Jeor Mormont

Before he ever wore black, Jeor had been Lord of Bear Island, head of House Mormont. Sometime around the outbreak of Robert's Rebellion he stepped down in favor of his son Jorah and crossed to the Wall to join the Night's Watch. He rose fast among the black brothers, and in 288 AC was elected Lord Commander.

He inherited an order that had been losing men and discipline for generations. He scrapped the fixed patrol schedule left by his predecessor, Lord Qorgyle, replacing it with rounds of varying size and timing, so wildlings could no longer guess when a party would leave or return.

Years later, when Jorah had to flee to the Free Cities to escape justice under Eddard Stark for selling captives into slavery, Jeor took back Longclaw, the Valyrian steel blade his son had left behind. Bear Island then passed to his sister, Maege Mormont.

At Castle Black, Jeor picked Jon Snow as his personal steward and began grooming him, in his own gruff way, for command. When word came of Eddard Stark's supposed treason, Jon's father, he had the boy watched closely, wary that he might try to run south.

Not long after, two rangers thought dead turned up near the Wall, and Jeor had the bodies brought inside for Maester Aemon to examine. That same night the corpses rose and attacked the Watch; several brothers died, among them Ser Jaremy Rykker.

Jeor himself nearly died at the wight Othor's hands, saved only by Jon and his direwolf Ghost arriving in time. In thanks, the Lord Commander gave him Longclaw, the bastard sword he had just reclaimed from his own son.

Months later Jeor told Jon that his brother Robb had been proclaimed King in the North, and once again set men to watch him, in case he tried to head south to fight at his side.

Missing rangers and reports of wildlings massing under Mance Rayder, the King-Beyond-the-Wall, pushed Jeor to organize a large-scale expedition beyond the Wall. He led three hundred men out of Castle Black, hoping among other things to find Benjen Stark and the rangers who had vanished before him.

On the march the column passed Craster's Keep, where Jeor learned Mance was gathering his people at the Frostfangs, readying a push against the Wall. He chose to make camp at the Fist of the First Men and wait for word from Qhorin Halfhand, marching down from the Shadow Tower.

While the camp waited at the Fist, it was attacked, and Jeor got away with barely fifty men, making for Craster's Keep. Only forty-four made it there alive, twelve of them badly hurt, starved and frozen after days on the march.

Hunger and resentment tipped the survivors into mutiny; they killed Craster first, accusing him of hoarding food. Jeor tried to hold the line, but he had no authority left over men past breaking point.

Ollo Lophand cut him down in the scuffle. Jeor died in Samwell Tarly's arms, asking forgiveness for his son Jorah and, with his last words, hoping the boy would one day take the black himself.