 The novels' legends claim that the First Men, or more specifically Brandon the Builder with the possible help of children of the forest and giants, constructed the Wall some 8,000 years before the events of the series.The Wall has since been maintained by the Night's Watch to guard the realms of men against threats from beyond, originally the Others, and later against wildling raids.A strip of land known as "the Gift", now stretching 50 leagues (about ) south of the wall, was given to them in perpetuity thousands of years earlier for cultivation.