01 TORMUND GIANTSBANE

Name=Tormund Nickname=Tormund Giantsbane Birth=259-266 AC Age=34-41 Occupation=Core leader of the Free Folk, Free Folk raider, chieftain, chief lieutenant of Mance Rayder Family=Unnamed (father), Unnamed (mother), Unnamed (two daughters) Appearance=medium-length orange-red hair, a long red beard, blue eyes, tall at 6'0", heavily muscular build, fair complexion Clothing=a tunic, under-shirts, wildling fur coat, trousers, boots, a belt with a shortsword hanging from it

Personality=Tormund Giantsbane is an extremely fierce and determined man and a born warrior of the Free Folk in almost every way. Aside from his excellent fighting skills and monstrous strength, Tormund is a supremely intimidating individual who immediately asserts that his enemies should be afraid of him, which he does in his first encounter with Jon Snow, stating that men similar to Jon have met their ends trying to end Tormund's life in combat. Tormund is clearly hugely respected among his people, as evidenced by the immense responsibilities placed upon him by Mance Rayder during their campaign against the Night's Watch - namely to climb the Wall itself and enter the southern kingdoms on the other side. Tormund proved to be capable of great cruelty and brutality during this campaign, and in several others. To his credit, Tormund is both dangerous and loyal in equal measure - as one of Mance Rayder's most trusted and terrifying lieutenants, Tormund followed the King Beyond the Wall's orders without hesitation or complaint and outright devoted himself to the task of fighting the Night's Watch in support of the plan that Mance had. He cares tremendously about his own kind, protecting Ygritte during the duel between Jon Snow and Orell, preventing her from interfering or being killed for treachery by their companions. Earlier on, Tormund expressed that he would kill Jon if the latter was deceiving them, in spite of the fact that Tormund admittedly liked him. Tormund is capable of working well with those who were originally his enemies, albeit rather begrudgingly at first. Tormund was different from some wildlings: he was not nearly as sadistic, cruel, or vindictive as others. The Giantsbane was a man with a sense of humor to match his ferocity. To some extent, Tormund was not at all above violence against other wildlings, even though he cared about the vast majority of them.

Backstory=Tormund, often called Tormund Giantsbane, is a renowned warrior and raider among the Free Folk and one of the key leaders behind Mance Rayder. Tormund respects Mance as the King-Beyond-the-Wall and suspects he is the man to lead them through the Long Night. Tormund is a trusted leader in his own right of a large warband of wildlings. He has joined his forces to those of King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder, and now functions as one of Mance's most trusted lieutenants. Tormund is not just a capable leader, but also a very dangerous fighter. Tormund makes much of his capacity for drink and sexual encounters, usually as a means of raising his allies' morale. He is extremely loyal to those who have fought alongside him. Tormund has two daughters, though he hasn't mentioned if he has any sons. When Jon Snow is taken to Mance Rayder's tent by the Lord of Bones and Ygritte, he initially believes Tormund is Mance and kneels before him. Tormund is amused though Mance's suspicions of Jon makes Tormund wary. He quickly deduces the romantic tension between Jon and Ygritte. As Mance's army marches away from the Frostfangs, Tormund, alongside Ygritte, accompanies Orell as Orell performs scouting duties by warging into his eagle. Tormund accompanies Mance, along with Orell, Ygritte, and Jon Snow, to the Fist of the First Men, where they see the mutilated horse corpses left behind by the White Walkers after the fight at the Fist. Mance commands Tormund to climb the Wall along with twenty raiders and Jon Snow, and wait for his signal to attack Castle Black from behind. As Tormund's party comes closer to the Wall, Tormund questions Jon about the "crows" patrolling the top of the Wall spotted by Orell's eagle. Jon explains that the patrols are two builders and two rangers. Orell then questions Jon about the castles still manned by the Watch and the number of men in the garrison of Castle Black, disbelieving Jon's claim that a thousand men defend it. When Orell and Ygritte, who defends Jon, are about to start a fight, Tormund puts a stop to it throwing Orell away. Tormund tells Jon he likes him but will kill him nonetheless if he's lying. Jon remains adamant on his lie, but Tormund remains doubtful. Tormund's party camps at a patch of the Haunted Forest that has been left unchecked and grown close to the Wall. Tormund comments to Jon that, once, crows would cut down any the trees within a mile of the Wall. When Jon asks Ygritte if she's ever climbed the Wall she confesses she hasn't, but Tormund has done it many times. After a few minutes, Tormund approaches Jon again and gives him a climbing pick. He advises Jon to sink it deep into the ice of the Wall and make sure it holds before taking the next step. He then jokes that if he falls, he better not scream because he wouldn't want that be the last thing Ygritte remembers about him. Tormund's party breaks into four smaller groups to climb the Wall. Tormund leads one of them, with Orell, Ygritte, and Jon sharing the same rope. Tormund's pick breaks a piece of ice that causes Jon to briefly lose his footing. The wildling leader jokes that he wanted to see if he could take a hit. The raiding party climb further, but a portion of the Wall breaks down, taking one of the groups to their deaths. The ice keeps breaking and Tormund nails his pick hard to prevent them from falling, but Ygritte and Jon do drop, and end up dangling in the air. Tormund holds the rope with one hand but Orell begins cutting the rope to prevent Jon and Ygritte from bringing them down. Jon reaches the ice just as Orell cuts Ygritte loose. Later, the group reaches an abandoned watchpost of the Night's Watch. Ygritte and Jon reach the top as Tormund gathers his rope. Tormund and the raiding party climb down from the Wall and begin their march to take Castle Black unaware. Some time later, the party encamps in a forest area of the Gift. Tormund jokingly gives Jon some advice on how to properly have sex with a woman before ordering the group to begin the march again. Some time afterward, Tormund's party reach the hut of a man who breeds horses for the Night's Watch. Orell advises attacking the man and killing him for his horses and gold. Tormund muses he may have good steel. Jon argues to spare the man and just take the horses, as the Watch will send fewer men to track down thieves than for a murderer. Tormund hopes for more men as it will be easier to kill them in the open than in Castle Black. Tormund orders his men to spread out to attack the hut. The man escapes after his horses react to a noise made by Jon to warn him. Tormund and his men capture the man at an abandoned mill. Orell manages to hear noise inside the mill - it's Bran and Rickon Stark, along with Jojen and Meera Reed, Osha, and Hodor - but Tormund dismisses it as thunder from the rain that is just beginning. Tormund then questions the man about where he was riding. The man refuses to answer because he'll die anyway, and Tormund admits he's right. Tormund bares his sword to kill the man, who asks to die standing up, but Orell intervenes and demands that Jon kill the man. Tormund orders Jon to do it, but Jon hesitates. Ygritte carries out the execution after Jon is unable to. Orell goads Tormund into killing Jon to prevent him from betraying them and Tormund relents, ordering his men to kill Jon. Tormund restrains Ygritte when she tries to interfere to protect her lover. As Ygritte rages, he tells her not to die for a crow. Several members of Tormund's party, among them Orell, are killed by Jon as well as Summer and Shaggydog, who arrive following a hunt.