Ulf

Ulf son of Umar speaks for the Moon Brothers, one of the several clans of the Mountains of the Moon that Tyrion Lannister recruits after his trial by combat at the Eyrie. When Tyrion presents his father, Lord Tywin Lannister, with the clan leaders in the common room of the inn at the crossroads, Ulf is among those named: "Ulf son of Umar of the Moon Brothers" . He is present when Lord Tywin, after hearing that the Stark host is moving down the causeway, turns to the clansmen and invites them to ride with him against his enemies. When Ulf asks why they should need the father's promise when they have the son's, Lord Tywin replies that his words were only courtesy and that they need not join him, adding that even his boldest knights fear to face the men of the winterlands. Ulf does not answer this challenge directly, but the Burned Men's Timett son of Timett declares he will ride, and the Stone Crows' Conn follows; the Moon Brothers presumably ride as well (E05262–E05268).

Role in the Battle of the Green Fork

In the battle, Tyrion's mismatched vanguard includes the mountain clans. Ulf son of Umar is among the dead when the fighting ends. Tyrion and Bronn find him "in a pool of congealing blood, his arm gone at the elbow, a dozen of his Moon Brothers sprawled around him" . His death is one of many that Tyrion's wildling allies suffer; of the three hundred clansmen who rode to battle, perhaps half survive .

Significance

Ulf's role is brief but emblematic of the mountain clans' participation in the Lannister war effort. He speaks for his people in the council with Lord Tywin, but his death in the battle underscores the high cost Tyrion's recruits pay. His fate, like that of Conn of the Stone Crows, illustrates the clans' willingness to fight and die for the promises of steel and gold, and the brutal attrition they suffer in the service of House Lannister.