In the Game of Thrones universe, the Wall is one of the most important strategic objects. For thousands of years, the giant ice structure has protected the inhabitants of the continent of Westeros from the invasion of the white walkers and other evil spirits that live in the little-known lands to the north of it. Could such a defensive structure exist in the real world? Recent research has shown that this is unlikely. Scientists believe that a barrier like the Wall would not have survived on Earth without magic. Why? Let's try to figure it out.
The wall through the eyes of J. R. R. Martin
To begin with, we suggest remembering what the legendary Wall actually is. According to A Song of Ice and Fire, this structure was erected under the direction of Brandon the Builder 8000 years ago and became one of the 9 wonders created by humans. The wall has impressive dimensions: it reaches about 215 m in height and stretches for 480 km. In addition, it is wide enough for a dozen riders to pass freely side by side.
As mentioned above, this is a defensive structure that protects the Seven Kingdoms from enemies. To protect the Wall itself, a special order was created known as the Night Watch. 19 castles of the order were erected along the southern part of the structure, the most famous of them being the Twilight Tower and the Black Castle. As you can see, this is a rather powerful structure, which is not so easy to overcome, but would it be just as effective in reality?
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Achilles Heel of the Wall
According to researchers, the main enemy of the Wall is the material from which it was created. The problem lies in the ice - it can start to melt, says Martin Traffer, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
The scientist calculated that the weight of an ice structure with a height of about 200 m will create a pressure at the base of about 1.8 MPa. For comparison, ordinary glaciers experience a pressure of only 0.1 MPa. After performing some simple calculations, Traffer figured out how the Wall would deform under its own weight. The degree of its deformation will directly depend on the ambient temperature. “Since the Wall has forests, it might not be so cold nearby - let's say the temperature is -10 ° C,” says Traffer. "In this situation, the Wall will collapse quickly - in just a few months or even days."
Is it possible to save the Wall?
One way to prevent the Wall from collapsing is to cool it down. For example, cooling down to -40 ° C would reduce the load on the structure by about 100 times. “There are only a few places on Earth where it is so cold. Some of them are in Antarctica,”Traffer says. However, even with such a degree of cooling, the ice structure will not last long - it will collapse within a few years. Considering that the Westeros Wall is about 8000 years old, this is a negligible time, which will negate the very purpose of its creation.
“I have come to the conclusion that the Wall can hardly exist as a defensive structure under typical terrestrial conditions,” Traffer said at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in New Orleans on December 11. "For a structure to survive at least a few days, special magic is needed."
Perhaps this is the true secret of protecting the Wall. Indeed, according to the brother of the Night's Watch, Samwell Tarly, she was supposedly created by using spells. By the way, in the book "A Storm of Swords" Tarly mentions that this magic can become an obstacle for the dead, intending to cross the legendary ice barrier.
Maria Shcherova