Long ago, 8,000 years before the start of the war between the kingdoms, a colossal structure
was built that protected people from powerful sorcerers who killed everyone in their path.
Guess what is at stake?
Yes, this is the legendary Ice Wall from Game of Thrones.
In the saga, it stands at the expense of bad weather and a pinch of magic.
The question is, is it possible to replicate this Legendary Leviathan in real life?
George Martin is the author of “The Song of Ice and Flame”, famous for his thoroughness
in the process of creating a fictional universe.
The writer didn’t ignore the Wall: the idea of ​​this fantastic fortification came
to him when he stood on Hadrian’s Wall, on the border between Scotland and England,
UK.
It was built during the time of the Roman Empire.
Martin imagined that in his books the defensive structure would be much more massive than
the Great Wall of China (30 feet or 9 meters in height).
As stated in the work, this giant ice barrier has a length of more than 300 miles (480 kilometers)
in length and about 700 feet (213 meters) in height.
Its exact width is unknown, but it is indicated that ten riders can travel along the top of
it with ease.
If in Västerås all roads were built according to this principle, then they certainly haven’t
heard about traffic jams ... In the books, the process of building the
Wall itself is not mentioned.
It is only known that in creating it, the magic of the children of the forest was also
used.
And this explains a lot: as the scientists have established, if we tried to reproduce
the Wall somewhere on the continent, without magic, the Wall would quickly collapse.
Martin Traffer, who studies natural ice at the University of Alaska, after watching the
show wondered how much such a lump weighs.
Having written several formulas, the scientist found that an ice wall 700 feet high (213
meters) would exert pressure of almost 1.8 megapascals of tension.
To put that into perspective, I’ll just say that in real glaciers the base is under
only about 0.1 megapascals of pressure.
The Antarctic Ice Shield and Greenland both boast formations several
kilometers thick, but this miracle of nature originated over hundreds of thousands of years
in extremely harsh conditions where human intervention would only ruin everything.
And here George Martin was mistaken: considering that there is a forest so close near the Wall,
there just can’t be a low enough temperature - maximum 14 ° F (-10 ° C).
In such a climate, the barrier would erode much faster and collapse in a matter of a
few months, or even weeks.
Therefore, one of the ways to preserve its condition would be constant cooling.
If you keep the thermometer at -40 ° F (-40 ° C), the rate of destruction would be reduced,
but the phenomenal voltage is not going anywhere and after several years
the Wall would still deteriorate.
The solution to this problem lies in the design: if you build a solid stone foundation, it
would take on all the pressure.
Then leave it under constant snowfall for hundreds of years and that's it - you get
the Wall.
It is possible that in the fictional universe the builders “cheated” in this way, covering
the stone frame with layers of ice?
However, now there would be a SPOILER! - it didn’t help them, and the Wall received
impressive damage.
Despite all the efforts and magic, after the king took control of the dead dragon of the
night, Viserion made a break in the wall in mere minutes, thanks to generously breathing
fire on it!
Fortunately, in our world, dragons don’t yet exist, so if someone dared to build the
Wall, it would stand for a long time.
Only the budget for its construction would completely ruin any small country and maintaining
the massive structure would be a challenge to nature itself.
First you need to create a frame.
According to Big Rentz - the largest online store of construction equipment, the cheapest
way would be to create a wooden base to order, which would cost $189,000.
And don’t forget about the elevator - if the members of the “Night Watch” would
every time need to climb to the top of the stairs, there simply wouldn’t be any defense
forces.
Given that electricity in the universe of "Game of Thrones" hasn’t been invented yet,
it is necessary to design a fully mechanical lifting system.
And even for such a primitive version, you would have to pay about $219,000 dollars.
Then the foundation would need to be lined with a multitude of ice blocks 3 feet long
(0.9 meters).
And it’s just blocks; you can’t just water everything and wait until the Wall freezes
itself, because in that case it would be more like an Ice Hill.
The extraction of such blocks and construction would take a lot of time and money: if we
assume that the width at the top is about 300 feet (91 meters), and divide the entire
length of the barrier into sections, like in the Great Wall of China, then to reconstruct
a full replica of the structure you would need 105 000 sections.
The construction of each of them would cost $606,000, and the total estimate would increase
to $31.8 billion dollars!
But this is just an artificial big mountain ...
Also, the Wall needs protection - a couple of long-range guns haven’t damaged any kingdom.
In the world of “Game of Thrones”, the role of catapults is played by “Scorpions”,
resembling huge crossbows.
The approximate cost of one such device is $26,800, and to fully protect at least one
gate, they would need at least a dozen.
Don’t you think it’s kind of strange that in the “Game of Thrones” they were able
to tame dragons, but for some reason they didn’t invent firearms ...
Now, the order of the “Night Watch” will need to live somewhere.
Forget that the book mentioned 18 different buildings and lets settle on building the
most important thing.
The Black Castle - the headquarters of these fearless people, located approximately in
the middle of the Wall.
A huge plot in the real estate market is estimated at $2.74 million dollars - when John Snow
places an ad for the sale or lease, he can only indicate among the advantages “located
in a quiet place, and a delightful view opens from the windows”.
And friendly neighbors, of course!
But seriously, all the kingdoms should sooner make peace with the “white walkers”.
Even according to the most optimistic estimates, the total cost of the Wall, together with
all the devices and houses, reaches $167 billion dollars.
With such a sum, it is quite possible to make off with all of Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon’s
estate or buy some archipelago close to the Equator.
Or you can simply agree with the authorities of Yakutia, where there is almost an exact
copy of the Wall!
In this northern country known for its colorful landscapes, there is the Lena Pillars National
Natural Park.
There, for 124 miles (200 kilometers), high cliffs hang over the Lena River, and when
their unusual slopes are covered with snow, it seems that the Night Watch might actually
appear at the top.
If “white walkers” really existed, the inhabitants of Westeros could sleep peacefully:
on these steep walls, whose height is on average 656 feet (200 meters), an unprepared person
would never rise!
Although due to the constant bad weather it would be hard for the average person to live
there.
Therefore, for a true fan of the saga and the series to build their wall - the task
is almost impossible.
Even if you “improve” existing cliffs, you would have to spend money on installing
all the benefits of civilization, which means that the end result won’t be at all like
John Snow’s possession from the world of fantasy and fiction, which can be translated
into real life.
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