Lord Commander of the Night's Watch

From A Wiki of Ice and Fire
Revision as of 08:15, 4 June 2014 by Armina (talk | contribs)
Jump to: navigation, search
Jeor Mormont, the 997th Lord Commander of the Watch
Artwork by Rene Aigner©

Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is the title held by the most senior officer of the Night's Watch; his seat is at Castle Black. The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch is the final authority and oversees the entire organization. He is assisted by the maester of Castle Black, First Ranger, Lord Steward, First Builder, and other high officers under him. The Lord Commander serves in office until the day he dies. It is claimed that there have been 998 Lord Commanders of the Night's Watch, although the most complete list in the vaults comprises only 667. The plural form includes "Lords Commander"[1] and "lord commanders".[2]

It is strongly suggested by George R. R. Martin that the Lord Commander is usually a ranger. This may be gainsaid by a passage in A Game of Thrones in which Jon Snow is appointed a steward and not, to his disappointment, a ranger, and assigned as the personal steward of the current Lord Commander, Jeor Mormont. His peers take it for granted that this means Snow is being groomed for leadership. A combination of these two theories may indicate a "fast track", on which suitable candidates for the Lord Commandership may be placed, giving them experience in each of three disciplines, regardless of which they are initially placed.

Election

When a Lord Commander dies, any sworn man of the Night's Watch can nominate himself or be nominated by his brothers for the position. To win the election the candidates are required to receive two-thirds of the votes of the Sworn Brothers of the Night's Watch.[3]

If no candidate receives two-thirds of the votes, the choosing is repeated on the next day, with no time limit set, in fact there was once a choosing that lasted near two years and seven hundred votes. All sworn brothers of the Night's Watch have a vote, but since it is impossible for everyone to attend, the garrison commanders of those not at Castle Black cast the vote for them.

Lord Commanders during A Song of Ice and Fire

Historical Lord Commanders

  • Qorgyle, 996th Lord Commander, He was of House Qorgyle, his first name is never given. He dies in 288 AC.
  • Brynden Rivers, called 'Bloodraven', Bastard of Aegon IV and Hand of Aerys I, who was deposed in 221 AC and sent to the Wall in 233 AC. He was later elected to the post.
  • Jack Musgood, know as 'Sleepy Jack', after in 184 AC he was caught off guard allowing the King-Beyond-The-Wall Raymun Redbeard, to pass the Wall and was late for the Battle of Long Lake.
  • Orbert Caswell, the "Black Centaur." Held the position for nine years.
  • A member of House Hoare, brother to Harren the Black. Refused to involve the Night's Watch in a war against the invading Targaryens, even to save his House.
  • Robin Hill, one of the three Lords Commander who nearly destroyed the Watch when they forgot their vows in favor of their pride and ambition.
  • Tristan Mudd, one of the three Lords Commander who nearly destroyed the Watch when they forgot their vows in favor of their pride and ambition.
  • Marq Rankenfell, one of the three Lords Commander who nearly destroyed the Watch when they forgot their vows in favor of their pride and ambition.
  • Osric Stark, a brother or son of a King in the North. He was chosen Lord Commander when he was 10, making him the youngest Lord Commander of the Night's Watch. He served for 60 years.[4]
  • Rodrik Flint, thought to make himself King-beyond-the-Wall.
  • Runcel Hightower, tried to make the position of Lord Commander hereditary and pass the position to his son.
  • The Night's King, 13th Lord Commander who converted the Night's Watch into his own personal army and led it in battle against the King of the North and Joramun, the King-Beyond-the-Wall.
  • list of all Lord Commanders of the Night's Watch.

References and Notes

This page uses content from the English Wikipedia. The original content was at Night's Watch. The list of authors can be seen in the page history of Night's Watch. As with A Wiki of Ice and Fire, the content of Wikipedia is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.