Unaligned

Osha

Life: no fixed AC year given; a grown woman when captured beyond the Wall, some years before the story's main events
House: none — a wildling of the Haunted Forest

Last seen guiding the youngest Stark boy to safety after Winterfell fell.

Osha was taken captive south of the Wall along with a band of wildlings her people call raiders and the Night's Watch calls outlaws, and talked her way into service at Winterfell rather than a hangman's noose by sheer bluntness and a demonstrated willingness to swing an axe for whoever currently held her leash. She speaks of what lies beyond the Wall with an authority no maester's book can match, having lived among the things the Citadel still debates the existence of, and treats highborn Stark children with a wildling's plain lack of deference even while serving them. Her loyalty, once given, proves considerably more durable than her captors initially had any reason to expect, carrying two Stark boys through a war that killed or scattered nearly everyone else meant to protect them. A maester allows that whatever crimes brought Osha south of the Wall in chains, her conduct since has done more to protect House Stark's remaining children than most of the lords sworn to it.

The arc of Osha

This carries the character’s road through the published novels. Read on only if you do not fear to know.

Serving at Winterfell when Theon Greyjoy's men take the castle, Osha helps smuggle both Bran and Rickon Stark out ahead of the sack, then splits from Bran's party to carry Rickon toward the distant, seldom-visited island of Skagos, judging the Stark boys safer apart than together. Her life there with Rickon in hiding, and what she has told him of the war that killed the rest of his family, remain matters the published books have not yet returned to in any detail.

Where the books leave Osha: alive as of A Dance with Dragons, having fled Winterfell's sack with Rickon Stark and taken him into hiding on Skagos, her circumstances there left unresolved on the published page

These partings name deaths, endings, and roads not yet ridden in the books. Unveil them only if both roads are known to you — or if you do not fear to know.

In the timeline

SourcesAGOT · BranACOK · BranTWOIAF · The Wildlings

Is Osha alive?

Yes, alive as of A Dance with Dragons, in hiding with Rickon Stark — the chronicle keeps the particulars of their circumstances veiled.

Who is Osha?

A wildling woman captured beyond the Wall and taken into service at Winterfell, who later helped smuggle Bran and Rickon Stark to safety when the castle fell.