The Neck
el Cuello
The Neck is the swampy strip of land that pinches Westeros between the North and the rest of the Seven Kingdoms, ground so treacherous that no large army has ever crossed it without the consent of the people who live there.
Its masters are the crannogmen, a hidden marsh people who have kept customs from the First Men long after the rest of Westeros forgot them, and who turn any attempt to invade the North into a near-impossible gamble.
Chapter 1
The land that swallows intruders
Books and show
The air in the Neck sits thick and damp, and the mud breeds enormous flowers that float on still ponds. Filthy growths hang from half-drowned trees, and beneath the standing water lurk lizard-lions and serpents found nowhere else in Westeros. Anyone who wanders into the bogs without a guide tends to sink and never come back up.
The crannogmen are the ones who know those paths. They keep rites from the First Men that the rest of Westeros left behind, fight with poisoned darts, and are said to still grasp something of the old magic of the children of the forest. They live on fish, frogs, and crustaceans, different enough from their neighbors that those neighbors mock them as frog-eaters or green-teeth. Crossing the Neck by land without their leave, or at least their knowledge, is close to impossible — nobody wages an ambush the way they do.
Chapter 2
The dam that couldn't split the kingdoms
Books only
Back when the First Men and the children of the forest were still at war, and after the land bridge to Dorne collapsed, the children tried something desperate: calling on their gods from Moat Cailin to unleash the Hammer of the Waters and drown the Neck, cutting the north from the south for good. It didn't work, but the region has been the swamp it is today ever since. Not long after, the Pact between the two peoples was signed. Some maesters, though, would rather credit nature than any spell for the change.
Centuries later, when the Andals crossed the narrow sea, the Neck decided a war again without anyone planning it that way: its mud kept the invaders from pushing north and burning the godswoods, saving the First Men who still lived there in the process. Some children of the forest likely took shelter in its marshes around that time, though nothing of them remains today.
Chapter 3
The Marsh Kings and the marriage that bound the Neck to Winterfell
Books only
Long before the Conquest, the Neck had its own lords: the Marsh Kings, locked in endless war with the North. That war ended when the King in the North Rickard Stark defeated the last of them and married his daughter. From that marriage on, the region answered to Winterfell, with House Reed left to govern it.
To the south, Benedict the Just, King of the Trident and the first of House Justman, pushed his borders all the way to the Neck's edge over a reign remembered as long and steady.
Chapter 4
The king who bent the knee in the Neck
Books only
During Aegon's Conquest, King Torrhen Stark gathered his forces and marched them across the Neck, the Trident as his destination, meaning to stand against the invader from Valyria.
But when the moment came, he never gave battle: he knelt before Aegon I Targaryen without raising his sword.
Chapter 5
Twelve days on the road and Robb's orders
Books only
Robb Stark
Howland ReedWhen King Robert Baratheon travels north with his whole court, crossing the Neck along the King's Road takes a full twelve days — a measure of how slow and punishing the region is to cross, even for a royal retinue.
Later, once war has broken out, Robb Stark sends orders to Lord Howland Reed, asking the crannogmen to shut the Neck to any Lannister force trying to force its way through.
Chapter 6
Moat Cailin changes hands
Books only
Balon Greyjoy
Maege MormontSailing around the Neck by water, the Iron Fleet under Victarion Greyjoy pushes up the Fever River and seizes Moat Cailin from the north, raising the castle in the name of Balon Greyjoy, King of the Isles and the North.
After Balon's death, Robb Stark draws up a plan to win the fortress back: he sends Galbart Glover and Maege Mormont to Sea Watch, from where they will sail with Mallister ships toward Greywater Watch. The idea is for the crannogmen to then guide Robb's army in from behind the castle.
The plan never gets carried out. Robb's campaign breaks apart first, at the Red Wedding.
Chapter 7
The outlaws the Neck swallowed
Books only
North of the Witch's Marsh, Black Walder Frey is sent to hunt down a band of outlaws traveling with Lady Stoneheart.
He tracks them for a good while, but the moment they cross into the Neck, the trail goes cold. The region does what it always does: it swallows them and gives nothing more away.
Chapter 8
The Boltons return to Moat Cailin
Books only
Roose BoltonThe ironborn garrison holding Moat Cailin has been wearing down for a while under steady crannogmen raids — hitting and vanishing back into the mud before anyone can strike back.
Once his son Ramsay finally wins the castle back, Lord Roose Bolton's forces cross the Neck and pass by Moat Cailin on their way north.
The physical world
Los pantanos y marismas guardan numerosos secretos y animales inéditos en el resto de Poniente, tales como los lagartos-león, serpientes y marjales peligrosos en los cuales la gente que no está guiada o preparada se hunde y ahoga.
What it is like · Juego de Tronos, Capítulo 15, Sansa.
Está poblada por los lacustres , un pueblo misterioso que conserva muchas de las costumbres de los Primeros Hombres y que lucha con dardos y veneno; de ellos también se dice que dominan la magia de los Hijos del Bosque.
What it is like · Juego de Tronos, Mapa El Norte.
Es imposible cruzar el Cuello por tierra sin permiso o al menos conocimiento de los lacustres, quienes utilizan tácticas de guerrilla para atacar a sus enemigos.
What it is like · Choque de Reyes, Capítulo 21, Bran .
What we are not sure about
PositionWe worked it out
The position was inferred from the label on the base map rather than from a symbol of its own: it marks the area, not the point.