Craster keeps a homestead deep in the haunted forest built entirely on customs the Night's Watch finds abhorrent and tolerates anyway, because a man willing to shelter rangers and share what little he has is, in that unforgiving country, worth more to the Watch than its own principles can comfortably afford. He takes his own daughters to wife as they come of age, fathering an unbroken line of daughter-wives and giving up every son born to him — an arrangement he treats as an old bargain kept rather than a horror committed, and one the wildlings themselves consider as abhorrent as the black brothers do. What exactly Craster does with those infant sons, and to whom, is a matter the Watch has long suspected without proof. A maester records that a man this comfortable trading his own sons away is, whatever bargain he believes he has struck, trading with something the Citadel would very much like to understand better.
Craster
- Life
- no fixed AC year given; an old man, master of his household for many years, when the story opens
- House
- none — a wildling of the Haunted Forest, master of his own keep
- Seat
- Craster's Keep
- Religion
- unclear; observes customs the Night's Watch and the Free Folk alike consider abhorrent
- Notable for
- A wildling homesteader who married his own daughters and surrendered his infant sons to an unconfirmed fate
What became of Craster's homestead after the Night's Watch's ranging passed through is a matter this chronicle keeps veiled.
Where they appear
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
Key events
- no fixed yearRules a homestead deep in the haunted forest for many years, sheltering Night's Watch rangers in exchange for tolerance of his household's customs
- no fixed yearTakes his own daughters to wife as each comes of age, fathering an unbroken line of daughter-wives
- no fixed yearSurrenders every son born to him to an end the Watch has long suspected without proof
- 299 ACHosts the Night's Watch's Great Ranging at his keep, its starving men straining his already meager stores
- 299 ACRefuses to share what stores remain, provoking open mutiny among the ranging's frightened brothers
- 299 ACIs killed in the fighting that follows, his keep put to the torch
Reading the character
Craster represents a bargain the Night's Watch has never been comfortable admitting it strikes: tolerating a household built on customs that repel wildling and black brother alike, because a man willing to shelter starving rangers is worth more to a dying order than its own stated principles can afford to insist on. That the Watch's discipline wears this thin around him at all, rather than in open battle, says something uncomfortable about the strain cold, hunger, and fear were already placing on sworn brothers before anything beyond the Wall needed to test it.
What becomes of the infant sons he is believed to have surrendered across the years remains one of the story's most quietly dreadful open questions, treated by the chronicle as unproven rather than settled — a restraint the subject's horror arguably earns.
The arc of Craster
This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.
These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.
In the timeline
Theories about Craster
Is Craster alive?
What became of Craster after the Night's Watch's ranging passed through his keep is a matter this chronicle keeps carefully veiled.
Who is Craster?
A wildling homesteader beyond the Wall who married his own daughters and sacrificed his infant sons, tolerated by the Night's Watch for the shelter he offered rangers despite the horror of his household.