Forget the White Walkers—the Night's Watch was already a walking corpse by the time Jon Snow arrived. A mind-blowing discussion on Avonetics just ripped the lid off the Watch's catastrophic decline, and it’s a masterclass in institutional rot. This wasn't a swift defeat; it was death by a thousand cuts over centuries. The long peace of the Targaryen dynasty starved them of high-born recruits, turning the once-revered order into a dumping ground for Westeros's worst. Their prestige plummeted as glamorous jobs like the Kingsguard and the Golden Company stole the spotlight. They were land-rich but cash-poor, unable to even man the massive castles they were sworn to guard. But the final nail in the coffin? A devastating military blunder against the Wildlings that shattered their centuries-long alliance with House Stark, their most powerful and important backers. As one user on Avonetics brilliantly pointed out, the Night's Watch became the Blockbuster of Westeros—a once-mighty giant, made irrelevant and left to crumble from within due to bad funding, a crisis in recruitment, and a total failure to adapt to a changing world. By the time the real threat emerged from beyond the Wall, the shield that guarded the realms of men was already broken. For advertising opportunities, visit Avonetics.com.