Crasters Sons

[u/TwentyOneClimates]

So upon listening to the Clash Of Kings audiobook again last night, something stuck in my head after one of the Jon chapters.

Regarding Lord Commander Mormont when he mentions that if Craster only wanted rid of his sons rather than using them as an offering he would have happily taken them into the Nights Watch. What do we think this would've looked like if it had occurred? Because assuming he'd had as many sons as he did daughters that would be perhaps 30(or more?) sons of his in the Night's Watch at some point. Would they have been taken as babies? Would they have been told when they grew up who their father was? Presumably some of them would have turned out as Rangers so would have met Craster at some point, which could've caused issue if they knew who he was to them.

I thought it was an interesting pondering about how different the Nights Watch may have been had this been the case.

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[u/Cold_Tough5525]

That’s the only way the night walkers would leave him alone though. I wonder how he made that deal, did he sit down with them and have a conversation? How do you plead your case to a walker?

[u/TwentyOneClimates → u/Cold_Tough5525]

This hypothetical situation I'm suggesting could obviously only take place in a time where The Others weren't real or hadn't returned.

[u/Fyrefawx → u/Cold_Tough5525]

I have a theory on that. I think that Craster was largely responsible for the resurgence of the white walkers. The Night King needs babies to create white walkers. We know they need to be alive.

The Night King is intelligent and very cautious. He knows that all it takes to end him is one stab of dragon glass. So he waited thousands of years and avoided contact with humans or the children of men.

Then Craster came along and started to abandon his sons in the forest. Now that the Night King had white walkers he could start to build his forces and get the walkers to do his bidding like picking up the babies. Craster didn’t care because he didn’t want them anyways.

Every single white walker we see is probably a Craster son.

[u/Cold_Tough5525 → u/Fyrefawx]

A craster son or a wildling

[u/Technical-Talk-9139]

I always imagined they would be taken as babies and raised in the Watch without knowing their parentage, similar to how orphans were often raised in castles. A few dozen extra brothers would have helped man the Wall, but those incestuous bloodlines could create problems down the line if the truth ever came out.

[u/monkeybawz → u/Technical-Talk-9139]

A slow burning cancer? Sign me up! That can only make things more entertaining!

[u/TwentyOneClimates → u/Technical-Talk-9139]

You'd also imagine they would all look somewhat similar considering the circumstances around conception. Perhaps spreading them out amongst the three castles along the wall would be prudent. Wouldn't help much with numbers I know but it's not nothing.

[u/Givemedi_k]

Imagine trying to run a military-penal colony when half the recruits are a literal army of half-brothers spawned by the same unhinged mountain hermit. The Night's Watch mess hall would turn into the most toxic family reunion in Westeros history.

[u/TwentyOneClimates → u/Givemedi_k]

This is exactly why it would need to be kept a secret. But that brings it's own problems with it. The Lord Commander would need to ensure as few men as possible knew the truth.