Hornfoot Tribes

Before Mance Rayder forced peace among the free folk's scattered tribes, the Hornfoot fought the Night Runners. They live near the Frostfangs, and their name comes from going barefoot until the soles harden and darken like horn; they carry long spears and dress in furs.

When the free folk left the mountains and followed the Milkwater down toward the heart of the Haunted Forest, the Hornfoot were among them, part of the great mass moving toward the Wall.

After Stannis Baratheon's victory at the Battle of Castle Black and Mance Rayder's death at Melisandre's hands, the king ordered the Wall's gates opened so the wildlings could cross and join him. Among the minor chiefs who knelt before him were two Hornfoot leaders, dressed in furs, fierce and gaunt, barefoot even in the snow.

Three Hornfoot men returned with Jon Snow from Mole's Town and agreed to join the Night's Watch. They joined the wildlings who swore their oath before the weirwood grove in the Haunted Forest, where among the survivors was another of their own, his feet so frostbitten he would never walk again; to bring him to Castle Black they had to strap him to a horse's back like a sack of grain.

Jon sent the rest to be treated for the cold, hoping warm food and heavier clothing would be enough for most of them.