3. The North
- In winter, snows can fall forty feet deep (I: 3)
- Late summer snows are not unusual (I: 34)
- It is said that it grows so cold in the north that a man's laughter freezes in his throat and chokes him to death (I: 39)
- In the south, the northmen are said to be made all of ice and melt in the southron heat (I: 162)
- Rain falls cold and hard, and sometimes turns into hail that can send men running for cover and ruin crops, even during a summer (I: 238)
- Bronze and iron were the metals of the north, strong and dark to fight the cold (II: 79)
- Once the autumn is declared by the maesters, the lords of the North store away a part of the grain they have harvested. How much is a matter of choice; between one fifth and one fourth seems prudent, however (II: 184)
- The Ice Dragon (its name may be different outside of the North) is a constellation used to help mark direction, because the blue star in the rider's eye points the way north (II: 381)
- Even in the deep of the wolfswood there are foresters, crofters, and hunters (III: 105)
- The northmen have long memories. A lord who does not seek his rightful vengeance threatens to have his own men turn on him (III: 229)
- It's said a maiden girl could walk the kingsroad in her name-day gown and still go unmolested, and travelers could find fire, bread, and salt at many an inn and holdfast (III: 276)
- Heraldry in the North is significantly simpler and more basic than that in the South, showing the differing amounts of influence that chivalry has had there (SSC: 85)
- Houses descended of the First Men tend to have short, simple, descriptive names (EHC)
Last revised February 28, 2007
