Night's Watch

The Night's Watch was a sworn military order that held and guarded the Wall to keep the Wildlings and the White Walkers from crossing from the region beyond the Wall into the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros. Men could join the Watch either voluntarily or as a punishment for crimes, but membership in either case was lifelong, and desertion was normally punished by execution.

The Watch was split into three branches; the Rangers who fought and defended the Wall, and patrolled the Haunted Forest beyond, the Builders, who repaired and maintained the Wall and castles, and the Stewards, who supported and fed the members of the Watch.

At its peak, the Watch maintained a membership of over 10,000 members, manning numerous castles across the Wall. The Night's Watch entered a state of decline following Aegon's Conquest, with their numbers dwindling to less than 1,000 in just three castles by the War of the Five Kings. Attacks from Wildlings and the re-emergence of the White Walkers further decimated the Watch's numbers in the following years, and they were forced to abandon the Wall altogether following its breaching by the Night King in 304 AC. The remaining members of the Watch went on to fight in the Great War, but following the conclusion of the conflict, with the White Walkers destroyed and cordial relations established with the Wildlings, the Watch essentially lacked purpose. King Gendry I Baratheon released all surviving members from their oaths in 305 AC, before formally dissolving the Night's Watch in 310 AC.

The Night's Watch was in effect succeeded by the Stepstones Guard. Founded around the same time as Night's Watch's dissolution, it ultimately came to serve a near-identical position in Westerosi society to the former Night's Watch,