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{{Infobox character
 
{{Infobox character
| Character_name = [[file:Minigdn.png|50px|left]] '''Yoren''' [[file:Minigdn.png|50px|right]]
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| Character_name = [[file:Night's Watch.svg|50px|left]] '''Yoren''' [[file:Night's Watch.svg|50px|right]]
 
| image          = [[File:Yoren.jpg|300px]]
 
| image          = [[File:Yoren.jpg|300px]]
| image_caption  =  
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| image_caption  = Yoren by [http://en.amokanet.ru/gallery/martin/ Amok©]
 
| Alias          =
 
| Alias          =
 
| Title          =
 
| Title          =
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| Place_of_Birth =
 
| Place_of_Birth =
 
| Date_of_Birth  =
 
| Date_of_Birth  =
| Place_of_Death = [[Riverlands]]
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| Place_of_Death = [[Gods Eye town|Gods Eye]]
 
| Date_of_Death  = {{Date|299}}
 
| Date_of_Death  = {{Date|299}}
| Books          = [[A Game of Thrones]] (Appears)<br>[[A Clash of Kings]] (Appears)<br>[[A Storm of Swords]] (Mentioned)<br>[[A Feast for Crows]] (Mentioned)
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| Books          = ''[[A Game of Thrones]]'' (appears)<br>''[[A Clash of Kings]]'' (appears)<br>''[[A Storm of Swords]]'' (mentioned)<br>''[[A Feast for Crows]]'' (mentioned)
 
| coat-of-arms  =
 
| coat-of-arms  =
 
| Played_by      = [[List of actors of the televised series#Francis Magee,Yoren|Francis Magee]]
 
| Played_by      = [[List of actors of the televised series#Francis Magee,Yoren|Francis Magee]]
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}}
 
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'''Yoren''' is a sworn brother of the [[Night's Watch]]. He is a recruiter, or "wandering crow," he travels the [[Seven Kingdoms]], responsible for collecting recruits and prisoners, who would take the black, and escorting them to [[Castle Black]] for training.
+
'''Yoren''' is a sworn brother of the [[Night's Watch]]. A recruiter, or [[wandering crow]], he travels the [[Seven Kingdoms]], and is responsible for collecting recruits and prisoners who would take the black. He then escorts them to [[Castle Black]] for training.{{Ref|aGoT|13}} In the television adaptation ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' he is portrayed by [[List of actors of the televised series#Francis Magee,Yoren|Francis Magee]].
  
==Character and Appearance==
+
==Appearance and Character==
Yoren is hard and grim, and has little patience for fools.<ref name=RPGBOOK1 /> Due to his shoulder injury he cannot fight well anymore and for the past thirty years he has been traveling the [[Seven Kingdoms]] recruiting for the Night's watch. In all that time, he only lost three. Yoren is not the most refined member but loyal and trustworthy. His travels frequently bring him to [[Winterfell]], and he knows the members of [[House Stark]] and has a certain loyalty to them.{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
+
:''See also: [[:Category:Images of Yoren|Images of Yoren]]''
  
Yoren is stooped and sinister with a twisted shoulder. His coarse and ugly features are hidden behind a thick and matted black beard. He is lice-ridden and smells foul, wearing garments that are tattered and long since faded to grey.{{Ref|aGoT|13}}<ref name=RPGBOOK1 /> He chews [[sourleaf]].
+
Yoren is stooped and sinister with a twisted shoulder. His coarse and ugly features are hidden behind a thick and matted black beard. He is lice-ridden and smells foul, wearing garments that are tattered and have long since faded to grey.{{Ref|aGoT|13}}<ref name=RPGBOOK1 />
 +
 
 +
Yoren is hard and grim, and he has little patience for fools.<ref name=RPGBOOK1 /> He is not the most refined person but is loyal and trustworthy.{{Ref|aCoK|9}} Yoren's manners are brusque and he does not mince his words. However, he believes in the rules of the [[Night's Watch]] and laments the fact that the order is not treated with the same respect it used to be. He frequently chews [[sourleaf]] and has the habit of spitting the juice out if he wants to express contempt about something. Yoren is familiar with [[House Lannister guards]] in [[King's Landing]].{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
  
 
==History==
 
==History==
===A Game of Thrones===
+
Yoren suffered a shoulder injury that made it impossible for him to fight well any longer. He has spent the past thirty years traveling the [[Seven Kingdoms]] and recruiting for the Night's Watch, losing only three recruits in that time. His travels frequently bring him to [[Winterfell]], thus he knows the members of [[House Stark]] and has a certain loyalty to them.{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
Yoren joined [[Benjen Stark]]'s party as it headed north to the [[Wall]]{{Ref|aGoT|13}} and later accompanied [[Tyrion Lannister]] back south on the road to [[King's Landing]].{{Ref|aGoT|24}} After [[Catelyn Stark]] arrest Tyrion, Yoren continues on to King's Landing to inform [[Eddard Stark]] about what happened.{{Ref|aGoT|32}}
+
 
 +
==Recent Events==
 +
===''A Game of Thrones''===
 +
At a wooden holdfast at the edge of the [[wolfswood]], Yoren joins the party led by [[Benjen Stark]] that is heading north to the [[Wall]], with [[Tyrion Lannister]] and [[Jon Snow]] also coming along. He brings two young rapists from the [[Fingers]] as recruits for the [[Night's Watch]]. Yoren's ragged appearance as well as his charges serve as a rude awakening to Jon, who might have thought that the Watch just consisted of noble men like his uncle Benjen.{{Ref|aGoT|13}}
 +
 
 +
Yoren arrives at [[Winterfell]] in the company of four black brothers and Tyrion, the latter receiving a cold welcome from [[Robb Stark]]. Yoren is present when Tyrion hands over his plans for building a saddle that can carry the crippled [[Bran Stark]]. As Yoren is senior among the Night's Watch men, he is seated with Robb and Maester [[Luwin]] for dinner that night. Yoren refers to Jon as the bane of Ser [[Alliser Thorne]], and he angers Bran by stating that the missing Benjen is probably dead.{{Ref|aGoT|24}}  
 +
 
 +
After [[Catelyn Stark]] arrests Tyrion at the [[crossroads]], Yoren continues to King's Landing to inform Lord [[Eddard Stark]].{{Ref|aGoT|32}} Yoren remains in the capital to gather more recruits. At some point, Yoren is approached by [[Varys|a man]] who gives him gold to take [[Gendry|a boy]] with him to the Wall, and after Eddard's imprisonment Yoren is told to be ready to take Eddard to the Wall.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
 +
 
 +
Yoren is present at the [[Great Sept of Baelor]] where Eddard confesses and is executed instead of being banished to the Wall. Yoren recognizes [[Arya Stark]] amidst the crowd and seizes her after her father’s execution, calling her "boy" and dragging her away.{{Ref|aGoT|65}}
 +
 
 +
===''A Clash of Kings''===
 +
[[File:Yoren Leaves KIng's Landing.png|thumb|300px|Francis Magee as Yoren in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'']]
 +
Yoren cuts [[Arya Stark]]'s hair to a stubble with his dagger so she can pass as an orphan boy called "Arry". He intends to bring her with his band of recruits headed for the [[Wall]] and is going to drop her off at [[Winterfell]]. Yoren's band consists of approximately thirty people. In addition, he takes along five wagons laden with supplies as well as two coursers and a couple of donkeys for the boys.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
  
Yoren remains in the city to gather more recruits. At some point, Yoren was approached by a man who gave him some gold to take a boy with him to the wall (later revealed as [[Gendry]]) and after Eddard's imprisonment Yoren was told to be ready to take Eddard to the Wall.{{Ref|aCoK|1}} Yoren was present at the Great Sept of Baelor where Eddard confessed and was executed instead of being banished to the Wall. Yoren recognizes [[Arya Stark]] amidst the crowd and seizes her after her father’s execution, calling her "boy" dragging her away.{{Ref|aGoT|65}}
+
While heading north on the [[kingsroad]], Yoren stops Arya from beating [[Hot Pie]] with a wooden sword. He strikes her behind with a stick, but gives her [[sourleaf]] for the pain. He shares how Lord [[Eddard Stark]] was supposed to join the [[Night's Watch]] and that something must have gone wrong, arousing Arya's suspicion that King [[Joffrey Baratheon|Joffrey I Baratheon]] is responsible for her father's death.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
[[File:Yoren Leaves KIng's Landing.png|thumb|300px|Yoren gives the command to leave for the Wall.]]
 
  
===A Clash of Kings===
+
The band is confronted with refugees warning of [[War of the Five Kings|war]] and armed men. [[Praed]] dies, only the fourth recruit Yoren has lost. Yoren remains undisturbed at first, insisting that the Night's Watch takes no part in the wars of the realm and that his band will be safe.{{Ref|aCoK|5}}{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
After seizing [[Arya Stark|Arya]], Yoren drags her into an alley near the [[Great Sept of Baelor]] and draws a dagger, causing Arya to believe he wants to kill her. However, he only uses the dagger to cut her hair to a stubble. He tells her that he will take her along with his band of recruits headed for the [[Wall]] and is going to drop her off at [[Winterfell]]. She will pass as an orphan boy called Arry along the way. He instructs her to keep to herself, avoiding contact with the real recruits, most of whom are dangerous. He continues addressing her as "boy", always putting a bite in the word's pronounciation.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
 
  
Yoren's band consists of approximately thirty recruits, most of them boys and orphans, the youngest two years older than Arry. He picked some of them up on the streets of [[King’s Landing]], promising them food and shoes; the rest he selected in the dungeons of the [[Red Keep]], as allowed by [[Eddard Stark]] when he was [[Hand of the King]]. He also chose some adult criminals, the most dangerous of them [[Jaqen H'ghar]], [[Rorge]] and [[Biter]]. He found those three in the black cells and intends to keep chained in a wagon up to the Wall, probably being scared of them himself. In addition, he takes along five wagons laden with supplies as well as two coursers and a couple of donkeys for the boys. The band can leave the city unmolested when Yoren calls one of the [[House Lannister|Lannister]] guardsman by name.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
+
At an inn on the kingsroad where Yoren protects Arya from revealing her [[north]]ern identity, a group of [[City Watch of King’s Landing|gold cloaks]] present a warrant for [[Gendry]], signed by Queen Regent [[Cersei Lannister]]. Yoren refuses their demand that the boy be handed over, pointing out that laws protect members of the Night's Watch. Yoren makes the unimpressed gold cloaks retreat, although they announce they will be back. Yoren gives Arya and Gendry the two coursers, advising them to flee as fast as they can if the gold cloaks reappear.{{Ref|aCoK|5}}
  
While heading north on the [[Kingsroad]], Yoren interrupts Arry from mercilessly beating up [[Hot Pie]] with a wooden sword, after he made fun of her for some time and tried to grab [[Needle]]. Yoren announces that a repeat of such an incidence will have severe consequences for any recruit, and he takes Arya away from the group for punishment, hitting her bare behind hard with a stick three times, but also giving her sourleaves afterwards to ease the sting. He tells her that hurting others won't bring her father back. He shares how Lord Eddard was supposed to join the [[Night’s Watch]] and that something must have gone wrong, arousing Arya's suspicion that [[Joffrey Baratheon|King Joffrey]] is personally responsible for her father's death.{{Ref|aCoK|1}}
+
Avoiding the kingsroad afterwards, the band marches west- and northwards toward the [[Gods Eye]], which Yoren wants to pass along its western shore. The hostility of the fieldhands at [[Briarwhite]], who take the recruits for possible looters, make Yoren increasingly bitter about disrespect shown to the Night's Watch. Yoren admits to Arya that he might have made a mistake taking orphans away from the safety of the city or, at least, not going by ship to the Wall this time.{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
  
The band is increasingly confronted with the repercussions of war: refugees, many of them armed, fleeing south; freshly dug graves along the roadside; warnings that they are going in the wrong direction, that their provisions will be plundered, that bands are terrorizing the [[Riverlands]]. One of the recruits, [[Praed]], dies, making him only the fourth recruit Yoren has lost in thirty years. Yet Yoren remains undisturbed at first, insisting that the Night’s Watch takes no part in the wars of the realm and that his band will be safe.{{Ref|aCoK|5}}{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
+
The band arrives at the eastern side of [[Gods Eye river|the river]] running south from the Gods Eye. Having no means to cross the river with their wagons, Yoren wants to rent a boat in an [[Gods Eye town|unnamed town]] on the southern shore of the Gods Eye and to cross it towards [[Harrentown]], going on from there or finding shelter with Lady [[Shella Whent]] at [[Harrenhal]]. However, when they arrive at the town, it is deserted and no boats can be found.{{Ref|aCoK|14}}
  
At a roadhouse inn where Yoren protects Arry from revealing her northern identity in a discussion about wolves, they are overtaken by a group of [[City Watch of King’s Landing|Gold Cloaks]] who have been following them. They have a warrant for [[Gendry]], signed by Queen Regent [[Cersei Lannister|Cersei]], and demand that he be handed over to them. Yoren refuses, pointing out that laws protect members of the Night's Watch. The Gold Cloaks are unimpressed, but, with a combination of threats and deceit, Yoren makes them retreat, although they announce they'd be back. Yoren gives Arry and Gendry the two coursers, advising them to flee as fast as they can if the Gold Cloaks reappear.{{Ref|aCoK|5}}
+
While Yoren stays in an abandoned holdfast overnight, a party led by Ser [[Amory Lorch]], part of the Lannister campaign in the riverlands, arrives and torches the town. In the name of King Joffrey, Amory commands Yoren to open the gate. Again pointing out that the Night's Watch takes no part in the war, Yoren refuses, prompting Lorch to order his men to [[Storming of the Gods Eye town holdfast|storm the holdfast]] and kill everyone inside. They open the attack by thrusting a spear in Yoren's direction but kill [[Woth]] instead. Yoren organizes the defense of the walls, and during the ensuing assault he kills the man with whom he had the first exchange that night. When he realizes that the attackers have won, Yoren tells Arya that she and Gendry should rescue as many boys as possible, directing her towards a tunnel they found earlier.{{Ref|aCoK|14}}  
  
Avoiding the Kingsroad afterwards, the band marches west- and northwards in the direction of the [[Gods Eye]], which Yoren wants to pass along its western shore. Their progress is slowed on the smaller streets because of the wagons and their provisions run out, forcing Yoren to assign tasks of searching food, in particular to [[Koss]] and [[Kurz]]. The hostility of the common folk, who take them for possible looters, make him increasingly bitter about how disrespectful members of the Night's Watch are treated now. They come across a village that has been burned down and where a lot of people have been killed. Yoren searches the holdfast and takes in two survivors, a woman whose arm has been cut off at the elbow and a girl less than two years old, but the woman dies within a few hours. Talking to Arry afterwards, Yoren admits that he might have made a mistake to take orphans away from the safety of the city or, at least, to not go by ship to the Wall this time.{{Ref|aCoK|9}}
+
Arya and Gendry return to the holdfast the next evening, after the departure of Amory's men, but the rest of Yoren's band has been killed. They find Yoren's body with his skull split by an axe and surrounded by the bodies of four enemies. They bury him on Arya's insistence, leaving the bodies of the others as they have no time to bury them all.{{Ref|aCoK|19}}  
  
The band moves north along the eastern side of the river running south from the Gods Eye. Having no means to cross the river with their wagons to get to the western side of the God's Eye, Yoren figures that the best way to proceed is by renting boats in a (nameless) town on the southern shore of the lake and crossing it towards [[Harrentown]], going on from there or finding shelter with [[Shella Whent|Lady Whent]] at [[Harrenhal]] (which, unbeknownst to Yoren, is already under [[House Lannister|Lannister]] control). However, when they arrive at the town, it is deserted and no boats can be found. Yoren, even more apprehensive about the increasing signs of war, decides to spend the night at the abandoned holdfast of the town while reflecting on how to cross the lake.{{Ref|aCoK|14}}
+
Back in King's Landing, [[Tyrion Lannister]] is told by [[Bronn]] that a black brother has arrived from the Wall. Tyrion is disappointed when he learns it is Ser [[Alliser Thorne]] instead of Yoren.{{Ref|aCoK|17}} After the [[fall of Harrenhal]], Amory is fed to a black bear which reminds Arya of Yoren.{{ref|ACOK|47}}
  
During the night, a party led by Ser [[Amory Lorch]], part of the Lannister campaign in the Riverlands, arrives and torches the town. They advance to the holdfast and Lorch commands Yoren, in the name of King Joffrey, to open the gate. After some discussion, in the course of which he again points out that the Night's Watch takes no part in the war, Yoren refuses, prompting Lorch to order his men to storm the holdfast and kill all inside. They open the attack by thrusting a spear in Yoren's direction but kill [[Woth]] instead. Yoren gives orders for defending the walls. During the ensuing assault, he kills the man with whom he had the first exchange that night. When he realizes that the attackers have won, he grabs Arry and yells at her, still calling her "boy", that she and Gendry should rescue as many boys as possible, directing her towards a flight tunnel they found earlier. Then he runs off to engage more enemies. This is the last Arry sees of Yoren before she and some others escape through the tunnel.{{Ref|aCoK|14}}
+
==Yoren's Recruits==
 +
The last recruits that Yoren tried to bring to the Wall with their status and individual fate:
  
Arry and Gendry return to the holdfast the next evening, after the departure of Lorch's men, with Arry hoping they'll find Yoren alive. However, everyone has been killed. They find Yoren's body with the skull split by an axe and surrounded by the bodies of four enemies. They bury him on Arry's insistence, leaving the bodies of the others as they have no time to bury them all.{{Ref|aCoK|19}}
+
*'''[[Arya Stark|Arry]]''' -- ''"orphan"'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Biter]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was killed the following year by Gendry at the crossroads inn
 +
*'''[[Cutjack]]''' -- ''recruit'' -- survived attack at the [[Gods Eye town]]
 +
*'''[[Dobber]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Gendry]]''' -- ''orphan'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Gerren]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Hot Pie]]''' -- ''orphan'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Jaqen H'ghar]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Koss]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Kurz]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye with a wound, but later died of an infection
 +
*'''[[Lommy Greenhands]]''' -- ''orphan'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was later killed by [[Rafford|Raff the Sweetling]] because a wound was slowing him down
 +
*'''[[Murch]]''' -- ''status unknown'' -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Praed]]''' -- ''recruit'' -- died of natural causes on the [[kingsroad]]
 +
*'''[[Qyle]]''' -- ''recruit'' -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Reysen]]''' -- ''recruit'' -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Rorge]]''' -- ''criminal'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was killed the following year by [[Brienne of Tarth]] at the [[crossroads inn]]
 +
*'''[[Tarber]]''' -- ''orphan'' -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Urreg]]''' -- ''status unknown'' -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
 +
*'''[[Woth]]''' -- ''recruit'' -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
  
Back in [[King's Landing]], [[Tyrion Lannister|Tyrion]] is told by [[Bronn]] that a black brother has arrived from the [[Wall]]. Tyrion hopes it might be Yoren and is disappointed when he finds out that it is Ser [[Alliser Thorne]] instead.{{Ref|aCoK|17}}
+
==Quotes by Yoren==
 +
{{quote|I'm here to find men for the [[Wall]], and when [[Robert I Baratheon|Robert]] next holds court, I'll bend the knee and cry our need, see if the king and his [[Hand of the King|Hand]] have some scum in the dungeons they'd be well rid of.{{ref|AGOT|32}}|Yoren to [[Eddard Stark]]}}
  
==Yoren's Last Crows==
+
{{Quote|That's no law, just a sword. Happens I got one, too.{{ref|acok|5}}|Yoren to a [[gold cloak]]}}
These are the last recruits that Yoren tried to bring to the Wall before his demise.
 
  
*[[Praed|Praed]]
+
{{Quote|I got thirty this time, men and boys all bound for the [[Wall]], and don’t be thinking they're like that [[Jon Snow|bastard brother o' yours]]. Lord [[Eddard Stark|Eddard]] gave me pick o' the dungeons, and I didn't find no little lordlings down there. This lot, half o' them would turn you over to [[Cersei Lannister|the queen]] quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half'd do the same, only they'd rape you first.{{Ref|acok|5}}|Yoren to [[Arya Stark]]}}
*[[Cutjack|Cutjack]]
 
*[[Woth|Woth]]
 
*[[Reysen|Reysen]]
 
*[[Murch]]
 
*[[Urreg]]
 
*[[Qyle|Qyle]]
 
*[[Koss|Koss]]
 
*[[Gerren|Gerren]]
 
*[[Dobber|Dobber]]
 
*[[Kurz|Kurz]]
 
*[[Biter|Biter]]
 
*[[Rorge|Rorge]]
 
*[[Jaqen H'ghar|Jaqen H'Ghar]]
 
*[[Lommy Greenhands|Lommy Greenhands]]
 
*[[Gendry|Gendry]]
 
*[[Tarber|Tarber]]
 
*[[Hot Pie|Hot Pie]]
 
*[[Arya Stark|Arry]]
 
  
==References and Notes==
+
==Quotes about Yoren==
{{references|3|refs=
+
{{quote|Ser [[Amory Lorch|Amory]] pleaded and sobbed and clung to the legs of [[Brave Companions|his captors]], until [[Rorge]] pulled him loose, and [[Shagwell]] kicked him down into the bear pit. The bear is all in black, Arya thought. Like Yoren.{{ref|ACOK|47}}|thoughts of [[Arya Stark]]}}
 +
 
 +
==See also==
 +
* [[Yoren/Theories]]
 +
 
 +
==References==
 +
{{references|2|refs=
 
   <ref name=RPGBOOK1>[[A Game of Thrones (game)|A Game of Thrones RPG book]]</ref>
 
   <ref name=RPGBOOK1>[[A Game of Thrones (game)|A Game of Thrones RPG book]]</ref>
 
}}
 
}}
  
[[Category: Members of the Night's Watch]]
+
==External Links==
 +
:[http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Yoren Yoren] on the [http://gameofthrones.wikia.com/wiki/Main Game of Thrones wiki].
 +
 
 +
[[Category:Casualties of the War of the Five Kings]]
 +
[[Category:Characters from Westeros]]
 +
[[Category:Members of the Night's Watch]]
 +
[[Category:Wandering crows]]
 +
 
 
[[es:Yoren]]
 
[[es:Yoren]]
 
[[fr:Yoren]]
 
[[fr:Yoren]]
 
[[ru:Йорен]]
 
[[ru:Йорен]]

Revision as of 02:58, 17 November 2019

Night's Watch.svg
Yoren
Night's Watch.svg
300px
Yoren by Amok©

Allegiance Night's Watch
Culture Westeros
Died 299 AC
Gods Eye
Books

Played by Francis Magee
TV series Season 1 | Season 2

Yoren is a sworn brother of the Night's Watch. A recruiter, or wandering crow, he travels the Seven Kingdoms, and is responsible for collecting recruits and prisoners who would take the black. He then escorts them to Castle Black for training.[1] In the television adaptation Game of Thrones he is portrayed by Francis Magee.

Appearance and Character

See also: Images of Yoren

Yoren is stooped and sinister with a twisted shoulder. His coarse and ugly features are hidden behind a thick and matted black beard. He is lice-ridden and smells foul, wearing garments that are tattered and have long since faded to grey.[1][2]

Yoren is hard and grim, and he has little patience for fools.[2] He is not the most refined person but is loyal and trustworthy.[3] Yoren's manners are brusque and he does not mince his words. However, he believes in the rules of the Night's Watch and laments the fact that the order is not treated with the same respect it used to be. He frequently chews sourleaf and has the habit of spitting the juice out if he wants to express contempt about something. Yoren is familiar with House Lannister guards in King's Landing.[4]

History

Yoren suffered a shoulder injury that made it impossible for him to fight well any longer. He has spent the past thirty years traveling the Seven Kingdoms and recruiting for the Night's Watch, losing only three recruits in that time. His travels frequently bring him to Winterfell, thus he knows the members of House Stark and has a certain loyalty to them.[3]

Recent Events

A Game of Thrones

At a wooden holdfast at the edge of the wolfswood, Yoren joins the party led by Benjen Stark that is heading north to the Wall, with Tyrion Lannister and Jon Snow also coming along. He brings two young rapists from the Fingers as recruits for the Night's Watch. Yoren's ragged appearance as well as his charges serve as a rude awakening to Jon, who might have thought that the Watch just consisted of noble men like his uncle Benjen.[1]

Yoren arrives at Winterfell in the company of four black brothers and Tyrion, the latter receiving a cold welcome from Robb Stark. Yoren is present when Tyrion hands over his plans for building a saddle that can carry the crippled Bran Stark. As Yoren is senior among the Night's Watch men, he is seated with Robb and Maester Luwin for dinner that night. Yoren refers to Jon as the bane of Ser Alliser Thorne, and he angers Bran by stating that the missing Benjen is probably dead.[5]

After Catelyn Stark arrests Tyrion at the crossroads, Yoren continues to King's Landing to inform Lord Eddard Stark.[6] Yoren remains in the capital to gather more recruits. At some point, Yoren is approached by a man who gives him gold to take a boy with him to the Wall, and after Eddard's imprisonment Yoren is told to be ready to take Eddard to the Wall.[4]

Yoren is present at the Great Sept of Baelor where Eddard confesses and is executed instead of being banished to the Wall. Yoren recognizes Arya Stark amidst the crowd and seizes her after her father’s execution, calling her "boy" and dragging her away.[7]

A Clash of Kings

Francis Magee as Yoren in Game of Thrones

Yoren cuts Arya Stark's hair to a stubble with his dagger so she can pass as an orphan boy called "Arry". He intends to bring her with his band of recruits headed for the Wall and is going to drop her off at Winterfell. Yoren's band consists of approximately thirty people. In addition, he takes along five wagons laden with supplies as well as two coursers and a couple of donkeys for the boys.[4]

While heading north on the kingsroad, Yoren stops Arya from beating Hot Pie with a wooden sword. He strikes her behind with a stick, but gives her sourleaf for the pain. He shares how Lord Eddard Stark was supposed to join the Night's Watch and that something must have gone wrong, arousing Arya's suspicion that King Joffrey I Baratheon is responsible for her father's death.[4]

The band is confronted with refugees warning of war and armed men. Praed dies, only the fourth recruit Yoren has lost. Yoren remains undisturbed at first, insisting that the Night's Watch takes no part in the wars of the realm and that his band will be safe.[8][3]

At an inn on the kingsroad where Yoren protects Arya from revealing her northern identity, a group of gold cloaks present a warrant for Gendry, signed by Queen Regent Cersei Lannister. Yoren refuses their demand that the boy be handed over, pointing out that laws protect members of the Night's Watch. Yoren makes the unimpressed gold cloaks retreat, although they announce they will be back. Yoren gives Arya and Gendry the two coursers, advising them to flee as fast as they can if the gold cloaks reappear.[8]

Avoiding the kingsroad afterwards, the band marches west- and northwards toward the Gods Eye, which Yoren wants to pass along its western shore. The hostility of the fieldhands at Briarwhite, who take the recruits for possible looters, make Yoren increasingly bitter about disrespect shown to the Night's Watch. Yoren admits to Arya that he might have made a mistake taking orphans away from the safety of the city or, at least, not going by ship to the Wall this time.[3]

The band arrives at the eastern side of the river running south from the Gods Eye. Having no means to cross the river with their wagons, Yoren wants to rent a boat in an unnamed town on the southern shore of the Gods Eye and to cross it towards Harrentown, going on from there or finding shelter with Lady Shella Whent at Harrenhal. However, when they arrive at the town, it is deserted and no boats can be found.[9]

While Yoren stays in an abandoned holdfast overnight, a party led by Ser Amory Lorch, part of the Lannister campaign in the riverlands, arrives and torches the town. In the name of King Joffrey, Amory commands Yoren to open the gate. Again pointing out that the Night's Watch takes no part in the war, Yoren refuses, prompting Lorch to order his men to storm the holdfast and kill everyone inside. They open the attack by thrusting a spear in Yoren's direction but kill Woth instead. Yoren organizes the defense of the walls, and during the ensuing assault he kills the man with whom he had the first exchange that night. When he realizes that the attackers have won, Yoren tells Arya that she and Gendry should rescue as many boys as possible, directing her towards a tunnel they found earlier.[9]

Arya and Gendry return to the holdfast the next evening, after the departure of Amory's men, but the rest of Yoren's band has been killed. They find Yoren's body with his skull split by an axe and surrounded by the bodies of four enemies. They bury him on Arya's insistence, leaving the bodies of the others as they have no time to bury them all.[10]

Back in King's Landing, Tyrion Lannister is told by Bronn that a black brother has arrived from the Wall. Tyrion is disappointed when he learns it is Ser Alliser Thorne instead of Yoren.[11] After the fall of Harrenhal, Amory is fed to a black bear which reminds Arya of Yoren.[12]

Yoren's Recruits

The last recruits that Yoren tried to bring to the Wall with their status and individual fate:

  • Arry -- "orphan" -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
  • Biter -- criminal -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was killed the following year by Gendry at the crossroads inn
  • Cutjack -- recruit -- survived attack at the Gods Eye town
  • Dobber -- criminal -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Gendry -- orphan -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
  • Gerren -- criminal -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Hot Pie -- orphan -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
  • Jaqen H'ghar -- criminal -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
  • Koss -- criminal -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Kurz -- criminal -- survived attack at the Gods Eye with a wound, but later died of an infection
  • Lommy Greenhands -- orphan -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was later killed by Raff the Sweetling because a wound was slowing him down
  • Murch -- status unknown -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Praed -- recruit -- died of natural causes on the kingsroad
  • Qyle -- recruit -- died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Reysen -- recruit -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Rorge -- criminal -- survived attack at the Gods Eye, but was killed the following year by Brienne of Tarth at the crossroads inn
  • Tarber -- orphan -- survived attack at the Gods Eye
  • Urreg -- status unknown -- fate unknown, but probably died in attack at the Gods Eye
  • Woth -- recruit -- died in attack at the Gods Eye

Quotes by Yoren

I'm here to find men for the Wall, and when Robert next holds court, I'll bend the knee and cry our need, see if the king and his Hand have some scum in the dungeons they'd be well rid of.[6]

—Yoren to Eddard Stark

That's no law, just a sword. Happens I got one, too.[8]

—Yoren to a gold cloak

I got thirty this time, men and boys all bound for the Wall, and don’t be thinking they're like that bastard brother o' yours. Lord Eddard gave me pick o' the dungeons, and I didn't find no little lordlings down there. This lot, half o' them would turn you over to the queen quick as spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half'd do the same, only they'd rape you first.[8]

—Yoren to Arya Stark

Quotes about Yoren

Ser Amory pleaded and sobbed and clung to the legs of his captors, until Rorge pulled him loose, and Shagwell kicked him down into the bear pit. The bear is all in black, Arya thought. Like Yoren.[12]

—thoughts of Arya Stark

See also

References

External Links

Yoren on the Game of Thrones wiki.