Cliche, I know. but maybe the wall was defencive. not offencive.

[NurseNinja]

1)hundreads of feet high and many miles long... the wall would be an insane achevment in todays world. let alone westeros. how was it built? and by who? ("bran the builder" but who is he, was he a good guy?)

-We know that the others are masters of ice construction and indeed tend towards using ice as a material.

-there are supposedly spells used in its construction, is there any evidence that the people of that era used magic? There are no First men magick swords, no other constructioins of ice and magic. And yet so much others seems to be magical, they can reanimate the dead and possibly manipulate the weather....

2)Would the wall stop others? they are strong and dexterous.. but there are spells in its contruction. we dont know if that could stop them from moving south. no everything about it is far more a hinderance to a frail man than an other.

just an idea.

[Nerolunar]

So... You are saying the Others build the Wall? Nice theory, but it is entirely crackpot. By the way, welcome to the forums :)

[Jabronius Maximus]

Well storm's end is also magical, and apparently Bran helped build that before (?) he built the wall. And according to the wiki, there are spells woven into the walls to prevent magic from passing through. That sounds a lot like the spells woven into The Wall in the north.

[Runaway Penguin]

Spells woven into the walls may not mean the walls themselves are magical ;) Magic is a fickle thing, esp. in Westeros - so prolly needs to be protected from physical harm by a massive barrier.

As for relatively (come on, we got hundreds of years) way to build a Wall, get water, get wooden shavings, make Pykrete ;)

[danm_999]

There was almost an identical topic the other day positing maybe the Others built the Wall. Unfortunately, there's really no textual evidence for it, and there are a lot of logical issues with a theory based around it.

[Ser Ennepe]

Spells woven into the walls may not mean the walls themselves are magical ;) Magic is a fickle thing, esp. in Westeros - so prolly needs to be protected from physical harm by a massive barrier.

the Walls of Storm's End are magical imho. Mel's Shadowbaby wasn't able to pass them without the help of Davos smuggling her inside of the walls.

[thecryptile]

Bran was universally regarded as a hero in the North. He had help from Giants to build the Wall, and when he built it, it wasn't nearly as tall as it is today. The NW added to it over thousands of years. Building it is no more difficult to believe than the Great Wall of China in our world. The Others aren't the only one's capable of building with ice, humans can as well.

We simply don't know enough about the First Men and their possession of magic swords and items to speculate at this time.

Here is a thread about the Others building the Wall (and debunking the notion)

http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/87127-crackpot-the-others-built-the-wall/

[Manderlay]

Bran the builder built the wall as far as we know, perhaps he used giants as well to help him build it, the runes of the first men, protective spells are in the wall, we see a magical gate, the black gate made of wierwood, the runes were put in place so that IMO the dead bodies don't turn into wights south of the wall, however the others can use the wights to physically assault the wall, the others themselves, I don't know if they can pass through the wall with the runes of the first men still in place, perhaps the wall will have to come down or the others can climb the wall and still pass south of the wall. That is something I am not sure about

[Lady Nastja]

Welcome to the forums :cheers:

Your theory is plausible in ways, but it's a crackpot.

[Andrea Darling]

As I wrote on the other thread thats putting this theory forward right now, the wall isn't a hindrance to men. They go under it, over it, and around it with impunity. It would be a rubbish defense it that is what its for.

[Jabronius Maximus]

I believe its in the Heresy threads, but some posters suggested that the Wall was built as part of some kind of a pact, to divide the 'lands of ice' from the human lands. Wildlings may have been a group of first men that refused to kneel and stayed north of the wall. Its also possible that part of the agreememt was 'there must be a Stark in winterfell' and the reason Others are moving south is because the pact has been broken.

I'm not doing this theory any justice because I'm making no sense here lol. To the OP, you can post a question regarding the purpose of the wall in the Heresy threads (Dance with Dragons sub forum) and the heretics there would gladly share their theories with you.

[thecryptile]

the runes were put in place so that IMO the dead bodies don't turn into wights south of the wall,

If this is true, it would explain why the bodies Jon put in the ice cells didn't "turn"

[Manderlay]

If this is true, it would explain why the bodies Jon put in the ice cells didn't "turn"

yes that was what I was thinking, there is no event in which dead bodies turn into wights south of the wall, othor the wight that was going to kill Mormont was brought by the NW south of the wall and he was already a wight with the second one, both of them had the blue eyes. The question is can the others pass through the wall like the wights did, I think no, the others will use wights to assault the wall and perhaps make a breach where they can pass and come south of the wall.

[Black Crow]

I believe its in the Heresy threads, but some posters suggested that the Wall was built as part of some kind of a pact, to divide the 'lands of ice' from the human lands. Wildlings may have been a group of first men that refused to kneel and stayed north of the wall. Its also possible that part of the agreememt was 'there must be a Stark in winterfell' and the reason Others are moving south is because the pact has been broken.

I'm not doing this theory any justice because I'm making no sense here lol. To the OP, you can post a question regarding the purpose of the wall in the Heresy threads (Dance with Dragons sub forum) and the heretics there would gladly share their theories with you.

Come across to Heresy (on the ADwD page) and all shall be revealed, but essentially the way we have it figured as Sgt Rex says is that the Wall is, to quote Melisandre, a magical hinge, separating the realms of men from the Otherlands beyond. It was raised by great magic, probably quite suddenly, during the Long Night and the Wildlings are the descendants of the lost kingdoms of men (including the Thenns) trapped on the wrong side. There's more to it than that of course so come across to the dark side and find out.