6 years ago

Wood and Fish and Bears, Oh My (208.1)

The Incredibly Non-Historic History of Bear Island

What makes Bear Island, the seat of House Mormont, such a special place?

Is it the endless amount of trees? No. Every keep and village in the North has trees.

Is it the infinite fish that swim the waters surrounding Bear Island, there for the taking to feed the smallfolk? No. Fish are found in all the waters around The Known World.

Is Bear Island special because of the tremendous amount of wood it produces? Surely wood is a resource that Bear Island can produce better than any other location in Westeros... No... Chopping down trees for wood is the most basic part of surviving in Westeros and again, there are trees everywhere.

The beauty of nature and mankind in harmony is what makes Bear Island so special... Nope. Not at all. Bear Island is just a little island with a lot of trees, poor fishermen and their families.

Bear Island is special and it stands out from the rest of Westeros because it is the most boring place to live in The Seven Kingdoms. Just ask the previous two Lords of Bear Island... if you can find them! They both abandoned their seat for certain death.

WARNING! FOR HERE BE SPOILERS!!!

SPOILERS INDEED FOR ALL PUBLISHED BOOKS IN #GRRM'S A Song of Ice and Fire AS WELL AS ALL TELEVISED EPISODES OF HBO'S Game of Thrones...

Born amidst salt and smoke- Just off the Long Island Expressway- Beneath a bleeding star...

John and SeannieWan open a series on a character that may just be their favorite non-POV character- Ser Jorah Mormont, the exiled Lord of Bear Island. If anybody has been put through the ringer more times than Tyrion Lannister, it is his good buddy, Ser Jorah... Captain Friendzone!

As with any ASoIaF/GoT character #TPTWP cover, some backstory and history are required to really understand the decisions and actions of Ser Jorah Mormont. The Wardens of Long Island begin by examining the... history...? of Bear Island. Why do people live there? Why is it the seat of House Mormont? How did they arrive on Bear Island? Who ruled the boring sh@@@y island before the Mormonts? What is the deal with the Bears?

#TPTWP attempt to answer all these questions and more.

The artwork for this episode is aptly titled Bear Island and was created by Dino Drawing for Fantasy Flight Games.

The Princes That Were Promised are John and SeannieWan. Every week they tear apart Westeros and sift through the pieces to bring their Leal and Loyal Subjects the history of the Realm and The Known World from both George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire and HBO's adaptation, Game of Thrones.

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