Editing World of A Song of Ice and Fire (section)

===The North {{anchor|The North|The Neck}}===
The North consists of the northern half of the Seven Kingdoms{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Map}} and is ruled by [[House Stark]] from their castle at Winterfell.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Bran I, p. 14}} The North is sparsely populated, but nearly as big as the other six southern kingdoms combined.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Eddard I, p. 41}} Martin compared the North to Scotland.<ref group=S name=denverpost_grrm/> The climate is cold overall, with hard winters and mild snows common regardless of the season. Beyond the wall in the far north, the climate is polar with heavy snow while further south, it is milder with more rain.{{Sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Eddard I, p. 41}} The region's northern border is the Gift, a stretch of land 50 [[league (unit)|league]]s wide given to the possession of the [[Night's Watch]].{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Bran III, p. 546}} However, due to Wildling raids it is filled with abandoned towns and farms.

An [[isthmus]] called The Neck separates the North from the South.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Map}}{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Bran III, p. 329}} It is dominated by [[swampland]]s and is home to short, marsh-dwelling [[crannog]]men ruled by House Reed of Greywater Watch, loyal bannermen of House Stark.{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Bran III, p. 329}}{{sfn|''A Clash of Kings''|loc=Appendix: The King in the North, p. 985}} The Neck's difficult [[wetland]] terrain is infested by predatory [[alligator|lizard-lion]]s, restricting the only dryland passage to a [[causeway]] commanded by the almost impenetrable stronghold of Moat Cailin, which protected the North from land invasion from the south for thousands of years.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Catelyn V, pp. 633–635}} The city of White Harbor, located at the [[river mouth|mouth]] of the White Knife river, is a thriving [[port]] and the fifth largest settlement in the Seven Kingdoms.{{sfn|''A Dance with Dragons''|loc=Jon I, p. 53}}

[[Illegitimate children]] born of a noble parent and acknowledged by said parent in the North are given the surname Snow.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Catelyn VI, p. 369}}

====Winterfell====
{{redirect|Winterfell|the episode of the television series|Winterfell (Game of Thrones episode){{!}}Winterfell (''Game of Thrones'' episode)|the company|Winterfell Industries}}
Winterfell is the ancestral castle of [[House Stark]] and the political capital of the North.  Located at the geographical center of the North, it has a cold, subarctic climate with snowy winters and cool summers. The castle was built over a natural [[hot spring]], whose scalding water runs inside the castle walls and warms its halls and rooms as well as the [[greenhouse|glass garden]] at its northwestern corner. There are several open pools where heated water collects within the godswood. The hot spring also prevents the ground from freezing.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Catelyn II, p. 58}}  The castle has deep [[catacombs]] called "the crypt", where bodies of deceased Starks are entombed behind statues in their likeness with a [[direwolf (Game of Thrones)|direwolf]] at their feet and their swords in their hands.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Eddard I, pp. 42–43}} The tombs have been used since the old kings of the North, known as the Kings of Winter, were in power. They ruled since before the arrival of the Andals.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Eddard I, pp. 42–43}}

To depict Winterfell, both the pilot and season 1 of the television adaptation used the 16th century clock tower and ancient courtyard of [[Castle Ward]] in [[County Down]], Northern Ireland.<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/> [[Doune Castle]] in [[Stirling]], Scotland, which was previously featured as Castle Anthrax in the film ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'', was also used for exterior scenes.<ref group=S name="BBC News 23 October 2009"/> [[Saintfield]] Estates stood in as Winterfell's godswood, an enclosed wooded area where characters can worship the old gods beside trees with faces carved in their bark.<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/> A car park stood in for Winterfell's courtyard, and a wine cellar was used to depict the Stark family crypt.<ref group=S name="Den of Geek 29 February 2012"/> [[Tollymore Forest]] featured prominently in the prologue of the pilot episode and in the pivotal scene where the Starks first find the direwolves. [[Cairncastle]], meanwhile, served as the location where [[Ned Stark]] beheads the deserter Will.<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/> The interior of Winterfell, such as the Tower of the First Keep, the Great Hall, and Catelyn's bedchamber, were filmed at [[The Paint Hall]] studio.<ref group=S name=mogot_missives/> Set designer [[Gemma Jackson]] said, "Winterfell was based on a Scottish castle."<ref group=S name=dailybeast_secrets/>

====The Wall====
[[File:HadrianWall (xto.photo).jpg|thumb|The Wall in the ''Ice and Fire'' series was inspired by [[Hadrian's Wall]] in the North of England.]]
The Wall is a huge structure of stone, ice, and magic{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Bran IV, p. 770}} on the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms.{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Map}} It is home to the [[Night's Watch]], a brotherhood sworn to protect the realms of men from the threats beyond the Wall.{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Samwell II, p. 450}}

The Wall was inspired by Martin's visit to [[Hadrian's Wall]], in the [[Northern England|North of England]] close to the border with [[Scotland]]. Looking out over the hills, Martin wondered what a [[centurion|Roman centurion]] from the [[Mediterranean]] would feel, not knowing what threats might come from the north.<ref group=S name=grrm_iv_sfsite2/> This experience was so profound that a decade later, in 1991, he wanted to "write a story about the people guarding the end of the world",<ref group=S name=tiff2/> and ultimately "the things that come out of the [fictional] north are a good deal more terrifying than [[Scottish people|Scotsmen]] or [[Picts]]".<ref group=S name=smartertravel/>

Martin adjusted the size, length, and magical nature of the Wall for [[genre fiction|genre]] demands;<ref group=S name=grrm_iv_sfsite2/> [[Jon Snow (character)|Jon Snow]]'s chapters describe it as approximately {{convert|300|mi}} long{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon VI, p. 520}} and {{convert|700|ft}} high in general, rising up to a perceived {{convert|900|ft}} in spots due to huge foundation blocks.{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Jon IV, pp. 405–406}} The top is wide enough for a dozen mounted knights to ride abreast (approximately 30&nbsp;ft or 10&nbsp;m),{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon III, pp. 184–186}} while the base is so thick that the Wall's gates are more like tunnels through the ice.{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords'' |loc=Bran III, p. 550}}

The novels' legends claim that the First Men,{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon IX, p. 784}} or more specifically Brandon the Builder with the possible help of children of the forest and giants,{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Bran IV, pp. 239–240}}{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Jon V, p. 557}} constructed the Wall some 8,000 years before the events of the series.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Eddard I, p. 46}}

The Wall has since been maintained by the Night's Watch to guard the realms of men against threats from beyond, originally the Others, and later against [[wildling (character)|wildling]] raids.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon VIII, p. 656}}{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Samwell II, p. 450}}

A strip of land known as "the Gift", now stretching 50 [[league (unit)|leagues]] (about {{convert|150|mi}}) south of the wall, was given to them in [[perpetuity]] thousands of years earlier for cultivation.{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Bran III, p. 546}}{{sfn|''A Storm of Swords''|loc=Samwell V, p. 1077}} In ''A Game of Thrones'', of the nineteen castles built along the wall, only three are still manned:{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon III, pp. 184–186}} Castle Black with 600 men, and the Shadow Tower and Eastwatch-by-the-Sea with 200 men each.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Tyrion III, p. 206}} Parts of Castle Black have fallen into ruin.{{sfn|''A Game of Thrones''|loc=Jon III, pp. 184–186}}

The TV series' Castle Black and the Wall were filmed in the abandoned [[Magheramorne#Game of Thrones|Magheramorne]] Quarry near [[Belfast]], [[Northern Ireland]],<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/> whereas the scenes shot atop the wall were filmed inside [[Paint Hall Studios]].<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/> The composite set (with both exteriors and interiors) consisted of a large section of Castle Black including the courtyard, the ravenry, the mess hall, and the barracks, and used the stone wall of the quarry as the basis for the ice wall that protects Westeros from the dangers that dwell beyond. They also made a functional elevator to lift the rangers to the top of the Wall.<ref group=S name=mogot_fresh/> A castle with real rooms and a working elevator were built near a cliff {{convert|400|ft}} high.<ref group=S name=fodors/><ref group=S name=tiff2/> "Working construction lifts were discovered at a nearby work site and rise 18 feet; [[Computer-generated imagery|CGI]] fills in the rest to make the wall appear 700 feet high."<ref group=S name=dailybeast_secrets/> The area around the elevator was painted white to make it look like ice. Martin was surprised by the height and thought: "Oh I may have made the wall too big!"<ref group=S name=tiff2/> Martin observed: "It's a pretty spectacular, yet miserable location. It is wet and rainy, and the mud is thick....[it] really gets the actors in the mood of being at the end of the world in all of this cold and damp and chill."<ref group=S name=fodors/>

====Beyond the Wall====
[[File:OeraefajoekullMorning.jpg|thumb|Season 2 of the TV adaptation featured scenes set north of the Wall that were filmed on the [[Vatnajökull]] glacier in Iceland.]]
''A Clash of Kings'' takes the story to the lands Beyond the Wall, although the first five books do not explore "what lies really north ... but we will in the last two books". The TV adaptation used [[Iceland]] as filming location for the lands Beyond the Wall. Martin, who has never been to Iceland, said Beyond the Wall was "considerably larger than Iceland and the area closest to my Wall is densely forested, so in that sense it's more like Canada{{snd}} [[Hudson Bay]] or the Canadian forests just north of [[Michigan]]. And then as you get further and further north, it changes. You get into [[tundra]] and [[ice field]]s and it becomes more of an [[arctic]] environment. You have [[plain]]s on one side and a very high range of mountains on the other. Of course, once again this is fantasy, so my mountains are more like the [[Himalayas]]." In an HBO featurette, Martin stated the lands beyond the wall make up a big part of Westeros, being roughly the size of Canada.<ref group=S name=smartertravel/> The Valley of Thenn is one such location beyond the Wall, and north of that is the Lands of Always Winter, where the Others come from.

During the first season, the HBO team used places that they could decorate with artificial snow for the north of the Wall, but a bigger landscape was chosen for Season 2. "Primary filming for these scenes, which encompass both the Frostfangs and the Fist of the First Men, occurred at the [[Svínafellsjökull]] [[Ice calving|calving]] [[glacier]] in [[Skaftafell]], Iceland, followed by shooting near [[Smyrlabjörg]] and [[Vík í Mýrdal]] on [[Höfðabrekkuheiði]]. Benioff said, "We always knew we wanted something shatteringly beautiful and barren and brutal for this part of Jon's journey, because he's in the true North now. It's all real. It's all in camera. We're not doing anything in postproduction to add mountains or snow or anything."<ref group=S name=go_hbofilmed/>