“Bear Island knows no King but the King in the North, whose name is Stark.”
Before Bella Ramsey appeared in Game of Thrones season 6, her character, Lyanna Mormont, had already made an impression on fans. In season 5, Lyanna sent a letter to Stannis Baratheon in response to his call for the lords of the North to support his bid for the Iron Throne. Even offscreen, Lyanna was already endearing herself to us, and we hadn’t seen anything yet.
When Ramsey finally appeared onscreen, she lived up to the hype. Within the space of a few moments, Lyanna Mormont verbally slit the throat of both Jon Snow and Sansa Stark, calling Jon a bastard and questioning if Sansa was even a Stark after marrying both Tyrion Lannister and Ramsay Bolton. Nonetheless, House Mormont stuck with the pair of them, as they’d kept faith with their ancestors for hundreds of years. “We are not a large house, but we’re a proud one,” Lyanna said. “And every man from Bear Island fights with the strength of 10 mainlanders.” As we saw in “The Long Night,” she wasn’t exaggerating.
Ramsey delivered all this with a confidence that belied her youth. Alongside Jon, Sansa, Tormund and Davos before the Battle of the Bastards, she rocked Ramsay Bolton’s world with nothing more than a withering stare that instantly became a meme.
Of course, Jon and Sansa defeated Ramsay Bolton, and when the Lords of the North converged on Winterfell to pay fealty to their liege lord, Lyanna cut down men three times her age, height, and weight and shamed them with the sharpness of her moral certainty. With the Northern Lords sufficiently shammed, little Lyanna sparked a fire that would see Jon Snow named the King in the North. “I don’t care if he’s a bastard. Ned Stark’s blood runs through his veins. He’s my king–from this day until his last day.”
Lyanna would continue to speak her mind throughout seasons 7 and 8, calling out her king when she disagreed. The character was not intended to last more than one scene, but watching Ramsey at work, it’s easy to see why showrunners David Benioff and Dan Weiss decided to expand it. Ramsey commands attention whenever she’s on screen, and could turn into a towering full-time performer if she has a mind to.
Perhaps Lyanna’s best moment was also her last, when she single-handedly took down a giant wight in “The Long Night.” It was typical of her character: unafraid and uncompromising even in the face of incredible odds. The words of House Mormont are “Here We Stand.” Lyanna is their living embodiment, and Ramsey their vessel.
We will definitely miss Lyanna Mormont, and House Mormont in general. Hopefully, there’s another 10-year-old spitfire in the family to take her place, because we’re not ready for a Westeros that doesn’t include her.
Bella Ramsey perfectly embodied a character that may never appear in the books, although she has been mentioned. We fully expect big things from the young actor in the future. She is the voice of Hilda on Netflix’s Hilda and is playing Lorna Luft in a musical drama film titled Judy, about the life of Judy Garland.
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