The peoples of the frozen North - a collection of feuding clans whose culture revolves around strength, reputation, and the Named Men who earn renown through combat. The North has no unified government; authority comes from the strength to take it and the loyalty to keep it. Named Men are warriors whose deeds have earned them a name worth remembering, and they form the core of any Northern war band. The Union to the south views the North as barbaric, which is not entirely wrong, but the Union has its own forms of barbarism that it prefers not to examine. The North is home to Logen Ninefingers and the men who follow him, and to the spirits - the ancient inhuman things that inhabit lonely places and answer questions for a price.

The band of Named Men who follow Logen Ninefingers - veterans of the wars in the North, each with a hard-earned reputation. The Dogman is the best scout in the North. Threetrees was their old chief before Logen. Black Dow is dangerous and difficult to trust. Forley the Weakest is not weak in the ways that matter. Grim rarely speaks. The crew are not heroes - they are survivors, shaped by years of brutal conflict - but they function as the closest thing the trilogy has to a found family, and their bonds carry genuine weight.