Jorah Mormont

Jorah Mormont
A Song of Ice and Fire character

Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont
First appearance Novel:
A Game of Thrones (1996)
Television:
"Winter Is Coming" (2011)
Created by George R. R. Martin
Portrayed by Iain Glen
Game of Thrones
Information
Aliases Jorah the Andal
Title Lord of Bear Island
Family House Mormont
Spouse(s) Lynesse Hightower
Relatives Jeor Mormont (father)
Kingdom The North

Jorah Mormont, nicknamed Jorah the Andal is a fictional character in the A Song of Ice and Fire series of fantasy novels by American author George R. R. Martin, and its television adaptation Game of Thrones.

Introduced in 1996's A Game of Thrones, Jorah is the only son of Jeor Mormont, the honorable lord of Bear Island, an ancient Island in the North of the fictional kingdom of Westeros. He subsequently appeared in Martin's A Clash of Kings (1998), A Storm of Swords (2000) and A Dance with Dragons (2011).

Jorah is portrayed by Iain Glen in the HBO television adaptation.[1][2][3]

Character description

Ser Jorah Mormont, son of the Night's Watch's Lord Commander Jeor Mormont, originally was the ruler of Bear Island, which as the name suggests is an island off the west coast of northern Westeros. After Jorah won his spurs as a knight for valour shown during the suppression of the Greyjoy rebellion, he courted and won the hand of the beautiful Lynesse Hightower of Oldtown. The marriage was not a happy one, as Lynesse found herself ill-suited to the rough life on Bear Island, longing for the splendour and comfort of her youth in Oldtown. Ser Jorah bankrupted himself trying to provide her with luxuries, and in the end his desperate need made him sell some poachers to slavers. Slavery is a crime in Westeros, and Ser Jorah lost everything. His liege lord, Eddard Stark, condemned him to death, but Ser Jorah and his wife fled to the Free Cities rather than face his judgement. There, he made his living as a mercenary sellsword, but was soon abandoned by his wife for a rich man who could provide her with the luxuries she craved.

Bereft of all he loved, Ser Jorah took service with the last members of House Targaryen, Viserys and Daenerys. Although he despised Viserys for the insane weakling he was, he fell in love with Daenerys, and served her faithfully through many dangers, saving her life on two occasions. It was Ser Jorah who counselled her to buy Unsullied slave soldiers, with whom she won her first victories and became a power in the Slaver's Bay region. However, the young queen did not return his feelings for her, as he was far older than she. Additionally, his counsel was sometimes inspired by jealousy and distrust of all other men who came near her.

Overview

Jorah Mormont is not a point of view character in the novels, so his actions are witnessed and interpreted through the eyes of other people, such as Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister. Jorah is mostly a background character in the novels.[4]

Storylines

In the books

Ser Jorah Mormont is the exiled Lord of Bear Island in the North, which he inherited after his father Jeor Mormont joined the Night's Watch to pass on the title. After winning a tourney joust, Jorah had been allowed to marry a noblewoman, but went into debt trying to support her lavish lifestyle. To repay his debt, he sold poachers to slavers, for which his liege lord Eddard Stark sentenced him to death.[5] Jorah fled into exile and was abandoned by his wife in Essos. He eventually joins the Dothraki Khalasar led by Drogo. In exchange for a pardon, Jorah agrees to spy on Daenerys for King Robert, and serves as her principal advisor before Barristan Selmy exposes him. Daenerys then exiles him once more. Jorah eventually captures the fugitive Tyrion Lannister, hoping to win back favor with Daenerys, but their ship is captured and he is sold into slavery. Upon escape, he and Tyrion attempt to help Daenerys' victory in the War of Meereen.

In the show

Ser Jorah Mormont is an exiled knight in the service of Daenerys Targaryen and the son of Jeor Mormont of the Night's Watch. To fund his wife's extravagant lifestyle, he sold poachers on his land to slave traders, which is illegal in the Seven Kingdoms. Rather than face punishment by Lord Stark, he fled to Essos and learned the lifestyle of the Dothraki who embrace him as one of their own and know him as "Jorah The Andal". Jorah serves as an adviser to the Targaryens on both political and cultural matters of both the Seven Kingdoms and Essos. Jorah is actually spying on the Targaryens for Lord Varys in exchange for a pardon on his crimes. But after learning more about Daenerys, Jorah falls in love with her and decides to protect and help her regain the Iron Throne. After she is widowed, he remains with her and becomes the first knight of her Queensguard. He serves Daenerys as an adviser throughout Season 2 and tries to help her claim her birthright as queen of the Seven Kingdoms.

In Season 3, he plays an important part in the capture of Yunkai, together with Unsullied commander Grey Worm and Daario Naharis, Lieutenant and leader of the Second Sons. Led by Daario, the trio infiltrates the city and kills a number of Yunkish guards to open a gate, ensuring the capture of Yunkai. Jorah later assists Daenerys and her army in conquering Meereen, and later informs her of Joffrey's death, but at the same time dissuades her from invading King's Landing, since she is not strong enough to take all of Westeros yet. When Daenerys appears to begin a romantic relationship with Daario, Jorah voices his disapproval.

Daenerys eventually discovers that Jorah's original mission was to spy on her for the "usurper" Robert Baratheon, which led to her and her unborn son almost being killed by the wine merchant in Vaes Dothrak, and exiles him from Meereen on the threat of death. Jorah subsequently departs alone. He runs into Tyrion Lannister in Volantis, kidnapping him to deliver to "the Queen", meaning Daenerys. Sailing through the ruins of Valyria, the couple are assaulted by stone men long decayed by greyscale, and is seemingly infected by the disease as one of the stone men touches his hand. He drags Tyrion safely to land, where the couple are captured by pirates. Tyrion convinces them to take them to Meereen to be sold as slaves in the fighting pits, where they are bought by master Yezzan mo Qaggaz, and successfully escape during a tourney. Upon seeing Jorah again, Daenerys orders him taken away. Tyrion manages to convince her of his worth and urges her to take him as her adviser, upon which he advices her, correctly in his opinion, to have Ser Jorah banished for his treason, having concealed the true nature of his service to her although he had several chances of doing so. Jorah is exiled a second time, and returns to Yezzan, wishing to fight in the pits before the Queen to see. He does so, and eventually emerges as the victor; brandishing his spear, he impales an assassin from the Sons of the Harpy about to stab Daenerys, and protects her as she is forced to flee into the pit as more harpies emerge. They are eventually saved by Drogon, who absconds Daenerys on his back, and Jorah resolutely decides to track her into the wild to wherever she has gone, joined by Daario Naharis, while Tyrion stays behind to govern Meereen.

TV adaptation

Jorah Mormont is played by the Scottish actor Iain Glen in the television adaption of the series of books.[6]

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, May 05, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.