This is a listing of Northern Mountain Clans that appear in A Song of Ice and Fire that do not have enough members or tropes to justify their own page (yet).
For the main character index, see here
For the main Northern entry, see here
The Northern Mountain Clans
- "The map is not the land, my father often said. Men have lived in the high valleys and mountain meadows for thousands of years, ruled by their clan chiefs. Petty lords, you would call them, though they do not use such titles amongst themselves. Clan champions fight with huge two-handed greatswords, while the common men sling stones and batter one another with staffs of mountain ash. A quarrelsome folk, it must be said. When they are not fighting one another, they tend their herds, fish the Bay of Ice, and breed the hardiest mounts you’ll ever ride."—Jon Snow, A Dance with Dragons
The mountain clans or hill clans are groups of northmen who dwell in the mountains north of Winterfell and in their foothills along the shore of the Bay of Ice. Generally considered petty lords, they should not be confused with wildings or the mountain clans of the Vale of Arryn, who are often considered savages.
Tropes related to the Mountain Clans:
- Cold Equation: Given their high latitude and sparse resources, the clans suffer population strain during winter years. The young are sent to the Starks' winter town, and old men often announce that they are "going hunting". Some are found the next spring; more are never seen again.
- Deliberate Values Dissonance: According to Lord Roose Bolton, some of the mountain clans still continue the tradition of the first night. Although Roose is hardly a reliable source.
- Famous Ancestor: Lothor Burley was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch during the visit of Good Queen Alysanne Targaryen.
- Fantasy Counterpart Culture:Westeros's version of the Highland Clans of Northwest Scotland.
- The Ghost: While included in the appendixes, no member of the Knott and Burley clans have appeared in the main story yet.
- Graceful in Their Element: On the journey to Winterfell, the northern clansmen make themselves right at home in the fierce blizzard, equipped with their "bear paws" (snowshoes), while the southern men curse and struggle through the heavy snow.
- La Résistance: They continue to fight for the Starks.
- Mirror Character:
- Compare how these clans operate and revere "the Ned" to how "the Magnar" of the Thenns operates for those wildling clans.
- The Vale Mountain Clans are represented as backwards savages who barely speak the Common Tongue, and they're almost bereft of modern technology like steel or books. The Northern Mountain clans are, if less sophisticated than the Houses, at least close enough to produce weapons and not depend on raiding all the time; they just live by a different social system and swear fealty to the Starks instead of the Iron Throne.
- Proud Warrior Race: They had to since they live somewhere where Everything Trying to Kill You is part of life.
- Save the Princess: The Clans' main motivation is to rescue Arya from the Boltons. The joke of course is that the girl believed to be Arya is an imposter.
- Schizo Tech: Effectively a Stone Age civilization in the middle of a Late Medieval kingdom. Only their chiefs and champions even use iron weapons, much less any form of armor (see the quote above for what the majority are stuck with), and their infrastructure is effectively nonexistent to the point where masses of them just die off in the winters.
- Self-Serving Memory: When Jon Snow sends letters asking for help to the clans (as 100,000+ Wildlings breaking through would spell death for the Night's Watch and the poorly defended fiefs of the North — including theirs), they all ignore him, with Stannis and his men answering the call instead. In doing so, Stannis' force saves the Night's Watch and the northernmost settlements. The clans also sit on their hands for years while the Ironborn occupy settlements on their own borders (e.g. Deepwood Motte, Torrhen's Square) until, again, Stannis comes along and gets them off their hands. They also refused to work to avenge the Starks in any way at all until Stannis came to them. Despite this, they claim to be brave Stark loyalists and deride Stannis' men as arrogant cowards.
- Spell My Name with a "The": Leaders of the Northern mountain clans/houses are referred as "the clanname" by their subjects. For example, the head of House Norrey would be called "the Norrey". They refer to Ned Stark as "the Ned" out of respect and love.
- Stubborn Mule: Their horses are actually more like Icelandic, Dartmoor or Shetland horses/ponies. In short, the hill ponies are a lot closer to a Przewalski's horse
than any Southern strain is, and this has had a direct impact on the whole population of Northern horses. With being small, compact, having efficient metabolisms and being fairly unpicky eaters comes stubbornness and crucial survival skills. Particularly in snowy conditions. - Undying Loyalty: To the Starks.
House Flint of the Mountains
The First Flints
House Flint of the Mountains is the formal name given to the mountain clan of the Flints of the north who inhabit the high mountains north of the wolfswood. They like to be called the First Flints since House Flint of Widow's Watch and House Flint of Flint's Finger are cadet branches of the family. Its chief is known as "The Flint", although at Winterfell the treatment of "Lord Flint" is used.
Their arms or motto do not appear in the books, neither has George R. R. Martin submitted them in semi-canon material.
Tropes related to the Flints of the Mountains
- A House Divided: The Flints from Flint's Finger have declared for the Boltons while the rest remain loyal to the Starks.
- The Clan: The Flints splintered when some of their younger sons came down the mountain to find better land, food and wives.
- Famous Ancestor: Timotty Snow, the Bastard of Flint's Finger, who accompanied Cregan Stark in his journey south. He would later found the sellsword company the Wolf Pack alongside Mad Hal Hornwood.
- The Ghost: Although "Black" Donnel Flint is marching with Stannis' army towards Winterfell, so far he has only been mentioned frequently and has yet to actually appear.
Lord Torghen Flint
Old Flint
Chief of Clan Flint, he allied the Flints with Stannis Baratheon along with the other mountain clans to combat the Ironborn and Roose Bolton.
- In-Series Nickname: Aside from being called "The Flint" due to his status as head of the clan, he is also called Old Flint due to his extreme age.
- Retired Badass: He was a fierce warrior in his youth but is too old to campaign with Stannis, so sends his sons instead.
- Stout Strength: Described as stout and quite large, but his strength as a warrior was well known.
Artos Flint
- "R'hllor will doom us."
Second son of Torghen and half-brother of Donnel Flint. He joins Stannis' forces on the campaign against the Ironborn and Roose Bolton's forces in the North.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Knows he won't survive the winter, so it's better to die fighting in a noble cause like saving Ned Stark's daughter.
- Real Men Love Jesus: He is both amused and disgusted by the worshipers of R'hllor among Stannis' forces and their efforts to end the blizzard that halted their march.Artos: What has your southron god to do with snow? This is the wrath of the old gods come upon us. It is them we should appease.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With the followers of R'hllor in Stannis' army.
Cadet Houses
House Flint of Widow's Watch
- "Ever Vigilant"—Flint house words
A noble house seated at Widow's Watch, located on an eastern peninsula between the Shivering Sea and the Bite. They are probably the most powerful branch of House Flint. While the Flints of the mountains claim to be the oldest of the Flints, a semi-canon source states the Flints of Widow's Watch are the senior branch of the extended Flint family, which includes the mountain Flints and House Flint of Flint's Finger.
A semi-canon source blazons their banner as a blue field strewn with whitecaps, on a yellow chief with crested line a pair of blue eyes.
Lady Lyessa Flint
Lady Lyessa Flint is Lady of Widow's Watch and is the head of House Flint of Widow's Watch. She is the mother of Robin Flint.
- The Ghost: She has yet to make an appearance in the series. Her pregnancy made her unable to attend the harvest feast in book 2.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Robin dies before her.
Robin Flint
The son of Lady Lyessa.
- Bit Character: He never does much outside of being one of the nobles sent to guard Catelyn Stark when she met with Renly.
- Bodyguarding a Badass: He's one of the members of Robb's guard.
- True Companions: With Robb.
- Zerg Rush: He's stabbed to death by a group of Freys at the Red Wedding.
Historical Flints
Arya Flint
Wife of Rodrik Stark, the fifth son of Lord Beron Stark, and mother of Branda and Lyarra Stark - mother of Ned Stark.
- Dead Guy Junior: It turns out that Ned Stark's maternal grandmother was herself one of the First Flints from the mountain clans — and apparently, Ned named his own daughter Arya after her. Ned having a little mountain in his blood may be another point towards why he had such good relations with the mountain clans and they were so loyal to him (that and his just rule in war and peace).
- In the Blood: Old Nan claims that Bran's love of climbing - or at least, his foolishness that caused him to "fall" from the tower - came from his great-grandmother being a Flint.
Brave Danny Flint
See the Night's Watch page.
Rodrik Flint
See the Night's Watch Lord Commanders page.
House Liddle
House Liddle is the formal name given to the mountain clan of the Liddles in the north that inhabit the high mountains north of the wolfswood.
The chief of the clan is known as "The Liddle", although at Winterfell he is given the treatment of "Lord Liddle".
Their arms are per pale white and green, a fir tree line between, three brown pinecones on the white. Their motto does not appear in the books.
Tropes related to the Liddles
- The Ghost: While mentioned, Lord Torren Liddle and his youngest son Rickard "Little" Liddle haven't appeared in person yet.
- Secret-Keeper: When Bran, Hodor and the Reeds meet a Liddle in a cave he heavily implies he knows who Bran is and mentions Ramsay's forces are searching for Bran and Rickon.
Morgan Liddle
Middle Liddle
Second son of Lord Torren Liddle. He accompanies Stannis Baratheon's forces when the mountain clans join him to oppose Roose Bolton as Warden of the North.
- Apologetic Attacker: Subverted: after capturing Asha Greyjoy, he seeks her out to apologize to her, but not for almost killing her with an axe. Instead he apologizes for calling her a cunt several times during the battle due to his "battle lust".
- Bald Head of Toughness: He is bald and is among the best warriors in the North, as proven by his defeat of Asha.
- The Berserker: He fights in what he calls his "battle lust", which makes him into a much wilder and foul-mouthed person than he normally is.
- Hypocrite: He accuses one of Stannis's knights of being "craven", even though said knight is a veteran of the Blackwater and Castle Black, meaning he fought for over 12 hours of non-stop combat against an enemy of the same quality but over ten times the numbers, escaped, and then sailed to the end of the world and fought the Wildlings who outnumbered his force 20 to 1, before marching on the current campaign against the Boltons. By contrast, none of the mountain clansmen (including him) have fought in a real war, and when the Night's Watch asked for aid, the clans ignored them.
- In-Series Nickname: "Middle Liddle" due being the middle child of his father. However, no one dares call him this to his face.
- Manly Facial Hair: As befits a fierce Northern warrior of the mountain clans, Morgan has a large beard and manly beard.
- Screaming Warrior: While in his "battle lust" he mostly just screams or yells single words.
House Norrey
House Norrey is the formal name given to the Norreys, a mountain clan from the north that inhabits the high mountains north of the wolfswood. Of the mountain clans, the Norreys live closest to the Gift. The chief of the clan is known as "The Norrey", although at Winterfell he is given the treatment of "Lord Norrey".
Their arms do not appear in the book, but according to semi-canon sources, they blazon their banners with six green thistles over a yellow field.
Tropes related to House Norrey:
- Famous Ancestor: Lady Arra Norrey, the first wife of Lord Cregan Stark.
- The Ghost: While mentioned, Brandon Norrey the Younger hasn't been seen yet.
- Red Shirt: Owen Norrey, a minor character who is killed by a crossbow bolt at the Red Wedding.
Lord Brandon Norrey
- "So you tell me, boy... if these wildling friends o' yours prove false, do you have the belly to do what needs to be done?"
Clan chief of House Norrey. He allies with Stannis Baratheon against House Bolton.
- Animal Motifs: Jon Snow thinks that he looks like a old fox, with sly-eyes and a spry slight build.
- Fantastic Racism: Towards the wildlings. He is contemptuous of Jon's plans to make peace with them and efforts to save them, although he is appeased by his decision to take one-hundred hostages to assure the terms of their agreement.Brandon: As well make peace with wolves and carrion crows.
- Retired Badass: He used to be a great warrior, but is now too old to march with his forces alongside Stannis.
- Spiteful Spit: After Jon Snow tells him that he would make peace with any wildling group that he could, including those who follow the Weeper.
House Wull
House Wull is the formal name given to the Wulls, the most powerful of the mountain clans from the north. The Wulls inhabit the area west of the northern mountains along the Bay of Ice. The chief of the clan is known as "the Wull", although at Winterfell he is given the treatment of "Lord Wull".
They blazon their banners with three wooden buckets, brown on blue, with a border of grey and white checks.
Lord Hugo Wull
Big Bucket
- "Aye, men are dying. More will die before we see Winterfell. What of it? This is war. Men die in war. That is as it should be. As it has always been."
Chief of the Wull Clan, he allies with King Stannis Baratheon along with the other mountain clans to oppose Roose Bolton when he becomes Warden of the North.
- Blood Knight: Like most of the mountain clan warriors, he is eager to fight.
- Death Seeker: He knows he is too old to live through the coming winter, so he hopes to die in the fight against Bolton's forces after killing many of them.Hugo: This will be my last winter. Let me bathe in Bolton blood before I die. I want to feel it spatter across my face when my axe bites deep into a Bolton skull. I want to lick it off my lips and die with the taste of it on my tongue.
- Grim Up North: Gives a great speech to Ser Corlis Penny that emphasizes this trope:Hugo: Winter is almost upon us, boy. And winter is death. I would sooner my men die fighting for the Ned's little girl than alone and hungry in the snow, weeping tears that freeze upon their cheeks. No one sings songs of men who die like that.
- Honorable Warrior's Death: Much prefers the thought of he and his men dying in battle instead of dying cold and lonely in a northern winter.
- In-Series Nickname: Known as "Big Bucket" due to his size and "The Wull" because of his status as clan chief.
- Malicious Misnaming: Refers to R'hllor as "Red Rahloo".
- Old Soldier: He is a older warrior and knows that he will not make it through the next winter, so to spare his house some food and maintain his honor and dignity he joins Stannis' army to end the Bolton's rule of the North and rescue Ned's daughter.
- Real Men Love Jesus: He gets rather annoyed at the rituals of the R'hllor worshipers among Stannis' forces, and when seeing them preparing to sacrifice three soldiers who turned to cannibalism, he warns them that all they are doing is making the Old Gods angry.
- The Stoic: See the above quote.
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: Stannis is thrown for a loop when Jon offhandedly mentions Big Bucket. Jon has to back up and explain that one.
Theo Wull
Buckets
A companion of Eddard Stark who died at the Tower of Joy during Robert's Rebellion.
- The Faceless: Ned Stark has trouble remembering his face.
- In-Series Nickname: "Buckets", due to House Wull's sigil.
- Posthumous Character: He died fighting the Kingsguard at the Tower of Joy around fourteen years before the series began.
- True Companions: With Eddard and his other friends who went to the Tower of Joy. Ned even calls him "Faithful".
