House Umber

Jon Umber

the Greatjon

Life: no fixed AC year given; a grown man, Lord of Last Hearth and head of House Umber, when the story opens
House: Umber
Titles: Lord of Last Hearth
Allegiance: House Stark (as King in the North); House Umber
Seat: Last Hearth
Culture: First Men / the North
Religion: The Old Gods of the Forest
Notable for: The loud, formidable bannerman first to hail Robb Stark as King in the North

Last confirmed held as a captive of House Frey — his further fate is a matter this chronicle keeps veiled.

The Greatjon is exactly the sort of lord his epithet promises: enormous, loud, and given to declarations of loyalty voiced at a volume that leaves little room for doubt about his sincerity. He was the first of Robb Stark's bannermen to hail him King in the North, drawing a blade over the matter of protocol before the room settled on crowning the boy rather than fighting about who got to name him something else, a scene the North still tells with some relish. Lord of Last Hearth and head of a house nearly as fierce as the giants its sigil evokes, the Greatjon's loyalty to House Stark runs deep and loud. A maester notes that a bannerman this formidable is not a man his enemies deal with lightly.

Where they appear

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.

Key events

no fixed yearBorn heir to House Umber, Lord of Last Hearth, one of the North's fiercest houses
298 ACDraws his blade over a matter of protocol at Robb Stark's war council before the room settles on hailing Robb King in the North
298-299 ACFights through the War of the Five Kings as one of Robb's most vocal, committed bannermen
299 ACAttends Edmure Tully's wedding at the Twins, reportedly fighting eight men rather than yield quietly when the massacre begins
299 ACIs taken hostage by House Frey rather than killed outright, owing to his considerable value alive
299 AC onwardRemains a captive at the Twins, his ultimate fate left unresolved on the published page

Reading the character

The Greatjon's booming loyalty to Robb Stark, declared loudly enough to nearly start a fight over who got to say it first, gives the King in the North's coronation one of its most memorably rowdy scenes and marks him from the outset as one of Robb's most committed bannermen.

His unresolved fate in the war's later turns leaves House Umber's considerable strength an open question at a moment the North might need it most, one of several threads this chronicle leaves as open as the war itself has left them.

The arc of Jon Umber

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

Present at the Twins for Edmure Tully's wedding, the Greatjon is caught in the massacre that follows and, uniquely among the northern lords in that hall, survives it — not through mercy but through the Freys' calculation that a hostage of his stature is worth more breathing than dead. His continued captivity is meant to keep House Umber's considerable strength in check while Roose Bolton consolidates the North, and the published books leave his ultimate fate, and whether he is ever freed or ransomed, unresolved.

Where the books leave Jon Umber: captured alive at the Red Wedding in 299 AC and held hostage by House Frey — reportedly at considerable cost to the men sent to subdue him — his fate since being one this chronicle keeps veiled

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

Theories about Jon Umber

SourcesACOK · CatelynASOS · CatelynTWOIAF · The North

Explore further

House

Is the Greatjon (Jon Umber) alive?

As of the published books, yes — the chronicle keeps the particulars of his circumstances since the war's turning point veiled.

Who is the Greatjon?

Jon Umber, Lord of Last Hearth, the loud and formidable bannerman who was first to hail Robb Stark as King in the North.