Yoren
| House / Order | None (Night's Watch) |
|---|---|
| Race / Culture | |
| Status | Deceased |
| Origin | King's Landing; the Riverlands |
| Born | Unknown |
| Died | 299 AC, at an abandoned holdfast in the Riverlands |
| Weapon | Sword and axe |
| Fate | Killed defending his recruits from Lannister men under Amory Lorch |
| Portrayed by |
Yoren was a brother of the Night's Watch, one of the wandering recruiters known as crows who travel the Seven Kingdoms gathering men, even gaol-emptying criminals, to take the black and serve at the Wall. Stooped, sour-smelling, and chewing perpetually on sourleaf, Yoren was nonetheless a man of rough decency, and it was he who spirited Arya Stark out of King's Landing after her father's fall.
Background
Yoren ranged the realm for years recruiting for the Night's Watch, a thankless task that took him into dungeons and gutters in search of any man willing or compelled to join. He knew Eddard Stark and had dealings with Tyrion Lannister, whom he warned of trouble on the roads. He was a familiar, if unlovely, figure, with a black cloak gone gray with grime and a manner that brooked little argument.
Saving Arya Stark
In King's Landing, when Eddard Stark was arrested and executed, Yoren happened to be present at the execution in the crowd. Acting quickly, he seized Arya Stark before she could be taken, hid her, and roughly cut her hair, disguising her as a boy named "Arry" to pass her off as one of his recruits. He meant to deliver her safely north, intending to leave her at Winterfell on the way to the Wall.
The road north
Yoren led his ragged band of recruits, which included the cutthroats Rorge and Biter, the mysterious Jaqen H'ghar, the bull-headed boy Gendry, and Arya among them, north out of the capital along the kingsroad. The realm, however, was descending into war, and the roads were no longer safe.
Death
At an abandoned holdfast in the Riverlands, Yoren's company was overtaken by a force of Lannister men under Ser Amory Lorch, who demanded the surrender of the recruits, falsely claiming they harbored traitors. Yoren refused, declaring that the Night's Watch took no part in the wars of the realm and that his men were under its protection. He stood his ground and fought, buying time for some of the children to flee, and was cut down and killed in the assault. His death scattered his charges and set Arya Stark adrift in the war-torn Riverlands, eventually carried as a captive to Harrenhal.
Character
Yoren is a gruff, unglamorous figure whose hard exterior conceals a stubborn honor. He keeps faith with the dead Eddard Stark by protecting his daughter at the cost of his own life, and he embodies the old principle that the men of the Night's Watch stand apart from the quarrels of kings. His warning to Arya, that one day she may have her vengeance but not today, lingers in her memory.
In the television series
In HBO's Game of Thrones, Yoren is portrayed by Francis Magee. His rescue of Arya, the journey north with the recruits, and his death defending them in battle follow the broad strokes of the novels.