Carvahall was a tiny village, home to around 300 people, located at the top of the Anora River in the northern part of The Spine in Palancar Valley. The village was the only settlement in the valley aside from Therinsford and was rarely visited by anyone save for merchants and trappers. Most of the village was made up of stout log houses with low roofs and wide porches on their fronts for talking and conducting business. Every year, the Traders would come to town and sell their wares to the villagers. In the early novels it appears that, due to its remote location, the town had been left mostly untouched by the Broddring Empire or its soldiers. In the film however, there was a constant military presence, which regularly drafted male civilians, upon turning eighteen, to fight for Galbatorix