The White Knife
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The White Knife is the river that runs through the heart of the North, flowing down from the Lonely Hills and the Long Lake until it empties into the Bite beside White Harbor. Its course has served as border, road and shield since long before the Starks wore a crown, and it remains the artery along which the North moves people, ships and, when needed, whole armies.
Geography
Course of the River
The river rises from two streams that meet south of the Long Lake and the lands of Clan Burley, in the Lonely Hills. From there it runs south with Winterfell to the west and the Dreadfort and Hornwood to the east.
South of Winterfell it takes in a tributary born in the southeastern edge of the Wolfswood, joining it west of Sheepshead Hill. The main channel keeps flowing until it mixes with the waters of the Bite at White Harbor. Those who live along its banks travel in narrow canoes built to hold against the current and the rocky stretches.
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Early History
Wolf's Den
King Jon Stark built the Wolf's Den to guard the river's mouth. That stronghold changed hands more than once over the centuries: the Arryns sailed upriver to seize it during the War Across the Water, and later King Brandon Stark the Ice-Eyes took it back from slavers out of the Stepstones after the river froze over during a particularly hard winter.
Roughly a thousand years before the War of Conquest, the Starks handed the Wolf's Den to House Manderly, who settled at the river's mouth and there founded what would become White Harbor.
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War of the Five Kings
Catelyn's Journey to White Harbor
Lady Catelyn Tully and Ser Rodrik Cassel follow the river to take ship at White Harbor bound for King's Landing. Around the same time, Lord Halys Hornwood arrives at Winterfell bearing gifts for Robb Stark, hoping to be allowed to dam the river and so extend northward the rights his grandfather had already won.
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Bran and Roose Bolton
Septon Chayle reminds Bran Stark that he is a strong swimmer, having grown up along the river's banks. Later, Bran and his companions consider stealing a boat and sailing downriver to shelter at White Harbor, but Bran decides instead that he must seek the three-eyed crow beyond the Wall.
Lord Roose Bolton, meanwhile, counts spearmen drawn from the river among the forces defending the fords of the Trident.
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Refuge in White Harbor
The smallfolk living along the river and in Hornwood seek shelter in White Harbor. There, Lord Wyman Manderly confides to Davos that he keeps warships hidden within the river itself.
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The physical world
El Cuchillo Blanco continúa hacia el sur para unirse con el Mordisco en Puerto Blanco.
What it is like · The Lands of Ice and Fire
Los ribereños navegan en canoas, largas barcas delgadas y duras construidas para desafiar las fuertes corrientes y las zonas rocosas del Cuchillo Blanco.
What it is like · Danza de Dragones, Capítulo 15, Davos.
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Gallery

The White Knife505 Bolton map 2.jpg · gameofthrones.fandom.com · this wiki publishes under CC-BY-SA
On the map
On the map
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.
Books and show
Where it appears
In the books (7)
- A Dance with Dragons
- A Game of Thrones
- The World of Ice & Fire
- A Storm of Swords
- A World of Ice and Fire
- The Lands of Ice and Fire
- A Clash of Kings
By work
| Work | Format | Where it is told |
|---|---|---|
| A Game of Thrones | Book | Catelyn's Journey to White Harbor |
| A Storm of Swords | Book | Bran and Roose Bolton |
| A Dance with Dragons | Book | Refuge in White Harbor |