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Both take the black and discard their previous colors (chapters), become exonerated of any and all previous crimes or heresy, and swear an oath to protect the realm.

Is the night's watch and death watch concept based off of real life history?

keep in mind there are some very VERY critical key differances. Death Watch members serve a tour and return home. the night's watch meanwhile make a perminant oath to abandon home family and country to serve for life. other then wearing black and calling themselves a watch there's not a lot in common between them. the death watch is seen as a honor, where the best are sent to represent a chapter, GRRM's Night's watch is generally seen as a dumping ground for undesirables.

The Grey Wardens from Dragon Age are similar as well.

I think all take inspiration from the holy orders of Christianity like the Knights Templar, Hospitalliers or Teutonic Knights which remiain a popular part of the zeitgeist but you could also look at the French Foreign Legion as a similar idea!

The Deathwatch, given when they debuted in 40k (circa 2001 in the =][= game) take more cues from the Men in Black. A number specialised SMs that are particularly adept at tackling Xenos are taken from their parent forces (just like the MiB recruits from the military and police) to do special secret missions in keeping Xenos in line at the behest of a super secret organisation.

 Grimtuff wrote:
The Deathwatch, given when they debuted in 40k (circa 2001 in the =][= game) take more cues from the Men in Black. A number specialised SMs that are particularly adept at tackling Xenos are taken from their parent forces (just like the MiB recruits from the military and police) to do special secret missions in keeping Xenos in line at the behest of a super secret organisation.

BRB, putting suits and sunglasses on all my kill teams.

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
Both take the black and discard their previous colors (chapters), become exonerated of any and all previous crimes or heresy, and swear an oath to protect the realm.

You clearly don't know anything about the DW.
DW isn't some form of SM penal legion. And they do not discard their original colors. They retain them on their right shoulder pad.

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
Both take the black and discard their previous colors (chapters), become exonerated of any and all previous crimes or heresy, and swear an oath to protect the realm.

Is the night's watch and death watch concept based off of real life history?

Serving in the DeathWatch is a great honour and a temporary (usually) posting that allows their Chapter to gain new epxeriences and tactics. Marines tend to go on Crusades as pennance for crimes real or imgained.

The Night Watch is a dumping ground for criminals and undesirables - its kinda Australia for the British Empire.

Its also really dangerous to give a bunch of criminals, murderers, rebels and rapists weapons, armour and military training although as others have mentioned the Frech Foreign Legion might have been somewhat smilar in the past and certainly the armies of Wellington had a goodly number of criminials that were offered military services as an alterntive to jail.

I think the OP is conflating the Deathwatch with Blackshields (who often end up in the Deathwatch).

ccs wrote:
DW isn't some form of SM penal legion. And they do not discard their original colors. They retain them on their right shoulder pad.

To be fair, they sometimes are. Raven Guard captain from that stupid FW book (Kastorel Novem) was banished to DW as punishment. Then there are blackshields, who scrape off their heraldry and serve in DW semi-anonymously.

 Mr Morden wrote:

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
Both take the black and discard their previous colors (chapters), become exonerated of any and all previous crimes or heresy, and swear an oath to protect the realm.

Is the night's watch and death watch concept based off of real life history?

Serving in the DeathWatch is a great honour and a temporary (usually) posting that allows their Chapter to gain new epxeriences and tactics. Marines tend to go on Crusades as pennance for crimes real or imgained.

The Night Watch is a dumping ground for criminals and undesirables - its kinda Australia for the British Empire.

Its also really dangerous to give a bunch of criminals, murderers, rebels and rapists weapons, armour and military training although as others have mentioned the Frech Foreign Legion might have been somewhat smilar in the past and certainly the armies of Wellington had a goodly number of criminials that were offered military services as an alterntive to jail.

I don't think the Space Wolves would consider a tour with the Deathwatch much of an honour either. But then again in Current!40k Space Wolves as an actual chapter are a dead chapter walking, can no longer make Fenrisian Old!Marines and are all replaced with Terran Mary Sue Marines, so who knows at this point.

Funny how all of the Unique and Quirky First Founding legions suffered HUEG Losses that forced them to take Cawl's Mary Sue Brigade (SW and BA being the most egregious examples). It would be funny if the writing wasn't just so contrived.

Nice shoehorn dude, 11/10.

 BaconCatBug wrote:

 Mr Morden wrote:

 CadianGateTroll wrote:
Both take the black and discard their previous colors (chapters), become exonerated of any and all previous crimes or heresy, and swear an oath to protect the realm.

Is the night's watch and death watch concept based off of real life history?

Serving in the DeathWatch is a great honour and a temporary (usually) posting that allows their Chapter to gain new epxeriences and tactics. Marines tend to go on Crusades as pennance for crimes real or imgained.

The Night Watch is a dumping ground for criminals and undesirables - its kinda Australia for the British Empire.

Its also really dangerous to give a bunch of criminals, murderers, rebels and rapists weapons, armour and military training although as others have mentioned the Frech Foreign Legion might have been somewhat smilar in the past and certainly the armies of Wellington had a goodly number of criminials that were offered military services as an alterntive to jail.

I don't think the Space Wolves would consider a tour with the Deathwatch much of an honour either. But then again in Current!40k Space Wolves as an actual chapter are a dead chapter walking, can no longer make Fenrisian Old!Marines and are all replaced with Terran Mary Sue Marines, so who knows at this point.

Funny how all of the Unique and Quirky First Founding legions suffered HUEG Losses that forced them to take Cawl's Mary Sue Brigade (SW and BA being the most egregious examples). It would be funny if the writing wasn't just so contrived.

Really??

Anyone who has suffered the recent Space Wolf Codexes - the vast mountain of plot shields that they generated knows there is no more Mary Sue Chapter than the Wolves.

Yeah Bro like we have about 300 warships - 1 for each marine squad - cos we can.
Nah Bro them and the Ramilies class Starforts.
The Inquisition - yeah - we slap them about if they get too upity - same with the Grey Knights - who is gonna do anything about it?
Rhinos - Nah we ride giant wolves man - and dude look at our main man on his super wolf sleigh - how wolfy is that!
Wolf is a word that NEEDs to be put in front of as many things as possible.
Yeah we found this chaos murder dude totally just hanging in his dreadnought - so we adopted him as anew Bro - like we use reforged Chaos Weapons.
Nah Pyskers are wrong man - just wrong - - no they are Rune Priest - TOTTALLY different...

Many Wolves have served well and honourably with the Deathwatch - indeed, early more sane SW writing would have had them usign it to gain new knowledge of potential enemies.

The DW may not have started out as similar to the Night's Watch but they have certainly started to lean that way in recent iterations. Taking the Black maybe not for the same reasons, but it is still symbolic. The Long Vigil keeping out the Xenos threat is equivalent to the Night's watch keeping out the threats beyond the wall. Then all you have to do is look at the art for the Watch Master. Now I don't know when that artwork was produced, but the striking resemblance to Watch Commander Mormont from the HBO show is far too much of a coincidence.

 bullyboy wrote:
The DW may not have started out as similar to the Night's Watch but they have certainly started to lean that way in recent iterations. Taking the Black maybe not for the same reasons, but it is still symbolic. The Long Vigil keeping out the Xenos threat is equivalent to the Night's watch keeping out the threats beyond the wall. Then all you have to do is look at the art for the Watch Master. Now I don't know when that artwork was produced, but the striking resemblance to Watch Commander Mormont from the HBO show is far too much of a coincidence.

Not sure where you are seeing this?

Deathwatch is an elite organisation that is used for special operations often at the behest of the most powerful individuals of the Imperium. Once a tour of duty is completed many return to their Chapters be honoured and feted - they are able to impart new knowledge and tactics and supply them with inteligence if they have to face a enemy they have fought before but the Chapter have not. They are given the some of the best ships, weapons and equipment in the Imperium.

The Nights Watch are the dregs of the realm - criminals, cast-outs and exiles stuck in the arse end of nowhere without hope of reprieve (unless you are plot shields Sam of course) - for thousands of years no one cares about them, as long as they don't head south they are ignored. They have no honour, future or importance until the most recent events. They have whatever equipment they can scavange, make or cobble together.

They could not really be more different!

 bullyboy wrote:
The DW may not have started out as similar to the Night's Watch but they have certainly started to lean that way in recent iterations.

Again, still not really. The vast majority of Deathwatch recruits are willing and eager, and they rarely stay permanently. They're well equipped, well respected (even if in certain Chapters, it's treated more as a punishment - like the Space Wolves), and get to leave by the end.

The Long Vigil keeping out the Xenos threat is equivalent to the Night's watch keeping out the threats beyond the wall.

But there's loads of Chapter who do things like that too, and have been for longer - any of the Astartes Praeses Chapters, or the Maelstrom Warders. The Deathwatch are still predominantly a proactive, rapid, small strikeforce, as opposed to the kind of standing long term army the Night's Watch are. In that respect, the Custodes are more akin to the Night's Watch.

Then all you have to do is look at the art for the Watch Master. Now I don't know when that artwork was produced, but the striking resemblance to Watch Commander Mormont from the HBO show is far too much of a coincidence.

Still not really. It's only the head, and there's at least three Space Marines who I can identify with the same kind of head (Telion, the Phobos Captain, and one of the Sternguard Veteran heads). I think there *could* be some inspiration or subliminal preference, but it's not "striking" me as Mormont any more than Telion is.

Basically, aside from the whole "takes recruits from across the Imperium and wear black", there isn't all that much similar. The Deathwatch don't disavow their prior heritage, they usually go back to their home Chapter after a few tours, and act more proactively. Sure, there's exceptions (some Deathwatch, the Blackshields, do disavow their heritage; some Deathwatch stay permanently; and they do have some established defences and bloackades), but they're not carbon copies, and aside from surface level similarities, not all that similar.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
Sure, there's exceptions (some Deathwatch, the Blackshields, do disavow their heritage; some Deathwatch stay permanently; and they do have some established defences and bloackades), but they're not carbon copies, and aside from surface level similarities, not all that similar.

Most Deathwatch installations are for the purposes of observation or to serve as forward staging areas for individual Kill Teams or Watch Companies deployed to a specific target. For every Watch Fortress Erioch there are dozens if not hundreds of small (and in most cases automated) observation posts. There's no Wall.

Sterling191 wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:
Sure, there's exceptions (some Deathwatch, the Blackshields, do disavow their heritage; some Deathwatch stay permanently; and they do have some established defences and bloackades), but they're not carbon copies, and aside from surface level similarities, not all that similar.

Most Deathwatch installations are for the purposes of observation or to serve as forward staging areas for individual Kill Teams or Watch Companies deployed to a specific target. For every Watch Fortress Erioch there are dozens if not hundreds of small (and in most cases automated) observation posts. There's no Wall.

Yeah, that's the point I was making - they do have things like Erioch and Talasa Prime, but it's not the same as long standing external blockages and galactic chokepoints.