In Game of Thrones, instead of a "Great Wall", shouldn't they have constructed a huge canal?

After all, "The Dead can't swim". "Game of Thrones: Why Don't the White Walkers Go Around the Wall?" https://www.tvguide.com/news/game-of-thrones-night-king-white-walkers-water-wall/
Answers

Sir Caustic

Yes, and no! What they should have built is a Great Wall....... AND a canal. With two more Great Walls on either side of the primary Great Wall - canal complex. And, on both sides of this new complex, Maginot Line-style defences (sniper/machine-gun nests, mines, underground bunkers and the like) and (naturally) castles every mile or so with high walls connecting them in a defensive "skirt". Hey - what about miles of electric fences, too? Yes, and dogs. Big dogs. And signs. Lots of signs saying "No Entry For The Undead" and "Zombies Go Home". Oh - and a naval blockade in case they go around the wall. And a huge wall around the coastline of the entire continent in case they get past the ships. Hope this helped.

John R

Winter is coming, and a canal would freeze.solid

Rebecca Angela

Yes, a canal would freeze over...

Elaine M

The dead swum in The Walking Dead. I don't see why they couldn't swim in GOT. However the wall used what was available at that latitude - ice.

The Lord Humungus.

Because they'd just fill in the moat with bodies and walk across it. That or just freeze it and walk across. The whole "the dead can't swim" bit relies on sea animals eating the flesh of the dead as they shambled along underwater.

Cogito

Didn't you see what happened when they went to capture that zombie? The lake froze over. Canals freeze very easily. Duh!