Bear Island
Bear Island lies out in the Bay of Ice, north-west of Deepwood Motte. It is hard country, forest and hillside, with cold streams running down to the sea and bears in the woods that give the island and its lords their name. A few crofters work the inland. Most of the people live along the shore and fish.
When the men were out in the boats, raiders came: ironborn from the west and wildlings across the water from the Frozen Shore. The women held the island themselves. On the gate of the Mormonts’ log hall a woman is carved in a bearskin, a child at her breast in one arm and a battle-axe in the other.
The tale says King Rodrik Stark won the island from the ironborn in a wrestling match and gave it to the Mormonts. They have held it for Winterfell since, and for five hundred years their sword has been Longclaw, of Valyrian steel.
Read next
Deepwood Motte
The Glovers’ timber stronghold on a flat-topped hill deep in the wolfswood, ringed by a palisade and a dry ditch.
Valyrian Steel
Spell-forged steel from old Valyria, lighter and keener than any castle-forged blade, whose making was lost with the Doom.
The Kings of Winter
The old Stark kings who conquered the North from Winterfell and sit now in stone in the deeper crypts.