The other side of northern badassery

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There's a thought that come to me randomly thinking about the part of "A Dance with Dragons" in which the greybeards of several northern houses join up mainly (though not exclusively) with Stannis. In the text, we get the explanation that, with winter looming, they go on what essentially is a suicide mission to relieve their communities of useless mouths. Instead of doing it as literal suicide, as seems common in the North (disguised as "going hunting"), they use their death wish to "taste Bolton blood on my lips" (there's an image for you). 

 

Now, in the story of "A Dance with Dragons", the framing goes a bit like this: There are two evil and alien forces in the North currently running rampage. 

 

One is the Ironborn invaders, defined mostly by their alien cultural background and the fact that they're raiders. Killing them is par for the course and wins Stannis the suicidial allegiance of the Northerners in the first place. Falling in combat against them is standing in a long tradition, at least for the people inhabiting the northwest. 

 

Second is Roose Bolton, who is very much not alien but also very much evil. This seems to be a fact known wide enough to stir the sentiment about tasting some blood of their hapless levies on your lips before you die. A good deal of this might be attributed to Ramsay, who's not on the subtle side of things. 

 

The point is this: the Northeners going off with Stannis to fight and die in the winter have two very strong reasons to do so. Now comes my thought. This behavior is decidedly NOT uncommon in general. What do I mean by that? 

 

From all the indications we got, the Northeners that are deciding to go out and die in the snows, but are still strong enough to kill someone will prefer doing the latter in most cases, especially when it comes to people with an ingrained warrior culture like the clans. So, if there's no Bolton pretender or Ironborn invasion to fend off - and both usually don't come up in winter, since that would be stupid - what do these people usually do? 

 

So, here's my conclusion. Those Northeners are usually going to raid other Northeners. Part of the grueling winter experience - and why there's such an emphasis on the peace of the Winter Town the Starks have established and its absolutely central role in their legitimacy as rulers - must be not only to look starvation and cold in the face but also be on the lookout for raiders with a death wish. 

 

If you are going out to die in the snow, preferably in a fight, there's always a community nearby you don't like. That's just a fact of life. They have stores, else they couldn't survive the winter. So why not give it a try? What's the worst that could happen? You improve the relative strength of your own community at least, and at best, you also improve their absolute strength. 

 

Coming back to the Winter Town, this is why the Starks' influence is so important. For leagues and leagues around Winterfell, this isn't an issue, because everyone seals their huts and makes to the Winter Town, where, one can assume, the provisions they bring are to some degree communal and at the least guaranteed by the presence of Stark guards. Winter is coming, never forget. 

 

This doesn't change the story much, but it adds another element to the tragedy of the burning of Winterfell. You also notice that when Winterfell is occupied by the Boltons, no Winter-Town-elements are present and everyone keeps to their own supplies, people are murdered and discord is everywhere. Keep an eye out for the aforementioned themes to pop up once Stannis makes Winterfell his residence in "The Winds of Winter" and prepares for his final stand against the Others.