a song of ice and fire - Why is The Wall so tall in Game of Thrones?

Height Comparison of the Wall from Game of Thrones

I'm reading A Song of Ice and Fire, and I'd love to know why The Wall is so damned tall. It's not like the White Walkers are giants, after all. (Although I've read further now, and there is talk of giants, but they're no taller than 14 feet.) Is there something bigger lurking behind it? Why is it so big? (And additionally, how?)

Has this been answered in the books? And if there is some surprising reveal, please mark your answer with spoiler markdown, thanks!

Answer

I finally found an answer from Martin himself:

BHW: Why is the wall so tall?

Martin: To keep out bad things.

Hadrian's Wall was an inspiration. In fantasy, everything is bigger. A friend of mine, Lisa Tuttle (we wrote Windhaven together), had just moved to Scotland and was giving me a tour. We were driving in her car and got to Hadrian's Wall at the end of the day. The tour buses were leaving. We walked along the top of the wall just as the sun was going down. It was the fall. I stood there and looked out over the hills of Scotland and wondered what it would be like to be a Roman centurion from Italy , Greece , or even Africa , covered in furs and not knowing what would be coming out of the north at you. I wanted to capture that feeling.

Hadrian's Wall is impressive, but it's not really tall. A good ladder would be all you need to scramble right on over it. When you're doing fantasy, it has to be bigger than in real life. The castles are grander. Fantasy is painted in larger scale and brighter colors.

Source: George R.R. Martin Talks Ice and Fire, A Book Help Web Exclusive Interview (Archived: 2007, 2014)

So it seems the answer is not much more than "because that's how things are in fantasy books"!

Comments

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