Smalljon Umber is a character in the sixth season. Smalljon is the son of Greatjon Umber, the Lord of Last Hearth and proud bannerman of House Stark.
Biography
Background
Season 6
Appearances
In the books
In the A Song of Ice and Fire novels, Jon Umber is nicknamed "Smalljon" for the sake of differenciting him from his father Greatjon Umber. However, "Smalljon" is nicknamed to denote his younger age, not a reference to his size - he is in fact almost as large as his father and is noted to still be growing and may even end up larger than his father.
In the books, the Smalljon is killed by Bolton men while defending Robb Stark at the Red Wedding. Because Robb's bannermen trusted the holy bond of guest right that Walder Frey had promised, Smalljon was left unarmed at the banquest tables. He made a run for his swordbelt at the end of the hall but was hit halfway through by one of the crossbowmen in the balcony who had been disguised as musicians. Smalljon fell to his knees, and fully armed Bolton soldiers then finished him off, decapitating him with two strokes of an axe.
Given that Smalljon wasn't introduced at the time of the Red Wedding, he is presented as alive in the TV continuity. Greatjon Umber does have other, surviving sons in the novels, however (though they haven't been named), so the TV series apparently simply condensed them together. Also in the novels, after the Red Wedding the surviving leaders of the Umber forces at Last Hearth are Greatjon's uncles, Mors "Crowfood" Umber and Hother "Whoresban" Umber, who have to deal with the new Bolton rule of the North. They may have also been condensed into Smalljon.
In the novels, Greatjon was taken alive as a prisoner during the Red Wedding, because as the head of one of the major noble Houses from the North he was a valuable hostage, and he remains a prisoner at the Twins. In the TV series Greatjon didn't appear after Season 1 due to the actor being unavailable (it isn't clear why they didn't simply recast the role given that Greatjon wouldn't appear after Season 3 anyway). Writer Bryan Cogman, however, has remarked via twitter that Greatjon wasn't at the Red Wedding because he was off commanding other armies in the Riverlands, and he remains free and uncaptured in the TV continuity - in which circumstance, like presumably Brynden Tully, he would probably be under siege at Riverrun in the south.
Therefore it isn't clear how Smalljon can be the "Lord" of House Umber given that Cogman stated that Greatjon is not only alive but uncaptured in the TV version - though given that if he is uncaptured Greatjon is probably trapped at Riverrun, someone would probably have to be acting Lord of Last Hearth in his absence.
See also
Jon Umber (Smalljon) on A Wiki of Ice and Fire (spoilers from the books)
References
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