The Free Folk is the name used to refer to themselves by the people who live in the lands beyond the Wall, still on the continent of Westeros but beyond the northern border of the Seven Kingdoms. The name they employ makes reference to their society, which recognizes no inherent or hereditary political authority, except for leaders whom they choose to follow. The people of the Seven Kingdoms refer to the Free Folk as wildlings. Normally the wildlings are divided into many different rival clans, but occasionally they unite behind a King-Beyond-the-Wall.
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Tormund is a trusted leader in his own right of a large warband of wildlings. He has joined his forces to those of King-Beyond-the-Wall Mance Rayder, and now functions as one of Mance's most trusted lieutenants. Tormund is not just a capable leader, but also a very dangerous fighter. This is proven during the Battle of Castle Black, where he killed multiple Night's Watch brothers and clearly outmatched Ser Alliser Thorne in single combat. He boasts of having bedded a she-bear, which he calls Shella.
Ygritte was a quick-witted and courageous young spearwife. She had red hair and displayed great skill as an archer. Living north of the Wall, she was well skilled in survival and was staunchly loyal to the cause of Mance Rayder. She valued her status as a free woman, and disparaged those living south of the Wall as 'kneelers', who blindly followed hereditary leaders instead of choosing a king. Ygritte believed that because wildlings and Northerners both claim descent from the First Men, there is no need for them to be fighting.
Osha is a wildling spearwife, one of the "Free Folk" who live north of the Wall. Like other wildlings, she worships the Old Gods of the Forest. Due to the rising threat of the White Walkers and their undead wights, Osha fled south of the Wall with a group of other wildlings, hoping to go "as far south as south goes". They bypass the wall by taking a boat across the Bay of Seals, to the east of the Wall.
Mance Rayder was once a noted ranger of the Night's Watch. He was actually born a wildling and is proud that he has wildling blood in his veins, but as an infant he was left at one of the castles on the Wall to be raised in the Night's Watch. As a young man, he deserted his post and fled north of the Wall to join the wildlings. He rose to become the King-Beyond-the-Wall, a title bestowed on a wildling leader who manages to unify all of the tribes under his command. It appears he has held the position of King-Beyond-the-Wall for more than a decade.
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The Free Folk are descended from the First Men, as are the inhabitants of the North. They were, essentially, the people unlucky enough to be living north of the Wall when it was constructed eight thousand years ago. Besides this shared ethnic heritage, their common descent means that there are also many cultural similarities between the wildlings and the Northerners. The wildlings are much closer in lifestyle and habits to how the First Men lived thousands of years ago, as the North has come under some cultural influence from their Andal neighbors.
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