Fire and ice(game of throne) books..... the wall-why put in gates?

[Dinner]

The real Fire & Ice.

[Stuie]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov Mance's army breaks itself trying to storm the tunnels (with some help from Lord Stannis, of course).

KING Stannis. At least until Dany makes it to Westeros and fries him.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Vesayen
Why would you ever have a large force on the other side of the wall?

Leading the men to the fist was a mistake, as became abundantly apparent before and after it was done.

Hindsight is 20/20. They had no reason to suspect a huge army of the undead things. And they were searching for their lost comrades. You don't just abandon your men to die.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Stuie
KING Stannis. At least until Dany makes it to Westeros and fries him.

It will be a cold day in hell before I recognize "king" Stannis.

Long Live King Tommen!

[LDiCesare]

The men in black also needed to get out to cut off some of those trees that would help approaching and scaling the wall, and take the wood back. Far more convenient through a gate than an elevator. Making sorties is also something useful at times. But most gates (and forts) are actually recent buildings, the Wall being much older. There was probably only one gate initially, if that many considering there's another way (isn't it Samwell). Gates were added when the kings of Westeros thought the Wall was here only to get rid of the wild men of the north and had forgotten the others. Making sorties and expeditions against wild men was somewhat sensible.
And the gates aren't that easy to pass through, as the novel shows.

[Vesayen]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger


Elevator is slow, labour intensive, and can easily be observed.

As opposed to a MASSIVE gate? They need not be slow or labor intensive... the wall was built with magic and they have knowledge of counter weights in the books.

[LDiCesare]

Geting up a long distance, across and down across a long distance will be slower than going across. The wall sounds like it's taller than large, but that may be just me. Any way, it is very tall, and elevators are always more hazardous than gates. If there's a gale, you may not want to use the elevator but have to pass.

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by Vesayen

As opposed to a MASSIVE gate? They need not be slow or labor intensive... the wall was built with magic and they have knowledge of counter weights in the books.

What massive gate? There wasn't a massive gate. The books are quite clear that the tunnel was so small that riders had to go through it single-file on horseback. That's one of the reasons why Mance's assault failed--the defenders were able to take out several giants, and their bodies blocked the tunnel for the attackers behind them.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by Vesayen
As opposed to a MASSIVE gate? They need not be slow or labor intensive... the wall was built with magic and they have knowledge of counter weights in the books.

If they had magic and knowledge of counterweights, even a massive gate can be made to be almost weightless when moved in certain directions.

[Whoha]

http://www.ctrlaltdel-online.com/?t=archives&date=2005-04-20

and just about every comic on continues through this.

[Bosh]

The men in black also needed to get out to cut off some of those trees that would help approaching and scaling the wall, and take the wood back.

They didn't have the man power to keep the trees trimmed back along the full length of the wall.

[LDiCesare]

They didn't have the man power to keep the trees trimmed back along the full length of the wall.

Yes, and they also only manned only 3 of the many forts because their numbers had continuously shrunk for ages. When forts and gates were built, they had the personnel. Later on, they closed the various gates with as much ice as they could find, effectively closing them and making them just other parts of the Wall.