A man of the Night’s Watch named Qhorin Halfhand leads his scouting party into the wildling-inhabited lands beyond the Wall, known as Skirling Pass. The Night’s Watch is a military order which holds and guards the Wall in order to keep the Free Folk from entering into the Seven Kingdoms. As Qhorin and his men surround the camp of the wildling lookouts, he signals the attack and they swiftly kill all but one of the wildlings. A fellow man of the Watch named Jon Snow pins the lone survivor against a rock but is surprised to find his captive is a woman. Jon asks her name and learns that she is called Ygritte. Qhorin tells Jon that she was reaching for an axe when he stopped her and that given half a chance she will kill him. Qhorin asks what awaits them beyond the pass and Ygritte informs that there are more Free Folk than they’ve ever seen. He pragmatically details the reasons that Ygritte must die and draws his sword, but Jon insists that he will kill her himself. Qhorin leads the rest of his men away and tells Jon to meet them at the summit, warning him to be quick in wildling territory. Jon raises the blade but cannot bring himself to kill her and then strikes against the rock in front of Ygritte. She hits his leg with a stone and runs off. He tracks her and slides down a slope to tackle her to the ground. He draws a knife and holds it to her throat. Ygritte asserts that they both know that he can’t do it. She warns that the sun is going down and his friends are long gone.

As nightfall begins Jon leads Ygritte across rocky ground, her arms bound to the rope he is holding. She asks if his brothers have deserted him and offers to tell him which way to go. He says that they will sleep where they have stopped. She balks at the lack of shelter and he says that there is no shelter where they are. She says that he needs to know where to look. Ygritte warns that they could be killed by the cold and suggests they light a fire as Jon binds her legs. He refuses to consider a fire and lowers her to the ground. She suggests that they would stay warm if they stay close, adding that he will freeze before she does. As Jon lays beside her, Ygritte asks if he thinks his brothers are looking for him. He says that they will find him and she calls him stupid but brave. As they fall asleep, Ygritte wiggles her hips against him and he tells her to stop moving. She informs that she was just trying to get comfortable and she continues to repeat the action with Jon again asking her to stop.

By sunrise, Jon awakens next to his captive Ygritte on the frozen stony ground of the Skirling Pass. Ygritte feels his erection pressing against her and jokes of Jon having pulled a knife on her during the night. He leaps up and she is surprised by his reaction, wondering if it is the first time he has been so close to a woman. She deduces that he is a virgin and asks how old he is as Jon says only that he is a man of the Night’s Watch, who practice celibacy as part of their sworn vow. She retorts that he is a boy that has never been with a girl. Jon then unties her legs as she needles him about his sexual repression. He orders her to get moving, leading her by a rope. Ygritte continues to tease Jon about his virginity as they walk on through the pass, searching for the rest of his scouting party. She asks if there are no women in the Night’s Watch and accuses Jon of homosexuality. He denies this as she then playfully suggests bestiality. When he does not respond, Ygritte deduces that they are reduced to masturbation and cites this is an explanation for their surliness. Ygritte then asserts her independence as a free woman and he laughs, reminding her that she is his prisoner. Ygritte urges that her freedom stems from not being beholden to oaths or lords, then stating that the Night’s Watch are invading their lands. Jon interrupts to insist that the wildlings have been raiding their lands since time immemorial. Ygritte retorts that the North doesn’t belong to his people and that the wildlings lived there until the Wall was built. Jon reveals that he was fathered by Lord Eddard Stark and has the blood of the First Men, adding that his ancestors lived in the region just as Ygritte’s did. She then asks why they are fighting.

Later on, Ygritte compares their differing cultures and insists that her freedom is worth not being able to live in castles or forge strong steel. She criticizes Jon’s willingness to accept the restrictions placed upon him by the Watch and claims that the Free Folk would kill anyone who tried to impose such rules on them. She denigrates accepting rule by succession. Jon counters that the wildlings have accepted Mance Rayder as their King Beyond the Wall. Ygritte retorts that they chose their king to lead them, adding that Mance was once a man of the Night’s Watch but instead chose his freedom. She urges Jon to make the same choice and offers to teach him how to survive in the wild as well as how to have sex. Jon claims that he already knows, however, Ygritte tells him that he knows nothing. Ygritte then threatens to accuse him of rape when they reach his people, acting out a scenario for him where she was an innocent captive ruined by his advances. Jon orders her to turn around and Ygritte then incorporates this command into her accusation. She insists that they might as well do it anyway, still needling him for his embarrassment over the subject of sex. Ygritte speaks seductively about her proposal and when she gets too close, Jon puts a hand on his sword and she pretends to back off. She then suddenly hauls on her leash, pulling Jon off his feet and darts away. He chases her into an ambush, finding himself surrounded by several wildlings clad in white fur.

Some time later, Ygritte leads Jon across a glacial lake with the rest of her party and brings him to Rattleshirt, also known as the “Lord of Bones”. The wildling commander is dismissive, saying that he already has Qhorin captive and doesn’t need another from the Watch. Ygritte asserts that Mance will want to question Jon, as he knows about the Watch’s plans. Rattleshirt counters that Qhorin knows more, and orders Jon killed. Ygritte defends Jon, citing his honorable treatment of her and then reveals Jon’s status as the bastard son of Ned Stark, insisting that Mance will want him. Rattleshirt threatens to castrate Jon if he attempts to escape as Ygritte urges that she would do it herself if he does. Ygritte pushes Jon to the ground next to Qhorin after informing him that they are now even. Jon asks where the other men are and Qhorin tells him they’ve turned back to look for him when he did not return, but were killed by wildlings. Jon realizes that the others died because of his actions as Qhorin urges to make sure that they didn’t die for nothing. Afterwards, the wildlings lead their prisoners across a stony ridge as Qhorin informs Jon that Mance is going to march on the Wall. He suggests that an infiltrator within his army will be worth a thousand men fighting against it and adds that the wildlings might trust Jon if he does “what needs to be done.” Jon is confused by the remark. Qhorin then loudly berates Jon for causing the deaths of their sworn brothers. After Qhorin pushes Jon down a slope, the Lord of Bones warns Qhorin that Jon is not his to kill.

Later on, Qhorin realizes that he will have to sacrifice himself in order to facilitate the ruse of Jon deserting to the wildlings, so he stuns one of his captors and acquires a sword, attacking Jon with the seeming intention of killing him for treachery. The Lord of Bones lets them fight as Ygritte gives Jon back his sword. After a fierce duel, Jon mortally wounds Qhorin, as per Qhorin's own instructions. Qhorin whispers to Jon "We are the watchers on the Wall" before he breathes his last breath, signalling to him that he has done the right thing. Qhorin collapses to his death, as Ygritte insist that they can tell Mance that Jon is the man who killed him. The Lord of Bones takes Jon’s sword and cuts him free of his bonds. He tells his men to burn the body, warning Jon that he doesn’t want the Halfhand coming back for him, alluding to the threat of White Walkers. Ygritte leads Jon to the crest of the mountain and as they look down on a vast wildling camp, she informs him that it is time to meet Mance Rayder. She then descends the snowy slope. Jon looks back at Qhorin’s burning body and then follows her towards the camp.

When Jon is led by Ygritte into the main wildling camp in the Frostfang mountains, he discovers that almost all of wildling society is on the move to escape the White Walkers, including the women and children. As they enter the camp, Jon is shocked to see a real-life giant walk past. Jon is then led into the tent of the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder, where the Lord of Bones explains that he is Lord Eddard Stark's bastard son to a large man with a heavy beard. The man asserts that he doesn't care, but his interest is piqued on hearing that Jon killed Qhorin Halfhand. As they talk Jon kneels before the man and calls him "your Grace". This causes all of the wildlings to burst out laughing. As it turns out this isn't Mance, but his lieutenant named  Tormund Giantsbane. The real Mance is a man sitting in a corner, who then introduces himself and tells Jon to stand, as no man kneels before another among the Free Folk, since they do not recognize a class of nobility in their culture. Mance says he is glad that Jon killed Qhorin and asks why he wants to join them as he replies he wants to be free, but Mance doesn't believe this. Jon then explains that when the Night's Watch camped at Craster's Keep, he saw Craster leave his newborn son in the woods as an offering, and the inhuman creature that took it. Jon says that he wants to leave the Watch, because he is disgusted that Lord Commander Mormont already knew what Craster was doing but did nothing to stop it. Jon states that the First Men he is descended from defeated the White Walkers once during the Long Night, and that now he wants "to fight for the side who fights for the living.” Mance is satisfied and advises Jon to get a new cloak, his black one clearly attracting malignity.

Some days later, Jon slowly marches south with Ygritte, Mance and the rest of the Free Folk  army. Mance explains that his army is a diverse force, formed of about ninety different groups or clans of wildlings, who speak seven different languages, and have numerous internal rivalries. However, he managed to unite them all by telling them the truth: that they will all die if they remain north of the Wall. Mance brings Jon to one of his scouts, Orell. He is sitting silently with his eyes rolled back as an eagle circles above him. Mance says that he is a "warg", and Ygritte is surprised that Jon doesn't know what that is. Mance explains to Jon that a warg is a person who is capable of entering the mind of an animal, seeing what it sees and even controlling its actions. Orell controls his menagerie eagle to scout miles ahead. Mance asks him what he has seen as Orell then informs that he saw the Fist of the First Men - and many dead "crows," confirming to Jon that most of his brothers have been killed during an attack.

Days later, as Ygritte and the Free Folk arrive at the Fist of the First Men, they survey the bloody aftermath of an assault on the Night's Watch by the White Walkers and their army of undead wights. Mance grimly remarks that the White Walkers are "always the artists," as the severed corpses of all of the Watch's horses have been carefully arranged into a large-scale, ceremonial spiral pattern. However, there is no sign of any human corpses - which Orell insists were there when he scouted ahead earlier by warging into his eagle, but have now vanished. Mance warns Jon that all of the missing corpses from the Fist are no longer his brothers from the Night's Watch, but have been resurrected as undead monsters who serve the White Walkers. Mance orders Tormund and Ygritte to take a force of twenty men to scale the Wall. His plan is for their small band of wildlings to distract Castle Black by attacking their exposed southern side, at which point Mance's main army will assault the castle from the north. Tormund will know that Mance is in position when his army makes a massive signal fire. Mance orders Tormund to take Jon with him, as Jon knows the layout of Castle Black, and it will prove a key test of his loyalty. If it turns out that Jon won't really betray the Night's Watch, Tormund can easily throw him off the Wall to his death.

Some time later, on their way to the Wall and Castle Black, Ygritte and Jon are gathering firewood, when the warg Orell asks him about the defenses of the Night's Watch. Orell has seen through the eyes of his eagle that there are patrols on top of the Wall and he wants to know how frequent they are. Jon says they usually sent out patrols in teams of four, two builders to inspect for structural damage and two rangers to protect them, but that the frequency of their patrols often changes. Orell says the wildlings know there are nineteen castles along the south side of the Wall, but he wants to know how many are currently manned. Jon finds this very unpleasant, but reluctantly informs that only three are currently manned. Apart from Castle Black, there is also Eastwatch-by-the-Sea at the extreme eastern end, and the Shadow Tower at the western end. Jon is then asked how many men currently garrison Castle Black. Jon is again reluctant to answer, but after being threatened by Orell, he gives an exaggerated number, saying there are one thousand men (this is a lie, as Castle Black only had six hundred men before the Great Ranging, and the garrison now is closer to three hundred). Tormund tells Jon that he likes him, but if he is lying to them, he will rip his guts out through his throat. Despite this, Jon remains steadfast to the lie.

Ygritte and Jon then walk away, but she steals his sword Longclaw, making him chase her to get it back. She leads him into a nearby cave, which is heated by natural hotsprings, which form a waterfall and a pool. Ygritte starts disrobing, and says that she wants to make sure Jon Snow has truly come over to the wildlings's side and broken his Night's Watch vows: by making him break his oath of celibacy with her. She quickly shucks off all of her clothes and walks up to him naked. Jon is very hesitant to break his vows, and very shy because he's never had sex before. Ygritte questions why he's still dressed, and they start kissing. Jon continues to kiss down her body as she insists that he has no experience and therefore "You know nothing, Jon Sn--" but stops mid-word as Jon starts performing oral sex on her. Some time after they finish having sex, they lie together in a naked embrace. Ygritte asks if "that thing you did with your mouth" is what Lords do to their Ladies in the south, but Jon says she just seemed to like it when he kissed her there. He admits he's never had sex with anyone before and is "a maid", according to Ygritte. Her and Jon then slide into the hot springs pool to take a bath together and they romantically cuddle more. Ygritte tells him she wishes they could stay in this cave forever instead of having to leave and face the winter, wars, and monsters outside.

Days later, at the base of the Wall, the wildling party led by Tormund Giantsbane  prepare to climb. Ygritte and Jon talk about their impending climb. When Jon asks if she’s ever climbed it before, she informs him that she hasn’t, adding her concern that while it is a long way up it’s also a long way down. However, Ygritte explains her excitement as she’s been waiting her whole life to see the world from the top of the Wall. They then flirtaciously discuss the other night in the cave, being Jon’s first time, as Ygritte teases him that he’s killed Qhorin Halfhand but at the sight of a naked girl Jon trembles “like a leaf.” Ygritte then swears that his secret is safe with her, revealing her awareness of Jon’s loyalty to the Night's Watch, adding that he didn’t stop being a “crow” the moment he walked into their camp. Ygritte tells Jon, however, that he must be loyal to each other instead, noting that The Night’s Watch and Mance Rayder don’t care if they live or die. “It’s you and me that matter.”

During the climb, as they are half-way up the Wall, a struggling Jon, who is last within his group, looks down to view their journey upwards thus far. His terror is then exacerbated when Ygritte accidentally strikes an already splitting crack in the ice. This causes the crack to spider out into a large break which dislodges a massive sheet of ice, sending several wildlings to their deaths, as well as leaving Ygritte and Jon to hang precariously by their safety rope. As they are roped together in groups of four, Orell decides that Tormund cannot continue climbing with the weight of Jon and Ygritte's bodies pulling them down. As Jon and Ygritte hang from beneath him, Orell all-too-quickly decides to start cutting the rope. Ygritte and Jon witness Orell cutting away at the rope vigorously. Just as the rope breaks with the final thrust of Orell’s blade, Jon barely manages to swing to his left to plant a hook in the ice. As a terrified Ygritte starts plummeting down the Wall, Jon uses all of the strength he can manage to keep himself held onto his hook and to brace for the weight of catching her as his connecting line saves her. After finding a large enough foot-hole in the Wall to stand on, Jon reels Ygritte in as she pulls herself up. Once at safety, they take a moment to catch their breath and Jon looks above at Orell with disdain. After a few more taxing hours of climbing, Jon, Ygritte and the wildlings reach the top of the Wall. Through their exhaustion the pair are elated to have survived the climb after their brush with death. Ygritte is in awe to view the lands south of the Wall, before she and Jon share a passionate kiss.

After surviving the perilous climb of the Wall, Ygritte, Jon and the small wildling party make their way towards Castle Black through the Gift in order to await Mance Rayder's signal to begin their attack on the Night's Watch. Afterwards, Jon confronts Orell about cutting his and Ygritte's rope loose during the climb on the Wall, which nearly killed the both of them in the process. Orell tells Jon that he doesn't see Ygritte complaining about what happened because she is a wildling and understood what needed to be done in a pressurized situation. Orell adds that this is the reason Jon will never be able to keep Ygritte. During their journey through the woods, a jealous Orell then confronts Ygritte in private, insisting that he would be a better man for her than Jon Snow, who he continues to express his distrust in. However, he is flatly refused by Ygritte. Later on, after the pair hunt and kill a deer together, Ygritte informs Jon that the wildlings are going to take their land back. In response, Jon tries to persuade Ygritte that the wildlings' cause is doomed to failure. He reminds her that six Kings-Beyond-the-Wall have attacked the southern lands in the past thousand years and all six of them have been repelled. Ygritte refuses to listen and points out that Jon is technically one of them; if it fails, so does he. She renews her passion for him and tells him bluntly that if they die, they die, but before they die they will live in each other.

Some days later, Ygritte and the wildling party prepare to raid an elderly horse breeder's home for his horses and gold. Jon insists that the old man is no threat to them, but Tormund and Orell intend to kill the man so as to stop him from alerting the Night's Watch to their presence. However, when the party attacks the farmstead, Jon surreptitiously hits a rock with his sword, alerting the old man who then flees on horseback. Jon then quickly distracts Ygritte when she tries to shoot the fleeing man with an arrow. Once they catch up with the old man, Tormund moves in to kill him, but Orell insists on having Jon do it instead to prove his loyalty. Jon is ultimately unable to kill the innocent man, and instead, Ygritte kills the man with an arrow. Realizing that Jon is still loyal to the Night's Watch, Tormund orders his men to kill Jon; Tormund restrains Ygritte to stop her from trying to assist Jon, and soon after Jon battles with Orell. Meanwhile, Jon’s little brother Bran Stark, on a mission of his own and hidden in the tower next to Jon, enters the mind of his direwolf Summer in order to aid Jon as he battles to the death with Orell. Jon thrusts a fatal blow with his sword through Orell’s chest. With the last of his strength, however, Orell wargs into the mind of his pet eagle, which swoops down and attacks Jon, clawing him badly about the face before he fights the bird off. In fear for his life from the rest of the wildlings Jon then quickly steals a horse and escapes. As Jon rides away in the pouring rain, heading back to Castle Black, a heartbroken Ygritte watches in disbelief.

The next day, as Jon has ridden closer to Castle Black, he stops by a pond to rest and tend to his injury. As he wets his facial wounds from the water, he is suddenly confronted by the sound of a tightening bow and a horse squeal from behind. He quickly turns to find a furious Ygritte, who has an arrow ready to shoot him. Jon tries to talk Ygritte out of shooting him, insisting that he didn’t have a choice, adding that she always knew who he was as a man of the Watch. She starts to hesitate, and then says "you know nothing, Jon Snow." Jon smiles, and corrects her by saying that he does know some things: he knows he loves her and that she loves him. However, he asserts that he has to go home. Ygritte starts to choke up but is still angered by his betrayal. She shoots him three times with her bow as he then flees from her on horseback. Jon is badly injured, but his horse manages to carry him to Castle Black, as he hovers in and out of consciousness. He falls off his horse but having reached safety, Jon is brought inside the castle by the guards. Inside the courtyard, Jon encounters some of his brothers who are overjoyed to see him. They insist that Jon’s injuries be taken care of, as he is dragged inside the castle.

Some time later, in the North, wildlings Ygritte and Tormund stand outside a stone ravine that is located a short distance from the Wall, now awaiting Mance's signal for attack. Tormund chides Ygritte for failing to kill Jon Snow when she caught up with him after his betrayal and fleeing return to the Night’s Watch at Castle Black. Despite wanting revenge for his betrayal, Ygritte still loves Jon, a fact that Tormund picks up on. Ygritte insists that all three arrows found their mark, but says that Jon may still have survived. Knowing Ygritte's skill as a markswoman, Tormund says that if Jon is still alive, it is because she didn't want him dead. Their tense conversation is suddenly interrupted, however, when their scouts signal that someone is approaching. A band of Thenn trek towards the wildlings through the ravine and, out of earshot, Tormund comments about how much he hates Thenns, who are the most advanced best equipped of the wildling tribes. Their leader named Styr informs Tormund his party raided a village south of the ravine and gathered meat. He comments further insisting that the meat tastes so much better south of the Wall, and chides Tormund for losing their warg Orell, as well as Jon Snow. He then reminds Tormund how the Night's Watch are feasting and getting fat at Castle Black. Styr suggests that Tormund taste crow meat before he dies, as a human arm roasts over a fire, revealing the Thenn’s predilection for cannibalism.

Some weeks later, a small village in the Gift is attacked by raiding wildlings and the cannibalistic group of Thenns under the leadership of Tormund and Ygritte. The village is entirely decimated within minutes, as the villagers are brutally slaughtered one by one amidst the chaos. A young boy named Olly witnesses Ygritte barbarically slay his father directly in front of him. The boy hides under a cart but is eventually caught by the Thenn leader Styr, who threatens him at knifepoint to act as a messenger to Castle Black in order to relay an account of the massacre, as well as a warning that more will follow. Their intention is for the Night’s Watch to leave Castle Black in order to protect nearby villages, leaving them vulnerable to wildling attacks. Upon Olly’s frenzied arrival at Castle Black, Ser Alliser Thorne, the acting Lord Commander of the Watch, states that they do not have the manpower to afford venturing away from the Wall to aid in fighting the wildlings from local raids. Thorne then notes that the wildlings want to draw them out and pick them off a few at a time. Jon stresses, however, that Mance Rayder is coming and if the wildlings breach the Wall, they will tear through the Seven Kingdoms until they meet an army that can stop them.

Several weeks later, inside a tavern at Mole's Town, a drunken prostitute socializes with a mixture of townspeople and other whores alike before heading to the back room. When she encounters a lone wildling girl named Gilly who has been staying at the tavern to seek protection, the prostitute starts arguing about her crying infant who woke her up earlier that morning. Gilly passively apologizes and attempts to stay out of the woman’s way while hanging her laundry but the whore continues to harass her by saying that if Gilly doesn’t keep her baby quiet, she will instead. Just as Gilly stands up to the woman and defends her son they are interrupted by an attack on Mole’s Town. Meanwhile, outside of the tavern, Ygritte, Tormund and the Thenn leader Styr, along with the rest of the wildling party, start killing everyone in the small village town. Ygritte then rages into the tavern where Gilly and her baby have been hiding out in and runs into the whore who was harassing the young girl. Ygritte quickly runs her spear through the woman’s stomach. Ygritte then discovers a terrified Gilly hiding with her baby in one of the back rooms. After a moment, Ygritte spares both of their lives by urging Gilly and her son to keep quiet so they will not be found by other, less merciful wildlings.

Some time later, as Ygritte and the band of wildlings have arrived at Castle Black, an owl lands on top of the Wall and is revealed to be controlled by a Thenn warg who is a member of the garrison under the command of Tormund and Styr, who have set up camp just outside of the Night’s Watch castle. Ygritte tells the others that she only cares about getting as many arrows through the hearts of crows as possible. Styr mockingly replies that Ygritte has more words about killing than she has arrows. She defends herself by saying she killed just as many people at Mole's Town as he, but Styr further mocks her by saying that when she sees Jon, she'll likely just serve him a slice of "ginger minge”. Ygritte stares Styr down and warns the others that she has an arrow ready for anyone else who attempts to kill him. On top of the Wall, Jon hears the horn blowing and looks north, witnessing a tremendous conflagration. South of the Wall, the Thenn’s owl also spots the fire and informs the time has come to attack. Jon approaches Alliser Thorne, who admits that they should have heeded Jon's advice and blocked the gates. Meanwhile, Ygritte spies on the castle to scout numbers of defenders. She tells the other wildlings that most of the guards are at the top of the Wall.

The group immediately take off towards Castle Black, while Ygritte seems to have second thoughts. North of the Wall, the massive wildling army emerges from the woods, their numbers including giants riding atop mammoths. Alliser orders the archers on the Wall to nock their arrows, but they draw instead while a man of the Watch named Grenn accidentally drops a barrel down the Wall. Another horn blows from down below, signalling the unanticipated appearance of Tormund's group. Realizing the dire need for experienced men to defend the keep from the surprise attack, Alliser orders Janos Slynt to assume command of the Wall's defenses and heads below to join the melee. Below, Tormund and Styr's forces charge the gate while Ygritte, acting as a sniper, manages to pick off several men defending the gate with her bow. The band of wildlings manage to reach Castle Black's walls and begin scaling them using grappling hooks and ropes. On the northern side, a wildling strike force led by two giants, one of which is riding a mammoth, charge towards Castle Black's outer gate. On top of the Wall, Janos, having no true leadership experience, breaks down at the sight of the massive wildling army and begins fumbling his orders and eventually leaves, allowing Jon to take proper command of the Wall's defenses.

One giant, armed with a massive bow, manages to fire a huge arrow at one of the bunkers atop the Wall, obliterating it and killing the Black Brother manning it. The force of the giant's arrow carries the brother off the wall on to the other side where he is shoved into ground with a tremendous amount of force. Down below in the courtyard, chaos ensues as Styr quickly defeats the Night’s Watch one by one in melee battle while Ygritte precisely shoots with her bow from above. Olly, the young boy the wildlings sent to Castle Black as a messenger during their raid in the Gift, watches in horror as he witnesses the massacre. A Black Brother named Pypar manages to kill a wildling with his crossbow, but is then shot through the neck by Ygritte. Meanwhile, at the outer gate, one giant ties several ropes around the gate as well as the large mammoth, who uses as much of it’s brute strength as possible to pull away from the gate, attempting to weaken it enough to infiltrate Castle Black through the tunnel. Atop the Wall, Jon then ommands Grenn and five other men to travel down the lift and hold the gate on the other side. Meanwhile, in the courtyard, Alliser Thorne is locked in a vicious duel with Tormund on the catwalks of Castle Black, both seem evenly matched in skill. However, Thorne suffers a grievous wound and is forced to retreat, being dragged to safety as he continues to shout orders to his men.

The Black Brothers defending the Wall manage to repel most of the wildlings attacking the outer gate, but one giant manages to make it through, greatly weakening the gate by repeatedly smashing it with his fists and managing to single-handedly begin lifting the gate. Samwell Tarly then arrives atop the Wall to ask Jon for more men to defend the castle down below. Jon grabs his sword Longclaw and heads towards the lift. Arriving at the inner gate, Hill cowers when faced by the giant charging at them, but Grenn bolsters the others courage by reciting the Night's Watch oath. The Black Brothers ready their weapons just as the giant slams himself into the inner gate. As they travel below to the courtyard in the lift, Jon tasks Samwell with releasing his direwolf Ghost from his pen to assist in the fighting. When Samwell descends the Wall he makes a run for it to release Ghost while Jon himself finally enters the fray. Upon Ghost’s release, the direwolf immediately starts tearing into then wildlings while Jon quickly dispatches several of his own, proving his skill level is well beyond the majority of the wildings and Watchmen alike. He then catches the attention of Thenn leader Styr. The two meet in a brutal single combat where Styr eventually gets the upper hand by knocking Jon’s sword away and brutally assaulting him, smashing Jon’s face into an anvil and tossing him into the blacksmith's forge. Styr then picks Jon up and begins strangling him, but Jon spits blood in Styr's face and distracts him long enough for Jon to grab the blacksmith's hammer lying next to him and buries it in Styr's skull. Upon killing Styr, Jon turns around to find Ygritte pointing her bow at him with an arrow drawn. After the initial shock in seeing her Jon smiles at her, causing Ygritte to hesitate with her attack. She stares back at him in conflict, however, before either can say anything to each other, Ygritte is shot near the heart by an arrow fired from young Olly, avenging the death of his father at Ygritte's hands during the wildling attack on his village in the Gift. Jon runs over to Ygritte and holds her collapsed body in his arms. She tells him that they should have never left the cave where they first made love. When Jon insists that they will return there, she tells him "You know nothing, Jon Snow." She then succumbs to her wound and dies in his arms. Atop the Wall, a huge section of ice suddenly falls away from the Wall revealing a massive anchor-like blade attached to a chain that swings along the Wall, mowing through the wildlings attempting to climb its frozen face. The Night’s Watch then witness the wildling forces begin to withdraw into the Haunted Forest, siezing further attack for now, but as the wildlings still outnumber the Watch one-thousand-to-one, Mance Rayder was simply testing their defenses. Below, a heavily wounded and arrow-filled Tormund is surrounded in the courtyard but continues to fight despite being the only wildling alive inside the walls of Castle Black. He is finally subdued by Jon with a crossbow and taken prisoner by the Night's Watch for interrogation.

Some time later, after the arrival of King Stannis Baratheon at the Wall and Mance Rayder’s subsequent arrest, Jon enters the chamber of the castle where Tormund is being held. Tormund asks why the castle’s maester, Aemon Targaryen, has patched up his arrow wounds. Jon asserts that Maester Aemon is sworn to heal all wounded men, friend or foe. Tormund then asks if Jon really loved Ygritte, telling Jon that Ygritte truly loved him because all she ever talked about was killing him. Tormund explains that because of this, he knew her love for Jon to be true. Saddened, Tormund then implores Jon that Ygritte's final resting place should be in "the real north." Jon then takes Ygritte's corpse to the north side of the Wall and builds a funeral pyre for her near a heart tree within the Haunted Forest. Jon looks at his lover one last time, lights her pyre and then weeps silently as he heads back towards the Wall.

*In the aftermath of Ygritte’s death, follow Jon or Tormund’s journey throughout the rest of the series.