Jorah Mormont

Ser Jorah Mormont is the former Lord of Bear Island and an exiled northern lord from Westeros. He left the continent after breaking the law and getting sentenced to death by Eddard Stark. Upon leaving the continent, Jorah began running from one city in Essos to another. He started working for Lord Varys, the master of whisperers on the small council, and later got close to Daenerys Targaryen but fell out of favor after some of his secrets got revealed.

Personal Details about Jorah Mormont

• Name: Jorah Mormont.
• Year of Birth: 254 AC.
• Allegiances: House Mormont, House Stark, House Targaryen.
• Culture: Andal.
• Religion: Faith of the Seven.
• Aliases: The Exile Knight, Jorah the Andal, See Bezoar.
• Titles: Ser, Lord of Bear Islands, Lord Commander of the Queensguard.
• Father: Jeor Mormont.
• First Wife: Lady Glover.
• Second Wife: Lynesse Hightower.

Appearance

Jorah Mormont is a big hairy middle-aged man who is black-bearded and partially bald. He is muscular but slightly short. Though he is fit, he is not handsome. However, what he lacks in looks, he has in swordsmanship.

For his clothing, Jorah typically wears wool and leather with a dark green tunic engraved with the sigil of House Mormont, a standing black bear. He arms himself with a longsword and dagger and wears mail, gauntlets, and a great helm as armor. After joining the Dothraki, he wears horsehair leggings and a painted vest.

History

Early Life

After becoming a young man, Jorah’s father, Jeor, married him to a lady from House Glover. Jorah and his wife could not conceive for ten years, as Lady Glover had two miscarriages, and on the third miscarriage, she died. Jeor Mormont abdicated his lordship and joined the Night’s Watch making Jorah the Lord of Bear Islands. During Robert’s Rebellion, he fought on the rebels’ side and witnessed the Battle of the Trident. He also saw the Sack of King’s Landing and the horror after the gates opened.

After Robert Baratheon became the king of the seven kingdoms, the Greyjoys rose against him, and the Greyjoy Rebellion started. During the rebellion, Jorah answered the call to arms and fought on Robert’s side. His bravery during the siege of Pyke earned him a knighthood from Robert.

Marriage

After the death of his first wife, Jorah refused proposals from many houses until the tourney at Lannisport. Upon getting crowned the event’s champion after defeating Jaime Lannister, he asked Lynesse Hightower’s father, Lord Leyton Hightower, for her hand in marriage, and he agreed. Jorah and Lynesse got married in Lannisport, and he returned to Bear Islands.

Though Lynesse agreed to marry Jorah, their marriage soured when they returned to Bear Islands. Because his new wife was from the wealthy House Hightower in Oldtown, she got shocked at the state of Bear Islands, a land with few resources. In an attempt to please her and recreate the lifestyle she once had, Jorah began spending until he ran into financial ruin. Unable to meet his wife’s demands, he ventured into a practice forbidden in Westeros, slavery.

Exile

Jorah tried selling some poachers to a Tyroshi slaver. However, when Lord Eddard Stark, the Warden of the North, learned of his act, he sentenced him to death according to the laws of Westeros. Before Eddard reached Bear Islands, he fled with his new wife, leaving behind his family blade, Longclaw, a Valyrian steel sword. His father later gave the sword to Jon Snow.

After running away with his wife, Jorah decided to head for Braavos, but demanding a better climate, his wife made him sail for Lys instead. Upon reaching the city, he sold his ship and started tending to Lynesse’s needs. However, he became broke again and decided to join a sellsword company. While fighting with the Braavosi, his wife met Tregar Ormollen, a merchant prince in Lys, and moved into his house. Upon returning from the Rhoyne, he got threatened by Tregar and fled.

Jorah headed for Volantis and joined the Dothraki after traveling as far as Vaes Dothrak. His stay with the nomads made him learn their language and customs. He later meets Magister Illyrio Mopatis at a feast in Khal Drogo’s manse.

Relevance in A Song of Ice and Fire

A Game of Thrones

During the feast held at Khal Drogo’s manse in Pentos, Jorah witnesses fellow exile Daenerys Targaryen get betrothed to the warlord. He joins the service of Viserys Targaryen, the Targaryen Claimant of the Iron Throne. During Drogo’s wedding to Daenerys, he gives her a stack of books filled with tales in the common tongue from Westeros. When Drogo’s Khalasar leaves Pentos, Jorah and Viserys join them.

Unknown to the Targaryens, Jorah starts working for Lord Varys. Hoping to get a royal pardon from King Robert Baratheon and return from his exile, he starts feeding the small council information on the Dothraki movements. He tells the council about Daenerys’s pregnancy, causing Robert to ask for her assassination.

Jorah begins to get close to Daenerys. He teaches her the Dothraki ways of living. When Viserys tries to steal her dragon eggs, he threatens him. Later, at the feast of Daenerys pregnancy celebration, he gets a seat of respect. Viserys gets killed by Drogo after he draws out a blade in Vaes Dothrak.

When Daenerys goes to the western market, Jorah accompanies her. He saves her from getting poisoned as Robert Baratheon had promised a lordship to whoever killed her. Realizing what Robert had done, Khal Drogo swears the Iron Throne to Daenerys and his unborn son. He begins warring to get slaves and exchange them for ships.

After a fight with Khal Ogo, Drogo gets wounded, and his wound gets infected. When Drogo falls from his horse, Jorah tells Daenerys to flee to Asshai or become one of the women at dosh khaleen. When Daenerys refuses and makes Mirri Maz Duur perform blood magic, the Khalasar uproars, and Drogo’s bloodriders try to kill her. Jorah battles with Qotho and kills him while losing half of his ear.

When Mirri begins performing the magic, Daenerys enters labor, and Jorah takes her into the same tent as Drogo; this causes her son to die. When she wakes up, he tells her that her husband has entered a vegetative state and her child is dead. After creating a funeral pyre, Jorah begs Daenerys to leave for YiTi, or the Jade Sea, Quarth, and Asshai fearing she will commit suicide. She tells him she will not die, and he swears his allegiance to her, becoming the first of her Queensguard. When she walks into the fire, she comes out with three dragons. Speechless, Jorah falls to his knees.

A Clash of Kings

Jorah accompanies Daenerys to Vaes Tolorro. He advises her to remain in the city and garner her strength. He narrates how his first wife had died and his second left for another man. Daenerys realizes he is in love with her and helps him with his wounds.

When Jorah and Daenerys arrive in Quarth, he starts getting suspicious of the people, particularly Xaro Xhoan Daxos, Pyat Pree, and Quaithe the shadowbinder. He advises Daenerys not to remain in the city for long. When he gets sent to the port of Quaithe to learn about the seven kingdoms, he returns with Quhuru Mo, who reveals that Robert Baratheon is dead and his son, Joffrey Baratheon, has assumed the throne. The captain says that Robert’s brothers, Renly and Stannis, have risen to claim the Iron Throne. When Daenerys decides to take the throne for herself, Jorah advises her against it, stating her lack of resources.

Daenerys arranges a meeting with the Pureborn of Quarth with her dragon Rhaegal and tasks Jorah with protecting Viserion and Drogon. When she returns, he advises her to travel east, explaining that Illyrio Mopatis does not have the power to seat her on the Iron Throne. He explains that she must garner the support of the high lord of Westeros before she can march on the continent.

When Daenerys agrees to visit the Undying ones, Jorah vehemently advises her against it. He tries to enter the House of the Undying with her but gets restricted from doing so. After Daenerys gets rescued from the house by her dragon, it burns it down, and Jorah accompanies her to the docks of Quarth. They meet two men, Strong Belwas and his squire Arstan Whitebeard who save her from a sorrowful man. They tell her that Illyrio has sent for her to get taken back to Pentos.

A Storm of Swords

While on the way to Pentos, Jorah realizes that Arstan Whitebeard has more knowledge about the dragons of House Targaryen and Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, Daenerys’s brother. With suspicion, he tells Daenerys that Arstan does not act like a squire. He advises her to head for Astaphor in Slaver’s Bay, where she can get an army called the Unsullied. He then kisses her and asks for her hand in marriage, but she ensures she no longer stays alone with him.

When their ship arrives in Astaphor, Daenerys leaves Jorah behind and takes Arstan instead. She returns and tells him about how the Unsullied are slave soldiers. When he tells her to acquire them, she slaps him and tells him she will not shed the blood of innocents.

Jorah narrates to her the details of Aegon’s Conquest and the Sack of King’s Landing. He reveals to her how non-slaved soldiers pillaged the city killing men, women, and children. She then agrees to acquire the unsullied and deals with the Good Masters of Astaphor. However, after getting the army, Daenerys frees them and asks for the soldiers to choose their commander. Grey Worm becomes the commander, and Astapor falls at her hands.

Jorah accompanies Daenerys to Yunkai, where she meets Daario Naharis of the Second Sons. After their victory near the city, he heads with his queen to Meereen. Arstan saves Daenerys from Mero, and when Jorah hears about it, he learns that Arstan is Ser Barristan Selmy, the former Lord Commander of the Kingsguard for Robert I Baratheon. Barristan reveals to Daenerys that someone has been spying on her for the small council, and Jorah reveals he was the one. When she learns of his spying, Daenerys decides to banish him.

A Dance with Dragons

At a brothel in Selhorys, a city of Volantis, Jorah captures Tyrion Lannister, who fled from King’s Landing after killing his father, Tywin Lannister. He travels to Volantis with him, and Tyrion realizes who he is. When Jorah visits the widow of the waterfront, a female dwarf, Penny, tries to kill Tyrion for her brother’s death. She later joins the group, and they sail aboard the Salaesori Qhoran.

Along the way, Jorah’s ship gets attacked by slavers, and he, Tyrion, and Penny become slaves. They get taken to the slave market created by the Yunkai’i during the second siege of Meereen, and Tyrion, Jorah, and Penny get sold to Yezzan zo Qaggaz.

Tyrion later leads the group to the camp of the Second Sons to Brown Ben Plumm. They then sign a contract with the Second Sons and get freed.

Appearance in Adaptations

The character of Jorah Mormont got portrayed by actor Iain Glen. Though his character had a similar story arc to George Martin’s books, he got killed in the series finale, season 8, episode 4. In the series, Jorah meets Daenerys and begins working for her. When she finds out that he initially betrayed her, she exiles him.

Jorah travels to Volantis, where he meets Tyrion and Varys and binds them with a rope, stating he will take them back to his queen. On the way, they encounter some men infected with greyscale, and Jorah gets infected too. He later travels to Oldtown, where he meets Sam, who saves him. After getting cured, he travels back to Daenerys and continues serving her. When the battle with the Night King begins, he takes on many wights to protect Daenerys, and he gets stabbed many times.

Jorah Mormont: A Man who Blamed the World

As one of the primary characters in Daenerys’s rise to power, Jorah Mormont caused his downfall. His character arc showed how he destroyed himself all for love, and even after he became Daenerys’s queensguard, his past desires led to him getting banished a second time. Jorah, though eloquently designed by George R. R. Martin, remains the man who blamed the world for his crimes.

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