Game of Thrones Gossip #47 Mance Rayder

Welcome to my Game of Thrones Gossip, where us fanatics get the chance to discuss everything we love about this amazing TV series. I decided to do a whole series of these discussion posts that let us say everything we want and enjoy every second of it! Please feel free to comment fully and without restriction!

I have to warn you that it is important that you have seen all six seasons before reading any of these posts because these posts and blogger comments will be exploding spoilers all over the place. If you haven't watched the series and plan to, be warned that it's a bad idea to be here right now! I take no responsibility if you read on and things are spoiled for you.

Now I'm looking at the main characters introduced in season three, what our season two characters were doing and looking at all the bests bits. Enjoy the season three posts! 

This week...Mance Rayder

Mance Rayder was born as a wildling child but was abandoned by a castle at The Wall and was taken in and raised to be a brother of the Night's Watch. He grew up in these surroundings but at some point when he was still a young man, he deserted the Night's Watch and went north to become a wildling again. At some point he was chosen by them to be King Beyond The Wall and has held this position for at least a decade, since the previous winter. With his knowledge of the Night's Watch, he is a dangerous enemy.

In the first two seasons we hear about Mance through other characters. He knows the land north of the Wall better than anyone in the Night's Watch and it is clear that most of the current recruits would be no match for his wildling army. Craster tells Lord Commander Mormont that Mance has an army gathering in the Frostfang area and that the tribes are uniting under his leadership, news that is far from welcome. When Jon Snow meets Ygritte she is quick to tell him the difference between their Kings is that the Free Folk chose Mance as the best person to lead them, rather than someone getting the job through family connections. She indicates that he will give Jon a fair hearing over joining himself.

Jon is somewhat surprised when he meets Mance, finding a more civilised man rather than a monster. He tries to bluff about wanting to be free as his reason to join and Mance rightly doesn't believe him. Jon then tells him about what happened with Craster and how angry he was that the Lord Commander just stands by and lets Craster give his sons to the White Walkers. Mance accepts that as a good enough reason and lets Jon join them. He is smart enough to see that there is an attraction between Jon and Ygritte which is another possible reason for Jon's defection.

Jon and Mance talk about the death of Qhorin and how at one time he was a brother to both of them as former Night's Watch men. He tells Jon that he likes him but will kill him if he betrays the Free Folk. Mance also tells Jon that it took time to unite all the warring clans and that he did so with the simple truth that if they united, they had the combined strength to defeat the Night's Watch and get south, and that if they don't get south they will all die. He introduces Jon to Orell, and explains what a Warg is. Orell tells them that he has seen dead crows at the Fist of the First Men and they go to investigate.

When they reach the Fist all the dead men are gone and the White Walkers have made a display using the remains of the dead horses in the snow. Mance realises that his enemy has been weakened and now is the time to strike. He tells Jon, Tormund, Ygritte and others to climb over The Wall and get into position to attack Castle Black from the south while the main forces attack from the north. Mance insists the signal will be the biggest fire that the North has ever seen.