Bear Island

Before the ironborn ever set foot on it, the island belonged to House Woodfoot. It is a hard land: gnarled oaks and tall pines, flowering thorns among grey moss-covered stones, icy streams running down from the hills. Almost no one lives inland; people cluster along the shore and live by fishing. According to some none-too-reliable sources, House Hoare even added a green tree to its arms to mark having once held it.

The ironborn came back again and again, and so did the wildlings from the Frozen Shore, always timing their raids for when the fishermen were out at sea. It fell to the women to learn to defend their homes alone, which is where their reputation as warriors comes from. Ravos Hoare, son of King Harrag, used the island as a base for his ships, until Theon Stark, then King in the North, drove him out and killed him. Loron Greyjoy, King of the Driftwood Throne, conquered it again later, but the ironborn lost it once more after the death of the Old Kraken.

The island became part of the North under King Rodrik Stark, and the story told about it is an odd one: he supposedly won it in a wrestling match. Rodrik Stark then gave it to House Mormont, which has ruled it ever since.

Not every maester believes the wrestling story, and some place the event a century after Gerold Lannister the Great, King of the Rock, sacked the Iron Islands and the weaker ironborn kings lost most of their holdings along the western coast.

On the far side of the world, Daenerys Targaryen carries a promise in mind: if she ever sits the Iron Throne, she means to give Bear Island back to Jorah Mormont.

Robb Stark, now King in the North, sends Lady Maege Mormont toward the Neck to find Lord Howland Reed. If anyone stops her along the way and asks where she's bound, her orders are to lie and say she is returning to Bear Island.

Around the same time, Maester Aemon sends a raven begging the island for help: Castle Black is under attack by wildlings and needs every man it can get.