Ygritte Styr

Ygritte is a wildling born inside the Frostfang Mountains and a member of the Styr Clan.

Last Rest

 * Giants_Riding_Mammoths.jpg"The Land was all wilderness, and it made me long for the relative warmth of Stormwind."


 * -Jon Snow

Jon hears the call of a warhorn, one blast to signify brothers returning. Qhorin Halfhand has arrived, with 100 men from the Shadow Tower. Qhorin recognizes Jon, and tells him that he knew many Starkes in his own way. When Jon attempts to find out how he could know of Starkes he is told that he once visited Bolten on a trading mission and met the leader of House Karstark. The men from the Shadow Tower were delayed because they met Alfyn Crowkiller and his men who had been scouting along the Wall but had been attacked by the men of Magmar. They killed the wildling leader, but lost four men in the process. Later, Jon overhears dissent in the ranks as Chett and Lark the Sisterman speak of not going into the Frostfangs, no matter what the Old Bear orders. Jon had given the warhorn he had found to Sam, because it was cracked and he could get no sound from it, but Sam liked ancient items. Jon walks in and overhears Qhorin telling Mormont about a captive claiming that Magmar's forces had wargs and mammoths in his army. He also explains that the captive claims the wildlings plan to breach the Wall, not climb it or burrow beneath it. Qhorin tells them that Magmar is seeking something in the high, cold places of the Frostfangs, some power or artifact. Qhorin advises the Old Bear to send scouts into the mountains, and Mormont agrees. Jarmen Buckwell will take four men to climb the Giant's Stair, Thoren Smallwood will lead a party to probe the Milkwater, while Qhorin himself will lead a third party into the Skirling Pass. Qhorin immediately chooses Jon Snow as one of his four men, stating the following,


 * "The old gods are still strong beyond the Wall. The gods of the First Men…and the Starks."


 * -Qhorin Halfhand

As Qhorin Halfhand’s party moves through the Skirling Pass, they note watchers high up in the pass. Qhorin sends Stonesnake and Jon to dispatch the watchers, and they were warned not to let them sound a horn. Stonesnake teaches Jon how to climb a sheer cliff face, and they eventually reach the top above the wildlings. There were three, and after killing two, the third turns out to be a woman. She yields to them, and Jon takes her captive, despite Stonesnake’s warning that she should be killed. When she learns that Jon is a bastard son of a Stark lord, she tells him the wildling story of Bael the Bard. Supposedly, before he joined the free folk, he was a raider, or, according to Stonesnake, a murderer and robber.

Captured

 * Ygritte_and_Jon_Snow1.jpg"The Stark King wanted Bael’s head, but was never successful in capturing the bandit. To teach the king a lesson, Bael slipped into Winterfell calling himself Sygerrik, which means ‘deceiver’ in the old tongue of the First Men, which the giants still speak. In return for his performance, he requests the fairest flower in Winterfell, and the king gave him the rare winter rose. In the morning, the singer was gone along with King Brandon’s daughter. A year later, the king’s daughter is found in her bedchamber with a young baby. Bael had hidden her in the crypts of Winterfell. Thirty years later when Bael was King-Beyond-the-Wall and led the wildlings south, it was his son, the new Stark King, who slew Bael, since the bard would not harm his son. Upon returning home, the young king’s mother killed herself when she found out Bael was dead."


 * -Ygritte

Jon does not believe the story, which claims that the blood of the Starks and the wildlings are the same. When Qhorin and the others arrive, Ygritte recognizes the Halfhand and confirms that the wildlings would kill him if he yielded. Qhorin’s men state that she should be killed, and Qhorin leaves Jon alone with Ygritte to carry out the task. Ygritte tells Jon that Mance Rayder would accept him if he ran off with her. Jon, about to behead her, finally stops himself and tells her to run off.


 * "I let her go for a reason I couldn't explain. She just in that moment didn't deserve to be hurt, and I knew most of all there was no way I could hurt her even if she deserved it."


 * -Jon Snow

Jon tells Qhorin Halfhand what Ygritte had said to him about Mance Rayder accepting him if he ran off. Qhorin confirms this. Qhorin knew Mance when he was a black brother, and the ranger tells Jon that Mance loved songs and wildling women, and that he was a wildling captured as a child by the Watch. He was the best ranger they had, but he returned to his roots, some say to gain a crown. Qhorin suspects that Jon let Ygritte go, and Jon confirms that he did, however Qhorin understands that the girl was not a threat, and if he had wanted her dead he would have had Ebben do it, or have done it himself. Qhorin tells Jon that he now knows him better than he did before, and that it was important for a commander to know his men. They were traveling at night and resting during the day. That morning, Jon dreams of five direwolves, when there should have been six. Seeing through the eyes of Ghost, he finds himself in a forest and senses a voice calling his name from a nearby weirwood, one that resembled his brother except it had three eyes. His brother explains to him how to open his eyes, and the tree reaches down and touches him, and he finds himself back in the mountains. He is atop a cliff, and oversees thousands of men training for combat, and he also sees mammoths with giants riding them. Suddenly, an eagle soars out of the sky coming straight for him.


 * Nights_Watch_trying_to_escape.gif
 * "It was all falling apart and yet what could I do?"


 * -Jon Snow

Jon awakens shouting Ghost’s name. The others hear his shout, and he tells them what he sees. Qhorin calls it a wolf dream, and Ebben calls Jon a skinchanger. Qhorin, however, does not balk at the thought of wargs and giants during a time when the dead walk and the trees have eyes again. They set out at just before dusk, and spot an eagle watching them, well out of bowshot. Soon after, they find Ghost wounded and dress the direwolf's wounds. Qhorin tells them they must head back to the Fist, for they have been seen by the eagle which they fear is a skinchanger as well. They begin the journey back through the Skirling Pass without lighting any fires despite the cold. But their lead on the enemy was shortening, and when they came upon the place where the wildlings were killed, Squire Dalbridge remains behind with all their arrows, sacrificing himself to give the others an advantage.


 * Ygritte_running.gif"It was a hopeless escape and yet what other option did we have for ourselves."


 * -Jon Snow

The weather in the Skirling Pass has gotten worse. Qhorin sends Ebben back with the last garron to reach the Lord Commander with all haste, while the rest try to head off pursuit. Watched by the eagle, Qhorin then sends Stonesnake back as well, to take the high passes to reach the Fist of the First Men. Qhorin commands Stonesnake to tell Mormont all that Jon saw: that he faces giants and wargs and worse, and that the trees have eyes again. That night, the Halfhand asks Jon if his sword is sharp, and makes the young man recite his oath with him. Qhorin then commands Jon to yield when they are overtaken, and not to balk no matter what the wildlings ask him to do to prove himself. Jon is appalled at the suggestion, but Qhorin tells him to go among the Wildlings and learn what they plan, watch what they do, but to remember who he is and to return to Mormont when he has learned what the wildlings are searching for. Qhorin promises to tell the Lord Commander that Jon never broke his oath when he sees him again.


 * "You couldn't see or hear them but you knew they were always just right at your back. No matter where we moved that damned eagle just watched us."


 * -Jon Snow

They are overtaken soon after by Rattleshirt and a party of wildlings, Ygritte amongst them. They have Ebben’s head, and Rattleshirt orders them killed. Jon yields, as Qhorin ordered him to, and the Halfhand says in contempt, "I was warned bastard blood is craven." Rattleshirt commands Jon to kill Qhorin to prove himself. Jon slays the big ranger only after Ghost gives him an opening by biting the man’s calf. The wildlings accept him despite Rattleshirt’s misgivings, and Ygritte tells him that the eagle was once the man he killed up in the passes when they captured her.

Jon Snow
See Also : Jon Snow