and fire magic is the same stuff, just manifested differently.

A Grand Unification Hypothesis is starting to form for me. Seven different forces-magics-songs. Three sets of opposed pairs: Fire vs Ice; Earth vs Water; Air vs Sea; plus a lone single- Blood(Death). Legendary dates in Westeros are indeed incorrect. The Long Winter happened at the same time as the Rise of Valyria. The two were connected. Ice/Fire forces usually attract and cancel each other out (not like a particle/antiparticle- the forces aren't destroyed, just bound together like a positive ion and a negative ion.) Valyria learned to split Ice/fire pairs apart (using blood magic) and control fire; the White Walkers did the same with Ice. The two processes unknowingly helped each other. This led to massive buildups of Fire magic in Valyria and Ice magic in the North of Westeros. The Valyrians used Fire in a controlled fashion to win an Empire; The White Walkers unleashed Ice magic as the Long Winter.

Ice was brought under control by the Wall. When Valyria fell (possibly due to Faceless Men sabotage), the Dragonlords sent the Targs to Dragonstone, then sacrificed themselves to temporarily contain all that Fire magic. (It would have wiped out most life on Essos if they hadn't.) It's still hovering over Valyria now. The Targs were given the mission of bringing the excess Fire and Ice power back together safely, to save life on the planet. That will be the job of the PtwP, who's song is that of Ice and Fire.

I was sober when I came up with that, I swear.

Absolutely, I've been arguing for a long time now that the White Walkers are the equal and opposite equivalents of Mel and Moqorro, both of them glamoured and working for Ice and Fire respectively.

Exactly. And Thoros is getting close to the abilities of Mel and Moqorro. I predict that if any of those three get killed, instead of becoming a corpse they will become a pile of ash, in parallel to the way the White Walkers melt.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

To clarify one point in the GUH - there are no gods in the world. Men just mistake magical forces for gods, and combine them up differently. The Ironmen's Drowned God and Storm God are just Sea magic and Air magic. The Undying of Qarth wielded Blood/Death magic. Adepts can use more than one type of magic- Mel usually uses Fire magic, but her shadowbinding uses Death magic. She's been trained in both. Dragons are Fire made Flesh, but they may or may not use some Air magic to help them fly.

I'm a little unsure about all the zombie types. There seem to be several different "power levels" of zombie. The northern Wights are low-power Ice zombies. Beric Dondarrion was a high-power Fire zombie. Coldhands is some type of high-power zombie, probably Ice. Patchface is a Sea zombie, of medium-high power. (He can talk, but doesn't have full brain function.)

Or I could be wrong about the whole thing.

[WeirwoodTreeHugger]

My speculation is that the COTF see the descendants of the First Men as friends and the descendants of the Andals as enemies. The COTF see the resurgence of magic and the destabilisation if the realm as an oppurtunity to unite with the First Men to expel/exterminate the Andals. Having the Stark heir on their side is a good start.

Could it be the COTF and not the Gods that made Bran a greenseer? Maybe that's why he doesn't have red or green eyes like other greenseers?

[Eyron]

Absolutely, I've been arguing for a long time now that the White Walkers are the equal and opposite equivalents of Mel and Moqorro, both of them glamoured and working for Ice and Fire respectively.

There's also a certain symetry, intended or otherwise in the Black Watch and the White Walkers... ah no, nothing's black and white in this story :devil:

Except the house of Black and White ;)

That is something that I think is interesting about the Faceless Men, they are using the symbol of opposites but joining them into one.

from the wiki about:

Its wooden doors are twelve feet high and carved. The left door is weirwood, the right ebony. In the center of the doors is a carved moon face ebony on weirwood, weirwood on ebony.

They could have been involved in what happened in Valyria in some capacity. And they think that people should not cheat death, as Jaqen tells Arya when she has saved his, Rorge's and Biter's life from the fire.

So I am very curious to what Jaqen is up to in the Citadel, and how the FM are responding to winter coming, perhaps it's like a festival to them, with people dying all over Westeros... :uhoh:

About Melisandre and the White Walkers, yup that is exactly what I think too. The Night's King story pretty much confirmed it to me, but it was my need for symmetry that gave me the idea in the first place, and that evil is a man-made construct, so why should the evil in this story be non-human? And why should there be a to all purposes similar and equal but opposing force like the R'hllor cult, that are human? That did not compute to me.

On a different matter: Another thing about ghosts that come to mind is the destruction of Hardhome. That happened around the same time as the doom of Valyria, maybe some hundred years apart. And now all possible scary stuff is going on in Hardhome all over again.

Hardhome was the first attempt ever to build a civilization and a town north of the Wall. I had a theory about that there can not be any civilizations beyond the Wall, in the "reservation" as you said above because the purpose of the Wall was to shield it from the world that men made in the south, and that is was destroyed by the Old Gods because of this. But when I thought about it some more it seemed to be connected to the doom of Valyria. Why else put them so close in time? Maybe magic collapsing has some effect on the other side of the "coin" just as magic growing seem to have.

The story has obviously become twisted over time and a useful parallel is the imaginative folklore surrounding Hadrian's Wall which was built "only" 2,000 years ago, let alone 8,000 years ago. This is why it's so pointless to simply sit back and say the Others are the embodiment of evil and intent on wiping out every living thing because that's what were told by Old Nan in AGoT. Its also why its so much fun trying to figure out what's really going on because there are bound to be contradictions and red herrings and the trick is to make sense of it all.

I agree, and that is why I don't think the White Walkers are simply pure evil, but reasoning people with motives unknown to us. My impression is that they are expanding their territory and trying to impose their "culture" on others just like the red lot.

I have not gotten the impression that they would want to exterminate humans, since they obviously need humans for some reason, otherwise Craster's sacrifices would be meaningless to them and they would go ahead with their plan and kill everybody regardless.

I really wonder what we all would have thought if we never read Old Nans story?

So what’s its (original) purpose? Using historical precedent they probably provided the interface between the Children and the First Men after the Pact, keeping the peace along the borderland and ensuring that no-one infringed the Pact by hacking out a farmstead in lands reserved to the Children - this may also have been the origin of the Free Folk (or Wildlings if you prefer), who did insist on making their homes in the reservation – sound familiar? At the same time if the frontier was patrolled on one side by the Watch, presumably it may have been patrolled on the other by the White Walkers. With a common purpose that would explain the contact between them and ultimately the Nights King marrying what we presume to be a White Walker.

This scenario then provides a motive for the alliance between the Stark of Winterfell and Joruman of the Wildlings – they wanted to open up the north lands for settlers and the Watch were in the way. The discovery that the men of the Watch were giving up their children to be White Walkers, as Craster was to be doing thousands of years later, may have provided the justification afterwards.

The problem I see here is the lack of reaction to these actions, why did the Old Gods not react? If their lands suddenly were flooded with unwanted people, why did the White Walkers and the Children just stand by and watch?

Where the Wall comes into this bears some thinking with perhaps two scenarios; the first being that at this point it didn’t exist but in line with my OP was raised up by the Children afterwards to protect the frontier in the absence of the old Watch. The alternative is per the revised version that the Wall was raised up to hold back Winter itself. This would be consistent with the reference to the Nights King espying the woman from the Wall (I still don’t believe it but the association could be important) and with the secret portal under the Nights Fort which can only be accessed by true men of the Watch.

If we are to believe what GRRM said about it, the Wall was much smaller at that time, unless the whole timeline of the Night's King story is wack. And as such it was not hard to get past if one wanted to. I have been pondering this a little, and I came to think that the Wall was intentionally built for THIS winter, and building it started after the Long Night, and I think you have mentioned this too before. But I think at that time it was known to the Children that another Winter was coming, not for some eventual future but for a known future, and that makes sense when we think of how the Watch have been keeping on building for thousands of years. The Children could have known that their dwindling had begun and this was their last chance to help in any substantial way, to tell their human allies to build this wall and how to do it.

It might also explain Joruman’s Horn. As discussed before I really can’t see blowing it physically bringing it down, but rather unlocking the magic, and perhaps it was by unlocking the original magic that the new Watch, the Nights Watch were able to drive those ground level gates through the Wall and let the Free Folk through to settle the lands beyond. The Nights Watch would then have needed to go ranging beyond to protect those settlers from the Children’s rangers, the White Walkers. However with the old Watch no longer giving up (sacrificing) their children to become White Walkers they would eventually have been substantially killed off and with their original purpose gone the Nights Watch then started to feud with the Free Folk.

But it does seem like some magic is still in the Wall, from how the Wall defends itself as Ygritte says. I really think there is something to it, involving the building of the Wall and Winterfell and perhaps Storms End too. We have not yet seen Melisande try to bring any shadows past the Wall but at least Storms End gave her trouble.

I don't think the Walls magic prevent humans from drilling holes in it, or digging tunnels, so the magic does not have to be lost because of those tunnels that have been made afterwards. If there is magic still it would prevent other forms of magic.

The question then arising is why Craster was giving up his boys to become White Walkers? Did a tradition of doing so still survive? Craster certainly seemed to reckon he was securing the protection of the Old Gods by doing so.

I think it could be an old tradition, but all the other free folk shun him, and they are pretty fanatic about the Old Gods, and the Old gods have not done much to hurt them the last few thousand years, exept maybe the Hardhome incident. So I think Craster is alone in this and I don't think it was for the Old Gods. Rather he discovered a way to deal with the White Walkers, that he alone found acceptable. When he says that one has to get right with the Gods to survive the white cold, I think he meant that the Old Gods are the only ones that can protect men from this white cold. I don't think he meant that the Old Gods are the ones receiving the sacrifices.

[Eyron]

Yes, I get the impression there is a similarity or a parallel between Ice and Fire magic. Also, someone upthread raised the possibility of the NK's queen being similar to whatever Coldhands is, but I think not; the NK's queen has the bright blue eyes thing going whereas Coldhands' are black - or very, very dark. It would help to know how much/what parts of the NK's legends and tales are factual and what was added as the story was being passed down orally (and perhaps in runes - which is useless at the mo) through millennia... Of course, we won't learn any of that any time soon...

Aye that was me, but I don't think so either, I was only trying to sort out all the different possibilities from the little information we have, and that came up as one. But if we are to believe the story is right about the eyes, she can't be a coldhanded lady.

A Grand Unification Hypothesis is starting to form for me. Seven different forces-magics-songs. Three sets of opposed pairs: Fire vs Ice; Earth vs Water; Air vs Sea; plus a lone single- Blood(Death). Legendary dates in Westeros are indeed incorrect. The Long Winter happened at the same time as the Rise of Valyria. The two were connected. Ice/Fire forces usually attract and cancel each other out (not like a particle/antiparticle- the forces aren't destroyed, just bound together like a positive ion and a negative ion.) Valyria learned to split Ice/fire pairs apart (using blood magic) and control fire; the White Walkers did the same with Ice. The two processes unknowingly helped each other. This led to massive buildups of Fire magic in Valyria and Ice magic in the North of Westeros. The Valyrians used Fire in a controlled fashion to win an Empire; The White Walkers unleashed Ice magic as the Long Winter.

Ice was brought under control by the Wall. When Valyria fell (possibly due to Faceless Men sabotage), the Dragonlords sent the Targs to Dragonstone, then sacrificed themselves to temporarily contain all that Fire magic. (It would have wiped out most life on Essos if they hadn't.) It's still hovering over Valyria now. The Targs were given the mission of bringing the excess Fire and Ice power back together safely, to save life on the planet. That will be the job of the PtwP, who's song is that of Ice and Fire.

I was sober when I came up with that, I swear.

Exactly. And Thoros is getting close to the abilities of Mel and Moqorro. I predict that if any of those three get killed, instead of becoming a corpse they will become a pile of ash, in parallel to the way the White Walkers melt.

You have really interesting ideas! That last bit about the red priests is exactly what I have predicted to, it will be so interesting to see if that is right. But I like Thoros, I don't think he has gone through the "change" so he would still be too human, unless he is changing now...

I really like the idea of the seven forces, with death as one without a match. Seven is a sacred number Theon said.

I agree in many things but the part I bolded in you post is one I can't. The reason for the Targs to emigrate was because of the prophetic dreams of one young Targaryen saying that the doom was about to happen in the future, and I don't think the greedy dragonlords felt any obligation to help other people [i don't think they would have based on info just from some prophecy], having enslaved thousand of thousands to do their dirty work before. I think they would have laughed at the Targaryen prophecies if they were trying to warn them about the doom. That is how people mostly react to such warnings of the future, especially people living near volcanoes if what I heard is right.

I do however agree on the PTWP being the one to unite the powers again, being both ice and fire and somehow connect that which have been divided.

Could it be the COTF and not the Gods that made Bran a greenseer? Maybe that's why he doesn't have red or green eyes like other greenseers?

The problem is that the greenseers are the Old Gods. When they die they go on as spirits in the trees and become part of the "godhood", explained in Brans chapters in ADWD.

[kissdbyfire]

The problem is that the greenseers are the Old Gods. When they die they go on as spirits in the trees and become part of the "godhood", explained in Brans chapters in ADWD.

Gods, I can feel that headache creeping back. It seems I got yet another bit wrong then... I had understood that ALL CotF became part of the godhood (weirwoods) when they died... -:(

[Black Crow]

The problem I see here is the lack of reaction to these actions, why did the Old Gods not react? If their lands suddenly were flooded with unwanted people, why did the White Walkers and the Children just stand by and watch?

An obvious question, and yet the Free Folk are there. My best guess, as outlined in my post, is that with the Watch no longer giving up their children to become White Walkers there was little the Children could do to stop them short of unleashing another natural catastrophe. Arguably this might have been the point where the Long Winter came in, rather than earlier, but the Walkers and the Wall would suggest otherwise and it may simply be the case that other than creating the Wall something like that was too powerful to control and once the balance had been upset it couldn't be turned on and off like a tap.

[uncle fester]

So they had to launch a preemptive strike against the lava realm in the east, much like a certain middle eastern nation has to concern itself with dismantling the persian nuke threat before Iran has finished baking that cake.

Fantastic troll btw. Can't believe it didn't get any bites.

[mrazny]

Slimly possibly but not probable timeline...

There was a Watch but no wall, Night's King events occur which was why Joruman and the stark in winterfell could communicate and coordinate deposing the NK, endgame causes the Long Night. Last Hero puts an end to it, the Wall itself is built, the oath is changed...

Not likely.

Timing bits that should be important: When the Wall was erected in relation to the end of the War with the Children. Was it truly peace, then long night, then watch/wall?

And of course, why did the First Men ever stop their fight with the Children? Men don't give up their ambitions easily. The Children shattered the arm, and threatened to do the same at the neck. So suddenly the First Men wanted peace because they would ONLY have the land of the 6 kingdoms? It's possible. Would the children be able to sink the entirety of the 6 kingdoms south of the Neck? that's a step bigger than shattering the arm but I guess it could've been a part of it.

There's then the bit about the Last Hero having to *find* the children, who supposedly stayed in the God's Eye still and had their Forests, unless they already retreated up north before the long night. Knowing the sequence and circumstance ARE suspect, and this bit; Bran's vision into the past. He watches the trees shrink, until his last image is the blood sacrifice of a human. He did NOT see one of the Children.

Proposed connect the dots...

The First Men effectively defeated the Children in entirety, going so far as clearing if not all, many and possibly even certain groves that exist now didn't exist before these next events. Whatever role the Children and the Weirwoods were supposed to fulfill was interupted which allowed the Long Night. The Hero had to venture far north, perhaps the same place Bran is now in order to seek out the Children's help in repelling the Long Night, formed the Watch, formed the Wall, replanted many of the weirwoods, Children resettled the God's Eye or formed some Children/Men offspring to serve it, perhaps some Children/Men offspring became the Crannogmen, and the Breaking of the Neck wasn't a move that started the Pact, but a last resort if the Wall fails when/if a similar Long Night occurs. Can the White Walkers cross water?

Breaking the Arm of Dorne, a move during the First Men invasion or a move after the fact as part of the plan to repel the Long Night.

But also, and maybe its convenience and ease of Storytelling, why is there only one line of Starks? We know why Brandon and Benjen had no children, but why didn't they have cousins? Benjen took the Black, and Brandon was killed, but there aren't exactly a wide birth of Starks married to such and such house, like we have with Lannisters. The Karstarks are the only example, but are also old enough of a line that it's not exactly a close lineage anymore.

Was it always that only one Stark is allowed to produce heirs, and basically the women didn't count?

[Ibbison from Ibben]

And of course, why did the First Men ever stop their fight with the Children? Men don't give up their ambitions easily.

As I stated upthread aways, the Pact makes perfect sense. The First Men came to Westeros looking for land. They destroyed some weirwoods (effectively killing the still-living consciousnesses of the CotF's ancestors), thus precipitating war. The Pact gave the First Men land, and protected the CotF's weirwoods. Good deal for all concerned. The two peoples had different economic systems and needs- the First Men were agriculturists who needed flat, open land; the CotF were hunter-gatherers who thrived in forests. They were perfectly capable of co-existing, so it made sense to end the war.

[FanTasy]

But also, and maybe its convenience and ease of Storytelling, why is there only one line of Starks? We know why Brandon and Benjen had no children, but why didn't they have cousins? Benjen took the Black, and Brandon was killed, but there aren't exactly a wide birth of Starks married to such and such house, like we have with Lannisters. The Karstarks are the only example, but are also old enough of a line that it's not exactly a close lineage anymore.

Ow ... I didn't notice that. No living greataunts, cousins are mentioned by GRRM for all I know, Not a Uncle Fester, nowhere. Just the Karstarks. In the Stark familytree in the Wiki is mentioned that some Stark married a Royce. from this marriage came three daughters, who were married to Vale Lords.

[Ibbison from Ibben]

I suspect the early history of Westeros went something like this:

The First Men cross into Westeros. The CotF fight back and break the Arm of Dorne. The First Men and the CotF make the Pact and live in peace for many thousands of years. However, a small faction of the First Men reject the Pact and try to continue the war: the FM and the CotF combine to drive the anti-Pacters into the extreme north of Westeros.

The arctic regions of Westeros have a natural concentration of Ice energy- the antiPacters learn to use it and become White Walkers. At the same time, men in Essos living near the natural concentrations of Fire energy on the volcanoes of what-will-become Valyria learn to use it and bocome Fire mages and Dragonlords. The Dragonlords create the Valyrian Empire. The White Walkers unleash Ice energy on Westeros as the Long Winter as an act of revenge on the FM-CotF. The most powerful WW is known as the King of Winter.

The Last Hero searches for the CotF (Nan's story ends here). The CotF help him seek out the King of Winter. The LH convinces the King of Winter to relent, but the other White Walkers will not. The King of Winter turns his cloak, and helps the FM and CotF to build the Wall. The magic of the wall is Earth energy, which acts as both a trap for Ice energy and a barrier against it. The King of Winter dumps all his Ice magic into the wall, thus binding he and his heirs to it. He moves south of the Wall, builds Winterfell, and rules as Brandon Stark, the Builder.

(Note- the Wall was build at its present location not because of population distribution, but simply because that was the narrowest part of northern Westeros.)

The story of the Night's King records an attempt by the WW to destroy the Wall by subverting the Starks; or more properly, to win them back to their old allegiance.

In this scenario, history is indeed inaccurate, as many here have proposed. What history got wrong is not what side the CotF were on, as Black Crow proposes, but what side the Starks were originally on.