Hello Throners! As I am more of a writer than an artist, these kinds of tasks suit me more than making moodboards or fan art. For this challenge, I chose Jeor Mormont, he was also on my lost of #CharacterTribute so I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I hope you enjoy!
Early History
Not much is known about Jeor Mormont, the Old Bear, prior to him ing the Night's Watch. He was born in 230 AC as the heir to Bear Island to an unknown father and unknown mother. He also has a younger sister, Maege Mormont, currently the reigning Lady of Bear Island. We don't know if there are or were more siblings, since Jeor doesn't talk much about his family or life before the Night's Watch in general.
At some time he married an unknown woman, presumabely a Northerner, and had one (known) child with her, Jorah Mormont.
He must have reigned as Lord of Bear Island for quite a while, before abdicating the lordship in favor of his son, presumably some time before Robert's Rebellion, since he claims to be longer in the Watch than Ser Alliser Thorne, who ed at the end of Robert's Rebellion.
In the Watch
Being a former lord from the North, he quickly rose through the ranks after ing the Watch and became it's Lord Commander in 288 AC after the death of the previous Lord Commander, Qorgoyle.
He was very concerned about the state the Night's Watch was in and tried everything in his power to keep it from decaying any further, with mixed results. On the advice of his First Ranger Benjen Statk for example, he randomized the patrols on top of the Wall, so the wildlings wouldn't know when and where to expect these patrols. He also sent a handful of men to abandoned castles of the Watch to garrison them for a fortnight or so, to make any crossing wildlings even warier. On the other hand, he didn't manage to recruit enough men to keep the number of men from dwindling, something that can't be lain at his feet alone, since the reputation of the Watch had worsened for centuries, being only a way to get rid of your criminals for many southern lords. Only Northerners (like Jeor, Benjen or Jon Snow) would the Watch voluntarily, since there they still commanded respect.
Time of the books
After Jon Snow s the Watch and has said his vows, Jeor quickly appoints him as his personal steward to groom him for command, seeing great potential in the young (presumed) bastard son of Eddard Stark, despite his young age. He proceeds to lecture Jon on his duties to the Watch and the realm, greatly shaping Jon's perspective on his duties and views.
Not long after Jon had ed the Watch, Jeor sends First Ranger Benjen Stark to search for Waymar Royce and his companions who haven't returned from a ranging and to ascertain the activities and intentions of the newly made King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder.
Benjen Stark, too, never returns from that ranging, but two of his companions, Othor and Jafer Flowers, do, albeit as corpses. Jeor has them brought to Castle Black, where they rise as wights the following night. One of them, Othor, seems to have retained memories of his life, since he goes directly to Lord Commander Mormonts chambers at the King's Tower with the intent to kill him. Mormont is only saved by Jon, who has been made aware by his direwolf Ghost, that something was wrong. Jon, not being able to kill the wight through conventional means, i.e. a sword, burns it by throwing a burning lamp at it, burning down Jeors chambers in the process.
As a thanks to his young steward, he bestows Longclaw, the ancestral Valyrian steel sword of House Mormont, which he gained from Jorah after his untimely departure to self-chosen exile, on Jon.
When Jon hears of his half-brother Robb was crowned King in the North, Jeor has Jon watched, in case he has a mind of ing Robb in the south (which he does), and through rhis knows, that Jon wanted to desert but was brought back by the honor of his friends, reminding Jon of his vows.
Not long after he calls for a Great Ranging beyond the Wall, trying to figure out what is happening with abandoned wildling villages, missing rangers and walking corpses and takes the full force of the Nights Watch on this ranging.
At Craster's Keep they learn that Mance Rayder, new King beyond the Wall, masses wildling clans in the Frostfangs and decides to take up camp at the Fist of the First Men, an ancient holdfast, to give battle there. He sends out scouting parties to spy on the wildling camp, but before the wildlings march, the Nights Watch is attacked by an army of wights and Others, having the brothers flee from the battlefield.
The Old Bear survives and leads the few survivors back to Craster's Keep. There, due to a supply problem of the Nights Watch and Craster refusing to give them any more than bread and moldy cheese, a mutiny breaks out which also kills Jeor Mormont, 997th Lord Commander of the Nights Watch in a rather inglorious way and thus ends the life of one of the last great leaders of the Nights Watch.
Why I chose the Old Bear
I chose Jeor Mormont, because he is often overlooked when speaking about great leaders or commanders. We always tend to mention the great warriors and lords like Robert Baratheon, Tywin Lannister or Eddard Stark, but "minor" lords and especially brothers of the Nights Watch are often overlooked (except Jon of course). Despite the desolate state the Nights Watch is in, he manages to defend the Wall somehow and does the best with the little help he is given. Yes, the Great Ranging turned out to be a disaster and nearly led to the destruction of the Nights Watch (if not for Stannis Baratehon. And it was, maybe, in part done because Jeor wanted to die a glorious death in battle rather than a slow one at the Wall. But it was also that he wanted to take action rather than sit and wait with being none the wiser about all the strange things happening beyond the Wall.
Apart from this mistake, his last one, he has been a proud and distinguished Lord Commander and, most importantly, a great mentor to Jon Snow, almost a surrogate grandfather/great-uncle, teaching Jon much and more about the realities of life and grooming him for command of the Nights Watch, which he had to take over much sooner than both of them surely anticipated. If Jeor had lived longer, I'm sure Jon would have been a much better Lord Commander than he already was.
And with that I'd like to thank you all for reading and Jon and No Face for sponsoring this challenge!
Comment