The Free Folk is the self-given name for the people who live in the lands beyond The Wall, still on the continent of Westeros but beyond the northern border of The Seven Kingdoms. The name they employ makes reference to their society, which recognizes no inherent or hereditary political authority, except for leaders whom they choose to follow. The people of The Seven Kingdoms refer to The Free Folk derogatorily as "wildlings," while The Free Folk refer to those south of The Wall as "kneelers."
Normally the wildlings are divided into many different rival clans, but occasionally, they unite behind a single over-chieftain known as a King-Beyond-the-Wall, as they are under Mance Rayder.
Culture and Customs:[]
Society:[]
Free Folk society is made of many tribes and clans, each with their own peculiarities and customs. Some recognize chieftains, while others exist in a perpetual state of conflict, warring against each other and themselves. The free folk place importance in a man keeping his word. Some clans are led by clan mothers or Magnars.
Some clans live in small villages in the haunted forest, such as Whitetree, while others reside in halls such as Craster's Keep or Ruddy Hall. Thenns live in a hidden valley in The Frostfangs. Some are semi-nomadic loners, held down only by their own needs. By "kneeler" standards, strange clans include the Hornfoots, the Nightrunners, the men of The Frozen Shore, the cannibal ice-river clans, and the cave dwellers.
Skinchangers and Wargs are more accepted north of The Wall than in The Seven Kingdoms. Wildlings burn their dead.
Languages:[]
The free folk keep to the ways of the First Men and there are many languages beyond The Wall, including the Common Tongue. The Old Tongue of the First Men is still spoken by some, such as the Thenns.
Enmities:[]
The free folk do not hate Northmen as much as they hate the "crows" of The Night's Watch, who represent the gate keepers holding them beyond The Wall. The free folk do not spare brothers of The Night's Watch, unless they break their oaths and prove it.
However, the two groups are not beyond some form of cooperation. The two groups sometimes trade at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, lost brothers have been aided by free folk, and The Watch sometimes take free folk children and raise them to be members.
Religion:[]
Most free folk worship the old gods. The Thenns view their Magnar as closer to a god than a lord, however. The men of The Frozen Shore believe in gods of snow and ice, while crab gods may also be worshipped at Storrold's Point. Cave dwellers allegedly worship dark underground gods. Gilly, one of Craster's wives, speaks of cold gods who take boys.
Spearwives:[]
In keeping with the spirit of free folk independence, women are welcome to take up arms and fight alongside men. Such women are called spearwives, and are known to be every bit as ferocious as their male counterparts.
Marriage:[]
In marriage, the men are expected to be quite forceful with women, going so far as stealing them from their home or clan. The women, in turn, are expected to put up a fight every step of the way. It is believed that a true man will steal a woman from afar to strengthen the clan. Men must steal daughters, but not wives of other men. When the red wanderer is within the Moonmaid, it is considered a propitious time for a man to steal a woman.
Women who wed brothers, fathers, or clan kin are believed to offend the gods, and are cursed with weak and sickly children.
Naming:[]
Because infant mortality is common in the harsh environment beyond the Wall, it is believed to be bad luck to name a child before he or she reaches two years of age. A temporary milk name or nickname can be given to a child prior to the official naming.
Raiding:[]
Raiding south of The Wall is a large part of free folk culture. Raiders start at a young age, as little as twelve years. Raiders either climb The Wall or use little boats to cross The Bay of Seals around it. Climbing the height of the Wall is an exercise that can take most of a day and rangers of The Night's Watch often find the broken bodies of those who have fallen.
To climb The Wall, the free folk use the aid of huge ladders of woven hemp, boots of supple doeskin spiked with iron, bronze, or jagged bone, small stone-headed hammers, stakes of iron and bone and horn, and antlers with sharpened tines bound to wooden hafts with strips of hide serving as ice axes.
Over the decades, with the weakening of The Night's Watch, the free folk have found it much easier to either climb the Wall or paddle small boats through The Bay of Seals, growing bolder they raid as far as the Umber lands, the northern mountain clans, or Bear Island, instead of the usual villages and holdfasts in The Gift.
Raiders cross The Wall to steal swords and axes, spices, silks, furs, and any valuables they can find. They are known to take women in any season to carry them off beyond The Wall.