History Characters / ASongOfIceAndFireTheNightsWatch

* ArcherArchetype: Koss carries a longbow and can look intimidating when threatening gold cloaks with it, and later kills four attackers.

* DropTheHammer: Cutjack is a former stonemason who carries his hammer as a weapon.

[[folder:Danny Flint]]
!!Danny Flint
!!!Brave Danny Flint

-->''"A girl who dressed up like a boy to take the black. Her song is sad and pretty. What happened to her wasn't."''

A brave young girl, who joined the Night's Watch by disguising as a boy. It did not turn out well for her, as she was discovered and subsequently raped and murdered by her former brothers. Her ghost is said to be one of the many things wandering the Nightfort.

* ActionGirl: Joined the Night's Watch to fight for their cause.
* FamousAncestor: Or rather an infamous, unfortunate ancestor to House Flint.
* InUniverseNickname: "Brave Danny Flint" is the title of a song about her fate.
* RapeAsDrama: Getting gang raped to death by the guys who were your colleagues mere hours ago? Fairly dramatic, yes.
* SweetPollyOliver: Deconstructed; she joined the Night's Watch by posing as a boy but got discovered and was raped and killed as a result.
* TooDumbToLive: ''Not'' a good idea for a woman to join a group with rapists as members.

[[folder:Mad Axe]]
!!Mad Axe

-->''Mad Axe had once walked these yards and climbed these towers, butchering his brothers in the dark.''
-->--'''Bran Stark's''' thoughts on reaching the Nightfort.

A member of the Night's Watch famous for murdering his sworn brothers at the Nightfort.

* AxCrazy: A crazed killer that murders his sworn brothers, with a literal axe to boot.
* BeardOfEvil: Had a red beard.
* BewareTheQuietOnes: He took off his boots and silently prowled the halls of the Nightfort at night to murder his brothers.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: His real name is unknown, he's unstable, he wields an axe, and he's called "Mad Axe".
* EvilRedhead: A redhead SerialKiller.
* SerialKiller: Of Night's Watch members.
* TheUnreveal: We never learn why Mad Axe killed all his comrades in cold blood.

[[folder:The 79 Sentinels]]
!!The 79 Sentinels

-->"They left their posts in life, so in death their watch goes on forever."
-->--'''Bran Stark'''

Seventy nine brothers of the Night's Watch who deserted their post at the Nightfort and were entombed at the Wall as punishment.

* BuriedAlive: Were bricked up inside the Wall so their watch would never end.
* DangerousDeserter: They deserted the Night's Watch, becoming outlaws.
* KarmicDeath: BuriedAlive within The Wall for deserting their posts.
* HellIsWar: Have to spend their afterlives serving the Watch.
* HonorBeforeReason: Lord Ryswell delivered the seventy nine deserters back to the Wall, including one who was his youngest son.
* TogetherInDeath: Lord Ryswell joined the Watch so he could be buried close to his son.

[[folder:The Rat Cook]]
!!The Rat Cook

Another infamous figure of the Night's Watch. As the name suggests, he was a cook of the Night's Watch who was supposedly offended by an Andal King, who then visited the Nightfort. As revenge, the Rat Cook served him a delicious pie of bacon... and his own son's flesh. The king enjoyed the pie so much he asked for a second helping. The gods cursed the cook by turning him into a fat, white rat which could only survive by feasting on its young. He was condemned to run the halls of the Nightfort. Rather than because of the murder or the forced cannibalism, they did it because he broke the rules of SacredHospitality.

See the [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireLegendaryFigures Legendary Figures]] page.

* CreulToBeKind: When Arya is in his care, he's harsh to the point of beating her and insistently calls her "boy" with a noticeable scowl in his voice. This isn't out of sadism or genuine anger, but to ''keep her safe'', as if the others find out who she is they're likely to turn on her; and as she's a grieving child who's not thinking pragmatically, his harshness is the only way to get through to her.

* ScatterbrainedSenior: [[spoiler:In the last few days of his life, Aemon's mind grows confused, rambling about prophecies and magic, and during his lucid moments expressing regret that he is too old to help Daenerys and pleading with Sam to tell the maesters that she is the Prince who was Promised.]]

* ScatterbrainedSenior: [[spoiler:In the last few days of his life, Aemon's mind grows confused, rambling about prophecies and magic, and during his lucid moments expressing regret that he is too old to help Daenerys and pleading with Sam to go to Oldtown and tell the maesters that she is the Prince who was Promised.]]

* ScatterbrainedSenior: [[spoiler:In the last few days of his life, Aemon's mind grows confused, rambling about prophecies and magic, and during his lucid moments expressing regret that he cannot go to help Daenerys and pleading with Sam to go to Oldtown and tell the maesters that she is the Prince who was Promised.]]

* InItForLife: Men of the Night's Watch serve for life. Once they have taken their vows, the sentence for attempting to leave the Night's Watch is death.

** Mole's Town, the nearest settlement, apparently has several brothels that do quite good business with brothers that have snuck away for an evening. How is it that members an impoverished sworn brotherhood can actually pay for their services is never brought up, but there is more to compensation than coin. [[note]] In Real life, soldiers have paid by giving them their equipment. [[/note]]

* DueToTheDead: [[spoiler:In a world like this where so many people die screaming, it's significant that not only does Aemon have a peaceful and painless death, but he gets an honorable funeral besides, attended by Sam, Gilly and the Summer Islanders aboard the ''Cinnamon Wind.'']]

** Later, when he becomes a man of the Night's Watch, repeatedly insulting a superior officer and refusing his orders turns out to not be a great idea. [[spoiler:It leaves him short one head.]]

* AnimalMotifs: He is often compared to a frog.

* TooDumbToLive: Repeatedly insulting a superior officer and refusing his orders turns out to not be a great idea.
** Cersei also invokes this about Slynt, stating he only took two men with him to arrest [[MasterSwordsman Barristan Selmy]] and didn't consider [[UnderestimatingBadassery Selmy might choose to fight rather than come quietly]].

** Mole's Town, the nearest settlement, apparently has several brothels that do quite good business with brothers that have snuck away for an evening. How is it that members an impoverished sworn brotherhood can actually pay for their services is never brought up.
*** Ever heard the phrase "Your mother wears combat boots"? The brothers can pay whores by giving them their equipment.

* GondorCallsForAid: Through the first 3 books, and only [[spoiler:Stannis Baratheon]] answered.

* MentorArchetype: Jeor Mormont, Qhorin Halfhand and Maester Aemon.

* TheOathbreaker: Has had its share, but the Night's King was its most infamous example.
* OldMaster: The senior members often are this. Special mention goes to Maester Aemon and Jeor "Old Bear" Mormont.

* ReassignedToAntarctica: One of the reasons people are sent to the Wall; Janos Slynt, for example, and Cersei Lannister's [[SpannerInTheWorks original]] plan for Eddard Stark.

* BewareTheQuietOnes: When Jon's life is on the line [[spoiler: thanks to Thorne and Slynt]] Aemon pulls out all the stops to help him. [[spoiler: He shoots down Septon Cellador's paltry evidence regarding Jon's faith in the Old Gods as proof he is sympathetic to the wildlings, points out Jon's dedication and skill in the defence of Castle Black and his previous upstanding service to Mormont, and when all else fails, goes directly over Slynt and Thorne's heads to bring in Cotter Pyke, who informs the pair they don't have the authority to arbitrarily execute Jon]].

* TheAlcoholic: Cellador is often described as constantly "being in his cups."

* UncertainDoom: [[spoiler:Reysen, Dobber, Murch, Gerren and Urreg]] aren't specifically noted as dying but don't escape with Arya and the other known survivors.

* VowOfCelibacy: The Night's Watch oath includes "I shall take no wife, hold no lands, father no children."

* VagueAge: The only data to indicate how old he is or how long he's been with the Watch is that he was the Maester of the Shadow Tower prior to Mance Rayder deserting the Night's Watch, and even ''that'' event hasn't received an exact date.

-->'''Stannis Baratheon''': Do not trifle with me, my lord. I saw the proof Jon Arryn laid before the small council. If I had been king [[ImpliedDeathThreat you would have lost more than your office]], I promise you, but Robert shrugged away your little lapses. ‘They all steal,’ I recall him saying. ‘Better a thief we know than one we don’t, the next man might be worse.’ Lord Petyr’s words in my brother’s mouth, I’ll warrant. Littlefinger had a nose for gold, and I’m certain he arranged matters so the crown profited as much from your corruption as you did yourself.

* AintTooProudToBeg: [[spoiler:When Jon chooses to spare Slynt from being hanged and decides to behead him himself in accordance to the ways of the First Men]].

* DidntThinkThisThrough: Tries to flaunt his status prior to being forced to take the black as a way to scare Jon. Jon promptly has him executed because he refused to follow orders.

* ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight: The Night's Watch are supposed to be neutral in regards to the affairs of the realm, but Yoren ignores this to get Arya out of King's Landing and avoid seeing [[spoiler:her father get beheaded]].

* NotNowKiddo: When Ghost becomes increasingly uncontrollable to the point of going berserk, Jon leaves him locked in his quarters and attributes it to his desire to fight a huge boar owned by a wildling warg. [[spoiler:It's because his several of his Night's Watch brothers are about to betray him]].