Why was the Night's Watch unaware of the attack from the south during the Battle of Castle Black?

Why was the Night's Watch unaware of the attack from the south during the Battle of Castle Black? - Woods Covered With Snow

As the entire Night's Watch prepared for the big battle in S04E09, they seemed to have prepared quite well. Given that Gilly was aware of the wildlings south of the wall (as was everyone else since news of the wildling attack / takeover came through even before Gilly returned), how is it possible that they were caught off-guard when the wildlings attacked?

It seemed like everyone was quite surprised by the attack "from the inside". It was well known they had climbed and crossed the wall since Jon was part of that. So, why the big surprise?



Best Answer

They weren't, I'm not sure where do you take that they were surprised by the attack from the south.

Before the battle begins we see them reinforcing the southern door and they are also aware that the force attacking from the south is much smaller (Sam mentions to Pip before the battle that the attacking force from the south is much smaller so they are lucky to be manning the southern wall instead while trying to calm him).

The only face of "surprise" comes from Allister Thorne when Janos Slynt shouts to him "they are attacking the southern gate" right before the attack from the north starts and his response isn't a "what?" like if he was surprised that they weren't expecting the attack at all, but a "now?" because he was surprised that the southern attack began before the northern attack. They were probably expecting the southern attack to begin after the northern attack begins so that Allister was up in the wall while it started for troop morale reasons and then going down before the southern attack begins so that he could be present there for troop morale reasons too (we even see he had a small speech ready for the brothers at the bottom before the melee starts).




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Why did stannis help the Nights Watch?

He wanted Jon to take Winterfell so that he would have a foothold in the North, the largest region in the kingdom. This enabled him to continue his fight beyond the wall while having someone he trusted as Lord of Winterfell. By claiming the North it gave Stannis more legitimacy as he seen it.

Who wins Battle of Castle Black?

Attack on Castle BlackConflictConflict beyond the WallDate300 ACPlaceCastle BlackResultCastle Black garrison victory2 more rows

How many soldiers are in the Nights Watch?

Subsequently, a Stark known as Bran the Builder erected the Wall, along with 19 castles that the Night's Watch would man for thousands of years to come. At the height of its power, the Watch commanded 10,000 soldiers, along with horses, servants, and a fleet of ships.



Middle of the Night - Elley Duhé (Lyrics) | In the middle of the night




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