Jeor Mormont
| House / Order | House Mormont (formerly) |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Deceased |
| Origin | The Wall; The North |
| Born | 219 AC (approx.) |
| Died | 299 AC, at Craster's Keep, beyond the Wall |
| Weapon | A bastard sword; later his Valyrian-steel blade Longclaw, given to Jon Snow |
| Fate | Slain in the mutiny of the Night's Watch at Craster's Keep |
| Portrayed by |
Jeor Mormont, called the Old Bear, was the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch during the gathering threat beyond the Wall. Formerly Lord of Bear Island and head of House Mormont, he gave up his lands and titles to his son Ser Jorah Mormont and took the black, rising to command the Watch with gruff authority and unbending devotion to duty. He was a mentor to Jon Snow and led the great ranging that sought to uncover the menace stirring in the haunted forest.
Background
Jeor Mormont ruled Bear Island in the North before he abdicated his lordship and joined the Night's Watch, passing his seat to his son Jorah. Among the brothers of the Watch he earned the name "the Old Bear" for his temper and his great gray beard, and he rose to be elected Lord Commander. He kept a raven that croaked the word "corn" and could be taught to speak other words besides.
Lord Commander
As Lord Commander, Jeor took Jon Snow into his service as his personal steward, grooming the young man for command and recognizing his potential. When Jon saved Jeor's life from a wight, an animated corpse that attacked the Lord Commander in his own chambers, Jeor rewarded him with the ancestral Mormont sword, the Valyrian-steel blade Longclaw, whose pommel he had reforged into a wolf's head. Jorah Mormont's exile and dishonor had cost House Mormont the blade's right, and Jeor judged Jon worthier of it.
The Great Ranging
Alarmed by the disappearance of rangers and reports of the dead walking, Jeor led the Great Ranging, taking three hundred men of the Watch north of the Wall to learn the truth of the threat and to seek out Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall. The ranging took them to Craster's Keep, the squalid home of the wildling Craster, and then to the Fist of the First Men, where the host was overwhelmed in a great battle against the dead.
Death
The shattered survivors of the ranging fell back to Craster's Keep. There, cold, starving, and embittered, a number of the brothers mutinied. In the chaos, Craster was killed, and the Old Bear was stabbed in the back by the mutineer Ollo Lophand and other faithless men of his own Watch. Jeor died betrayed by those he had commanded, far from home. His steward Samwell Tarly fled the keep with one of Craster's wives, carrying word of the disaster back to the Wall.
Character
Jeor Mormont embodies the old, hard virtues of the Night's Watch: duty, vigilance, and sacrifice. Gruff and demanding, he was nonetheless a fair and far-seeing commander who grasped the true scale of the danger massing in the north long before the lords of the south would credit it. His faith in Jon Snow helped shape the man Jon became.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Jeor Mormont is portrayed by James Cosmo. His mentorship of Jon Snow, the gift of Longclaw, the Great Ranging, and his death in the mutiny at Craster's Keep all follow the novels.